#dehumanized in a very real sense of the word | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brujahinaskirt · 1 month

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I will never shut up about how Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the most tenderly written game served to the most loutish horde of jackasses. I think it is possibly one of the greatest pieces of popular fiction made about feudalism in recent history, even if it's not always the most historically accurate.

And that's because the whole damn thing is about the profound, authority-enforced inhumanity that self-propels feudal order... but this time, it's written from the perspective of, for lack of better word, "humanity undermines, and humanity wins."

Love wins, if you want to be cheeky.

This was originally meant to be a reply to @feelinungry's excellent post on the subject, but it outgrew itself and got super bloated, so I'm plopping it in its own post to not be obnoxious...

KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

And the reason all this about humanity and love is so important to the core of the story, to the very backbone of the narrative (even beyond the plot), is that it exists in opposition and to the impairment of the feudal system. Kingdom Come: Deliverance means to teach us, by way of deeply dramatic plots following individuals, how feudalism works and why it worked the way it did. And why and how that system fails.

The vehicle by which the game does this is by showing us, over and over, how the stratification of feudal class is eroded and sometimes outright dissolved (either in general, as with Henry and Hans, or when it matters most, as with Radzig and Henry) by plain and simple love.

Feudalism, like most class-stratified systems, relies upon 1. dehumanization of those beneath one's appointed status; 2. fealty (mock-love) to those above one's status, their title-appointer class; and 3. the maintenance of a deep separation between these artificially bestowed statuses, as enforced by church (as in word of clergy, not word of god) & state (legal rules and law). Those words and laws existed to propel the system by divide-and-maintain (of the workforce populace, placing it firmly below the next class in line, etc.) in the service of unify-and-profit (for the ruling class).

Sigismund & his invading army are wholly separated and adherent to the feudal theory, even if they have flouted codes of warfare & inheritance; they are presented to us as the main dehumanizing force of the story world, a wave of Order that indiscriminately burns opposition flat rather than an individual leading a royal coup, a cyclical destruction that paves the way for the next flavor of rule to continue the feudal system ad infinitum. They're thoroughly separated from the story even when they are burning down a village in front of our eyes and generally move as one, with Markvart occasionally stepping out of that mass of Feudalism and its antihuman nature to give it a face. They're more a force of nature than an individual as far as the narrative goes.

And we are meant to understand that in sharp contrast to the "close" story, the cast we get to know and watch as they attempt to answer this force of nature. And the second we see these characters get close enough to each other, by raw proximity, to poke a pin into the wineskin of feudal order as dictated to them by authority, it bleeds--everywhere. Not in the sense of ruination but in the sense that a tiny wedge of empathy cracks open the dam and leads, yep, to rehumanization--and love, the most human driving force there is.

And that changes everything, for everyone. Not just internally, as with a character's personal development arc (i.e., Hans learning why his duties, which he resented and viewed as an impingement on his freedom when dictated to him by authority, are incredibly important for real people who experience pain) but externally as well (as @feelinungry so elegantly points out in the original post).

Over and over, at every stage of the story, it's the rehumanization of and by these decision-makers (at a family level, at a community level, at a regional level, at a national level) that cracks the feudal cycle, even if in very small ways. Hans really brings this back home in a petri dish in late game, after the siege, when he complains to Henry about the noble's code (letting Istvan go) potentially leading to pain and disaster for the common people Istvan's machinations are likely to harm in the future. He chafes--and we chafe, and so does Radzig, and so does Divish--against feudal stratification because he has learned a general empathy through loving an individual, and that has in turn reshaped the way he sees the world.

And that's exactly why and when feudalism begins to fail, and why it thrashed itself the way it did, from the enforcement of sexual mores (though this wasn't exactly like it is in movies) and gender law to terror upon its own populations.

And it's the crucial understanding I think we begin to forget after being exposed to so much Hollywoodification of history, where the oppression always exists for cruelty's sake alone rather than in active and deliberate service to a political construct.

And I think it's why we've "lost the plot" so horribly when it comes to understanding that people in history were still people, not monolithic one-mind entities (as the feudal system demanded they be). And why we somehow forgot that such people fall in love, in all kinds of love, in a way that has never given a damn about authority. And that this in turn undermines supposedly supreme authority, even divine authority, and will always continue to do so, as long as people are people.

This is what it always comes back to. Always. From Henry's parents and their mysterious bond with Radzig informing the protagonist's journey from "the past"--to Henry & Hans falling into stupidly fierce soulmatehood with each other in the present--from Istvan & Erik's destructive fuck-the-world romantic love on the "enemy" side--to Divish's humbling, humanizing realization that he loves Stephanie in some way, he really does, despite the chasm of age/gender enforced upon them by their adherence to feudal order that doomed their romantic love to failure.

People will always love each other, even when the world orders them not to, even when faced with death and worse. People will always, given proximity and shared experiences, learn to see each other as human again. KCD reminds us of that. It's why the "slow" storyline exists and why it works.

And that is why this game is so fucking fantastic, and why the genpop fandom has utterly failed it.

#kingdom come deliverance #kcd #kcd2 #henry of skalitz #hans capon #radzig kobyla #divish of talmberg #stephanie of talmberg #redmeta

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allsadnshit · 3 months

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What a lot of people don't understand about holistic and natural medicine is that it IS rooted in science. To say that ancestral knowledge passed down is not real because it doesn't have clinical studies run on it completes disregards the systems in which medicine is made. Modern medicine and the idea of something being "proven" to help or heal is based on what is studied and tested, which makes total sense, BUT what is overlooked is that what gets studied is completely dependent on what is funded. There are so many natural remedies passed down amongst all different cultures that utilize herbs and very accessible methods of medical intervention that are commonly seen us "myths" simply because people in power who choose what gets the proper clinical trials have their own agendas for what can be turned into financial gain and to say "there's no proof or study that this herb helps with this" is missing the bulk of information about how much capitalism and classism effects what is recognized given the necessary attention and resources in the scientific community.

