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lintwriting · 27 days

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I'm making this post to compile the Weibo allegations against Jullian Champenois, the voice actor for Kim Kitsuragi, since I found navigating the screenshots to be a bit confusing. I've translated some of them to the best of my ability and would definitely be open to others reviewing these translations for errors, as I am Chinese American and therefore could be missing some cultural context. I've linked to Chinese definition websites to explain some of the translation choices that are more inferences.

The rest of the translations are from 阿阮 @woon__ton on twitter, who has been in contact with the original Weibo poster to ask for permission for their translated reposts, as well as permission for my repost here.

Outline of the Weibo Post

The allegations originated from a post on Weibo by a Chinese artist. The body of the post contains a summary of their experience, and attached are:

Screenshots of their personal Instagram DMs with Jullian

A screenshot of an older post where they express feeling weary about Jullian's DMs

Screenshot of vent messages demonstrating how this experience has affected their work.

After posting, other commenters chimed in with similar experiences, and this caused the original poster to update the original post.

They first updated it with a screenshot showing them blocking Jullian Champenois

Next, a testimony from a commenter

A second testimony from another commenter

Screenshots of DMs from that second commenter

*Update: Additional testimony from the original poster

The Body of the Original Weibo Post

Below will be screenshots of the body of the original Weibo post, with translations from @woon__ton on twitter.

(via 阿阮 @woon__ton on twitter)

This text was later edited to update about the additional testimonies and to add greater context. The added context explains how the Weibo poster could tell that Jullian Champenois's DMs were targeted, unprofessional, and sexual in nature, as the poster had gone through a similar situation before with another creator. The updated context is translated below.

* I realized something was wrong so quickly because I had a similar experience at the end of 2019. Scott lobdell, a DC comic writer and screenwriter of Happy Death Day, came back to like my drawings and privately messaged me after I followed him on Instagram. His account at that time was nuked (chinese internet slang for when accounts get banned or suddenly have all their content taken down) [so I can't access the logs anymore], so I don’t remember the content of the chat, but for specific news discussions, you can google the keyword “Scott Lobdell sex harrasment”. This situation is very common in the industry. They deliberately prey on people from their fan lists.

For context, Scott Lobdell, from what I can tell, would hit on young female artists working at the same cons as him, both in person and in text messages, with implications of him holding his position in the industry over them.

Although the Weibo poster can no longer access the log of Scott's harassment of them because his account got banned/deleted (at least, I think that's what the usage of 'nuke' is saying, they could also be saying that their own account got nuked), they note how their chat with Jullian Champenois was reminiscent of the same conversation they had with Scott Lobdell—a man known and 'retired' for his harassment of young female artists.

Lobdell's harassment is a good example for context due to how he demonstrates the inappropriateness of 'flirting' and hitting on young female artists in professional contexts.

1. Screenshots of their personal DMs with Jullian Champenois

Below are the screenshots of the Instagram DMs the Weibo Poster had with Julllian Champenois. Note the profile picture, as his profile picture will look the same across other screenshots with him in it.

Also note the way the conversation starts out polite, focused on both of their respective arts. Then he shifts the conversation to sexual topics, first by mentioning his explicit song, then by suddenly bringing up an explicit art account, @ken_chk, they were both following. The Weibo poster steers the conversation away from these topics.

They also mention this in the comments, but they find the fact that he asked their age, ethnicity, and sexuality afterwards to also be suspicious/sexual in nature. The sentiment being "Why would the artist's age matter?" or "Why would you fixate on me potentially being 17 years old when I've mentioned college graduation finals?" or "Why would you ask that if not for sexual reasons?"

@woon__ton on twitter notes that he is seemingly consistently looking for college aged girls, and other commenters/victims got the sense that the strange insistent questions about nationality were related to "yellow fever."

2. Weibo Screenshot of an older post where they express feeling weary about Jullian's Dms

The next attached photo was a screenshot of a Weibo post the Weibo poster had made in 2023. I'm assuming that in this screenshot that they're talking about Jullian Champenois, since this whole post is about him.

First I'll be transcribing the translation. Then I'll be clarifying the idioms/translation choices with asterisks, before giving an overall summary of the screenshot.

Feel free to skip to the 2. Summary section, as the translation clarification section is a little long.

“It reminds me a bit of my PTSD, the last time I was praised in private [instagram] DMs it was the Scott Lobdell [situation] where [he] later disappeared from the internet for some reason[.] I don't remember the reasoning, but at the time I had suddenly felt that he was kind of creepy so I indirectly lost my interest on Jason Todd(桶 is the Chinese nickname of Todd/Red Hood, Lobdell was the writer of n52 Redhood comic). It was not a good experience haha..." * "I feel that there is a cultural difference where Chinese people may take getting sent private messages out of nowhere a bit harder. It may also be a me problem. Maybe I am a Sakura girl at heart (internet slang, sakura is the culture symbol of Japan so it’s the nickname of Japanese girl, they tend to be a little bit more shy and social in a more careful and polite way to avoid offending anyone, no negative meaning behind this). uneasy desu ('I am anxious' but using the word desu to stand in for "I am")" "I don't remember the timeline, but it seemed like someone in the industry accused him of sexually harassing young female artists." “As a result, even when I am excited, I am still very wary of people because I have become disillusioned."

*UPDATE: I have updated this post''s translation with clarification from the Weibo poster.

I translated a phrase as "pulled up carrot," but it was actually the transliteration of Scott Lobdell's name into Chinese. I translated a phrase as "climbing the wall" "bucket," but it was actually the Chinese fandom term for 'no longer liking' and the Chinese name for Jason Todd.

In addition, I translated Sakura Girl as (slang based on Japanese animation, meaning a delicately stupid young girl) but the poster has clarified that Sakura girl is not supposed to have a deprecating connotation. The focus is on shyness or politeness, not stupidity!

I will keep my first translations in the next few paragraphs in to maintain transparency and to keep some necessary information, but they are no longer accurate. The paragraphs in brackets can be skipped over.

[[[[[The full idiom goes "the pulled up carrot also pulls up mud," or the idea that investigating a criminal who was arrested first can lead to the exposure of other criminals. The same way pulling a carrot out will pull loose some dirt, exposing one person may also dig up dirt on their associates.

With the mention of "later disappeared from the internet," I think the Weibo poster was referencing Scott Lobdell, whose account was nuked and who also had privately DM'd them with praise/sexual advances. The implication could be that the last time they got DM'd like this, it was in a creepy way and they were too afraid to speak out for fear of getting attacked/exposed themselves. Or that he disappeared to avoid getting exposed. This paragraph is a little unclear.

The 'pulled up carrot' situation might also have something to do with the explicit artist, ken_chk, mentioned in the DMs with Jullian. The weibo poster clarifies in a later edit that they didn't censor @ken_chk's handle in the screenshots because ken_chk was also embroiled in a sexual scandal involving targeting his fans.

"*About why I didn't delete the artist Ken mention in the chat history—because he was the reason why I raised the alarm. One of the reasons is that I read something about his character on Weibo about a few months ago. I just forgot to unfollow him on Instagram. I can’t find any evidence about what he did, but the Internet has testimonies, so I won't write it off." "* Regarding the artist Ken, the matter has been issued with the consent of the person involved. According to the person involved, Ken will also select fans to target. Please see the person’s experience for details"

So another implication could be that Jullian bringing up such a shady person in the DMs unprompted demonstrates his shady associations. Jullian is the 'carrot pulling up the mud' by doing so.

For context, the poster had felt the need to disavow ken_chk by clarifying that they had only been still following ken_chk by accident. Jullian still following him and even bringing him up unprompted could be a bad look in light of the similar allegations of misconduct surrounding both him and ken_chk.

I am unsure though, as I am not very familiar with this idiom, nor am I familiar with the allegations against ken_chk listed here. I could be totally misinterpreting this line of the post and the ken_chk edit, as I've had to infer some pronouns and commas that weren't originally there due to the nature of Chinese grammar.

'Climbing the wall,' in addition to cheating, can seem to mean getting over obstacles in various contexts, like getting over the firewall to pirate stuff. However, I've translated it as 'cheating' as there's the word "bucket" that follows it. Bucket is also a word for 'trash,' so it'd make sense to translate it as 'cheating trash.'

Later another victim who responded in the comments accounted that by sexually harassing them, Jullian Champenois was also potentially cheating on his girlfriend that they knew he had at the time, lending more credence to the idea that wall climbing comment is about Jullian, though I am still unsure.]]]]]

2. Summary Section

I think this post was first made right after Jullian first messaged the Weibo poster with the innocent messages about their art back in October 2023, months before the more recent sexual DMs from him on March 30th, 2024.

Despite the polite nature of these October DMs, the Weibo poster was weary of Jullian's DMs in this first 2023 post, mentioning how in the past they had gotten similar DMs from Scott Lobdell, only for those complimentary DMs to later be revealed as openings for sexual advances. Their 'PTSD,' as they put it.

In addition, they note a potential cultural difference between Chinese netizens and Western/English-speaking ones. It might be a bigger deal in China to get send someone DMs. Maybe it's more intimate/intimidating/professional, in contrast to it potentially being more casual in the West.

With the summary out of the way, I do want to say that some Western netizens have responded to the later DMs with the sentiment of "these are not examples of harassment, just flirting in bad taste," but this could be related to the cultural mismatch the poster mentioned here.

Getting flirted with in the DMs is very normal to a lot of people in the West, as 'sliding into their DMs' is synonymous with flirting, but perhaps in China, either this is not the norm or Jullian's type of flirting is not the norm, especially within the context of a professional art account.

If you find yourself thinking the same way as those western netizens, I'd ask you to reframe Jullian's DMs less as a casual instagram DM, and more like a work slack or LinkedIn message from a colleague/client, as the DMs we have been/will be talking about are in the context of their own work or hiring him for work. This should help you get a better sense of why the victims felt uncomfortable.

