#cw discussion of bigotry

[midnightstargazer]

Why I Like Regulus Black

Regulus Black is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters, and I want to talk about why. I feel like there's a frequent misconception that people only like him for superficial reasons or in ways that are contradictory to canon, so here's my take on what I find interesting about him and why I think he appeals to me as a character.

Just to be clear upfront, this is not:

An argument that Regulus was a totally good person and did nothing wrong.

A criticism of other morally gray characters or their fans. I am not interested in playing the "only my problematic fave is valid" game.

An attempt to speak for Regulus fans in general. This is my opinion only.

All that being said ...

I like morally gray characters.

Regulus is not the first character I've liked who's done things I would absolutely not condone in real life. I don't tend to like straightforward "pure evil" villains (e.g., Voldemort) except in a "love to hate them" sort of way, but I often end up liking anti-heroes and more nuanced villains.

I also tend to have a very positive view of redemption arcs. That doesn't mean I think every villain can or should get one, or that they're all to my liking. But the potential for one is usually going to make a character more appealing to me, not less. I like the idea that people are capable of growth and change. Of becoming better than they were. And I tend to be pretty flexible on what sort of characters I'll consider redeemable. There are limits, but "teenager who joined the wrong side, quickly changed his mind, and then died trying to back out" is very much on the "not too far gone" side of the line for me.

I'm a fan of the Black family in general.

I don't love all of them, but the family dynamics and backstory are really interesting. Regulus is not even the most obscure name on the family tree who I have headcanons for. Not even close. *gestures vaguely to not-yet-posted WIP about these ladies*:

Sirius and Andromeda are other favorites of mine. I love their narratives of breaking away and taking control of their own lives. Regulus's story is a bit different. He stays behind. He tries to be exactly what his family wants. I imagine both he and Narcissa would be strongly affected by having an older sibling disowned, and all the more careful in their own choices as a result. I almost certainly find Regulus (and quite a few others in the family) more interesting as part of these family dynamics than I would without them.

Getting a bit personal for a moment ...

I grew up in an ultra-conservative area of the United States* and bought into some crappy ideas as a teenager. Not in an intentionally hateful or ignorant way, just in a "most people I know agree on this, so I guess it's true" kind of way. When I grew up, moved away, and went to college, I ended up rethinking a lot of things and forming my own opinions. So the idea of realizing you've been wrong, breaking away, and having to figure everything out all over again as a young adult? I find that super relatable. That's probably a part of why I like Andromeda and Sirius so much.

Regulus, in canon, doesn't do that, or only does it on a very limited basis just before his death. But there's the potential to explore that angle in canon divergence stories. It was very cathartic for me, in my first "Regulus lives" fic, to stick him in a situation where he's separated from the negative influences and slowly starting to question stuff he's taken for granted all his life.

*although my family was actually way more chill than a lot of my friends, teachers, neighbors, etc. For instance, they were fine with letting me read Harry Potter.

How I see Regulus

Now we're getting more into headcanon territory. Regulus is only described second-hand; he never actually appears on the page. So, naturally, fans have interpreted him a million different ways. If I'm going to talk about why I like Regulus, I should probably also mention what my take on him actually is.

I see him as being driven by a strong sense of duty. He wasn't forced to join the Death Eaters, but he knew or believed his parents would be proud of him for doing so and that played a part in his decision. When he chose to turn against Voldemort, he kept it a secret from them in an attempt to protect them (that part is strongly implied in canon).

Despite those loyalist tendencies, I also imagine him being stubbornly independent, trying to take things on alone rather than ask for help. The horcrux is a perfect example of this. He didn't tell his family, any friends he might have had, or anybody on the opposite side of the war. He went after it himself, alone, with just a house-elf for help and without letting anyone know what he was doing. There's probably an element of pride in this, but I'd say also a level of distrust, a feeling that there's no one he can rely on and that he doesn't want to show weakness.

I think it's reasonable to assume he shared the Death Eaters' prejudices and committed crimes for them. But I do imagine him as a lesser evil, so to speak, compared to people like the Lestranges. The way Sirius describes him - an "idiot" who was "soft enough to believe" their parents - is not flattering, but very mild compared to what he says about other family members. There's nothing to imply Regulus was a really cruel, bloodthirsty sort of person, and I find it hard to believe Sirius would be so quick to shift the blame for his choices to their parents if he had been. And there are other signs as well. Kreacher said Regulus believed that Voldemort would "bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns," which is awful but stops short of what actually happens when Voldemort takes power in Deathly Hallows. And, of course, there's his relationship with Kreacher.

House-elves are a whole other can of worms I don't want to get into right now, but I do think Regulus probably treated Kreacher better than their society would have expected. I'm not saying he was Hermione-level enlightened. He probably didn't see him as an equal or spend his free time campaigning for elf rights. But when the full story of Regulus's death is revealed, it's made clear that he was fond of Kreacher and upset by what Voldemort did to him. He literally drank a potion that caused him extreme agony rather than ordering Kreacher to do it in his place. That doesn't make him a totally good person, but it does hint at a softer side to him and a sort of nuance that isn't typical of the Death Eaters.

He clearly knew what a horcrux was and strongly objected to finding out about the locket, either on the basis of "that's crossing a line" or "actually, the Dark Lord probably shouldn't live forever." Or both. I've seen people question why a Death Eater would have a problem with horcruxes, and I suspect some of them wouldn't. Bellatrix, for instance, would probably be overjoyed to know she was entrusted with a piece of Voldemort's soul. But the idea of horcruxes being repulsive even to many Dark Wizards is actually foreshadowed a bit in Half-Blood Prince, where the author of Magick Moste Evile warns his readers against them. So I do think Regulus was probably not thrilled to find out he was working for someone who had one.

There can be multiple factors in why he did what he did: anger about Voldemort's treatment of Kreacher AND objection to horcruxes AND possibly doubts and second thoughts that had been building up already, since Sirius knew nothing about the specifics but was sure he died trying to back out.

Now, going after the locket on his own, without telling anybody who might have an interest in stopping Voldemort, was not the smartest decision. And I don't see his death as something that should be glorified. I've seen people claim that his redemption arc is more valid because he gave his life, and I disagree with that take and actually find it to be very troubling. Redemption Equals Death can work if it's a meaningful self-sacrifice, but Regulus's death didn't really accomplish much other than getting him killed, and if he had lived longer he might have been able to do more to atone. Like actually destroying a horcrux, for instance, or providing info to the Order.

But still, the fact that he did anything at all is a big deal. The fact that something - or multiple somethings - seemed wrong to him, and given the choice between "a lifetime of service or death," he decided he still couldn't keep serving Voldemort? That's huge. That says something important about who he was as a person. A weird combination of a damaged but not completely absent moral compass paired with an unexpected sense of integrity and courage.