I don't understand how so many people can consider themselves politically radicalized and anti capitalist but then flip flop when it comes to just this topic specifically as though knowledge on herbalism and techniques used for hundreds of years that aren't given medically funded backing are somehow just empty words and ignorant. Honestly, it's pretty transparently racist as well because so much of what is overlooked or shot down tends to be cultural knowledge and heritage passed down in oppressed groups and communities who's cultures in general get dehumanized in a lot of ways socially AND systemically!

They didn't even start doing clinical trials including studies on female bodies until extremely recently in the scope of how long modern medicine has been manufactured and yet people want to roll their eyes at the idea that natural medicine has existed for the people by the people for longer than any pharmaceutical can match up against.

So maybe instead of calling anyone who doesn't fully trust these large stock market companies with public health, people should consider the history of who gets an official say in what gets the money necessary for those clinical trials to take place that make that medicine "scientifically proven".

I did not understand the weight of this topic till I had my own diagnoses with a chronic condition that 99% of the time effects women and realized how drastically biased the medical systems care is and how directionless the care is for patients depending on who they are. And I really don't care if people with the privilege of not knowing that system intimately think it's not real till it's on Web MD.

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ace-disgrace-on-the-case · 1 month

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There’s something I love about Battletech that I’ve only now figured out how to word, and it’s the way ‘Mechs are treated in the setting (capitalized that way because in universe it’s short for BattleMechs).

If you’re not familiar with this line of thinking, let me introduce it a moment. In short, one of the things that mecha as a genre does is use mechs because they’re human-looking. It lets you take mechanized warfare, something famously cruel and dehumanizing, and humanize it, making it once again about lone heroic actors that tower over the battlefield. That can do a lot of things in a piece: it can let you really understand the emotional impact, war-is-hell style; it can be vaguely propaganda-y/wish fulfillment, in the sense that it defies the idea that one person alone can’t make a difference; it can even be used to make combat a person-to-person backdrop for what’s really going on (you could do a rom-com with mechs pretty neatly I think…wonder if that exists?)

Battletech seems to have this line of thinking built into the setting. From a Doylist perspective, I can’t guarantee it was on purpose, but shut up we’re going off the Watsonian rails.

The setting goes straight into it with the view people have of MechWarriors, the class of soldier that pilots Battlemechs across the battlefields of the Inner Sphere. The setting (especially in older eras) treats these warriors as knights-errant, crusading about in massive suits of armor for whatever cause they believe right--even if that cause is a bit of coin. Chivalric orders at one point really did and occasionally still do within the Battletech universe, and (again, earlier on in the setting) mechs are often passed down through family lines, making these machines into a symbol. What that symbol exactly represents depends from MechWarrior to MechWarrior, but no matter what it means something to them. They have some form of relationship with what it means to be a MechWarrior. To be one of these glorious knights.

But then, as all things must, it all comes crashing down when faced with the horrors of real life and the real-life battlefield. 'Mechs aren't invincible, far from it; they certainly aren't disposable, but in addition to other 'Mechs (the "romantic" opponent all MechWarriors wish to fight) they are under threat from VTOL craft, planes, tanks, artillery, and even properly trained infantry. The glorious knight, striding across the battlefield...can very easily lose their lives to their own notions of splendor. Combat, both in lore and on the tabletop, is brutal, and 'Mechs even if they survive often come away with massive holes, missing limbs, and pilots bloodied and bruised even from the safety of the cockpit. To say nothing of those that don't make it home, their ammunition reserves sending them up in a fireball of death, their reactors purged in superheated steam that could leak into the cockpit and boil them alive, their cockpit itself blasted from off the 'Mech's shoulders and leaving them nothing but a fine red paste. BattleMechs are glorious, yes, but at the end of the day it's still war.

It's still war. And war is hell.

So despite having the appearance of being an empowering machine in-universe, we can actually look at the BattleMech as symbolic of the kind of thing that really happens to people thrown into the grinder of war--they die. And it's not pretty. No idealism can protect you from the barrel of a gun. And you are most certainly cheaper to replace than all your equipment.

The designs of the 'Mechs lean into this depersonalizing angle, too. Many of them are, in the barest sense, humanoid:

But even then, it's the vision of a human filtered through a much more realistic military-industrial complex than something like, say, Gundam. And on the other end of this spectrum:

...are 'Mechs that look nothing like the people they're supposed to represent.

Looking at this through the lens of 'Mechs as something used to tell a story about humans, we reach a conclusion:

You think this story is about you. It's not. War is hell. Meat is cheap.

And that's actually really cool of Battletech to be so thematically tied into itself like that.

#post #battletech #fen rambles

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2goldensnitches · 2 months

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ngl since october i've been feeling very uneasy in fandom, like lots of other users in the ones im familiar in are propalestine which is fine until they start throwing dogwhistles around and reposting obvious misinformation about i/p and dehumanizing jews/israelis/zionists as if that does anything to help palestinians (meanwhile when politicians like biden actually try to help they're either ignored or accused of bizarre conspiracy theories that don't make sense with even basic knowledge about the conflict)

i was guilty of sliding down the rabbit hole myself bc i wasn't thinking critically, like oh, this blogger started reblogging some suspicious stuff like the "river to the sea" stuff but if i don't support it i'm Evil and Hate Palestinians so i reblogged it like the Good Tumblr User i wanted to be. i've had reservations about how weirdly people talk about israel, but they say its progressive and moral, and i fell for their words. in hindsight, i really should've known better than to take them at their word, and now i don't really reblog much about the conflict anymore bc holy shit people really showed themselves to be utterly vile about this conflict and i don't trust a lot of people here anymore

