#like.... I am not gonna believe a name that connects her with her indigenous cultural heritage is gonna be Just Plain Bad

[mayasaura]

I dunno man. Maybe canon will prove me wrong, but I don't think the name Kiriona was forced on Gideon. Gideon, who has wanted her whole life to feel like she's wanted by someone and belongs somewhere. If her newly-found father took her aside and said "In the language of my grandparents, our ancestors, your name is pronounced Kiriona. I would like to call you that, to save on confusion." I just... I think she'd be cool with saying yes.

She doesn't really identify with it, and she has highly ambivalent feelings about the father in question, but the name Kiriona connects her with grandparents. It might have been what her great-grandmother would have called her, if things had ever been simple and kind enough that they could have met. Kiriona offers her a place to belong in connection with the generations before her. As much as it's not enough, not on its own and as isolated from those generations and that culture as she is, its also not nothing. And I can't believe it's less than nothing.

#like.... I am not gonna believe a name that connects her with her indigenous cultural heritage is gonna be Just Plain Bad #not until she tells us so with her own mouth #that her connection is so tenuous and entirely through a huge dickbag of a dad doesn't make it any less hers #and that's something that has always mattered to her #nav is a niner name #kiriona is a māori name #and treating the name kiriona like it's a curse someone put on her just doesn't sit right #come on now #the locked tomb #gideon nav #kiriona gaia #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 15: 2x03 The Paradise Syndrome

I have seen this episode once before and I remember it being pretty awful... but tbh, I didn’t think it was so bad this time around. Maybe that’s just because my expectations were, like, Spock’s-Brain low. It definitely had issues but there was stuff I liked too!

Hmmm, that’s not the bridge. It appears to be... California?

Wondering what people might be so “blessed by this environment”--what a manly he-man action/adventure guy thing to say, amirite?

How does Spock know the significant markers of all the Native American tribes at a distance, off the top of his head?

(Answer: he doesn’t; all of this information is wrong and also one of those tribes is completely made up lmao.)

Honestly, who’s to say these people aren’t advanced? How do YOU know?

“Just so peaceful... no command decisions.” Oh no, Jim’s feeling Romantic again.

Honestly, imagine this characterization in AOS: overworked starship captain think he wants a break (but is wrong). Beyond made a vague attempt but missed what it is that Kirk finds stressful about command--it’s not that it’s boring, it’s the weight of the responsibility and the inability to find love.

Although funnily enough, even on his Native American Vacation, he still finds himself in a command position. He just can’t be stopped. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Oh no, the obelisk ate him.

Maybe these people specifically built the obelisk so that they could return to this idyllic ““primitive”“ state, hmm? Maybe they like their lives this way. Maybe they experienced "progress" and then decided that whatever era of their development looked like indigenous American peoples had it right. (This is not correct but it roughly is the plot of Errand of Mercy so I’m not without precedent.)

Spock’s using simple tools to explain his point to Bones lol. “Here, let me dumb it down for you, lesser man of science.”

“Who am I? What are these?” Cpine morning voice: “This must be a dream!”

Kirk looks so confused. The god from the obelisk.

“The engines are showing signs of stress.” Seems to me like SCOTTY’S showing signs of stress.

And yet the music is so whimsical.

Honestly Kirk’s expression here = Denny Crane’s when in a meeting

White man brings CPR, is hailed as god. (I wish I were making this up.)

Damn, Salish has been demoted. How embarrassing for him.

This is a VERY interesting Spock. He does all his calculations, but the he takes all the risks. He’s very certain and single-minded, almost obsessed, not afraid of anything. I think it’s IC but I also think you can see some Kirk influence, perhaps... You can see how Spock has grown in his command abilities since The Galileo Seven.

The wise ones = the aliens.

“He died before he could tell Salish the secret” to opening the Obelisk and stopping the asteroid. That IS unfortunate.

“How does this shirt open?” Lol.

“Your name is Kirok?” “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“I’ve never been this happy and peaceful.” Funny how he looks neither happy nor peaceful. Maybe it’s something like “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful...and I don’t like it.” Or “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful... there must be something wrong.”

“Here there is much time. For everything.” No there isn’t, there’s an asteroid coming.

Kirk’s cottage core fantasy.

Poor Scotty, so stressed out. Maybe he needs some time with the indigenous aliens.

The Joining Day? Lol okay.

Kirk has no chill, at all. “Oh, you want to get married? Tomorrow? Okay!!” Is this how Gary was able to successfully distract with him the blonde lab technician?

The “stardrive.”

“Estimated repair time?” “FOREVER.”

“And you lost Jim.” Cool it Bones, there’s no need to be cruel. Spock’s already in his thinking pose so you know he’s taking this seriously.

Love Spock’s chair. That’s not Starfleet regulation.

“I have found paradise.” Is he high??

Requisite highly choreographed fight scene.

