#christian centrism

[dungeonbf]

mfw minor centricide characters

#socialism… christian conservative… anti-centrism #we could be dating 🙄 #idk i’m particularly fixated on anti-centrism and socialism rn #ancom.txt

[magnoliamyrrh]

what Is fair to say about american christians is that while many of them have very big persecution complexes, constantly going on about how "christianity in america is being attacked" by whatever (the catholics are frankly rly the only ones with a right to complain abt christian treatment in america), they Do Not Care when christians around the world Are Actually Being horribly opressed: ie palestinian christians and armenian christians among others; in part due to american centrism, racism, and the lack of acknowledging even of orthodox christians and sometimes even catholics as christians

their lack of outrage at the systemic murder of two of the worlds oldest christian communities is very telling

[spacelazarwolf]

Re: “culturally Christian” as a label for people.

Why not just say “goyim?” And if someone has an opinion rooted in Xianity, say “this opinion is rooted in Crain propaganda/mythology, historically”.

It solves the problems of the American centrism of the term, still deals with the issue of “the people this term applies to don’t deal with antisemitism as an axis of oppression,” does not immediately trigger people (or well, doesn’t trigger people who aren’t already a stones throw from being neo Nazis rather than just religious trauma survivors anyway) and doesn’t have the issue of demanding people who are already rejecting one religious framework of who they are accept your religion’s framework.

because “goyim” isn’t a synonym for “people who were raised christian or perpetuate christonormativity” or “people who don’t deal with antisemitism.” there are a lot of goyim who are not culturally christian, especially who don’t live in the west, and there are a lot of people who do deal with antisemitism who are culturally christian. to say that cultural christianity is “american centric” is to admit that you think christian hegemony and cultural christianity only exist and affect people in the us, which is very much not true.

and i’m gonna be honest, i think y’all’s fixation on semantics is rooted in reluctance to address what we’re actually talking about. you can say it’s about your trauma all you want (as if the people trying to have this conversation aren’t also traumatized both on a personal and communal/cultural level), but i’ve said over and over that your trauma isn’t your fault, it’s your responsibility. but you don’t want that responsibility, so i’ll be setting another boundary in that i will no longer be bickering with people about these semantics. future anons like this will be deleted. i do not have the time or energy for this.

#ask avishai #cultural christianity

[elbiotipo]

re: yankee christmas: As a worldbuilding fundamentalist(tm) what are your thoughts on yank worldbuilders' instinctual need to give all their fictional cultures a Generic Winter Holiday that just happens to involve gift-giving

A very good example of what I've said. They do celebrate Christmas and it has become part of their culture, even if secularized. This is understandable and happens everywhere. Here too: a good part of people, even a majority I would say, use Christmas as a excuse to get with family and party. I won't deny that, because that's not my point.

However, since they are now secularized (yeah, let's say), they tried to turn Christmas into something For Everyone. And since acknowledging the holiday they try to make For Everyone is actually a religious holiday is awkward, they tried to make it about something else... oh, how about winter, WE ALL HAVE WINTER DON'T WE?

And so get into the incredibly incoherence of trying to sell that to the rest of the world because You Gotta Sell, to millions of Christians who also celebrate Christmas but live in tropical and subtropical areas and in a whole hemisphere where the Generic Winter Holiday falls in Summer. And this is how you get corporations selling winter shit in Argentina with 40°C outside. And stuff like Life Day in Star Wars.

Which both shows euro(US?)centrism and christian centrism, because if there's something not lacking among cultures, it's festivals. You can do virtually everything with festivals instead of just making Fantasy Christmas.

Imagine if you made a similar holiday but set in the middle of summer. Perhaps some celebration before a period of fasting? Something with lots of music, partying, playing with water, bright outfits and costumes (skimpy ones too) and tropical stuff. And it would be so funny that they tried to do that as a copy-paste in the other hemisphere while they're deep in winter. Just saying.

#worldbuilding #festivals

[thegaybluejay]

Okay hi I’m back with another ramble-y ATLA character analysis since this is low key my brand on here lmao-

Today I want to talk about Zuko from the lens of someone who also had to deconstruct. This will be long, but please bear with me!

I was raised in a very white conservative evangelical Christian bubble where literally EVERYONE I knew for the majority of my childhood and teenage years thought mostly the same way. There was a lot of othering and shaming of anyone who thought too differently. Even if it was sometimes said more passively than cruelly, there was always that underlying tone. “The others/the people outside of our group/the worldly ones are lost and need our help because we’re better than them!”

While I strived to not be cruel, my beliefs were still harmful. I lost a few friends when I got to my mid-late teenage years because I didn’t yet know how to challenge what I’d been taught.