then people i thought were trustworthy started getting really mask off. one semi popular fandom account i followed reblogged jvp as a reliable source, but i later learned from browsing jumblr posts that jvp is actually really antisemitic and basically autism speaks for jews. and in addition they also reblogged stuff about how israelis are all Evil and don't deserve any sympathy for 10/7, which is just cruel. i couldn't associate w/ them in good faith any more. other fandom accounts i used to follow started reblogging some really stomach churning (but concerningly popular) posts such as one about how hamas treated the hostages "so well" and another about houthis supposedly attacking ships for palestine's sake. this and looking beyond my usual fandom circles really opened my eyes to just how toxic and ass backwards this was becoming, and how this kind of vitriol is spilling over into the real world and hurting jews while doing nothing to help palestinians or muslims affected by the concurrent rise in islamophobia. it's so nervewracking. now whenever i see fandom blogs post propalestine stuff w/ "river to the sea" in big letters i feel very wary that they might be hiding more dangerous prejudices under the surface. even those who do try to be more aware about the surge in antisemitism still can't help but put down israelis, dabble in conspiracy theories, and/or condescend to jews or occasionally their allies

honestly kudos to you for staying strong in these times. you're a lot braver than me and you and the rest of jumblr deserve better than this horror show

Thank you for the ask. I would just like to say that i don’t care if people support palestine and i don’t give a shit about the israeli government—i just want them to be normal about israelis and jews and not treat an actual war like team sports and fandomise this. Ideally people should want peace instead of thinking about innocent people in terms of a team they can root for while watching a match on the telly. Unfortunately, while the insanity didn’t start on social media, the current nature of the internet facilitated a really shit union between “activism” and fandom where more people are concerned about fictional antisemitic goblins than they are with real flesh and blood people doxxing jews and forming actual lynch mobs. They sloganeer for actual terrorist groups while ignoring the lives of palestinians and yemenis and lebanese and syrians and iranians directly impacted by them. All we can do is sit tight and hope more people come to their senses at least; if they don’t, then we shouldn’t waste time lamenting them.

#asks #israel hamas war

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 9 months

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Hello, sorry if this has been asked before and no worries if you don’t wanna answer, but do you think Alice had an actual relationship with anyone (excepting Jasper, Edmund, and Bella)? She doesn’t strike me as a social butterfly and she’s not even that close to the rest of the Cullens. I’m don’t know if you would agree but she seems kind of lonely to me?

No.

Alice's gift is such that the people around her, even those she loves, are dehumanized. They become a series of probability distributions that she should guide into picking the best course of action.

Edward is the one she feels a real sense of kinship with, as he shares those visions through his own gift and like her is an unwilling voyeur to those he loves most.

Bella she seems to like because she can tell her what to do and do what she wants with her. She can always have fun times with Bella, can always have Bella look fabulous, and can have all sorts of new experiences and parties because of Bella. They don't actually talk all that much or say anything particularly meaningful to one another.

Jasper's similar in that their relationship boils down to "Alice had a vision about him". In canon, we see them chafing against one another, and their relationship seems to work as it is because Jasper at the end of the day has Alice has his highest priority/will listen to her, not because they have any kind of meaningful relationship.

The thing is, though, that while this is a very small group of people Alice has any relationship it's also the only effort she puts into any relationship. Rosalie wishes she could be closer to Alice, but Alice doesn't seem to want to put up with her. We don't see Alice reaching out much to the other family members or resentful of having only close relationships with a few.

While Alice is lonely, yes, I think she's also content with the situation. She has a sibling/friend in Edward who truly understands her in a way no one else can, she has a lover in Jasper, and a sister and friend in Bella. She doesn't need the others and if she wanted to she could seek a course where they would be whatever she'd wanted them to be (that is, at the end of the day, what Alice's gift is best for).

Alice is living that montage in Groundhog's Day where Phil tries to seduce Rita and treats it as finding the right combination of words to get his desired end result, where Rita isn't so much a person as she is a mysterious black box who can predictably respond to known input.

Basically, Alice doesn't see people as people enough to consider herself lonely. If she did, she would rework her approach to those around her to put people into roles that make her feel less lonely.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #alice cullen #anti alice cullen #edward cullen #jasper whitlock #bella swan #rosalie hale #meta #headcanon #opinion #sleepneverheardofher

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koqabear · 7 months

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hi guys! this is such an odd post i never thought i'd have to make, but yk... might as well put it out there.

i'm sure by now it's common sense that the writers you see on tumblr are real people with real, busy lives. we are people with jobs or in school or both, and we are people who write because we like to, not because we have to. we are doing this as a hobby- unpaid, giving hours-- days, weeks, months, years-- of our time to present art that we are passionate about. for free.

so to come into a writer's inbox or comments being demanding and frankly, entitled, for them to write simply because you want them to is disrespectful and dehumanizing.

I took a break because i was tired and no longer found myself having fun writing. I really don't want to sound pretentious, but i've devoted a lot of time to this account, and posted really frequently; all because i wanted to, of course. it took me so long to come into terms with the fact that i needed a break-- because honestly, if i kept trying to push myself further and forced myself to write until i couldn't anymore, i would have reached a breaking point and would have probably ended up leaving instead. and while i have reached an overwhelming amount of support for my decision, there are others who simply seem to lack this common sense.

now in reality, i could care less about these people; i saw a rude comment this morning-- on a post related to my difficulties writing, no less-- shrugged it off, and moved on about my day. i only just now remembered it after checking my notifications. however, this is an unacceptable way to treat content creators on this app, and not everyone can simply brush things off. i don't care what intentions you have when sending such things; it doesn't matter if it was a joke or lighthearted or whatever, because the meaning is still the same. we are not robots, we aren't people who will satisfy your every whim, and we most definitely won't write because you try to command us to. entitled, selfish people who treat content creators as nothing but machines and refuse to show their support properly are the very reason why writers leave this website left and right.

now, if i ever see anyone leave such comments and inboxes on my or another creator's account, it will guarantee a hard block from me. it literally isn't that hard to be a kind person to people who are catering to your interests for free.

this is the last time i'll talk about this; don't even try to send anything rude in my inbox, because it won't get you the attention you so desperately crave.

thank you to my followers who have shown unwavering support to me and have left me reassuring words. you are the people i look forward to sharing my writing with.

