#i'm not indigenous !!! so please add more if there is more to be said! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

burst-of-iridescent · 2 months

Text

South Asian and Hindu Influences in ATLA (Part 1)

disclaimer: i was raised culturally and religiously hindu, and though i've tried to do my research for this post and pair it with my own cultural knowledge, i'm not an expert on hinduism by any means. should i mess up, please let me know.

please also be aware that many of the concepts discussed in this post overlap heavily with religions such as buddhism and jainism, which might have different interpretations and representations. as i'm not from those religions or cultures, i don't want to speak on them, but if anyone with that knowledge wishes to add on, please feel free.

it's well-known that atla draws from indigenous, east and southeast asian influences, but something i rarely see discussed in the fandom is the influences the show takes from hinduism and south asia, and there are actually far more than i think people are aware of.

so here's a (non-exhaustive list) of the main inspirations atla drew from south asian culture and hinduism, starting with...

The Avatar

the title of the show itself is taken from the ancient language of sanskrit, often considered the sacred tongue of the hindu religion. in sanskrit, the word "avatar" means to "descend" or "alight".

the concept of the avatar is a very old one, referring to the physical incarnation of a powerful deity or spirit. the idea of the avatar is most often linked to the god Vishnu, one of three supreme hindu gods collectively called the trimurti, or trinity. the avatar is said to manifest upon earth primarily in times of great need, when balance must be maintained between the forces of good and evil.

atla borrows heavily from this idea in having aang be the incarnation of a divine spirit who returns to the world during a time of immense strife, and is tasked with defeating a great evil to bring balance back to the world. and though i don't know if it was an intentional reference, it's interesting to note that Krishna, the most famous incarnation of Vishnu was also reborn amidst a fierce storm and carried through a raging sea to a new home where he would be protected from the king who sought to kill him. sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?

Agni Kai and the Philosophy of Firebending

the word "agni" derives from the sanskrit name Agni, the god of fire, though it can also generally mean "fire".

the concepts of lightning bending and the sun being the source of firebending are likely also taken from the idea of Agni, since he's said to exist simultaneously in three different forms on three different dimensions: as fire on earth, as lightning in the atmosphere, and as the sun in the sky.

Agni is a significant aspect of many rituals, including marriage rites, death rites, and the festivals of holi and diwali. the concept of Agni is one of duality: life and death, rebirth and destruction. hindu rituals accept and celebrate both aspects, revolving around the idea that destruction is not separate from creation, but rather necessary to facilitate it. the cremation of the dead, for instance, is seen as purification, not destruction: burning away the physical form so the soul is unencumbered, set free to continue the reincarnation cycle.

this influence can be seen in the firebending masters episode, which discusses the idea of fire being vital to life. the sun warriors safeguarding the original fire and demanding that zuko and aang bring fire to the dragons as a sacrifice could also reference the ritual of Agnihotra - the ritual of keeping a fire at the home hearth and making offerings to it. the purpose of this ritual differs depending on which text you refer to, but it is generally believed to purify the person and atmosphere in which it is performed, similar to how zuko and aang must make offerings to ran and shaw and survive their fire before being deemed worthy and pure.

Agnihotra is said to serve as a symbolic reminder of the vitality and importance of fire as the driving force of life, a lesson that zuko and aang also internalize from their encounter with the dragons.

Bumi

bumi's name is taken from the sanskrit word "bhumi", which means "earth". it's also the name of the hindu goddess of the earth, bumi or bhudevi.

one of the things the original animation didn't do and which i really enjoyed about the live action was that they made bumi indian and added desi inspiration to omashu. it makes perfect sense for a king whose name is as hindu-inspired as they come.

NWT Royal Palace

chief arnook's palace in the northern water tribe takes inspiration from the gopurams of hindu temples, massive pyramidal structures that served as entrance towers to the temple.

gopurams were built tall enough to be seen for miles around, beacons to signal tired or weary travellers who wished for a place to rest that a temple was nearby. it's a nice touch that the chief's palace is located in front of the spirit oasis, a similarly symbolic entryway to a sanctuary housing otherworldly deities.

Betrothal Necklaces

to preface: i doubt this was an intentional reference, and this great post talks about other cultures that could have inspired the water tribe betrothal necklaces. given the desi influence in the nwt architecture however, i figured it was worth mentioning.

the idea of betrothal necklaces being given to women by their male partners is similar to the thaali, a necklace given to hindu wives by their husbands. during hindu weddings, grooms tie the thaali around their brides' necks to symbolize their marriage. once given, wives are expected to wear their thaali till the day they die, as doing so is believed to bring good luck, health and prosperity to their husbands.

Chi-Blocking

though chi-blocking takes primary inspiration from the art of Dim Mak, it is also influenced by the south indian martial arts forms of adimurai and kalaripayattu, both of which include techniques of striking vital points in the body to disable or kill an opponent.

kalaripayattu also shares parallels with firebending, being a very physically demanding, aggressive martial art that emphasises the importance of discipline and mental fortitude. control of the mind is essential to control of the body, a philosophy similar to that espoused by iroh across the show.

Wan Shi Tong's Library

the library draws inspiration partly from the taj mahal, the famous mausoleum constructed by shah jahan during the mughal empire as a monument to his beloved wife, mumtaz mahal.

i'll end this post here since it's getting too long as it is, and the following section will be even longer. for while atla treated the concepts in this post with respect, the same unfortunately cannot be said for its depiction of guru pathik and combustion man - both of which we'll be discussing next.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla cultural influences #hinduism in atla

764 notes · View notes

solar-wing · 5 months

Text

⚣ Holidays with the Waynes 🦃

⚣🦃 A/N → This idea came randomly, conveniently after Thanksgiving. To everyone that celebrates, Happy Turkey Day (he said about two weeks late) and Indigenous People's Remembrance Day. Also, everyone congratulate me. I finally made a fic under 1000 words. I almost made it longer to but stopped myself. This is why it takes so long to get posts out of me. Just when I think I'm done, I add more. WARNINGS: none. just typical Wayne chaoticness

⚣🦃 Summary → His life is like a reality show and every day is a new episode, with the holidays being their own specials. So, when a classmate asks him how his Thanksgiving was, how does the youngest Wayne son even come up with a response?

⚣🦃 Words → 622

REBLOGS & replies are greatly appreciated, please! 💛

⚣ ENJOY 🦃

“So, Y/N, how was your Thanksgiving?”

What a loaded question.

*cue the flashback ripples*

“Damian, why is the turkey in my bedroom?” The youngest Wayne asked after entering the kitchen and finding his half-brother sitting at the island.

“Master Y/N, if you’re going to be eating in your room, I do ask you put a cover over your sheets to avoid crumbs and stains, please,” Alfred said while seasoning one of the various dishes for their dinner.

“Oh, Alfred, it’s not like that. It’s–” Y/N tried to explain before stopping himself after Damian sent him a glare, warning him not to utter another word or else, “It’s just that I sometimes get after-dinner cravings and don’t feel like making the trip to the kitchen. Won’t happen again, though.”

Alfred gave him a suspicious look after glancing at Damian who was avoiding his gaze, before nodding his head and continuing his food preparations. The two brothers both looked at each other before the youngest nodded his head towards the door, making his way out of the kitchen while trying not to act even more suspicious knowing the butler was watching his every move.