3. Screenshot of Weibo poster's vent messages demonstrating how this has affected their work

The next attached photo was a screenshot of vent texts. I'm not sure the context of the texts, but the content is definitely about their regrets with Jullian Champenois.

Why shouldn't I just be frank and rant a little? I want to be so woke (as in another way to say clear-headed, not related to American progressive slang) that you'll see me awake, anaesthesia-free on the operating table when they cut me open[.] Do you get me[?] Well Any way you look at it, I'm miserable On top of all this, I've got a big graduation project that's in comic form. That comic was adapting the poem that is currently acting as my temporary nicotine replacement for my disco elysium withdrawals*** So I would listen to [Jullian Champenois's] songs at the time God, it hurts so much Luckily, my nicotine replacement was for another character (they're probably saying that the poem reminded them of another disco elysium character, not Kim Kitsuragi, hence their relief) For a moment there, I was thinking of to talking to him about my graduation project and about disco elysium.

*** So I'm making the assumption that the original poster is talking about a graduation project that they're working on. Since they're an artist, it's a comic that they're making. They then say something about an original poem. They use the word that means "original" in the context of adaptation, like the original book a movie is based off of. So the full phrase is 'the comic's original poem,' which I'm taking to mean that they're adapting a poem into comic form.

This is relevant because I think they're trying to say that the poem is currently the thing they're obsessing over while waiting for more Disco Elysium content. They use the term "meal replacement," which seems to be a Chinese fandom term referring to the content people look at during a fandom drought—like people hitting the end of all the Disco Elysium content out there and deciding to check out Pathologic, since they've heard that game scratches the same itch.

So I think this screenshot is supposed to be them venting their feelings about how this situation with Jullian made them feel. They want to be clear-headed about his actions, even if it makes them feel miserable. And they note how his actions have tainted their experience working on a Disco Elysium-inspired comic.

1. Screenshot of the Weibo Poster Blocking Jullian Champenois

After talking with other commenters, the Weibo poster posted their closing remarks with Jullian Champenois, especially noting how he used their work and their interest in his work as a pretense for flirting with them instead of genuine artistic interest.

2. Next, testimony from a commenter

(translation via 阿阮 @woon__ton on twitter)

阿阮 @woon__ton also notes that "If anyone questions why I didn't release the screenshots, it's because this fan suffered severe trauma and was unable to provide the original chat log."

3. A second testimony from another commenter

Hello blogger, I also suffered sexual harassment from Jullian at the end of last year. Because my friends know that I like Disco Elysium very much, [they] said [they] could give me an autograph. I was very excited and happy at the time. A few days later, Jullian himself said that he could add me on WeChat, so I could directly tell him what I wanted him to sign. I was so happy and felt very lucky. After that, he was always very polite and took the initiative to chat with me, but within a few days he started to sexually harass me. I can't find the chat records from that time, only one or two that were sent to friends. I was very disillusioned at the time…so I blocked him, but he added me on New Year's Day. After I saw your Weibo, I remembered this incident again. He was really disgusting… I loved Disco Elysium so much, but he ruined it all. Okay, I hope you can share this. He is a habitual criminal and has yellow fever, and likes to chat up Chinese girls. At the same time last year, I searched for his name on Weibo and found that many people who followed him on Instagram were greeted by him. Everyone thought he was very nice, but that‘s not the case. When I first added him, I didn't expect him to talk to me a lot. Because it was such a surprise, I expressed a lot of my love for Disco Elysium and Kim. He asked me if I knew about Kim's sexuality. When I told him that I knew, he emphasized that he was a straight man, and then asked a lot about exchanging private information. After he sexually harassed me, I couldn't even tell him off for it because my friend was_____, I was waiting until he left _____ before I could block him. After I rejected him, he was still interested in striking up another conversation. I said that I knew he had a girlfriend, and it was very strange to do this. He said that his girlfriend didn't care and knew that he was doing it, which 'was its own kind of fun.' Made me feel very sick.

4. DM Screenshots from the Second Commenter

This commenter then submitted DMs that Jullian had sent them. The original poster has shared them, noting that the profile pic is clearly Jullian's.

This commenter also commented that the friends they had mentioned also had similar experiences with Jullian Champenois, which could push the number of victims to 4+.

I'd also like to share a comment on the original Weibo post from this same commenter:

"This incident did not affect my playing of Disco Elysium (the voice will be turned off hhh), but I really felt a huge spiritual pain, like my faith was completely shattered, like the statue of the Innocence in the church turned into a smelly rotten rag."

Additions

In addition, there is a testimony from a third person not attached on the post, which @woon__ton posted on twitter. It can be found here, and it outlines how an anonymous user paid Jullian in a professional context to voice for a product for her, only for him to make an unprofessional advance on her. Although the harassment is not directly shown in the WeChat screenshot, his apology for his inappropriate behavior is shown.

This testifier would like to remain anonymous.

*5 Update: Additional Testimony from the original poster on Weibo

The original poster is emphasizing the predatory nature of Jullian's DMs, differentiating them from the "just awkward flirting" narrative that some Western/English speaking people have had in response to these allegations.

First of all, his "yellow fever" aspect of specifically asking about Chinese girls, who are often fetishized to be more shy/submissive/less likely to talk. But in this case, it's also him specifically being inappropriate with people for whom there is a language/cultural barrier, making it harder for them to speak out—either due to a literal language barrier between them and his Western audience, or the plausible deniability of all this being a 'cultural misunderstanding' (which is very unlikely, since Jullian has apparently lived in China and therefore is very aware of the norms there).

Second of all, his usage of a professional/work account to make sexual advances. Again, comparisons to the Scott Lobdell situation should be made, as they highlight why it's sleazy to use their work as an excuse/opening to make sexual advances on someone. Not only does it cross boundaries, but it's also not treating the artist with the respect they deserve as someone just trying to work.

Closing

The Weibo poster would prefer if people not follow them on Weibo over this situation, as they posted the situation on their work/professional art account, and it is painful for them to see too many notifications about this.

They also note that they still love Disco Elysium and Kim Kitsuragi and that the allegations against Jullian Champenois should not reflect on the dev team of Disco Elysium, as there were also women working on the team, etc.

With this post, I've tried my best to accurately convey the sentiments of the original poster of the Weibo without commenting on the proof or the legality or what the ramifications should be or how we should interpret this, etc (beyond a quick mention of a potential cultural clash). I'll update the post with better translations if something comes up or if anybody mentions any suggestions/clarifications.

#disco elysium #jullian champenois #kim kitsuragi

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llyfrenfys · 7 months

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Some really good notes from my post courtesy of @margridarnauds about that person accidentally using a white nationalist slogan to support the Welsh language:

I know someone who is doing a PhD on the Far Right and the co-option of cultural movements and these tags are bang on. Its the difference between a healthy nationalism and an unhealthy nationalism. A lot of this goes for Irish nationalism as well as it does for Welsh nationalism.

There's nothing wrong with (and arguably a lot right with) minority language preservation. It can be used for great good (strengthens community ties, preserves culture) but if co-option is not guarded against readily, it can also be used for great evil (see: using minority language struggles as an argument against immigration, for example).

The Far Right sees the cultural preservation of anything (white) and it's like a bat signal. These things are magnets for white supremacists and assorted fascists of all kinds. Which is why it is so goddamn important to be vigilant against people like that hijacking your movement.

I see a worrying amount of Welsh nationalists use (accidentally or not) the language of the far right to argue for Welsh language preservation. It can be as innocuous as advocating for a Welsh Academie Francaise to as obvious as insinuating that Wales must be kept "ethnically" Welsh in order to keep out foreign influence on the language. I see this go unchecked all the time in various Facebook groups for Welsh independence (most of which I've left since admins of these pages either don't know or don't care that people use their groups to share these sentiments).

Nationalism ≠ Fascism - but if you don't keep an eye on the company you're keeping, any well-meaning nationalist/independence or language preservation movement can be hijacked to promote hate. I only know a scant amount because I was only vaguely considering joining Yes Cymru a few years before they all went sideways (but I remember Owen Exie Hurcum talking about this on Twitter at the time) but the leadership of Yes Cymru began to squeeze out minorities from the group- nonwhite folks, gay people, trans people etc. Whole thing put me off from joining. I don't remember the full details but from the testimonies of others, the group was hijacked and steered into a reactionary way of being. Considering a large amount of Welsh nationalists also idolise groups like the FWA (Free Wales Army - a Welsh nationalist group formed in 1963 which tried to emulate the IRA in Ireland, with little success- mostly just playing paramilitary dress up) - whose symbol is this flag:

Even if the flag itself is based on Welsh folklore and is supposedly an entirely innocent, non fash design- it still is like a beacon to the Far Right who will take any amount of symbolic validation as a cue to join your movement and derail it for their own ends.

Which is why Celtic scholars, people with casual interest in Celtic languages and/or their respective cultures and civic nationalists alike need to be vigilant against those who would co-opt the field for their own twisted hate campaign.

So, one final thought,

Returning to my original post responding to that American chiming into Welsh politics from overseas. Please PLEASE be careful when wading into politics that isn't yours. Where the Far Right are involved, it doesn't take much to cause a dumpster fire - if you aren't 'on the ground' with these issues so to speak, you aren't in the firing line if your comments go sideways and enable/provoke the Far Right in this country.

If you have an interest in Celtic languages, countries and politics- you have a duty to be responsible with what you do and say. This isn't to say that you cannot engage with these topics- but that you should exercise caution lest you accidentally worsen an already delicate situation.

This has been your regularly scheduled Celtic anti-fascist tedtalk. Please reblog to make sure more people become aware of how delicate things can be and how to prevent fascists from getting a foothold in this field. Thank you.

