#like i get the criticism

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

#Also I'm saying this as someone who actually watched quite a few of Somerton's videos #And noticed those patterns and stopped watching bc I recognised them from here #and had already learned to unlearn them after being so exposed to them here #And tbh I think anyone who hasn't had the luck or made the conscious choice to seek out ppl who pushed against those narratives #Would absolutely have fallen for this man's bullshit. Like let's not kid ourselves we see takes like this every day on this hellsite #2014 me would have. For sure. #This is next to the plagiarism issue which as Harris points out is an Internet wide issue and this includes tumblr #James Somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #This brought to you by a conversation with my wife yesterday #So many ppl on here don't deserve to meme or be this self absolvingly critical of this man #The call is coming from inside the house #The man has a tumblr it would legit not surprise me if some of the things he supposedly made up himself he did actually get from somewhere #And that somewhere was a tumblr post

[halemerry]

Hey everyone what's your favorite mug look like?

#i feel like you can tell a lot about a person by their mug preferences #mines yellow and says 'go get em' with a picture of a tiger underneath it #critically its handle has enough space for my whole hand inside of it #rambles

[nat-20s]

I am far from saying the 60th anniversaries were perfect BUT I already know I fundamentally can't relate to people who didn't like the bi-generation. You don't like David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa being silly together? You don't like Donna getting her bestie back? You don't like the physical embodiment of radical self love?? You don't like that we get to keep the same bitchin Tardis set but it has a jukebox and entry ramp now??? Where's your whimsy where's your fucking whimsy???

#dw spoilers #doctor who #AGAIN i am not saying doctor who is like immune to criticism or anything BUT #sometimes people complain about the things that are fun and i genuinely dont get it. #doctor who is not for the weak of whimsy imo

[anneapocalypse]

So, just curious how many writers and creators will have to be forcibly outed by relentless harassment before we acknowledge that "This queer characters was written by a cishet person and that's why they're bad" is not good criticism.

#yes i'm just going to come out and say it i'm talking about sera #not exclusively but i am talking about her #'but her writer actually iS A--' you don't know that! it doesn't matter! and i don't care! #just say that you do not like the character. #people will reblog posts about the latest actor or YA author or whatever getting forced out of the closet and be like #'wow. :( that's terrible.' #and then GO RIGHT BACK TO DOING IT #when are we going to learn #when are we going to stop doing this BEFORE somebody is forcibly outed #because in practical terms #that means you have to be okay with queer characters being written by straight people. #you have to stop weaponizing that against writers you don't like. #you have to be willing to critique the writing on its own merits #without using the writer's (assumed) identity to prop up your arguments #that's how it works #but who wants to actually change the way they talk about media #when tearing apart people's identities for clout is far more entertaining. #gwaren exports #fandom problems #fandom critical

[ladylightning]

very special to me that every critic has panned lisa frankenstein while every bitch on tumblr is like "this movie was made specifically for ME"

#like yeah no shit these major news outlet corporate critics don't get it #it's not for you STEPHEN #it's for weird GOTHS #you did this to jennifer's body already #i don't give a shit whether you like this one or not #lisa frankenstein #not all art is for everyone! sorry that you guys are boring!

[idolomantises]

I’ve said this before, but I always found stories that frame heaven as “evil” and hell as “good” (or less bad) to be genuinely boring. I like more nuanced approaches to each realm.

I understand that for a lot of people, Christianity is a religion they like to criticize and mock, but I feel like if you don’t even understand the fundamentals of the religion, why even attempt to critique it?

#txt #an Angel wouldn’t be happy with mass genocide or abuse unless they convinced themselves there was a righteous reason for it #and more importantly. forgiveness and redemption is a huge part of Christianity #like as a queer person myself I get annoyed when queer writers pull the ‘well Christian’s oppressed us so we can do what we want’ card like #alright man. if you want to criticize the religion I am completely behind you #but if you’re going to heavily mischaracterized christianity to make it a black and white ‘evil’ religion. you look dumb

[crunchchute]

My Sam & Max cosplay I debuted at a local con during the weekend!

#wasnt wearing leg padding in these so sorry sams a bit skinny #sam and max #cosplay #crunchchute art #my art #i could remake the pants and jacket entirely but that would be quite hard actually. i suck at making jackets especially #so those are just thrifted and edited #lots of color differences that bug me but. oh well #pants and jacket arent that different but its noticeable in these pics #as well as maxs hands and feet. theyre slightly lighter as the fabric i used is better quality #but i ran out of the stuff i used on his body etc and i couldnt buy more from that store as they took their sweet time shipping the stuff #oh well. didnt make them for a competition so its okay #im my own biggest hater and my own biggest critic #at the end of the day i made a handful of people really happy and thats all that matters to me #gotta share them every chance i get as i usually just make a cos #wear it to the con and then put it on the shelf #but im too happy with these to just hide them away after #they need a good scrub and after that id like to bring them to another con. next main goal is viecc but thats just a maybe right now

[yashley]

It’s about this time, another voice pushes into your head, like a bat out of hell. 