#you think it'd be common sense #i hate that i had to make this post at all but #it really isn't that hard to respect the writers on this site #i really hope no one else has to experience such rude interactions.#rambles #[⚠︎] - psa !

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traegorn · 8 months

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The whole NPC thing is incredibly dehumanizing :(

You get what simulation theory is, right? It's the idea that our entire reality is a simulation running on some computer.

And it's always pitched in a way that we could wake up from it. That there's a higher reality we could wake up into.

But that logically makes no sense. When you play the Sims 4, your sim can't wake up in our reality. They're a part of the program. If this is a simulation, it means that we're all a part of the program. You, me, everything.

But again, these folks who pitch simulation theory kinda get that... only they think some people are real. Pretty much they think they're real and everyone else is fake. Which is bullshit.

If this is all fake, they're fake too. If I'm an NPC, so are they. They just have an ego about it.

So when I say we'd all be NPCs in simulation theory, I'm not dehumanizing anyone -- because I say that if simulation theory is true, the only experience anyone has ever had of humanity in our reality fits that definition. If this is a simulation, it's the entire human experience.

But you're right -- When simulation theory advocates say it, it is very dehumanizing. Because they think they're the only real people and the rest of us don't exist.

Which is why it's a stupid thing to ponder. Either reality is real, or our very definition of real is defined by a simulation which we are only other parts of -- which means it makes no fucking difference.

That's a lot of words to say -- you and I and everyone reading this are all equally people by any possible definition of reality, and simulation theory advocates better pull their heads out of their asses.

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sokkastyles · 2 months

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Hi, I really like your blog and your metas; they're so well-worded. One of my favorite ones is this one, talking about Zuko and his privileges vs how he's victimized by the Fire Nation. I have one question, though. Do you think that Mai, also, in the Boiling Rock Prison arc, treated Zuko as a race traitor? Her reunion with Zuko and some things that she said rubbed me the wrong way. And if you could, would you mind expanding a little bit on how Zuko is treated as a race traitor by Fire Nation characters?

Zuko is actually treated as a potential race traitor from the beginning of the series, even when he's loyal to the Fire Nation and desperate to restore his honor according to their values. We see this as early as episode three in book one. And I believe that in the meta you mention, I also spoke about how that's tied in with his abuse, both on a political and personal level.

Because the thing about fascism (and yeah, we could argue whether the Fire Nation is truly a fascist nation because the writers used a conglomeration of tropes and real world influences for their fantasy world, but they definitely draw on fascist imagery heavily for their Fire Nation influences, so it still is present in the narrative) is that it's dehumanizing, and everyone is a potential traitor to the regime. It's where the idea of "thought crime" comes from.

We see this as early as the third episode of the series, when Zuko encounters Zhao, who treats him like a potential enemy even before learning that Zuko has been keeping the Avatar's discovery from him. Some of this is Zuko's backstory. Zhao looks down on Zuko because he knows the story of his disgrace and banishment, and this is used both to downgrade Zuko and to keep him loyal to the regime. It's similar to how Ozai treated him, both giving him a sense of what he is "owed," the greatness he can hope to achieve by remaining loyal, while also feeding the idea that he has to constantly make up for his own shortcomings. It's an entirely manipulative social order, like a cult but on a wider scale.

Under that system, questioning the regime gets you labeled as a potential traitor. Even though Zuko was acting in advance of the regime by keeping the secret of the Avatar's return so that he can capture Aang himself, he acted as an individual, and that's dangerous to the group think.

As for Mai, we see her act similarly towards Zuko from the moment they are together in book three. Her reaction to hearing him voice his concerns about going back home is to sarcastically tell him that he should not be worrying. On some level, I think Mai's emotionally closed-off personality is part of the reason she can't handle Zuko's uncomfortable emotional reaction. But she's also a product of the same regime, where questioning things is frowned upon.

Think of the way Zhao and Azula react to Zuko. Both mention his banishment, Zhao to emphasize his dishonor, and Azula to imply that he's become "uncivilized" due to living in exile for three years. Mai expresses similar prejudices towards people living outside the Fire Nation in her comments on the people of Omashu and the comic that takes place before the beginning of book three where she criticizes the food in Ba Sing Se, in front of Zuko who has actually been living there while in exile. So I think Mai is, on one level, very uninterested in any aspect of Zuko's life outside of the Fire Nation, and may subconsciously look down on Zuko because of it, the way she looks down on the people of the earth kingdom that Zuko has lived among, the way she looks down on servants (which Zuko is shown to be uncomfortable with).

Another part goes back to what I said about not questioning the regime. Zuko expressing doubts about going home challenges the very idea of Fire Nation superiority. Mai can't understand why Zuko wouldn't want to go home or why he would have doubts.

On another level, though, expressing doubt is literally dangerous, and Mai knows what happened to Zuko the first time he openly questioned the regime. On some level, she might associate Zuko worrying with him not being safe. The reality is that he is not safe either way, which is exactly why he should be worrying.

So Mai probably had those thoughts about Zuko even before he outright became a traitor. This is actually one of the ways fascism encourages people to turn against each other. If nobody is an individual, then individuals cannot be trusted.

All this is backdrop to Mai outright telling Zuko that he's betraying his country in "The Boiling Rock." And in between Zuko leaving and their reunion, there was also a propaganda play publicized that portrayed Zuko as not only a political traitor, but his romantic interest in Katara in the play is used to make him look like a joke, using racist tropes like the pale skinned man being "dominated" by a seductive, aggressive dark-skinned woman, and deferring to a man (Aang) who is considered to be from a "lesser" race. The gay jokes about Aang and Zuko are also typical of that sort of attempt to paint someone considered a race traitor as sexually deviant.