Damian quickly moved in tow behind his brother, following him to one of the sitting rooms. A cautious measure to ensure they were out of earshot.

“Next time, scan the room before you start blabbing off as you usually do,” Damian said, his usual annoyed and slightly threatening squint in his eyebrows.

“I do not blab, thank you very much,” Y/N said, his hands on his hips and breath huffing out, showing his clear offense to his brother’s statement.

“History would beg to differ.”

Y/N scoffed with an eye roll, “Whatever. Why is the school’s Thanksgiving turkey mascot currently nesting in my room?”

“I overheard one of the faculty members talking about how good the animal was going to taste on their plates come Thanksgiving dinner, and I refused to let an innocent animal be subjected to such brutality.”

“Okay, but you can’t just kidnap the turkey, Damian! Let alone hide it in my room!”

“First, his name is Tiny. Please, give him the respect of using his name. Second, he’s happier and more relaxed in your room. I think he enjoys your color scheme.” Damian said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“I–... Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I were a Kardashian.”

“Less authentic and more plastic. Also, you know how Father feels about that family, especially the mother. And, how would you feel if someone tried to chop off your head and limbs so you could be put on a platter that serves 6-10?” The Boy Wonder questioned, mirroring his brother’s body language with his hands on his hips.

“Damian, you literally chased me around the house with your sword last Tuesday.”

“I thought we were playing tag.”

“Who plays tag with a sword?!”

“People who don’t want to get tagged.”

“I–... No words. None whatsoever.”

“Does this mean you’ll let Tiny room with you tonight?”

“Fine.”

For the rest of that Thanksgiving break, Y/N spent it with a roommate who would wake him up at the ass crack of dawn with a series of short, noisy clucks. The youngest Wayne had to explain to his father that he was listening to a new LO-FI relaxing tracks of bird sounds to help him relax.

He received many strange looks from his various family members.

“Oh, just the usual stuff. Holidays with my family are pretty lame. Anyway, what about your family?” Y/N answered, lying straight through his two front teeth.

Holidays with his family were never lame, but also never normal.

BONUS:

☀️ | Bat Family | ☀️

☀️| Masterlists | ☀️

391 notes · View notes

hecateslore · 4 months

Note

hihihi !! as a fellow writer, may i ask what makes you feel excluded? specific phrases, descriptors, etc. how can i make my writing more broad for everyone? thank you !!

(from my experience reading, i dont notice anything glaring at a certain audience without discretion)

Hii bb!! love you so much for this and thank you for taking a step bc a lot of writers usually get defensive lmfao.

This is actually super common, and it's so simple it's stupid. blushing. not everyone's "blush" shows, mine does, but not everyone does. Like yeah there is the act of blushing, but majority of the time people are talking about the readers cheeks turning pink.

Not everyone's hair is straight, mine is curly, you can't run your fingers through it without separating curls. (It looks a mess if you do, but hey thats just me🤷🏻‍♀️)

Also a lot of the writers i've blocked recently put so much emphasis on skin color. specifically pale skin, nothing wrong with it, BUT, if we're reading an "X reader" fic you should be able to picture yourself in the writing, and I'm not pale. womp womp.

Describing skin like food, plz stop calling me caramel coffee drop with a light splash of creamer. Im scared.

Writing poc characters as someone who doesn't like a certain feature on their body, it's super weird. said character has to be comforted by the other character, bc they're so beautiful and they need to know it bc no one will love them if they don't tell them (I'm being sarcastic btw don't take me serious.)

I'm Mexican and North African, these are MY experiences as a woman of color and as an afro-indigenous person. Any other Poc that would like to add to this please do!!!

137 notes · View notes

batsarebetterthanpeople · 4 months

Note

Hi! I’m sorry if this is dumb but I’m not understanding why the Ed hate is racist? From what I’ve seen it has nothing to do with his race, just his actions? What is racist about it? I’m asking this very genuinely because I want to understand and learn more from this so please don’t take this as being annoying or patronizing or something!

ok so not all Ed hate falls under the racism catagory some people just have genuinely bad taste. The thing that is racist is insisting that he's an abuser. I've explained several times why he's not abusive, as have many many others. But, here's the quick recap: Izzy was abusing him, Ed has a history of lashing out towards his abusers with physical violence and Izzy established that he had been doing this sort of thing to Ed for years so you know, he's going the way of Ed's father and nobody would argue that Ed was abusing his father. Ed wasn't abusive towards the crew. Like he did some shitty things while suicidal. He hurt his friends I'm not saying he didn't. However: 1. This show is full of very very over the top violence and no one is getting up Button's ass about Lucius's finger. 2. It would be an incredibly strange move for a rom com to make one of it's leads a domestic abuser, It's not such a weird move to give a character in a rom com a suicidal arc where they push all their friends away. The first choice would yeild a completely unwatchable show the second is what happened in ofmd. 3. David Jenkins himself has talked about this and he said "What Blackbeard did was by the standards of the pirate world a bit much" I don't know if I even agree with this considering everything we've heard about Hornigold but I certainly agree with the sentiment that Ed did some shitty things but nothing that was significantly more horrific than other characters in the show who nobody treats the way they treat Ed.

So with all of that in mind: Why is it racist to call him an abuser. Like sure, all of this adds up to the abuse truthers being wrong and stupid but what does it have to do with Ed's skin color? This ties into the history that the Maori people share with a lot of indigenous groups who were colonized by europeans. I would encourage you to do more research on your own but I'll point you in the generally right direction. Indigenous men are portrayed as hyper violent in order to justify their subjugation (see head hunters stereotypes or how often people assume indigenous cultures were doing human sacrifice). A lot of the Ed hate exaggerates how violent he is in comparison to other characters. Indigenous men are portrayed as dirty and barbaric and in need of being civilized by a benevolent white savior. A lot of fic and meta positions either Stede or Izzy as needing to save Ed from himself, or as needing to babysit him or teach him to read or bathe, ect. That's why people are so up in arms about the soap eating joke.

And finally the abuse thing. Positioning indigenous men as abusers has been used historically as a shoddy justification for family separation. This stereotype pairs incredibly well with the violent stereotype. So IF Ed was abusing poor defenseless little white Izzy it would actually be a racist decision for the writers to make. Like there's a way to portray characters of color doing abuse, because being nonwhite doesn't make you incapable of doing shitty things, but that would not be it. Thankfully that is catagorically not what's happening, we've been told that the Kraken is an abuse responce, Izzy provokes the Kraken, we've seen Izzy be paralelled with Ed's two other abusers (Hornigold and Ed's dad), we've been shown Izzy controlling the flow of information between Ed and his crew, we've been showing Izzy manipulating Ed, we've been shown him lying to turn the crew against Ed, we've been shown Izzy attempting to murder someone Ed cares about specifically because Ed cares about them, we've seen Izzy threaten Ed's life for acting wrong, we've heard Izzy confess to doing all of that shit FOR YEARS on his death bed (a time which it would completely undercut the emotional impact of the scene if he was lying). So like... people ignoring all of that shit in order to portray Ed as shooting off his leg for no fucking reason and say he's the abuser is very... "You forgot the racism don't worry we'll add it back in for you" and continuing to insist on that and be shitty to people who won't cop to your dumbass shit is actively making the fandom a more racist space.