Final thoughts

Most of what I described in the section above is personal interpretation, and there are other valid takes on what might have been going on. But I tried to keep it to just what I think can be reasonably extrapolated from canon, not random headcanons that I'm happy to admit I pulled out of thin air or adopted from fanon.

I see a lot of interesting contradictions in Regulus, and specifically, a lot of positive traits turned bad. Loyalty and dedication towards a family and a cause that don't deserve it. Capacity for kindness that remains so undeveloped it never actually leads him to question his prejudices. The willingness to admit he was on the wrong side and the courage do something about it, but it ends up being a pointless self-sacrifice.

I see him as someone who isn't inherently evil, who could have been a good person if he'd been brought up differently. Someone who might very well have changed for the better and made a positive impact if he'd survived. And yet whose life ultimately amounted to very little. I don't know about you, but that strikes me as a tragedy.

It also screams "opportunity" to the fanfic writer in me. I love "what if?" storylines. I love fleshing out characters who were not well-developed in canon. Regulus has hints of a personality and storyline that I find really interesting, but isn't a main character or developed enough that I feel like the story has already been told in a satisfying way in canon. That's exactly the sort of character I'm likely to end up reading and writing fic for, etc.

#Regulus Black #Harry Potter #morally gray characters #redemption arcs #meta #cw discussion of bigotry

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Hey just saying, but if you disqualify aot and (in your words) media with too many problematic properties, you should also disqualify harry potter, hetalia and south park. I get that this is a poll for controversial characters, but imo there's very much a line between "this character is controversial because they are a bad person or badly written in an otherwise okay media which you can enjoy critically" and "this character is controversial because the writers project their own bigoted views onto them and are openly right-leaning shit heads whose media or current presentation reflects this too"

No.

There is a discourse tag, you can read what I’ve already said about this. But I’ll summarize a few for you here anyways. There are specific reasons I removed the things I removed and allowed the things I allowed. Here they are, in roughly increasing order. Under a cut so people who don’t wanna see this/are uncomfortable with it don’t have to.

I tag everything appropriately, so if you don’t want to see something I allowed, block the tag or unfollow me. I promise I won’t be offended if you unfollow.

If a character is controversial for being bigoted or from a bigoted media, they’re obviously not gonna advance to further rounds because hate will sweep. So they will not advance and will be gone democratically, and they will certainly not win.

Even if they DID win, this poll would not be “promoting” these medias anyways because this is not a “best” character competition. It is for the most controversial. I am not presenting these medias in any positive light, let alone the characters from them. This is why these SAME medias (and others) ARE banned from my two other tournaments that try to find the “best” thing.

I CAN’T meaningfully promote these medias anyways when they are worth billions of dollars and I have like, under a thousand followers on tumblr.

There are certain medias I think are bigoted and I don’t like them. Harry Potter and South Park are two of them (I don’t know anything about Hetalia). The difference between these and Attack On Titan are, from what I’ve been told, Attack On Titan is bigoted on purpose to push a specific agenda. This is not true for the others. OBVIOUSLY I’m not gonna allow racist propaganda, for the same reason I wouldn’t allow, like, idk anything else that actively seeks to radicalize its audience towards a bigoted end goal

The purpose of removing things is to prevent harm, not to make the controversial character tournament uncontroversial. Because if you remember, I actually DID remove a Harry Potter! Because she is a racist caricature and it would harm people to see racist imagery, language, or propaganda all over my blog. It does not harm anyone to read the words “Ron Weasley” or whatever. It’s not like I’m including a list of every slur the author has ever said underneath each character post. If I’m wrong about some character and their image IS bigoted, let me know! I’m more than happy to make this blog into a safer space for people in that way. But I’m not removing it for being controversial in a way where the actual post content is non-harmful and tag-blockable.

If you still disagree, you can send this ask again off anon and then we can talk and I’ll listen. But I’m not taking orders from some anon saying what I should and should not do.

#sorry but this pissed me off. the answers are literally all right in the discourse tag and you try to send a holier than thou ANON #I will talk to you kindly if you have concerns off anon but since I’ve ALREADY SAID that I don’t want to talk about this stuff with anons #I will no longer be polite about it. the people before this were before I said the anon thing so it’s fine but if this one knows that I #that I banned aot then they know I said I won’t discuss this with anons #not a poll #ask #anonymous #discourse #cw racism #cw bigotry

[butchladymaria]

I agree with your list ! People being asshole about lesbian & other headcanons gtfo! That list could work for many other things too.

But to be sure everyone don’t mix thing up i just want to point out that not liking/ not being fan of an headcanon don’t equal  being an ass about it. It’s the mean actions or words afterwards that are bad. 

hey! i’m glad you found it generalizable. there’s a lot of things on there that get used against pretty much any “diverse” perspectives both inside and out of fan spaces. as for your second point, i don’t disagree with you. there are some queer headcanons that i don’t personally hold, but i’m going to be cheering them on rather than contributing to the negativity we face on a regular basis. you can personally hold a different headcanon without being a jerk.

this is not @ you anon, but there are a lot of people who believe that underrepresented groups seeing themselves in characters — whether through the lens of race, gender, sexuality, disability, etc — is “politicizing” fandom and ruining it somehow, as though a white/cishet/male/abled perspective is the default in art and anything else is “tainting” the “pure” fanspace. some of them might believe those voices can exist — so long as they keep their heads down and don’t take up too much space. the fact of the matter is that’s a bigoted thing to believe. our existence has been politicized against our will. for the marginalized, fan spaces are just another front we have to push to participate in. if someone finds themself constantly disliking one specific type of queer/nonwhite/disabled/etc. headcanon and feels the need to say over and over how much they don’t like it, they ought to seriously interrogate why that is.