#cymraeg #Welsh #Gaelige #Irish #Luke's originals #antifascist #pleass reblog

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genlossranboothrowaway · 15 days

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what you said about philza’s privilege in terms of the qsmp experience (and just in general) is a great point tbh. i believe that HE believes in what he’s saying taking into account that he has access to different information than we do (not necessarily MORE, just different — dudes not on twitter for example so may not have seen testimonies from ex admins, but has info from people still involved in the server that we are not privy to etc). ultimately he’s only intending to talk to his community and reiterates that he’s not a spokesperson for the project, just another guy playing on his friends server taking what’s been told to him in good faith, so his truth is his truth but not necessarily the objective truth etc.

one thing I’ll say about the ‘no rp actors’ thing is that probably that’s referring to those specifically hired to do full time rp. my thought is that some admins still on the project that have been doing rp (the ‘5 active’ ones) are doing it for fun in the downtime from their main tasks. this seems pretty indicative when you only really see them doing this with bbh, because if it was actually their ‘job’ they would be available for the other creators still playing too. (i saw a bbh fan comment that ‘these admins suck at improv’ which, yeah. not their primary job probably lol). the only admin I’ve seen hang out with several creators is ‘ollie’ who we now know is ricardão, and that speaks for itself really given how many hours he’s clocked on the server just for fun outside of his ‘work’ obligations. so it’s like, should the new team specifically be telling the admins not to rp on the server if this is the case, to strictly stick to their tasks, or is it better to allow them autonomy over their time regardless of the arrangement? idk. in the end i’m reserving most of my judgement for if/when they release a statement on what changes have been made after (/if) this ‘restructuring’ gets done.

Hi anon, thx for the ask.

Even if they are not rp admins specifically I personally don't think they should be playing on the server at all right now unless they are getting paid for it. Letting the admins do volunteer work like that sets a dangerous precedent moving forward for all admins workers. The studio will be more inclined to hire (or keep employed) people who will do extra just because they want to, without pay, and it will end up the same way it is now: people being underpaid and expected to do much more than they are reasonably able to.

It's easier to picture when you imagine that it's something more boring. There's a guy at this restaurant that hasn't been paying their staff for overtime but he keeps pulling overtime anyway because he loves cleaning dishes so so so much. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but he still shouldn't be encouraged to do so until the restaurant gets their shit figured out.

"Autonomy over their time" would make more sense if they were being paid hourly wages or a fixed salary, neither of which we've seen evidence for. As far as I'm aware all employees who have come forward were paid in unrecorded one-time payments or as contractors for a fixed project/piece/job.

Quackity Studios is going to have to figure out how to pay workers who are often working overtime hours, whose hours are not fixed and fluctuate wildly and unpredictably, and who are living in many different economic climates, which is a task I do not envy them at all.

They also (best case scenario) will have to figure out retrospectively how much they owe all of their unpaid and underpaid workers from the past year. I do not have much faith in this happening given the size and scope of this task and the fact that there is no way, at this moment, that the QSMP has made anywhere close to the amount of money that cost to run it. I personally think that QS is going to fight very hard to not have to pay any of their workers for work previously done, although I would love to be wrong.

Even considering just those two things, not to even mention the logistics of a structural and leadership overhaul that we've been told is taking place, it is irresponsible and honestly self sabotaging to continue to allow those admins to rack up rp time on the server.

The RP admins are not essential for continuing to run the server. If they are being paid that is money that could go towards backpay for the under/unpaid workers. If they are not being paid their activity on the server is only increasing the potential liability QS has in regards to their unpaid laborers.

#asks #anon #qsmp #discourse #qadmin situation

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a-room-of-my-own · 2 years

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As a barrister, I see many victims of domestic abuse being sued for ‘defamation’, for daring to speak about what their perpetrator did to them. Meanwhile, the world questions whether they’re a ‘real victim’ | Charlotte Proudman

“If she was scared to death, why didn’t she leave?” asked everyone’s favourite Hollywood heartthrob-turned-bad-boy Johnny Depp in court.

He was talking, of course, about his ex-wife Amber Heard, who he is suing for libel in the US over an article she wrote for the Washington Post in 2018. During her testimony, the actress has accused Depp of physical and sexual abuse.

If Depp’s phrase feels familiar, that’s because it is: survivors, families of victims and domestic abuse campaigners have worked tirelessly to stop society using such victim-blaming tropes. Instead of asking a woman why she didn’t escape abuse, ask the man why he abused her in the first place. That would be a good place to start.

Escaping an abusive relationship is one of the most dangerous times for victims. Just because the relationship ends, it doesn’t mean the abuse ends. Post-separation coercive and controlling behaviour is one of the most insidious and corrosive forms of abuse that I’ve ever seen.

Depp lost his defamation claim in the High Court in London in 2020. He was greeted with adoring fans throwing roses at him, blowing kisses and holding supportive banners. I stood next to him after we passed through security, he smiled and I gave him my best dead eyes.

The judge later found that Depp physically assaulted Heard (including headbutting her, tearing out clumps of her hair, and holding her by her neck) and she said she had feared for her life. Depp is alleged to have sent texts to his friend, Paul Bettany, threatening to burn Heard and “f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead”.

It is telling that Depp is dragging Heard through a second high-profile trial in the US, hoping for a better outcome. He is suing her for a whopping $50m – this looks to me like serious financial control.

Both cases in England and the US centre on silencing Heard from speaking about the abuse she says he inflicted on her. I see many victims of domestic abuse being sued for “defamation”, for daring to speak about what their perpetrator did to them.

The world sits in judgment, questioning whether Heard is a “real victim”. Does she look like a victim? Does she speak like a victim? Does she cry like a victim?

Where are the headlines asking if Depp is a perpetrator, judging him on every move that he makes? There are no special measures in court – Depp sits there smiling, while Heard relives abuse and trauma.

Depp’s lawyer is used as a pawn, a weapon to revictimise her for the world’s entertainment. The court has become a tool for a perpetrator to continue his abuse and control. What message does that send out to victims? Victims who don’t have money, fame, photos of injuries and texts threatening to harm them? How do they think they will be treated by the justice system?

The court is asked to pathologise Heard as being “abnormal”, “mentally ill” and “mad”. All too often, victims of domestic abuse are labelled with sexist diagnoses such as “histrionic and borderline personality disorders” by psychologists, rather than understanding that they are suffering with trauma caused by domestic abuse. Heard is no exception.

Dr Curry, a psychologist, suggested that Heard could have two personality disorders, while Dr Hughes diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder. But why isn’t Depp pathologised? Where is his mental health diagnosis?

After all, this is a man who explained his abusive behaviour by calling himself “the monster”. Every headline that has commented on Heard’s mental health has stigmatised people with mental health challenges, while simultaneously undermining the credibility of victims who come forward.

Heard is due to be cross-examined by Depp’s team. I can tell you now how that will play out because I see it every day in courtrooms: “Why didn’t you say no? How drunk were you? You provoked him. You were abusive. It’s your fault.”

These questions blame the victim and render the perpetrator invisible. It’s a tactic that continues to be very effective and persuasive, because it plays on all of the myths we are taught about how abuse works. She lies; he’s a hero.

So, when I see hashtags trending on twitter like, “AmberHeardIsALiar”, I realise how deeply entrenched misogyny is in our society. It doesn’t matter that there is a High Court decision proving that Depp assaulted Heard, it wouldn’t matter if the world watched Depp physically assault Heard in public, people would still support Depp. Why is he above the law?

Is it because Depp is the definition of masculinity? Every man wanted to be him at one point. If even he can be a perpetrator of domestic abuse, with all the fame, glory, money and power that he has, it sends out a strong message to men that anyone can be a perpetrator of violence. Anyone can fall from grace – even you.

#i stand with amber heard

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madmaenad · 2 months

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What powers did Indra and Ashura inherit from the Sage of Six Paths?

We receive two conflicting answers to this question in the manga, which we will examine in closer detail.

Our most authoritative answer comes from Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths himself, in chapters 670-671.

As Indra and Ashura's father, who raised his children and watched them grow, Hagoromo's opinion holds considerable weight. Even after his death, Hagoromo's powers allowed him to continue observing his sons' lives and the lives of their descendants. This firsthand knowledge makes him uniquely qualified to speak on his sons' abilities and powers.

We'll start by considering his thoughts on Indra, the older brother.

According to the sage himself, Indra inherited the sage's strong chakra. Indra's descendants also inherited this strong chakra as a characteristic trait, as Obito tells us through his Madara persona in 398:

Hagoromo further explains that Indra inherited two other traits from him:

"Strong ocular powers" clearly refers to the Sharingan eyes that would be the Uchiha Clan's hallmark.

What the sage means by "strong senses" is less clear. What we do know is that Uchiha Madara was an extraordinary chakra sensor who could identify an individual person from countries away. Linking those two facts, Indra having "strong senses" may have meant that he was also a chakra sensor, and that strong chakra sensors occasionally appeared among his descendants, the Uchiha Clan.

Now let's turn to Ashura, the younger brother. Hagoromo is very specific that Ashura did not inherit any of the things Indra did - not the ocular powers, strong chakra, or senses.

Then what did Ashura inherit from the sage?

Actually, Hagoromo never confirms Ashura inherited anything at all from him. The only comment he makes on Ashura's power is this:

What this vague statement refers to is uncertain, but I think we can draw a tentative link to senjutsu, whose practitioners undergo difficult training so they can learn to draw natural energy inside their bodies, then blend it with their own chakra to create senjutsu chakra. This technique artificially increases the amount of chakra available to the user, allowing them to fight on equal grounds against an opponent with a naturally larger chakra capacity. We also know that Ashura's descendants used senjutsu (Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Naruto), further lending support to this idea.

If Hagoromo is a highly authoritative primary source, our other version of events is the opposite. In chapter 462, Obito tells a short, mythologized version of Indra and Ashura's story.

