#and none of it not a bit of it addresses the racism

[dayurno]

this is somewhat of a vent post & something i said i would not do again but has been plaguing me enough that i think getting it out might feel better. so. has anydoggy else been. Baffled and upset by nora sakavic’s refusal to speak on how terribly aftg has treated its characters of color? with the author of the series coming back with a new book and starting up on her online activity again, and questions of what she’d change about aftg bubbling up, it’s particularly glaring to me that we are all playing this very long game of pretend where we ignore how badly the non-white cast has been treated & her lack of thoughts on it

and i understand not wanting to bring up nicky and thea because people pick on her for it. i’m not trying to discredit nora sakavic’s terrible history of getting harrassed online by aftg fans. but i think it is very cynical, and it is very juvenile, and most of all very cruel, that she gets to ignore the very real ways the books have set up these characters to be hated. i think it’s obvious why the characters who get the most hate are the only canonical characters of color, and i think we do not get to treat this like a deliberate decision on the fandom’s part when the books have put these same characters in degrading and embarrassing and terrible positions in the first place. aftg is not a story about nice characters with clean pasts, but there is a very specific nastiness to the only characters of color being a brown man who sexually harasses and later assaults the main character, a black woman whose only scene is her lashing out at her love interest after being ignored for the first two books, and the japanese villain who gets maybe two lines of complexity before he goes back to being a terrible person. the white cast, in comparison, while not at all free from flaws, are never shown to commit mindless evil; all of their actions are ultimately justified. the book goes out of its way to give them concession after concession. we know exactly who to side with, because aftg tells us who these people are. does nicky’s assault ever get addressed in the books? does riko’s reasoning to be the way that he is ever gets more than briefly aluded to? is thea reserved even a shred of humanity or grace in her one scene?

anyway. it’s been years of talking about this and the fandom has been constantly hostile to criticism in this regard, and more recently any criticism at all, and it’s Grating to be on the other side of this discussion. it’s exhausting to know that in ten years we do not get even an acknowledgment besides the author saying she will not answer questions about nicky and thea anymore. it’s upsetting and it’s ugly and i wish no one had to talk about this again, but we do because what i thought was common sense has been washed away by a sudden influx of no-nuance adoration for the trilogy. basically i hope we all explode

two hours later edit: you're allowed to reblog this! sorry about the confusion

#this has been so upsetting to notice but 🥹whatever #there is a different kind of bitterness to thinking about how ten years have passed #and we are getting new content that changes and maybe even rectifies many of the ways we see and interact w aftg #and none of it not a bit of it addresses the racism #how it’s been ten years and the only thing we really get to show it is a book about a ship between two white men the fandom came up with #after seeing them be Suggested to interact in canon #i understand not wanting to hurt nora sakavics feelings by asking her about this #but imagine how tired we are. Imagine how tired we are #do you know how bad it feels to read through nicky’s worst moments in aftg #and know that he was written this way because he looks like me? #do you understand how exhausting it all is. can you imagine? #the fandom has been so quick to undo the criticism fans of colors have been making since day one #and for what. for what! my doves. for what? #have we come out of it any greater? have we done anything but lie to ourselves? #and anyway this is not some mindless pessimism #this is not me telling you that aftg is bad and you cant love it; cant have it mean anything to you #this is me saying that when we acknowledge these things it makes us better readers and better people #nora sakavic if you are reading this from whatever hellhole america you find yourself in #grabs you by the shoulders. This is not the end #this is not something to sit back and feel bad about #you have opened the floodgates of hell with tsc. kick the door in and release a revised version of aftg #there is a real material way for you to make this better. it is possible and it will not kill you #i would read a revised aftg. my mutuals would. many many many many fans would #making mistakes is not just a human right its a human inevitability #but we do not have to let ourselves get defined by them. We can do hard things #lets go of nora sakavics shoulders. anyway. where were we #aftg #txt #tsc

[bobbile-blog]

Not sure if anyone’s said this yet but now that we have Laterano events plural I’m fascinated by their (imo) very deliberate choice of protagonists, and there are almost a couple of layers of narrative going on there. I struggle a little figuring out how to get this into words but specifically I think they’re chosen to be people who can carry a narrative without contradicting the orthodox morals of the church. There’s a LOT of vaguely anti-authoritarian rambling below the cut so please kindly bear with me and my English major brain.

I can’t really start there though. One of the reasons this is so brain hurty is how deeply it’s woven into the storyline, so to start, I have to verbalize how Laterano and Arknights writing more generally is different from other, similar settings. Because like, I hear the words “morally negative church in a grimdark setting” and my brain immediately shuts off. Come on, that’s so far beyond low-hanging fruit, if you’ve seen any grimdark setting ever you know exactly what that looks like. And sure, it was fine the first two or three times you saw it, depending on your tolerance for that kinda thing, but it gets boring quick and even when it was new it was kinda uninteresting story-wise. “Religion is always fake because it inspires hope which means everyone who takes meaning from it is either a corrupt grifter or naive and misled” isn’t just edgy nonsense, it’s also basically useless as an actual critique. It tells you absolutely nothing except how to tune out a particular kind of story, and a story that tries to get you to hear less is doing its job wrong.

So, Arknights does something different. Instead of denying the premise of the church entirely, it actually takes it at its word. Laterano is, in almost every definition of the word, a paradise. It is basically unmatched in terms of actual quality of life, with its only competitors being the Durin cities and maybe Aegir, and is worlds apart from now much the rest of Terra sucks. More than that, though, the paradise is specifically tailored to the worldview of a religion with a strong central authority - when I say it takes it at its word, I mean the authoritarian bits too. Laterano is a city that lives in perfect order and peace because everyone follows the law perfectly and they all understand each other and never fight. Empathy is really important for this, as it allows for a believable amount of superhuman societal order. Laterano has very little crime, political drama, or quarrels in general. It’s the promises of a strict higher authority actually taken at face value: everyone follows the rules and that means they have effectively unfettered freedom, because they don’t want to break the rules and therefore they can do anything they want.

Laterano is specifically written to be a believable paradise in a setting that has none, so that when the story then turns around and criticizes that setting, it has significantly more weight. Even when the promises of paradise are taken at face value, there are still issues that cannot be addressed because the system is inherently flawed even in the imaginary scenario where it works. Even worse, the problems that poke holes in the imaginary perfect scenario are the same problems that they face in the real world, like “how do you deal with the interpretation of scriptures” and “hey there’s this racism thing I keep hearing about should we be worried about that or what”. Because of the way this imaginary perfect system works, we then look back on our real world in a new light and understand it a little better. It’s good critique.

Okay so how did we get here and what does this have to do with the protagonists? Well, this starts with Fiametta in Guide Ahead, because she’s a really weird protagonist. This is a cold take at this point but despite being the character on the front of the box, she has very little to actually do with the central conflict of the event. Most of the conflict is handled by Ezell first and Andoain second, and Fiametta mostly putters around putting holes in people until the finale where Andoain receives the answer he’s been looking for, he turns to explain it to the world, and he runs into the only person in the whole of Laterano who does not care about his motivations or his revelation. Her role, in other words, is to replace the climax of Andoain’s story with her own, and in doing so she makes it much harder to actually get a resolution and a meaning out of the story (this should not be taken as a criticism of her character, let me cook). Guide Ahead’s ending is hazy, with only small piecemeal resolutions to its conflicts, and for the longest time that was just the way the event was written and it stood on its own.

But now, Hortus de Escapismo is out and the monkey brain see patterns. Specifically, with the choice of protagonists. Because Executor is definitely different from Fiametta as a protagonist, but there’s one particularly important connection between the two, and that’s that as I mentioned in the beginning, they allow for stories don’t contradict orthodox morality. Fiametta we went over, as she’s uninterested in any of Andoain’s morality and just wants him dead. Executor, though, is purely focused on his mission and views the world through that lens. He only wants to achieve his objective, and while helping the needy is in line with the stated objectives of the church and he does do so when able, it’s secondary to his assigned task. He does change as he gets further into the story, and we’re not gonna ignore that, but we’ll be back to it later. What I mean is more that he is designed as a person who is able to lead a story that doesn’t contradict with the morals of Laterano. He sees the injustice and suffering around him, but that’s not his job, so he doesn’t need to solve it to have a complete story with a happy ending.

This is where it really gets complicated, so I apologize if I don’t explain this very well. I see this as us dealing with multiple layers of fiction: the events of the story, the perspective of the church, and our perspective as readers. Back to the first point - authoritarian institutions almost always use stories to sell people on their brand of order. Simple stories, simple enough that even calling them myths seems like overselling it a little, your “Saint George slays a dragon” kinda thing. This is the point of the second layer, the perspective of the church. I don’t really have an in-world justification for this layer - maybe you could make the argument that it has to do with Law’s perspective on things, but I don’t totally buy that - I think it’s more in a weird narrative transition space for people who don’t read very carefully. Regardless, Fiametta and Executor’s shared indifference to the questionable circumstances surrounding them is designed to let them tell a story to prop up the existing order. Their protagonist status and their missions are specifically constructed to allow them to ignore the suffering around them, and as such ignore the larger questions that might poke holes in the larger order. They’re both playing out the story of Saint George, where they go and find a bad guy and kill them and that’s all there is to it. The story is designed and told specifically for that “that’s all there is to it”.

