#I know. I know! it’s worse for immigrants from other cultures

[helps-the-writing-brain-go]

So like a while ago, I posted something about a half-kryptonian (Warrior Caste) Billy Batson as well a Captain Marvel adopting Superboy.

See what I'm getting at? :3

So Superman has a whole Kryptonian Encyclopedia downloaded into him but really, it can't equal growing up in the culture as Kara makes that abundantly clear even by accident.

Rejecting Connor is a dick move, having him be adopted by the only other possible Kryptonian on planet he knows and have the guy inexplicably dislike him even more is worse.

Connor gets introduced to Kryptonian things ironically in a more organic way than Superman

He's basically a 3nd gen immigrant and he's got his new dad to help with learning their culture

Cap helps remove Connor's hidden programming, Connor helps remove the kryptonian programming that keeps Warrior castes subtly subservient to the Science caste.

Connor can't fly bc human genes? Magic can help.

Time travel or dimension travel is involved at some point so they can visit Krypton

Billy has been entrenched in both cultures all his life, his insults across both languages are flawless and Connor benefits from this

Connor insults Superman at somepoint in flawless native kryptonian so good Kara can't help but high-five him even if she hisses at that burn

Superman - devastasted. Man's can understand the insult, but can't conceivably reply in anything even close to as cool

Captain Marvel is surprisingly (only to some of the League) okay with his son going off on Superman

"Kid needs to express his feelings in a healthy manner. If that manner is dunking on Superman, who am I to stop him?"

Billy just approves of dunking on mean adults and child-abandoners regardless

Kara Zor-El ends up half siding with them bc Cap can cook, specifically, he can cook authentic Kryptonian dishes well

#dad marvel #captain marvel adopts superboy au #Captain Marvel Adopts Superboy #kryptonian billy au #kryptonian billy batson #billy batson #captain marvel #shazam #omg I can't remember the exact tags I used arrrrgh #Connor Kent #Kon-El #Superboy #Superman #another au branch

[runningpsychic]

Why Goodbye Volcano High resonates with me as...

...a musician

As a musician, it's hard not to immediately identify with Fang. What musician doesn't want their music to be heard, to play at music festivals, and have music as their career. I can wax poetic about how music is about self expression and it doesn't matter if I have an audience, but in the end, I still want my music to be heard, and enjoyed. And Fang is on track to making this their entire career.

Making music has been a minor hobby for me. Even as a kid, I knew there's almost no chance I can make it as a musician, so I went down the route of being a software engineer instead. It's such a minor part of my life that I don't even bother identifying as a musician, I just fool around with instruments. But something about GVH ignited that passion in me, and during my first playthrough, I wrote six songs inspired by themes in the game. Even if I'll stay an amateur, I want to make the most from life, and not let the fire die. (See last section)

All that said, I felt very bad for Fang throughout the game. I know how tough the life of a full time musician is. The industry is just completely screwed. And unlike me, Fang doesn't have another option other than music. The game also drives it in that Fang's friends all have viable career paths, while Fang doesn't. But then, the meteor throws an interesting wrench into this, as now Fang is the only one who achieved their dreams. I'm not sure what the point of this paragraph is besides fuck capitalism, give musicians a living wage.

...an enby

Fang really made me more comfortable about being non-binary. It's amazing seeing enby representation that doesn't feel shoehorned in, or merely an afterthought. It's actually integral to the story. Both Fang and Sage struggle having their parents take their identities seriously, and that mirrors my own fears of not being taken seriously as an enby myself, which leads me to only come out as non-binary to my closest friends, and just remain a binary trans woman to everyone else.

It's honestly amazing to see everyone in Caldera Bay being accepting of the queer cast, like being queer isn't a big deal at all. And that's how it should be. Everyone just calls Fang by their name and pronouns (except their parents of course), and no one seems to mind that Reed brought Alvin to prom. This really makes me feel more comfortable about my identity, and I feel proud to be queer. We don't owe them normal.

...an immigrant

It's so rare to see stories about the intersection of being trans and being an immigrant, so when I read Rosa's story, I felt it must've been written by someone who also has first hand experience. There's a distinct feel from my family that me being trans is a "western" thing, not something they could ever understand. Or worse, that I'm being corrupted by "the west" in some way by moving there. There's so much extended family I can never see again because I'm now an abomination of the family tree.

I find it really difficult to talk about this as I fear I'd be misread as being racist for suggesting that my home country is more queerphobic or something, but that isn't my point. I just want to tell my story, and my experience of being alienated for both culture and gender, in both my origin and destination countries, is one that most folks can't emphasize with. (Venba also does do a good job with the culture part, so you should check that out too)

There's a separate rant about how this brand of queerphobia was actually planted by Christian missionaries and not at all "traditional culture", but that's for another time.

...someone struggling with mental health

I've been obsessed with the game for months since I played it. I went through what everyone calls "Dino depression", but I think it really helped me, and it was the game I needed to play at this moment in my life. I struggle with depression and burnout. At times it can be hard to know what the point is, or feel that any of this is worth it. The first few weeks after the game, I actually felt more depressed, as I thought about what the point of life is if it all is temporary anyway, and what I would do if a meteor were to hit in 8 months. And I was scared, because I felt like my life wasn't under my control. Over time, I've learned to think about it more positively. If life is temporary, then it's up to me to make the most of it. If life has no meaning, it's up to me to make my own meaning. I have amazing friends around me, and I still have tons of music to make.