By Obito's time, the myth of Indra and Ashura was over a thousand years old. When myths are retold over generations, details are embellished, downplayed, forgotten, and added. After enough time passes, a myth's recounting of true historical events may become inaccurate or incomplete, even if a seed of truth remains at its core. However, such myths still say a great deal about the people retelling them.

A further problem with this myth's reliability and accuracy is its source: Obito is relating this story with the intent to manipulate his listeners. We already know he's lying by claiming he's Madara. Likewise, he may be omitting or altering parts of the myth to influence his audience and further align with his goals.

Keeping that in mind, let's examine what the myth has to say about Indra's inheritance from the sage.

Indra's inheritance in this myth has clear parallels with the sage's personal testimony. Hagoromo stated that his eldest son inherited his ocular powers, strong chakra and senses. Here, Indra's inheritance is the "sage's eyes," strength, and spiritual energy.

The "sage's eyes" directly equate to the ocular powers of the Sharingan. "Spiritual energy" is also easy to match: chakra is composed of both spiritual energy and physical energy. Furthermore, Indra's descendants, the Uchiha, are known for strong chakra.

Because we can directly link most of Indra's traits between the two versions, we can say there is a high level of accurate transmission between the two versions.

The myth's version of Ashura's inheritance, however, drastically differs from Hagoromo's testimony.

Hagoromo, by omission, implied that Ashura did not inherit any traits from him, and he also said that Ashura found power through his own chakra only later in life. Since Hagoromo's firsthand account makes no mention of any "sage's body," longevity, or stamina, despite speaking to an audience who is Ashura's descendant, we must assume that these were later additions to the myth.

I have argued previously that Obito is telling a Senju version of the Indra and Ashura myth. The narrative expansion of Ashura's abilities adds further evidence to my claim, as the Senju would have ample motivation to depict their ancestor as impressively as possible.

The narrative structure used in this myth also gives Ashura, the Senju's ancestor, claim to an equal inheritance of the sage's power alongside Indra, the Uchiha's ancestor. Not only would that interpretation have carried significance in the politics of the Senju-Uchiha vendetta, it could have potentially been used as justification for the appointment of Senju and Senju-taught Hokages in Konoha.

But why give Ashura longevity and stamina, specifically, out of all possible traits? Perhaps because Ashura's descendants possessed these traits, even if Ashura did not?

Konoha's Senju clan and Uzushiogakure's Uzumaki clan were distant blood relatives, and Uzushiogakure was known as the "Village of Longevity." Perhaps this longevity arose in one of Ashura's early descendants and was then passed down to both the Uzumaki and Senju clans, or perhaps it first arose in the Uzumaki and was passed to the Senju through intermarriage.

Regardless, the inconsistencies within Ashura's narrative suggest that the Senju clan experienced substantial changes within the thousand year period after Ashura's death.

The stability and consistency of Indra's story in the historical record, on the other hand, shows the Uchiha clan maintained a strong line of cultural and genetic continuity, to the extent that Indra's bloodline reliably displayed their ancestor's notable characteristics even a millennium later.

#Naruto #Ootsutsuki Indra #Otsutsuki Indra #Uchiha Clan #Otsutsuki Ashura #Ootsutsuki Ashura #Senju Clan #My Naruto Meta

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idunnoficsorsumthing · 1 year

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Virtue

Bobby Nash x Reader

Warnings: 18+ do not read if you are a minor.

Summary: you are done being friends with benefits.

The noises the neighbors must have heard a couple of minutes before should have made you feel embarrassed. When you first started sleeping with your captain the both of you agreed strictly to let go of some steam. A secret. You were his dirty little secret. You agreed with it because you had been pining for him for months. His charisma, his ability to have snarky remarks towards completely incapable people on the job. His eyes were filled with pain, and hurt. While he put on a smile, and spent time with his found family. You knew why he was just screwing your brains out instead of taking you out on dates. Athena left him in shambles, and now the honorable captain was screwing the rookie. He wouldn’t be able to face the team if he did. You stare at his ceiling while you let your thoughts infiltrate your mind. You knew you should get up, take your clothes and leave. “Your neighbors must hate us.” You chuckle as you get up from the bed, you didn’t bother covering up, hoping he’d look up from his phone and see you and beg you to stay. “Well, next time I will have to take it easy on you then.” He said, you look at him, and he was looking at you for a response. You just stick out your tongue as you throw on his shirt.

You get home from Bobby’s house late, and you had a shift early in the morning. You saw the hickey Bobby left on the base of your throat. It wasn’t even red anymore, it was turning purple. You signed, you once heard Hen say that she thought Bobby drank respecting women juice in the morning. The thoughts of that joke lingered through your mind as you crawled into your own bed, still wearing the captain’s shirt. He might miss his LAFD shirt. however, as long as he was not asking for it back you weren’t going to remind him who has it. You heard your phone buzz, as you reached for it. A text from a detective you met when you gave s testimony about a case at court last week. Want to have dinner with me friday? Detective Greg Howard, he was good looking with broad shoulders. You answered back agreeing to it. Not like Bobby and you were exclusive. He almost immediately texted back. Great, I’ll pick you up at 7. You read the words. You were on shift till 6:30, and you wouldn’t have time to get home. You told him to just swing by the station to pick you up.

The days from Tuesday evening till Friday felt long. Starting from Wednesday evening you were on duty, and starting from that it felt extremely long. Just looking forward to the weekend. Bobby and you had the unspoken rule where you would flirt with him and he would ignore it. Everyone wrote you off as being flirty because of your playful personality. You were flirty with everyone, Hen would get noticeably flustered whenever you made a flirty comment. “Anyone want to go out tonight?” Buck asked when all of you were on the way to an emergency call. The sirens blaring in the background. The others were chattering in the background about how Buck needed to shut up, and that after a 72 hour shift nobody wanted to spend any more time with Buck. “Y/n?” Buck asked seeing as you were the only person who hadn’t responded. “Oh no, I’ve got a date.” You said, you looked over to the front to see Bobby’s reaction. There was none however. “Come on, afterwards we’ll hit the club?” Buck asked. You were hesitant. “Buck, what makes you think her date will end after dinner?” Eddie teased him. The others laughed. “Actually I bet 50 dollars that Y/n won’t go to the club with you.” He said, this erupted chatter from everyone betting money on how well they expect your date to go. “You shouldn’t go betting on a woman’s virtue.” Bobby said, resulting in the others being shut up. “I bet 20 dollars on getting laid tonight boys.” You said, mainly you just said it to piss off Bobby. You were outraged at him saying something about your virtue when he was the one fucking you whenever he wanted. The others laughed at you. Bobby clearly wasn’t. “Well, can’t see how we can’t both be right.” Buck flirted. Referring to the money he betted on you joining him tonight at the club. You were cut off before you could say anything to Buck as you arrived at the scene.

The call ran late, and you quickly showered, and got ready. Your mind went hauled over the thoughts of Bobby being mad at you, even if he didn’t say anything specifically you could tell his demeanor changed. Guess he didn’t like you making that joke. You shouldn’t care, you don’t care what he thinks of this. “You’re looking nice.” Hen said, stepping into the dressing room. “You’re not gone yet?” You asked. She shook her head. “You know if it bothers you. Just say so and we won’t make jokes about your love life.” She said, after a moment of hesitation. “It’s all good, Bobby just got on my nerves.” You said, Hen adjusted her glasses. “Bobby was the problem?” She asked, visibly confused. You shrug as you adjust your short cocktail dress. “It looks nice, very sexy.” She said, You look in the small mirror above the sink. “ All for you, hot mama.” You said, turning around, giving her a smile. She chuckled. “I wanted to look not slutty for the dinner but slutty enough to hit the club afterwards.” You tell her. She nods. “One thing is for certain, you’ll definitely get some tonight.” She hummed. That’s what you were hoping for. You walk out of the dressing room, and decide to quickly get something from the kitchen area really quickly. Bobby was standing by the kitchen island pouring himself a cup of coffee. “You’re still here.” You said, he nodded. “You look gorgeous.” He said, he had a certain look on his face. A mix between stoic, and the face he made before he’d kiss you. You stepped closer, taking his mug from his hand, raising it to your lips, taking a sip. “Don’t go.” He said, you looked at him. You had been hoping for a while he’d ask you to stay. All the late nights at his apartment. “So it is okay for you to ruin my virtue but can’t let anyone else touch me?” You asked, your tone stern. You weren’t going to give him the satisfaction. The word virtue were like poison in your mouth. “Okay, I shouldn’t have said that.” He said, you nod. You put his mug down in front of him. “You know when we started sleeping together I hoped we’d become more.” You said: “but it’s clear you don’t want that.” He didn’t look at you directly. He just stared at your hands. It was clear he was trying to formulate what he wanted to say. But, you heard your name being called from down the stairs. “Well, Captain unless you have something to say to me I’d better get going.” You said you didn’t give him time to respond,almost running down the stairs. You were greeted by Greg who looked nice in a casual button up, and blazer. “Hi, you look amazing.” He said, you thank him as you walk out with him.

Greg was nice, he took you to a nice restaurant, and got an entire bottle of nice wine for just the two of you. Conversation flowed between the two of you, as the two of you were swapping stories. After dinner he brought you home, and you were about to invite him in when he kissed you. It took you by surprise. You follow his lips movement. “I’m sorry.” He apologized when he was catching his breath. You give him a smile. Instead of saying anything you press your lips against his again. Kissing Greg was new and enticing. Nothing like Bobby at all. You had to take charge here, arguing with yourself as you missed the taste of peaches. You broke off the kiss realizing that you didn’t want to invite him in tonight. You hurried up inside of your apartment complex. You check your phone for the first time since the start of your date. You didn’t think Bobby would have sent you something. But, the wave of disappointment hit immediately when you saw he didn’t text anything. You saw the dozen texts Buck sent asking you to join him and some of the others from the team. It was only ten thirty right now, you open the door again, and walk out trying to flag down a taxi.