#anon #ask #discussion of of bigotry cw #it kinda touches on most of them bc i feel the framework im talking about here is broad enough to apply generally #idk i dont think this is what anon meant? #but like. i feel there is a difference between having a different pov and actively openly disliking smth #i actually find utena tenjou to be a good example of this #utena is very ambiguous in both gender & sexuality as a character #ive seen all varieties of headcanons for her and all sorts of people relating to her #from trans men to nb people to butch cis women. lesbians bi folks pan folks ace folks etc #and i dont think any of those perspectives are wrong #i think shes a transmasc lesbian because i’m a transmasc lesbian and the show cracked my egg lol #but i dont think that means that like. transfem ppl are Wrong to relate to her. i don’t think it means bi ppl are wrong to relate to her. #i dont think hcing her as those things are wrong either #but if someone comes out and says people are wrong and bad and annoying for existing with those povs?? shut up #and when those ppl crop up they are usually trying to argue a character is more Normative #ex: gender conforming. straight. cis. white. etc. #so yes dont be an asshole over headcanons but being an asshole to queer hcs almost always looks very different #bc its usually built on bigoted foundations

[lakesbian]

would i sound insane if i said that lots of the bigotry in worm is actually really normal--not as in good, because normal does not equal good and good does not equal normal, but as in 'something societally ubiquitous and perceived as value neutral and/or true + default'-- and when people react to CWs for worm discussing it with "WOAHHH THIS IS THE WORST BOOK EVER WHY ARE YOU EVEN READING IT" it's like. there's probably shit like that in stuff you like too you're just not formatting it into lengthy lists. like would i sound insane if i said that. the specific presentation of the homophobia is really funny but a lot of the other shit is garden variety, it's just that garden variety is rlly bad if you actually poke it apart instead of looking over it. like would i sound insane. because i keep getting comments on my post that i think are in fact wildly disproportionate

[spacelazarwolf]

Can i ask why people seem to only refer to black and brown people? I'm east Asian, and it can feel kind of bad not really being included in the language surrounding talk about racism. We're one of the groups that faces the most discrimination and hate crimes, especially with how covid started. Me and nearly every Asian person i know has faced racism over our lives and many of us have very pale skin. It feels very alienating to be, in a way, left out of the discussion. I understand that often we're included somewhat implicitly, but it doesn't look like it when the language doesn't represent it.

so before i get into it, i'm giving two caveats: 1. even though i'm jewish and my family and i have had a complicated history with being racialized as non white, i'm still racially white. so while i always try to take into account all the things that my family has experienced and that the people of color i know have taught me, that's still the individual perspective i'm speaking from. 2. i live in the us, so that's the culture and society i'm talking about. it may apply to different places in the west (or even outside the west idk) but it may not so like inb4 "#american centric" bc i am literally talking abt america.

re: your actual question of why people seem to only refer to black and brown people, i think it's mostly used to talk about issues that affect darker skinned people of color, but sometimes used as another variation of "people of color" that's meant to encompass all nonwhite people. i've definitely used it that way before without really thinking about it, but i can see how that could make groups who may not see themselves as being black or brown feel left out of a conversation that still absolutely pertains to them. i think we as a society are currently struggling with what vocabulary to use when we talk about racial issues. there's a bunch of different acronyms and phrases people use, and listing out all the different racial and ethnic groups we can think of always leaves someone out.

but i also think our struggles with vocabulary are caused in part by the way our view of race has become very black and white. especially when it comes to east asians, i think people fall way too easily for the model minority myth + think lighter skin = less oppression, so they think east asians don't need as much advocacy as other groups. but as you said, especially since covid, there's been a massive spike in anti asian racism, and that's something i don't think people are really taking seriously. there's this one scene in station 19 (cw for discussion of anti asian hate crimes) that i feel like addresses this so well. people are afraid to downplay the severity of anti black racism (which is understandable considering that anti black racism has been downplayed for hundreds of years), but they end up gaslighting other racial and ethnic minorities or even themselves about the other kinds of bigotry that exist. and as one of the characters states in the clip, "it's all bad."

and like, as a jewish person, i definitely feel a lot of solidarity with east asians because our struggles are dismissed in similar ways. for those of us who are light skinned, we're often told (in my experience, usually by non black people) that basically our skin is too light for people to care because "black people have it worse." people use any success our communities have had as a reason why what we experience Can't Possibly Be That Bad. but what they're missing is that it's all connected. the same people who are perpetuating anti blackness are likely perpetuating anti asian racism and antisemitism too. you can't get rid of anti black racism without dismantling white supremacy, and part of dismantling white supremacy is addressing anti asian racism and antisemitism. we can't just keep hacking away at one brick and expect the entire wall to come down. we have to bulldoze it all.

#ask avishai

[teen-heart-throb-mr-hyde]

evil is arbitrary, or, i’m begging you all to be normal about hyde (and queerness)

so like. does anyone else think it’s weird when people conflate hyde’s actual evil with hypotheticals about his gender identity/presentation? here’s a post about that.

cw for discussion of general queerophobia and specifically transmisogny

to contextualize this post going forward, i'm going to lay down this principle: that what we consider evil is totally arbitrary.

"evil" is a concept, and like all concepts, we made it up, both as a society and as individuals. there are some things that basically everyone (individuals and society) can agree and have agreed, across time and culture, are objectively evil, like straight up murder. there are other things, however, that are morally neutral, or even good that have been deemed as "evil/morally wrong" within certain societies (which shape individuals), like queerness.

following so far? excellent.

there are two aspects to what i am reluctant to call hyde's "evil" considering the above, but keep in mind this idea of evil is filtered through two lenses: the individual (jekyll) and the society (victorian england). the two aspects are the canon/textual and the subtextual.

the canon is what we directly see on the page, and what we see on the page amounts mostly to two things: hyde's violence and cruelty towards others. when it comes down to explicit, textual evidence of hyde's evil, those are the examples we can pull from. these are also things that can, pretty objectively by many individuals and society, be considered evil. murder is bad. not really inventing the wheel here.

the subtextual is, obviously, very different. technically, it doesn't exist. the subtextual nature of hyde's "evil" is going to be different for everyone because it's what we think exists underneath the actual canon. based on textual evidence, we build a subtext that explains or expands on themes, characterization, messaging, etc. based on canon evidence in the novella, many people read in a degree of queer subtext, regarding both jekyll/hyde's gender and sexuality. jekyll is some kind of queer and has repressed that due to the heavy stigma and bigotry present during the time, and this emerges in hyde along with his other "base urges." but that doesn't actually exist in the text, it's just one reading that you can have.

hyde does some things in canon that are objectively evil (violence and cruelty) and could have done some things if you read the subtext a certain way that were arbitrarily evil, based on jekyll and the society that molded him (queerness).

so why do modern readers, modern queer readers treat these things as equally evil?

honestly? fucked if i know. but i have some theories.

this problem may be the opposite of the "sir danvers problem," which i've talked about before. while that comes from people woobifying hyde and wanting to remove any ill intent from his canon, objective evil, i think this problem comes from people wanting to put ill intent into his subtextual, arbitrary evil. with this, people lump in hyde's subtextual, arbitrary evil, specifically this reading of queerness, with his canon, objective evil and judge them as equally bad. which is just fucking not true!!!! i don't care how tired you are of people calling hyde a poor little little meow, it's a weird, poorly analyzed take.

if we take that reading of queer subtext, we can understand why jekyll and victorian society would conflate these things as equally evil, but as modern readers we don't have to. and we shouldn't! we should understand the nuance between which of jekyll/hyde's behaviours are actually evil, and which are only treated as evil. to imply that these, (again, because they're based on subtext) hypotheticals of hyde getting it on with other guys, or not adhering to binary standards of masculinity is just as bad as him killing a man in cold blood is gross, plain and simple.

it's especially sinister since i see this most often paired with the idea that hyde is in some way gnc. he's a drag queen, or a cross-dresser, or just more effeminate than jekyll, and that is supposed to make him more evil or just generally more "unpleasant." that's some straight up alfred hitchcock's psycho level transmisogny. if you want to make hyde any of those things, it should to be to question what "evil" means, who or what decides what evil is, and whether or not that is a correct judgement to make. (hint: it's not. gnc men/transfem ppl are not inherently evil. jesus.)

tldr; there's a lot going on. evil is arbitrary. some things are pretty objectively evil and hyde does those in canon, and some things are not and hyde could have done those in subtext. treating them as equally bad is weird. have all the queer readings of the text you want, just maybe interrogate why you're making those readings and how you pair them with the actual text.