But, as we said earlier, this is a good critique, and as such it intentionally undercuts this story with the third layer: what we actually see as readers. We are shown the suffering and the injustice, and then get to see our protagonists ignoring that to pursue their goals. This is what gives Guide Ahead’s ending its unique texture, which sets it apart from every other event with a vaguely unresolved ending. We have seen the actual issues with Laterano, and also watched our protagonist explicitly ignore them in favor of her own story. It’s unsatisfying in a way that only really makes sense to me if we as the readers have an understanding of intentional authorship. Whether it be Yvangelista XI or Law or The Actual Real Life Pope, there are issues here that we want to see a resolution to but people are choosing not to address them. Again, it’s good critique. Not only does it push the reader to unpack and understand the actual real-world technique, but it also helps blunt it. You have just seen a plot and protagonist ring uncharacteristically hollow. You then look around to see why that is, and you realize there are many things that should have been resolved that weren’t. The next time you see a story resolve with that same hollow-ness, you know where to look. Surprise! Harry Potter was propaganda the whole time. It’s okay, it was never good, you were just twelve.

I guess the last thing is where we go from here, because Executor’s story breaks this mold somewhat. In Hortus de Escapismo, he has to deal with a mission that isn’t actually bounded by his normal rules, and because of that he actually does have leeway to help the people around him. He starts as someone who is totally mission-focused, but by the end of the event he’s done a total 180 and is blocking Oren’s attack, which makes the mission harder but helps the non-mission-critical civilians of the monastery. He breaks from the rigid thinking of “kill the bad guy and that’s all there is do it”, and gives his attention to the people he isn’t supposed to see. I think this is an indication of the direction we’re going to be headed in the future with Laterano events. The events aren’t going to get better - they’re going to keep being just as morally murky and complicated as in the past - but the characters are going to get better at handling it, and when they do, they’re going to actually start to change things for the better.

Goddamn that was a lot of writing for 1 AM. I still have a. Lot of thoughts on this event with stuff like empathy and Lemuen and Federico being an autistic icon(my beloved) but I’m going to leave things there, I think, because if I write for any longer my phone is going to crash when I try to post this. Anyway if you actually made it to the end thanks for listening to me rambling and I hope that made sense. Cheers.

#arknights #arknights thoughts #hortus de escapismo #laterano #fiametta #executor arknights #I deadass had to ask folks to proofread this one #to make sure I didn’t sound like I didn’t sound off my rocker #also don’t mind my random Harry Potter slander that’s an entirely different rant

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

I am I the asshole for telling someone what they were doing was "mean spirited and cruel"?

(submitted this a while back but was never posted - don't know if tumblr ate it or if it broke a rule, but i'm sorry if its the latter)

My complex has a facebook page where residents can post questions or concerns to other residents. One day a woman posted asking if we could move the food bowls where people feed the feral cat colony that lives near us because when she walks her dogs they always lunge at the cats; she had just had surgery and it hurt when they pulled on the leash. Someone responded saying they had moved the bowls down and that seemed like that.

Two days later she posted again saying that our "kind and caring neighbor" (her) had called someone to come pick up the cats. From another comment on the post it seemed like she had talked to someone IRL who was rude and basically told her "I've been feeding the cats for 10 years fuck off" and then called animal control immediately after that.

This felt really petty to me, and I posted saying that calling animal control on the cats was "mean spirited and cruel". I explained that almost all feral cats taken in are put down, and that she was making a decision about the community's cats without consulting the community. I added that I was sorry she had been hurting since her surgery, but that there were other steps she should have taken before this.

She responded that I needed to have more compassion for her as she herself was very compassionate and caring person. To which I responded that she should then extend that compassion to these cats that had never hurt anyone. (Seriously, they just chill around our complex and eat rats – they’ve never scratched or bit any person or animal)

She responded that they hurt her “fur babies” everyday because they make her dogs pull at their leashes and choke themselves. She then went on a rant about how she didn’t understand why people weren’t respecting her anger and that since she lived here she had a right to want the cats gone. She also mentioned that calling her “mean spirited and cruel” had racial connotations and that I wouldn’t call a white person that.

Important context, I am a white woman – up until this point I had not realized that she was a black woman as this argument was in a facebook group and the pictures were small. But it is very possible this is something I saw and internalized without consciously recognizing it.

I was really thrown by this, and just replied yes, I would and that I’m sorry it hurt to hear, but that is what her actions were. (Which, yeah, nobody ever not in the racist category uses the ‘I’d say that to anyone!’ excuse, but I truly didn’t know what to say). She continued to respond to my comment saying how I was a pitiful person if I’d really call anyone that, and that I hadn’t addressed any of her other points.

More people where commenting at the same time on this post, and while she responded to all of them my “mean spirited and cruel” comment apparently really got her because she kept bringing it up in arguments with other people. She really felt that people were being unjustifiably angry and mean to her for something she thought she had a right to do.

It also came out that she had apparently posted complaining about the cats the day before but it had gotten so out of hand the post was deleted before I could see it. She had also gotten into several arguments IRL with people feeding the cats. This explains why she felt so ganged up on I suppose – though none of this I knew before replying.

The next day she specifically made a new post calling out racists in our community and tagged me and few other people (even other POC) who had disagreed with her about the cats. I didn’t respond, but fairly quickly that and the post from before were deleted.

I’ve been really trying to think about if my internalized racism did unknowingly influence my actions, but I honestly keep coming back to the fact that I think I would have said the same to anyone who tried to get a cat colony killed because her dogs try to attack them.

Also for those curious – the cat colony is still here! It turns out removing a cat colony from their home is actually considered animal cruelty and is illegal in this state

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[cosmicjoke]

Everything I'm hearing about Loki Season 2 is just highlighting what the major miss is that Marvel's committed with this character. Even the positive reviews can only talk about the extension of the multi-verse and the TVA and the action, blah, blah, blah. But what's always made Loki such a dynamic and interesting character is his own, internal and personal struggle. He's a character driven character, and so any stories featuring him should, by and large, be character driven. And that's the problem. Other than making Loki into a fucking ass-hat clown who gets beat at every turn by total nobodies, calling into question his intellectual capacity, the issue is that this show has never focused on Loki as a character. He ended up not only playing second fiddle to Sylvie in season 1, essentially reduced to a superfluous presence in his own show, but none of the elements of Loki's story that are so intriguing and just begging to be explored got any acknowledgment at all. The reality of his internalized racism, his sense of alienation and separation from his brother and father, his desperation to win Odin's love, and thus desperation to live up to Thor's existence, and how that was always the driving force behind all of his villainous actions, etc... None of that has ever, ever been addressed outside of the first Thor film and just a little bit in the second Thor film. You would think a show ABOUT Loki would find the room and time to actually delve into these topics. But nope. Instead they focus on a bunch of BS about the multi-verse, which they've already based multiple films on and which nobody cares about at all. This show isn't about Loki. It's called Loki. But all it really is is a set up for Avengers 5, or whatever fucking number they're on. Ugh. Whatever.

#loki negativity #loki series negativity

[neriumxoleander]

If you could explain, I'm only learning this now! What's going on with Gato? I've only seen vague posts but I know all social media is gone (because by god fucking twitter apparently) I've seen from the fake gatobob account post about recent events and I'm soo confused. Could you please shed some more light on this? If you are as clueless as I am, you don't need to respond. - @your-very-own-anon (mod speaking)

Sorry for the late response, I've been trying to retag some things while I'm focused on this account for once. I'll try to be brief? please don't take me as the authority on this, I just happened to get into the tags while it was unfolding earlier today. still going under a read more though. i suppose a tw for mentions of racism and xenophobia are warranted. And please do not interact if you are a minor or have no age listed on your blog, I will block you.

Gato deleted her social media accounts this morning (tumblr, twitter, pillowfort) and explained on patreon it was for her mental health and safety (which... safety? hm) and someone here immediately claimed the gatobob url. which happens, it's tumblr. but this person is using it basically as a callout center.

the callout seems to be about an incident that happened in the patreon exclusive discord server before it got shut down a couple months ago. tldr according to this person, someone (a mod?) made a racist comment towards someone, and gato apparently handled the situation poorly and neither her or the mods apology were really that great. I was in the server as a lurker more than anything, but I don't remember being there when this happened.

other people sending in asks to this new gatobob account have also been calling her out for xenophobia, but I have a feeling that's looking a little bit too much into statements she's made about her games being redistributed in Russia and Spain specifically if i recall correctly.

this new blog is demanding gato and the aforementioned mod properly apologize for their behaviour, but in my opinion, this is a really weird and bad way to go about it. Smart to use her url as a way to boost the problem, but... I haven't seen any solid evidence besides some very vague screenshots, none of them including the racist remarks (the screenshots they've posted so far definitely aren't good responses or apologies if they ARE linked to this incident, and it should have been taken seriously) And the victim from the racism incident is NOT the person running the new gatobob account, so it feels very weird to me that this person is taking it upon themselves to stir everyone up and demand things from gato and the mod.

as far as I can tell, gato hasn't said anything about this on patreon, although she's likely taking her separation from social media very seriously. If she is aware (and I'm sure she's getting plenty of DMs about this on patreon), she'll likely make a post there addressing it in the next couple days, but that's just speculation.

I'm keeping a mostly neutral stance in this whole thing, but I'm encouraging people to not interact with this new gatobob account. There's nothing we can really do; they aren't impersonating her, posting anything against ToS as far as Im aware, and people have been hoarding urls for years. Just... listen and learn, I think is all I can suggest. Form your own opinions, but don't go on a witch hunt about it, if that makes any sense.

I'll try to answer other questions, but I'm just one guy on the internet who doesn't usually get tangled with things like this. Please be patient.

#Talking to the River #TPoF #BtD #Gatobob #Boyfriend to Death #The Price of Flesh #I guess ill toss this into the tags again for the sake of spreading information. but once again I'm not saying i know everything #if i remembered something wrong or worded things in a bad light I'm sorry but I'm not great at public speaking at the best of times

[tiredmetalenthusiast]

Poems of Love (Gaz x F!Reader)

This is part one of the Love letter series (In slow process, please be patient). Starting off with everyone’s favorite pretty boy Gaz! This is just a love poem from reader to our helicopter surivor!

