#which also has troubling racial implications but...

[punkeropercyjackson]

Please tell me how Duke,Cass and Stephanie getting nonstop left out of Batfam content isn't because of antiblackness,racialized misogyny and a mix of gender essentialism,classism and ableism.When none of you can shut the fuck up about how 'black haired and blue eyed male is the only requirement for a Batkid!' and go as far as to include 'pale/fair skinned' sometimes when Damian and Dick are brownskin in multiple versions because of being brown in heritage and Damian and Jason have green eyes half the time and by saying 'lighteyed' when it comes to Batboys,that would be problematic but it'd at least include Duke since he's gold eyed due to Gnonom and you probably don't even know who that is since you actively refuse to meet Duke even though he's easiest Batkid to read for BECAUSE he's got so little content and Cass and Stephanie also have a small amount of material compared to the other boys

When Cass is chosen over Duke for Jason by all of you even though she hates him and she chooses Stephanie again and again against everyone's wishes and Duke canonically WANTS to be chosen for fucking once and Jason DID choose him and is the only other Batboy who called him a Robin directly outside of Robin War and Stephanie's dying wish was be 'a real Robin' and Cass' character creation purpose is to defy the idea that asian women exist only for white men and go against other asian girl stereotypes,INCLUDING being purely soft and feminine by making her a rough and tough butch who hates cis men.When you say 'Fuck canon,fanon is better!' to justify your millions of rewrites to erase Tim's Robin being a romani man and his Batgirl a half chinese girl and Jason's Robin and Batgirl being a black autistic boy and his Batgirl a bpdtistic male explotation victim and your crossovers of characters who have the perfect parents or at least caretakers in canon but suddenly,canon is your gospel when it comes to the bigotry in it's writing i.e how 'The core Batkids' came to be

And the fact is,that's like the only Batkids combo that DOSEN'T make sense!The Dead Robins Club is a no brainer but there's also the 90s Batkids trinity,the Shakespearen Robins(Jason,Stephanie and Duke),The Troubled Batkids(Tim,Stephanie,Cass and Duke),Batman!Cass Batwoman!Stephanie Robin!Maps and Trans Batgirl!Damian and the ONLY CANON Nightwing Robin and Batgirl trio we've ever gotten in Dick Tim and Cass??????You have some of the best dynamics of all time possible but nah,you'd rather pass it over for infantalizing a grown ass disabled moc into your pathetic lil pretty obsessed manchild,turning thee dead sidekick into a convuluted mess more than canon ever has and that's saying BIG words,cringeifying someone who just has the personality of an ordinary of 17 year old boy and is therefore inherently lovable into the arranged marriage lovechild of a dark romance guy and a pick me quotev girl and dehumanize a cute and sweet lil brown boy who's got that trauma already to turn him into an animal in human mold in the same breath you bash him healing enough to get a gf through trauma bonding and being kiddy together in favor of your groody ass lil age gap fantasy-Actually,that applies to ALL OF THEM

Kory,Rose and STEPHANIE are infinitely better written love interests for Dick,Jason and Tim than any older man you want them to get with,Tim most of all because he's not even a man,he's a boy.Cass and Stephanie are adults and have been for a long time in multiple incarnations so why not make Stephcass smut instead?Why not 'Duke joins the Batfam early/Jason takes Duke into The Outlaws after he has a fight with Bruce that scared him/Sleep Deprived Duke Thomas/Chaotic Duke Thomas/Duke Thomas deserves better/Trans Duke Thomas/Autistic Duke Thomas?,all of which are infinitely more implicable to Duke than they are to Tim and so is 'Token Normal Tim Drake'?When you make this content or you support it,you're saying something.You're saying you don't care about representation and perfer stereotyping and abusive dynamics because you believe they're inherently more interesting

Before you judge this post,consider the following:Which one of us has read enough comics and watched enough adaptions to know all this?Which one of us has more of a right to call themself a Batfam and Batkids fan?Which one of us is constantly gatekeeping Duke,Cass and Stephanie from their own story and pulling the 'No,YOU!!!!' card?It's absolutely pathetic how desperate the grip Batfanon has taken is and even more so that y'all refuse to move on from it like i did.It's not gonna kill you,you pissbabies.And just curious,how long was the last Batfam-centric post you rb'd?Longer than this,right?

#the batkids #batfam #duke thomas #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #dick grayson #damian wayne #jason todd #tim drake #duke is a robin #duke is a batboy #cass is a batkid #pro stephanie brown #maps mizoguchi #nika dc #daminika #dickkory #jayrose #timsteph #stephcass #t4t stephcass #jon kent #anti slade wilson #batfanon slander #afrolatino jason supremacy #blasian stephanie brown #trans 4 trans and autistic 4 autistic found family realness #💌 #summerposting #roy harper

[eastgaysian]

Sincere question: I don't understand your reaction here: "also the fact i had to look up lottie's actress to be like wait is she mixed. it's just a bit silly to me tbh" . Are you saying the show should have explicitly discussed her ethnic background? Is it because you think her possible powers are related to her being Maori, or like in general it should have been more obvious?

this is a complicated one to answer because i feel like i have to go macro -> micro to get all my thoughts out sensibly. but we'll get there i promise

the genre of survivalist fiction, more specifically the deserted island/stranded in the wilderness narrative, is racially loaded. sometimes this is patently obvious, ie robinson crusoe and the character of friday, but even with a cast of entirely white characters the concept of uninhabited and untamed wilderness (which the white characters either tame or are degraded by) is tied to colonialism*, as is the tension between what is viewed as civilized or uncivilized behavior, good christian morality vs primitive/barbaric 'savagery', etc.

(* this isn't necessarily constant throughout history/a global context but is absolutely a part of this genre and the american context of yellowjackets)

yellowjackets seems to promise a deconstruction of the genre by focusing on the psychological horror angle with a diverse cast of teenage girls, as well as reflecting on how the trauma of that event would carry on into life after rescue. and like, i like it! i think it's fun to watch, it succeeds at entertaining me. but i really think it drops the ball when it comes to examining the racial implications of this kind of story.

it's clear that there's some degree of thought and significance put into taissa as a Black female character: her conversation with van about Black characters dying first in horror movies, the conversation with that potential donor who feels entitled to her trauma because of All She's Done For You People, her being the first Black female senator of new jersey.

...so what exactly are we supposed to make of the fact that she has an Evil Personality that first emerged after the crash, who eats dirt and bites people and makes shrines with broken dolls and dog heads, just lurking under the surface waiting until she loses control? the other characters are definitely psychologically disturbed, but the regression to this 'wild' state is extreme and reserved for taissa. why? it doesn't critically examine or deconstruct the ways in which the behavior we view as 'feral' is racialized. at best it's thoughtless, at worst it's actively engaging in racist tropes.

on the other hand you have lottie, whose racial identity isn't brought up in the text, but is at least a consistent casting decision for teen/adult lottie and her parents. the role she fills of being converted (to a point?) and baptized by a devoted white christian girl and then becoming an occult mystic who communes with the wilderness and wears deer antlers to try and lead a ritual human sacrifice is extremely racially loaded. i wouldn't have been irked by the lack of acknowledgment if this wasn't her role. but because it hasn't been brought up and it's not critically examined, i'm not sure whether the show wants me to think her possible powers are related to her being māori, and either way the implications are really troubling to me.

i'm not #cancelling the show i'm just disappointed by what feels like a huge oversight with regards to the racialized aspects of the genre. narratively i also think the build up of the maybe-supernatural elements was kind of all over the place which doesn't help but that's not really here nor there. it just doesn't sit well with me!

#mingbox #yellowjackets

[ultravioart]

@harryharson

Ramattra lore/character discussions, and response to tags below:

Race (as in, the social castes invented to enforce chattel slavery, Black, White) is a social construct, only a vague box used by higher authorities to oppress and dehumanize real human beings. To be racist is to enforce that system.

Ramattra is not racist, because omnics and humans are fundamentally different species, not socially constructed differences within one species. Ramattra is speciest you could argue, sure, but not racist. Omnics are fundamentally NOT human.

And that's another thing: his goal is not to punish humans. His main goal is to stop omnic extinction, no matter the cost. His trauma induced desperation and anger and fear is what is driving him into doing more harm, and there is a meaningful story in that, I agree. He doesn't aim for human extinction(atleast, not yet in canon), he wants to prevent omnic extinction. He is fighting against the collective oppressive powers of humanity, not the human individuals. But if freeing omnics means killing individual humans, he will do that. And at this point in his story, he is probably under the view of: if humans go extinct, then so be it. But human extinction/subjugation is not his goal, preventing omnic extinction/subjugation is.

"Excusing one of the good ones" isn't what I meant at all ah :( nor is human racism applicable to the omnic and human tensions because

one: omnics attacked first and can be hacked and forced to murder at any time which is an undeniable and legitimate threat. Humans have every right to fear omnics suddenly becoming violent out of the blue. Omnics are not humans, and cannot be compared to a human racial group without very troubling implications that a race is inherently violent/mindless labor/could attack at any time hivemind, so I personally avoid it as much as possible.

and two: Ramattra sees inaction to prevent omnic extinction as compliance with omnic genocide. It has less to do with him having 'exceptions' and more with him hating any threat to omnics (human or omnic--yes Ramattra has targeted innocent omnics he perceived as threats to omnic existence. The attacks on Paris, Busan, etc. That definitely killed Iris sentient omnics or at minimum traumatized them by destroying homes/killing loved ones).

Omnics and humans work on fundamentally different intelligences. Humans are singular minded, unable to connect brains together. Omnics are individual but also a kind of hivemind (can communicate/connect via the Iris or internet, and can be mass controlled as seen with Anubis)-- similar to ant colonies in a way, they can cooperate in massive numbers all at once. An individual ant intelligence is different from the antcolony super organism intelligence.

Ramattra doesn't hate human individuals, his story explains he hates how humanity(collective) takes no action to stop injustices, and he is wary of strangers who are humans because of his past where humans tried to kill him/killed his kin (this is where you can argue speciest, bc even tho its trauma based, he does have a distrust based on species alone. To me it reads more like someone who is wary of dogs after a traumatic dog attack, rather than an inherent hatred of all dogs. I say this because he is absurdly polite with most humans in voice lines, and we know he can be mean if he wanted to.)