(You know what would be interesting to think about? If Mai saw that play. Did it fuel her feelings that Zuko had betrayed her, personally?)

What I think is actually pretty surprising is Zuko's ability to distinguish that no, I'm not betraying my country, I'm saving it, which is what he tells Mai. That idea doesn't seem to have originated anywhere else. Zuko could have just washed his hands of the Fire Nation altogether and embraced an identity as an expat, but he doesn't. Because he's always been someone who cared about his country.

#zuko #antimaiko

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cursedvibes · 6 months

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Where is this story going?? What is happening

I really hope kenjaku isn’t actually dead

I hope so too because that would be very dissapointing. All it took was to distract Kenjaku and cut off their head? I would've accepted it (kinda) if it was Takaba who killed them. Given Kenjaku's words, they would've preferred that too, expected it even to some degree, but having Yuuta barge in there and do it is so anti-climactic. He never had any real connection to Kenjaku that would give this move any meaning and the way he did it there was no way to form one either. Anyone could've stood in his place and done it, there's nothing special to it.

All the possibilities for how Kenjaku could "survive" don't seem very good to me either. Cursed Spirit makes no sense because Yuuta is right there, he could just destroy it again, stomp their brain to mush. Plus it would remove a lot of nuance from Kenjaku. Other option is that Kenjaku's CT reforms them somewhere else. The theory that more of their original body is left could be true and they come back through that somehow. Don't like that either because that version of Kenjaku would inevitably be different from the Kenjaku we knew before and I just don't like there being multiple versions around. The character development of the last chapters would've been for nothing. Even if the new Kenjaku is the exact same with the same memories (despite the brain not being the same or even missing? or can Kenjaku create little parasite brains that activate when the main one dies?) I don't like the implications for their cursed technique. Why take on vessels at all if they can regrow? I'd need a very good explanation to believe that.

Last option would be someone else finishes Kenjaku's plan, but I don't know who. Sukuna would feel weird because he has no passion for it at all, although at least he has a connection to Tengen. Yuuji being some sort of sleeper agent would be weird too and take what little agency he has away. He doesn't care about Kenjaku or their plans at all, so that would be very out of nowhere. I'd like Yuuji to step in Kenjaku's footsteps, but only if he does it consciously and I'd also like some actual conversation between them before all that happens. Could also be that Tengen gets freed now that Geto's body is dead for good and spreads chaos. Probably the option I like most? Because that means at least something came of that.

My main problem is that as far as I can see there will be no meaningful connection to Yuuji. They won't meet and they won't talk. With the positive development through Takaba I could've seen Kenjaku be more open and honest about their intentions with Yuuji, but Yuuta's actions ruined all that. Instead Kenjaku dies somewhere far away, while Yuuji is busy with Sukuna and doesn't spare a second thought about it. He wasn't even at the meeting discussing the plan for how to kill Kenjaku. No struggle of what being complicit in matricide would mean to him, he doesn't have to face his last close family member at all, doesn't have to deal with all his family issues and more importantly doesn't even get one good conversation with the person who is responsible for all his suffering. Sukuna hurt him more directly, but Kenjaku is the reason Sukuna is even here and used to be inside Yuuji. They birthed him just to be a vessel, an experiment. They dehumanized him and while they do care about him, Yuuji doesn't know that. That would've been very important to make his thoughts on Kenjaku more meaningful. To him they're just some person he met once, who attacked him with centipedes, told him confusing stories and then dipped with the Prison Realm in hand. Just some mad scientist he abstractly knows is responsible for his trauma and what his half-siblings went through. Plus a weird dream he once had and that he seems to want to forget.

He could still find out more about Kenjaku and their intentions and past (through Sasaki for example), but that will mean a whole lot less without Kenjaku actually being around.

Idk, maybe I'm looking at it too pessimistic, but I don't see a whole lot of good coming from this. We got proof that Kenjaku is capable of caring about people, even now, even ones they haven't known for very long, and it all seems to become meangless. Giving them depth just to cut them off when it becomes most important is such a weird decision. Depending on how Kenjaku's "will" manifests in the future, I might change my mind, but right now it just saps a lot of tension from the story. All they need to do is kill Sukuna and that's it? Well I guess they still need to stop the Culling Game somehow because with "Geto" dead the conditions for it to end won't be fulfilled. They could destroy the prime barriers Tengen errected, which will also destroy jujutsu society as is, but...idk Kenjaku succeeds in a way, but if that really is the end for them that makes this even more unsatisfying.

Anyway, we'll see...

#jjk spoilers #jjk 243 #kenjaku #jjk leaks #asks

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magz · 5 months

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Hi Magz! I see a lot of debate about if autism is a disorder, a disease, or a "way of being". You're nonverbal and DSM/psych-critical, so I want to know your thoughts on autism's classification (if/when you're able)

Was think about this for some days,

but epistemology n label stuff wrt neuro-psychiatry is bit magz weakness when try words it.

Am not very enlighten voice of autism, n am in own little world which often have consequence when Magz try communicate ideas early.

Like, this too early for proper...

Am also have different experience of autistic people that unable speak since toddler, n they should be listen to also. So with disclaimer.

Regardless, am try:

when people call autism "way of being" - it often attempt reclaim way medicalization have dehumanize autistic people

when make monster of us by say "autism" something can n should be remove from person

which result in medical abuse, psychiatric abuse, interpersonal n parental abuse.

high rates abuse from caretakers, medical staff, n parents - especially when unable / not allow advocate for self.

so "autism is way of being" is direct response to that history - n cannot be remove from psychiatric context.

the consequence of do "way of being" do embed parts psychiatry into it as essential aspect of person, but is understandable why happen at least.