#goodbye volcano high #gvh #transgender #nonbinary #musician #mental health #ko_op

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

ALEX DEWITT (DC COMICS)

1.) The term “fridging” is literally based on Alex and what happened to her. She was killed off violently by a bad guy trying to get at her boyfriend only a couple issues after she was introduced (making it obvious they only brought her in to kill her off for shock value). Her death did very little to the narrative other than hurt her boyfriend Kyle and was done in an exceedingly horrifying and violent way. (Bad guy came to the door with flowers and threatening note, broke in and attacked her, choking her to death, before [off panel] chopping her body up and sticking it in the refrigerator as a “surprise” for her boyfriend. This obviously is really fucked up and she deserves better and should win this actually (a vote for Alex is a vote for all fridging victims [in spirit])

2.) It doesn’t get much worse than being the character whose death originated the “fridging” trope. In Green Lantern Vol. 3 #54, Kyle Rayner comes home to find that Alexandra, his girlfriend, has been killed by the villain Major Force and stuffed into the refrigerator.

Alexandra DeWitt is the character whose misogynistic treatment coined the term where a character, usually female, is killed off purely to make the main character, usually male, feel bad. Even if there are other characters who have been subjected to similar levels of misogyny, Alexandra DeWitt’s treatment has been essentially immortalized.

3.) I know she’s not going to win but shout out to my home girl, literally the trope namer for women shoved in fridges. All anyone ever knows about her is that she was Kyle’s girlfriend and got murdered for his character development, even though she had plenty of potential to be her own character.

MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Racism)

1.) First, her creator has it as a hard Canon rule that every single episode she has to be wrong about something, even if it doesn’t make sense for her to be. She got to be with a boy who liked who she was and not the fact that she was a hero, who is much better suited for her as a partner than the one she is constantly shoved with. Her superhero partner constantly pushes past her romantic boundaries and is actively encouraged by everyone else in canon around him, even when she states multiple times that she doesn’t want to date him and they are not a couple. He’s always trying to take away from the fight, and several times when he is turned down he will take it out on her. The creator of the show describes him as flawless. Her suits are awful, they’re literally just decorative spandex on her body, giving her no structure or support.

2.) victim of both the crew’s misogyny and racism the show literally cannot be normal about her i submitted her to the character massacre poll so im gonna repeat some of the stuff i said from there shes a 14 year old girl n a rule of the show’s bible is that marinette must always be the one to learn a lesson so shes always wrong according to the narrative even when she actually isnt in the wrong one of her main character traits is that she has a crush on adrien and cause shes a teenage girl shes of course portrayed as obsessive and stalkerish for… having pictures of her fashion model crush in her room n knowing his schedule even though hes super busy n it would be reasonable for her to keep track of his schedule so she n his other friends could actually hang out with him despite being half chinese and (from what i remember) her mom being a first generation immigrant she has no actual connection to it for all intents and purposes her being half chinese is almost irrelevant for her character unless the show feels like being weird about it such as having her white crush be more knowledgeable about chinese culture than her n her parents being based off of the creator and an ex girlfriend of his (his tweet about that is still up btw) which leads into the next thing of marinette is weirdly sexualized by the show she has the most blatantly body paint suit of the girls (cause all of them have body suits seriously pretty much all of the women n girls in this show could be submitted which is bad considering its a girl power show for kids) the camera frequently frames itself on the lower half of her body in one of the comics after she detransforms shes left naked (an issue entirely invented for this comic) and has to wear a box as clothes n there was a scandal about a member of the crew drawing her naked which the show’s creator defended (remember this guy said marinette was like his virtual child) shes not winning in her love life either so both marinette and adrien are superheroes with secrect identities n neither of them know who the other person is under the mask marinette likes adrien who is chat noir’s civilian identity and adrien likes ladybug who is marinette’s superhero identity hes not into marinette n marinette’s not into chat noir however chat noir constantly flirts with ladybug (usually instead of actually helping her) ignores her rejections of his romantic advances n throws a hissy fit whenever she doesnt priortize him (such as not helping her defeat the baddie thats frozen all of paris cause last night she didnt show up for a date he set up when she told him she couldnt go on a date cause she already had plans with friends threatening to quit when most of paris was underwater due to a different villain cause marinette got trusted with an important secret n he didnt and attempting to use cataclysm (his ability to destory anything) on marinette’s best friend when marinette had her use the ladybug miraculous in her stead) while her own pursuit of adrien only ever ends in her own humiliation cause the crew just thinks its so funny for a teenage girl to get repeatedly humiliated for the crime of wanting to ask her crush out n then yank her back when she tries to move on with a guy who openly has a crush on her respects her n is very supportive of her which is something they literally wrote her to do n pressured by pretty much everyone to ask out adrien (as a civilian) n date chat noir (as a hero) cause the show doesnt know how to properly develop a romance for their main couple beyond having everyone say theyre meant to be and then also this is more of like the show’s general misogyny and double standards but when girls crush on the same guy theyre all catty bitches to eachother (n then also two of them are irredeemably evil cause the show hates teenage girls n thinks the show’s main villain (who only isnt a child abuser if you dont considering neglect n emotional abuse real abuse) is more redeemable than two cartoony mean teen girls) while guys crushing on the same girl are chill n buddies with eachother