I see so much of myself in Zuko.

Zuko was surrounded by propaganda his entire life. He was steeped in it - steeped in the blood of those that the system he supported/represented had hurt and killed.

Anger is a huge part of all of this. While my anger was never quite as outward as Zuko’s (I hid it fairly well and was always known as the “pretty good kid”), I can still so heavily relate to his anger. His anger at always falling just short of being good enough or perfect enough. His later anger at himself for not understanding how fucked up the system was sooner. His anger at the people that failed and hurt him. His anger at realizing how he failed and hurt other people. All of it.

I also understand his backslides in Book 2 and early Book 3. When you begin tackling the first layers of harmful shit you’ve been taught, it can quickly become so tempting to just call it quits and go back. You almost start to romanticize the simplicity of life before you began this journey. The rules and goals were so straightforward back then, and deconstructing is messy as hell. Even if you were deeply hurting in your old life, at least you weren’t so damn confused. You used to know your next steps, but now everything is in disarray and you don’t have a direction to rebuild in yet. Going back almost feels like it would be a survival tactic, a way to have a sense of control again. Zuko definitely 100% needed to atone for what he did in Ba Sing Se because it hurt others, and while I’d like to think I would’ve made a different choice in his shoes, I also get it on some level. The confusion stage sucks, and it’s not always linear either.

But then.

One day, something just clicks. You eventually deconstruct enough that you truly come to full terms with how fucked up it all is. And you realize that you don’t belong there anymore, and the version of you that DID belong was just a facade. The blinders fully come off, they’re never going back on, and a spark lights in you that prompts you to make a big change. The deeper you go, the more urgent this deconstruction becomes in your mind because holy fuck I have to do something about this. I want this shit out of my brain for good and I want to help make things better. I want to learn who I am and finally live that out.

THAT is one of the most pivotal points in the journey, and I loved seeing it within Zuko’s arc when he comes to this realization after the war meeting in Book 3 and leaves to join the Gaang. I also loved that they didn’t trust him the first time he came to them - both he as an individual and the system that he had once supported/represented had hurt these people, and it took some real apologies and some time to build up trust. It also wasn’t done with half assed centrism either - it was “I acknowledge that this system is completely broken and wrong and I will do everything in my power to help gut it from the top-down and restore it with love”.

This leads to another pivotal point in the journey - instead of being motivated by fear like you were when you were deep in the indoctrination or by the raw anger you first felt as you initially left, you start to be motivated by love. And it’s the most freeing thing.

It was so cool to see Zuko learn that, while his anger was a helpful tool (ie: the confrontation with his father and his overall anger at the corruption he saw in his nation), he couldn’t be fueled by it any longer. He had to find another motivation to keep going, and he was then taught by the Sun Warriors and the dragons how to be motivated by light and life and love and also how to use those alongside an anger that was finally righteous.

And with this, he was ready to fight. To fight for a cause he knew to be good. To fight arm in arm with his newly acquired family. To fight to fix what his nation had done to the world and to itself. To fight for love and peace instead of division and hate and destruction.

And wow is it a beautiful journey.

TL;DR - Zuko’s story is so powerful to those who are deconstructing and I love him so much! I also just enjoy doing character analysis hehe.

(I really love talking about ATLA, so if y’all want me to analyze other characters or even plotlines through a specific lens, feel free to submit an Ask and I will happily do so!!!)

(Also, quick ending note - this is just my personal experience with deconstruction! Other people’s retelling of their own deconstructions may be different from mine, and that’s totally okay!!)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #prince zuko #character arcs #i really love zuko guys #deconstruction #deconstructing christianity #exvangelical

[effervescentdragon]

buckle up, because I’m about to go off. So i posted this take this morning, because I was thinking about F1 fandom’s habit and hipocrisy of criticising “third-world” or “middle-eastern” countries about their breach of human rights (no matter how much i personally think most of it is performative, pat-myself-on-the-back-for-being-a-good-human kinda “activism”), while nobody is saying anything about F1 racing in Miami, Florida, which is currently literally one of the worst places to live. to which, as is usual on good ol’ tumblr, i got this ask

i blocked the anon, obviously, but to borrow dear friends’ words “this ask is so american, all it needs is an eagle, a gun, unaffordable healthcare and perhaps a burger”. HOWEVER. i can’t stay silent. i choose violence (metaphorical) these days. my first thought was to reply with “i’d check my privilege but im too busy being able to check my bloodwork with my free healthcare”, which may be a bit tone-deaf and mean. so i outsorced this ask to certain friends (including a full-blooded american and a person from the middle east), and here is a series of screenshots of their responses, because they are wonderful and smart and more verbose than i was this morning, with only one coffee in my blood and irritation level of +billion. their opinions also kind of matter more than my own, because these are their lived experiences. 

now. as i said, and as you can see, these are the lived experiences of my friends, and are therefore also subjective at their core. so lets look at some facts. 