Keep in mind is the language that often available for layperson go against common reasonings for abuse.

but even if was not "way of being", the abuse that normal happen when autistic - should not.

so we need pin idea center "regardless anything, abuse should never happen nor there be class of people it ok do to" and "there systems n ideas in place that make abuse seem 'necessary' n enforce it or pressure as thing should do, n this should not happen - but it do happen"

with "disease", it have even more negative connotation - as well, can reinforce the need of "cure". which, again, become reasonings for abuse.

so many autistics are against that way call it, "disease".

especially when what define "autism" is many traits how people experience world, or outsider perspective of how autistics seem like.

so would, in essence, *become* calling the person and their needs - a disease.

n is often language that lead to eugenics logic: something that need be cleansed from population or forced out of person.

with "disorder" - unfortunately the limits of language n its history, make it so.

autism - and previously "childhood onset schizophrenia" - was coined within the bounds of neuro-psychiatry. n is informed by it.

an observation of behaviors n difficulties of function in early 20th century to 21st century, with comparison how "normal" children act

have cemented the label autism, as neurodevelopmental "disorder" (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

the personal experience n difficulties of the autistic individual is real, in sense of any other neuro-socio-biological thing can be

but the way of acknowledge it is through that medicalization

the pick of what pool of 'symptoms' are autistic, the observance of toddlers n children behaviors to 'notice' autism, what is consider normal n what not normal

sociologically n culturally - creating the consequences of what "not normal" mean bit-by-bit in more rigid terms;

thus defining what "average normal child" not need accommodation of n 'should not act like' through "not being autistic, not {many other 'disorder'}"

n biological definings, by working backwards on what people these overlap symptoms have in common when try search it - whatever can -

brain scan, gastrointestinal issues, patterns of regression, comorbidity conditions ...

n we can acknowledge this self-reinforcing aspect, n the inherent medical environment what 'autism' label came from

but as long as we live in this type society, with its hostility to 'autism' n layered lore intertwined

- even with it reference these idea, it have its particular use in language for know what these various circumstance are refer to n these various experience (which not same everyone but it approximate some type idea)

n sometimes (usually "low support needs") people are overeager with their criticism of psychiatry n medicalization, to remove language terms entirely or be picky

while give nothing of alternative or way express experiences for the silenced stigmatized autistics they rarely hear from

or try shut down. cuz they call themselves "high support needs" n "low functioning" for describe their reality of disability

thus, the silencing n narrowing words reinforcing that sort ableism against disabled anyway.

when the point n goal is to empower the persons most hurt by these systems oppression psychiatric, without patronize or silence - in whatever method can.

usually by question these systems authority n narratives they hold, but priority is of the people.

still, am not trust psychiatrists n medical people n such,

they done much horrible things to Magz n seem project own ideas onto self while focus on whatever label n not own person that am, n how am experience personally, n how environment n people are affect

so this experience inform own view

that it. whatever. it not any of those,

but a reality we live by anyway. whatever we call it. but some the terms have more consequence than other.

and am not know how say what want say, cuz like half the words jumble. so. this the best gonna get for now.

n am prolly say lil bit something way wrong way say it, than what meant, cuz it happen often but what can do ?

#anonymous #ask post #o post #response #sij #autism #antipsychiatry

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direquail · 5 months

Text

Going to put it out here: Calling John a fascist is lazy. He can suck without being a fascist. He can be a dictator or colonial imperialist without being a fascist. Tyranny and imperialism predate fascism as an ideology by thousands of years. The Catholic church is older than fascism. Even mass resettlement of conquered populations (like the displaced refugees at New Rho) dates back to at least the Bronze Age. That doesn't make it okay! It does have some implications for the words we're using.

Fascism is a specific ideology and there is no actual, textual evidence that either John ascribes to that ideology, or that it is the ideology of his empire. Nor is there any evidence that we're supposed to view him or the Empire as a metaphor for fascism. Religious oppression? Absolutely. But what I mostly see is a lot of conflation of fascism, colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and religious oppression, and "fascist" getting thrown around to lump them all together. (I think BoE refers to him as a "fascist", but also, BoE is straight-up genocidal and wants to "cleanse" the universe of necromancy, and, in a war, generally both sides will shade the truth or straight-up say untrue things to dehumanize the other side to make violence against them easier psychologically. So, I think we have to take the specific insults they throw at him with a grain of salt.)

ALSO, fascism is an explicitly racist, violently homophobic ideology, so while it's possible the term could be appropriate for any given character (and there have definitely been gay fascists in real life), I would really like people to think hard about whether or not the term is actually appropriate for John, a queer man of color, before applying it to him. If it's not appropriate, we have other words, and we should use them.

There is a specific kind of lefty social media that is very used to discussing fascism (which, given the times we live in, makes sense), and sometimes folks are a little too comfortable slinging the term around instead of asking if the analytical tools we're using are in fact appropriate for the subject.

#the locked tomb #tlt meta #fascism

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class1akids · 1 year

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Please maybe it's because the leaks and summaries don't paint a total picture but I feel like the story has ended in a very underwhelming moment? Shouto is all "words mean nothing without actions" and one of his biggest lessons about how to be a hero is the need to connect with the people he needs to save. And tight now? It doesn't seem like he did any of them. His "I need help so I'm not a masterpiece" feels uncalled for, and for what we know, Touya still wants all of the die. He hadn't connected yet.

I swear this feels either like a "it's a good way to change POVs in the battlefield so people won't demand this side of the story for a while" or is truly a rushed ending because of HK's shoulder injury.

I think you answered your own question. I don't think Shouto is done and I don't think Touya is done either. I think even Endeavor will get another moment.

It was a good chapter for what it needed to deliver:

Iida's speed feat

Shouto reflecting on his past, his struggle to connect and learn to communicate

Shouto stepping up and saving his family and everyone

I'm sure people will be mad about both Shouto saying that he needed his family's help, about not reaching the same heat as Touya and about not being a masterpiece, but I think it makes sense in light of the endgame themes.

Nobody is doing it alone. Not Deku, not Bakugou, not anyone else. Everyone needs help and everyone's help matters, no matter how small.