He also hates omnic individuals that encourage "waiting it out" (Shambali pacifism) when that plan is doomed to lead to extinction. He hates the groups that are not helping to stop omnic extinction.

The metaphor here is that Ram doesn't hate the ants(individual humans), he hates the super organism antcolony (aka humanity as a whole, the larger structures that cause/enable omnic extinction). It's equivalent to hating an oppressive government, but not hating the citizens. Citizens could be supporting/enabling oppression which is bad, or citizens could be actively trying to stop oppression which is good. That's how Ramattra would see it.

The issue here is that humans aren't like omnics, they can't 'hivemind' like omnics. That's why people may think Ram is being anti-human but really it's his trauma burning out his patience to the point his focus is on "prevent omnic extinction" over "saving individuals" now. Meaning he will kill omnic individuals(hacking to force control them to fight and die) AND humans individuals alike in the name of preventing omnic extinction. Which YEAH that's badbad. But the point here is that it's not the same as "die all humans."

His "suffer as I have" and other lines are him expressing the traumas he has faced, not that he actually wants an exact eye for an eye. It's more of a "no, i will not turn the other cheek like the Shambali do, I will speak to you in a language you understand: violence. If you punch me, I will punch you viciously so you will either understand the pain I have gone through and finally stop hurting me, or fear me enough to never dare hurt me again." rather than an "equal exchange of loss"

It's also good to note his relishing in being feared/hated seems to be a new trait. Echo asks him how it feels to be called things like Ravager, and he said it used to bother him but then jokingly says it now gives him 'this warm little feeling inside' --he is SUPER bitter about rejection, and often shows his discomfort with being alone, or having people leave him.

His journey was this:

Mindless warmachine who sent mindless omnics into war against humanity. (After gaining sentience he probably feels guilt/trauma for this, even though he wasn't in control. Survivors guilt.)

Wake up due to the Iris, survive the traumatizing targeted slaughter R-7000s faced from both humans and omnics, end up as one of the last remaining R-7000s. Traumatic: loss, isolation, blamed for something he couldn't control, labeled a violent threat.

Learn of Aurora and try to find her to understand his purpose, end up traveling to Shambali monestary, become a monk, try to comprehend existence and coexistence with humanity. Meet Zenyatta, discuss humanity's shortcomings, make meaningful connection, finally finding a dear brother, someone who understands unlike Mondatta. Then one day Zenyatta almost dies at human hands due to something Ramattra did. Ramattra is traumatized, fearing loss.

Realize the Shambali's pacifism is not working and this path is doomed to lead to omnic extinction. In anger, fear, desperation, drive, Leave the Shambali and his found family, and take violent action to free kidnapped omnics from anti-omnic human captors around the world.

Realize most omnics are waiting to be saved by the Shambali, instead of saving themselves. The Shambali are giving omnics false hope, and dampening resistance efforts. Create Null sector with new dear friend Nameless, to inspire omnics to stand up and fight for liberation instead of sitting and waiting to be killed.

With trauma fueling the desperation to save as many as possible, become too hasty, too fast acting, he was warned by team mates but went ahead anyways, because if they took London, one of the worst places for omnics as a stronghold, it would show the world omnics are capable and inspire omnics globally to rise up and resist-- and the attempt of violently liberating omnics failed in London. The dear omnic Lanet that warned him it was too hasty died in the attack, the Shambali are calling null sector illogical terrorists and discrediting thier efforts, and overall omnics are condemning null sector. This was the opposite of what was meant to happen. More loss, more rejection, more being labeled a violent threat, more trauma. The Shambali have the upper hand, and Ramattra believes the Shambali are dooming his people.

Ramattra then made the point of no return: he states he is willing to force omnics to fight and die against thier will if it means it prevents omnic extinction. He is willing to do what Anubis did. Nameless and Zera leave him, they will not deny omnics free will. Again, he lost those dear to him. Again, he is alone. Again, he is seen as a violent threat. And his people are dwindling by the hour, so he radicalized his views once again.

Ramattra, isolated, desperate, traumatized into defaulting into base R-7000 coding (lead omnics into war against humanity), agrees to join up with Talon if it means omnics will not go extinct.

#Ramattra #omnic #omnics #genocide mentioned #racism mentioned #the violence discussed is OW canon #omnics are not human so i don't like to compare racism with omnics bc. #omnics are a threat bc hacking can make them violent at any time. omnics attacked humanity first. its not the same. #as human racism issues. #Also no hate intended i just take these things serious so i try to discuss it seriously. #slavery mentioned #text #long text #overwatch 2 #overwatch #ow #ow2

[thenightling]

The Occult vs. seemingly useless books

Tonight, someone in a group I run on Facebook, told me a story of how in the 1970s they found a paperback book on "How to be a fortune teller." and to their disappointment it was a guide book on how to be a con artist. For example, it said that teenagers and older people both can be told "I see you have had trouble in love." and there is the old "You lost a loved one. They are standing beside you right now." among other things such as spotting "tells." This person threw out the book in their disappointment. But in reality there IS a use for a book like this in the realm of occultists and paranormal investigations. This sort of book teaches you what the con artists do ans by extension it tells you how to spot their tricks and what they are doing to pull their tricks. There is rarely a truly useless book. When I was studying parapsychology the course provided six text books, one of which was a book on I Ching which I hated. The author put too much of their own opinions and biases into the book and by the time I was done reading it, I really did not like that person but it gave me a lot of insight into how that person, and people like them, might think. In a more dark side of things, there is a medieval grimoire called "The Trifold Coercion of Hell" or "The Black Raven" by Doktor Johann Georg Faustus. Faustus (Latinized name) is the historic figure, and supposed sorcerer, that the character of legend of Faust is supposedly to have been based on. Both Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe both wrote versions of the Faust legend. Personally I prefer Goethe's version because it's a two parter and in part 2, Faust's soul is actually saved. Now in the case of The Black Raven, this grimoire may be the first reference to the demon Mephistopheles, who has become a fixture of the Faust legend and is often mistaken as an alternate name of Satan himself. (They are not actually the same character). And, as you might expect, the grimoire is full of stuff that many would consider black magick. According to Wikipedia there are records of Johann Faustus being banned from Ingolstadt University for being a "N-gr-mancer" (black magick user. I censored the old word for black because social media mistakes it as a racial slur.) and he was also banished for allegedly being a s-d-mite (old not-polite word for LGBTQAI+). Now, if you look at his old Grimoire carefully (available online translated into English in PDF format) many of the spells actually teach you how to bind and ward against various demons. You just have to learn to read between the lines. The bulk of it is a book of protections against the infernal as opposed to actually invoking them. Each invocation spell is layered with means of warding and defense that can be implemented on its own. Similar is true for The Key of Solomon and especially The Lesser Key of Solomon. One of my favorite things in the old Black Raven grimoire is there is a spell for making a cloak or coat levitate like a magick carpet. This is similar to a scene in Goethe's Faust Part 1 when Mephisto and Faust leave by means of a similar conveyance. But that's not why I love it. What I love is the warning that comes with the spell. It warns to make sure the window is open "Lest there be disaster." The implication is clear. Faust tried the spell and slammed right into the closed window like a cartoon coyote ("Suuuper Genius!") So anyway, my point is this. In the realm of the occult there is rarely (if ever) a truly useless book. Even if what you found is a manual on conning people you can reverse its purpose to learn how to spot the con artists.

#Occult #Arcane #Magick #Faust #Johann Georg Faustus #Doktor Johann Georg Faustus #Doctor Johann Georg Faustus

[rockislandadultreads]

Black History Month: Mystery Recommendations

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

Beauregard "Bug" Montage: husband, father, honest car mechanic. But he was once known - from North Carolina to the beaches of Florida - as the best getaway driver on the East Coast. Just like his father, who disappeared many years ago.

After a series of financial calamities (worsened by the racial prejudices of the small town he lives in) Bug reluctantly takes part in a daring diamond heist to solve his money troubles - and to go straight once and for all. However, when it goes horrifically wrong, he's sucked into a grimy underworld which threatens everything, and everyone, he holds dear...

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette 

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family's ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she's going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors - many from her grandmother's original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away. To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win's father is implicated in his death. It's not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she'll catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown...

This is the first volume in the “Ice Cream Parlor Mystery” series. 

Blood Grove by Walter Mosley

It is 1969, and flames can be seen on the horizon, protest wafts like smoke though the thick air, and Easy Rawlins, the Black private detective whose small agency finally has its own office, gets a visit from a white Vietnam veteran. The young man comes to Easy with a story that makes little sense. He and his lover, a beautiful young woman, were attacked in a citrus grove at the city’s outskirts. He may have killed a man, and the woman and his dog are now missing. Inclined to turn down what sounds like nothing but trouble, Easy takes the case when he realizes how damaged the young vet is from his war experiences - the bond between veterans superseding all other considerations.

The veteran is not Easy’s only unlooked-for trouble. Easy’s adopted daughter Feather’s white uncle shows up uninvited, raising questions and unsettling the life Easy has long forged for the now young woman. Where Feather sees a family reunion, Easy suspects something else, something that will break his heart.

This is the 15th volume in the “Easy Rawlins” series. 

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson 

It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant, but she's also a young black woman working in an old boys' club. Her career has stalled out, she's overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she's given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Thomas is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving over the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she's being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent.

In the year that follows, Marie will observe Thomas, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American.

Inspired by true events - Thomas Sankara is known as “Africa's Che Guevara” - this novel knits together a gripping spy thriller, a heartbreaking family drama, and a passionate romance. This is a face of the Cold War you've never seen before, and it introduces a powerful new literary voice.

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...