3.) We’ve seen time and time again she’s capable and smart and creative and can really do anything she puts her mind to-but canon forces her to fall for a guy after he halfass apologizes (never actually says sorry and lies about never having friends when in the same episode he keeps saying he’s this persons friend) about a misunderstanding because ooh white boy go hard I guess and thus for multiple seasons have her go stupid around and simply because of this boy. This same boy but now hero form she’s doesn’t know, gets to trying and flirt with her over and over even after she tells him very nicely that she doesn’t like him like that, thought they were just bantering, and that she likes someone else. The narrative punishes her when she does anything that the boy doesn’t like, either by him not helping her as a hero in fights or scolding her in both forms. Additionally, her character is through the ringer when ever it comes to him because “she’s boy crazy” like teaming up with her bully to ruin this girls dress because she is attending an event with him- which goes way off base for her character- and this happens only whenever he’s involved. They have her be weird around him like sniffed his pillow once and took a hair from what she thought was a statue of him and also have her never function normally around him-which fine that can be true to life cause she’s 13-but when she falls for this other boy who makes her relaxed and helps her to be who she is happily-the narrative pulls a 180 once they date showing she can’t forget about the first boy and putting her pictures she took of the first boy back in her room when they were previously removed. Last thing because I think this is getting way too long sorry, but they sexualize the hell out of the female hero: from their poses and shots focusing on their chest, butts, or movements of them, but also the male heros costumes are way more intricate and detailed where as the main character for three plus seasons only had a red bodysuit with black neck and black spots while the male hero had a black suit detailed with a golden bell, leather belt as a tail, black ears, green cat eyes, and more. I just can’t with this show doing girls dirty and then claiming “girl power”

#polls #round 3 #week 5 #new #cw racism

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

Why Nikki Haley’s answer omitting slavery as a cause of the Civil War matters.

What happened.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire, a member of the audience asked Nikki Haley to identify the causes of the Civil War. She gave an evasive answer that omitted slavery as a cause of the Civil War. She said,

I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.

Haley was immediately attacked, mocked, and condemned for failing to identify slavery as a cause of the Civil War. During a Thursday morning interview, she attempted to walk back her prior answer with an equally offensive and unconvincing answer. As described in Forbes,

During the Thursday morning interview, she said the goal of the Civil War was to ensure each person has their freedom, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the “freedom to do and be anything they want to be without anyone or government getting in the way . . . Yes, I know it was about slavery. I’m from the South, of course I know it’s about slavery.”

Why it matters.

Haley has a history of minimizing or dismissing the role of slavery in the Civil War. The incident on Wednesday is merely the latest episode that reveals her willingness to cater to white nationalists in pursuit of elected office. As former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said,

She's smart and she knows better. And she didn't say it because she's a racist. Because she's not. I know her well and I don't believe Nikki has a racist bone in her body . . . the reason she did it is just as bad, if not worse, and should make everybody concerned about her candidacy. She did it because she's unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth. If she is unwilling to stand up and say that slavery is what caused the Civil War because she's afraid of offending constituents in some other part of the country, if she's afraid to say that Donald Trump is unfit because she's afraid of offending people who support Donald Trump, . . . What's going to happen when she has to stand up against forces in our own party who want to drag this country deeper and deeper into anger and division and exhaustion?”

Christie is right that Nikki Haley is afraid to tell the truth. But she is also a reactionary conservative posing as a moderate. As the NYTimes noted, her failure to include slavery threatens to destroy her image as someone attractive to moderate Republicans and independents. Per the Times,

Ms. Haley’s appeal as a candidate of moderation is mixed. As governor of South Carolina, she signed some of the harshest immigration and anti-abortion laws in the country at the time, as well as a stringent voter identification law that required photo ID at the ballot box.

But Haley’s omission of slavery was not merely an act of cowardice on her part. She was promoting a dangerous revisionist history of the Civil War that has taken root in the former Confederate states. Haley is promoting the myth of the “Lost Cause” of the South—a romanticized transformation of the brutal practice of slavery into (in the words of Haley) “traditions that are noble — traditions of history, of heritage, and of ancestry.”

I highly recommend a thoughtful and detailed discussion of Haley’s dangerous answer by Joshua Zeitz in Politico, Opinion | Why Was It So Hard for Nikki Haley to Say "Slavery"? Civil War History Has the Answer.

Zeitz writes,

The Lost Cause mythology was more than bad history. It provided the intellectual justification for Jim Crow — not just in the former Confederacy, but everywhere systemic racism denied Black citizens equal citizenship and economic rights. [¶] With GOP presidential candidates waffling on the Civil War, rejecting history curricula in their states and launching political fusillades against “woke” culture, it remains for the rest of us to reaffirm the wisdom of Frederick Douglass, who in the last years of his life stated: “Death has no power to change moral qualities. What was bad before the war, and during the war, has not been made good since the war. … Whatever else I may forget, I shall never forget the difference between those who fought for liberty and those who fought for slavery.”

Nikki Haley wants to forget “the difference between those who fought for liberty and those who fought for slavery.” In pursuit of the presidency, she recasts “fighting for slavery” as “noble traditions of history, heritage, and ancestry.” Shame on her.

Haley is telling us who she is. We should believe her.

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

#Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell newsletter #Nikki Haley #the civil war #slavery #the old south #White supremacy #The Lost Cause #Mike Luckovich

[legobiwan]

What do you think the rest of the mario crew thinks of luigis villains?

Oooh hoo hoo. Fun question, anon! I'll include my projected opinions of Bowser, Peach, Mario and maybe a little addendum of E. Gadd as they're the main players who would have definite and varying things to say about each villain.