When you finally got to the bar Buck had sent you the address of. Chimney, Eddie, Hen, Buck and Bobby were sitting at a corner table. Beer bottles and multiple shot glasses covered the table. “Oh my god, y/n you’re here” Chimney cheered when he saw you. You sat down next to Buck who quickly put his arm over your shoulder to whisper something in your ear. “Bobby has been in a mood.” He slurred. You take one of the shots in front of Buck, and down it. Letting the burning sensation trickle down your throat. You didn’t realize what a bad choice of alcohol Buck made, and you desperately needed a chaser. You take the Coke in front of Bobby and take a big gulp. “Jezus Buck what was in that.” You hissed. The others were laughing about a joke made by Bobby about your inability to just drink alcohol. “So Y/n, your attendance means you did not get lucky?” Eddie asked. You shook your head. “Well, the night is still young.” Hen interrupted. It wasn’t clear to you what she bet on but now you knew. You let out a laugh. “Want to double it then?” Eddie said, Hen looked towards you. Then she looked over from Buck, and then to Bobby. “I’ll take that action.” Hen said, grabbing some money from her pocket and putting it on the table. “A Ben Franklin?” You gasped as your eyes widened. “You just love losing money huh, Hen.” Chim said: “ I’ll go against it.” You were starting to feel uncomfortable. “I’m getting another drink.” You said,pulling Buck off his seat to help you carry more drinks. You move across the dance floor. “So what did you bet on?” You ask him, as you lean on the bar waiting to be served. “That you don’t have sex.” He said, you laugh. “I was counting on you to help me win.” You whined. He chuckled, he really was one of your best friends. “I thought the same. Until I noticed how Bobby has been depressed since he heard you went out on a date.” He said, you look over at the table to see Bobby chuckling about something Chim said.

When you go to the bathroom a while later you didn’t realize you were followed in. “I want to explain.” he said, you continued washing your hands while he locked the door behind him. “Well, I don’t want to listen.” You murmured. You refused the urge to look up at him. “John said I’d lose you like weeks ago.” he said: “ and I still let it happen.” John was his friend from AA. He didn’t attend daily anymore but still kept in touch, sometimes he’d tell you things you weren’t sure he told anyone else. He stood close enough now. You could feel his breath on your exposed back. You look up, looking him in the eyes through the mirror. “ He also said I need to stop punishing myself by sleeping with you.” He said, you turn around, he stepped back to give you more room. “So now sleeping with me is a punishment?” You ask him. He got visibly annoyed by how difficult you were being. “I am always seeking atonement for my sins.” You were going to speak, asking him what the hell that had to do with you, he got to it first. “I couldn’t resist you, and I knew it was wrong, you're younger, and i’m your captain.” He said, your expression changed, it got just a little softer and you couldn’t let that happen. “So I'm just a young piece of ass then. Great” you said sarcastically. The look on his face said he was just about to shut you up. “Stop being a brat.” He snapped. You looked furious. “Let me make things easy for you. I'm leaving.” You said, trying to push past him. He pushed you against the wall instead. You loved it when he was taking charge; it came so naturally to him. He pressed his lips against yours, the two of you let passion take over. You moaned softly as his fingers found their way to your dress straps, letting the straps fall down your arms. You knew you shouldn't give in, but the feel of his lips on yours reminded you of peaches. The dress was bunching at your waist, he looked at your breasts as you were not wearing a bra. “God, you’re gorgeous.” He said as he touched your sensitive breasts. A moan escaped your mouth, as he peppered kisses along your neck.

You could see the desire in his eyes, and it only made you want him more. He smiled as he had your right where he wanted you, moving his hand from your breast to under your dress, moving your panty to the side as he started touching your clit. You nestled your face in his blouse to hide the moan you let out. You had your arms around his neck, however you moved them to his belt to help him out of it. “I need your cock, please.” You whined, the tension already getting too much from him playing with your clit. “I need you too. But, listen. Are you listening?” he asked, applying a little more pressure. He started adding two fingers inside you. You moan as a response. “I don’t allow myself to love anything.” he said: “haven’t for years. I thought if I allowed myself to fuck you but not love you. I was seeking atonement.” You nodded. It was hard to pay attention when he was touching you like that. You whimpered his name as you started to cum around his fingers. The grip you had around his shoulders tightened. “I love this.” he said, you wish you had the energy to argue with him. Instead he loosened his belt and pulled down his pants and underwear to expose his cock. “I love it when you are so cock hungry that you’ll do anything for me.” He said, he picked you up, pushing you against the wall as he inserted his cock inside of you he gasped at the tight feeling. You let out a moan still sensitive from your previous orgasm. “ The others are going to wonder” you said, he started moving. The two of you tried to keep quiet. He held your chin tightly. “Don’t think of the others when my cock is inside you.” he warned. It turned you on when he gave orders like that. He noticed that you liked it. “You always get turned on when I give orders?” he asked. When you said something completely inaudible. He started playing with your nipple. While he repeated the motion of fucking you. “Be a good girl and answer.” he said, you nodded. “yes” you moan. He pressed his lips against yours, as he entered his tongue into yours. He started to become sloppy signifying he was about to cum. “I’m gonna cum. Please just let me cum” you asked him. Your ask made him pick up his pace a little and quickly you felt your wall tighten around his cock, as you moaned his name repeatedly till you felt your legs tremble. The tightening of your walls caused him to cum inside you. He didn’t pull out of you immediately instead he was trying to catch his breath while holding you up. He carefully pulls out and sets you down on the ground. He was making himself decent. While you pull the straps over your shoulders again. You looked in the mirror, and it clearly looks like you’ve had sex. You tried to fix your hair by raking your fingers through it.

After cleaning yourself up a little, you and Bobby made your way back to the table with the others. The team started loudly cheering when the two of you sat down receiving stares from others who were enjoying their evening. “ What the fuck?” Eddie said he was so certain he was going to win that bet. Bobby noticed Buck was going to open his mouth but he was quicker. “One remark about my age and I will punch you.” Bobby told him. It didn’t stop Buck from saying something stupid. “I was just going to ask if she gets special treatment, old man.” Buck asked. Bobby punched Buck in the arm. This time Bobby placed his arm protectively over your shoulder. You leaned into him, as you overlooked some very sore losers throwing money on the table from their lost bet.

#bobby nash #911 fox #bobby nash x reader #evan buckley

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nerdygaymormon · 2 months

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Matthew 15: 10-20 - Racist, transphobic, and homophobic words make us unworthy

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15:10-20 NIV)

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There's 4 points in this passage I want to highlight.

Point #1 - What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them

I know this is referring to food and is about eating, especially about eating non-kosher foods, but I also think of the ways people think of sex and sexuality as defiling people. Some people think certain types of sex are wrong or bad or icky and defile the people involved. If you want to put things in your mouth that others say are defiling you, tell them Jesus says "Don't yuck my yum."

In January 1982, the First Presidency sent bishops a letter that oral sex is "unnatural, impure, and unholy." Many bishops started denying temple recommends to married couples who engaged in oral sex. You can imagine the ruckus this caused. Nine months later, after receiving many letters, the First Presidency sent another letter saying to stop asking couples about this. Unfortunately, the idea stayed around for awhile and it was common for engaged couples to be taught that once they were married they could not engage in oral or anal sex and still be considered worthy. But that was wrong!

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Point #2 - It's what comes from someone's mouth that defiles them

The words you speak which hurt others actually defiles the speaker because they reflect what's in their hear. Racist, transphobic, and homophobic words make someone unworthy! Saying mean thing in order to cut someone deeply makes you unclean!

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Point #3 - What we speak can heal & purify us and others

The words we speak reveals our heart. Hurtful and untrue words defile us. The opposite would be true, that loving, uplifting, kind words protect and cleanse us. In our churches, do we speak up for the marginalized?

One way we can do this is to think about how we can be a trans ally at church.

Does our building have a restroom open to all genders? If not, we could ask for this. Such restrooms benefit not just people with queer gender identities, but everyone who wants a little more privacy or a parent helping a little child in the restroom.

If there's someone who is trans, enby, intersex, genderfluid, we can offer to have them accompany us to the gendered meetings of Relief Society, Young Women classes, or Priesthood quorum. It's more difficult for genderqueer individuals to be excluded if cisgender people are showing solidarity.

When we have the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting, do we include trans people in the stories we share? Telling a story of a dad playing ball with his son doesn't have to be cis and straight, trans people also do these things.

Think about how you might respond to transphobic comments made in Sunday School. "Hey, these are children of God you're talking about. The Handbook says they're welcome to attend our church. Be kind!"

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Point #4 - It's okay to leave

One of the disciples points out to Jesus that the Pharisees were offended by what He said, and Jesus basically said, "Don't care!"

Jesus went even further, and says, "Leave them. What they're teaching isn't from God and they're leading people astray, so don't waste your time putting up with their bullsh*t."

For queer people in unaffirming churches, it is fine to leave. You don't have an obligation to stay and fix the church.

The primary commandments are to love God and love people. If they are not loving queer people, then they are blind. Don't follow the blind into the pit they're headed for.

I continue to attend a non-affirming church. I point out the inappropriate and hurtful things said and done to queer people by my church. I try to increase understanding. But it is a choice, I'm not required to spend my time and energy defending myself or trying to get church leaders to change their minds. More importantly, by being in this church I can help myself and other queer Latter-day Saints learn to accept and love themselves, and that is keeping the commandment to love yourself and love your neighbor.

#queer faith #queer scriptures

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matan4il · 5 months

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To the person who wanted me to analyze an article from Haaretz, you misquoted it.

The article clearly states that "Hamas likely had no ADVANCE knowledge of the music festival."

You dropped the word "advance," making it seem as if Hamas didn't know about the party at all.