#jekyll and hyde #dr jekyll and mr hyde #heres the post. enjoy i guess #i feel like i shouldn’t have to explain why using queerness as a way to make a character seem more depraved is bad. but alas.

[amageish]

From Uncanny X-Men Issue #319

CW: Discussions of bigotry and toxic family dynamics

This is such an interesting moment to look back on in hindsight. Bobby had invited Rogue to pose as his girlfriend for a dinner with his parents, but his father's casual bigotry (both towards mutants and towards people of other races) ruined the dinner and caused the pair to storm out of the house. Before returning to Xaiver's, Bobby has a brief existential crisis, wondering both why bigotry exists and how he didn't become a bigot like his father.

It's a great set of two pages IMHO, showing the bond these two share very nicely and having some good, if very of-the-era, mutant metaphor content... and it also works really well knowing that Bobby Drake is a closeted gay man?

Bobby's trying so hard to appease his father, but even pretending to be straight isn't enough to do it. He's a mutant and he can't hide that.

Rogue's role as Bobby's beard is also fascinating here. Bobby picked the one mutant that he literally cannot touch to be his fake-date, which is one hell of an excuse to not have to touch her. He also picked the one raised by Mystique and Destiny, a Sapphic couple... Not to mention how Rogue has a bit of a history of knowing things about people that she shouldn't know due to her powers.

She doesn't tease him explicitly like Emma Frost has done and she doesn't out him to himself like teenage Jean will (in)famously do decades later, but her supportive attitude definitely still works as a queer kid from a queer family cheering up a close friend she knows is closeted IMO.

Idk. It's just a lovely moment between these two characters that I was reminded of earlier and felt like sharing here...

#bobby drake #iceman #rogue

[invertedfate]

This Saturday, at 9 AM Pacific, 12 PM Eastern, a new Inverted Fate premieres! This one will bring us some deep character exploration, but it ALSO touches on many dark and sensitive themes. The video will contain content warnings, but if you want to know so you can prepare in advance, I’ll place a full list of CWs under a readmore.

WARNING

The following video contains discussions and depictions of child death, trauma, abuse, non-magical violence, and one brief instance of misgendering of a nonbinary character. We bring this up now because we understand these are sensitive themes and do not wish to cause unprompted distress to our viewers. This is NOT an excuse to misgender Frisk or Chara, as both strictly use they/them in this AU, and the Inverted Fate team does not condone bigotry or transphobia.

#inverted fate #undertale #undertale au #undertale aus #frisk #asriel #chara #inverted fate comic #final arc

[coffeewritesfiction]

All of these stories feature gay trans man protagonists, with rich settings and diverse casts. Click the cut for info

Black Velvet is a gothic fantasy story set in a world of eternal night, where a 19yo detective for hire is trapped in a castle by a violent storm, and must free the castle’s inhabitants from the vampires who imprison them - and save himself from the vampire god who plans to claim him, and corrupt the handsome, powerful nobleman he works for. --First in the Runner Owen Series --Tropes: Victorian aesthetics - reincarnation - dreams both ominous and steamy - magic allergies - hetero romance sideplot --CW: slavery, blood, character death, possibly more

Enthralled is a Cthulhu Mythos story set during the early days of the Great Depression, where a private detective and his secretary best friend scheme to take down a mysterious mobster that controls the whole city. It doesn’t go well for them. It also features the events of the Lovecraft tale Dreams in the Witch House as a subplot.  --First in the Pharaoh Syndicate Investigations series --Tropes: bad ending - told with hindsight - found family - everyone has secrets - eldritch worship - Cthulhu Mythos gods that aren’t Cthulhu! -  --CW: period typical bigotry, character death, discussions of human sacrifice, body horror, possible discussion of child abuse, possibly more

Lionheart is an erotic urban fantasy thriller set in the present day American south, where a 32yo agent from a supernatural organization infiltrates a private university to investigate a possible terrorist cell, only to be targeted by the school prince, a punk unicorn with a human form and dark desires for the new temporary professor. A teacher/student tale where the power imbalance is not in the teacher’s favor. --Stand alone? --Tropes: rich people are assholes - fish out of water scenario - token human MC - shameful pasts - older than they look - so many secrets --CW: bullying, misogynistic characters (not sexualized), dubcon (potentially?), possibly more

If you've read this far and are interested in any of these, please reblog this post. I'd like to hear your thoughts!

#writblr #writeblr community #writeblr #writers on tumblr #runner owen series

[iamadequate1]

I have not been having a great week in my perception of That Fandom Subgroup (TFS) this week. Here's a succinct post I agree with (and really, read the whole blog if you don't see why people are done with TFS). There is nowhere you can go in fandom that isn't almost immediately put on edge. I have blocked and muted liberally. I don't search out posts I won't like. I mostly stay lurking. I only stick to places that have nothing to do with TFS. I still cannot escape that shit.

Anytime the racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. discourse of the day pops up, most of the time it's from TFS. The last five months in fandom has just been an escalated storm of the usual abuse and harassment, including at least one attempted doxxing incident. Our super cool and uniquely interactive creator had to lock a post for the first time ever, and was (or is, idk, i blocked so many people) bombarded with people who struggled to tell the difference between an actor they like and the tertiary character he played. Event after event after event that make this fandom a hostile place. The fandom isn't safe. After two years of escalation, I am not giving anyone from TFS the benefit of the doubt on anything unless they take a purposeful stand and won't just retreat again into "We're not all like that" and "You are making me feel unsafe and unwelcome in this space."

There is some dangerous revisionism and manufactured victimization going on. If you criticize Blorbo or TFS member or TFS fanwork at all, it's an attack on all of TFS, and you're making the space unsafe. People police tags and keywords on all platforms to "correct" and make the platform "safe" for TFS. If you want to talk about racism and other bigotry prevalent in fandom, it's now set up as an attack on TFS and discussion gets shamed to the fringes.