“You’ve barely eaten or slept for weeks.” That’s because he’s worried about Jim. And the giant asteroid. This is a great Spock and McCoy scene though.

I can’t believe this. Spock lies down (barely!) and McCoy just leaves like he actually thinks he’s won, and then Spock immediately gets up again to go back to work.This guy is even easier to fool than Sarek.

You know Spock spent his whole adolescence going "Sure, I'll do the thing" and then just not doing it.

“A strange lodge that moves through the sky...” Well okay.

Okay I’m sorry, is he sensing the enterprise or is he sensing SPOCK? Because most of this dialogue might just imply he’s generically remembering his old life... but he also specifically says that the “flying lodge” was farther away and now it’s closer again, and how he could he know that otherwise?

She’s pregnant? That’s not good lol. AWKWARD.

Also the closest that TOS will ever come to acknowledging people have sex.

Omg he made a lamp. He made a lamp on his first day there. Does this imply that Captain Kirk had an arts and crafts phase?? Like CPR I understand him knowing--I’m sure everyone in Starfleet does. But hand-carving a lamp? That’s a whole other skill.

Various cultures including “certain Vulcan offshoots” use music notes as words omgggggg I love this information PLEASE tell me more.

“The Preservers” is a good concept imo. Nifty sci fi innovation: taking aliens from endangered places and giving them a new place, then setting it up nicely for them.

Stop throwing things guys! It’s not helping!

“I need Nurse Chapel.” Damn right you do.

Spock really doesn’t like that “wife.” He sounds like “Wife?? How dare??”

Then he suggests it’s a hallucination even though there’s a woman right there.

"Naturally, since he did not come from there. He's my man, get your paws off him."

Vulcan mind fusion? What the heck is that? How is it season 3 and they still don’t know what to call it?

“He is an extremely dynamic individual.” Spock was really taken for a ride in that brain.

“The landing party is expendable.” There’s the Captain.

“I have an excellent eye for musical notes.” Brag.

“Just press the right button.”

Looks like Spock was the god they wanted all along.

Okay, that was an uncool ending though. I know they basically had to kill Miramanee as soon as she was pregnant but like, there was also no reason for her to be pregnant??? I would have preferred if (1) Miramanee hadn't been pregnant, (2) Jim got over her as soon as he regained his memory and (3) she lived and they just parted awkwardly.

Also I think it would have been nice if they had ended with the Enterprise explaining to Salish how the obelisk works, and then maybe even a hint that he and Miramanee will get back together. Like, maybe not that, since I’m not a fan of women just being used to, like, make men feel better--though I’m also not a fan of them being fridged because of Inconvenient Baby--but he should have at least gotten his position back and, more importantly, the knowledge he was always entitled to. Also, the very existence of an asteroid deflector, along with the people’s extensive knowledge of what weather signifies Oncoming Asteroid, implies this happens to them with some frequency. So in other words, the threat will return.

Plus Salish never got enough credit for being right, which he was! The whole time!

Oh and also I would have liked some acknowledgement that Jim does like being Captain. If you watch the whole show, you know that he occasionally bemoans the stress and his inability to maintain a romantic relationship, despite his love of long walks on the beach, but that he’s also ambitious, he loves exploration and adventure, he gets bored if left in one place too long, and he believes in the necessity of progress and discovery to keep not just individuals but societies from stagnation. But if you just watched this episode, you’d think he’d never been happy in his entire life, and that returning to command makes him miserable.

Aside from the Native American stuff--which was awkward and rather unnecessary and has aged, as you might imagine, very very poorly--I actually didn’t hate the episode. It had some VERY interesting Spock stuff, which I think is within a reasonable Spock characterization, and some great Spock and Bones moments. Kirk’s story line was surprisingly engaging for him being completely separate from the crew, and the general theme that he sometimes needs, or thinks he desires, a break from command, is definitely in keeping with other episodes. I liked the asteroid as the Big Danger, which was surprisingly dynamic--by which I mean, it did a good job of connecting the very disparate story lines on the Enterprise and on the planet. I also liked the Sci Fi Concept of the week in the Protectors. And it was interesting to see an ep take place over a longer period of time.

None of this is to downplay how awkward the Native American elements are--incredibly fetishistic, and also lazy--like, “I want to show something Simple and Idyllic...I know! Indians!” There was no reason they should look like American Indians. In fact, it makes no sense that they do: the Protectors take peoples from planets that are about to be destroyed and (somehow) discreetly move them somewhere else, but Native American peoples still.... very much exist? And so does Earth as a whole. So obviously these aliens weren’t transplanted from Earth. So why should their culture resemble some awkward mishmash of Native American cultures?

So overall I’d say, the ideas of the episode, the structure, the characterizations (mostly), and the overall ideas were good, but it was just very awkward and unfortunate that it chose the... aesthetic that it did--especially because it was very much an aesthetic choice and not a well-thought-out, culturally sensitive one. Gonna be honest and just chalk that up to it being 1968 though.