#ofmd meta #fandom racism

69 notes · View notes

socialist-microwave-laser · 10 months

Note

your post regarding christians learning hebrew made me consider - i'm anishinaabe (ojibwe or chippewa or native american or however you call it) and so i very much hope this does not derail you and is instead only the shared experience i mean it to be - it reminds me of how white people and the descendants of colonizers will mystify & then appropriate native medicine and mythology, our art, languages, and cultures, because they think it has secret ancient magic powers, and that everybody who actually practices that medicine or speaks that language is dead and gone, and that indigenous people are ancient history. when we are still alive and around and speaking those languages and practicing that medicine today. and the only reason we would even be all dead and gone anyways is if the colonizers who now appropriate our culture had succeeded in their plan to wipe us out!! anyways that's just a thought, like i said, i hope this only comes across as solidarity of some sort, i read your post and really felt i related to the experience!

oh this isn't a derailment at all!!! something i've noticed a lot but feel like i don't know enough about to be eloquent with it is the similarities between a lot of indigenous cultures and jewish cultures. idk it's super cool. shoutout to Really Fucking Old cultures and traditions surviving through and despite everything

there was a celebration for 40 years of democracy here in argentina at la plaza de mayo on saturday. lots of argentinian flags everywhere, big concert stage set up, the works. my friend and i went to an encampment on the casa rosada side that i had noticed a few times before. they had hand-painted signs talking about how they're from an indigenous self-advocacy group that has been trying to get an audience with the president for two years and three months. to support their continued stay on la plaza, they had a shop of homemade materials like bags, scarves, baskets, and more. i ended up buying gifts for my siblings, a gorgeous rainbow scarf with designs the man was telling me had all unique meanings and symbolisms in mapuche culture, and a handmade necklace of the tree of life. i told him that being jewish i'm always on the lookout for more scarves i can use to cover my head, and he told me he hopes this will serve me well (it has, i'm in love with it already). when he told me about the tree of life necklace, i told him judaism has similar symbolism, called etz hayim. he thanked me for teaching him the term

i don't know if that was a particularly impactful exchange for him, but there was some sort of solidarity i immediately felt, like our fights are intertwined (as are all our fights but you know what i mean). you put at least some reasons why that solidarity exists here into words. we are parts of cultures that have faced and are still facing attempted genocide after attempted genocide, and yet we are still here, embodying our people and not backing down. as people try to relegate us to some mystical past, we are vocal and fight back. solidarity to you anon, ily and i wish you the best. please feel free to talk to me more about this

i've reached out to the indigenous organizers currently camping out in front of la casa rosada but as of writing this i haven't gotten a response. the website hasn't been updated in a bit, but i'll add what information i have so that more people can learn about this fight in argentina (i'm realizing as i add this stuff that almost everything is in spanish lmao. i'm going to reblog this with the photos of their signs and translations of each. if your browser doesn't automatically translate these links please lmk and i'd be happy to help out anybody interested in learning more)

information about the org:

a story about a previous protest:

a story about the current encampment:

#indigenous liberation #jumblr #landback #land back #christian antisemitism tw #cultural appropriation #solidarity #anarchist #genocide tw #asks #anonymous #argentinian politics

204 notes · View notes

creation-help · 1 year

Text

Miscellaneous character design tips (that everyone could find useful)

- Feathers in hair, behind the ear, on the head, in some headress ect? Just don't. Unless you're indigenous I strongly, strongly advise against it, bc native people have criticized this design trope time and time again. Accessories and clothing like this can be very difficult to get right if you don't know what you're doing.

• Also! W*ndigos. Don't. If you wanna design a character that "looks like" (or is what you imagine when you think of a) W*ndigo, just. Design a character that looks like that and call it some other monster (Disclaimer: I'm mainly talking about things like those skull headed monsters with antlers ykno). These creatures have alot of deep meaning to the cultures they're from, and people are tired of them being appropriated and misrepresented. It will cost you nothing to just make a generic monster rather than butcher something from a marginalized culture. (Also, I've censored the word because in the past I've been told that using it's name is bad luck/harmful, so I'm doing this to be respectful)

(Natives/indigenous people are welcome to add on discussion about this if you feel like there's anything I could've said differently)

- Unless your character design is meant to be flexible, up to artist interpretation, or just messy, place patterns and decorative characteristics on distinct, memorable places. For example if your character has spots, put the most notable ones on places that're easy to remember and replicate, like on particular body parts. I'd also advise to make just a bit less of these patterns. Generally, if you're not aiming for a cluttered looking design, prioritize quality over quantity, when it comes to patterns.

- A character design's intent is just as important as the actual character design. You'll see me mentioning this on the previous point as well. Unless we're talking about offensive caricatures, there's teeechnically no such thing as a "bad" character design. Just rather a failed or unsuccessful one. What I mean by that, is that if your design is meant to look cliche, tacky, messy, or just plain unappealing, and it looks like such, that is a successful design! If you designed a character just to be something fun for you to draw, that's a successful design! I often see this point applied more professionally by other art advisors, to mean more like "You should be able to tell what kind of character it is based on the design", which is also true! But intent and purpose matters in storytelling. Obviously, not all aspects of a design need to be there for some very specific reason (looking at the people who ask "Why was this character made fat/gnc/black/poc?" and so on.) just keep in mind what this character is supposed to be. I think it's better to worry about if the character design does what it's supposed to, rather than if it's ""Good""

(And yeah, there are still things that just objectively don't look very good together, according to human perspective and color theory and whatnot, but again, if you're aiming for that, you go buddy!)

- Sorta coinciding with the previous point: Don't be afraid to use "ugly" traits when designing. I think the reason why is obvious (beauty standards can go suck a dick), but there's more to it than just radical acceptance! By giving more unique, weird, or "ugly" traits to your characters, you make them more memorable and distinct from one another. If there's a billion smooth faced perfect pretty characters who are the exact same kind of flavorless vanilla sexy, it gets boring, and they blend together! And please don't limit these traits to just villains or characters who are supposed to be disliked!! My other advice on this point, is, pllllease don't design villains "ugly" and heroes "pretty", I feel like that should be a given, but alot of people may be doing it without even realizing. And that's understandable, but I heartily recommend taking a second to think about it more deeply. Why is this visual trait "Bad", or "Evil"? I just feel like so many artists are deathly afraid of having their characters look the least bit unappealing or challenging. I could go on about this but I'll stop here to keep it concise. Don't beauty police your oc is all I'm sayin

- Reference! I don't necessarily mean take inspiration from other existing character designs, although that can also be helpful. I mean that look around you, think broadly! If you have a certain theme for your design, try to round up all the little things (items, concepts, colors, animals, traits) that could be associated with it! And try to reflect that in your character design. You can get a little wacky and experimental. You can literally just broaden your inspiration to things like everyday objects, a specific fabric texture, an element, or a fungi that lives in moldy houses. Anything! My main point is to try to think outside the box and consider more unconventional things to reference for your character design, you'll never know what might work and look really interesting. Often, a bland design is worse than a weird one. (Disclaimer: Unless you're aiming for bland ofc, per my prev points, but ykno). You can also just go by "Hmm, I'm making a character who is X, what does that remind me of?" or, what I also recommend "Hmm, so X kinds of characters remind me of these things. Let's ditch that and think what one usually wouldn't associate with X kinds of characters!". Ykno, defy convention, think about things you might not usually do. I know it can be easier said than done but once you get into a habit of trying to think more broadly, it'll come to you easier. Don't be afraid to get odd and unusual

- While I don't condemn designing a character in a way that just, is that way, because you designed it like that, I also recommend thinking about how and why the character is like that in-story. Might seem like an obvious tip, but I'll elaborate. I for example, have a pair of bug demon characters who grew up on the streets and didn't have the normal amount of nourishment for their age, so, due to that their mouth pincers and other buggy parts were left much smaller and more "plain" looking than others of their species. They never developed to their appropriate adult size. Things like this will reflect on a character design! And that's just one example. If your character has a habit of nervous picking, or sensory problems, or live in an area where certain resources for clothing aren't available, all of this will reflect on the design! Of course, you can also work backwards from a design and think "Hmm, what justification will I think of for the character having these traits (especially if they're uncommon for their story setting)?"