Warnings: Violence against another person, mentions of racism, hurt with written comfort, fluff, writer has very, very little military knowledge!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you could have had it your way which you did but only a little bit, you would have scarred up the bitch that decided it was a great idea to talk shit about your sergeant. Price had intervened when he was brought in for the commotion, finding you and her in a pile on the ground of the mess hall, your fist repeatedly meeting her face. The guy she was with looked just as bad as she’ll look after Price had Ghost pull you off of her.

”Alright! What the hell is going on here?!” He turns to you expecting an answer, before you can speak however the girl you had been wailing on decided to speak up.

”She just went mental and attacked us!” Ghost scoffed, “Sounds like a load of shit private.” Ghost looks to Price who says nothing, still looking at you for an answer. “What happened, sergeant? I won't ask again.”

You took a breath to center yourself, placing a hand on Prices wrist, a sign you were truly pissed and grateful for your captain holding you back. You looked at Gaz who was staring at the floor, with Johnny patting his back. “Sir, the guys and I were simply enjoying our lunch, when Private Downs and her buddy Private Fallow decided it was an amazing idea to address Sergeant Garrick by racial slurs. I took it upon myself to defend his honor.”

Price looks at Gaz and Johnny, who confirm the story. Price turns you loose to Johnny so you can see if Gaz is okay. He had told you not to worry about it, to leave it be as it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, he admired your sense of violent justice and need to defend him.

Price clears his throat, “Well, as it stands we here in the military, especially the 141, don’t take kindly to that sort of talk. You both being in the military, fairly new or not, should probably re-evaluate your life choices. If you find joy in tormenting your fellow high ranking officers perhaps we should remove you.”

”Remove us how?! It’s just words! W-we were just joking!” Ghost rolls his eyes and jostles Private Downs to shut her up. “You’ll shut your bleedin mouth! Sergeant Garrick is more of a soldier than you and your friend’ll ever be in your whole career!”

”Ghost take ‘em to my office. Sergeant!” “Captain?” “Good work defending your colleague, next time though try to make it a bit less bloody, eh? Cleaning duty for a week.” “Totally worth it sir!” Price and Ghost leave with Downs and Fallow in hand ready to put them through back to basic for behavioral and tolerance training.

Gaz had thanked you but told you it wasn’t necessary, he seemed distanced after that. Only saying hello in passing, you thought it was either what the two idiots had said or that he was mad at you, possibly both. Johnny and Ghost had assured you it wasn’t anything you did.

Taking the time you had to sit around after hours you penned him a letter. A poem really but you were hoping it would put him in a better mood. It took you a few hours but once you had finished it and read it over, you folded in up and went to slide it under his door for him to read in the morning.

-The next morning- Gaz pov-

He really wasn’t up for dealing with anyone today, especially not after yesterday's events, but none the less he had to get to up and start his day. Duty called and he had to be at morning training to help Ghost with recruits. He thought back to you and how fast you were to defend him, he was appreciative yes but it really wasn’t a big deal, it came with the military. Some people are just stuck in the Middle Ages like and you can’t help them.

Freshly showered and changed he was about to leave when he noticed a letter on the floor, his name scrawled across the front in beautiful script. He picked it up and sat at his desk to read it.

It looked like your hand writing but he doesn’t remember it looking so nice and neat, havin only ever seen you writing reports in messy, somewhat legible chicken scratch. As he opens it and begins to read he feels his heart swell.

‘To the prettiest man I know

Your bravery knows no bounds, leaving me breathless at your wonder. Akin to a warrior, a deity, war and peace become you. An angel.

Your beauty would be compared to that of Narcissus, of a warm summer day and lovely autumn nights. Your eyes bring delightful thoughts of dark chocolate in the shade and shine like the brightest amber whiskey in the light.

Skin aglow in the afternoon sun and glistening with sweat,  who could ever deny you? Aphrodite herself would bargain with you for your secrets. Would regale you with tales of beauty and mark you as one yourself and no one would bat an eye in disagreement.

I look upon your beauty and heroism with awe and hope that one day I could stand in even a shred of your greatness. If you were a god I would worship at your alter for all of my days, the most devoted supplicant, spreading your praises through any means.’

Gaz must have read it 4 times and he didn’t know what to say, his eyes were a little bit misty. Others had praised him yes, for his efforts on the field, his medals, but no one had ever called him a deity. No one had ever complimented his eyes like that. He rubbed at is eyes, letting out a huff, before folding up the letter and placing it in his desk drawer before heading out to morning practice. His heart feeling lighter.

If you would like to join the Tag list comment and I’ll add you!

Tag List: @cumikering

#~Harley finally writes something🫣 #The Love Letter Series #call of duty #kyle gaz garrick #Kyle Gaz Garrick x reader #gaz x reader #gaz garrick #gaz mw2 #gaz cod #kyle garrick x reader #cod mw2 #cod x reader

[transmutationisms]

given how you have talked about succession and race before, do you have any thoughts on the recent interview by Juliana Canfield in Vulture? The main gist of the Jess scene in the last episode being meant to be funny, according to one of the (white) writers. (Quote: "Three weeks later, a bunch of us went out to dinner and one of the writers, Lucy Prebble, was like, “We’re cutting together episode eight, and the scene is funny.” I was like, “It’s a funny scene?” It had never occurred to me that it was written to be funny. I saw it as deadly serious, existentially chilling, and reminiscent of the 2016 election.")

so, wrt that scene in particular, it's not totally clear to me what prebble thought the joke was, and imo that would make a difference. to me it read as a very dark joke aimed at greg, who's clearly torn between thinking mencken is 'bad' in a very distant way, and wanting to please his boss and do his job. jess's lines i did not think were delivered or played as funny, and the overall effect of the scene, to me, was to shift focus to the people who work for waystar but cannot really be said to make executive calls: assistants, underlings, &c. i read jess as feeling like she's been complicit in what atn was doing this entire time, and trying, too little too late, to stop it. her field of action is obviously very limited because she, like everyone else on the show, is still operating within waystar's orbit, and within capitalism.

more broadly, i think this jess convo is a little bit frustrating in some of the same ways the sophie stuff has been. it's a very last-minute shift for the show, to actually address head-on (sort of) jess and sophie as women of colour and what that means for them as people who are involved with the roys in different capacities. it's hard to do this well this late in the game, and especially in a season where by necessity the siblings' grief is so central. we still haven't spent any time with jess alone, and we've never really gotten into her head---also a problem with sophie. so, just as the sophie scenes work mostly as kendall characterisation, the jess/greg convo does a lot of its work as greg characterisation, and kendall's remarks to jess earlier in the season about atn covering african politics also tell us much more about how kendall sees jess, himself, and racism than they do about jess herself.

none of this is a new problem for succession; it has always been pretty clear that it's about its white characters. so, these last-ditch gestures toward more commentary on race can read as a bit tacky at best. with the election night thing, i don't mind a joke at greg's expense (it's continuous with him trying to claim he has "principles" in s2), but it is true that in that scene the show is using jess and her race (implicitly) to do that. the show's premise has always foreclosed a lot of potentially interesting questions about people like jess and in jess's position: again, disempowered, but also benefitting in some way from the company and from selling reactionary politics. that could make an interesting avenue to explore, but it's simply not one that this show has chosen to go down. again, it's not clear to me from that interview exactly what prebble thought the joke was so i can't really say much more about her specifically, but the scene itself in the show is part of a larger pattern in how the writers handle race (usually weirdly ignore it, sometimes use it to explore their white characters' psyches).

[mamamittens]

A Lone Melody (Pt. 9)

Main

This chapter was sponsored by @yanderefangirl as part of the "Oh Shit Sale", thank you so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Warnings: Discussions of dental issues, child abandonment, abuse, racism, mourning, and poison.

Word Count: 3,183

As Jinbe expected, things got a lot harder.

Well over half the crew left with Arlong for their damn revenge and the sudden lack of so many hit hard. Especially for Melody, who’s small world just got even smaller than it had been before.

They set sail for Fishman Island in the hopes that familiar stomping grounds would soothe the loss they felt.

Melody hadn’t stopped crying for longer than an hour at a time, tears clinging to her lashes even when she had her favorite snack. Jelly crackers topped with chopped coral—poisonous of course, a real bitch to prepare safely but she loved it more than anything else they could make. It was about the only thing she could keep down and Jinbe was unsure if it was because she loved it so much or if the poisonous quality was so desperately needed.

What was worse were her hands… she kept gnawing on them in her anxiety. Covering her skin with a thin layer of poison and tiny puncture wounds. Anything they gave her to relieve the urge to self-soothe either didn’t last or just seemed to make it worse.

They were halfway to Fishman Island when Jinbe was awoken by a different kind of crying.

Not the soft, upset sobs in her sleep that he sometimes woke up with his hand rubbing her back to sooth her. But a sharp, gasping, pained cry. Jinbe’s chest tingled, drool soaking his yukata. Almost burning from prolonged exposure to the toxin.

Even in the dark, Jinbe could see it. A thick pool of venom in Melody’s mouth, small hand grasping a metal ring. Which she shouldn’t even have but still.

“Oh, pup.” Jinbe cooed softly, sitting up carefully as the poison penetrated his skin and made him dizzy. “What happened?”

As gently as he could, he pulled down her chin, mindful of the literally glowing venom laced drool. It was bright enough he could make out the sharp points of her teeth. And the several that were broken, bits of fragments on her tongue. He winced, certain this would not get better until her teeth came out. But with the amount of venom and the sharpness of her fangs, few could afford to risk it.

It had only been a few minutes of it sitting on his skin and Jinbe already knew he needed to wash it off now before more dramatic effects take place.