Bowser

Antasma: Thinks he's an absolute pushover and annoying, to boot. 10/10 would join forces with and betray again as it was almost a little too easy.

King Boo: Is extremely wary of him and tries to avoid entering any deals or partnerships with him, as even Bowser thinks King Boo is seriously deranged and from the rumours he's heard from the Boos who immigrated to the Darklands, he is a petty, tyrannical, and insane ruler. (Not that Bowser isn't petty and tyrannical - at least in his own mind. But, in reality, Bowser is pretty fair according to Darklands culture and treats his minions well, even if he yells and stomps around a lot).

Dimentio: Hates him with a burning passion and wants a chance to go one on one with him, just so he can personally stuff a sock in the smooth-talking jester's mouth. Bowser is always open to less-than-healthy alliances for personal gain, but even he knows Dimentio is someone you do not do deals with if you want to live. But by the lava gods, would he love to dig him up from the River Twygz, just for the opportunity to bury him again.

Peach

Antasma: Frankly, to Peach, Antasma is another villain-of-the-week who kidnapped her. She has no patience for villains who rely solely on kidnapping as their modus operandi, it's insulting and she's over it. She'll, of course, keep an open line of communication with the Pi'illo Kingdom in case Antasma or someone similar tries to make a pass at the Dream Stone, which is a wildly dangerous artifact.

King Boo: Even though King Boo did kidnap her once, Peach holds less disdain for King Boo than Antasma, as, at least with King Boo, her imprisonment wasn't targeted solely on her. She has a healthy respect for King Boo's powers and does not want to get the Mushroom Kingdom entangled with whatever bizarre blood feud is going on between him and Luigi.

Dimentio: She's just glad he's (hopefully) dead. This hasn't stopped her from drafting up a contingency plan to account any reappearance, just in case. She considers him one of the most dangerous villains of all time and worse, due to the whole Chaos Heart fiasco, that contingency plan she's created? Strategies to contain Luigi are also in that plan, and she hates every word she has to dictate to her scribes.

Mario

Antasma: Hates him for the fact he managed to infiltrate his brother's dreams and not only violate his deepest thoughts, but bring Bowser along for that ride. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as the old saying goes.

King Boo: Wants. His. Head. On. A. Platter. (But also, that whole thing makes him doubt himself? He's supposed to the protector, not Luigi. And three times now, Mario has managed to fail and been taken captive by ghosts. He can't figure out why he's so ill-disposed to deal with the paranormal. He needs to fix it).

Dimentio: Mario simultaneously despises Dimentio and is also terrified of him, as he's one of the only bad guys he's never truly been able to kill. Sure, they brought down Super Dimentio (Mario doesn't want to think about that, the other way his brother was folded and stretched into a grotesque monster of the apocalypse), but even then, Dimentio had one last trick up his sleeve and if not for Count Bleck and Tippi, the worlds would have ended and that damned jester and his in-thrall brother would have been left kings of an empty universe. More than King Boo, the nightmare that returns to Mario again and again is Dimentio rising from Underwhere with dangerous, silky words, somehow convincing Luigi to join forces with him to reignite the Chaos Heart and bring reality crashing to an end.

Post-script: E. Gadd

I think of all the villains, E. Gadd would be most fascinated by Antasma. King Boo is a nuisance, one created - if he were to be honest with himself - in part due to his own negligence. He'll never know everything about ghosts, but he knows a damn lot after all these decades. But to traverse the world of dreams and use them to alter reality - that is something E. Gadd has not encountered before, and he would love to study Antasma's powers and see how they align with the brainwave charts he's taken in secret of Luigi.

#hello there #ask legobiwan #mario #peach #bowser #antasma #king boo #e gadd #so i guess the moral of the story is that everyone underestimates antasma except for e gadd #which i feel would backfire WILDLY #and that dimentio scares the shit out of everyone as should be expected #and that e gadd's moral compass is a roulette wheel although he does mean well #thanks anon this was a SUPER fun ask!!!

[americqnheartss]

mmmmmm niche tbosas boba shop au with references to my hometown... write yourself please </3

here are the long awaited deets 🕴

since boba shops don't need 24 employees (can't fit all the tributes, womp womp), their neighbor will be a retro burger joint!!! the tributes from each shop go back and forth, visiting each other on their breaks. howeverrrr the main focus is, of course, the boba shop.

bonus: the mentors as snobby legacy students at the prestigious university that always dwell between the shops for a taste of culture.

what i have so far:

hy's mother, which i'll name gen, has owned the tea house since the early 2000s. it's called "heaven's tea house" (get it?? b/c... in the original book, they're all dead--)

the burger joint is gonna be named "rena's burgers" (after the arena... i'm original, i swear) and it's ran by wovey's chipper old dad, which he inherited from his grandpa

romance is more of a subplot, but it's still there! i'm focused on the ~power of friendship~

i just want them to be goofy ffs...

character tidbits b/c ik that's what we're here for:

lucy gray, mizzen, and dill as the new hires

hy owns the shop now with coral as the manager. their dynamic so far reflects that of dina and glenn from superstore

aka he's super apologetic and can't say "no", while coral CAN say "no" and so much worse if provoked enough

treech as the emo british immigrant barista that the high school girls giggle about (shout out @crazycriter for britreech)

lamina rolls her eyes when they fangirl over him, so much so that they might freeze in the back of her head

mizzen and bobbin have unwarranted beef with hy and he doesn't know why. they don't either. it just became their thing

the mentors are big tippers. like, $50 casually dropped in the little bucket, and the workers all have to pretend they're normal and chill about it so they don't freak out their regulars

juno and urban are regulars and big tippers BUT they're super specific about their orders so they kinda dread them

dennis fling's bereals when he's in the cafe include silly little pics with the employees (shout out to @zippiedippievippie for this idea hehe)

i've planned a meltdown for sol. don't ask. she's a woman in stem and that's a canon event

#tbosas #ao3 #the hunger games #eddie is writing (swear) #barbequeue! #fic: employee of the month

[sailoryooons]

With the new Yoongi photos, I see a lot of people bringing up Scarface references and linking it to the Tony Montana song, which honestly I love. As a Cuban-American and a giant history nerd, I feel like babbling about why Yoongi selecting Tony Montana as a representation of his music is so perfect.