I may do a part 2 sometime later, I just had some thoughts I wanted to compile for now! Obviously you can have your own design principles but these are ones I consistently use (also the first one being as specific as it is, is just something I particularly wanted to say).

#Character design #for character design #Character design tips #character design ideas #Cultural appropriation #Ask to tag #design tips #Design ideas #Artists on Tumblr #monster design #Artblr #Important

236 notes · View notes

blessedarethebinarybreakers · 5 months

Note

Don't you think there's better ways of showing support for Palestinians/Israeli Christians than by perpetuating the "Jesus was Palestinian" myth that people constantly try and use to deny Jewish indigeneity. Allegory or not, it's not a great look for someone who purports to be against that kind of erasure and supercessionism. Also, having 1 line about how his death was the Empire's fault so don't blame the Jews is meaningless when in this allegory, the Empire (Israeli government) *is* Jewish

(anyone curious about what anon's referring to, I believe it's my poem here)

Hey there anon, thank you for your feedback. In this situation where various marginalized peoples are being pitted against each other (and/or conflated with political groups), I've been struggling to make sure my words don't add to the misinformation and harm. So whenever someone takes the time to remind me of that danger, I'll take the time to re-examine my words — even if I end up standing by them, as I mostly do in this case.

I can't promise to say and do all the perfect things, because there isn't time to waste getting my words just right before saying something — people are dying right now (and yes, anon, that includes those Israelis who are still hostages of Hamas, who are also endangered by Israel's continued attacks.)

I have been spending much of my free time these past few months learning more about Israel and Palestine, and I still don't feel I'm even close to knowing enough! But I've listened to those who are actually in the midst of the violence who say that all of us across the world must join their cry now, not letting our ignorance be an excuse. That means there have been a few things I've said that I then had to re-consider after learning more.

...

Just a few days ago, I was actually trying to look into the origins of the statement that "Jesus was a Palestinian Jew." (Btw if anyone knows the origins of this statement, please hit me up!)

Arguments against it note that the term "Palestinian" didn't exist in Jesus' day. Looking into the accuracy of that statement is still on my to-do list; I did skim over this article calling it a myth but yeah, still digging. Regardless, sure, I don't think Jesus called himself a Palestinian in his lifetime.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the statement is useless, however. I do very much believe that if Jesus were born today, in the same place, he'd be born to a Jewish Palestinian family, not an Israeli one.

That does not erase his Jewishness; it confirms God's "preferential option for the poor," God's choice to side with and become one with the most oppressed and discarded. It also does not assert that Jewish persons don't "belong" in the region — only that the modern nation/colony Israel isn't necessary for them to live and thrive there.

All that said, if anyone has more info on the statement that "Jesus was a Palestinian" — its origins, how it's been used over the years — I would absolutely like to examine it further. For now, I stand by the phrase, with an openness to re-considering that with further education.

...

I feel more confident in talking about Empire — how I used it in my poem, versus how you've interpreted it. I'm genuinely grateful to you for bringing your reading of it to my attention, because it's shown me that my words weren't clear enough there!

In these verses from my poem:

"...And now, as then, some may blame Jesus’s death on his own Jewish people — but resist this lie! Now as then the crime is Empire’s and those of us who would cast stones should ponder first what our nations gain from genocide. ..."

You interpret Empire as being Israel.

My intention was that Empire with a capital E is a much larger network of all imperial forces on earth. Israel is entangled in that, and directly backed and funded by those forces. My own country, the United States, is one of the nations at the helm of Empire.

So when I talk of Empire being to blame, I'm not saying just Israel — honestly, I'm personally more concerned with the US's complicity, because I feel as a US citizen I can help demand they stop.

So I'm going to rework that bit to better express what I mean by Empire, so it doesn't sound like I'm focusing only on Israel. Empire is so much bigger than any one state, colony, or government.

...

Okay, I'm out of steam. I'm going to link a few pieces that have been helping me frame all that's going on right now to resist pitting marginalized groups against each other:

This art piece naming "contradicting truths"

This article by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg also naming seemingly contradictory truths

Since I didn't really get deep into this part of your ask, I also appreciate this article discussing the question of indigeneity. It discards the "need" to figure out "who was there first" in favor of exploring intersecting histories.

Oh also, because you claim that the Israeli government "is Jewish," I think discussions on how Israel isn't actually a safe haven for all Jews, only those that fit into their goals, are vital.

#chatting tag #idk how to word this but. like.#what's happening right now is both NOT complex: we MUST side with Palestine.#and also very very complex with a need for nuance and context.#both and not either or #does that make sense?....

39 notes · View notes

teeth-cable · 10 months

Note

You everr realize that Vivziepop is completely bullshitting when it comes to ethnic casting because of Millie?

Like we are definitely getting imp human disguises for merch reasons so its definitely going to come up.

But like if Millie is black then her family should be played by black VAs but all of them are white VAs. Like I don't think Millie is adopted since she looks like a younger version of her mother.

The best course would then be making Millie white and no we can't use Erica being the original VA as evidence because that was always meant to be a temp casting.

But then this creates an issue in Helluva Boss having no fucking diversity like Vivziepop doesn't have to answer to corporate demands to make the ENTIRE CAST white. She can choose to add diversity.

If she makes Millie black that's also showcasing a huge issue in Helluva's lack of diversity in its main group of characters and Millie could come off as a token. Then you have the fact Morgana and Ed would come under fire for taking POC roles as well as Spindle allowing it unless Vivziepop retcons Millie as adopted or half siblings with Sallie.

Like Into The Spiderverse had half its human cast be POC and it answered to corporate demands. Then Across The Spiderverse without spoiling anything has a MAJORITY of the cast be POC.

Now you can argue Spiderverse is based off existing material unlike Helluva but those existing materials had put effort into adding POC in the first place. And guess what Spiderverse had consulted actual minorities when it came to development of the project.

Vivziepop is latina but she's white passing so she needs to consult people who don't pass to get a better understanding overall on things. Like I'm disconnected from my own culture but just because I'm part of it doesn't mean I have a full picture of it.

Vivziepop also isn't black, asian or indigenous so if she's telling stories that features them she needs to do research and consult people.

She actually consulted Morgana about Sallie May being trans thankfully but... I never hear any talk about other people she talks to which shows poor ass attempts. Like Morgana's insight is valid but she does not speak for all trans people and yes you aren't going to please everybody with representation but just consulting a SINGLE PERSON is insane. We also know Viv according to leaked screenshots has or had some form of transphobia so she absolutely needs to consult more people if she's trying to change and do better especially if she's writing about a trans character.