Faintly, Jinbe recalled that baby teeth could be stubborn. Adult teeth fall out all the time for shark-fishmen. Arlong did it as a party trick when he got drunk, new teeth popping into place almost instantly.

“P-Papah! H-Hurt!” Jinbe felt his heart sink.

Melody barely ate as it was. With her teeth in this state, it would only get worse.

“I know, I know, Melody.” Jinbe cooed, taking them to the washroom so she could rinse out her mouth with salt water. The last thing she needed was an infection on top of all of this. While she was tearfully gargling the water, Jinbe briskly cleaned himself off, removing his yukata and putting it with the wash. “We’ll see about taking you to the dentist when we reach Fishman Island. There has to be someone who can help there. In the meantime… liquid diet, I’m afraid. Hey, maybe we have one of those silly straws lying around?” Jinbe suggested with a frail smile, trying to cheer her up as she openly drooled the venom down the sink.

It was thinning out now, at least. No longer the thick, viscous, glowing liquid.

Melody needed more fluids anyway. Stock was easy enough to make… Jinbe frowned, wondering if they’d need to add poison to it or if a lack would help keep her production down until her teeth can be addressed. It can’t be good to swallow that all the time. But unfortunately this was a very unique biological problem none of them were sure of.

They still weren’t sure what kind of fishman she was. It was entirely possible that she didn’t need to produce venom and it’s just a byproduct. But it was equally possible that now that she has, she couldn’t stop.

For a moment, Jinbe resented Arlong so much it burned. If that stubborn bastard had just stayed put, this wouldn’t be an issue. Melody… she was too young to understand why she shouldn’t do certain things that made her feel better. Biting—such a common shark instinct—was in many ways, a language of it’s own. Jinbe himself had issues teething when he was young, though not nearly as much as his other shark-inclined brothers. Arlong could have walked her through teething in a more healthy way. Communicating her needs without accidentally killing someone with her venom.

All they could do, was their best, really.

And it burned Jinbe that he didn’t know if it would be enough.

But it would have to be. He could never face Arlong—or Fisher Tiger—if he failed to care for Melody when she needed him most.

--*--

Hody Jones was born into the filthy slums of Fishman Island and feared more than anything that he would die in it.

Die caked in the refuse created the misery humanity generated without thought elsewhere, cast over their shoulder into the shadows.

Unimportant.

Forgotten.

Ground to a pulp under the heel of a filthy human’s boot where they should consider themselves lucky to even see.

When he heard of Fisher Tiger, he felt inspired.

Now there was a man who knew what needed to be done. Had the balls to climb those lofty, gilded peaks and shake the filthy humans down from up high. And many rightfully joined his crew—though not Hody Jones, who was too young to be properly brought aboard. Arlong, a man of great strength and value, happened to step off the island onto that ship of opportunity. And Hody couldn’t wait to join him and the others.

But Hody Jones would never get the chance.

Killed.

Murdered.

Fisher Tiger was dead and the crew fell apart.

Hody never felt such resentment in his life to have missed such an opportunity.

Arlong, the man Hody so looked up to, took up that mantle in Fisher Tiger’s name. Leaving behind almost half the crew and Jinbe…

And that mutt of a daughter.

Hody’s lip curled in intrigue and disgust.

A half-breed? Really, Arlong?

If it wasn’t for Arlong pursuing those worthless humans in the name of justice, Hody would have thought he had gone soft. There must have been something to the mutt, for such a great man to see value in dirty blood. Hody had only seen her on occasion, Arlong’s brief visits never bringing her to the slums.

Hody felt… conflicted about that. On the one hand, he understood.

The slums were unkind to anyone. Let alone half-breeds, rare as they were.

But on the other… did Arlong view this mutt as better than this place?

How? With such filth in her blood, how could Arlong think such thoughts?

And here she was again, this time carried by Jinbe.

Even from a distance, Hody could see how the small girl’s lips were pressed into a wobbly line, eyes tearful.

Good. She knows something of the value they’d all lost at least.

Hody listened close to see why Jinbe had returned rather than raze the humans alongside Arlong—though he knew Jinbe had always been softer than his counterpart.

The mutt had taken Fisher Tiger’s passing hard, and the leave of her ‘father’ harder still. Her teeth were messed up and no one was willing to risk the venom to pull them out. Hody Jones frowned, rubbing his own jaw thoughtfully.

Must be those weak human genes. A proper shark would have shed them by now. She probably just needed a good knock across the face to loosen them. Of course, given Jinbe’s well known softness and his size, the man had neglected to do so already. He likely wouldn’t take the suggestion well either, not that Hody felt he was close enough to the man to advise such a thing.

Arlong, perhaps. If he hadn’t thought of it already. But Jinbe? No.

Even if it pissed Hody off to see the mutt weeping so incessantly, it was hardly his place to assist or advise. Some suffering would do the welp good anyway. Toughen up that weak, tainted blood. At least she didn’t look too human. Had that going for her at least. Muddy gray skin splotched with pink from her weeping about the best indication Hody could see without getting any closer what a mutt she was.

If Hody had to be around it for any real length of time though, he made no promises to not fix the issue himself. It wouldn’t even be hard—likely harder to not break that weak jaw than anything else.

--*--

It would be a stretch to say that Whitebeard’s crew was wholeheartedly welcome at Fishman Island. Their captain was good friends with King Neptune at this point, so they could dock with little issue. But they were to behave themselves. Any trouble would see them scrubbing toilets for a year using their own toothbrush. Or worse.

Thatch, having recently been promoted to sous-chef under the aging commander of the fourth division, was having a blast.

Fishman Island was a unique place with more fishman and mermaids than you could shake a stick at! He was behaving though! He barely even drooled at all the lovely mermaids he saw working and living their daily lives. Certain that, while used to human men ogling them, they’d not be terribly receptive to any attempt on his part to charm them. Marco ambling alongside him like it was nothing, the two of them looking for a place to sample the local cuisine.

Naturally, they stopped at a mermaid café, but it was clearly popular so it totally wasn’t because the waitresses were all mermaids!

Thatch would deny it until his dying day that his heart stuttered at the lovely, smiling faces that greeted them. So sue him! He loves his family, but they’re not beautiful mermaid women, now are they? Half of them can’t seem to master washing their own ass, it’s no wonder they needed an hour long lecture from Marco to behave.

Thatch also kindly ignored the implication of Marco specifically going with him over anyone else.

The café was bustling though, quickly drawing Thatch’s attention away from the beautiful women. Nearly every table was occupied, the waitresses shuffling back and forth with food and drinks to keep up with demand. The hostess smiled, dark eyes only just betraying what a long day it had been and Thatch felt a little ashamed at his momentary gawking. At least he didn’t make a complete ass of himself.

“Table for two, please.” Marco smiled brightly, holding up his hand in greeting. Thatch reflexively smiled as well, taking in the delicious smell of what seemed to be soup. Perhaps the special of the day? He couldn’t wait to try it!

The woman, glanced down at her podium and frowned, marker hovering over what must have been the seating chart. Crescent shaped shark tail swaying with a hint of anxiety before she looked up at them.

“I can seat you two now but… perhaps you’d prefer to wait another fifteen minutes for a different table?” She asked softly, her voice sad as she glanced over her shoulder to what appeared to be the only open area.

There was a corner booth and the surrounding two booths and table were empty. In the corner booth was a small child in a booster seat, head buried in their arms with fluffy white hair jerking. Clearly, they were crying. Paper and crayons scattered in front of them with a neglected cup near their elbow. Thatch frowned, heart aching for the poor kid.

He understood why the tables were empty, though not why the kid was crying for so long the busy café effectively bubbled them in isolation.

“Aw, are they okay?” Thatch came closer to the hostess and asked with concern, keeping his voice down. The mermaid sighed.

“That’s Melody. My niece. She’s… having a hard time right now.” She looked at them, gaze lingering on Marco’s tattoo openly displayed before she relaxed. “Fisher Tiger was her uncle… my foolish brother went to take revenge and left Melody with Jinbe. There’s something wrong with her teeth but no dentist will see her so he’s out trying to find someone that will.” Thatch felt his face fall.

Oh, the poor kid. Thatch could remember having a toothache when he was young and couldn’t understand how his whole face hurt that much from just a little bit of bone.

“Why won’t they see her?” Marco asked, ever the doctor even when he was out of the med bay. The hostess squirmed, uncomfortable and upset.

“Mostly, it’s because she’s… half. But it’s also dangerous… look, do you want to wait or not?” she asked, abruptly changing the subject while they reeled that the kid was half human. “It’ll be about fifteen minutes before another table is empty.”

“Can we sit with her?” Thatch asked gently. “Maybe we can’t do anything about her teeth, but some company might be nice while you’re busy.”

Sure, they weren’t really that skilled in taking care of kids, but there was no way they could wait around while one was crying her eyes out. They weren’t monsters, like apparently all the dentists on the island were.

The hostess though, narrowed her eyes at them. Weighing them individually until she looked back one last time to the poor kid. She snatched up two menus and jerked her head for them to follow.

When she got to the table, she leaned over and brushed aside the girl’s hair, nearly whispering.

“Hey, pup. Would you like company while I work? These two are Whitebeard Pirates, they’re friends of King Neptune.” Thatch looked over at the half finished drawings. Vaguely recognizing the waitress by her crescent tail. There was a few of what may be a man with a jagged nose he also faintly recognized, accompanied by a caricature of the kid in question and a big, blue ball in a robe.

There was a red man with black hair scribbled over harshly, paper scrunched up into nearly a ball that, given the context, may very well be the poor girl’s uncle.