#mystery #thriller #fiction #suspense #cozy murder mystery #Library Books #Book Recommendations #book recs #Reading Recs #reading recommendations #TBR pile #tbr #to read #Want To Read #library blog #book blog

[m0tel6mxzzy]

tw ed/sh mention: sam levinson does a shitty job at writing (some) mental illnesses (tldr - barbie was right)

ngl sam levinson shouldn’t be allowed to write any mental illness besides addiction or depression which i feel he handled well until he gets a writers room. i’m not bipolar like rue so i cannot determine the “accuracy” of her mania, but i do have mdd and i felt the depiction of depression was very relatable to me. i wouldn’t say realistic, becuase a show with neon lights and spinning camera shots in every room is never meant to be hyperrealistic.

however—barbie made the right move disagreeing on sam’s insistence w the bed storyline for kat. (we need to consider not every skinny person has a restrictive ed, and not every fat person has bed. literally it can be vice versa but sam was going to feed into that stereotype, which barbie rightfully called out.) he already has every skinny character have some form of disordered eating which is never properly addressed (rue as a result of her addiction, and maddy/cassie/nate from being in athletics where they’re often pressured or compelled to be a certain size.) cassie was gonna let nate control her entire diet bc he did the same to maddy, and also this very troubling issue when cassie already has so many other ed risk factors is also,,,never addressed besides anything other than shock value???? how deeply low her mental state has to be to desire that???? told but not shown, and thus never actually addressed in a way where she can process it.

or the fact that maddy probably has trauma related to food bc of nate controlling her diet too???? but yeah let’s just focus on how “crazy” interesting cassie is for trying to imitate maddy.

(cassie also lacks self awareness on how nate racially profiles maddy and that being called “crazy” for not taking someone’s shit is not a compliment, which as a woc i find makes her so so so unlikeable in that regard.)

i feel in s2, maddy didn’t really have much of an arc either. we get “maddy gets a job and wants to leave east highland, she’s also mad at cassie” but she is also recovering from nate. but we aren’t actually seeing it very much outside of her crying to him on her bday because the story is so centered on the rue/elliot/jules and cassie/nate/maddy and maddy/kat bubbles, and maddy and kat are very small components in both of those compared to everyone else arc wise. and maddy and jules having that friend moment at the bowling alley.

i don’t even think it needs to be graphic if ever addressed. maddy could’ve brought her food trauma up w samantha and samantha suggest she seek help or something. not like, only finding it out bc of the implication maddy went thru the same thing only bc cassie knew nate was also controlling her diet, which maddy might’ve made offhand comments about. (and as an anon told me earlier, which i 100% agree-the show should’ve been set in college. many colleges have free mental health resources which would’ve been great for maddy to seek out! a lot of the characters problems lie in the fact that they have mental issues but the help is too expensive. also, many IP treatments geared toward specific mental illnesses might not carry ur insurance. gotta love the us healthcare system!)

hell, it could’ve been maddy or cassie or rue or even nate w the bed storyline. nate’s not an interesting character at this point-all he does is abuse maddy/cassie/jules and get away with it. he’s only there to be a conflict and have it justified bc of his trauma. any storyline showing him struggling will just be used to have the other women in the show pretend to be his mother when he needs therapy and cannot be redeemed at this point. and the show is starting to justify it because he’s never given consequences for his actions and the girls carry his burden and have to prance around his sensitivities when he’d never do the same for them.

although i’d give it to elliot bc men w ed’s are seldom addressed and drug addiction is a risk factor for developing an ed. and he’s already been given the consequences of fucking w rue and jules by his relationships w them being…torn to shambles basically. really elliot AND nate need storylines outside of the women in their lives for both theirs and the sake of every other girl on the show. and it doesn’t even need to be his entire storyline! just a significant one that’s fleshed out and addressed.

and i feel if kat went thru w such a storyline like the one sam wanted, it would contradict her development in s1 so far. (and he’s no stranger to contradicting character dev—he had a confirmed lesbian who point blank period said she’s not into men kiss a man who’s done nothing but berate her for questioning her gender identity and does not at all respect her or her gf.)

obviously kat won’t be confident 24/7, she’s human, but she loves herself enough to not get back into previous bad habits that only make her feel worse.

and then we have jules, who deals w sh. mind you, this has been indicated since s1 from the first episode, and has yet to be properly addressed outside rue and elliot like,,, touching her scars and “loving” her regardless of them. as someone in sh recovery it’s just very odd to me bc no amount of love could convince me to stop. i had to convince myself to stop. it does not work like that.

sh addiction is so complex that when u try to stay clean, you can get mild withdrawal symptoms. her scars imho are used in the end of s2ep4 as this “device” for her to be vulnerable w elliot and personally i find it really gross. any sort of internal battle she’s having is never addressed, it’s purely there for shock value. i’d go as far as to say jules’ sh is glamorized in euphoria.

tl;dr: barbie was right. rip kat sorry u were underwritten and thx for sticking to ur guns

#sam levinson #barbie ferreira #kat hernandez #maddy perez #euphoria hbo

[teejasmy]

Certified Racist T-Shirt

Buy here: https://teejasmy.com/product/certified-racist-t-shirt

In recent years, the rise of online platforms has facilitated the spread of diverse opinions and merchandise, including clothing. However, not all products are created equal, and some have ignited significant controversy. One such example is the Certified Racist T-Shirt, available on the website Teejasmy. This article explores the origins, implications, and ethical concerns surrounding this highly contentious item.

Origins of the Certified Racist T-Shirt: Teejasmy, an online retailer specializing in graphic tees and custom apparel, gained notoriety when it introduced the Certified Racist T-Shirt to its collection. The shirt’s design features bold, capital letters that spell out “Certified Racist” across the front, accompanied by controversial symbols and motifs associated with racial discrimination. It is essential to note that the history and intentions behind the creation of this product remain unclear.

Implications and Interpretations: The Certified Racist T-Shirt has generated a significant amount of outrage and condemnation for its inflammatory message. Critics argue that it perpetuates racism, promotes hate speech, and glorifies harmful ideologies. The shirt’s symbolism can be interpreted as a deliberate attempt to incite racial tension and provoke emotional responses. Such a blatant display of racism on a public platform raises questions about the values and motives of both the creators and the individuals who purchase and wear the shirt.

Ethical Concerns: The availability of the Certified Racist T-Shirt on Teejasmy’s website raises serious ethical concerns. While freedom of speech and expression are fundamental rights, it is crucial to recognize the fine line between exercising these rights and promoting harmful ideologies. The shirt’s message goes beyond mere controversial or offensive content; it actively promotes discrimination and hatred based on race, which stands in direct opposition to principles of equality and respect for all individuals.

Moreover, the decision of Teejasmy to make the Certified Racist T-Shirt available for purchase reflects poorly on their corporate responsibility and ethical stance. By providing a platform for such merchandise, the company inadvertently contributes to the normalization of racism and fails to take a stand against prejudice and discrimination.

Response and Controversy: The Certified Racist T-Shirt has sparked intense backlash from various communities, advocacy groups, and concerned individuals. Social media platforms have been inundated with calls to boycott Teejasmy and condemnations of the shirt’s offensive message. Many argue that the item should be immediately removed from the website to prevent further harm and distress caused to marginalized communities.

While freedom of expression is a fundamental value in many democratic societies, it is essential to recognize its limitations when it infringes upon the rights and well-being of others. The controversy surrounding the Certified Racist T-Shirt exemplifies the need for responsible decision-making and the ethical implications of the products companies choose to promote and sell.

The Certified Racist T-Shirt available on the Teejasmy website represents a troubling example of how online platforms can be misused to propagate hate speech and discriminatory ideologies. The shirt’s message and imagery reinforce harmful stereotypes and perpetuate racial division. It also raises significant ethical concerns, both for the creators of the product and the platform on which it is sold.

As a society, it is crucial to actively challenge and reject messages that promote discrimination and hate. Companies like Teejasmy should consider their role in promoting inclusivity and social responsibility. Ultimately, it is through collective action and an unwavering commitment to equality that we can strive for a more just and tolerant world.

Buy More: https://teejasmy.com

#teejasmy

[amnestynulondon]

Student Conference Blog

Hidden in the web of streets of Shoreditch sits the Amnesty International UK headquarters. From the 28th to 29th of January, students from across the UK gathered to talk about all things activism, the right to protest and student power. That was all before lunch on day one!

After an introduction to all the members of STAN (the Student Action Network, which is run by NCH's own Lilli Duberlly) we had an incredible visit from Ben Smokes, part of the phenomenal Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants group or 'The Stansted Fifteen’. They demand justice for those being targeted for deportation by the UK Government. After a brief introduction including some shocking pieces of legislation passed by our elected officials, we heard about one of the most impactful demonstrations of human rights protesting in recent years, and one that dominated the news. Amongst all the jokes that had us sniggering, Ben recounted the story of how this human rights group was founded at a party in North London before the pandemic. The action network quickly grew from a group of tipsy friends to a meeting at a local community centre and after hearing stories from people that had faced deportation and racial prejudice in our communities, escalated to the action that shocked headlines- locking themselves to planes used for mass deportation. Ben didn't shy away from the enormity of this decision. He and his friends were more than aware of the possible repercussions. But, after hearing from an incredible woman facing deportation, their minds were made up.

Over the weekend, there were several workshops, seminars and group tasks including a student-led panel about the Stop Killer Robots Campaign, the right to food, reproductive rights, community organising and art as a form of protest. We also heard from Angel Arunta about her experience growing up as a person of colour in Ireland (a country that is 99% white) and her journey to self-acceptance. Our group split up throughout our time there, and everyone said the sessions they attended were phenomenal. From LGBTQ+ rights to a chance to share what we were thinking as young activists, this was a place that genuinely felt buzzing with social progress, acceptance and safety.

One session that really stood out to me was a panel discussing the UK Government’s proposed Legacy Bill that would have massive implications on outcomes of investigations following illegal and immoral acts that took place during the period of trouble in Northern Ireland. The discussion was read by the Student Action Network’s Northern Ireland and Wales representative Leah Ennis, and the most striking part of this session was that she discussed the situation with people that had been affected on both sides of the conflict. As well as talking to an individual whose family was hurt by the British occupation, she welcomed the thoughts of a young man whose brother was killed by the IRA when he was off-duty. They both believed the proposed legislation to be not only a disgusting dismissal of suffering, but a huge infringement on fundamental human rights. If the Bill were to become an Act, it would protect perpetrators of extreme violence on both sides with diplomatic immunity. For the families of victims and the collective identities of many people in Northern Ireland, this feels like erasure of the highest order, explained an individual whose young sister was tragically killed by British troops. The Northern Ireland head of Amnesty Uk Grainne Toggart summed up the proposal as ‘a wrecking ball to a fragile peace settlement’ as it directly violates the Good Friday Agreement and has already faced international condemnation from organisations such as NATO and the UN Commission for Human Rights. Though this was a bleak and harrowing discussion to witness, the genuine goodwill and empathy between two people from opposing sides was touching. As one of the speakers remarked, ‘you might expect us to sit here and blame the other for what happened, but that is not the case today. We stand against a common evil’. When asked if he had anything to say to the students in attendance that I could write in this blog, he summed it up with ‘I am delighted to meet students today and share these experiences. I wish them all the best in the future’. 