The implication is clear. If Hamas didn't know about the festival, they couldn't be present there, and couldn't have killed anyone at this scene. And who cares if there actually are countless testimonies and footage that show differently?

That's why dropping 'advance' makes a huge difference in the meaning. Hamas didn't know about the party ahead of the attack, but the article's byline clarifies that Hamas DID learn about it as they began their infiltration of Israel.

You don't need me to analyze this article.

The intentional dropping of a meaningful word, and dismissal of the byline, is a continuation of this massacre denial attitude that I addressed here:

Because once more, the implication is clear. If Hamas didn't know about the party and wasn't there, but there were over 360 Israelis murdered at the scene, someone had to kill them, right? So why not blame the Israeli soldiers that got there? Why not victim blame the Israelis, accuse them of having perpetrated their own massacre, regardless of endless testimonies and video footage to the contrary?

This is also done with the one other line you referred to, the one saying that it's possible some were killed by an IDF helicopter that arrived to rescue Israelis, and was firing at the Hamas terrorists. Of course it's possible, it sadly happens when trying to rescue people under fire. But it's that rescue that remains the main context, which is being ignored here. In the words of Suleiman Maswade, an East Jerusalem Arab journalist who I got to hear talking about this, what people have done is to take one line, blow it up, generalize from it, and ignore the rest, which does amount to a distortion of the article.

No one needs me to analyze the article in order to not focus on one sentence in it, while ignoring everything else.

The one line that the massacre deniers focus on says this:

I emphasized 'apparently,' which indicates that while this is a possibility, this has not yet been confirmed beyond a doubt, and also the word 'some,' which implies a small number. For sure, it wouldn't be the word used to describe the killing of 364 people.

But I'll do more than this, I'm gonna add here a quote from another article, one that deals with the rapes that took place at the music festival. I'll point out the second paragraph, where the ripping of clothes of the victims, piles upon piles of bodies, is mentioned. They were raped and then shot with one bullet in the head.

Helicopters don't do that.

Since no one needs me in order to not be a massacre denier, I'm not sure I would have addressed this, except Suleiman Maswade's comment (about the distortion of this article) was made in the context of Hamas AND the Palestinian Authority (for which Mahmoud Abbas, its chairman, is responsible) are doing this.

So I'm posting this, because it should be clear to everyone, that any person denying the massacre, or trying to shift the blame onto those who tried to rescue the victims, has a part of their soul missing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

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hiitsdifferent · 9 months

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Really took everything in my soul to not run out of my workplace today to go outside and breathe and not to panic because of Depp vs Amber documentary showing up on Netflix today. It's one thing for the trial to have aired last year, and yes, people can still go online and see the unconscionable attacks against Amber on YouTube and social media. But for Netflix to make it a permanent apart of their collection as a "documentary" with no experts making a case of anything for Amber, to basically let viewers at home take part in reliving the trial and getting their jollies thinking he was the abused party as the judge and jury all over again- is extremely triggering for survivors of abuse like myself. All we are told and shown is that no matter what we say, who we talk to, the amount of evidence we have, is not enough to be believed when it should be. There's no amount of words to put into how we struggle with not gaslighting ourselves about the abuse we endured because that's what our abusers taught us to do, let alone move about in the world where one of the strongest and what-should've-been clearest displays of abuse is met with more gaslighting on every social media platform, every google search, every comment section who dare says Depp is the victim - he is not. And for him to sit back, relax, doodle, eat gummy bears in a room full of his fans, and the world humiliating Amber, is so triggering to the amount of times my abuser would treat me and my family like shit behind closed doors and then pretend he was the nicest caring person in front of anyone else. There are so many signs of genuine PTSD I recognized in Amber giving her testimony. The bravery she had to sit on her own in a room full of fans, knowing almost everyone online supporedt him and stood outside the courtroom like it was a tailgating event, is unimaginable.

This should have not been regarded as a national pastime to go viral and hold onto nostalgia for a monster. I'm really begging everyone - look to survivors of abuse/assault for what is going with this trial and similar situations such as Megan Thee Stallion and FKA Twigs, and not watch this documentary. Please do not give Netflix the views or interest. Let it tank. Let it fail. Let them know that it's not wanted. Because this should not be wanted.

#amber heard #anti johnny depp #tw: abuse #depp vs heard

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namorslutfanfiction · 11 months

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BELOW IS A VERY INFORMATIVE SUBMOSSION FROM AN ANON ABOUT MARIA ELENA RIOS WITH RESEARCH AND CITATIONS REGARDING HER PAST ISSUES.

These occurances, along with her late statement and its contents, have led myself and many others to voice our continued support of Tenoch Huerta.

—-----—-‐-------‐–—

I know a lot of you are using Google Translate, so I guess I could help by breaking down the accusations and kind of giving you a timeline I guess?

June, 2012

This happened in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca (Where she's from)

She and her sister (Silvia Ríos Ortiz) were accused of forced entry and injuries against the victim.

The victim says she was resting in her house and Maria Elena was yelling outside her house "hija de tu puta madre sal de tu casa" (which I roughly translate as 'motherfucker get out of your house')

The victim didn't pay attention to it. María Elena entered her house, grabbed her by the hair and yelled at her sister to enter the house so they both could hit the victim.

Silvia (Maria Elena's sister) entered the house. They both grabbed her by the hair and pushed her against the wall, making her hit her head with it.

Then, the victim says she looked up and Maria Elena had a knife (she describes it as saw knife), which she used to cut the victim's left knee open (she adds it was 20 centimeters/around 8 inch).

Then, the document gets cut.

There's also a witness testimony (it also gets cut)

In Brenda Solano's article, it's added that her mom was also there and they cut the woman with pocket knives and scissors on her face, crotch and face. All of this because she allegedly was Maria Elena's dad's lover.

September, 2012

This one doesn't involve Maria Elena, but I guess is relevant to understand how her family operated around Oaxaca.

This happened in a elementary school in Huajuapan de León, Oxaca

Basically her sister Silvia Rios Ortiz and I guess their relative, Mary Carmen Ortiz Martinez approached a woman when she was dropping her kids' lunch. They yelled insults, threatened and followe her because she allegedly had an affair with Mary's husband.

The victim asked them not to "fix their problem" there because of her kids and also her brother (who has down syndrome and couldn't understand what was going on) but the two women insisted. She had to hide.

It gets cut.

Scanned documents can be found here (x)

2015

Maria Elena's brother is accused of murder. The documents are avaible here -the last ones- (x).

This is important because the Frente Nacional Indígena y Campesino (FNIC) got involved. It roughly translates to National Indigenous and Peasant Front. Basically, poor and indigenous people came together to ask for justice in this case. They had to protest to get Carlos Ríos Ortiz to go through trial.

The FNIC's representative said that they were worried about this process because "they didn't want him to get out of jail" because "he has links with politicians and people in power". (You can see a picture of the protests in this note ).

This is hearsey but the comments call him a "priista" (supporter of the PRI political party in Mexico).

Allegedly, in Brenda Solano's article, we read he actually got help from Silvia Rios' partner, Hugo Jairo Hernandez (PRI) and Maria Elena's boyfriend at the time (who was the son of the city hall president, José Feria Rodriguez -PUP-) and their political links.

2022 (Post attack)

Silvia's sister appears on Alejandro Murat's (PRI) payroll (proof here). She's linked with the word "saxophonist". If true, she was receiving around 995,000 usd yearly.

2023

Maria Elena has been accused by Maribel Perez (her attacker's lawyer) for threats. Maria Elena's tweets were quoted as proof and also the people that have approached the victim have said things like "I hope you get acid thrown at you", "You're a bitch for defending that son of a bitch", "Stop revictimizing Maria Elena", "I hope it [acid attack] happens to you", "How can you not be more empathic with other women", "You, a woman, are Maria Elena's biggest enemy". (You can see the documents of this complaint here)(You can see tweets here, here). Maribel has also stated that Maria Elena has threatened her staff (proof here)

Not directly related to Maria Elena, but I think it's also important to know that Maribel Perez has also reported on being approached on a parking lot by two women in a car. They prevented her from leaving and told her they knew "she's Vera Carrizal's lawyer" and because of that they would throw acid at her, so she could "learn her lesson" (note here). Then they followed her.

Brenda Solano, an independent journalist, and the news outlet she writes to (Pajaros en el Alambre de Oaxaca) have accused Maria Elena of threatining her because she realised an article about the things I have commented on here. She also went all the way to Oaxaca to investigate.

Apart from this, some other things I think are worth mentioning and have resurfaced:

Maria Elena's dad and granddad were linked to stealing cars, drug trafficking and selling guns in Brenda Solano's article. (Note: She doesn't show proof, but she mentions a man who told this to the police and then was murdered back in 1998).

Maria Elena and her sister tried to deface a woman, who didn't speak to Brenda because she's scared of retaliation.

Maria Elena and her sister registered a kid twice (proof) and are being investigated by the FBI for falsifying documents. Silvia Ríos used the document to demand child support from her former partner, Hugo Jairo Hernández Sánchez (PRI). News outlets report this happened when Hernández was working on his campaign to run as president of the city hall. The man was a rent collector and close to Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (PRI), who's being accused of corruption (he's described as known for his "political vindictiveness").

An audio of Maria Elena has resurfaced. In it, she says "I'm going to kill myself because of you and it's going to be your fucking fault and you're going to carry it for the rest of your life!". (Note: We can't say for sure it's her, but if a newsmedia is risking to be accused by her, I'd say they're pretty sure about it).

She has been accused of being linked to the PAN political party because of her connection with Aurora Sierra (video here). She also gave an statement supported by PRI, PRD and PAN (video here).

Pajaros en el Alambre said back in february she's being prepared to be a representative candidate by the PRI-PAN-PRD-MC (x, x, x). In the screenshots I quoted, they basically say how her attack has been used as a way to gain sympathy by different political movements, and how the people who have spoken in her favor have been really corrupt in the past.