“florida is in the usa, a free, democratic, modern, developed country where protection of human rights is enforced”, i believe you said? ALLRIGHT:

- a bill that passed in florida 10 days ago that allows judges to alter custody agreements if they think one parent might allow gender affirming care

- florida abortion ban after 6 weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest after 15 weeks 

- a transgender sports ban in florida that allows genital inspection of minors, aka children (thank you @lauda4theback​ for finding these links for me)

- USA’s position in the Democratic Index;

- tumblr post with sources made around four days ago with details about just some of the gun violence happening in the US currently;

- BBC article about 160 mass shootings that had happened in 2023 up until April 16th and data from gun-violence archive (which, correct me if im wrong, is singularily an american thing);

- Anti-Trans Bill tracker no 1 and no 2 in the US, which, you know, implies violation of basic human rights;

- banning of books in the us to cripple education and avoid taking responsibility and acknowledging already existing and rampantly rising levels of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and generally what you all like to call “traditional (christian) values” and the rest of the world likes to call “blatant right-wing fascism” - here’s florida specifically (god i hate nyt); 

these are just some of the FACTS about the united states, and they very much speak for themselves. i couldve found a million more sources, but, honestly, i dont feel like waddling through more of the mud that is this country’s awful politics and policies. 

now its time for my opinion. im assuming youre american, because if youre not, thats just... i have no words, then. you can come in here spouting absolute fucking brainwashing propaganda your country does to you on a regular basis, but dont expect me to have to listen to it, and do anything other than laugh derisively. your-us centrism is tiring, scary, and insane, because your country, to me, is little more than a glorified cult. it’s dangerous to the rest of the world for many reasons, not the least the way it permeates every sphere of our public life and pushes american fucking propaganda upon all of us, whether we want it or not, and its absurd and awful fucking military, which i would like to see razed to the ground immediately, but i pity you, anon, for being so absolutely lacking in critical thinking that you actually believe this bullshit that you are spewing. i was trying to criticise our fandom’s way of expressing outrage when it comes to non-western, whatever the fuck that means, countries while simultanously not speaking about or even acknoledging the fact that rapid erosion of democracy in the us has all the markings of the same “dictatorial” regimes we like to be enraged over when it comes to racing in bahrain or jeddah or abu dhabi, except the usa is not being held hostage by a single autocratic dictator but with the republican party which controls the government institutions. that is sometimes the only difference i can see.

i wont speak about human rights in the middle east, because i am not middle-eastern. there’s people who can add their opinions here, and i invite them to do so. i also invite anyone to tell me if i got something wrong, used a wrong source, or said anything that i need to re-check or do more research on. but the bottom line is: for you to take my LEGIT criticism and get offended on behalf of the fucking US instead, well. that says a lot about you and your priorities, doesn’t it?

#rant fucking over #i did go a bit ad hominem there but whatever #im not even getting into the accusation i dont know what kind of atrocities are happening in the world #because its irrelevant here and also laughable #besties will know i guess xD #anways not tagging this with anything except #long post #effervescentdragonrants

[bitegore]

What "culturally Christian" does not mean: "you are Christian forever, you've been permanently tainted and you can never stop being Christian ever because you were touched by Christianity at some point"

What "culturally Christian" is supposed to mean: "this behavior or attitude that you or others hold is filtered through the lens of the dominant religion, in these discussions Christianity, and we are attempting to call attention to that so that you can choose how to engage with it"

Notable issues with the term include: a positively toxic level of America-centrism in discussion, the ever-present "culturally Christian x" strawman, the fact that this is Tumblr and no one has an abundance of good faith any more, a lack of acknowledgement to some degree that cultural Christianity affects everyone exposed to dominant -strain Christianity (some of my local kosher shops are closed on Sundays! Because everything is closed on Sundays! But the Jewish Shabbos is on Saturdays), and the fact that it keeps being treated by people on both sides as a handy attack phrase because this is Tumblr and we misuse words to argue with strangers here. But it's a word about the religion in charge getting into the groundwater where you live and underpinning a lot of the workings of society and philosophy, sometimes in less obvious ways than others, and it's a useful thing to be able to engage with consciously and in good faith with

#atheists are great! people deconstructing their upbringing are great! people who have turned their back on Christianity are literally not #christians! 'culturally christian' sounds VERY loaded to anyone not like. conscious rhat it's not an indictment #i promise the mean online jews and muslims aren't trying to say that baptism is forever or whatever #the discussion needs nuance so badly lmao here. i am attempting to add some #red rambles #cultural christianity

[damnfandomproblems]

Response

Since some people are confused about the christian headcanon ask.