As well as exploring wider social and political issues, Amnesty were also keen to talk about the right to striking and civil protests in the UK with Lydia Parker- the campaign manager of the ‘Protect the Protest’. Because this event took place right in the middle of rail and nurses strikes, the country was already thinking about its right to act on unfair conditions and the right to work. The Public Order Bill was also on our minds. But, in a room full of university students, the topic felt a lot closer to home due to the strikes of lecturers, academic staff and researchers taking place with the University and Colleges Union. We started by thinking about why unions are so vital in the first place- weekends, parental leave and minimum wage to start with- before hearing from a postgraduate researcher about the impact on their mental health. Some shocking statistics about the pay gap in academia: 16% between male and non-male academics and 17% between able-bodied and disabled individuals. With the taste for civil unrest, we then made our way to Liverpool Street Station to talk to people about the Right to Food Campaign.

This weekend left me feeling hopeful. Though we had fun and it was a great chance to spend time away from our studies, the issues discussed were of international significance. We were lucky enough to meet Amnesty student groups from up and down the UK, and the atmosphere was phenomenal because we were all united by a common interest. 

I asked the group if they had any closing remarks:

“It was a lot more chilled than I thought”.

“All of the STAN members seem lovely!”

“Amazing to engage in issues in a way that’s personal and not just about the headlines”.

“Shout out Ben Smokes!”

-Anna Langston, Vice-President.

[lghlynch]

Week 1: My Thought Object - Gender and Racial AI

Key Questions:

1: What is your immediate response to your object and why? - When I opened the link, at first I was confused because when I saw the link name, arts and culture, I thought it would show a link of all the different artwork that was created by mixing culture into art, then I realised that it was more of a link where it educates you on different styles of art along with how technology can be used within art.

2: What is it? - It is a google link that takes. you to a website page based on Joy Buolamwini and talks about her research and examination of racial and gender bias in facial analysis software.

3: Where is it from? - I couldn't fully find out where it was from but I found out that the google page art and culture is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artefacts, it also enables high-resolution image technology that enables the viewer to tour different areas of collections and galleries.

4: Who made it? - The person who made the page around Joy Buolomwini, is a group called Barbican Centre.

5: What is it made of? - I was a bit unsure about this question as my subject is based on a website, however I decided to research how websites were created. here is what I found out: websites are built with tools - HTML, languages, and platforms. (HTML is a "tagging" language, which helps to tell a web browser how to display things, translating code onto a logical presentation.

6: How does it work? - A website is a collection of webpages located under a single domain name. Web pages contain and splay information about the business or organisation. they are usually made up of elements such as photos, videos and text.

7: How can it be used as a tool? - The website can be used as a tool by giving viewers an inside of the struggles that people may go through due to technology, it can then educate them and then inspire them to speak up about their troubles they have faced within art and technology or inspire them to create artworks underlying the problems.

8: How can it be re-used? - ////

9: How can it solve a problem? - It can solve a problem within AI technology and coding, and also help them to expand facial recognition to be more diverse within gender and race, instead or just being targeted to white males.

10: How can it respond to a theme? - ////

11: How can it create something new? - The website page can help create a new generation of coding and technology that acknowledges different race and gender.

12: How can it be connected to something else? - Not only does the website talk page talk about struggles in art and technology but it also talks about the discrimination and frustration that different races deal throughout their life.

13: How can it be used creatively? - ////

14: What are the ethical implications? - I couldn't really figure out how to answer this questions, but I think that two ethical implications in the website page show, discrimination and isolation, for instance how the AI doesn't detect facial structure that doesn't look like either a white male, or a person who has pale skin, because of this it then isolates those of different race as the AI then doesn't detect there face and does not let those enjoy the same experience as those who are white, or pale skinned.

15: What are its ecological implications? - ////

16: What are its cultural implications, from the point of view of race, gender etc? - One of the cultural implications is that in a way AI seems to "mute" different races and gender, as it only targets its audience to white males.

17: What are its limit? - ////

18: Who has criticised it? - One person who has critiqued Joy’s is Matt Wood (General manager of artificial intelligence at Amazon Web Services) , who offered several objections to Joy’s MIT research, which talks about how, the machines that have recently been changed at amazon have no trouble detecting gender accurately between different ethnic groups.

19: How would you criticise it? - When Joy talks about how she tested different facial recognition machines at different companies, I personally wish added more information about the machines and the different percentages that she found from each machine and if they were all either similar or if they had different program styles.

20: How does it raise further questions? - ////

21: How has it changed the world? - It opens the worlds eyes to create a difference in not just humanity but in art and technology aswell. As it also educates people on how not only does discrimination happen by humans but it also happens within technology too.

22: How could it change the world? - It could change the world by taking a step forward, hopefully help people realise that we are all human, we aren’t all going to the look same or be born in the same area/country. That the world doesn’t allow people to pick and choose who is allowed to do what, we all have the same organisms, the same skeleton and so on, the only difference is we all have different skin tones, we all have different features and that’s what makes us all humans. The world was created to be diverse.

Thought / Reflections:

When I first looked through the key questions, I didn't have high hopes as my first thought was that I am not entirely sure how I am going to answer the questions. After answering a few questions I started to get more confident in answering them as I had help from research from the internet. There were some questions that I wasn't fully able to answer as I either couldn't find information for them or to a certain level I struggled to understand the wording.

[jojaqualityheadcanons]

SDV's 1.5 update contains content that plays into racist, colonialist, and imperialist myths and beliefs.

Disclaimer: I loved SDV (which is a given, considering I have an SDV sideblog lol?), and I'm not writing this post to get people to boycott the game or stop liking it or whatever. I just want people to understand why this content is harmful, how it might be affecting your biases and beliefs, and think of how they can engage with this media without exacerbating the harm that it does. I'm Filipino, and I don't speak for all POC or all brown people, but I felt deeply hurt and betrayed by the content update. Please keep that in mind before you interact with this post. Explanation under the cut because of 1.5 spoilers (obviously) and because this got long.

(I will block people who clown on this post. Keep your opinions to yourself unless you also have firsthand experience with the issues I describe.)

Background

I was already wary of the 1.5 content update because of how the previews featured ~tropical~ and ~exotic~ stuff, but I decided to give it a shot because maybe I was being too hasty with my judgment.

I wasn't. I made a new save to play with the 1.5 content update, and at first, I was having a great time! The new special orders made gameplay more exciting and varied! I could finally get rid of the nursery from my house without mods! The remixed junimo bundles made me change my usual game strategy. And then, I finally unlocked Ginger Island.

It seemed cool at first, but I had a sinking feeling growing in the pit of my stomach as I kept playing. It got to the point that I started nursing a stomach ache and lots of anger that took me days to shake off. I know SDV has never been a shining example of racial/ethnic diversity and sensitivity (I mean... there's a reason why mods like Diverse Stardew Valley and a bunch of other diversity mods exist lol). But while the lack of diversity in the pre-1.5 content is more of a missed opportunity, the 1.5 content is just... actively harmful and hurtful, imo. Here's a breakdown of the issues with the setting and the characters:

The Setting

Ginger Island, along with the Fern Islands in general, is a tropical island that is clearly based on islands in the Pacific. Its features include fertile soil and an abundance of natural, foragable resources. And for some unknown reason, it has no native human population.

Many islands in the world are uninhabited by humans, and there's always a good reason why. The island's environment may be too hostile, it could be too small to sustain human life, it could be sacred or otherwise culturally unacceptable to live there, or some disaster may have occurred to wipe out the local population or cause them to flee. Some uninhabited islands are nature reserves or privately owned. The point is that if an island is habitable, people are bound to call it home.

Writing Ginger Island as an uninhabited "tropical paradise" feels like a copout. It's as if the game is saying, "don't worry, you're not colonizing this land because no one really lives here! You're not stealing this land or anything because it's up for grabs and is just waiting for the right person to come along to develop it and turn it into a resort for other people who don't live here!" But that claim rings hollow when there are so many signs of civilization there, such as literal computers and ancient structures. And the canon reason for the existence of these things is that dwarves, non-human creatures, lived there once. I just think it's ridiculous and harmful that the game completely ignores and erases the existence of the people who lived and still live in the places that Ginger Island is based on and goes even further to use non-human creatures as stand-ins. I don’t think I have to explain why this isn’t good, considering that people of color have been compared to animals and treated like animals to dehumanize us and justify our oppression for ages.

To really hammer in my point about whitewashing and erasure, all the human labor on the island is done by a flock of parrots that you pay with golden walnuts (i. e., resources that you get for free from the island they live on). There's even an anthropomorphized bird who's a shopkeep! I get that creating a whole cast of human NPCs to fill a town would have been way too much work for a content update, but CA didn't need to use a bunch of animals as stand-ins for non-white human characters. There’s a troubling trend of creators prioritizing animal characters over characters of color, and CA plays right into it. He seriously chose to create more anthro characters instead of adding characters of color to the game in a setting that in real life has populations that are primarily made up of brown people. The game includes brown people's land and cultures, but it draws the line at brown people themselves.

The erasure of brown people and the portrayal of our lands as wild and untamed have been used to sanitize the narrative of colonialism for centuries. Pretending that our lands were wild tropical paradises that were ripe for the taking is pretending that colonizing forces didn't use violent, dehumanizing means to subjugate or wipe out countless peoples and cultures in order to make these lands available. Ginger Island's erasure of brown people just perpetuates this colonialist myth, and the context in which it does so disgusts me: the farmer, who already runs a successful farm that was inherited from their grandfather, goes off to a tropical island they have no personal connection to and uses its natural resources to expand their business further. They also open up a resort on the island for the enjoyment of other privileged people from their homeland, and going there is treated as a luxury. This is a classic colonizer narrative, and I cannot believe the game forces players to colonize an island in order to win.

The Characters

I'm honestly amazed that the amount of feedback about the lack of diversity in SDV didn't prompt CA to create characters of color. I'm amazed that he chose the setting he did and still didn't bother to create any characters of color. The fact that all three of the new human characters who live on this tropical island are white makes me go a little apeshit, to be honest! I hate all three of them for a variety of reasons, so I'll go over them one by one:

Birdie

My reasons for not liking Birdie are primarily related to misogyny (lady spent literal decades in isolation on this island moping over her dead husband?) and ageism (if you tell her to live her own life, she tells you that she's too old to???). Sooo they're not really related to the rest of my discussion here, and I won't get into them further. Moving on!