Her ex-partner (who is accused of the acid attack) was a PRI politician.

(Note. PRI, PRD and PAN are against Morena (AMLO/Mexico's president political party). Not implying anything but Tenoch had to take legal action due to people attacking him after his meeting with AMLO (People were doxxing his daughters and family and trying to mess with his career and intimacy)......... Not implying anything. Just food for thought.)

It's a lot, but I hope it helps to grasp the debacle around her. I'd post it myself but I'm too shy and tbh this has been a lot for me, I don't think I can handle rude anons. I just made the effort because I feel like I can contribute in that way.

#tenoch huerta #tenoch huerta mejia #maria elena rios #thank you anon for your contribution

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thefandomenchantress · 1 year

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SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 11 OF CHAPTER 2 IN DRDT

Alright, so I may be overthinking this...Like, a lot...but I've got a theory (Also this is copy and pasted from my comment on YouTube).

So something interesting I only caught on a rewatch is that David does not actually confirm all of Ace's testimony. Here's the quote:

"But I will admit, I did indeed meet Arei last night in the relaxation room. As for what I actually talked to her about...Well, I've already forgotten! She's dead now, so who cares?"

Now what I gathered from this was that while he is confirming that he met with Arei in the relaxation room, he is not confirming that their conversation contained the information Ace said that it did.

Which struck me as odd, since you'd think after giving that whole speech about just admitting the truth, David would just admit that Arei accused him of having that secret. But he doesn't. Instead, he keeps repeating that Ace is lying about something, (Since he says he wants to call Ace a "worthless lying piece of shit") but doesn't bother actually calling him out on it. Not because of his pride or anything, like he said was his reason for revealing his secret, but because he thought that the rest of the cast wouldn't listen, implying this was the truth but that none of them were willing to hear it anymore. And so he drops the topic and Ace's entire testimony is just kinda confirmed in the rest of the cast's eyes, even the stuff that wasn't confirmed by David.

So in my opinion, with all that evidence...Ace is definitely lying about the stuff that happened when David and Arei met up. I'm not sure what they actually talked about, but it probably wasn't related to David's secret, since David seemed so surprised Ace knew about his secret even though his conversation with Arei could've easily been overheard.

But the next question we have to address is...Why would Ace even lie in the first place?

The obvious answer is that he was being suspected of murder and wanted to throw the blame onto David, and that might be true. But if Ace was lying about this entire interaction like I suspect, that would require him to have already picked up on the fact that David was a lying manipulator, something no one besides Teruko had noticed.

And if Ace already knew that, without overhearing anything, you'd think he'd just tell everyone, 'Hey, David is a manipulating scumbag', not make up an elaborate story about how he'd overheard Arei say it.

But here's the thing: Ace has stated over and over that he doesn't want to die, and that it's one of his greatest fears. Veronika told him that being so mean to everyone would make them want to kill him, and that's true for murders like the one Nico pulled, that was done purely on emotion and no regards for what could happen in result of their actions. But if you really thought about it for more than a few seconds, you'd realize that if you really wanted to get away with murder, you'd aim to kill the people who you'd think could solve the murder. You wouldn't go for the idiot jockey who wouldn't be able to solve the case no matter how hard he tried.

But if Ace were to say that he has more observational skills than literally everyone else in the room, since he managed to catch onto the fact that David was a manipulator when no one else did, (Besides Teruko, who only knew because of her first interaction with David when he broke character), then that would be all the reason a killer would need to justify killing Ace. He was a complete jerk and could potentially notice things the others didn't.

So instead of telling the rest of the class that he was the one who caught onto David's false persona, he claimed Arei figured it out, simply by reading the secret over Whit's shoulder, something he oh-so-conveniently didn't notice at all.

...So yeah. That's why I think David was calling Ace a liar even after he said he'd stop denying things that weren't true. I'm probably waaaay overthinking this, but that's my theory.

#danganronpa despair time #ace markey #david chiem #arei nageishi #drdt spoilers #overthinking #theory #drdt

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cyncerity · 4 days

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ok guys bit of a serious poll today.

don’t read if you don’t wanna think about or read about the controversy stuff rn (talking about mostly George and bringing up Wil a little bit)

i have a bunch of wips (like, a lot) that i’ve been looking to finish for a while. With my first year of college coming to an end next week (yippee!) i’ll hopefully have more time to write again and finish those. The downside here is that a significant amount of them involve someone who has had recent controversy. Not that one, but George’s.

If you wanna answer this poll without all the context (i’m physically incapable of writing a post without making it a wall of text), go right ahead, the tldr is that I believe the situation is extremely opinionated and there’s no right or wrong way to view it. With a community this size and the larger group of gnf fans so divided on how to feel, I feel it better to let you guys pick whether or not he should still be in stories.

context under the cut for those who wanna read everything before voting on the poll. I kinda wrote a lot tho so sorry lol

I wanted to give it time before I made this post given that unlike with the first situation, there are a lot more holes and a lot more nuance. I wanted to wait until both sides stated their cases and make my own decision from there. And in my opinion, this situation 1) should have been handled personally and 2) is entirely based on opinion. Both sides did right and wrong, but there isn’t a correct way to perceive this. Some people will believe one side while others will believe the other because the evidence presented can be taken in many ways. I know I personally lean one way, but this post isn’t about my own opinions.

I’m making this post to ask if people would still be ok with me using his character in stories. I’ll say it again: I haven’t really ever watched the DTeam so I do mean it when I say that I base what I write around a character and not him. I stopped writing for C!Wil because I am uncomfortable with writing his character interacting with the characters of people who have spoken against him, but so far most of George’s friends have defended him or stayed silent since this situation isn’t like Wil’s at all. It’s mostly all died down since both sides have moved on (i think?) knowing that they won’t agree on what happened.

I’ve already given my piece on You Know Who, and how numerous people spoke against him and many of his close friends dropped him. This post is not about him, I believe that there is no argument to be made for him. The facts are clear and the testimonies clearer: he is a bad person. As of right now and for the foreseeable future, I will not write him or his character, not unless he gets some serious help or makes some serious changes. I believe that people can change, but trust is easier destroyed than built. You shouldn’t forgive someone who doesn’t seek forgiveness.

anyway i know that this is a smaller community, so i wanna know how many people want me to just re-write things or feel uncomfortable with him in stories now. This isn’t asking if you think George is innocent or if you think he’s a bad person or anything like that, this poll has nothing to do with personal opinions of the situation itself. It’s simply asking if you would be uncomfortable with reading about his character because of the situation.

#serious post sorry #cyncerity #mcyt gt #mcyt g/t

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oatmilk-vampire · 3 months

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Just a note as someone who’s worked with jails and who has a lawyer sibling, jail isn’t just “you’ve been arrested and now you’re here forever”, it’s where custody is for pending trials, no bond, that sort of thing. (Side note, a single cell in a small town police department office is considered a jail, but there are also regional jails, county jails, city jails, etc that are enormous. The one I took a tour of for work was so much bigger than I thought it would be. Jail by definition is just not on the federal or state level)

My money would be on gator being listed as an accessory and likely having a plea deal because they obviously want the bigger fish (Roy), but plea deals can just be reduced sentences and not a total immunity deal. It would also depend on the prosecutor and what they’re willing to even give him for his testimony.

But jail is also where people can be placed in protective custody or to ensure they actually make it to testify (particularly as an accessory). Prison (which I’ve seen comments like ‘oh he’s not going to jail he’s going to prison’) is more a final destination of sorts, so a lot of people that are in jail are waiting to be transferred to a prison based on priority, so if it’s a year long sentence, even if you’re in line to go to prison, you can spend the entirety of it in jail. There’s plenty of bigger jails that house very dangerous inmates, it’s just sometimes more about jurisdiction and escalation.

With that said, I wouldn’t doubt if the argument was along the lines of there being more crimes committed outside of the scope of the season, things like covering up crimes and complaints people didn’t file because they knew the corruption was there (but which they filed once the upheaval started), even conspiracy charges or the argument that as a deputy sheriff, his obligation to upholding the law is greater than the average citizen’s (which might not technically be a crime, but it wouldn’t help him with a jury)

All this to say that if this is realistic and we’re considering how things work outside of tv world the agents probably have enough to charge him and likely are threatening to, but it’s very up in the air with plea deals and what a defense attorney (or public defender if they’ve tied up his assets) will manage to argue and what a judge will ultimately determine, and it’s not ever as simple as ‘this person is a victim even if they also did bad things and they don’t deserve to go to jail’.

God, the whole process is nuts sometimes when you think about it.

Dang. Thank you for taking the time to type all of this. Very educational

#anon ask #anonymous #gator tillman #roy tillman #fargo spoilers #fargo season 5 #fargo fx #fargo s5 #fargo

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fruitzbat · 9 months

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There is this bizarre mischaracterization problem with Kingsley in the CR fandom that I think shows a certain level of contempt for the character himself — and honestly, I think it’s really revealing about a troubling hallmark of conditional support of nonbinary people in real life, which I find beyond hypocritical given…well, let’s get into it.

For starters, I'm not bothering with leaving a disclaimer about how not all fans do xyz or why I think that anyone should listen to me over anyone else. We’re adults here, we should know that things are nuanced by now. I also think talking about my own qualifications here is silly and masturbatory given that this is fandom and I'm very much doing it for free along with almost everyone else, so I'm not gonna waste the space.

Getting into the exceptions and such is well beyond the scope of this post, and I frankly don't think anything I say in this will convince anyone of anything — I just need to get it out there. If any of does change your mind, great! Icing on the cake.