Next is And the Children Shall Lead, which I actually think was one of the first TOS eps I ever saw... But I don’t remember it at all.  So we’ll see!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #star trek tos #2021: fandom thoughts

[dailyaudiobible]

03/12/2021 DAB Transcript

Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalms 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7

Today is the 12th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you today as we continue our journey, the journey that leads us through the Bible in a year. And we’re well on our way in that journey. But there is so much out in front of us to experience and see. And, so, we have a grateful heart for the distance that we’ve traveled and the things we've learned so far. But we also have a grateful, an anticipation, a grateful anticipation, for all that is yet to…to be, all it is out in front of us. But we’re here. We’re right here right now. And, so, the next step forward is before us. We’ve been reading from the New International Version this week. Picking up from yesterday. Numbers chapter 16 verse 41 through 18 verse 32.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And as we bring to a close the second of the gospel narratives, the book of Mark, we thank You for the witness to Your life and to Your ministry and to Your personality and to Your posture. We've witnessed Your determination to bring the truth out into the open and that the false be eradicated. And yet we’re 2000 years in the future and we’re still in the same struggle. And, so, come Holy Spirit You have promised to lead us into all truth and yet so often we choose to veil ourselves in something false because we’re naked and ashamed and running because we’re afraid to be exposed. And so often that comes because we…we’re ashamed. And maybe for good reason. Maybe we have plenty of things that we’ve been involved in while bearing Your name that we shouldn't have been involved in, and were they exposed we would be ashamed. But we’re here with open hands and open hearts saying remove these things from us, reveal these things to us, reorganize our lives, bring us back into complete alignment so that we are who we are supposed to be, and we have nothing to hide, we are true, we are true and righteous before You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. Make us more like Jesus, that we might be conformed to his likeness, that we would be Christ like, that we would be like Christ. Come Jesus we pray. In Your precious name, we ask. Amen.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we hold in common to just keep day by day step-by-step taking the next step forward, bringing the Scriptures fresh every day offering them to the world and taking the journey in community, sailing across a year together on the voyage of a lifetime. If that is something that matters to you then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my dear DAB family this is Maria Missionary in Mexico. So, as you know we are here to be a service to the people the missionaries who work among the native indigenous people groups here. A lot of people ask, “why are you in Mexico? Isn't it a reached country already?” You know what? Missions has evolved through the years and I think of the old days people just kind of thought that if they came spoke the national language to…to the native people, that they would understand, get saved, and that would be that but it just didn't work out like that and a lot of the people have…have syncretism, which is they took Christianity just kind of what they understood of it which wasn't a lot and mixed it with their native beliefs. And, so, for example in the Guataheal tribe they believe that the sun in the sky is god the moon is his wife and they had two children, they had Satan and Jesus and Satan is the older brother. They are the children of god and the rest of us in the world are the rest children are the devil. And their god only speaks Guataheal, he doesn't speak Spanish or any other language. So, if you go to them and tell them we have a message for you from God in Spanish well you can imagine they automatically dismiss you because it doesn't make sense to them culturally. So, that's just a little bit of a taste of what missionaries that work among native groups face as they translate the Bible and love these people and help them with their physical needs and plant churches. So, please be praying. Please be praying for missionaries who do work among them, that they would have wisdom, and that…that hearts would be open to hear the truth. Also praise the Lord with us that there is a church now among the Guadaheal people, a young church and that there are missionaries from among them as well helping with the translation and one lady and her husband are reaching out to an entirely new tribe for her. So, that's really exciting.

Hey neighbors it's Lisa the Encourager. Today I want to reach out to Maria and her daughter Taylor. And I heard your story and it really gripped me. And I just can't even imagine what your heart must be feeling every day thinking about your sweet Taylor that you gave birth to and you never dreamed that something so awful could happen to her. And I just pray tonight especially for Taylor and I just want you to know that my heart aches for you and I know that God is gonna be able to see this through for you and I am going to pray now. Dear God thank You for Maria and thank You for her being brave to call us this evening and tell us about Taylor and Taylor’s story Lord. And we know that You love Taylor so much and You do not want this for her life. And God thank You so much for the ministry of the men that are going to intervene in Taylor's life and do their best to take her out of the horrible situation with somebody. And I pray God that that will be successful. I thank You so much for the bravery of those men and I just pray that they will be…and women…I pray that they will be able to convince Taylor to leave and that You will just break her heart and help her to give up and surrender to You Lord. And I just pray God that You will forgive her and help her to get her life back and lead her with the Holy Spirit back to You.