Hali being a fucking long-winded nerd under the cut

For those that aren’t familiar with Tony Montana, who inspired Yoongi’s track Tony Montana, he’s a fictional character in Howard Hawk’s movie Scarface. Tony Montana is a Cuban who, along with thousands of other Cubans, came to Florida by way of the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

Let’s talk about the historical aspect of this first cause I think everyone should actually know the cultural significance of the Mariel Boatlift. 

The movie starts with the Mariel Boatlift event in 1980. It was basically a mass immigration all at once of Cubans to the United States when Cuba’s president at the time, Fidel Castro, agreed to release the thousands of Cubans who were trying to escape Cuba and its violent communist dictatorship. The US (Carter administration at the time) agreed to take Cubans under asylum - until they realized that a majority of the Cubans Fidel released were only the members of society the Cuban government considered ‘undesirable’. So people who had been in jail for years - and very specifically anyone who identified as queer - were sent to the US where they ended up stuck in immigration camps in absolute CHAOS. 

In the movie, Tony is one of the Cubans released who was a “criminal” (we could discuss for hours what actually constituted a criminal via the Cuban government but that’s not the point). The point is, that because of this realization, the media and the Americans freaked the fuck out when this happened and there was a HUGE wave of hate, backlash, and fear against the Cubans who were now plopped in Miami with nothing to do and nowhere to go. There was a HUGE pushback to get them out of the US and there was a lot of villainization of Cuban people for just existing. 

Thus - the growth of the cartel industry. Miami in particular was built on the back of Cubans and Cuban-Americans and I will die on this hill, and the cocaine boom in the 80s/90s is largely responsible for Miami becoming so funded the way that it was. Through the beginning of the movie, Tony is jumping through hoops as a low-level drug runner, but he’s viewed through the lens of a hero from the audience: does good by his family, has a great relationship with his best friend, is kind of making the best with what he has and wants so much more. We can liken this to how Yoongi views his own story: someone who is just trying to make a life for himself, someone who loves his members and his fans and family, someone who is passionate about what he does and is fighting for his legitimacy. Yoongi is the Tony Montana, being hated and shamed by Western media and even K-Media and struggling with enemies all around him.

The drug trade in Miami at its beginning was predominantly run by elite white men. In the 70s/80s/90s cocaine was a “white man's drug” as it was largely expensive - the majority of it was coming from South America. Tony essentially climbs the ladder through a white man’s game and trade, and ends up top. He slaughters his way there, killing whoever is in his way, and the entire time he does it, the viewer loves his story because he’s so proud and his brutality is from pride and want for power because he comes from nothing. 

This is literally Agust D. It’s Yoongi fighting his way to be who he is, to establish himself. His entire first two albums are consumed with anger and saying fuck the industry because he, like Tony, is good at what he does and even though others do not want him there, he doesn’t care. He will do whatever he wants to get to the top.

And both Tony and Yoongi get to the top, but once there, the enemies are even worse. The people who hate you are tenfold, you’re paranoid, you want more because you realize it isn’t enough, and you feel like you have people trying to fucking snipe you and tear you down every second. Your friends aren’t your friends anymore because you don’t know who is trying to bring you down, but despite all that, you’re the king because you did it. Which is Yoongi’s going in feel like Tony Montana.

Also, it’s not lost on me that using a character not native to the United States who started from nothing and climbed their way to the top with enemies everywhere is the fucking genius of it. Yoongi, a Korean rapper, has dealt with people thinking his music is a joke, not taking him seriously, and having so many haters - especially in the Western music industry predominantly controlled by white media (we can dissect this bullshit too)- likens himself to Tony because of the insane pride, the willingness to do anything, and the way you have so many people out for you when you fucking get there.

There is also a great comparison to draw between the two when you consider that Americans largely hated Cubans when they first came to Florida and it was all: they’re going to take our jobs, they are criminals, they don’t belong here. 

When you look at kpop and the BTS experience in general, it’s the same fucking thing. The Western media does not want BTS here - doesn’t get it. Thinks that kpop and BTS specifically are there to take jobs, that they don’t belong here. And then BTS did it anyway. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk idk I could talk about this so much longer and there are more things I want to include but this is just a summary on why Yoongi x Tony Montana is such a vibe.

also fun fact about hali's dad - he went out on his fishing boat to help rescue Cubans from Cuba and brought them back during the Mariel Boatlift lmfao

#lmao this was way too long and not really well laid out but idc #just some random thots for you guys on a sunday #i didn't make this as eloquent and educated as i wanted to but whatever!!!!