Also, Shouto shedding the "masterpiece" label is a good thing too in my book. That's not what he wanted to be, that's Endeavor's plan for him. A dehumanizing one. That's what put a wedge between him and his siblings. And that's why Touya refused to see him as a real person.

Shouto is human too and if there is anything we learnt in the last 350+ chapters is that being the strongest is not what drives him or makes him happy.

He's happy to rebuild bridges with his mom and siblings, he's happy about making friends and spending time with them and becoming a better person, he's happy about saving people.

It's not about his pride, or ranking, and certainly not about trying to prove that he's stronger than Touya.

You remember how Midoriya vs Todoroki ended? Shouto had to do this - he had to put in the work and effort to get to this point not for his personal glory, but for the sake of his family and the sake of Touya.

#c1a asks #bnha manga spoilers #bnha manga leaks #bnha 390

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letters-to-rosie · 6 months

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Sorry I'm sending so many asks, tho I'm curious if you have any tips on writing race in the Arcane universe. Clearly it's not the same as the real word but it a showrunner were to say point blank that racism doesn't exist in Arcane I think I'd get really mad. Idk, if you're still figuring it out sorry, I I'm just curious

lmao no problem I never stop talking anyway

but not only do I never mind getting asks, I was THRILLED to get this one. this isn't in my wheelhouse. it IS my wheelhouse. it's what I'm getting the phd for so they'll let me teach this sort of shit lol. I was literally so excited when I saw this that I had to make myself get to a certain stopping point on my final paper for my history of race class (how fitting) as a motivation so I could come answer afterward lol

the real key to it is something you've already identified in the ask itself: that it's not the same as the real world, but it's definitely there. and with that in mind we can think of talking about how race comes about

so I'mma break this into two sections. the first is about dealing with race (or racialization) in a fantasy setting like Arcane, and the second will be on how real-world structures still have a bearing on what we write about those fictional worlds and how they're perceived. okay, let's get into it (and let me type properly lol)

Because race isn't rooted in biological reality, it's constantly shifting. It's meanings are never fixed, but because race is a way we naturalize the world around us (much like gender stereotypes), it appears more permanent than it is. Now, this isn't discounting racialized violence any group has endured. But the process of defining who belongs to what group, where the dividing lines are, what racial stereotypes mean, and so on, is ongoing.

Race is a popular way of dealing with difference, but it's far from the only one. So what we have to ask is how a group of people become not just different but fundamentally different in ways you can assign supposed traits and behaviors to them. There are a lot of ways this can happen, and every instance has its own historical specificity. Also, every instance is caught up in a "web," so to speak, of cultural context, understandings, and referents (riffing Clifford Geertz and Stuart Hall a little here) that allow people in that web to make sense of the world around them and to understand themselves. So it's very messy, but often we can find some key events that set the process of making a race, racialization, in motion. A good example IRL is the way that brown people of all backgrounds were racialized as vaguely threatening in post-9/11 America. Another is the Transatlantic slave trade, which gave economic incentives for dehumanizing black people and, eventually in the U.S., created a social structure where people who were only partially black could still be enslaved, which is how you get tan black people like me lol. Another example could be the absorption of various European immigrant groups into whiteness throughout U.S. history, or the effort to separate the Japanese from other East Asians after they beat Russia in a war in 1905.

In general, we're asking "what set racialization in motion?" A war? Colonial expansion? Mass immigration? Capitalism? Usually you don't have just one, and usually race combines with one of those forces to exacerbate a previously-held idea of difference in a society. So all of a sudden those people aren't just different, but they might as well be a different species.

In Arcane, we don't get enough backstory to say anything definitively, but we can assume that the divide between Piltover and Zaun is primarily economic. The game lore suggests some colonization, too. In any case, by the time of the show, there are already:

firmly-established delineations between Piltovans and Zaunites

a stereotyping that hides the complexity of the problems the cities face (see Jayce saying to Viktor that the Zaunites are criminals; of course, he's worried about Jinx, but he's operating on the assumption that the Zaunites are acting up because of their criminality, which hides other motivations for their behavior; in all likelihood, most of them were upset because they couldn't get to work, which would lead to a loss of wages and more economic precarity than they already experience)

a robust system of incarceration, police brutality, and environmental racism leading to disparate health outcomes across groups

and a division of labor that relies on all of the above (though I REALLY wish they'd explain more about the mines I need to KNOW)

So, again, it's not race as such, but it's helpful because we can see that it's not entirely reducible to social class, ether. If it were, Viktor would have had a much easier time, and there would be more economic mobility both up and down the ladder. I think it's more than fair to say that racilization is at work, even though the characters have a wide array of physical features on both sides of the river. Racialization can most certainly happen even when the people involved look mostly alike (see the English and the Irish for the classic example).

Okay, so we've established that some race-y things are going on. What about the second part? What about the real world?

We have to be honest and note that our real-world experiences are going to affect how we engage with these characters. This isn't inherently a bad thing, but it's important that we're aware and cautious, handling the question of race delicately. I, for one, have been really disappointed in some of the audience reception of the show's black characters (and a teeny bit in how I feel like their arcs were rushed compared to the wider cast). I'm not really invested in any ship involving Jayce, not gonna lie (though I will say it takes a lot for me to get invested in a ship in general; I have to really click with it to care), but the hate Mel gets over shipping cannot be separated from mysognoir. It just can't. Likewise, with Ekko, I'm sometimes nervous about descriptions of his body that remind me of the VERY long tradition of fetishizing black men to hell and back. But he also gets the short end of the stick in shipping sometimes, and I think his relatively lower popularity in fandom is likely related to his race.

This is me, a black woman, calling it as I see it. We could also get into Sky, but that's a whole other thing. I think that when we engage with these characters, it's important to note what is actually in the text and what might be a projection of our world's current concepts of race onto the fantasy world.