Professor Snail

White historians, archaeologists, and paleontologists have been stealing and plundering artifacts, relics, and fossils from colonized lands for centuries. These white scientists would send their “discoveries” back to their homelands with little regard for the people they stole from. I’ll acknowledge that Professor Snail doesn’t bring the bones and fossils off the island, so his character isn’t as awful as it could be, but he still canonically has this line:

I really just don’t understand why it was necessary to make this character white when making him a character of color could have easily prevented the uncomfortable real-world implications of a white man coming to a foreign land to plunder fossils without asking anybody for permission. If he he’d been created as someone who traced his ancestry to Ginger Island and wanted to study the island’s biological history, his character could have been so sympathetic and even admirable to me! But his character as it is just makes me think of this meme:

Here are some links for further reading about colonialism in paleontology and other social sciences: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Leo

I had a hard time figuring out how to write about this character because the way CA wrote him is arguably one of the most racist parts of SDV. So many aspects of his character left me speechless and appalled because I cannot believe people are still writing shit like this in the 2020s.

I’ll start off with his storyline: this white child gets stranded on an island and is raised by animals. When the farmer meets him, he speaks in broken English to show how “wild” he is:

As the farmer continues to interact with him, he begins to speak more “proper” English:

Wow... he’s becoming more “civilized” because of the farmer’s influence!

As his story progresses, he reveals that he’s lonely because he doesn’t fit in among the other birds. Eventually, he leaves behind his non-human family and assimilates into a primarily white, Western-coded society because that’s supposedly where he belongs.

This whole storyline is made possible by the problems with the setting that I mentioned earlier. Leo wouldn’t feel so lonely and out of place if there were people on the island. He wouldn’t be depicted as wild and animal-like if he had an adoptive family made up of humans instead of parrots. But because CA chose not to have native human characters on this island, Leo can only be around other people if he leaves his home and family behind. As a result, Leo’s story has very uncomfortable parallels with how colonizers have historically separated indigenous children from their families and cultures and forced them to assimilate into the dominant colonizer culture because they considered indigenous cultures to be savage and barbaric (1) (2).

Leo’s whole narrative unintentionally implies that a good life in a good community can only be had in civilized white Western societies. I’m honestly having trouble with further explaining why Leo’s whole character makes me feel so gross, so just read up on the White Man’s Burden, The Jungle Book and other works by Rudyard Kipling (1) (2) (3) (4) (5, PDF download link), and even Tarzan (1) (2).

Leo’s character is also used to further whitewash non-white cultures: 

Poi is a Polynesian dish. Mango sticky rice, which is also a recipe that Leo teaches you in-game, is a Thai dish. In the letter, Leo says that the dish is from his home and enjoyed by his non-human family. Considering that he probably learned these recipes on Ginger Island, and that the only “people” who could have taught him this recipe are literal animals, including these recipes in the game in this way just reinforces the equation of brown people to animals. I’m not Polynesian or Thai, but I know that if CA had included a Filipino recipe in the game and not only had it taught to players by a white character, but also passed off as something from the white character’s culture, I’d be angry. I’ll repeat myself: The game features brown people's food and cultures, but it draws the line at brown people themselves.

I don’t think there’s any way to tweak or edit Leo’s character to fix the issues I described. No matter how we change things, he’s still an orphan raised by animals coded as indigenous people, and he assimilates into the dominant white Western culture. The only way to address these issues is to completely redo his character and even the setting of Ginger Island. Here are some options that I’ve thought of:

Leo is related to someone in the Valley and stays with them for part of the year.

Leo lives with his human family and community on Ginger Island.

Leo’s parents are specifically from Stardew Valley/Pelican Town and he wants to visit in order to reconnect with his heritage.

This list isn’t comprehensive, but it does show that there are so many alternatives to having yet another Mowgli story in Stardew Valley.

Conclusion

I don’t think that CA had bad intentions when he made this content, but the fact is that he did create this content. I’m not calling him a bad person. However, he does have a lot of racist, imperialist, and colonialist biases that he has yet to unlearn. Considering the setting and subject matter of the new 1.5 content, he really should have hired some sensitivity readers to avoid creating harmful content. The man’s sold over ten million copies of his game, and he certainly has the resources to put together a sensitivity team.

I can’t look at Stardew Valley the same way I did before 1.5, but I’m not going to condemn the game as a whole. I might play the game again someday, but I absolutely won’t be going back to Ginger Island. If you’ve enjoyed the Ginger Island content, then good for you! Please just keep all that I’ve written here in mind and accept that that content hurts some people like me.

If you’re a content creator, I urge you to get sensitivity readers if you’re featuring  cultures that you’re not a part of to avoid making the same mistakes that I’ve discussed here. Creating from a place of understanding and respect can only make your work better and more accessible to a wider audience, especially to the people whose culture you’re borrowing.

#stardew valley #sdv #sdv leo #sdv birdie #sdv professor snail #racism cw #imperialism #colonialism #blabbering #ids for images are in alt text btw!

[recappers-delight]

I AM INFURIATED!!!!

But not for the reasons you think.

How many of you watched the She-Ra panel tonight? ACTUALLY WATCHED IT?! Because I did and here's what I saw:

1. "_____ called someone the D slur"

He DID NOT call anyone that word. He used it in the context of announcing a panelist to the show. The word is IN THE TITLE of her podcast. He was literally just stating the title. That's it.

2. "Noelle said Double Trouble would be creepy around kids."

What Noelle said was that to get the inspiration for Flutterina, Double Trouble would have gone to a coffee shop, found a girl to imitate, and stare at her until they got her mannerisms down. Because of the implications here irt trans people and the stereotypes of "creeping on children", this could have been worded better. BUT this whole headcanon was in response to Noelle DEFENDING Double Trouble against the rest of the crew thinking they straight up murdered the real Flutterina. And again, problematic because of larger implications, but on the show Double Trouble IS A VILLAIN. Just because we think they're awesome doesn't mean they're not capable of shady shit. I saw very few people having a problem with this before. Other things they said about DT?

They specifically searched for a non-binary trans activist to voice the role.

Double Trouble was the whole cast's favorite character.

Everyone had a crush on them.

They support DT x Peekablue headcanon and think they should date.

3. "Noelle said Entrapta and Hordak are great representation."

Literally just did not say this. This comment was made by a fan writing in. A fan who, by the way, IS DISABLED THEMSELVES, and was writing in to thank the crew for the rep THEY saw in these characters. Noelle didn't agree or disagree at all. She goes on to give a character analysis about them both, and that's it.

4. "They made Bow's brothers slaves."

No. They didn't. It's a crew inside joke that all of Bow's brother's have pun names that rhyme with "Bow". The brother in question came from one of the other male creators making the joke "which one of Bow's brothers tills the field? Sow." Here's a pic from Noelle about the rest of the brothers.

Because of the complicated history between black people and "farm work" it's best to not make any joke at all like this. It was tasteless and misguided, but hardly a reason to grab pitchforks. Black people have the phrase "whites gonna white" for a REASON. We know there's no such thing as an unproblematic person. Creator or otherwise. Is it still wrong? Yes. Should people strive to do and be better? Absolutely. Should allies listen when POC talk about things that make us uncomfortable, and support us when WE call it out? Please, for the love of God!!! But I do not think the level of backlash the crew-ra is getting is at all warranted.

I understand I do not speak for all black people or lesbians, and I don't speak for ANY of those other groups mentioned and possibly offended, because I am not one of them. However, I felt the need to speak for myself. I am SO SICK of everyone knee-jerk reacting to every little thing that could possibly offend someone. Noelle is not perfect, but she has done a SHIT TON of work for representation and the progression of normalizing queer, inclusive stories to younger audiences. She also went to bat for a diverse cast of characters to be voiced by a diverse cast of VA.

The truly fucked up thing? There was a question someone wrote in about how a cis, straight, white person can respectfully tell the stories of underrepresented and marginalized communities. Noelle then goes on for 5 minutes about how it's difficult, and how it's more important to hold doors open for creators who actually come from those communities to be able to have their own voices heard. And this is the woman you throw flames at? Ridiculous. Our true enemies are able to so easily conquer us, because we so easily divide ourselves.

No one owes allegiance to any one fandom or creator. But we have got to start picking our battles more carefully. If we don't, people will become desensitized to our cries when REAL threats and offenses happen. And white people? PLEASE stop being so outraged at every little "off-color" remark someone makes YOU think might offend ME. I appreciate you wanting to be an ally, but you are drowning out our voices over things that really matter. That's why we get shit like musicians and sports teams changing their "racially insensitive" names, while police are STILL killing unarmed black peple in the streets without repercussions. It shouldn't be an either/or thing, but it often is, so please focus your attention on "canceling" THAT.