#critical role #cr lb #ygifs #cr3 #WHAT IF I CRY #jester #imogen #sensory overload imogen Finally getting her own jester sending as jester is firing all her slots to talk to her ok girls........... #jesters like ok ok ok so I can’t send anymore messages but I was talking to this really cowboy girl fjord do you know her and he's like #she was talking about lake umami and jester makes eyebrows and jester immediately tries sending again and gets psychic coldcocked again #but do you think about how hard imogen woulda fallen for this bubbly tiefling had they known eachother cos I sure will ok fine #LAURA GETTIN EMOTIONAL GIRL ME TOO

[craycraybluejay]

I also heavily resent the ever-present implication in mainstream media that at all touches on trauma that we cannot have any sympathy for Bad Victims. That it's evil to write a sympathetic Bad Victim. Hell, that it's bad to portray one at all at times. Writing a victim of trauma who's an addict or self-destructive is already an edge case-- writing trauma survivors who end up actually hurting someone else, being chronically "treatment"-resistant or having inconvenient ptsd, perpetuate the cycle, or are just kind of a total dick is considered an evil move. Instead of like. An actually complex and interesting artistic choice.

Idk. It pisses me off a lot how often Bad Victims[TM] are brushed under the rug and if you dare to speak of them/make art of them, let alone SYMPATHIZE with them you're an irredeemable monster. And that's just fictional characters. Don't even get me started on the way people treat actual people who have ptsd in a way that's at all inconvenient and problematic in their opinion.

#bad victims #trauma #purity culture #cultural christianity #cycle of abuse #the invisible victims #trauma survivor #ptsd #purity wank #freedom of expression #dark topics #media criticism #trauma in media #please can i get one traumatized blorbo that isnt purity poisoned #like you're not writing a moral guidebook for small children. you're allowed to write anything at all forever

[elzorton]

broken heart, broken mind

or just an excuse to draw some witches

#critical role #cr spoilers #my art #critical role fanart #laudna #fearne calloway #cr3 #cr laudna #c3e78 #a lil green in laudnas eyes for delilah #my digital drawings are getting closer to what my traditional sketches look like #idk why i find it so hard to draw digitally. it's always uphill but honestly almost always fun #anyways i might color this sometime if i feel like it

[burr-ell]

yknow when ashton came to talk to percy they had a freshly sprouted, glowing magma arm; visible wounds and burns; and ripped-up tailored clothing, so i have to imagine when they started off the conversation "i just did something really stupid" percy had to restrain himself from the basic bitch comeback of "you don't say"

#ashton: i mean. you get the gist #percy who used to say he was fine while pissing smoke: there's a vibe here yeah #percy's more upset about the clothes. like yeah i want to 1-round you but that was a serve damn #percy de rolo #ashton greymoore #critical role

[fleckjayky]

I find it a little funny how Laudna 'holding Imogen down' is depressing, while over there's Fearne asking Ashton to "not let her float away" an them saying "got you"

It's like..

#Just a LITTLE funny #Like I get why laudna feels that way #And the parallel is nice #But still #critical role #campaign 3 #bells hells #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #imogen temult #laudna #This took me embarrassingly long #critical role fanart

[gros-chat-fait]

Fire Keepers --- Since this is the third one I've made for this cross-campaign theme, I guess it's officially a series. Commence the links! Blue Healers | Wind Walkers

#critical role #critical role fanart #keyleth of the air ashari #caleb widogast #cross campaign series #i have 2 more ideas for the next one in the series but if anyone feels like a x-campaign combo makes sense feel free to shout at me #btw everybody paired up together are leveled up or down to be at the same level #and i try to match the designing style so they might look even more different #but i try to stick to the official sources i.e campaign art comic origins etc as much as possible #anyway keyleth's clothes seem to change colors like the leaves over the seasons the older she gets? #which is so cool <3 #art du chat

[cassafrasscr]

Taliesin on 4SD: "Orym is the only one in this group with a working moral compass."

Ashton: Never take copper. You take gold regardless, and silver if they're an asshole, but you never take copper.

Ashton: It doesn't matter if the Ruby Vanguard are making good points about the gods. They're hurting innocent people to get what they want, and that's reason enough to stop them.