Hello DAB family this is Greg from Bothell. I…I've called before for…for my own prayer requests but today I just feel led to…to reach out and…and let some DABbers know that I'm…I’m listening to…to your requests and I want to just take the time to acknowledge you all. Just I've been behind a little bit and I'm going through the 5th of…of…of March and I listened to Lynn and her family, her grandchildren, her four grown children and her daughter and this unbeliever husband that's inattentive. I just I'm going pray that Lord Jesus just will open his eyes and…and…and…and reveal himself to…to this this family and this father that…that…that he will take care of you and…and keep you in…in…in his loving arms. Maria follower of Jesus, daughter Taylor 26 that's in this…this relationship with this man that's pimped her out and she's…she's involved in drugs and prostitution and this massage parlor and…and…and team Andrew that's going in to rescue her. O Lord Jesus just…I just pray for Taylor and Maria and Andrew that You would…that You would be there in the midst this that You would come Lord. O my God Lord rescue Taylor and bring her home. O Lord Jesus and…and…and Julie in southern Illinois, your marriage, that God God…that God use you and He knows your heart and He knows your husband's heart. And Lord I just pray that You rescue Julie in her desperation and her sadness. In her loneliness she says she's lost…

Good morning DAB. Good morning DAB family it's Nadene calling from East to Midwest praises to God. Woo…out of breath…I just lifted something, but anyway praises to God. This morning as I was listening to Brian March 9th and listening to the prayer requests. There's so much I could pray for. And add to all who had prayed for all the others…others who had asked for prayer I just want to say DAB family we are a strong bunch. I mean those who are going through things right now it's so difficult. And, you know, of course I won't make light of it, but we are winning. You are on a winning team. It's a fixed fight and we've already won the fight. God is so good and I just love the fact that this DAB team is getting stronger and bolder and we are praying in faith and we are believing in faith and we're gonna to win. We're gonna win. So, let's keep our eyes with eyes looked to eternity and from eternity because it's just one big story, God's story and we are blessed to be a part of it. It's not an easy…not an easy journey. Once you become, you know, a follower of Jesus we have a target on our back and somehow, it's an honor to know that the enemy feels that…feels that we are such a threat. Anyway, God bless you everybody and I just wanted to put my log in the fire. Nadene from East to Midwest. God bless.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community my name is Kelly from Boston Mass and I called in last fall. My husband and I have been separated for almost a year. It'll be a year this month and I called in for prayers of reconciliation and restoration in healing. And we had our first grandchild that was due to arrive or did arrive on New Year's Day. So, it was a beautiful way to start the 2021 year out. We celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary last Thursday night. Ironically, I was listening to Brian because it was his anniversary with DAB. And it was…it just breathed some life into me that there might be some light or some kind of shift in my husband's heart for us to restore our marriage. I can feel little nudges from God here and there and I'm trying to pay attention to them. We have a long way to go but I just want prayers from all of you if you can that this 32 year marriage can be saved. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of months, and we had very little communication, but it was probably one of the nicer anniversary dinners we've had in many years. So, again I'm just praying and hopeful that God will find our way…help us find our way back to each other and have a healing and happy second half to our marriage and a beautiful ending together with our first grandson born on New Year's Day. I appreciate the prayers and I pray for you all on a daily basis. I love this app. Thank you.

Good morning family it is Wednesday March 10th. Good morning good morning. I'm calling in a prayer request anonymously. Hence, I have gotten myself into a pickle. I have taken my eyes off Christ and put them on myself and what I want and what I desire and who I desire and how I can get what I want. And spoiler alert it's a hot mess. O my goodness friends and family, turns out when you take your eyes off Christ and you focus only on yourself it's harmful and sin is the result and sin damages relationships. And, so, I'm watching the fallout of all these relationships be harmed because I took my eyes off God and put them on myself. Friends, cautionary tale. If you would lift me up and just really help me put my eyes back on God and what He wants and the work He has for me and prayers for the healing of the relationships I've damaged through my sin. Thank you, friends and family. Peace to you.

[jyndor]

Cop-thing-anon here:

(I don't believe in the blue lives matter thing by the way)

I do get where you're coming from. I guess I see the thing about cops and cop AUs differently because the police is different and not as fucked up in my country. The thing about the fanart is just..I think you're reading too much into it. I don't think the artist really focused on the skin colour of Sokka, I mean, it's a kids show. Skin colour was never really mentioned or important in atla. But Sokka's personality is most likely why the artist was inspired to draw him as a "gangster", with azula (the villain) being a cop. It is kind of insensitive to draw that with the events going on, but I think that a lot of people in the fandom take some things way too seriously, for a kids show back in the late 2000's anyway.

hey anon, I say this with love and I am being sincere. I'm gonna need you to rewatch the show if you think skin color didn't matter. and it doesn't matter where you live because there is no part of the world, no culture, that isn't shaped by colonialism. I don't mean to be condescending so please bear with me, I truly believe in educating people as a part of allyship and anti-racism.