[cherienymphe]

i was the og anon who said “dont be a white boys first black gf” examples on why it was awful :

~ didnt give me a warning that his parents were extremely predjudice - just was always like

“idk just dont like get offended if they say something off hand” SAYING THIS WHILE WE WERE ON THE WAY TO MEET THEM. like do not ever put a black girl in an unsafe space oh my gods

they came across as “civil” but once they found out i was actually african coming from immigrant family the back handedness got worse

~ had a blackout post on his insta HAHAHAHAHAH

~ dont get me started on rap music. never said the word around me and i was confident he didnt, then his friend sent me a snap of him saying it when he was his buddies and like laughed (his friend was a real one omg)

~ always asked why i was wearing a bonnet when id send him like a random selfie or go on facetime while i was at home and i was like nigga im at home ?

way more but im tired, but i hope this helps the other anons replying to my ask. it truly was like a weird time and i appreciated his non racist friends who had my back, nothing kkk but its the south so i wouldnt put it behind them HAHAHAH

Yeah all of this sounds about right. Especially that first one. Idk what it is with white people and putting their partners of color in legitimate harmful situations like being on the receiving end of RACISM. If you have no intention of nipping that in the bud once you start dating that person before bringing them around then what even is the point

I lowkey wanna tell you to homie hop but the homie was kekeing with them when they said it or at the very least didn't speak up so 🤷🏾‍♀️

Ngl the bonnet one is craaazy but maybe I'm just used to white men who have some understanding of black culture or parts of it. Him not knowing what a bonnet is lowkey gives me the ick bc it's 2023 my guy 😭

#asks

[tainted-liquor]

racism and 'hiimayee'/'mayearies'

hi! so, I know Im not posting as frequently as I should be n I kinda fell off, BUT! theres a reason for that that I will be discussing today.

so, around maybe a month or so ago I was added to an insta gc with a handful of writers. Some being ash, maye, Dalia, a mutual friend named Ash, who we refer to as Lash, and a few others. Keep in mind, just so there is no misconception, the dominant population of this groupchat was both black and queer. I am not going to define who as its not relevant, and I would like to respect everyones privacy.

So, one day in the groupchat, we were all joking around when maye decided to call Dalia, aka @primaviva, a b--der h**per.

Now, for some who are confused lets go over the term 'b--der h**per' and its history.

This is a racial slur that aims to offend the Latino community, specifically Mexican immigrants. it is a callback to the border laws that prevent non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States without legal documentation, otherwise known as a passport or a 'green card' that will recognize you as a U.S. citizen. Throughout history, the government has made it harder and harder to apply for U.S. citizenship. Especially if the person attempting to migrate doesn't have the appropriate funds to finance this kind of migration. This is a form of systemic oppression to further segregate POC from White America, and this system has been critized in the past due to its nature and America even being stolen land.

As stated above, this slur is aimed at Mexican Immigrants. However, anyone of any culture can be an immigrant. When Maye knowingly said this to Dalia, not only was she using a derogatory term used to berate those who spent years trying to find a way towards a better life against her, but she was also grouping her in a category that is not her own. Dalia is NOT Mexican-American. She is puerto rican and dominican. So not only does this term not apply to her, it groups the entire Latino community in a giant umbrella of ignorance that erases her culture, and throws it under one title that is not her own.

To put this into perspective, lets use a hypothetical example.

Jen is Mexican-American. Her culture has deep roots that contributed to everyday history. While some components of her history may be similar to other Latino heritage, they are not the same and differ in many ways.

Gabriella is Puerto-Rican. She too has some similarites to other Latino/spanish speaking cultures, but there is an entirely different story to how her people came to be.

Grouping Jen and Gabriella together is ignorant. Doing this overlooks and dismisses their difference in history and boils their culture down to one small similarity; Spanish. You wouldn't call Gabriella a deragotory term that doesn't apply to her, because not only is it racist, but it also takes a massive eraser to her culture and roots. To put these two under the same roof and unite them under one thing is essentially telling them "you're all the same."

Cultural erasure is already a big problem in non-white communities. Anything that differs from European american history is already not talked about, but to do this is just a slap in the face.

And to put the icing on the cake, this was her apology. Which took her 3 tries...

#1, which was already an issue in itself...an emoji for racism is crazy.

#2, which still wasn't sufficient for racism...

And #3, in which she attempt to deflect the situation by saying we use "problematic language". Which, is only the n-word amongst each other. Because we're all black!

She even got defensive when Dalia assumed she was Latino due to how quickly the word was sent like it was normal. This was not a PROPER apology, regardless of how lengthy it was.

And to make matters worse, this isn't the first time she's been caught saying some racist/problematic shit.

This post is lengthy, and for that, I apologize. But I would like to address one last component of this post before I sign things off.

As you can see in one image, Maye cracked a joke about 'curry' when talking about Pakistani women's education activist Malala.

Let's take a moment to explain why this is problematic, and how cracking jokes about curry when on the topic of Pakistan is an issue.

Pakistan is a country in South Asia that neighbors India. This country has a beautiful and unique history of its own that very rarely is taught in classroom settings, just like I said earlier with any sort of history that is not European. One of the racial stereotypes of its South Asia is their 'abundance of curry', and all of their meals being some type of 'curry'

This is again an ignorant and narrow-minded ideology regarding the topic of race and its similarities to other countries that are similar in certain aspects. It pushes people into a marginalized box, and labels them as 'all the same'.

I ask that you do research before spreading a harmful narrative about peoples culture, and don't be ignorant. Thank you for taking time to read this post.