There is a certain fanfic that got popular early and has extreme racial concerns, but it is highly recommended without proper CW in the recommendation and without proper tagging of the work on AO3. (And, really, people who have been around long enough know exactly what I'm talking.) These are not nitpicks (fanfic authors don't need to hear your nitpicks), but major triggers and issues that are not handled well and it is also a work that has had a large influence how people are responding to canon. Apparently, it's getting passed around with word that the backlash was because people weren't happy with Blorbo's Story, but correcting that is bad. I mean, backlash of that size being around Blorbo doesn't even sound plausible, but it's accepted without a thought.

And "but the author...", stop. Personal harassment is wrong. Public criticism of harmful ideas being passed around is not personal harassment. Describing bad things happening in a story does not mean the author endorses the bad things. However, it is valid criticism if harmful stereotypes are added to a story that directly contradict the canon it's drawing from, and slapping "well, the story wants to be dark!" into the discussion isn't a carte blanche to excuse criticism. The author should be left alone, but that doesn't mean any CWs on the fic should be quieted.

Anyway, Chapters 2, 16, and 37 for the most extreme things that were cause for the backlash (and microproblems sprinkled in other chapters), and here are some posts, including contemporaneous: one, two, three, four, five, six

A cutesy "canon typical" in the tags while the actions in story do not describe at all what happens in canon isn't proper tagging, btw.

#fandom critical #i just want to rant #let's see if places actually are safe

[transhuman-priestess]

Hi, just wanted to say sorry and I wasn't meaning to say ur post was transphobic. I tag some things with that cw cause I got asked to (in general, not specifically ur post) and I saw that some other people had tagged it similarly

Yeah that doesn’t make it better.

Do you have any fucking idea how insulting it is to have my frank discussion of my life be tigger tagged as a form of bigotry against me?

Like I’m just not allowed to talk about the realities of being trans without some kind of warning label, lest someone’s precious undies get bunched?

Next time just call me a fucking slur.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Okay, here's the thing... The problem with posts like this one is that it doesn't differentiate between criticism and hate.

The hate is not worth mentioning, some people want the MCU to fail and will hate on it no matter what they do or how they do it (I'm perfectly fine with that by the way, but these people are not fans, so they shouldn't be part of the discussion to begin with).

I will admit that there was this aura of... greatness... during the Infinity Saga that is nowhere to be seen nowadays. Perhaps it's superhero fatigue, perhaps it's due to the lack of quality of some projects (not all, not even close imo), perhaps the fact that certain series and movies have been so utterly bad that they broke the romanticism or connection some of us had with Marvel until that point (it happened to me with EG and even more so with the Loki series).

With that said, to claim that we're hard to please now as if the MCU had been perfect pre-EG is just plain wrong. There are movies that were done with no respect for previous canon or characterization (Ragnarok), movies that ruined the framing, sidelined the title character and had a horrible underlying message regarding rights and liberties (CW), a movie that ruins every single character it touches (EG)... and that's just to name a few.

The main difference between that and what we have now I'd say is that the MCU had a clear path during the Infinity Saga and, while not perfect by any means, it knew the story it wanted to tell and every movie led us straight to it... but nowadays it's all over the place. It doesn't feel connected anymore because we have so many movies, series, specials + we have writers who don't watch previous canon + the inconsistencies are off the charts.

I do agree that Secret Invasion's one-on-one conversations were pretty amazing, I love that it was dialogue-heavy and I genuinely enjoyed all the eps.. until the finale came. But I don't see what's wrong with genuine criticism.

Now, that comment that it's hard to engage with MCU fans nowadays (because we're all too critical now)... my, my. Marvel is still insanely popular and they have a huge fanbase and so many fans out there speak positively of every single thing they release... this claim that it's hard to engage with positive fans is insane to me 😂

Every critical fan who dares to voice their opinion against Marvel is met with accusations of some kind of bigotry, called a hater, or we're basically insulted all the way out of certain sites for daring to criticize a movie/show. If anything this sounds to me like OP believes what Marvel has been doing lately, playing the victim and complaining that "everyone" is criticizing them nowadays. And even though I have no evidence, I feel if we were to compare the positive vs negative opinions, the former would win by a landslide. They're still huge... they just want to play the victim card to avoid criticism.

#mcu salt #mcu critical

[blusical]

PSA: Please for the love of all that is hockey stop censoring the names of teams and players!

No, I'm not being sarcastic. I keep seeing this a lot on a ton of hockey blogs. (for example "d*nn", "p*tr*ck k*ne", "bl*es" or "v*g*s g*ld*n kn*ghts"), and honestly, it's really, really, bugging me, especially as someone who has some team lb tags filtered. I know most of you mean well, but this might not be the best idea. Even if you don't like saying their name. Even if you're censoring it as a joke. Even if you're worried about people you don't like flocking your blog (which, there's a block button for that btw). For one, Tumblr allows you to filter out certain words and tags. And people may already have specific players/filters tagged. If a post contains said filtered word/tag, it'll look like this:

(Image ID: A screenshot of a tumblr post that is flagged to the viewer due to it containing "#bruins lb". The username and profile picture is covered in red. The person has an option to view the post, via a button that reads simply "View post". End ID). By censoring them, Tumblr won't pick it up, and people will still see the post they don't want to see. Additionally, censoring words, especially l*ke th*s (like this) might not be helpful to visually impaired folks, especially those who use screenreaders.

"So, what should I do instead?" If you're talking about something a player did, here's some tag suggestions I have: If you're talking about a player who has assault or abuse accusations against them, you can use "tw assault", "tw abuse", "tw sa" (if the accusation involves sa), "tw violence" or "violence mention" (if violence is involved), or similar tags! If you're talking about someone who has a history of bigotry, try tagging "racism", "ableism", "homophobia", "tw slur" (if there's a slur involved), or other similar tags! I do see people use "tw (team/player)" as well (ex. "tw hawks", "tw auston matthews", "cw wilson" or "cw boston bruins") as well, however, I also discourage against that, because not every hockeyblr user has those filtered, and from my understanding they also aren't that well known. Again, simply tagging the players' names or the name of the team is enough half the time. (And, as a bonus, if you already have "tw (player/team)" tagged, instead of removing them, you can also simply add the player or team name to the tags!) If you're simply trash talking a player or a team... just say the name. It's not that hard, really. However, you can also tag the post with "trash talk" if you don't want people seeing it. Other good tags/words to use include: "rant" or "vent", which can be especially helpful to folks who dont wanna see huge rants, vents or complaints. "tw injury", which you can use to filter out videos or discussions containing injuries. "tw blood" and similar tags can also be helpful if blood is involved. "hockey fight", which can be used for hockey fights. Can be especially helpful since some fights get bloody and do lead to injury. Simply tagging "fight" can also work! "swearing cw", can be helpful for folks who don't want to see posts with heavy amounts of cursing. I advise only using this if there's excessive swearing involved, and not if there's only one instance of a curse word. "slander", which you can use if you're ranting about a player you don't like. And additionally.. "I don't know how filters work!" or "I don't know how to filter words/tags!" Alright so here's what you do: 1. Go to your user settings. 2. Scroll to "content you see". 3. Add the tag or word you want to filter, like this:

(Image IDs: Two screenshots of Tumblr settings. In the "Add a filter" bar are the words "tony deangelo" and "keith". End ID) 4. Click "Add" and bam! You're done! You might need to refresh for it to go into affect. Protip: Filtering out words will filter out all words of a specific phrase/name. For example, if you filter out "Tom Wilson", it will filter out all posts containing both words, even if it doesn't talk about the player. I advise using "Filtered Tags" when filtering out specific players, teams and team lbs.

#serious #screenreader unsafe #not screenreader friendly #tag filtering #content filtering #hockeyblr #hockey #hockey fan #tags #censoring #tumblr etiquette #accessibility #(kind of?) #hockey blog #curate your experience #long post

[opalsrose]

The Ionian Mage

??? x gn! reader

Summary: In an attempt to return to your home, you escape from your captors, only to end up in Piltover, where you are requested to help two scientists improve their magic oriented inventions.

a/n: this has been a year in the making sjdbdjsj. i watched arcane last year and absolutely fell in love with the characters (minus silco) and have been reading up on league of legends lore. a shit ton of research has gone into this, which somehow made this a lot more fun. i hope you enjoy!

cw: mage reader, reader is gender neutral and uses they/them pronouns, reader is not described with any gender specific language and (most) physical characteristics are kept vague, reader will be described with tanner/darker skin in future chapters, mentions of violence, slight canon divergence, potential suggestive content (i haven’t decided yet), slight discrimination (not necessarily racism but definitely some bigotry), let me know if there’s anything i missed

C.1- Sentencing

Piltover was a suffocating place. The concrete and metal of its buildings and streets were daunting and stuffy, lacking the life and passion that you were used to.

“Keep moving,” the enforcer commanded, yanking the robe covering your body.

You huffed through your nose, the sound quiet as you continued shuffling along with the group of guards guiding you through the city, the cuffs on your wrist clinking with every step. Still, you proceeded to take in your surroundings, observing the near mechanical city that you were traveling through. The cement of the street felt hot under your feet as you walked, the sun beaming down particularly hard at this time of day. Your eyes traveled along to gaze at the people on the sidewalk, looking on at you with either curious or distasteful eyes.

‘How stuffy they look,’ you thought, your orbs falling onto the tight clothing adorning each of their bodies. ‘It must be difficult to breathe in that.’

Your attention was brought elsewhere upon the enforcer in front of you stopping abruptly, your head turning to gawk at the large building in front of you. It looked regal, the golden accents and door glowing in the sunlight. The walls were a creamy white, like many of the other buildings there, but the building itself seemed to have an air of professionalism and reeked of politics.

Your wonder didn’t last for long however, as you were once again pulled forward, your captors not quite the patient types. You stumbled up the stairs, your feet scrambling to catch yourself from the fall you surely would’ve suffered. You were led into the building, the halls silent save for the soft sound of your feet smacking the ground as you padded through the building and the chains of your cuffs bumping against each other. After a series of twists and turns, you're faced with two large doors, accented with gold and painted white, much like the rest of the facility. On either side of the entrance stood two enforcers, their eyes regarding you with cold, calculating eyes. From the other side of the doors you could hear individuals talking, seemingly discussing something. Suddenly, a call sounded from inside the room, signaling the enforcers to open the doors, revealing nine people sitting at a long surface, curved in a crescent shape.

The enforcers that escorted you here pushed you in, causing you to trip over yourself as you moved further into the room. Once you stilled, the doors closed, a resounding thud echoing through the lofty space. The room was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from the windows scattered around the room.

“Mage of Ionia,” a nasally voice called out, your gaze turning to the owner of it. Your eyes met those of a small creature– a yordle, you realized–, his body covered in fur and most of his face being obscured by a comically oversized mustache with eyebrows to match. His eyes, crinkled with age, regarded you with kindness but held caution underneath. “I am Heimerdinger and this is the council. Please state your name so that we may proceed with your hearing,” he demanded.

“Are we even sure they can understand us? Seeing as Ionia separated itself from the rest of the world,” another council member called. His frame was long and skinny, blond hair slicked back as he peered at you with an unimpressed frown. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even receive a proper education, what with the Ionians and their hippie-flower-magic nonsense–”

“I can understand you just fine,” you cut him off, your statement making him freeze in his seat, “And my people’s teachings are not to be mocked by those who lack the intelligence to comprehend them.”

His eyebrow twitched as he opened his mouth to retort when he was stopped by a different council member. “Stop it Salo. We have no time for your childish remarks,” a woman voiced. Her skin was fair and she had short, dark hair with a streak of white in the front.

Salo cleared his throat, straightening his coat and sitting back in his chair, but not before throwing a bitter glare your way.

“I apologize for my comrade’s comment, he is quite nervous seeing as you are a mage,” Heimerdinger stated, a tinge of hesitancy in his voice. That left a sour taste in your mouth. You forced yourself to hold back the angry comment that lied at the tip of your tongue, swallowing down the bitter frustration. “Now, your name please,” Heimerdinger asked once again.

“I am Y/N,” you voiced, your tone firm as you stared at the small yordle.

“Y/N,” he nodded, reaching forward to open a file that was sitting in front of him, “You were found on the outskirts of Piltover, performing magic, which is an illegal offense,” he droned on, any kindness within his eyes gone, having been replaced by disappointment and fear.

Your eyes narrowed at him, barely concealing your annoyance. “I performed magic when your guards attacked me. I was defending myself,” you grunted, eyeing the enforcer in the corner who had moved for the baton on their hip. You gulped. “Surely, you can see that I have done nothing wrong–”

“Nothing wro–! Three enforcers are in critical condition because of your uncontrollable Ionian blasphemy!” an old man with a thick, bushy beard shouted, “Magic is illegal for this exact reason! It’s too dangerous to be harnessed.”

You fingers twitched from within your bindings, wanting to shut the old man up. You refrained, however, giving him a menacing glare instead. It seemed to have worked, seeing as his face morphed from anger to fearful.

“Hoskel, please. Let’s at least be civilized and calm enough to come to a rational decision,” another woman spoke.