Ashton: *is super apologetic and upset that they have to knock out Elder Barthie to protect him from being discovered by the Imperium*

Ashton: Remember that we're here as guests. We are going to follow the instructions of the people who have already figured out what they need.

Me: *side-eyeing Ashton real hard* Orym’s the only one with a working moral compass? Mm'kay. 🤨

#i love ashton so much #completely un-self aware #ashton greymoore #critical role #cr3 #critical role spoilers #paraphrased quotes #because i don't feel like going back through dozens of episodes to get accurate ones

[idolomantises]

i'll be real, i always hated it whenever media tries to "critique" Christianity while portraying all Christians as bigoted, misogynistic and irredeemable. its why it matters a lot to me that my own angels have some nuances to them.

Sera is very puritanical and obsessed with showing her devotion to God, but she's still a caring and well-meaning angel.

#txt #and i dont like how people get weirdly uppity about this #'oh youre saying i cant criticize christianity even though christians--' christians literally colonized my country im not saying #you cant critique them. im saying that is flat out childish to depict all christians as immoral and irredeemable in your attempt at critiqu #an angel wouldn't be anti redemption. a lot of christians are feminist and queer friendly. you have to understand the nuances #before you attempt to critique them this like. basic writing. #a really good example of this is moral orel which is a show i adore.

[nellasbookplanet]

I've been thinking about Mollymauk, as I'm periodically wont to do, and the fandom discussion about him as a moral compass. Because the interesting thing here is, Molly wasn’t a very moral character. He was an unrepentant scammer. He had no respect for interpersonal boundaries and would deliberately push and break them. Generally, he was an asshole. As far as actually having a strong moral stance I would say Fjord was the standout of early m9, and to some extent Beau.

But here’s the thing: almost all of early m9 thought of themselves as horrible people. Fjord had been bullied so bad growing up that he still dealt with self-hate from it, and now suffered from survivor's guilt to boot. Caleb had killed his own parents. Beau, while she hated her dad, also had internalized self-hate and on some level thought she’d been such a shitty daughter she deserved his treatment. Nott was stuck in a body she considered monstrous. Yasha had survivor's guilt and knew she’d done bad things in her blank spots. Even when they did good, they didn’t think of themselves as good. Most of them were suspicious and asocial and faced the world with the same kind of distrust they expected to be (and were experienced in being) met with. (Jester was an exception, an agent of neither good nor bad but of amoral chaos)

But Molly was different. He was outspoken about loving life and people. He wanted to spread joy, even to people he didnt know or had even met: he slipped coin into people's pockets, hid a silver in a tree just so some stranger would one day be happy to find it. He openly cared for the party early on; was one of the first to step in and help Caleb when he went catatonic in battle. Above all, Molly had rules: where everyone else would agonize over what was the right or wrong or smart thing to do, Molly loudly proclaimed we don't leave people behind, and we leave every place better than we found it.

But the thing about Molly’s rules was, they were largely a cover. While the rest of the m9 thought they were bad even as they did good, Molly thought of himself as good even as he did bad. He scammed people, but made it a good and memorable experience, therefore thinking he gave more than he took. He charmed Nott and Fjord without consent, and when confronted would claim it was to help them. Out of the group, Beau saw through this, not because she was a better person but because she was a cynic. She saw that he caused harm, just as she did, and was personally affronted that he still thought of himself as good and tried to leave people happy, whereas she deliberately left every place worse than she found it.

I see Molly as a moral compass of the group not because he was actually any more moral than them, but because they made him their template. He was joy and brightness and he died trying to save them because it was the right thing to do, and they all chose to honor him by emulating his rules more than Molly himself ever did, because to them it was more than just a cover, backed up by genuine moral thought and discussion rather than small gestures. He taught them that it was possible to be kind of a shit person and still be good, to still love yourself and others. The idealized Molly they created never existed, and finally died for good when they resurrected him in the end and were met with a stranger, who they welcomed with the same love and care they would've expected Molly to show them.

#critical role #cr2 #mollymauk tealeaf #long post #i know we're all thinking about a different dead pc today but this has been on my mind for a while and i wanted to write it out #i feel like discussions of molly tend to get stuck in two camps: #either 'he was a good kind and perfect moral compass' (lol no) #or: 'he was an asshole and you're all delusional' (also no) #molly was as much of an asshole as the rest of the m9 #but he thought of himself as capable of being a good person and doing good things #and that counted for something even if he backed it up with empty gestures and platitudes bc there WAS genuine care in it #and when the m9 chose to emulate it it was no longer empty #nella talks cr