#discrimination #please read #History #hiimayee #Racism #hate crimes #latino culture #latino #ignorance #Latino community

[highpriestessarchives]

Expectations: In Which Diverse Stories Have Extra Criteria

CW: mentions of racism, brutality, colonization, more of a vent post than anything informative

As much as I don’t like it, I feel as though the best way to start this off is to provide context on my own background. I’ll get to why I don’t like it in a moment, so bear with me. I’m a first generation born Filipino American. My parents are from Tarlac (and a DNA test shows that we also have lineage traced back to Northern and Western Philippines as well some Central & Eastern and Southern China), and they raised us in a semi-traditional Filipino fashion. They didn’t teach us the language in fear of us being made fun of by other Americans, but we did grow up eating the food, respecting our elders, and practicing Filipino Catholic traditions that my parents grew up with in their homeland.

Needless to say, the remarks that followed me into my adult life have pulled my resonance with my heritage in every which way. To other Filipinos and other Asians, I looked part white, and they would ask for pictures of my parents for “proof” that I wasn’t. True story: I remember one of my college friends grabbing my phone and showing her friends in an “I told you so” manner, as if my race was some mystery for them to crack. It wasn’t. I fully told them from the start that I’m Filipino. My Titas would tell me that I looked “mestiza,” and how many young girls in the Philippines would want to look the way I do, and I didn’t know how to explain to them that I started hating how pale I am because of how other Asians would assume my race because of it.

At the same time, my non-Asian counterparts (yes, majority of the people who made these comments were white) would assume that I was some hodge-podge of all Asian cultures. I remember my high school teacher showing us a Vietnamese medicine commercial (this was a class on medical malpractice, and, if I remember correctly, she wanted to show us how medicine is advertised internationally), and she walked into class saying, “The only one who might understand this clip is Rory.” She’d used my deadname at the time, but you get the idea. Jaw-dropped, I had to say, “I don’t speak Vietnamese. I’m not Vietnamese.”

I know, what does this have to do with writing? We’ll get there; don’t worry.

Around 2018, the term “decolonization” entered my realm of awareness. I would see other children of immigrants from all over the world dive into their heritage and continue their ancestors’ practices. Thinking that this would be a genuine way to connect with my roots (I had, and still have, a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church, so I was excited to hear about other Filipino faiths), I began doing my research. At the time, I had a sizable following on TikTok, and I would post entertainment-only sort of videos regarding my spirituality and craft, and I even had to put out a video explaining why I didn’t go into more detail with the Filipino aspects of it. I wasn’t as learned with it as I am now, and I was afraid of the criticism and backlash others would have towards it. In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have given a sh*t, but the internet, as we all know, is cruel.

See, I use my writing as a way to connect with myself and other people, mainly. Yes, I have a story to tell, but a majority of my purpose is to discover and process my own emotions and findings. I use what I observed in society and how I grew up as well as what I learned from my own research. I won’t go into detail of the racism Asian Americans face nor the brutality we have endured over the years; frankly, if you are not already aware of it, Google is free.

Still, my work seemed to be followed by one main criticism: this isn’t yours to tell.

There were a myriad of reasons behind it. I wasn’t born in the Philippines, I’m white-passing, I wasn’t raised with anitismo, other marginalized groups have it “exponentially” worse, etc. I’d be lying if I said this didn’t affect my writing. I froze. I grappled with what I was “allowed” to tell based on all of these criteria. I’d pull up article after article of what I learned in hopes to justify the reasons for including certain aspects in my work; but because of my own upbringing, it never seemed to be enough. What’s worse, a portion of these criticisms completely dismissed the aspects of racism that Asian Americans have spoken up about time and time again (once again, because other’s have it worse or because there just wasn’t enough awareness about it for it to be “valid.”)

Imagine that. We read of thousands of iterations of medieval fantasies from white authors, thousands of European fae romances, thousands of Greek mythological retellings, and treat it as the default. There is no question of whether the author is Greek or Gaelic enough or if their ancestors played a huge role during the medieval era. Hell, my first published work was based on Greek and Celtic mythology, and no one talked about my race then, whether it was about how white I look or how I'm not white at all.

But gods help us if a minority doesn’t fit the ultimate minority model while telling their stories. To be honest, this was why I started disliking the need to talk about my background; it has begun to feel as though it is more to provide credentials rather than to satiate genuine curiosity from other people.

Yes, I do recognize that I wasn’t born in the Philippines and that I was raised Catholic, but I’ve come to terms with how I feel like that is okay.

First of all, if we want to hear from more diverse writers, we cannot keep projecting this “model minority” expectation towards them. Otherwise, it will discourage other diaspora writers, such as myself, from connecting and relaying their heritage in fear of not being “[insert marginalized group here] enough,” whatever that even means at this point.

Secondly, our history is full of movement, whether it was by our own will, such as my parents’ decision to come to America, or if it was forced upon us by our oppressors. As such, those raised outside of their homeland only further enriches our culture, not dilutes it.

To filter the perspectives of or to project your own biases towards diaspora writers is to promote the narratives of the colonizers. We are valid, and our stories should be, too.