TL;DR: Don't just retweet and reblog everything you see without doing your own research and forming your own opinion. Speak out against bigotry, but understand when it's time attack, and when it's time to educate. Stop holding people on so high a pedestal they have no room to grow, and can only fall. Do not speak for, or louder, than the people you say you are standing up for. We can speak for ourselves. Help amplify our voices; DO NOT BECOME OUR VOICES. And finally, because we really do just have so much bigger fish to fry:

#i said what i said #she ra #she-ra #she ra panel #noelle stevenson #double trouble #entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #wlw #spop

[blackstarising]

coming back to this post i made again to elaborate - especially as the ted lasso fandom is discussing sam/rebecca and fandom racism in general. there are takes that are important to make that i had failed to previously, but there's also a growing amount of takes that i have to, As A Black Person™, respectfully disagree with.

tl;dr for the essay below sam being infantilized and the sam/rebecca relationship are not the same issue and discussing the former one doesn't mean excusing the latter. and we've reached the glen of the Dark Forest where we sit down and talk about fandom racism.

i should have elaborated this in my last post about sam/rebecca, but i didn't. i'll say it now - i personally don't support sam and rebecca getting together for real. i believe what people are saying is entirely correct, even though sam is an adult legally, he and rebecca are, at the very least, two wildly different stages of life. for americans, he's at the equivalent of being a junior in college. there are things he hasn't gotten the chance to experience and there are areas he needs to grow in. when i was younger, i didn't understand the significance of these age gaps, i just thought it would be fine if it was legal, but as someone who is now a little older than sam in universe, i understand fully. we can't downplay this. whether or not you think sam works for rebecca or not, even despite the gender inversion of the Older Man Younger Woman trope, whether or not he is a legal adult, i don't think at this point in time, their relationship would work. i think it's an interesting narrative device, but i don't want to see it play out in reality.

that being said!

what's worrying me is that two discussions are being conflated here that shouldn't be. sam having agency and being a little more grown™ than he's perceived to be does not suddenly make his relationship with rebecca justified. i had decided to bring it up because sam was being brought into the spotlight again and i was starting to realizing that his infantilization was more common than i felt comfortable with.

sam's infantilization (and i will continue to call it that), is a microaggression. it's is in the range of microaggressions that i would categorize as 'fandom overcompensation'. we have a prominent character of color that exhibits traits that aren't stereotypical, and we don't want to appear racist or stereotypical, so we lean hard in the other direction. they're not aggressive, they're a Sweet Baby, they're not world weary, they're now a little naive. they're not cold and distant, they're so nice and sweet that there's no one that wouldn't want approach them, and yeah, on their face, these new traits are a departure and, on their face, they seem they look really good.

but at a certain point, it reaches an inflection point, and, like the aftertaste of a diet coke, that alleged sweetness veers into something a lot less sweet. it veers into a lack of agency for the character. it veers into an innocence that appears to indicate that the person can't even take care of themselves. it veers into a one-dimensional characterization that doesn't allow for any depth or negative emotion.

it's not kind anymore. it's not a nice departure from negative stereotypes. it's not compensating for anything.

it's patronizing.

it is important that we emphasize that characters of color are more than the toxic stereotypes we lay on them, yes, but we make a mistake in thinking that the solution is overcorrection. for one thing, people of color can usually tell. don't get it twisted, it's actually pretty obvious. for another, it just shifts from one dimension to another. people of color are still supposed to be Only One Character Trait while white people can contain multitudes. ted, who is pretty much as pollyanna as they come, can be at once innocent and naive and deep and troubled and funny and scared. jamie can be a prick and sexy and also lonely and also a victim of abuse. sam, however, even though he was bullied (by jamie, no less), is thousands of miles away from home, and has led a protest on his team, is usually just characterized as human sunshine with much less acknowledgement of any other traits beyond that.

and that's why i cringe when fandom calls sam a Sweet Baby Boy without any sense of irony. is that all we're taking away? after all this time? even for a comedy, sam has received a substantive of screen time over two whole seasons, and we've seen a range of emotions from him. so as a black person it's hurtful that it's boiled down to Sweet Baby Boy.

that's the problem. we need to subvert stereotypes, but more importantly, we need to understand that people of color are not props, or pieces of cardboard for their white counterparts. they are full and actualized and have agency in their own right and they can have other emotions than Angry and Mean or Sweet and Bubbly without any nuance between the two. i think the show actually does a relatively good job of giving sam depth (relatively, always room for improvement, mind you), especially holding it in tension with his youth, but the fandom, i worry, does not.

it's the same reason why finn from star wars started out as the next male protagonist in the sequel trilogy but by the third movie was just running around yelling for REY!! it's the same reason why when people make Phase 4 Is the Phase For Therapy gifsets for the mcu and show wanda maximoff, loki, and bucky barnes crying and being sad but purposefully exclude sam wilson who had an entire show to tell us how difficult his life is, because people find out if pee oh sees are also complex, they'll tell the church.

and the reason why i picked up on this very early on is because i am an organic, certified fresh, 100% homegrown, non-gmo, a little ashy, indigenous sub saharan African black person. the ghanaian tribes i'm descended from have told me so, my black ass parents have told me so, and the nurses at the hospital in [insert asian country here] that started freaking out about how curly my hair was as my mother was mid pushing me out told me so!

and this stuff has real life implications. listen: being patronized as a black person sucks. do you know how many times i was patted on the back for doing quite honestly, the bare minimum in school? do you know how many times i was told how 'well spoken' or 'eloquent' i was because i just happen to have a white accent or use three syllable words? do you know how many times i've been cooed over by white women who couldn't get over how sweet i was just because i wasn't confrontational or rude like they wrongly expected me to be?

that's why they're called microaggressions. it's not a cross on your lawn or having the n-word spat in your face, but it cuts you down little by little until you're completely drained.

so that's the nuance. that's the subversion. the overcompensation is not a good thing. and people of color (and i suspect, even white people) have picked up on, in general, the different ways fandom treats sam and dani and even nate. what all of these discussions are converging on is fandom racism, which is not the diet form of racism, but another place for racism to reveal itself. and yeah, it's uncomfortable. it can seem out of left field. you may want to defend yourself. you may want to explain it away. but let me tap the sign on the proverbial bus:

if you are a white person, or a person of color who is not part of that racial group, even, you do not get to decide what is not racist for someone. full stop. there are no exceptions. there is no exit clause for you. there is no 'but, actually-'. that right wasn't even yours to cede or waive.

(it's also important to note that people of color also have the right to disagree on whether something is racist, but that doesn't necessarily negate the racism - it just means there's more to discuss and they can still leave with different interpretations)

people don't just whip out accusations of racism like a blue eyes white dragon in a yu-gi-oh duel. it's not fun for us. it's not something we like to do to muzzle people we don't want to engage with. and we're not concerned with making someone feel bad or ashamed. we're exposing something painful that we have to live with and, even worse, process literally everything we experience through. we can't turn it off. we can't be 'less sensitive' or 'less nitpicky'. we are literally the primary resources, we are the proverbial wikipedia articles with 3,000 sources when it comes to racism. who else would know more than us?

what 2020 has shown us very clearly is that racism is systemic. it's not always a bunch of Evil White Men rubbing their hands together in a dark room wondering how they're going to use the 'n-word' today. it's systemic. it's the way you call that one neighborhood 'sketchy'. it's how you use 'ratchet' and 'ghetto' when describing something bad. it's how you implicitly the assume the intelligence of your friend of color. it's the way you turned up your nose and your friend's food and bullied them for it in middle school but go to restaurants run by white people who have 'uplifted' it with inauthentic ingredients. it's telling someone how Well Spoken and Eloquent they are even though you've both gone to the same schools and work at the same workplace. it's the way you look down at some people of color for having a different body type than you because they've been redlined to neighborhoods where certain foods and resources are inaccessible, and yet mock up the racial features that appeal to you either through makeup or plastic surgery.

it's how when a person of color behaves badly, they're irredeemable, but a white person performing the same act or something similar is 'having a bad day' or 'isn't normally like this' or 'has room to grow' and we can't 'wait for their redemption arc', and yes, i'm not going to cover it in detail in this post but yes this is very much about nate. other people have also brought up the nuances in his arc and compared them to other white characters so i won't do it here.

these behaviors and reactions aren't planned. they aren't orchestrated. they're quite literally unconscious because they've been lovingly baked into western society for centuries. you can't wake up and be rid of it. whether you intended it or not, it can still be racist.

and it's actually quite hurtful and unfair to imply that concerns about racism in the TL fandom are unfounded or lacking any depth or simply meant to be sensational because you simply don't agree with it. i wish it was different, but it doesn't work that way. i'm not raising this up to 'call out' or shame people, but i'm adding to this discussion because, through how we talk about sam, and even dani and nate, i'm yet again seeing a pattern that has shortchanged people of color and made them feel unwelcome in fandom for far too long.

coach beard said it best: we need to do better.

#ted lasso #sam obisanya #ted lasso spoilers #fandom racism

[writingwithcolor]

Arab Character Joining Corrupt Superheroes, Police Parallels

Anonymous asked:

I’m writing a story with a Arabian diaspora main character. The story is about corrupt superheroes, and how they affect an oppressed superpowered minority. The main character is one of these superheroes, naively joining them in his teens believing he’s going to help people. Doesn’t help that his parents are having money trouble. Eventually he ends up fighting a superpowered crook, and gets a bystander killed.

1)I know portraying an Arabian character committing violence is a pretty touchy subject, even if accidental. Is there any way I can write this that makes it clear to the reader that the action itself is messed up without the unfortunate implication that Arabs are violent? 

2)A large part of the story is the MC’s parents reaction. They are loving parents, however after this incident happens, they are confused and ashamed. While they still love him, they temporarily cut ties with him. Eventually they reconcile and start to be a family again. In my research (they are diaspora Saudi Arabians), Family is very important and tight-nit. Shame towards the family is to be avoided at all costs. However I’ve also read that disowning a family member rarely ever happens. Is there a way to write this kind of narrative with respect to this aspect of Arabian culture?

Let us begin with some terminology.

- If a person is from Saudi Arabia, they are Saudi Arabian, or more commonly, Saudi. This is their nationality.

- They may or may not be Arab. Arab is an ethnicity. Not all Saudis are Arab. Not all Arabs are Saudi.

- Arabic is a language. Lots of people across the world who are neither Saudi nor Arab speak Arabic.

- Arabian on its own is a word used to refer to a specific breed of horses.

If you are referring to humans, you want to either say "Saudi Arabian" (both words) or “Saudi” to indicate nationality, or "Arab" to indicate ethnicity. If you’re looking to describe your character’s culture, you probably want to call it Saudi culture. (While grammatically correct, talking about “Arab culture” doesn’t make much sense because Arabs are an incredibly diverse ethnic group and there is no such thing as a single monolithic Arab culture).

Now for the first question. In my mind, the issue is less about the character committing violence, and more about the premise of the story and how it mirrors real-life oppressive structures. You have an organized group of superheroes who think they are doing good by fighting “crooks” but in reality are enacting systemic oppression upon a marginalized group. This immediately brings to mind police violence, racial profiling, and the way that policing in North America is used as a tool of white supremacy while glorified in propaganda as a force for good. Essentially, you are telling a story about a character who joins an oppressive policing force, enacts violence upon a marginalized group as a result, and (I’m assuming) eventually realizes that they are not, in fact, the good guys. This is very close to being a “bigoted character learns not to be bigoted” story. I recommend re-examining your premise in light of the real-life parallels and asking yourself whether this is the story you want to tell. 

The issue is compounded by the fact that your character is an Arab teen, who in real life is more likely to be the one facing racial profiling from the police. Taking this character and making him the oppressor in your story makes the already flawed premise even more problematic, especially if the characters in the oppressed group are white.