So, for example, assuming Caitlyn is better at math than Vi because her facial features are East Asian. Vi is Jinx's sister. Vi is better at math, presumably, at least in terms of talent, since Vi wouldn't have gotten to go to school. A way to work in the racialization of the show's setting could be for Vi to express frustration with people think ing she's dumb just because of where she's from, or she could be upset she doesn't know something not because she is a Zaunite but because Zaun is so oppressed that Vi never got a proper education.

Mel is a pretty calm character. If someone wrote her as very angry, for example, I'd be like whoa, sounds like the stereotype that black women are angry is at work here. Mel expresses anger at her mother, but otherwise she's very level-headed. For an example in the setting, perhaps Mel tells a close confidante she's a bit tired of the veneer of civility Piltover can put on. Race works in multiple directions. By saying the Zaunite are the rowdy ones, it's saying Piltovans can't be (not that they actually can't, just under their world's racial logic). How would this play out in Mel's life? Could make for an interesting fic.

One example I can speak on personally, because I'm writing it, is my attempt to engage elements of real-world black radicalism with the Arcane universe. Like, I have lines that Ekko says in one chapter that are deeply inspired by one of the most famous Pan-Africanists in U.S. history. But I can't map that thought onto, say, Mel, just because she's black. Her position in the society is such that real-world blackness doesn't really have anything to do with her outside of her reception by the audience. I do, however, engage that sort of thought with other Zaunite characters, mainly Jinx, despite her being white in the real-world framework. In the setting, she's racialized as a Zaunite, and I'm proceeding accordingly, working with those categories of race instead of the ones I deal with in my real life.

Another thing I'm very wary of is beauty being attached to skin color. I'm a bit wary of skin color being mentioned a lot in fics in general, honestly. In a world where skin color isn't the means by which people are divided, it wouldn't be nearly as worth noting. What about...accents? Perceived intelligence? Did Viktor go to Piltover and have people go "oh, you're so articulate"? I bet he did.

Okay, this is getting very long. Pretty much what I'm trying to say is that the answer is to think about what race does in the real world and then think about how it would work in Arcane or any other fantasy setting. What gets people designated as a race? What stereotypes are associated with them? How do people resist this? and so on.

And on the flip side, we have to be attentive to how race in the real world might be coloring our perceptions of certain characters. By being conscious of this, we can avoid potentially reinforcing real-world racial logic. And by examining what racial logic is and what it does, we can become prepared to deal with it in the real world.

(and yeah I would also not enjoy a showrunner saying it doesn't exist in the universe lol)

#arcane #racialization #rosie's writing desk #this turned out long as hell #but if you're interested it might be worth a read!#thank you for the ask! really was such a blast #a nice end to my day #i love talking about this shit lol #arcane meta #media criticism

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thricedead · 20 days

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Clari what do you think idols really sell? I don’t think it’s music because most idol songs aren’t always fantastic, sometimes it’s performance but is it just dance?

Id say above all theyre selling a parasocial closeness u_u singing and dancing is there as a packaging while the real content is the fake boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with a corporate made personality i feel. At the end, idols could bang pots n pans and dance polka but ppl would stream and buy merch because they feel a sense of loyalty to their favs. I see how this is valuable escapism that can be harmless depending on the individual.but we really got to be aware that as far as we know every single word these idols ever spoke in an interview is engineered to cater to a specific audience. This doesnt hold true only.for EA idols id say its true for western celebrities to build up fake personalities too but i feel that the more you owe your career to a multimillion company managing you the less control.you have.over.the image you put out so its just unfortunate esp.with kpops huge boom worldwide. This isnt an excuse to dehumanize idols by saying theyre all fake - if anything, their own loyal fans further dehumanize them such aswhen they abhor seeing loona girls wearing very mildly sexual things like making a dirty joke is the mildest most normal.human thing in the world but fans straight up feeel cheated esp in this area bc they feel a certain level of sexual/romantic ownership over their faves' sexual agency which theyre sooner willing to share with other fans than the idol themselves. Something very very telling in being uncomfortable with the idea that a man or.woman you dont know and never will has sex with someone out there. Bleak....

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jalebi-weds-bluetooth · 1 month

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hey! I agree with every word of yours. I’m learning so much from ipk and I absolutely love loving the show! And regarding Arnav, I went from being like “this dude’s a total jerk” to being absolutely smitten by him. His character arc is just mind blowing. I think I genuinely started finding him attractive AFTER he started to fall for Khushi, when he was no longer denying it or was confused about it. Before that, he was just a really good looking guy with an asshole-ish personality, but it kind of justified who he was, so no complaints here. I liked that he had layers. I must say Barun killed this role. And it amazes me how we cannot see even one single speck of Arnav Singh Raizaada in Barun Sobti off-screen (the little fun interviews during the shoot) This kind of points out his unbelievable acting caliber, and how brilliantly he portrayed this role of a “heavy-duty complicated” man, despite being absolutely NOTHING like him in real life. Sanaya’s real life personality does reflect a hint of Khushi though, and I love her for it. She radiates such positive and fun energy!

Hey Anon :)

I'm glad you resonated with my thoughts! Arnav has been a favorite of man in the sense of he was written outside the template of the nice guy, had a compelling past and was set up as a villain/anti-hero.

He dehumanizes people beyond a certain economical strata and the show always shows how screwed up he is.

We are meant to dislike him, and I think that's the aspect I like the most. The show sells Arnav as rich, powerful and despite good motivations - he isn't just a good person.

Until he is.

Barun is really good in playing understated characters. He has shined in characters like Arnav (it's role where he legit learned and refined his acting skills - and benefitted from having solid co actors too - especially Sanaya), Arjun, Yusuf, the dude in Kohrra and so on.

In short when he's convinced of a character - he's really good in wearing the skin of the character.

Sanaya legit made Khushi likeable. And definitely she vibed with Khushi's energy post playing Gunjan, who was very different from Sanaya's core personality.

Some actors have an undertone and they shine when placed close to it, and some actors are really good in switching between themselves and their characters.

Best,

JWB

#ask #anon #off screen

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