The girl sniffled, lifting her head to look at them curiously. Gray skin a ruddy red with the brightest ruby eyes he’d ever seen between thick clumps of bangs tipped black like her fingers. Her face was a mess of snot and tears, lips seeming to glow blue as the hostess sighed, pulling out a rag and tenderly wiping her face.

Thatch crouched down, resting his chin on his arms.

“Hey, sweetie. You don’t mind a few pirates joining your table, do you?” Thatch asked softly. She sniffled, looking at his hair curiously.

“…does it grow like that?” she asked hoarsely and Thatch grinned, hearing Marco snort.

“Nah! I—”

“He spends a whole hour fixing his hair like that. Preens all day to make sure it stays in place.” Marco cut him off in amusement. Thatch squawked in protest but the kid giggled, voice watery.

“They’re funny. Like Hat-cha, can they stay, Auntie Shar?” she asked quietly. The woman in question sighed, brushing a hand through the kid’s hair.

“You sure?” she nodded.

“Eating alone isn’t as fun.”

Now that was a sentiment Thatch could get behind.

The hostess gave them a stern look but slid the menus on the opposite side of the booth.

“You’re waitress will be here shortly.” It sounded like a threat.

Probably was.

Thatch could feel eyes on his back as he slid against the wall and picked up the menu.

“I’m Thatch, and this goof is Marco… got any recommendations?” Thatch asked with a charming smile, the kid still crying softly despite her mood clearly lifting with the company.

“The soup is good but ah have ta have clear. Can’t chew right now with my teeth broke. It hurts but auntie lets me drink it with a silly straw.” She informed them with a crooked smile. Thatch nearly winced when he saw several teeth clearly broken. Strangely, bead of blue liquid pooling down the pearly whites. “’M sick too. It sucks.” She pouted.

Thatch’s heart really went out to the poor kid. Sick, dental problems, and mourning? Yikes.

Marco nodded though.

“Soup sounds good. Clear soup is good for you too. I’m sure you’ll get better in no time.” Marco affirmed gently, though he was definitely curious about why she was in a café rather than resting in bed somewhere. Or conked out on medicine until they resolved her teeth. Maybe she was too young to take anything?

Regardless, they mostly minded their business and ordered their food under the watchful eye of an eel-mermaid waitress. Thatch asking if he can draw with the kid while they waited. Thoughtfully, she agreed and offered to share her favorite colors with him if he wanted, which Thatch accepted with the gravitas of being offered kingship. For a toddler, it was about the same anyway.

Marco spent his time picking on Thatch for having worse coloring skills than a toddler—it was a good time.

Even if the food was shit, Thatch would have to say this was his favorite café meal so far.

Until they brought their food and Thatch nearly had a heart attack. The waitress sliding a bowl of nearly clear liquid in front of the kid. Bits of vegetables floating in the mixture, including mushrooms that were incredibly deadly. Deep red with a yellow stem sliced into thin strips, innocently twirling around the silly straw.

Before Thatch could toss the bowl away from the still crying little girl, a hand was shoved in front of his face. Bowl of soup offered to him—poisonous mushroom free.

“Her dietary requirements are a little… different.” The eel-mermaid explained with a look of understanding. “We don’t know what kind of shark she is, but whatever it is, they apparently eat poisonous things regularly. And produce venom—Shyarly spoke of issues getting a dentist? Well, one nick and they’d be risking their lives. Alongside her… heritage, well… it’s no wonder none are jumping to assist.”

“Ah, is that what that blue liquid is? Fascinating?” Marco commented blithely, easily accepting the wild information with intrigue. He looked thoughtful though. Perhaps wondering if his own devil fruit would be helpful.

But Marco was hardly a dentist and intervening without asking the kid’s guardians would go poorly.

Thatch could only imagine how well it would be taken if a grown man just stuck his hand into a toddler’s mouth and started plucking teeth. Thatch grimaced at the mental image and just ate his soup.

It was good. Savory and clearly well made.

He’d need to ask after the recipe! His family would love it!

#one piece #platonic yandere #a lone melody #one piece oc #one piece thatch #one piece marco #one piece hody jones #one piece jinbe

[transfemme-sys]

Addressing A Racist Issue In The MOGAI Community (TW : discussion of racism, sexualization, and mentioned SA)

hey. this blog isn't active, and the part behind it isn't active in my system either, but i do still exist. this used to be a MOGAI blog, as i am someone who considered myself (and still do consider myself) a part of the MOGAI community. unfortunately, i kept losing motivation to make flags and the blog has since been abandoned.

that's not what i'm here to discuss. i'm here to talk about an issue i've noticed in the community that has been irritating me for a while : yandere related genders.

for those who don't know, a yandere is a japanese anime trope used to a describe an individual (most often, a woman) who is madly and unhealthily in love with someone, often going to extreme lengths to try and achieve that person's attention.

i am a japanese trans woman with BPD. those who self identify as yanderes most often claim its a label exclusive to those with BPD or OLD, but this is where i see an issue begin. out of everyone i've seen 'reclaiming' this label, *none of them are japanese*. they say the term yandere is harmful against those with BPD and OLD and romanticizes the disorder, which i don't even necessarily disagree with, but here's the thing; the term yandere, most often, is used to sexualize, oppress, and stereotype japanese women. i have experienced things like this myself, firsthand, and i'm sure i'm not the only one out there.

we are fetishized, treated like objects of nothing but attraction. every white weeb wants a yandere anime girlfriend, it'd be so cool to be loved like that to them, but they see a japanese woman on the street and catcall her and call her slurs. asian fishing white women love to cosplay yanderes, but constantly steal and appropriate japanese culture without a second thought to it. the white man may joke with his friends about his new japanese girlfriend, calling her kawaii and yandere and unique for showing even the slightest bit of affection and love for him.

i have never been called a yandere for my BPD. i have seen myself and plenty of others be called yanderes for being japanese. it is, in my opinion, not your term to reclaim. you are not viewed inescapably as 'nekos', 'lolis' 'anime girls', and yes, 'yanderes' in the way that we are. you are not sexually assaulted and harassed and hatecrimed for your BPD like we have been.

i ask, respectfully, that non japanese people stop self identifying with this term. please help spread awareness to this issue with me, share this post in any way you can. i am tired of experiencing constant racism even in safe spaces like the MOGAI community, and i ask that you help me bring an end to it.

thank you, and please be mindful of your actions.

#actually mogai #lgbtq #mogai #mogai safe #xenogender #gender coining #east asian #genderyandere #liom gender #pro mogai

[wander-wren]

almost escaped the anti-ao3 posts this donation round but of course today i get smacked with a few, so i go hunting for this year’s arguments, which, as expected, touch a lot on palestine.

what i’m seeing here is a shitton of inflammatory language and very few sources, and even fewer sources that aren’t screenshots of That One Tweet. most of the arguments from both sides are made on things that aren’t entirely true. i dislike this. so let’s clear the air a bit, hm?

1) ao3 is a racist/zionist organization

ao3 has had its scandals, including the 2023 management scandal in its full glory, which you can read about at the linked fanlore article. that covers several different areas where ao3 messed up. i will not defend these instances. i will, however, point out that very few of the current anti-ao3 posts mention them.

additionally, there is this fanlore article specifically about the issue wherein a volunteer was told to remove “from the river to the sea, palestine will be free” from their status, which is the singular piece of evidence referenced for ao3’s zionism. it has been spread that the otw banned or kicked out this volunteer, which is untrue; they left voluntarily. the otw also offered to allow the volunteer in question to change the status to “i stand with palestine,” communicating the same message in a less polarizing way.

you are allowed to dislike this decision. i do. but the otw slack is first and foremost a professional space, and they are within their rights to ask for political discussion to be kept out—or, in this case, to a politics channel so it can be opted out of. i am not currently aware of anyone having asked the otw board to ban or otherwise address pro-israel sentiments in the slack server, so i cannot actually make any statements about unequal decisions, because those decisions were not made.

ultimately i do not disagree that otw/ao3 have made poor choices rooted in racism in the past, but i also believe many of these posts discussing it now are performative, inflammatory, and misleading, which is not helpful

2) donating to ao3 during a genocide is bad/selfish/racist/etc

there are always problems in the world. this is literally the same argument as every previous year with new paint on it. people can care about more than one thing.

3) ao3 is a scam/mismanages money/gets more than they need/is horrible for not paying volunteers

here is a post i made last year breaking down ao3’s budget. what’s funny is, i saw a post going on for paragraphs about how they “calculated” that ao3 has 2.8 million in reserves (assuming their 2023 numbers shook out, it is like $1.5 million at best. these numbers are public and easy to find) and that they have “no idea” what to do with it and are deliberately not being transparent about it (they have publicly stated in news posts exactly what that money is for).

one very confusingly-worded post seemed to argue that it is morally wrong to have volunteer library workers, which is the same as ao3? something about master’s degrees? i just thought that was funny because. like. what. do you think the volunteers are the ones with a master’s in library science, friend?

also, people have said it’s a scam because they don’t update the site, and i’m like….what do you want them to update, exactly? i just want more tags wrangled. i suppose that translates to me wanting an update on the servers or whatever bit of hardware is limiting the tag system. otherwise i don’t see why you have to fix a good thing.

4) ao3 hosts evil bad fanfiction

ah, the age-old “child porn” argument. or racism is a big one this year. do i have to get into this one? it’s so goddamn annoying. just read the about page or a wiki article with your eyes. anti-censorship. yada yada yada. also, if you use the phrase “child porn” i do not respect you or take you seriously.

okay, first of all, fanfiction does not meet the definition of csam. it’s fanfiction. it’s fiction. there are tags for a reason. none of it is illegal. most of it has been published in real books for money before. you can hate it, but it deserves to exist, and with the way explicit material is getting deleted off the internet (see: wattpad’s new policies, google drive’s new policies), ao3 is a last bastion in the storm.

