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Lisan al-Ghaib

The Hellsite has a thing against White Savior narratives, and for good reason. The idea that general-purpose Natives have some elixir for mindfulness, mental health or even sociopolitical stability is nothing new. It's as tokenistic as you think if you take it at face value, but I think the more classic examples in the genre like Dances With Wolves or, God forbid, Avatar (a revised copy of the previous title, in many ways) tend to focus on something that's a smidge more positive - namely in that the Other - not the Noble Savage, so much as someone with an entirely external perspective - has the power to help us progress. A very debatable posture.

In effect, the classic examples in the genre contend that it's not really about "saving the Natives" or even becoming their saviour, but rather about the unformed or troubled protagonist finding themselves thanks to the Natives' input. I've always thought that Wolves' Sioux never needed Dubar, Dunbar needed them. The Na'vi never needed Jake Sully, some other member of the people would've eventually filled in the blanks and become Toruk Makto. Instead, Jake Sully needed the Na'vi to fix himself. There's nothing magical there, despite the First Nations spiritualism that mostly coats the genre, ripped out of its context and sort of propped up the same way mindfulness is now pulled out of its own context and served up to the masses, as if living with a little anxiety or stress were somehow a symptom for something more insidious. The world forgot Herbert's object lesson, and suggested that for some people, especially damaged goods, the only way to find purpose is to subsume yourself in another culture. You emerge as the saviour, kill the monster, and fulfill your role in the story.

Taking up someone else's problems to fix yourself isn't an actual solution; I think any two-bit psychologist could tell you that. Even if Dunbar and Sully emerge whole and healed from their own tales, they're behavioural abnormalities. Power doesn't allow you to stay humble. Power corrupts.

Ask Shaddad. Ask the Bene Gesserit. Ask the Harkonnens, who never saw their end coming.

Back when Frank Herbert first wrote Dune, Eastern mysticism was taking off much in the same way we're seeing meditation and yoga. He pulled an interesting bait-and-switch in showing us a protagonist who seemed set to go from a mostly nameless aristocrat to your typical conquering hero - but he realized that some faiths can be noxious. Some currents can twist the mind. After all, Paul Atreides' own stories addresses the fact that he comes to align with fundamentalists, and does so willingly.

In many ways, George Lucas tried to play the same melody with Anakin Skywalker being set up as the Force's hero, only for the will of the Galaxy to be made manifest through his son, instead. The problem is, unlike Herbert, Lucas lacks subtlety. The danger of messianic thinking more or less deserves a dream-state vignette on Dagobah, where Luke beheads Vader and sees his own face in the depths of his father's mask. Herbert, in comparison, makes those fears concrete. Paul was on shaky ground the moment he embraced the moniker of Muad'Dib, and slipped into something I might as well call psychosis, after drinking the Waters of Life.

Chani lost the man she fell in love with. Paul Atreides lost himself.

White Savior narratives aren't meant to be seen as the Civilized Man saving the day. They're meant to be seen as an outsider protagonist needing an external point of view to face the abyss, more or less.

If you're an optimist, the protagonist is thankful for the wisdom he's received and plays his part, not for prophecy or for Ego - but for basic care and consideration. Consider Shogun's Blackthorne, by the end of the series. He wasn't one to calculate his next move - he's clearly a man of passion. Japan gave him something to hold onto - and then squeezed around him like a vice made up of niceties and political manoeuvring. Yoshii Toranaga, on the other hand, is the chess player. Blackthorne's fate is the grimmest of the brighter ends of the White Savior genre. He didn't save anyone or anything; he merely proved useful.

If you're a pessimist, you turn to Dune or to any of your local Fire-and-Brimstone preachers.

Considering, when I hear the Hellsite dismiss Dune as just another story written by a White guy about some other White guy saving some vaguely Middle-Eastern-coded people; that tells me a lot of armchair critics haven't picked up the books or watched the movies.

If anything, Dune's very premise gives reason to those of you who decry Colonialist rhetoric. Dune isn't just a seminal science-fiction classic; it's also a warning about what happens when faith goes haywire, and of what happens when the balance of power tips in the worst direction possible.