Your gaze darted to her, your breath catching in your throat. She was stunning, dark skin, telling of her Noxii heritage, accented by her gold makeup and jewelry. Her hair was a mass of twists held together with gold cuffs, pulled into an intricate bun at the top of her head. Her eyes met your own, a warm smile pulling at her plump lips as she regarded you. You quickly dropped your eyes to the floor, the cool tile suddenly much more interesting.

“Now, now,” Heimerdinger chimed, “This is a trial, everyone. Let us treat it as such,” he chastised. “While I am sure you are much more used to openly using your magic in Ionia, we in Piltover find it far too volatile to allow it to be used so freely without proper consequences.” His eyes were trained on your form, watching as you shook with what he assumed to be fury.

“He is right,” a muffled voice added. You turned your head to look at the owner, only to be met with the holes of some kind of mechanical person. “My people were nearly destroyed because of arcane magic. We cannot become lax with our laws because of an Ionian stowaway.”

“I say we put them in Stillwater with the rest of the miscreants,” Salo declared, a smug grin sweeping across his face.

“Now let’s not be too hasty. We still haven’t heard from our newly minted council member,” the Noxii council member spoke, her gaze turned to the young man sitting next to her.

His olive skin shone with sweat, his expression nervous as he surveyed you with curious eyes. He cleared his throat, fidgeting with his fingers before finally speaking. “I think it would be beneficial to the Hextech Project if we were to have a mage to advise us about arcane magic.”

Your gaze shot up at him as your orbs widened. A cacophony of disapproval rang throughout the room.

“You can’t possibly be serious–”

“They’re too dangerous to be walking around the city freely–”

“You’ve gotten on fine without a mage! Why would you need one now–”

“Enough!” the Noxii councilor shouted, her face stern. “We will hear Jayce out, seeing as Hextech has been what’s making our city thrive in recent years.” That seemed to have gotten the rest of the council to simmer down, most of them begrudgingly shutting their mouths.

“If we were to have a mage advising us, we could finally figure out the Hex Core. As well as, properly decipher the runes. We could improve Hextech immensely!” Jayce exclaimed, a bright smile on his face.

“While that is very brilliant, we must think of the safety of the people of Piltover. In my hundreds of years of life, I have seen the destruction magic has caused. It isn’t something to be played with,” Heimerdinger lamented, a deep frown painting his features. “We mustn’t let the want for progress blind us to the real dangers of the arcane–”

“You fail to see that magic is a natural order,” you grunted, lifting your head to face the yordle. “The reason you believe the arcane is dangerous is because people like you seek to control it. I have seen the wonders magic has done for me, for my people. All because we have chosen to live with it, not fight it or use it. You wish to punish me for being a mage, when you yourselves are wielding it for your own gain,” you asserted, your eyes catching the way Heimerdinger looked down in shame. “People like you are the reason why magic is seen as a threat,” you concluded bitterly.

“That’s exactly why we’re creating Hextech,” Jayce proclaimed, looking to you with a hopeful gaze, “We want to show people that magic isn’t evil, and that it could be extremely helpful in the lives of common folk.”

“Allowing those who have not been blessed by the arcane themselves to wield it is exactly why the “dangers” of magic exist. If the arcane wanted to gift magic to all, then it would have,” you vetoed.

“Y/N,” your focus on Jayce is broken when you turn to the Noxii councilor, “I understand your concerns about civilians using magic—,”

“No, you do not—,” you combat swiftly.

“But,” she stressed, her eyes narrowing, daring you to cut her off again. “Times have changed. And you would agree that change is a natural order, yes,” she smiled, her brown orbs holding a sly glint when she saw your gaze turn to the floor. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she continued, “We are in the middle of an age of progress. The incorporation of arcane magic into people’s everyday lives might be exactly what we need to rid any fear of mages.” You looked to her, your eyes searching for anything insincere, anything untrustworthy, but you found nothing. She grinned hopefully, her eyes bright. “If you help us, we’ll be a step closer to making the world a better place for everyone. Including mages.”

You pondered on her words, letting them circle your brain as you searched for an answer.

Seeing your hesitancy, Jayce spoke up. “You’ll receive a full pardon if you agree to help us!” he rushed out, inciting another round of chaos amongst the council.

“Quiet!” shouted the yordle from the head of the table, effectively silencing everyone.

He turned to Jayce. “If you truly believe that they will be of great service to Hextech, then I am willing to put aside my beliefs to pursue this new age of science you’ve brought about.”

Jayce’s grin lit up the room, his excitement palpable. The rest of the council had reactions of varying types, most of which were anger and disappointment.

Your jaw was clenched as your eyes scanned the room before landing on the woman who put you in this position. Her own gaze met yours as a smirk spread across her lips.

Great.

#gender neutral reader #arcane fic #mel medarda x reader #jayce talis x reader #ekko x reader #viktor x reader #arcane x reader #x gender neutral reader

[shirogane-oushirou]

[cw mentions of ableism. talking / venting about the sharing vs non-sharing shit (i do not lean towards supporting one "side" over the other); starts out relatively neutral-toned but i start to sound frustrated part way through. i also have a more personal ramble at the very end that has a separate cw list. it's also long... don't feel obligated to read. i just needed to say things and be Done with it.]

man. i'm ready for all of the sharing vs non-sharing back and forths to stop.

to be clear: this isn't some "i'm above this argument" thing. on the contrary; i completely see where both "sides" are coming from! i simply mean it shouldn't be so difficult for a select few shit-stirrers to Get that selfshipping is a personal thing, and we should be able to ship in whatever way makes us most comfortable.

if someone is non-sharing, they should be allowed to create those boundaries without being harassed or called "immature" or "delusional" by sharing people. beyond how supremely ableist that is, nobody has the right to say they can't view their f/os in a certain way, no matter if other people don't understand those feelings.

if someone is sharing, they should be allowed to share their feelings for a character openly with other sharing people without being sent hate from non-sharing people who think they're "loose" or who want to be their f/o's "one and only". shaming people for being open to sharing is fucked from multiple "sexual / romantic purity" and "anti poly-[sexual / romantic / platonic] relationships" angles, and nobody has the right to claim sole and total ownership over a character they did not make.

and yet, every couple of weeks, we get posts from a vocal minority making a huge fuss over "the other side", when it's just a vocal minority FROM that other side ALSO making a fuss. and then those vague posts leave their intended orbit and cause more mis-worded posts and misunderstandings and off-the-cuff bigoted statements, and the cycle starts again.

we should theoretically be able to respect each other while focusing that energy on, oh i dunno, chasing harassers out of the community? getting selfshippers who aren't part of a specific marginalized group to help selfshippers from that group when they're harassed, maybe?? especially when the sharing vs non-sharing Thing very often coincides with bigotry; people who are harassing others tend to not just stop at being petty or mean, they make it personal.

and -- not as important but a nice little bonus -- i would think that working towards a community that's more safe for everyone in it would also "coincidentally" (/s) get rid of the shit-stirrers, whether because they were kicked out or because they realized what they were doing and grew as people.