Anon, please know that I am not angry or anything but sincere in what I’m about to say. Just bear with me because I know that unlearning shit is difficult and can be painful, but we’ve gotta do it. I do appreciate you wanting to have this conversation at all. And I’m not writing this just for your benefit - this is for anyone who wants to learn about why A) race is a part of ATLA’s narrative and B) why critical analysis of mass media is actually important. So I’m not assuming you don’t know basic things about this stuff, I’m not trying to be condescending.

Now we’re gonna fix colonialism and imperialism XD wee okay here we go.

No matter where you live in the world you have some awareness of skin color. Your understanding of race might be different than mine, in fact it probably is. Race as we know it today is a social construct that stems from many things (and I wrote several hundred words on it but it was too much and too far removed from the point I’m trying to make so I edited all of that out. Yay.)

You don’t usually see imperialism, one of the major themes in Avatar, without colonialism. Imperialism is slightly different than colonialism - you can think of it like the ideology behind the practice of colonialism.* Imperialism can be used to describe expansionism in general - which has been going on since the bronze age lol humans, I stg - but usually when people today refer to colonialism and imperialism they’re talking about imperialism starting in the 17th century.

Now imperialism is not just a European concept. ATLA is set in a world that we know is supposed to be like a combination of different Asian cultures (with some influences from the Americas). And the Fire Nation is clearly influenced by Imperial Japan. So briefly:

Japan had a policy of sakoku (chained or closed country) which kept it mostly isolated (out of concerns that Japan would fall victim to something like the Opium Wars in China, among other things) from the rest of the world for a couple hundred years until the 1850s when a US Naval commander named Matthew Perry (I am not kidding) forced Japan to open its borders for trade to the United States by gunboat diplomacy, an oxymoron if I have ever seen one before.

Japan ended up signing unequal treaties with a lot of Western countries, and this bred xenophobia and hostility in Japan. The Emperor who signed these treaties died of smallpox, and after some internal conflict his son decided try to renegotiate these treaties. The US and European countries were not interested in renegotiating dick but the mission wasn’t unsuccessful because the diplomats A) exchanged some islands with Russia and B) were inspired by western economic policy and society to “modernize” Japan. Japan began industrialization and it converted to a market economy with the help of the US and other western powers.

So over many years, Japan went to war with China, Korea, Russia (and took back some of the land they exchanged with them), and others. From wikipedia:

Using its superior technological advances in naval aviation and its modern doctrines of amphibious and naval warfare, Japan achieved one of the fastest maritime expansions in history. By 1942 Japan had conquered much of East Asia and the Pacific, including the east of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, part of New Guinea and many islands of the Pacific Ocean.

But ATLA is not a Japanese story. The Fire Nation is not Imperial Japan. The Earth Kingdom is not China or Korea, the Air Nomads are not Tibetan monks, and the Water Tribes are not Inuit. The creators definitely drew heavy inspiration from all of these places and others, but ATLA is a story written by American people in the United States for American kids. It is an American story.

And it was created at a time when the United States was victimizing people in Afghanistan and Iraq (and other places) in many similar ways to how the Fire Nation victimized people. In fact, the show starts in the Southern Water Tribe, which represent Inuit people, indigenous people in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, I think it’s safe to assume that the genocide being referenced here is not one by Japan but rather by European colonizers and later by the United States and Canada.

Imperialism is in the show’s DNA. 

And so is racism. In our world they are inherently connected. And visual cues from the show along with things the characters say suggest that we are meant to make the comparison between our world and the ATLA world. Every story has a purpose - it doesn’t have to be political, but for Avatar it is political, it is anti-imperialist.

In this article about how ATLA resonates with us in 2020, Aina Khan of the Guardian interviews Professor Ali A Olomi about using ATLA to teach at Penn State. “One of the things we see with the Fire Nation is the ideological justification for what they’re doing. We are a glorious civilization. We have abundance, we have wealth, we have technological advancement; we need to share it with the rest of the world. That’s almost word for word European colonisation.”

Zuko and Azula both call Katara a peasant. In fact, Azula calls her a dirty peasant. This is one step away from calling her a s*vage I mean come on. While peasant might just be purely classist (lol no) because Zuko and Azula are royalty, um it’s clearly racialized classism because of real life context. There is real history with colonizers calling indigenous people this, dismissing their cultures as primitive and barbaric.

Add into the mix colorism, which is bias against darker skin and privileges fair skin (which is a byproduct of imperialism) and you have clear race shit happening in Avatar.

When I saw that fanart, I was immediately reminded of black lives matter of course, but mainly of the fact that indigenous peoples are also at high risk of being victimized by police. Not just in the US. And how gross it is to depict a colonizer like Azula as an angry cop (representing the state) turning her gun on an indigenous man who is dressed like a gangster which... yike.