5) you should check out end-otw-racism for more helpful info

honestly i thought this movement was dead by now, but i’ve seen a lot of it mentioned today so i went to check. some things i found, scrolling alllll the way back to august:

a pinned post from SEVEN months ago that is several paragraphs of back-patting from the mods about how much “work” and “goals” have been accomplished and how grateful they are to the community. no mention whatsoever of what those goals were or what specifically was accomplished. also says the mods are going on break for a while, which presumably is still in effect

a few posts about the otw’s board meetings for various months, each rehashing how a board meeting runs and when the next one is being held. no information about what questions or comments the organization wants to focus on for each meeting or specific actions supporters should take

post about substack being a nazi site now (this is the only post i fully respect)

more board meeting reminders of no substance

a post reviewing the board elections, going over each candidate. the post acknowledges that no candidates mentioned the campaign or its specific goals, and instead grasps at vaguely related topics as if to show the volunteers are listening to them and they have done something

more board meeting reminders

a post about an update to the board’s strategic plan for 2023, which also acknowledges that the update does not really do anything end-otw-racism wanted it to do. many instances of “could have been a great opportunity to” do what they wanted. this one DOES finally state eotwr’s “recommendations” for the next strategic plan update, which literally all boil down to “more transparency,” which i suppose is fair enough

absolutely NO mention of palestine whatsoever

post on the weibo scandal, which is fine but generic, and again, not something brought up ever again despite being made in AUGUST

here i will give you a reminder that some of eotwr’s goals, particularly the ones around moderation and censorship, were unrealistic given the otw’s mission. while i believe eotwr started with good intentions, it seems to have rapidly dissolved into something performative and did not have solid enough organization to actually make any difference. their silence on palestine (and they are still posting despite the “break”) also makes bringing them up in convos about otw’s potential zionist leanings very weird.

at the end of the day, support ao3 or don’t. your morals and reasonings are your own. just don’t lie about them in ways that can be easily disproved, mkay?

this discourse also made me realize it’s been a minute since i reblogged a proper donations masterpost for palestine, so i am on the hunt for a good, up-to-date one now. feel free to link me any you know of.

#ao3 #anti ao3 #pro ao3 #otw #otw board #wren wrambles #wren attempts fucking nuance on the piss on the poor website #i’m problem going to regret posting this but fuck it #stop spreading misinformation #and maybe i wouldnt have to

[blackautmedia]

There's this whole thing going around about there being "white favoritism" in the TOH community. Basically, the gist of the argument is that the TOH fandom is racist because of how it gravitates toward white characters (Amity, Hunter, and Eda just to name a few) over the none white ones. It's died down a bit but some people are still complaining about it (cough cough LO cough cough).

Personally, I think this is complete bullshit since 1) there are reasons people like these characters that have nothing to do with racism and 2) Luz is still like. A really popular and beloved character within the fandom, but since you talk a lot about racism in media and fandoms I want to know your opinion on this; do you think the TOH fandom has a white favoritism problem like some people say it does?

Sorry in advance for the novel, but I wanted to make sure I'm clear about this.

I don't really take part closely in fandom spaces and didn't/don't participate in TOH fandom, but I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that most fandom spaces including TOH have an issue with racism and white favoritism.

Offhand a few of the ways people talked about Camila for the longest time calling her a bad or manipulative parent when while imperfect her actions were pretty reasonable given her circumstances come to mind.

I think the show itself runs into issues too that I've talked about before, but the only time I feel harsh criticism is only warranted is in situations where works are created with active hostility in mind.

Shows like Family Guy and South Park and all the bigotries they bring don't come from a well-meaning place and the people responsible for continuing to make them deserve scorn. If creators openly espouse their bigotries or abuses, then they deserve far less grace.

But I don't get that impression from the TOH crew at all, so I feel at worst it should be taken as a "this was likely done carelessly, not from a place of harm and if this was pointed out to them they'd likely be receptive to feedback" and to communicate criticisms with that fact in mind.

I think the other question to ask is "what is your motivation behind your critique?" One of the biggest guiding principles I live by and incorporate into my beliefs and politics is that you need to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor and your communication needs to reflect that.

Bringing up bigotries like that should be a call to make spaces more inclusive and accessible to the people pushed out and mistreated within them and to help people think more critically about how what we engage with influences how we think about non-fictional scenarios when we're bombarded with an idea countless times.

That means we center building up people whose voices go not listened to or center around addressing their needs. Outside the discussion of fandom spaces, this is a lot of the same problem I have with a lot of performative leftist politics in that it feels like some are more interested in finding a socially acceptable enough person or idea to ridicule and build their presence off that ridicule.

Someone baseline can arrive at a reasonable conclusion but still have behavior that displays a disdain for the people that make it relevant in the first place rather than making criticism designed for betterment for a person, people or a community.

So when I say that fandoms have a racism problem I say that to mean people should take that as a call to come at it from a place of genuinely caring about the people it negatively affects and to adjust communication accordingly.

That can apply to criticizing how people within a fandom space talk about the work they're reacting to, how they review the work especially since there are obviously real people that have to make it, and what place you're coming from in talking about it.

I have more of a "pick your battles" mindset because I feel like discourse and reviews should take more consideration into the number of animators, producers, etc. striking for better work conditions, the advent of AI being used to de-value labor and exploit people with theft, the lack of covid protections in place in these work spaces, and the inaccessibility for more oppressed people in the space that in turn affects not just the art itself but most importantly the well-being of the people working there and those who can't work that don't have access to the space or are disabled.

To me it's a form of criticism, but one rooted in care and concern for others if that makes sense, something I feel can be lacking in these conversations.

That's where I feel these conversations would be more productive and why it's valuable to listen to people coming at it from a place of genuinely wanting to better a community.

It's fresh on my mind, so I think another good example of what I feel is a bit of a misogynistic framing is how a lot of reviews in the Regular Show fandom talk about CJ. Specifically the idea that she has a "temper problem" or anger issues and then the cited examples are largely reasonable situations that leave out the way she's seriously mistreated by her boyfriend.

You can look up several review or discussion videos talking about the season 6 love triangle that will say she's jealous and jumps to conclusions for driving off angrily when Mordecai hugs Margaret in a non-romantic context, but leave out the part that he was there on the advice of a misogynistic dating coach to ask Margaret to communicate to CJ in his place instead of just being honest with her all of which happened after he faked getting hit by a car to try and trick her into feeling bad for him.

It's CJ with the problem, CJ has anger issues, she has a temper, not "Mordecai was awful to her and she was upset about it."

I do think that there's a lot of issues of misogyny in how the Regular Show fandom engages with the series.

But I think a more constructive way of looking at the situation is less focused on ridiculing people who think that CJ has "anger issues" and more to get people to question the way they think about women's behavior, which can then be applied outside the scope of a cartoon discussion.

Dozens of other series also have women/girls who are treated with far more scrutiny and the reasons behind that. So as someone who enjoys talking about this stuff all the time, I find that what stance you take is only part of the equation and how you frame and communicate your criticisms or praises is just as important.

I don't have much of a platform, but that's a major thing I hope comes across in how I speak to others.

I don't think it's wrong to say that most fandoms have problems with racism and specifically Anti-Blackness, but I think we also should prioritize and center better voices to discuss it.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Due to fandom complains about abuse and racism against the black characters (I'm absolutely NOT denying it or trying to justify something or blaming the black characters for anything), do you think the writers are going to tone down Armand a little bit, make him more likeable, less dark/abusive, because he's played by a POC actor?

Hey nonny!

No.

And I (personally) wouldn't want them to either.

I think it is good that they put their finger into the wound. None of what we saw was a coincidence. They should have put the warnings up, I'll give you that. But apart from that? No. (Re)Making Louis (and Claudia) black in a color-conscious way had to address the inherent racism within the relationship-setup and setting. I've talked at length how there are layers and layers to consider in analyzing it all - but I'll say it again - I applaud them for going there. Not many shows dare to. And the discussions are (obviously) needed. In regards to Armand we already see that they're not going to shy away from that either.

Armand is (a) muslim now. And POC. High-fucking-five. (I've seen and reblogged posts explaining much better than I could that this fits actually quite well.) Anne was very much stuck in and on Christianity (for a lot of reasons obviously), and while her handling of these topics is often very thought provoking it is also quite limited. Armand will be able to bring aspects into the tale now that were previously impossible to address - forced religious transitioning in cults, for example. Again, nothing here is a coincidence, and neither is Assad's casting (and I also think he fits soooo well and does a HELL of a job already.) The Vampire Chronicles are full of characters that are very far from one-dimensional. Morally gray dipped in blood. All of them. I hadn't hoped they'd go for the throat with this show tbh. It's what makes it so uncomfortable and brilliant, and... very modern, even. The next season will show whether they can hold it up (I'm a bit Witcher jaded).

But I hope they will.

Oh, and I am crossing my fingers that we'll get even more POC recasts. WITH the color-conscious (and religion-conscious/setting-conscious) approach - not the blind one.

#asks #thank you nonny #iwtv #interview with the vampire #my two cents #racism #religion #color conscious casting #season 2 #ask nalyra

[arse-blathanna]

what kind of relationship do you think roche has with non-humans in general? do you think he despise them, hates them or doesn't consider them admirable beings? or none of those things? from what we have in game he seems to be pretty chill with them and his hatred is only targeted towards scoia'tael (which is still bad) but i don't know...(also out of topic love your yenralt fics <3)

(before I go on a massive tangent or twenty, I'm happy to hear that you like my yenralt fics <3)

First off I have to apologize for making you wait, anon. I wanted to give this answer a proper rundown but I didn't have the Spoons to do it earlier. Not to mention writing long replies on mobile sucks and I hate doing them that way. So sorry for the wait, hope this answer will satisfy you. Also buckle in, this ended up significantly longer than it needed to be so I'm putting most of the answer under a cut. Hope that's alright, anon.