Like Morgana being a white transwoman will not have the same experience as a black transwoman for example. Like I know that from actively trying to learn about trans people.

Like there's a youtuber UnicornofWar who made a video about how the show RWBY is terrible at handling its racism allegory. Now Unicorn is white but actively went out of their way to consult multiple POC for the video and did a shit ton of research. Now I will say Unicorn in the past has said ignorant things about stuff like white washing (thinking its ok because of art style color pallets back then) in earlier videos but currently denounces that viewpoint (note: Unicorn as far as Im aware has never said anything with vile. I have to clarify so I don't misrepresent their person and people don't assume Unicorn like said a slur) and actually apologizes for their ignorance.

Has Vivziepop ever denounced her old views or behavior? Has she apologized for being ignorant in certain things? Is making a serious effort to change? Has Vivziepop researched throughly and listened to POC insights or concerns?

As far as I'm aware she hasn't.

I have noticed Viv's weird choices for Millie as a black character. I hate to say this but Millie is supposed to be token rep which to me is weird because nobody was pressuring Viv to add rep to her shows. I will say this even in a universe where Viv hired black VAs to voice Millie's family and did do properly research and consulted black people, Millie would still be considered token rep because she is the only the only main character in the show to not have an self-centered EP and has the least amount of screentime.

It makes me wonder if the reason why the IMPs don't have a canon human form yet is because Viv doesn't want to draw POC characters. She has shown she knows the importance of these disguises and they sell well on merch but the only characters who have canon human forms are Stolas and Loona, two white characters who arguably don't even need them. Blitzo is voiced by Brandon Roger who is a mixed Filipino (It's also canon Blitzo looks like Brandon Roger and Blitzo and Brandon Roger are intertwined together so it doesn't make sense for Blitzo to be white), Millie being a black woman, and Moxxie, despite what you might believe is a mixed Latino.

The POC rep we already have isn't good either. In Spring Broken, Verosika and her gang, who the majority are POCs, gets arrested and Verosika makes a joke about sucking police dicks to get out of jail. Having a POC character make a rape joke about police corruption unironically is not funny. Moxxie's mom is obviously supposed to be Latina, falls into the trope of nice POC women who get brutally abused and killed by their white husbands. This actually could have work and wouldn't be as tokenizing if 1. we got to learn about Moxxie's mom as a person and 2. her death wasn't solely use to be angst bait for a male character.

The Spiderverse crew actively puts effort and consulted with POC about characters from their culture. During the early stage of writing for Pavitr Prabhakar, the writing team struggled writing his character and called his VA, Karan Soni to help them write and consult on the character. Thanks to Karan Soni's contribution for Pavitr Prabhakar, he is beloved by desi people alike. Viv doesn't do that and probably will never. She has shown time and time again, she doesn't respect religions, using their symbols as an aesthetic and for monetary gain. Viv's designs for black and other POC characters are terrible, them alway never having POC features and looking racial ambiguous as hell and she ignored the criticism from black and POC people for these POC characters.

#꧁rambles꧂#helluva boss criticism #helluva critical #helluva boss critical #➥asks

44 notes · View notes

autumngracy · 9 months

Text

Can we appreciate how inclusive the character options Larian gave us in Baldur's Gate 3 are??

You're not limited in any romance options due to characters' genders, and your companions will treat you equally in terms of potential interest (which you're not obligated to return, of course).

You can pick and choose any combination of biological traits and gender identity that you want! For example, you can have a female body type with a male gender and/or male voice, and vice versa. You can have female character with facial hair.

You can also choose whatever genitals you want, regardless of what body type you've chosen (and yes, they even added multiple options for how your bits of choice look).

This is a game where playing a trans or intersex character isn't just a "tastefully leave it to the imagination" scenario, but actively planned for and encouraged. (And on top of that you can be gay, bi, pan, and allo/asexual or romantic as you please, though the game never forces you to outright choose or lock yourself into these options.)

Additionally, aside from gender coding, you can pick (with most races) if you want a smaller or larger (read: taller and more muscular) body type.

Plus, the amount of options for skin tones, hair color (including highlights and greying), freckles, wrinkles, scars, hairstyle, and race specific traits like horns and crests is insane. You can even give your characters heterochromia or vitiligo!

They also have a huge array of additional options for makeup, tattoos, and piercings (though we should probably take some points off for incorporating a few appropriative indigenous tattoo designs; though I'm sure they thought they were adding inclusive representation. If it bothers you, there are already mods to replace said options with different designs.)

Now, there aren't sliders for most things in this game, so you are stuck with a limited amount of face models you can choose, and you can't edit your character's weight/height beyond the "make them big & buff or skinny" option. But with the amount of wearable items, cutscenes, and wildly different racial body types, this is somewhat understandable.

Overall, I'd say this is one of the most inclusive games I've ever seen.

Besides the lack of choice in your character's weight (which I don't expect them to change tbh), one thing I think would be feasible/cool for them to add would be some prosthetic limb options, especially since you'd be faced with a lot more risk to life and limb in a setting like the Forgotten Realms.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #baldur's gate #larian studios

21 notes · View notes

primus-why · 2 years

Text

Oh my god, imagine if we had gotten Skyfire in TFP instead of Smokescreen?

No hate to Smokey fans, I'm just asking to picture an AU where if we had to add a new Team Prime member late in the game, it could have been Skyfire. (Please bear with me, I'm mostly just jotting down ideas so it's a bit all over the place)

Idk I just have this very specific dynamic in mind, like:

Skyfire: So I crashed here a gazillion years ago when I was exploring with my science partner.

Arcee: What happened to them?

Skyfire: I... don't know. You didn't find anyone else with me?

Bulkhead: 'Fraid not...

Skyfire: ... Oh.

Bumblebee: *beep boop bwee*!

Raf: Yeah! We'll go back and help you find them!

Skyfire: Really?? But... aren't you guys too busy to mount a search and rescue for a stranger? I don't want to be a burden...

Optimus: Even if you two are strangers to us, we will not abandon a fellow Cybertronian. Saving a life is always worth the effort.

Skyfire: Thank you, Prime.

《LATER》

Ratchet: The medbay is prepped to warm up your friend once they're brought in.

Skyfire: Thank you all again!

Arcee: So what's our perimeter? Did you see where they landed?

Skyfire: Well, no, I crashed before he did.

Bumblebee: *breep bworp*

Skyfire: I suppose it's possible he could have survived...

Miko: Couldn't you look him up in some sort of Cybertronian phonebook and just call?

Skyfire: I did try to reach him, but it seems he's changed his com line. Which makes sense, I suppose. So much has happened...

Bulkhead: Hm... oh! What about the N.A.I.L. census? I know it's super out of date, but...

Miko: Hold on, "Nail" census? Is there a census for sledgehammers too?

Fowler: N-A-I-L. It stands for Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms. They're the Cybertronians who didn't pick a side.

Raf: So... they're neutral? Not Decepticon...

Jack: ... or Autobot.

Ratchet: A census was created and distributed among the N.A.I.L.s so they would be able to find eachother after the exodus. They planned to regroup and form their own colonies off-world.

Optimus: Hm. It would be a good idea to exhaust our options that avoid risk.

Skyfire: Agreed! Let's check out that census.

Arcee: I can pull it up. What's your friend's name again? You guys were from Vos, right?