Mass media influence everything we do. The messaging we get, our politics, what we want to eat for dinner because we’re hungry and have been writing this stupid essay for three hours LOL. It’s important that people think critically about what they consume. Otherwise you get the goddamn United States with half of our population stanning a racist fraud. You want to know why US Americans are so ignorant? Because our education system sucks, because we don’t have any real media literacy. But apparently the rest of the world has some fucking nerve making fun of Americans** because all of us suck at it. No one is thinking critically about media.

A really terrifying thing about people is our ability to take whatever message we want from stories, even if it is in direct contradiction with the narrative of a story. There’s a movie called American History X which is explicitly anti-fascist, but because it’s a drama and Ed Norton is cut and looks badass and uncucked or whatever LOL, the iconography in that movie is fairly popular with neo-nazis. Yike. This is not at that level of course, this is some random niche fanart for a rare pairing.

For better or for worse, US media and entertainment gets a lot of attention and people around the world eat it up. Maybe you don’t need to know every little detail about US American shit, and I know we tend to dominate media, but black lives matter is not just a 2020 thing. People have known about it for years, since it started. If that fanart was created in 2019, which I think it was, the BLM movement had already existed for six years. If you’re watching an American show like Avatar and you’re making fanart on social media but you don’t know what BLM is in 2019... well educate yourself lmao.

Considering that Black fans have expressed frustration and discomfort in fandoms over and over again, and I am sure indigenous fans have too because fandoms are racist sometimes, it’s important that white fans help make fandoms better. And I am a white fan, and I consider myself an anti-racist. Which means I have to be active about racism when I see it.

btw I found this great essay by @cobra-diamond which you should read if you want more details about the similarities between Japan and the Fire Nation.

* that is very reductive but it’s fine lol

** I am kidding, unless you are english feel free to make fun of americans for non-gun, non-trauma related things pls

#anons #asks #racism tw #colonialism tw #atla #fandom racism #acab #police violence #indigenous right #nazism tw #oh lord shitty discourse tw #imperialism tw #anyway now i'm gonna eat

[wetookanoath]

*Literally ignores why this episode exists* So, La Llorona Special, this one got VERY long because apparently, I had a lot to say. So the rest is under the cut, but--

This is the worst preview in the story of forever, oh my God, what am I watching, what the fuck is this, what the hell. "Señora, yo no los conozco" FUCKING SAME, CURLY. I'M SO SORRY, LOVE. (My dogs were sleeping when I started this and they all stood and barked their asses off, the poor kittens ran into their little beds to hide behind their mom, oh my god)

Unpopular opinion: I don't like Ryan's facial hair in the sitting part, he looks like El Diablo, please never use that again. Though, I really like when he wears that t-shirt. Shane's cute, and fashion icon Curly is always the best dressed and better looking all around, ALWAYS.

"I'm half-mexican", I just love how he has been just straight up saying half-mexican lately, it waters my crops. Shane just staying there while these two latino icons talk, hjdnsjnksdjnkdnfr. Honey. Good white boy.

"I'm a shame in my family", bitch does that mean the rest of his family does talk spanish? He is the cousin that doesn't talk spanish, jndsinsdinefi. Y'all, just so we are good here: You don't need the language to be part of the culture. Your culture is yours, doesn't matter what you speak. As long as you feel it as part of you, your identity, your family, your place in this world, you belong.

Shane Madej is one of the few white guys I genuinely stan and I love him for staying there with his :D face while he heard these two exchange things about their culture. He is such a sweetheart wHO CAN PRONOUNCE SPANISH BETTER THAN RYAN????? Iconic.

"You know this, I'm a Boogara". How many times do you think Curly has fangirled over Ryan and the show? I honestly love that he was invited because he really is their biggest fan.

Shane saying he loves Curly? My shit. I love it. "But I'm thankful for you because every time I'm freaking out like you [Ryan], you'll say something and I'm like, Oh Thank God" I fucking love this. Also, Ryan trying to silence Curly, not wanting him to give Shane some validation, jdnsinkedneifn. HONEY.

I love Curly mentioning how all Latinx countries fight over the story because in reality, and if our research at Uni is still accurate and valid, this is a story that dates from pre-colonization but became widely know during the Colony and something we fail to remember is that the various Colonies sometimes took part in various areas that are now little or bigger countries. The New Spain was mostly Mexico, yes, but it was also part of Guatemala and so on. So to actually say "this is orginal from here", well that's like. Not gonna happen, lol.

Rude, Ryan. Chill.

Shane's 0: face at Curly's tía's tale is me listening to all the other world encounters I have hear during the long of my life since forever because I swear to God, there's no latino kid out there who doesn't have a tía or primo that saw something once.

Ryan is in so much pain listening to this, jnsdisndinsie. But look at him, remembering his tall counterpart is of polish heritage, and Shane knowing shit about it, ndsjwndjf.

Ah yes, la vieja confiable of telling your kids some angry spirit will take them if they don't behave. That's... the most latino thing I have ever hear Ryan say, lmao.