The character im talking about is xiao. From genshin impact. Yknow the character from a region based on china.

"oh well people around the world are christian"

Yes. But no. Fucking. No. This region, liyue, HAS practices that ARE SHOWN based on the practices in the country liyue is based off of. He is an adeptus himself and has learned and trained in these practices for millenia. Worst yet there is another neighboring region with worship practices based on christianity. Practices xiao does not fucking partake in.

You are all braindead in the fact you all immediately tried making excuses for this thing that reeks of ignorance and american centrism without maybe idk considering the fact that maybe the character i was talking about does actually already practice in a way that isnt fucking christianity.

Like i said. Yeah he probably would be religious. But to look at this obviously chinese character, an adeptus no less, a being that IS WORSHIPPED, even shows us himself "adeptal art" that in no way look like anything youd see in the bible, and think he would worship his own god "the christian way"...

It reeks of something i would not touch with two hazmat suits and a football field long poll.

I dont care how big christanity is stop fucking assuming everyone and everything is christian. They arent the center of the fucking universe and even if xiao wasnt any of the things he is, why assume hed be christian in the first place? Why not be, yknow, anything closer.

Posting as a follow-up to a previous problem.

#fandom problem 4551 #response to previous problem #mod sf

[greater-than-the-sword]

Lmao i was expecting to have to defend vigorously the fact that I would even consider voting for a Hindu to represent me in the highest office in the land, instead I get told off for suggesting that this might be a considered a drawback to me, a Christian voter. Radical centrism I guess

[apricops]

📓 Event: The Soulhackers

Manorpunk 2069 AD

Recognizing spirituality as too useful to ignore, either as a method of maintaining personal sanity or as a tool of social control, the Soulhackers developed several different constructed religions during the Nth Great Awakening (We Lost Count).

The Suburban Samurai of the exurban East Coast and Midwest developed Founder-Christianity, better known as Founderism - a formalized version of American Civil Religion with the Founding Fathers revered as saints and a generic Jesus slapped on top. It’s like the Rawhide Kobayashi version of imperial Shintoism, and is best known for creating the Deck of Statesmen, a Tarot-like deck of cards featuring mythologized figures of American political history and used for divination and fortune-telling.

Meanwhile, the Hyperwonks of the Bay Area developed Hill-and-Hive, a dour and fatalistic set of beliefs summarized by the slogan “ants make hills, bees make hives, humans make states” - in other words, we are biologically predestined to form the State, and should surrender ourselves to evopsych.

This initial form of Hill-and-Hive was, understandably, not very popular. It would have gone down in history as a curious footnote, but then a few years later it reinvented itself as the State Pantheon: a collection of demigods intended to represent ‘the eternally recurring aspects of the State,’ such as the quick-witted and androgynous Eunuch of Knowing, the diligent and ruthless Void-General, and the cold yet loving Queen-Mother.

(A few holdouts who preferred the original version of Hill-and-Hive formed a splinter group called the Neo-Neo-Confucians, but that was mostly an excuse to get the CCP (Chinese China Party) to cut them a check.)

These new faiths leaped into the American conscious after reaching the Westphalian Polycule of Seattle, and now converts of both Spiritualisms are appearing in our [PLAYER_POLITYRANK].

Choose One:

We shall adopt the State Pantheon.

Gain Polytheistic Tchotchke Market modifier for 10 years: +15% income from Treats; -10% Vibes

We shall adopt Founderism.

Gain Divination Cottage Industry modifier for 10 years: +15% income from Content; -10% Vibes

Can’t we all just get along?

Gain Ingratiating Centrism modifier for 5 years: -10% Attention

#manorpunk 2069 ad #spec fic

[ironunderstands]

Its only westerners who think like this. I blame it on christianity.

Many asian religions and local gods are pretty benevolent. Not all ofc but there so many its not uncommon for some that would act like any of the archons weve met so far

But christanity has one god. And hes a mean fucker. Tbf the way most christians practice christianity is way scarier than it was meant to be. I sure hope you dont get alot of discourse from me saying this.

But yeah alot of how westerners view the archons is rooted in their own religious experiences and american centrism. (A little unrelated but it makes me so mad when i read a fanfic containing worship and such for zhongli... And its christian worship rituals instead of, at least, a little bit how chinese people would do it.)