Skyfire: Mhm. And his name is Starscream.

Team Prime: ...

Skyfire: ... Do you want me to spell that for you, or...?

Miko: I'm sorry, I think I misheard you, because I could have sworn you just said Starscream.

Skyfire: Uh yup. That's correct.

Arcee: *closes out of the census*

Skyfire: ... is there a problem?

Ratchet: Oh, there are several problems!

Cue Team Prime explaining all the things Starscream has done, and Skyfire has a hard time believing it, so he sets out on his own to see Starscream for himself.

Once they see each other and spend a bit more time with each other, Skyfire can see how much Starscream has changed. But he still cares for him. He thinks Starscream can be better than this, deserves better. He doesn't like the Decepticon culture, the way Starscream has become so paranoid and twitchy and violent, constantly looking over his shoulders and not trusting anyone. That's no way to live!

But as Starscream is about to go back to the Decepticons, he starts a spat with Skyfire. (In his own way, Starscream is just keeping Skyfire out of Megatron's servos, because he knows the shuttle will end up following him.) So Skyfire goes back to Team Prime and is like... "I don't want to take up your brand, but if you'll allow me to stay here I can use my skills to assist in the med bay and help look for energon to share. I don't have it in my spark to go into battle. Of course, I know some basic self-defense, but I just don't want to be involved in this war's violence. I'd much rather heal and help others, and... if at all possible, I want to try to rescue my old friend." and Optimus agrees.

Cue an energon mining mission where Team Prime + Skyfire fall under attack by some vehicons/insecticons or whatever, and Skyfire is able to show off his quick thinking skills and brute strength in front of everyone to save the day! This could be especially impressive to anyone in Team Prime that may have thought N.A.I.L.s were cowards or unable to fight.

Fast forwarding a bit, Skyfire has tried many ways to lure Starscream away from the Decepticons, but the seeker continues to rebuff him, yelling at him to stay away from him, saying cruel things, and renouncing him as a friend. But Skyfire doesn't give up. He explains to the kids when they ask him about his persistence later that he knows Starscream is hurting/is in danger, that he's always been duplicitous when it comes to his true feelings.

Going back to Starscream... imagine if Soundwave presented evidence to Megatron that there's a new face among Team Prime these days. "A new member?" Megatron ponders, but then looks a bit closer, "Hm... they wear no brand. So the Autobots are hosting a neutral? How interesting..." Then Soundwave reveals that Starscream has known about this new arrival, but hadn't reported any of his encounters. What's more, it appears they know each other. "... How very interesting indeed."

Team Prime stumble upon an energon deposit that's already being mined by Decepticons (including Starscream), so they hang back to decide if they should use the element of surprise to strike, or if they should try their luck elsewhere. While observing this mission from back at the base, Skyfire sees Megatron make a surprise visit and confront Starscream. Starscream tries to deny that he even knows him that well, and claims that Skyfire isn't very skilled so he won't be much use to the Autobot's cause. But Megatron doesn't buy it. He grabs Starscream, intent on beating the truth out of him, but Skyfire commandeers the groundbridge and bridges right to their location. We get to see more of that brute strength in action as he hits Megatron from behind, yelling at him to let Starscream go. It disorients Megatron long enough for him to grab Starscream and run off with him, telling him he won't let Megatron hurt him anymore. Skyfire and Starscream don't return to their bases that night.

And that's all I got for now! I figured they'd hide out on earth, possibly in that old ship Starscream had once visited in the show. Maybe they straight up disappear for the rest of the show up until that time where all the kids were captured and had to get exchanged for Omega Keys, or at the end where everyone has to defeat a Unicronified Megatron. Like I want them to show up as Science Bros Who Are Here To Kick Ass And Help... double bonus if things are dire and Wheeljack gets roped in for science stuff too. You'd really have a Moment of a former Decepticon, an Autobot Wrecker, and a Neutral working together and that would just be Neat.

#tfp #skyfire #starscream #this is so long and rambly im sorry haha #fuzz writes

240 notes · View notes

etherealnoir · 6 months

Text

Found Ep. 7 Thoughts

Spoiler Warning!

So this wasn't my favorite episode. While I did like the show bringing attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (sort of...it would've been nice for them to add an info card or something at the end of the episode, but ok), the episode itself left a lot to be desired.

TL;DR: The highlight of this episode was learning more about Hugh's abandonment triggers, because I feel like it added a ton of context to his behavior in the past and in this episode. Everything else was a chop. I feel like they spent too much time on some things (Trent), not enough on others (Lacey), and overlooked a lot of things as well (Gabi being held accountable).

I wrote a lot, but please feel free to skip to whatever part you care the most about lol

1. The Story

It felt weirdly disjointed and all over the place. The natal doctor being the culprit at the end, despite there being NO previous indicators, kind of annoyed me. It was lazy to have it be this random man we barely saw, with a motivation we learned about in the last 5 minutes. They could've EASILY introduced that he worked with many indigenous/marginalized people early in the episode and also mentioned that he lost his own child.

It would've made more sense if he was a part of a ring of people taking babies of color and putting them up for adoption--because that's a thing that actually happens. I feel like they were originally going to have the culprit be the neighbor whose brother lost his baby and blamed it on Aida. As sort of like an eye-for-an-eye thing. But then they realized it'd probably look bad if a bunch of Non-Indigenous people demonized an Indigenous woman like that, so they changed it at the last minute.

2. Lacey

Lacey is always severely underutilized, but this time it felt just sadly egregious. They emphasized that Lacey was uncomfortable with being in the area because of the kidnapping, but...that was about it. It would've been a good opportunity to show a flashback of Lacey and Gabi together as children, or even a great chance to show Gabi and Lacey connecting over their shared experience in adulthood. Better yet, it would've been the perfect time to explore how the kidnapping has affected Lacey in adulthood, because it's clear it presents as a fear more intense than Gabi's.

Also her randomly kicking in the door and rushing into the house was odd, no matter how much they said in-show that it was ooc. Sometimes it feels like scenes are cut out that would add clarity to the scenes they leave in.

3. Trent x Gabi

As much as I love them together, I get really REALLY tired of watching Gabi use Trent and his network without any repercussions or hard pushback. I know that Gabi agreed to work closely with the police to make sure the people who committed the crimes face punishment, but I can only suspend disbelief BUT SO MUCH. Like what do you mean Gabi and Dhan can threaten a potential suspect into confessing? What do you mean they can just find things about people in less than a day, whenever they ask for it? WHY are they able to break rules with impunity, when doing so would absolutely cause the case to get thrown out in court????

As much as I know that Trent cares about Gabi and is willing to risk his job for her, I'm failing to understand why. What has she done for him that has made him want to give up his job for her? Because, from what we've seen so far, she hasn't really...done...much? We know they slept together at least once, that he has feelings for her, and that she relies on him a lot. But I feel like this show is constantly telling us that Gabi is worth sacrifice without illustrating why.

If this show is going to improve, they REALLY need to stop trying to make us believe that Gabi can do whatever she wants because reasons. It's starting to feel very Mary Sue-ish, and I don't want that to happen to her.

I at least hope that she takes accountability for taking the thumbdrive.

4. Hughbert "Sir" Evans

The one thing I did like about this episode is that we learned a lot about who Hugh is, and what his triggers are. If they choose to stay consistent anyway. Because they said in one episode that one of his triggers was mess/dirt, and then it was never brought up again lol.