Shane saying he would run into the woman crying if they hear one to make sure she is real or not is like... Man, now I want them to fucking find her. Go find mama, kiddos.

I remember this from the thesis, this like "theory" that La Llorona could be connected to doña Marina. She is such a figure for our cultures, this woman put in a position of so much power even thought she didn't ask for it, that for many years has been seen as a figure of betrayal... that's another level and conversation for another day.

What Curly is saying of feeding the spirits by telling their stories is also such a thing from these lands. Who else has this belief of how you feed the spirits by believing in them?

"SEÑORA LLORONA, DEJA DE SER CHILLONA" CURLY NO FHDJNSBFJENFSUJENFU. I'M CRYING, OH MY GOD HDBNSHEJNF.

Ryan laughing at Shane saying "he said my name for sure!" djfniensfien FUCKER.

Seduce men??????? FEMME FATALE???????? WHAT THE FUCK????? NO????????

Shane and Curly wanting Ryan to show his biceps is a huge ass mood. "Why don't you show her your legs?" yes please. OH YEHA, THAT'S A THING THAT HAPPENED. ALRIGHT, I'M FINE WITH THAT. "No, no, no! It's too sexy!", Ryan are you okay?

"That's my girl Guadalupe, she's here. That's my girl, I'm happy she's here" I ADORE THAT CURLY IS A MARIANO. Like, part of being mexican is kinda believe or at least know the story of Maria de Guadalupe, and it makes me so fucking happy when other latinos also believe in her because what the story means to the people that was suffering during the Colony and specially to indigenous people in that time is something that is with us still, it's very present, very there, and it's really something to see. Like, no joking, even people who is not all that religious come to see the Manto and La Basilica because it's so iconic of our country and culture. If you guys ever visit Mexico City, get into a bus and drive to El Ajusco, you are not going to regret it. Say hi to mami Lupita.

"I'm not here to judge you, maybe he is here to judge you" "OF COURSE I'M HERE TO JUDGE YOU" I'm Shane.

"Can you hear that?" HOLY FUCK, THAT WAS CLEAR AS FUCKING FUCK BFDJNISNDFIRNFIR. RYAN'S FACE, HE IS PISSING HIMSELF, MY POOR CHILD. Shane's big laugh, oh my GOD, HE IS HAVING THE TIME OF HIS FUCKING LIFE. I'm so glad Curly is there to see that, lmao fjdfnjnsdrngfr. Awww, Curly saying thank you for that jdfnsndie. SAME.

Hello, Ryan's beautiful curly hair. Oh man, I love everyone's look in this one. Handsome boys, the three of them.

Shane's faces as the girl is speaking, I love how resposive he is and the fact that he doesn't say shit even if he obviously doesn't believe in it. Curly saying how we just know it's her? True, lmao. I have never had such experience, but every single story I hear, they just know. She's our Boogieman!

"Oh, this is where I'm going to lose it later?" "Your virginity?" WHAT THE FUCK SHANE, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN HAS TO DO WITH THIS?JFDNFDIDNFIR DID YOU LOSE YOURS ON A PUBLIC PLACE, HOLY SHIT JFDBFNIWSNDFIR.

Did Ryan just joked about having sex with both of them? LMAO, their laughs jdfnuenjf. Also, Ryan looks tiny with these two, someone get him highheels.

"This is a place were you get your children if you hate them" honestly, who does a park in a place that says has a spirit that steals children?! JDNSKAMSDKFD

Ryan having a picture of Shane as a child is everyting I care about now. Also, "we can of look alike! BEST BUDS!" Oh god, they look so freakin' adorable in those pictures, baby Ryan is the cutest fuking tihng in the world, I'M CRYING.

Curly and Shane in the swings is so cuteeeee. "Shane, what if we pretend we are children?" "Okay" I wonder, do they ever stop to think about their brilliant ideas to attrack spirits and realize, "Hey, are we like high or something?" "Don't think so, man" "UHM!". I just love that Shane just went, "okay" and also how softly Ryan asked that, they are cute af.

Did Ryan just said he wanted to push Shane on the swing? So. You just wanted to... you know what, valid.

"Look at this big, tall firned of mine!" Ryan, honey...

Curly's face as they are doing their bit, jdnfisnfijdfirjfir. Same. "Push your friend Curly, too" AWWWWW.

Curly talking to la Llorona is how I would go searching for ghosts. And these boys in the car, they look so cute. It was a good day for everyone's handsomeness.

SHANE WANTING LA LLORONA TO KILL HIM, IT ME.

... Ryan knowing exactly what Shane was going to do? Fucking magnificent. Ryan sounds so fond while saying "He's gonna move to his old standby of asking La Llorona to murder him", goddammit. "Sweet Curly" JDNSINWMSINFRINFGR. "The timid man" awwwwnnnn.