Also this fandom is full of children that takes jokes too far and literally so you end up with a lot of people mischaracterizing them. Not even to mention the decline in media literacy and reading in general in american children.

Theres alot of problems and you cant really point it out to these people because they take it as an attack on their headcanons, themselves, and things in their life they couldn't really control since they are/were children. A lot of people are just plain unwilling to learn or be more open minded. Some dont even realize their narrow mindedness and when its pointed out to them they might become embarrassed and try to shut it out and defend themselves from a perceived threat on them or their intelligence and stuff like that.

Just something ive noticed from almost a decade in different fandoms.

Oh you are 100% right on this. I don’t even know what I could add, this is just correct. Also I did feel like it is Christianity, but most Christian’s (especially in America where I’m from) are extremely defensive about their religion and any and all criticism just feeds into their massive persecution complex (which is funny as the religion is a dominant part of mainstream American culture). However it would be unfair to Christians to blame them for the source of this misconception, especially because you mentioned other reasons that really have nothing to do with it. Also you can’t really blame young children for simplifying things, even if I admittedly find it super annoying anyways (mischaracterization is a bitch regardless of who does it)

#genshin impact #Archons #zhongli #venti #raiden shogun

[goodolreliablejake]

I think it would be easy to misinterpret the concept of Balance in Avatar as akin to moderate centrism. "Both sides have a point," "we need peace at any cost," "the victims are just as bad for retaliating," etc. But no, of course not, everyone agrees that the Fire Nation should be fought and stopped in their conquest and subjugation (in fact the biggest debate is just whether or not to merc Ozai, and everyone except Aang is like yeah we absolutely do). You don't gotta hand it to 'em.

I think Balance in atla is more akin to the Buddhist morality scheme of The Eightfold Path. As a Westerner raised in the overwhelmingly Christian nation The U-S-A, it's an idea that I really ruminated over. Contrast the prescriptive list of Shall-nots in the Ten Commandments with the more vague "Right Action, Right Thought, etc."

But that's kind of the point, right? There is no single prescriptive law that governs all possibilities. What is right in one context is wrong in another. You have to figure it out moment to moment, simultaneously overwhelmingly free and open to what the world around is telling you.

Killing is inherently bad, but maybe we really do gotta kill that guy. The Avatar is the embodiment of Balance, but in The Avatar state it's all too easy to lose balance and go on a rampage. Not a law to be followed so as to disclaim decision making, but rather a principle to help you make decisions.

#buddhism #atla #philosophy #balance

[master-missysversion]

Yknow i love Christmas episodes as much as anyone but I think people got way too mad about Chibnall trying to move away from them

I wonder sometimes if it's one of those things that should be making us re-examine our Christian-centrism

#like i do love christmas eps and i love christmas but my family very much has christian roots and i definitely #live in a place that is culturally christian #whereas that isnt true for everyone #i shouldnt demand doctor who caters to me just because i like christmas and thats my norm #doctor who #self reflection

[finding-hashem]

Being on the internet sucks

I've always tried to comment on the things I see that bother me - misinformation, scams, prejudice, etc. Even if the original poster doesn't care, I always hope someone will see my comment and know that it's a scam, or know the actual facts about something, or know that not everyone has this prejudiced way of thinking, or whatever. I'm sure its never made a difference but still, thats not a bad thing to do and I at least knew I tried.

But it sucks when its ruined

I commented on someone's out of pocket Holocaust comparison in a very polite way that what they were saying was antisemitic - I didn't even disagree with their overall stance, but the information they were using and some of the comparisons they drew were antisemitic.

And instantly it was just dogpiled, I had dozens and dozens of people saying antisemitic things to me and pushing back. And silly me, I thought, if I can just explain why this particular thing is antisemitic, they'll get it, right? After all, I agree with them about other things. I'm being polite- no namecalling, no implying they're stupid, conceding when I'm wrong or they have a point. I have sources and facts. We're all just random people. We should be able to explain ourselves and reflect a bit on someone else's explanation right?

But no, apparently its more important to harass a random Jew and tell me that you think all Jews like to look at pictures of dead babies than it is to be informed about the issue you say you care about.

I'm so tired of this and so lonely. I dont know any anti-Zionist or even not-100%-pro-Israel Jews and my synagogue has no space for my viewpoint. Online I've mostly found antisemitic people who are pro-Palestine, pro-Israeli people dehumanizing Palestinians, or liberal white tears hand-wringing centrism. I have no community anywhere - not Jews, not leftists, not other trans/queer people, not my Christian family, not my Jewish boyfriend who refuses to talk about politics, no one. And its so hard.

#my post #i/p #antisemitism