In this episode, we learned that Hugh has abandonment issues. I believe that Hugh suffered from Parental Neglect as a child, which ties into this quest he had to "save" Gabi from her own perceived neglect. Hugh illustrates all the traits of someone who grew up not feeling heard or paid attention to: forcing Gabi to debate with him, him lecturing at her when she's eating, him having a meltdown when she ignores him or walks away. He threw a temper tantrum when he suspected that someone else might be taking attention away from him, because he finds comfort in knowing that it's always just him and Gabi in that house, and that she's consciously aware that he's there.

Obviously his traumatic past doesn't excuse the shit he's done. But it does add a ton of context.

These are a lot of thoughts, sorry lol This episode just bugged me. I feel like the writers room doesn't have their shit together. Maybe in S2 (if they get one), they'll find a rhythm that works. They need to. Because I shouldn't be able to tell a better story than these people who were PAID to do so.

#found nbc

8 notes · View notes

anti-racist-cottagecore · 21 days

Note

What's wrong with homesteading?

so, first off i would like to say that i'm against homesteading, not farming. the two are not the same thing and the terms should not be used interchangeably. farming is where you grow crops and rear livestock. homesteading is a lifestyle based off self-sustenance, where you live in a homestead isolated from city life.

when you start delving into the history of homesteading, it gets more and more fucked up. i guess the most famous example of homesteading would be in (so-called) america from like, 1840 to 1940. basically, the us government 'opens up' large swathes of land that weren't theirs to begin with for white settlement (it's settler colonialism, babey). the only reason that all this land was suddenly available was because the government had fucking rounded up all the native americans and killed them or put them on reservations because the government saw the plains as a 'wilderness' that could be put to better use under the plough. so they start a big old propaganda campaign to get white folks to go and get their plot of land and build a homestead because of american freedom or some bullshit.

and no, this doesn't just apply to america! with a lot of these anti-homesteading cottagecore posts, i see ppl in the notes being like 'well i'm from australia or canada so this doesn't apply to me' and um. yes it does??? australia and canada are also settler colonist states, and everyone, especially white ppl like me, should try and educate ourselves about colonialism.

also, homesteading is fucking hard. the american homesteaders found out pretty quickly that self-sufficiency is a pipe dream. but despite all of this, there's been a rise in homestead type posts in the cottagecore community, and no it isn't racist to want to go to the countryside and live in a cottage and grow your own food, but YES it is misguided at best to talk about escaping to an 'untouched wilderness' away from society with NO appreciation for the indigenous people that have lived on that land before you.

cottagecore seems to love homesteading. unfortunately there is nothing cute about homesteading. i'm not saying that there's anything inherently racist about enjoying cute pics of flowers and lambs, but saying that you want a homestead is a dogwhistle at this point since it's linked so much to white supremacism, and also nazi 'blood and land' rhetoric. it's not a good sign that so many genocidal powers seem to love homesteading. it's not a good sign if a government suddenly has loads of 'empty' land that it needs to give away and put to 'good use'. so basically, you can still enjoy cottagecore, but you should absolutely be aware of the connotations behind it and. just be mindful of the things you're saying.

so there's your answer, anon! sorry if i came off as really bitchy, it's just that my bf is native so it's kinda personal for us, and i'm always gonna be bitchy about colonialism. i promise i'm not angry with you in any way, in fact i'm glad you asked! it's always good to educate yourself! but i'd definitely encourage you to do further research and read up about it. i'm both white and not involved with farming in any way, so i'm probably not the best equipped to talk about all of this, and if you wanna find out why homesteading sucks i'd recommend finding something written from a native perspective rather than from me, white american rando on tumblr.

if any indigenous folks wanna add onto anything i've said or correct me on anything, please do so. also if you have any sources or articles that link to this because i'm exhausted and i don't have the energy to find sources atm.

#homesteading #cottagecore #tw racism #tw colonialism

4 notes · View notes

growing-yet-into-magic · 7 days

Text

The United States of Cryptids by JW Ocker

Here are my horribly blurry photos. Behold.

Firstly: this book was written by the author who wrote the Salem book I read mid quarantine. I don't remember it being particularly exceptional. This book reads more as a reference book, which immediately makes it more tolerable than a rambling sort of narrative, and separates each region of the country to help further organize cryptid lore around the country.

However. LOOK at that block of text. It's formatted so tightly. It's not horrible to read, but in a tiny book...it's dense to look at. It's a lot. I wasn't pleased.

I forgot that people are more aware of the Jersey Devil now, so I was surprised to see the local mascot show up in the book. First off, when telling people how popular Jersey Devil iconography is, instead of naming a couple small sites and restaurants, you should probably point out that our hockey team is literally The Devils. I'm fairly sure that's our main export of Jersey Devil paraphernalia. It feels Relevant.

Secondly. There are two books on the Jersey Devil that I consider must reads. (The two books are The Secret History Of The Jersey Devil and here by The Jersey Devil by McCloy + Miller). Having read both of them, there are things the author missed that would have been GREAT to add. Without that context, the bulk of the books's description is a little...off.

My notes on the matter are:

The date is wrong. Or, more accurately, there IS no set date; Ocker gives us a definitive year for the Jersey Devil's birth, when the actual date for the events of the story depends on who's asking. There are only certain dates that are documented, and that includes a) The Magical Week, which is a week in which phenomena attributed to the Jersey Devil was published in newspapers for about seven days in NJ and PA, and b) That Time Napoleon's Brother Fucked Back Off To France (because he SWORE he saw the Jersey Devil). 1735 is a very specific date, and certainly not the only one attributed to the story. It feels disingenuous to add it very confidently to the story without further detail.

The book gets the Leeds family origins wrong— or, again, not quite correct. Ocker claims that the Leeds family was ostracized for being supporters of the British right to rule during the revolution, which ignores the way more relevant reason they were ostracized; the Leeds family owned a printing press and published almanacs that promoted astrology, which was considered evil occult knowledge at the time. There was a religious division in the community between the local Quaker population (against this) and the Leeds family (trying desperately to get on the ball of what the main man thought was a Hot New Science) after the book almanacs were published, which raised local tension pretty high. I could summarize this more but honestly just read The Secret History of the Jersey Devil book by Esposito and Regal; it's pretty thin anyway.

All the facts in the author's description are presented as if they're certain and true, BUT worded very vaguely as to obscure the actual situation: that there are many stories about the Jersey Devil instead of one carefully worded one. Instead of briefly mentioning different versions of different details that emerge overall, a pretty interesting story from an area famous for resisting colonial overtaking has been flattened down and ironed of all its cool details. Lame. He didn't even name the Magical Week, which has a name. Instead he just said "there was a week in 1909 in which a lot of stuff happened." It has a cool title!! Come on!! It was published in two different states!! Say its name!!

Also, respect the Pine Barrens more. They're an ecological wonderland. I'm also pretty sure they have the largest indigenous population in New Jersey. Add some respect when you say that name.

I can't do the same fact checking of every other cryptid in this book, obviously, as I lack similar expertise, but between this book and the author's Salem trip, I'm kind of over this author on the whole. I don't think I'll finish this book.

(I may skim it though.)