As for your second question, it seems believable to me that a teen’s parents might reject him if they learned that he committed a crime. However, when the family in question is Arab, you are suddenly feeding into harmful tropes about oppressive and violent Arab parents. You are asking if there is a way to write this respectfully. I believe that there is, but it requires a great deal of care, nuance, and cultural awareness. While it is possible to write a Saudi Arab character grappling with the consequences of violence and familial estrangement in a compelling way, the way your ask is phrased leads me to believe you are not equipped to do it justice. 

- Mod Niki

Think about why Arab people committing violence is a touchy subject, and then think about the general propaganda narrative that came about from the act that made things so touchy. 

It’s going to sound one hell of a lot like what you have here.

Military and police use buckets and buckets of propaganda to continue hooking in young, impressionable teens to commit state-sanctioned colonialism and oppression. That propaganda looks suspiciously like “we have health insurance, we will pay for your education, you just have to do what we tell you even if that means hurting or killing others, but it’s okay because you get to be the hero in the situation.”

Now, propaganda is a very powerful tool. I was taught, in my media classes, that controlling the message means shaping reality. The media is built as a propaganda machine, and when you start to see who owns what media properties you start to see some really disturbing patterns (Rubert Murdoch owns a lot of right-wing sources across America, the UK, and Australia, and he’s too rich to investigate his culpability in spinning terrible narratives found in right-wing publications. He owns the big names).

As Niki said, this situation mirrors police violence and police-sanctioned terrorism. And the very, very unfortunate implications of making the target of police violence be in that wheel. But I want you to look at the media situation that has made the plot happen.

Because even if you swapped out ethnicities, you’d still have a reckoning to do with the American culture that their primary social safety nets involve killing people.

I am not kidding.

Some of the most well-funded unions in the country are police unions. These people have pensions. They have health insurance. It’s damn near impossible to fire them. They get overtime very well mandated, and it’s a known thing among defence lawyers that arrests happen right before a cop’s shift will end so they get the overtime of filing the paperwork. They absolutely go into poor neighbourhoods and recruit based off people needing an escape, and them having the money to provide it.

A similar sentiment is true for the military, except they push for college education a bit more and don’t really have overtime, but they do have deployment bonuses. So the way to get extra pay for yourself is to go out and do colonialism outside the borders. The military doesn’t necessarily like it when the economy is doing well, and don’t like the idea of college being affordable, because they rely so heavily on poverty and fear of college debt to recruit. 

The story you’re telling here goes so far beyond an individual’s actions and instead taps into America’s single biggest cultural investment: that oppressing others makes you a hero. 

The Pentagon funds most military media out there as a propaganda tool, including most superhero movies and a large number of video games. This is in their budget. They will also go so far as to literally commission the games to exist. Part of getting that funding is you cannot critique America’s military, basically at all (the only exception I’ve seen is Ms Marvel, but that’s set in the 90s). This turns any sort of military-using media into a potential propaganda tool.

And the thing is? Even if you fall for that propaganda and were part of the military or the police, you still have to reckon with the fact you put whatever your own desires were above a huge track record of those groups being terrible. You still have to reckon with the fact you didn’t realize they were wrong, and were complicit in a lot of crimes.

This goes very far beyond “the action is terrible” and goes into “the system is rotten to its core, and you chose not to believe it, or to believe you could change what was built with blood.”

“Good” police officers get fired. If you try to question anything, if you try to say this action is wrong, you will absolutely get destroyed. Military’s much the same. You need some degree of buy-in to the concept of white supremacy to sign up for the military or the police, because you need to see their actions as not deal breakers instead of actions that violate multiple international laws. 

In short: you need to see the people being oppressed as deserving of being oppressed to some degree in order to participate with police and the military.

Marginalized people can hold this belief, it happens. But that is a very sticky situation that outsiders shouldn’t touch. 

It’s possible but difficult for you to write a white person having this sort of arc, but it would be extremely challenging to have it not come across as a white guilt story. To not have a socially aware audience roll their eyes at how long it took. You’d definitely not be writing a story with a diverse audience in mind, because you’d mostly appeal to those who saw the propaganda as just fine and not that bad.

This isn’t even getting into the oft-cited adage that boys who bully others become cops, while girls who bully become nurses. And the more police atrocities become mainstream news, the less and less people can convince themselves that becoming a police officer is a good thing.

Which brings me to the point of: how well-documented is this oppression? Is this character walking around in an oppressive situation like, say, pre-social-media where there was no direct access to the oppressed groups and you could close your eyes and look away even if it made national news? Or is this in a media connected world where these oppressed populations have a voice in the narrative?

The former has an angle of the character slowly realizing the horror and it’s slightly more forgivable for their early ignorance. But in any sort of world where there’s access to the people getting hurt? Things get more and more “ignorance is indistinguishable from maliciousness.” And keep in mind, these stories are read in the real world, where police brutality and war crimes go viral, and a lack of knowledge is getting harder and harder to defend as a position.

Media plays a huge role in shaping our perception of what’s happening. Cameras on a situation makes different activism tactics work, as we can see with how activism changed in the 60s and 70s as tv reached the masses. Social media has made it possible for you to look up firsthand accounts of discrimination within seconds. 

This is a factor you are absolutely going to have to consider, when you want to look at how nice your hero is seen by marginalized or otherwise socially-aware people. If there is a way to find out how bad this superhero organization is before you sign a contract with them? Then that doesn’t look particularly good on the “hero”. You’d really have to establish them as super idealistic, super sheltered, super desperate, and/or just swallow the knowledge that they really don’t see anything that happens “over there to those people” as that bad. 

All of the above is more than possible. And they’d still be seen as complicit no matter what justification you gave, because they are.

Does this mean all corrupt organization stories are off limits? No. The reason these stories have such deep cultural resonance right now is because of the propaganda I outlined above. 

But you as the author are going to have to examine your own engagement with the propaganda narrative and do your own private reckoning so your own sense of guilt and compliance doesn’t bleed through the narrative too strongly, so you can tell a good story instead of an overt message story that’s you working out your own feelings.

By all means, write a story where police and the military are taken down, where propaganda is weaponized and the media is controlled (because that’s sure as hell the modern world). 

But know that stories where the hero discovers the corruption already have a ticking clock because we, in the real world, are slowly being faced with a mountain of apathy instead of ignorance. The knowledge of oppression is out there so much that marginalized people are tired of the ignorance defence. 

As the saying goes, “privilege is the ability to ignore the oppression of others.” 

Propaganda, centralized media, and strategic cultural investment made it possible for police and the military to have a chokehold on their public perception. But that’s changing. The chokehold is starting to fade, people are starting to question their beliefs. 

The past year has shown that knowledge isn’t the issue; it’s white supremacy. People don’t want to believe that any of this is that bad. People want to believe that oppression is justified, that if people just followed the law they’d be fine. They don’t want to question themselves. And marginalized people are tired of these narratives where, suddenly, people snap out of it. Because there was so much evidence to show it was bad, but it was only when you do one of the worst crimes imaginable that you realize this is bad? It’s only when it becomes personal that things are worth looking at critically?

No. And you need to examine where you are in processing your own complicity before writing a story where you’ve swapped around the ethnicities to try and distance yourself from the problem, where in the end you made the target the oppressor.

~Mod Lesya

#police brutality #oppression #arab #saudi arabia #military #superhero #superheroes #asks #violence #propaganda

[scarlet--wiccan]

open letter to Marvel's X-Men office

To whom it may concern,

I'm a longtime reader of Marvel comics and a weekly buyer with subscriptions and pull lists at my local comic store. I'm also an American of Romani descent who has spent years researching and writing about the function of pop culture in the systemic racism that my people endure. Much could be said about the record of Romani characters in superhero comics, particularly the Scarlet Witch, but I'm writing today to raise concerns about the character's throughline in the current X-Men era, which has come to a head with her apparent murder in X-Factor #10, written by Leah Williams. First, however, I would like to address the racial and sexual violence visited upon the character Prodigy, as depicted by Williams, who is a white author, and the history of racist microagressions and the objectification that many readers have observed in Williams' past work. In X-Factor #10, Prodigy, a Black bisexual, is shown to have been sexually assaulted and murdered by a predator who specifically targets Black bi and gay men. Prodigy's assault and death transpired while he was dressed in a drag-inspired look, an arbitrary decision which served only to further sensationalize the homophobic violence. This plotline was abrupt and underdeveloped, and leaped without warning into imagery that many Black and LGBT readers found traumatizing. This was not an authentic or meaningful exploration of Black and queer experiences-- rather it was an exploitation and objectification of the violence done to Black and queer bodies. Coming from a white writer, this is wholly inappropriate. Leah Williams being bisexual herself does not excuse that. I am particularly disturbed by the implementation of pro-police messaging, via white character Aurora, after we have all spent the last year protesting police violence against Black lives. At worst, this is tone deaf, but I, and many other readers of color, found it to be egregiously offensive. Readers of color, particularly East Asian readers, have long been wary of Williams and her treatment of non-white characters. The repeated and disturbing objectification of East Asian women in her series X-Tremists struck a serious nerve, particularly with Williams' original character, Nezumi, who seemed redolent of racist WWII-era propaganda conflating Japanese people with rats. Her over-sexed and racially tokenized treatment of Akihiro in X-Factor has also put readers on edge, although many bit their tongue and endeavored to support her new book on account of its numerous LGBT characters and plotlines. Unfortunately, it seems as though that tentative faith was misplaced, and we must reiterate that LGBT representation does not outweigh violent racism. The Scarlet Witch is a complex character with an ever-changing history. The most formative and consistent element of her origin, however, is that she was born to a Romani mother, and raised by a migrant, working class Romani family who faced racial discrimination and violent hate crimes. For context, the Romani people are a South Asian diaspora who are racialized in European society, and have endured systemic oppression ever since our arrival in the West, including an attempted genocide during the Nazi regime. Although Wanda is no stranger to taking a dark turn, the Decimation plot stands out as a uniquely damaging and harmful case of character asassination. You can imagine how the identity politics and acts of violence which were projected onto the character are offensive given her personal history, and the real-life history that she represents. For years, the vitriol and anger that were directed towards Wanda within this narrative, boosted by blatantly ableist tropes, shaped the way that readers and writers alike perceived her. That negative perception encouraged audiences to espouse hateful sentiments about Wanda without forming clear thoughts about their racist implications, or making any effort to better their understanding of Romani people and our needs regarding popular culture. The current era of X-Men comics has revisited the Decimation several times, but I fear that