---

[cw ableism, vague death ideation, non-physical self harm mention]

i was originally gonna put this bit in the tags, but i think i should put it under the cut bc it's a little personal + it got too long.

also, i try to stay in my lane and not discuss details about delusions or how to approach them -- i've only experienced them a couple of times, so i'm not going to claim to know much about them -- so if i've overstepped, PLEASE let me know and i'll edit or remove anything i've misspoken about.

but coming from someone who went too deep into selfshipping in the past and worries about the mental health of people who do: It's None Of Your Business!!

delusions aren't morally "bad" or "wrong". holding deep feelings abt a character isn't inherently delusion-based and also isn't morally "bad" or "wrong". and neither of those is the same as -- speaking from experience (above content warnings come into play here) -- being obsessed with a character to the point that you self-isolate and emotionally self harm because you wish so badly that the character was real and you believe there isn't a point to life if you'll never meet that character... and this is also not inherently delusion-based and ALSO not morally "bad" or "wrong".

these separate things -- delusions, deep feelings, and unhealthy obsession -- CAN intersect but just as often don't. none are immoral, and all are deserving of being approached with compassion and respect, in whatever way is most appropriate.

negative, harmful ACTIONS that some people take in these states are worth bringing up to them when it's safe to do so, depending on the details of their situation, but the states themselves don't have any moral weight. ie, if someone's harassing others for sharing their f/o because they're in a dark, obsessive place, that is a morally negative ACTION, not a morally negative mental state. they need to take responsibility for harm they've CAUSED, not for what they're experiencing internally.

but if you're calling people "immature" or "delusional" as an insult, something tells me you're not really considering that! whether through malice or just a lack of compassion, you don't see worth in how another person approaches this community.

you aren't better for thinking of a character a certain way, and neither is the person you're being ableist towards. if no harm is being done to you or others, you're just being a dick for the sake of being a dick. listen to other people, learn, and do better.

if you think someone is genuinely in a bad mental place because of selfshipping (wrt isolating and self harm), approach them as another human being. meet them where they're at. don't patronize them, don't call them "delusional", treat them like someone who has their own thoughts and values.

they may want help, or they may not, and you have to respect them for their choice no matter what YOU think is right. there is no truly right way to approach someone who's in a dark place, but you can at least avoid saying things that FOR SURE will make them feel talked down to, belittled, or shamed. if they aren't ready now, maybe they will be ready for help in the future, and shutting them down will make them less likely to seek that help.

(i was also going to put THIS in the tags but i should probably put it here: when i say 'learn and change' i mean it as a positive. people have the capacity to learn and grow and become better; if you've said something in all of this that can be read as harmful... consider why it's harmful and why you said it.

you aren't the same person you were a year ago. 5yrs ago. 10yrs ago. you have grown and you will continue to grow. but if you can be more aware of it and grow more purposefully and consciously? all the better.)

#i'm worried this doesn't come across well in my writing bc the second half is very personal #but i am wholly neutral towards sharers and non-sharers. the last bit is just because my personal struggle #is based in specific things said by specific people. in this recent round of Bullshit i've only seen these comments coming #from one 'side' but i can also imagine people from either 'side' saying it for a multitude of reasons. so. this is for them too. #ALSO as a forewarning so nobody can claim otherwise: i'm not going to block anyone who interacts w this in earnest... #but i have a quick block reflex for anyone who's clearly just being a dick. 👍🏻 #📌 [ my posts. ] #💭 [ my thoughts. ] #ableism - #death ideation - #self harm - #<- the last two are only at the very bottom in a section with separate content warnings. #vent -

[palipunk]

Saw that you don't support Dalishious. Can I kindly ask why? I find it very hard to navigate around this fandom.

A few things, I have it all under their username if you search up Dalishious or Kispesan on my blog, but if it’s difficult to put together - they had originally written a very poor and tone deaf article about Eurovision that completely ignored the concerns of Palestinians and knew of the boycott Palestinians had asked for with the event but watched it anyways? 

Half of their apology was directed to others and essentially was just a link to my post to explain what was wrong with the article and didn’t elaborate or really say themselves what was wrong? I had reblogged their apology with these concerns and a few others I had but their reply was condescending and tried to say they had talked about Palestine on their blog before (they actually hadn’t, the org they listed was about various different struggles in the Middle East, which did include Palestine - but it’s a bit weird to say you talked about Palestine when you were just citing an org that talked about the Middle East as a whole, since we’re not homogeneous?) 

I’ll put the rest under the read more because it does involve the discussion of the buffalo shooting (cw shooting mention, antiblack violence mention, bigotry towards Palestinians, antisemitism mention) 

Sometime after that they received an ask about Palestine and had answered it with a link that was connected to another post. This was the ask:

Which I will say its very ironic that they want to be more supportive and respectful of Palestinians all the while conflating Palestinians and our liberation with antisemitism (which BDS or antiSemitism was not even mentioned in the ask), if you check this post now, Lydia has deleted the link after being called out on what it contained - but the linked post was a very misinformed post about BDS and that BDS was targeting jewish organizations and students for no reason (which they weren’t, and this has been debunked for months), but the most insulting and quite frankly extremely bigoted part of the post was the implication that BDS was inspired by the Buffalo shooter and that BDS was comparable to post 9-11 surveillance of Muslims. Which if you aren’t aware, BDS is the main Palestinian led organization calling for boycotts and sanctions towards Israel and there have been attempts to criminalize the boycotting of Israel. 

I believe the op of the post has deleted it (Good ) but there are dozens of people who saw it that can attest to it’s existence, including the people under my post, my Palestinian mutuals, and in the notes of theirs. Lydia received another ask about Palestine and their stance and Lydia basically denied anything happened and continued on as normal, which was incredibly messed up as they had just linked something that implied Palestinians were inspired by a white supremacist that had just murdered ten black people in buffalo. (if you can figure out the wayback machine, it was under this link: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/benedarkmansabookiread/686650329403670528 )

after their behavior towards me and my friends and their arrogance I have no interest in supporting their content or posts and I would implore others to do the same and hold the people around them accountable for bigotry - Palestinians shouldn’t be thrown under the bus 

#ask #anon #da fandom critical #dragon age fandom critical #yeah it was just a mess #this whole year has been bnfs being assholes to palestinians #cw shooting mention #cw mass shooting #cw antiblack violence #if anyone needs a tag added or something corrected let me know #dalishious #kispesan