TLDR: Roche is not particularly concerned with the rights of non-humans either way, his problem is with scoia’tael methodology more than anything else. However despite not having any particular interest either way he’s also surrounded by racism as background noise and doesn’t show any particular problem with it. It’s just not what he’s interested in. In Roche’s own words, Temeria, that’s what matters.

Content warning for sexual assault later down in the post.

My point of view on Roche's relationship to nonhumans is that it’s well, complicated. Mostly because the only times we see him really dealing with them is in the context of fighting Iorveth and his men. Outside of that context (and the driving force there is always much more heavily focused on Scoia'tael Bad than anything else) it isn't a topic that actually comes up that much.

His core character trait, above all else, is his patriotism, whether that comes in the form of intense loyalty to Foltest, going on a warpath to save Anais, or doing anything and everything that it takes to see Temeria survive another day. Fighting the Scoia’tael is just a part of fulfilling that goal, not really the whole of his interests or motivations. That's not to say that Roche is making good choices, or right choices, or just choices.

He's very much a character who can lean back on the line of "I was just following orders" with regards to fighting the scoia'tael and pacifying Mahakam, whatever that might have looked like. Could he defy those orders? Maybe, possibly. Probably not since we're shown pretty consistently that the punishment for desertion is death and that's all over the games and the books. Not that Roche exists in those books, but it's a line of consistency across the books-games canon we can refer to.

If you're familiar with the concept of the banality of evil as proposed by Hannah Arendt, I think it's a good angle to examine Roche from but I'm also not at all qualified to have that discussion. At all. Still worth considering, if you're willing to do some extracurricular reading for your fandom horseshit. Worth reading regardless, actually.

Anyways, back to our man with the stupid hat. His core goal is Temeria's stability, and that's shown to us consistently throughout Witcher 2 and 3 (though because we know that Iorveth was demoted to Cut Content in Witcher 3 it's likely that there was quite a bit for Roche regarding the Scoia'tael and evolving motivations that we just never got to see, just to address that particular elephant in the room.)

We're told that the Blue Stripes are meant to be the human equivalent of the Scoia'tael. Misguided, needlessly brutal, extremists who have a habit of leaving a bloody smear wherever they go. The Scoia'tael are considered in-universe to be a terrorist organization. I think it's this, above all else, that Roche is opposed to because if his core goal is Temeria's stability, a terrorist organization is a pretty big threat to that.

Yes, their cause is good, but their methods are poor and routinely lead to non-humans who aren't part of their cause being punished disproportionately because of assumed connections. We see this in Witcher 2 with the gallows scene. Of the four people on the gallows, only 1 isn't assumed to be scoia'tael and that's Dandelion. Zoltan and the two others? All assumed to be members of this group. Zoltan has in fact been contacted by Iorveth's commando, but also specifically turned down the offer of a command. Still treated as a member regardless by Loredo's men.

If you take Roche's path in Witcher 2, Zoltan doesn't end up loving the experience, but he does end up hanging around the Blue Stripe's camp until there's the chance to cross the fog with Geralt. So at the very least Roche is willing to offer accommodations to a non-human, and when it comes to Geralt he's pretty genuine (if wary) and even friendly.

Since it’s the one time where we see Roche really involved with fighting Scoia’tael, let’s talk about Flotsam actually. There’s clearly history where he’s been there before, but we aren’t told much about it other than that Roche is harsh with the Scoia’tael, he and Iorveth have been going at it for at least four years, and both have some massive hate-ons for each other. The plight of non-humans in Flotsam is poor, Loredo’s men police them heavily, and most live outside the city walls. The non-humans in Lobinden and Flotsam also consider Iorveth and his men to be extremists, with Cedric in particular having left that life. To say that they’re saviors to the people they claim they’re protecting in the eyes of those people is a bit of a stretch.

Roche and his men show back in Flotsam on the only lead they have in Foltest’s murder. Roche is in work-mode, his main interest in the Scoia’tael being that Iorveth is involved in assassinating Foltest (that Iorveth and the scoia’tael are being used isn’t on anyone’s radar quite yet.) He’s not particularly interested in getting Iorveth and lets his men harass the locals, destroying shrines and whatnot. He doesn’t take issue with Loredo for his treatment of the non-humans, but he does take issue with the man’s willingness to sell Flotsam to Kaedwen, thus compromising an important port along Temeria’s border. It’s that which makes him act to take action against Loredo, nothing else. 

Even with the issue of Moril, the elf woman who Loredo kidnapped (and if I remember correctly is implied to not be a unique case) and her baby, Roche is more or less indifferent. With Moril dead, the baby is left behind. Roche doesn’t particularly care what happens to the baby, referring to it as a half-breed and only wondering who might take it in. Geralt’s the one who makes sure that the baby ends up somewhere safe. Roche has gotten what he wants, Loredo is dead and Temeria is safe from him and the Kaedweni spy he was consorting with.

In chapter two if the player chose Iorveth, Roche’s anger isn’t directed towards Geralt hanging around elves, it’s that he’s chosen “a group of thieves and bandits.” That’s what he thinks of the scoia’tael. If you take Roche’s path instead, he goes to Vergen to fight, but he’s not looking to fight the non-humans in Vergen so much as he is with Geralt trying to figure out what’s going on with the sorceresses and Henselt. Where he has the chance to gut Henselt as an act of revenge, if Geralt chooses to let him.

Speaking of that act of revenge, we should probably talk about Ves and what his most trusted person in the universe being Ves has to say about both of their characters. Because we know that Ves would follow Roche anywhere, and we know that Roche will fight tooth and nail to make sure she survives.

If anyone has good reason to hate the scoia’tael and elves, it’s Ves. She’s been through absolute hell, with her backstory implying that after her entire family and village was slaughtered by a scoia’tael commando, she was taken and kept as a sex slave as a teenager and only escaped because Roche and the Blue Stripes found her. He took her under his protection which is enough to earn a great deal of loyalty, but it’s not as though there aren’t shared values. Here’s what she says on this topic:

GERALT: Is your hatred towards the Scoia'tael some sort of revenge?

VES: You don't know me, Geralt. Human or nonhuman - it makes no difference to me. We were chosen to fight the Scoia'tael, and that's the mission we pursue. To me, the Scoia'tael are but bandits hiding out in the woods. If there were humans among them, I'd kill them in a flash just the same.

Not exactly the words of someone who categorically hates elves.

That’s not to say that Roche isn’t surrounded by people who dislike elves, because he definitely is. It’s the background noise of the Blue Stripes, it’s one of his men spitting at the sight of a half-elf baby. He gives his men free reign to terrorize Flotsam and only seems to tighten the leash when they’re camped directly alongside a Kaedweni camp. Whatever his feelings on the topic are, he’s not compelled enough to stop this behavior. Common folk hate the Blue Stripes, and that’s because of how they behave, and that behavior is allowed under Roche’s command.

Compared to the characters that we know do actually hate non-humans Roche is pretty pale by comparison. When it comes to Radovid and the Witch Hunters, he’s directly opposed to them (though again, his interest isn’t necessarily non-human rights as much as it is Temeria.) He’s not as bad as Loredo is, we don’t actually see him ever going out of his way to punish elves or dwarves. He’s against the Scoia’tael, but otherwise... just indifferent.

The best point of comparison to Roche’s character is probably Black Rayla in Thronebreaker and Witcher 1, and even compared to her (who is, at least according to CDPR’s canon a half-elf) Roche comes off as significantly more lax where non-humans are concerned. And even Rayla claims to be opposed to scoia’tael as opposed to non-humans.

Indifference in situations like this gives power to the oppressor rather than the oppressed, but that’s where he is. Is it right? No. But it’s where he is.

Lastly I just want to talk about the function of writing Roche in this way from a more Doylist perspective which is: if you make a character that Geralt (i.e. the player) is meant to possibly side and sympathize with, you can’t make them too much of a bastard. It’s a pattern that we see in the two witcher games where Geralt is asked to pick a side between Scoia’tael and Temeria/Order of the Flaming Rose. The elf commanders are usually assholes, but their position is that they’re trying to save their race from extinction.Despite Iorveth and Yaevinn being mean, they’re automatically sympathetic due to their cause.

On the other hand we have Roche and Siegfried of Denesle, who are on the wrong side. To make the player sympathize with them, it’s a matter of sympathizing with their characters as opposed to their cause. For instance, if you want players to sympathize with the Order, you’re asking the player (and by extension, Geralt) to be on board with a guy who time traveled and decided that the best way to stop the White Frost was to do some genocide. If Siegfried himself, your main point of contact is sympathetic, it’s not as hard of a pill to swallow (and even at the end of Witcher 1, Siegfried himself is directly opposed to the Order’s apparent endgoal.)

Roche’s cause isn’t as bad as the Order’s, to be clear. But he’s still in the wrong where the rights of non-humans are concerned. His focus is on maintaining a certain status quo, at least until he goes off the deep end and gets driven by a little revenge. The scoia’tael and his conflict with Iorveth are set dressing, it’s just not what he’s about. He wants to protect his kingdom and his people. He wants to serve Foltest and his crown, and protect what’s left of his line. Nothing else.

Because as Vernon says in Witcher 3: Who cares about the Scoia’tael anymore? Temeria- that’s what matters.