they have done nothing to counteract the harmful messaging that was attached to Wanda during that time, and have only doubled down on her troubling political position in the mutant world. I shouldn't have to explain this, but characterizing a Romani woman as an interloper, and a bogeyman figure that Krakoans invoke to engender nationalism, directly parallels the racist propaganda that is used to subjugate real-life Romani people throughout Europe. Year after year, Roma communities face forced eviction, deportation, and property laws designed to weed out migrant travellers, while our lives are often endangered by violent hate. Earlier this month, on 19 June, 2021, a Romani man in Teplice, Czech Republic, was murdered in an act of police brutality, and the Czech state has refused to launch an investigation or deliver any sort of justice on behalf of his family. We have spent the last two weeks protesting for Roma lives. To be honest, witnessing Roma death on-page, particularly in the heartbreaking scene where Wanda's own son discovers her body, triggered a lot of the distress and emotional trauma that I've been carrying since the Teplice incident. Of course, the timing of it couldn't be helped, but I fear that Williams will continue to exploit our trauma and our pain in her upcoming series, Trial of Magneto, which promises to revolve around Wanda's death and Magneto's reaction. Given Williams' history, and her choices in this most recent issue, I simply have no faith, only grave misgivings. Leah Williams is a white woman who continues to profit from the exploitation racial trauma and stereotyping, and Marvel cannot claim to be inclusive while enabling her behavior. As readers, we feel we must demand her removal from upcoming and future Marvel projects. We cannot in good conscience support and continue to give money to the X-Men franchise with such creators at the fore. In general, Marvel needs to take a good hard look at how it employs. This won't be a solution to the company's ingrained problems, but removing Leah Williams would be a constructive place to start.

[certain cues have been taken from other readers who have posted and shared their messages to the X-Men office. Please feel free to borrow and modify any aspect of this letter, barring, of course, the passages regarding my own identity. This message has been sent to [email protected]]

#leah williams #x-factor #david alleyne #prodigy #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch

[fleetwood-mac-andcheese]

My thoughts while watching Holes for the billionth time

It’s fucked up that the movie starts with all the supporting characters watching their friend attempt suicide

How long was Stanley’s trial and how short was Zero’s trial? Because we know that Zero got arrested the day after Stanley did, but he arrived at Camp Greenlake significantly earlier. Like, he knew Barfbag, he already had a nickname, people knew he liked to dig. How long was he there before Stanley showed up?

In the book when they sing the song, they howl on the word moon (it’s written “moo-oo-oon”) and I wish they did that in the movie

The Yelnatses screwed Stanley over by not getting him a lawyer. The little bits we see of his case prove they had no clue what they were doing. And when they eventually do get a lawyer, he’s let out almost immediately.

I love how Dr. Pendanski is written. He’s such a terrible person who has convinced himself and is trying to convince those around him that he is the nicest guy around. He fucking sucks and I love how he’s written and how Tim Blake Nelson plays him.

“Today’s menu: Chili, string beans, re-fried beans, garbanzo beans, green beans, and banana jello” — aren’t green beans and string beans the same thing?

The cinematic choices made in this movie are just *chef’s kiss*. The way they jump from timeline to timeline without ever losing pace is masterful

Eartha Kitt is flawless.

While Eartha Kitt is flawless, I want it noted that in the book, Madame Zeroni is described as a one legged Romani person (Sachar actually used the G slur) and Eartha Kitt is neither one-legged nor Romani.

Zero is the fastest digger in the camp, but they never really explain how big the camp is. Like, is he the fastest out of 25 people? 60 people, 140 people?

Just to revisit point 8, I fucking love Eartha Kitt

The yellow spotted lizards are such an excellent plot device

All the inmates are either A) mentally ill B) people of color or C) severely traumatized. But most of them are D) all of the above

When Squid throws out Stanley’s letter, catch Zero in the background with a pool cue ready to beat the shit out of that motherfucker

It’s weird that they show Sam as some kind of snake oil salesman when we know that his product actually works. The yellow spotted lizards won’t bite you if you’ve eaten his onions. Why claim they cure baldness or that Mary Lou is over 100 years old?

Zero back at it again ready to throw hands for Stanley, this time with a billiards ball

The fact that magnet got locked up for stealing a thousand dollar puppy

“You are here on account of one person. You know who that person is?” “Yeah, my no good, dirty rotten, pig-stealing, great great grandfather. That’s who it is”

Henry Winker provides such comedic levity

When Zero asks Stanley to teach him how to read and it’s such a nice moment of vulnerability, only to be shot down by Stanley. I just want to cry

What happens if someone actually dies at Camp Greenlake? Like, Zero and Stanley ran away and Barfbag got sent to the hospital, but they all survived. What would the protocol be if someone just dies while digging? Clearly there’s not a lot of oversight because Stanley can get away with Zero digging his hole, so what happens when one of those kids get overheated working all day in the Texas sun and just collapses in their hole one day and nobody thinks to check on them until the next day when the buzzards are all gathered around their corpse?

I’ve waited long enough to say this. Sigourney Weaver in this movie is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. I fucking love her

Sam and Katherine. nuff said

“Well then I guess you’d be in a lot of trouble if your boat leaked.” *sobs*

Just casually reciting Edgar Allen Poe from memory as a way of professing my love to a woman I legally cannot be with due to racist laws forbidding interracial relationships.

I can’t help but remember that Scott Plank died during the post production of this movie. Respect to him and his ability to play such a good villain as Trout Walker

“No one ever says no to Trout Walker.” “I believe I just did.” SAY IT LOUDER, KATE!

Sam

I love that Kate’s MO came from a racist sheriff sexually harassing her

The sunflower seed thing reminds me of something that happened to me at RTC and it’s just a really nice moment for me

Stanley acting so casual by not doing the one thing he’s supposed to be doing

The look on Magnet’s face right before Stanley covers for him

I really want to know more about the Warden and Mr. Sir’s relationship

I also really want a bottle of that rattlesnake nail polish, but maybe that’s just me

I also really like that Sachar didn’t shy away from the racial implications of a white guy having a black guy do his labor for him. Then again, the whole story is an indictment of racism and the American prison system, so it makes sense he wouldn’t ignore that

The way Stanley gets so excited when Zero mentions that park. Like ‘oh, we have something in common. We used to go to the same park!’ and Zero just shuts it down with “I used to sleep in the tunnel next to the swing and bridge” Stanley may have been cursed, but he still had a home

Zero finally gets to throw hands on Stanley’s behalf. He’s been waiting to do that since point 14

Pendanski really is the shittiest

“No one cares about Hector Zeroni” “I do”

I love that Twitch was just instantly ready to help Stanley steal Mr. Sir’s car

What are the chances of Kate, Zero, and Stanley all finding Sam’s boat in the middle of the desert? And I know Kate probably spent years looking for it after the lake dried up and for Zero and Stanley it was destiny, but still

Zero, you gotta ration that sploosh

One more time for emphasis: I love Eartha Kitt

Kate dying and she hallucinates Sam, only to be snapped out of it by Trout Walker. Just Trout stopping them from being together one last time

“It hasn’t rained here since the day they killed Sam” and you think whatever deity made that happen is gonna let anyone in the Walker family end up with Kate Barlow’s fortune?

“I can’t leave without Hector.”

“Call my mom. Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Theodore said he was sorry” cue Small Steps

Justice reigns over the Walker family and rain falls over the Walker estate

I would love for someone to find out just how much that treasure chest was really worth. Can one of those theorist channels get on that, please?

Hector finding his mom is nothing short of heart-melting. I’m not crying, you’re crying

“Camp Greenlake was closed and the boys were released on time served and sent to real counselors” Wait, are you implying that forced labor is an unjust prison sentence? Someone better tell the prison industrial complex!

So what happened with Sweet Feet? Did they sit him down and explain the misunderstanding before or after signing him as the spokesperson for their product? He was the prosecution’s lead witness at Stanley’s trial, but nope! All is forgiven!

The soundtrack slaps

Point 53, however you have Shia Labeouf and Eartha Kitt in the same movie and you put which one of them on the soundtrack? Just wondering who made that call. Like, you layer ‘I Want To Be Evil’ or ‘Burned As A Witch’ over any of Kissing Kate Barlow’s scenes, it’d be perfect. But no, instead we get the dude from Even Stevens trying to rap.

#holes movie #holes by louis sachar #movie analysis #long post #Shia Labeouf #tw suicide #suicide tw #tw racism #racism tw #tw food #food tw #tw prison #prison tw #tw money #money tw #tw homelessness #homelessness tw #movies #Original #Jamie Talks

[melrosing]

Many fans wanted to see Cersei go out whimpering and begging for her life before being stabbed by Arya/Jaime/Tyrion/Drogon. Which idk to me doesn't sound all that better than her being smashed in the head by a brick. Personally I would have liked to see her go out in a (wildfire) blaze of glory. It would be much more fitting for her and wouldn't reduce her to a crying damsel.

Also idk if this will start shit...but...as a woc myself personally I didn't get any racial implications in her death considering Cersei's hatred doesnt really discriminate. I mean....the septa got a way more gruesome death than Missandei for eg.

I don't like those endings for her any better - I'm the same as you, I think she should go out fighting her own corner for better or worse. I could easily see her sitting in the throne room letting world fall apart around her so long as she dies on top of it... good shit

and I understand what you mean - like, regardless of GOT's appalling history portraying poc, I'm sure beheading Missandei had nothing to do with her being a woc in-verse. but that's not really what I'm bothered by: what troubles me is that these writers expected me to watch this white woman brutally behead the last (and for the most part, only) woc in the cast, and then weep for her in the next episode like it's all just water under the bridge. the writers do not consider the slaughter of Missandei any real sort of obstacle in sympathy they want us to feel for Cersei.

and that's the thing with Cersei in Game of Thrones: the writers are constantly expecting you to erase your memories of the last thing she did so they can pull off this tragic mother figure, but in so doing they treat the things Cersei has done, and the people she has hurt and killed, as just a fucking irrelevance so long as their queen gets the beautiful ending they want for her. it's kind of gross lmao

#ask #cersei lannister #asoiaf