*eyes glowing* anyway,

Given the admittedly considerable amount of work I do relating to his character, I wade through Kingsley's character tag a lot, and in many different places. On here, on Twitter, on AO3, his tag is full to the gills of bits of people writing stories in which he steals up to a certain member of the Nein and showers them with gifts and forehead kisses and...for lack of a better term, 'Mollyisms', and lays there enraptured while they talk about their relationship with Molly — who, obviously, is him. He's called "circus man" and is unbothered by it; it's testimony to the fact that this person and Kingsley have a history that transcends silly things like death.

Thus, the general depiction of Kingsley within the fandom is one that is not unlike Molly's, if not a 1:1 replica: a fun-loving, carefree libertine whose sun often rises at a certain other member of the Nein's forehead and sets are their toenails. He's curious about his past lives, but sees minimal distinction between them and himself.

And that's utter motherfucking hogwash.

The thing is, Kingsley's not an act II of Molly. He’s arguably a very different person from Molly, and the drift in Molly’s canon and fanon depiction is an essay on its own (not to mention the shift in perception in-universe, also brilliant and fascinating in its own right).

And I sincerely want us to think about that oversight in the same vein as if there were a considerable amount of Critters making content about, say, Beauregard Lionett falling in love with a man when she's explicitly a lesbian. Like, to me, it is that dire. And I will explain why that is momentarily: once I finish talking about who he actually is, and one of the principal culprits that I blame for this schism.

"But fruitzbat," some people might cry. "But fruitzbat, we have so little to go on. He's hardly shown himself on stream and he does, in the end, come from Molly!"

To that I would reply "skill issue," because Kingsley very much has distinguished himself from his siblings. Fandoms have extrapolated way more about a character with far less in the past. I didn't live through Superwholock on this website for anyone to tell me that they can't pull a fully-fledged character out of one episode of something. With all due respect, git gud.

Kingsley is a hustler and a cutthroat. He's driven, micro-managey — like, PAINFULLY Type-A, and interested in staying alive and making a name for himself; but in contradiction with this sense of self-preservation, he’s also ready to impulsively give himself up for a greater good and/or "make new mistakes", which can be read as altruistic at its best and unhealthy and self-deprecating at its worst (a trait which he definitely shares with Molly). In commenting on his new outfit, I’ve shitposted in the past that Kingsley is frum, but it's really not that far off. He doesn't like to leave things to chance, and also strongly believes in taking care of his own — he notably takes excellent care of the Nein Heroez’s crew. He doesn't suffer fools, he's snarky (too many examples to list them all, but have a few of my favorites), and also thoughtful and analytical and a skeptic. And most of all, he’s eager to learn and curious — not just about Molly and Lucien, but in general.

He jokes about being Lucien at one point, but makes it very clear that it's not him when people in his life make that slip-up. He's also been making the point that he’s not either of them as early as the campaign finale. And within the special, too, it’s pretty unambiguous. And then there’s Taliesin himself, also making it very clear that he’s a separate animal and on top of that, that he’s an absolute fucking badass.

And as mentioned, it's true that there's overlap with some of Molly's business — he's theatrical and loves fashion, for instance. But honestly, this character has far more in common with Lucien than he does with Molly. Lucien, who spoke multiple languages and lead a mercenary group into Aeor and back multiple times. Lucien, who even the mere prospect of him being resurrected was enough to reassemble the Tombtakers. If that’s not the makings of a Plank King, I’m not sure what would be.

And here's another thing: "Kingsley came from Molly" in and of itself is a misnomer. Based on both the stream and the addendum from the Lucien novel, Kingsley is mostly the reforged soul of Lucien — Molly's soul fragment was reintegrated into the rest of Lucien's. Kingsley is what was born from that fusion. When interceding on the failed Raise Dead spell, Caduceus said "put it back...whoever it was." There's just as much potential to say that it was Lucien's soul returned to that purple body by Melora as it was Molly's.

In all candor, I think it has a good deal to do with how many vocal Molly fans wanted Widomauk to be canon or somehow endgame.

The inherent tragedy of the dynamic between Caleb and Molly is that there is a constant specter of what could have been. Neither encountered each other when they were at a point to pursue their attraction, and Molly was dead before anything could come to pass. As a passive observer, I think that this what could have been has bled into the fanon interpretation of all kinds of purple tiefling content, mostly because there's so little to analyze otherwise. One only has to glance at the tags for the Lucien novel or the Molly origin comic to see what I mean. And I think that this has also significantly impacted the fanon depiction of Kingsley.

I find that this fandom in particular has a huge problem with sacrificing characterization in the name of fanon archetypes and tropes, but due to the distinct nature of Kingsley’s character this can veer into…I mean, pretty ugly territory.

People love the reincarnated lovers trope, and I see that applied here the most, to which I always want to remind people that Kingsley is probably more like a joined Trill. He has these past lives and memories, but just like Ezri isn’t quite Jadzia isn’t quite Kurzon Dax, Kingsley isn’t Molly isn’t Lucien. Ezri didn’t hop up and get busy with Worf, even when Jadzia had been his wife. Far from it, actually. Similarly, Jadzia had an entire exploratory episode dedicated to encountering Kurzon’s spouse and deciding that she (regretfully for lesbians everywhere) felt differently.

It’s true that it’s not completely baseless; I’m genuinely not saying that. It’s true that one of the first things King did was flirt with Caleb when he woke up. And then when he’d come more into his own, there was all that wild talk they had during the…

Oh wait, that’s right. They didn’t speak one on one even once during the reunion. So the argument could easily be made that in the chunk of the stream that showed us the most about who King was as a person, he didn’t touch Caleb with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. Meaning that at this point in time, the basis of the ship is predominately Caleb’s relationship to his elder siblings.

I don't have time and ultimately have no interest in unpacking that in terms of it being solid foundations for a romantic relationship — we all can read, baruch hashem — and will also assume that there’s content about that dynamic that explores that weirdness with all the complexity that it deserves. But my central point here is that I’m seeing vanishingly little of it, and far more of it being used in a way that denies Kingsley his own identity. The point isn't hating on a ship. Widoking in and of itself is fine, the point is that people aren't actually shipping Kingsley with Caleb. They're shipping him with someone wearing the skin of his dead older brother.

Which brings me to my next point...

I find this aspect to be incredible given the extraordinary way that this campaign explores trans identity and narrative. Plenty of other folks have written about the extent that campaign 2’s focus on identity as a theme has resulted In one of the most comprehensive studies of several different types of trans stories. Like, VETH?!?

BEAU?!?! Not to mention FJORD’S UNRELENTING T-BOY SWAG?!?!?!

And yet.

And, yes, it is that deep. Let me explain.

Molly and Lucien are canonically genderfluid. Kingsley hasn't come out as anything yet, so the jury is still out... though many people, myself included, headcanon that he's some flavor of not cis.

For me, this is because Kingsley’s narrative is arguably more a traditional trans one than Lucien or Molly's: being born with the expectation that he would be one thing, then coming to his family — who hold that expectation quite dearly — and asserting that he is someone and something else completely different from that. Lucien and Molly are trans characters, no doubt, but their stories are not about being transgender. And there is an intrinsic quality to King's that definitely is.

The notion of "trans narrative" is also something applied to someone like Nott/Veth, even in a world where transness is not stigmatized. So while transphobia is not a thing as we understand it in Exandria, that doesn't change that Kingsley “came out” and transitioned in a more recognizable way to us than Lucien or Molly ever had to — in the same light as Veth arguably struggling with her self-image in a way that many trans viewers find exceedingly familiar.

If we can apply the queer critical lens and think of Fjord being a trans guy deconstructing toxic ideas of masculinity, or of Beau being a trans girl dealing with transphobic parents that wanted a son, got one, and cast her aside, we can also use that same level of discernment when it comes to Kingsley. There's precedent.

I don’t mean to get personal here, but the flat out dismissal of Kingsley's identity as an individual and not as the sum of other parts reminds me so much of my own experience of having come out as non-binary and then telling people that I was going to start HRT. The support dried up almost immediately the minute I made it clear I wanted to switch pronouns again and pursue medical transition, though I still conceived of myself as effectively genderless.

So long as you’re fun and funky and trans in a way that isn’t obtrusive, it’s fine. Well, “fine” isn’t the right word, but people are so fucking terrified of you becoming one of “those” trans people and taking the scary hormones and changing your body and getting the surgeries. It's the cousin of that perennial TERF talking point of "why can't you just be a tomboy/effeminate gay guy". As if being a tomboy/fem guy is somehow easier, too!! But I digress. To a lot of folks, Kingsley can be whatever he wants..........so long as he doesn't reject Molly as a foundational part of him, if not the, and heaven help him if he diverges from the mold Molly left for him.

For this reason (and for other transgender reasons that I don't want to get into), that has made engaging with a lot of this faux-Kingsley content difficult. Because Kingsley came out! Kingsley has told everyone who he is and what he's about, and folks are ignoring that in favor of an interpretation that centers a different person's existence entirely. And with this coming from a group of fans that tends to trend towards being trans, too, that's quite the bitter pill.

Creatively, I firmly believe that people can do whatever they want forever. And everyone has the right to make content where their Barbies scissor. I, for one, also am 100% guilty of it in other contexts. That doesn't bother me.

What does bother me is a collective delusion where a significant chunk of the fandom, in missing their tragically dead non-binary character, effectively stuff a separate one that resembles him back into the closet without noticing the cruelty of doing so. In fact, relishing in it.

And while these people are fictional and aren't real and can't feel pain aside from what we inflict on them narratively, it gives me pause about the way this trend mirrors common transphobic behavior I have experienced as a non-binary person myself. Thus, I cannot possibly watch it happen and not feel compelled to say something about it.

In essence, Kingsley has told us time and time again who he is and what he's about. If we say as fans that we respect the narrative integrity of Campaign 2, I think it's important that we listen and honor that.

#critical role #kingsley tealeaf #cr2 #mighty nein #'remy are you procrastinating' AND IF I WAS #new tea leafing #meta analysis #remy yells #remy writes

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