"I tried to appeal to that lady's interests but she wasn't having it" jdnfsjensfineifnir.

And of course Shane also knows perfectly what Ryan is doing during his solo walk. Oh man. I love them. Thank you for this, Curly. Did Ryan just said "ninios" jdnsindmfif.

"The Ghoul Boys prevail again" "This time" jfdbnsuwsndjeknfie, CURLY NO LES ECHES EL MALEFICIO JDFNDSDNINF.

#WOW THIS GOT SUPER LONG LMAO FIRST TIME FOR ME #buzzfeed unsolved #ryan bergara #shane madej #curly velasquez #bfu #supernatural #bfus #sss #la llorona ep #text #your local nerd talking.txt #mine #text* #ss* #sss* #llorona*

[bigskydreaming]

Ooooh on the Greek gods as superheroes thing: is it full on with all the gods? Like the Norse, Indian, Chinese etc? How do the Greeks react to the roman gods? Since so many are just rip offs of them? And idk if you know anything about Maori mythology but if you had any thoughts on how they fit in I’d scream with joy :> thank you for such a cool idea!

I’m thinking its mostly focused on the Greek gods to start, because they’re so well known and I like doing something new with old things so I’m trying to come up with new takes for the big hitters as well as some of the lesser knowns. Greek mythology in particular is soooo much bigger than just the twelve Olympians and some of the more minor gods are fascinating to me. In particular, Nyx and her children are a wealth of potential, especially in the modern age. Like....did you know there’s a god of Doom, specifically? That’s freaking manna from heaven for me.

So the idea of other pantheons arriving, I see it as a overhanging shadow that the Greek gods are becoming aware of and of mixed opinions on what to do about it...because the Greek gods, by their very nature, are squabblers. So squabblers gonna squabble about this.

Which means that’s already a pretty sizable cast of characters I’d like to play with from the get go, so I haven’t jumped too far ahead to all the other gods in other pantheons that could be fun as well. I do know the Norse would be ones that show up, as I have ideas for some of those.

But beyond that, I’d have to do some more research before settling on specifics. Not in terms of researching pantheons, like lmao, I am a huge mythology nerd since dating back to middle school loser-hood in the library every lunch, and I’ve read every mythological text from every mythology I can get my hands on. But more in terms of which I’d be comfortable using for this particular project? I’m a big believer in creator responsibility and white authors in particular have a long and nasty history of appropriating other cultures’ spirituality in the name of entertainment, even when that spirituality is NOT as synonymous with mythology as its often made out to be.

So on that basis alone, I can say pretty categorically that I would consider all Hindu, Shinto, Mesoamerican, Vodoun and indigenous gods off limits for a project of this particular nature, because not only do they stem from cultures of color, we’re talking living religions still practiced today in a lot of those cases. And that’s a no go, as far as I’m concerned.

While more firmly ‘mythological’ pantheons (particularly European ones that I can trace connections to in my own ancestry) like the Norse, Irish, Celtic, Finnish, Slavic, etc are all more likely to appear.

That said, there’s no reason the avatars of any of those gods need to be white, and also none of them are straight cuz I said so and I’m right, so for instance, in my head currently I’m picturing Hera/Harmony as a bi Afro-latina, Apollo/Morningstar’s a white gay man, Hades/Graveyard is latino, etc. Artemis is someone I’ve got a lot of fun ideas for, because I always like playing with different takes on the triplicate goddess, so here I thought I’d go with the idea that Artemis, Selene and Hecate all started out as different goddesses with their own purviews that overlapped in certain respects....and they kinda consciously, deliberately merged themselves in a way that like....allows them to share power at the expense of sacrificing some of their autonomy. So they’re still three distinct individuals, who have an edge over a lot of their peers because they can pool their powers, perceptions, experience, etc....but only because they decided a long time ago they were comfortable sharing brain-space in a way, with their thoughts and feelings and moods occasionally spilling over into each other.

So as of now, I’m picturing Moonshadow/Artemis as a Japanese woman and goddess of the hunt, while Selene is a black woman and goddess of the moon and secrets and Hecate is a white Mediterranean woman and goddess of magic and mysteries. Hecate is at her peak in the twilight hours, the first four hours of night, Selene is at her most powerful in the midnight hours, the next four hours of night, and Artemis is at the height of her powers in the deep night, the last four hours of night. And all three of them can be on separate continents but like, appear as shadows or reflections of the other two. So for instance, you look at Moonshadow and you see a short Japanese woman in her late twenties, but when she’s drawing on their shared resources you kinda squint and do a double take, because for a second there it looks like she’s not alone, there’s two other women standing right behind her, or when you look at her in a mirror you see all three of them reflected. That kinda thing.

(Also from now on I’m tagging stuff about this potential project with the tags “Absolute Power” or “kalen writes Absolute Power”).