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I think we need to have a very long sit down as a website to get y’all to respect queer non-cis man masculinity . Because every few months this website cycles through the “is it’s toxic masculinity when trans men/butches/gnc trans women/any non-cis men ask for their masculinity to be respected and to be treated as human” discourse and I’m kind of sick of it

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Fizz: Azmodeus is just really passionate about his robotics. We are just business partners.

I get the vibe that Ozzie is the only person that Fizz would let take him completely apart if you know what I mean.

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On Cringe

"You're nearing 41 and you still play video games? Cringe."

I laughed with actual good humour at the employee's comment. "You want to know what's actually cringe, in my book? Living your life thinking you owe someone a specific representation that fits your age or social standing. I sincerely hope you've got something in your life that fills you with enough joy that you can indulge in it unashamedly. There's just no better feeling out there. For me, it's cracking open a game after hours. For you, well..."

Cringe culture is dead. If you want to be a feral cave goblin, go be a feral cave goblin. If you want to go nuts with a side project, go nuts. Don't waste precious time trying to be someone else's idea of who you are.

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What's that bro? You began interacting with a media from a different country than yours and/or was made in time period different than the recent present day? Haha that's sick bro! Keep expanding your horizons bro! You're remembering to take into account that sociocultural norms, gender roles and genre expectations are different from what you are used to and meeting the story halfway, instead of forcibly superimposing your ideals into the story, right bro? Right? Right?

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invisibility of the other = self

i see posts by other trans men on this website. primarily they're negative.

having a bad time.

not always. but generally it's about the prevailing trend of people not giving a fuck about us

like at all

in general.

in our personal lives. in our public lives. in our online lives.

trans men and trans mascs are being ignored, ridiculed, and worse.

we are a blind spot in the collective consciousness.

but worse: it is not mere indifference. it is hostility.

this is directed at us for what we are. no matter what we are. no matter our history. none of it matters in the face of the abject hate, disgust, and ignorance people have of us and our existence.

ah.

a tale as old as time.

the outsider. the pariah. the fool. so forth.

at the end of the day, peoples' treatment of us speaks volumes about them.

doesn't it?

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"you looked better before you transitioned!"

I'd rather be an ugly ass man than a miserable little girl.

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Alas, back to the regular work grind today; but I had a lovely 10 day vacation with @the-apostates-martyr ❤️ - we got a lot accomplished around the house and yard!

Very excited to do more work on the bedroom next weekend. This past week we cleared it out the rest of the way and I started patching and prepping it for sanding and painting:

Very pleased with the paint color choices so far: White Stone, Dark Crimson, Cathedral Gray, and Metallic Gold.

#the apostates martyr #blood & gold themed bedroom

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lola

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#I know the US national anthem and the Canadian national anthem #used to perform both at college graduations #and at the county fairgrounds during fair week

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unavoidable that you will be the villain in someone else's story. You will be painted in an unfavorable light. You will be the irredeemable one. and all of this will happen despite how nice you might usually be or how kind or how respectful or how warm. and you will just have to move on.

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🔹 Saying that it's okay to write or read about dark and taboo topics but only when they're portrayed in a certain way is still censorship.

🔹 Wanting to ban or forbid media that you believe portrays a negative topic in a positive light, by glorifying, romanticizing, or fetishizing it is still censorship.

🔹 There is no objective metric to decide if a story is portraying a negative topic the 'right' way.

🔹 Just because a piece of fiction doesn't explicitly condemn or portray an evil action in a bad light in the text doesn't mean the author thinks its good or is trying to persuade the audience that it is good.

🔹 Survivors of trauma will not always write fiction about their trauma in a way that seems 'right' or 'normal' to you.

🔹 Banning fiction because it portrays dark, taboo topics in a way you consider gross or disgusting is still censorship.

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Phantom of the Opera. All the versions that existed at that point in time.

If you guys were on here at 11 years old what would you be posting about

#That was in the early 90s

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Started yesterday:

#books #reading 2024 #booklr

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In a world full of 'maybes', be the 'hell yes' that leaves them breathless and begging for more.

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“You are going to be so much more than ‘enough’ for someone someday.”

— Unknown