#ask #anonymous #vernon roche #the witcher games #the witcher

[beatrice-otter]

Signal boost: "Be more democratic, be more autocratic, OTW" by chestnut_pod

Holy cow, you guys, go read chestnut_pod's amazing meta about democracy, infrastructure, the OTW, and anti-racism, it is incredibly insightful and is making points that are really important about the OTW's internal structure and how it works against any change (even changes everyone agrees are good and right and necessary). chestnut_pod has a ton of practical experience in organizing community groups, and it shows. For some background: the entire OTW was started by Astolat and her friends. They were (and are) a group of very competent and dedicated people, and that's awesome! but none of them had experience with managing large groups of people, or organizing groups at a large scale, and holy cow it showed. When AO3 started growing beyond what their small cadre could reasonably handle, things started getting dicey behind the scenes. None of the policies and procedures scaled up very well, they didn't listen to people outside their own sphere, there was huge burnout among volutneers, incredible lack of transparency, and a whole host of other problems. This led to major conflict over elections in 2011 and 2015 (the 2015 election was pretty wild), the latter of which ended with the entire existing board flouncing in a huff which allowed a whole new cadre to come in, and many of that completely-new-board had experience with large nonprofits. Things have been better since. But, and this is the crucial bit, there was no restructuring of the organization. The people running those structures knew way more about how to competently administer large organizations than the previous group had. But the structures were still the same ones that had been fine back when AO3 was tiny and just getting started, but really need to be updated and modernized. And that's never happened! There is no transparency, there is almost no accountability, and if Astolat-and-company didn't foresee something as being a potential problem back in 2008 there's no way of making sure it gets handled unless it is some volunteer's pet project and something they can do by themselves with minimal support. chestnut_pod does a great job of laying out why this is a problem, why it's getting in the way of anti-racism initiatives and everything else the OTW wants to do, and what could be done about it. Here are some of my favorite bits:

(when dealing with large groups of people) It is impossible to have really free and fair elections without proper representative structures. Those representative structures will sometimes mean that the people you elect are going to make decisions in the moment that you don't like. But those same structures will ensure that, when the next election rolls around, there is something you can do about that. In the absence of representative democracy and structures that channel a large base into smaller, more nimble, but inherently rotating, core of decision-makers and buck-stoppers, "direct democracy" ends up just looking like an equally small group of decision-makers undemocratically decided upon via inertia, a group who can't be easily ousted, but who also can't make decisions quickly when called for. The worst of both worlds! It is my impression that this is absolutely what happened within the OTW wrt the 2020 statement. (For what it's worth, I think it has happened in the past with things like "podfic streaming" and "dealing with certain spam works" -- it's just that those were far less consequential problems and so didn't gain this much traction or attention when the OTW failed to quickly and adequately address them.) Again, credit where it is due: the OTW has a very complicated job which they never really expected to grow to this scale. It was founded by a small group of people who all knew each other and had similar positions on most matters. It was the late naughts. All of this is true, and also, it's now 2023, the AO3 specifically is enormous, and the world has changed! It is simply not workable any longer to have some committee chairs who are not elected and have no term limits, no easy onboarding for new volunteers, and no clear hierarchy between the Board and the committees and between the committees themselves. ... In short, each of the broken-down problems begs a certain number of questions, the answers to which we do not know, because the OTW has either not seen fit to try to answer them, or has never shared their answers broadly. This is a major problem either way, and I think it is the first thing that needs to happen, because having accurate knowledge is the first step to solving any problem, much less one as complex and multifaceted as the multiple facets of racism as they appear in OTW spaces. Having a good grasp on what the problems really are, whom they most affect, and how, is fundamental to enacting solutions that actually help, and, at the very least, proceeding with the knowledge of how these solutions are incomplete and imperfect, as they inevitably will be. ... I think where the OTW has fallen down most is in not making that space to hear and listen. A lot of the solutions people propose out there in the wide Internet -- most notably anything about new mandatory tags of in-fic content moderation -- get shot down immediately as impossible. As I argued in the previous section, I don't think we actually know what is or isn't possible, because the OTW has done a terrible job telling us clearly what the impediments are to a variety of proposed fixes. Moreover, the discussion around those suggestions easily becomes acrimonious. Moderation isn't a dirty word; it's vital to having constructive conversations. Just like how having representative structure makes a space more democratic, moderation makes speaking out more democratic, because in an unmoderated space, the loudest voices drown out the rest.

comments Comment? https://ift.tt/MlAIq4r

#dreamwidth #original post

[meanmisscharles]

my promised update on WEDNESDAY having now watched all of it:

the black characters are not actually all villains. in fact, none of them are villains. there are three real villains in the show and they're all white.

THAT SAID, i understand why someone who watched the first episode would've been like 'fuck no' because both prominent black characters are positioned as antagonists in it.

the most significant black character is BIANCA the queen bee at wednesday's school. she's super competitive and good at everything and so is wednesday so she's positioned as a rival. (her ex-boyfriend is also into wednesday.) however within a few episodes she and wednesday have had a Moment of Connection, the rivalry is dropped, and you get bianca emotional arcs and backstory and shit and she gets her hero moments during the climax of the season.

the next most prominent is LUCAS who is part of a group of townie kids who beef with the kids from the school wednesday attends. he and his (white) friends have an altercation w/ wednesday in the first episode then he's basically The One With Second Thoughts through a few later things, at one point changing his mind about pulling a prank and then being overridden by his friends. he's also given a little bit of an emotional arc and you're clearly meant to empathize with him.

the other major black character is lucas's father NOBLE who's the mayor of the town. he gets less screentime than lucas and bianca and he starts off vaguely shady and is presented as someone who has made moral compromises, but so is literally every other adult as part and parcel of it essentially being a YA murder mystery, but it's eventually revealed that he's also trying to solve the murders/protect everyone. there IS one deeply egregious scene w/ him but that's more pursuant to:

the actual biggest issue with the show in terms of race is that it does the dumbfuck fantasy racism bullshit with "outcasts" (supernatural people) and "normies" (regular humans) and presents that as the axis of oppression on which everything turns. and it does this while simultaneously trying to do this constant commentary on not whitewashing historical sins, but other than a few lines acknowledging stuff like how awful the pilgrims were to native americans it doesn't actually engage with any real oppression. just fake racism. this, plus the fact that mayor casting was clearly colorblind and then given no further thought, leads to a scene where he told by morticia WITH HER WHOLE CHEST that "men like him" never had to deal with authorities not believing them lolololololololololol.

so yeah verdict, not actually targeted antiblackness. bianca is a cool interesting character. lucas is fine. you're meant to extend all the same empathy to the black characters as everyone else. but the show is still dumb as fuck about race in the classic I Am Going To Do An Allegory While Ignoring The Real Shit I Could Easily Address Instead way.

THANK YOU! This is so helpful, because I can't with the Anti-Blackness anymore.

😙

[aro-comics]

Hello everyone. I wanted to take a moment to address something I found while cleaning up my files recently. As the title says, I mistakenly made a flag that was not for me to make, and I would like to apologize as well as attempt to make amends for this mistake.

Two years ago, I made the flag shown in the title image, which was meant to be a “POC Solidarity Flag”. At the time, I was under the impression that “POC Solidarity Flags” a means of showing solidarity with “POC”* (see note at end) members of the LGBTQ+ community, recognizing the added difficulties that people who belong to both of these groups may face. I had seen multiple people make/share these types of flags, and at the time I did not find any official documentation or source on which version was the original, or what the definition concretely was.

It was for this reason I decided to make an aromantic version of this flag; I thought since none existed yet and I was a “POC”, it would be okay to make this flag as a show of solidarity. However, upon further reflection and re-examining the origins of the flag and its use with more thorough research, I’ve realized that’s not the case.

I found a thread from the original artist (to my knowledge) who designed these flags – twitter user frogwhomp. I’ve included a screenshot of the original tweets in my notes at the end, but in essence these flags were created as a way to show solidarity with the black and black LGBTQ+ community. I found a different source where another twitter user references the flags in part of its statement as a way of supporting LGBTQ+ “POC” and express acceptance, solidarity, and intersectionality, which is what most likely led to my initial impression. However, this is not the original intent of the designs and this is one reason I do not think it was appropriate for me as a nonblack individual to create this flag. I know that my experience of being a “POC” is not the same as those experienced by black people.

The second reason is that these flags were most widely adopted (to my knowledge) in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, which sparked not only outrage and grief for this tragedy, but (the much belated) mainstream awareness of the impacts of systemic racism. The timing behind the creation of this flag, considering that the violence impacting black communities is why this flag was used more widely, is something that does not feel appropriate. I don't remember why I thought this was appropriate at the time; I remembered seeing nonblack individuals making the solidarity flags and the description of supporting “POC” lgbt+ people in general that I had referenced earlier. I guess I thought it was a good way to show solidarity, but I realize now that this was flawed reasoning.

I am very sorry for doing this. I know that despite my regret and lack of intention to cause harm, making this flag was disrespectful and harmful – this decision perpetuated the ways in which nonblack individuals take up space meant for black people.

Although it will not undo my actions, I want to try to make up for this mistake. Any black aros who would like me to help share their designs for a solidarity flag, or just their accounts and work in general, please let me know and I will coordinate! (I am best reached through Instagram, I check my dms and requests regularly there).

In conclusion – I just wanted to publicly address this. I know I made a mistake; I can’t tell any of you how to feel about it or expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted to genuinely apologize. I feel very bad about doing this, and I’m sorry for letting you down. I promise I will be much more thoughtful with my actions, and review my work more thoroughly from now on. 

*About the term POC:

There has been discussion about whether to use the term POC at all anymore, because it generalizes the vastly different experiences of people who are not white (BIPOC is a bit more commonly used, however there are still some that object to this term as well). This is something that has been brought to my attention more recently, and while I do not believe I have the ability to explain the entire discussion properly, I have included a link to an article that covers this topic in more depth.

Screenshots:

Original Screenshots from Frogwhomp's thread

Screenshots of Additional Source