Best regards, readers;

#growing-yet #witchblr #witch books #books

6 notes · View notes

historia-vitae-magistras · 10 months

Note

good morning maam, can I please ask why Canadians aren't as notorious as Americans? you did the same things we did to Indians.

I'm not sure how you identify, but unless you're indigenous, 'indians' isn't the term you want to use for indigenous peoples. It's a dated, highly loaded and racist term in most contexts. Not to mention Indian is a nationality outside of North America. It's probably best to be as specific as you can in a local context but even in a broader way, that word is not what you should be using.

Moving on, to preface this, I am a white dual Canadian/American, so this is open to correction, and I will only be giving a very broad overview of my specialty as a librarian and archivist, media bias and information and research accessibility.

So to begin: notorious to who? The rest of the world outside of North America? That's because the US projects more soft power than Canada ever will. It is much the same for Australia, New Zealand or any other settler colony. We're all as fucked up, but it's American media that sets the narrative. And Americans and American politicians get to mouth off. There is a power difference that, for some reason, people like to equate to some uwu-esque quality to Canada, but it's not a reality so much as 'watch your mouth the Americans are twitchy' is. And Canada did its external imperialism in the form of the usual economic leverage in the north or otherwise under a British flag. So there's a certain difference in politeness but not kindness. Add that to the entire world seeing the fucked up things the US does. And you get a country that looks better. Plus, there's this weird thing where American liberals just, give Canadians the weirdest reputation of some sort of northern paradise, and there are key differences Canada does better on, but yeah, most of that 'reputation' has very little to do with Canadian reality as it does American perception.

In Canada, the history of the subjugation and genocide of First Nations peoples is just as well known to Canadians as that against Native Americans in the US, if not more so. As for why other human beings think it was 'better' in Canada or that the US is more 'notorious,' it comes down to rhetoric. Canada much more freely admits to these things, makes a big deal about apologizing and reconciliation, and there's generally more cultural and official acknowledgement. Indigenous issues are more visible in politics in Canada than they are in the US in many ways, but Canada, for the most part, isn't any better in policy. There's a lot of talk about the 'legacy' of imperialism in Canada and not much acknowledgement of the continuing policies in either country. So there might be something to be said about optics being more front-facing, but racism, deprivation, inequality, land theft and all the other facets of genocide are still very much in play in both countries.

If you want further reading, I'm happy to provide it.

#the ask box || probis pateo #research || sauntering through the stacks #history || that which makes us what we are

13 notes · View notes

scriptlgbt · 2 years

Text

Avoiding Queerbaiting Question

I will say so right off now. I am not asking about LGBT characters but, I had wrote which feel gay, hints to feel gay and someone was accused me of queerbaiting.

I am come from two cultures that have parents to much involve on marriage, and to this day, we get parental approval for utmost respect. Some parents still find dates for children, and also have arranged marriages. I am personally knowing people who become oust by family for just love or marry the spouse without approval or become stuck in the marriage they don't want but just accept by culture or because of much fear of social they can't got out.

Unfortunately, but I write stories in the western culture and write the parent do not like your partner or spousee, even about mere dating. Even though I make the straight relationship as clear, people said undertones are feels like gay people's thoughts, like parents do not approve the relationship because gay or gay person marry straight person and stuck up in it.

Help please. What can I do? There must got some nuance I write? What?

Answer

I haven't read your work so I will admit I could be wrong about this, but this strikes me that the audience not understanding your experiences that lead you to write this way.

I think in general it's not unheard of for parents western-ish cultures to disapprove of someone who their child is dating, but I think it used to be more common than it currently is. I know there are TV shows from 2005 where this was a common plotline. I think this was an experience that my parents generation had (baby boomer/gen x cusp), but not something I've really dealt with. Even as a queer person. My mom was not great at understanding my being queer and trans when I came out (I'm not sure how much she understands it now), but the few times I have encountered her in my adulthood while I had a partner, my mom has seen my partner as family. But that's my own experience, and it's not reflective of everyone's.

I think when it comes to people in western cultures or cultures otherwise influenced by western colonialism, I think disapproval of children's partners tends to not manifest as being very obvious. I think parents are more careful about not saying it outright if they do not like or approve of a partner, because that disapproval would probably add tension to the relationship.

I see more often that friends from diaspora cultures will have parents that want them to marry in the culture though, because it is their perceived way of keeping their culture alive. Especially if there is a language barrier between the parents and the partner, or if the partner is not willing to learn the language for their partner and their family. A lot of conflict can arise during weddings too if someone is expected to compromise on a tradition. These sorts of things are a big deal to a lot of people.

I feel like with what you're going for, it might help to have it be said in dialogue that the characters are straight somewhat early on. Maybe something like, "I can't imagine how much harder this would be if I weren't straight." Or hearing about some other story about a non-straight character having a different experience and saying something like, "it's not the same, but I relate to this as a straight person."

I think it needs to be specifically named because there are bi people (among many other orientations) who may date someone of a different gender, but may be attracted to other genders too.

Something I might also look into, is writing a story where a character surrounded by western culture has parents who are from your own culture, or one like your own culture. Or maybe they have a religion that leads them to feel pressured to prioritize dating other people in that religion.

Maybe there are issues around citizenship or religion membership of potential children. For example, some Jewish beliefs state that a child is only Jewish if their mother is Jewish. For some Indigenous nations here, there are different types of nation membership and forms of legal status. Those things can affect whether you are allowed to live on a reserve, your rights to fish in the lake your family has fished in since the beginning of time, and even if your children are allowed to inherit that from you if you marry someone with less "status" than you. There are also families who don't have any disabilities who might be harsh about their child chosing a partner who might be disabled. Maybe the parents disapprove because they would have to learn sign language to include the partner at family events. Maybe the parents don't like how difficult it is to make sure places they go to eat have ramps for a partner with a wheelchair.

I wouldn't write the experiences of any marginalized group you don't know into the main plot of something unless you have help with it from people who are part of those groups though, just because there's some things you might miss or not realize the implications of.

I hope this helps give some idea?

mod nat

#mod nat #parents #writeblr #writing advice #queerbaiting

21 notes · View notes

dear-indies · 2 months

Note

Hi this is a genuine question but I’m afraid it might come off rude over text, so I’m so sorry if it does, that’s not my intention, but I was wondering what you consider the standards to be for celebrities to be seen as Pro-Palestine? I saw you answer another ask about how Quannah Chasinghorse hasn’t been vocal enough to consider her Pro, but she posts/reposts stuff constantly on her social media about the genocide and how Indigenous Americans stand with Palestine, so I was just genuinely curious to what you consider that standard/line to be then? I want to be more informed too so again I apologize if this comes off rude in any way.

Hey anon! As you saw, the original ask only mentioned her wearing a ceasefire pin and I referred the anon to a post, which was linked and explains what they consider to be pro, from a Palestinian that said asking for a ceasefire is the bare minimum. I did a quick check of her socials at the time but of course, I can't see if she's posted past stories as they've only viewable for 24 hours. I would have appreciated a message saying that she has been more active than just asking for a ceasefire so when I suggest her for fc help I can add a note by her name... which would have been more helpful than a passive-aggressive message!

((I did however see an Indigenous Twitter criticising Quannah for saying “I’m team all lives, Palestinian & Jewish” but I wasn't sure of the full context / what else was said. Since I'm assuming you're up to date on socials I'd appreciate if you know any further context, please and thank you! 💌))

0 notes