#writingcommunity #writing #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #writers #writeblr #writers and poets #writerscommunity #writing life #poc author #diverse reads #diverse books #filipino #filipina #poc writer #creative writing #writer #writerslife #writer stuff #novel writing #on writing #writing community #authorlife #authors of tumblr #author #author life #author blog #author speaks #diverse authors #authors of color

[luminalunii97]

The reason I post on Tumblr is that I'm trying to spread the news about the Iran revolution and my targeted audience is non-iranians around the world. It's a fact that people of different nations mostly know each other by nationalities and not subgroups and ethnicities. For example, I know people from China or Russia or Argentina as Chinese and Russians and Argentines, but I have very limited knowledge about the cultural and linguistic diversity within different countries. I know about some ethnic groups through media or documentary programs, and I know more about the people of neighboring countries because of proximity and common grounds, but you can't expect me to know the demographics of every country around the world, and in return, I don't expect citizens of other countries to know the details of existing ethnicities in Iran, a country that has been isolated and pushed out of pictures for decades. With all these said I like to give very basic information about the ethnic structure of Iran's population.

Ethnic map of Iran

Iran has always been a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-culture, and multi-lingual nation. Iranian is the nationality and not an ethnical or racial identity. Persians, Kurds, different branches of Turks, Balochs, Lurs, Arabs, Gilaks, Mazanis, etc, etc, are the racial or ethnic identities that have made Iran's body. These ethnic groups have their own language or dialect, their own culture and food, costumes and urban legends, and in some cases particular religion. This makes Iran a very colorful country, which obviously can be a place of wonder but also trouble.

Some of the Folk Costumes in Iran

The relations among these ethnicities and their relation with the capital and the ruling system through history is complicated and differs from region to region, dynasty to dynasty. As you might know, the country you know as Iran today is the remains of an old empire that has gone through many uprises and downfalls, wars and invasions, and rebordering. Here's a quick video of how Iran's borders have changed through history; got bigger, shrank in size, and moved east and west.

The trouble with having so much variety within a country is the unpleasant manifestation of racism, favoritism, and discrimination. This problem has gotten a lot worse under the islamic republic regime. Even though favoritism and racism by the government have existed to different degrees in previous dynasties, the Islamic Republic took it to another level and since it's a theocracy, they added the element of religion stronger than ever to the discrimination mix.

Currently, in Iran, the uneven distribution of wealth and resources, and the government's neglect in many provinces and cities have made a huge gap between prosperity levels in crucial cities like tha capital, Tehran, and everywhere else. Tehran currently is the most populated city in western Asia. It's actually overpopulated, and this overpopulation is causing many environmental problems like air pollution in the city. The main reason is immigration because of the concentration of facilities and opportunities in the capital in contrast with non-existent facilities in other areas. Many people, including my family, have moved to Tehran, temporarily or permanently, to get a better chance at education or finding a job.

Apart from financial fairness, the islamic republic has been dead set on destroying ethnic identities in Iran. Banning the writing, reading, and learning of native languages at schools is one example. In many cities around the country, Persian is not the first language of daily communication. Persian as the official language is the mediator language that makes it possible for people from different regions to communicate. Different accents of Persian are the main and only language in many cities. Some cities are bilingual, but in others, Persian is like English in European countries, just a mediator, not the main native language. Almost everyone can understand and speak Persian, but native languages are the preferred language of daily life in cities with the majority of that ethnic population.

Another example is the restriction on wearing native clothes. In this one, the Islamic Republic hasn't been completely achieved, but they've been able to pale the usage or change the original form of most ethnic styles. For example, to make all the Iranian women uniformly dressed, they successfully changed the colorful veiling of Baloch women to a Black chador.

The original colorful clothing of Baloch women vs the black chador Islamic Republic has forced on them

Last but not least, based on religious beliefs, cities with the majority of non-shia muslim populations face discrimination times and times worse. Lots of Kurdish and Baloch cities have a majority of sunni muslim people. In the recent protests, the level of oppressing violence these cities have faced is far worse than in other states. Where in Tehran they shoot us mostly with shotguns, they only use battle rifles in Kurdistan and Zahedan. In only one day, Bloody Friday of Zahedan, they killed at least 96 Baloch people. Baloch people are also the first group of arrested protesters the regime has started executing. They're being murdered by the regime everyday now. These were only discriminations they're faced during the protests. A region with many metal mines like gold, and various industries is in so much poverty you'd think it's a war-struck place. Poverty, lack of clean drinking water, and identity paper restrictions are some of the examples of problems in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

In Kurdish cities the regime brought Tanks and DShK to suppress people, as if a foreign army has striked. People of Kurd never accepted the Islamic Republic regime and have been fighting its authority for decades now. Mahsa Amini, as you probably know by now, was from a Kurdish city named Saqez. The protests started in front of the hospital she passed away in, in Tehran, but it turned into full on revolution at her funeral, in her homeland, where Kurd women took their headscarves off and chanted "jîn, jîyan, azadî".

Fighting regional and racial discrimination in the free democratic future of Iran will be another obstacle our nation should deal with alongside women's rights, children's rights, LGBT rights, and working group rights.

#Youtube #iran #mahsa amini #iran protests #human rights #iran revolution #feminism #politics #ethnicfashion #racism #sexism #history #demographic groups #middle east #muslim women #shia muslims #sunni muslims #women's rights #tw violence #islamic republic vs iran #police brutality #iran explained #background information

[qqueenofhades]

Ok I seriously hope you don’t take this as bad faith but I’d like to genuinely understand this, and I’m not even sure if I’m articulating this thought well, but I don’t understand why it’s not also considered inhumane to allow a ton more people into a system so broken that it can’t even support the poorest that are in that nation…? I understand it’s important to hella reform immigration and that’s in the works, and that these people are fleeing far worse conditions, but I also feel like the rich are just looking to make yet another slave class out of these desperate people. Is it yet again a case of multiple broken systems in a trench coat? If so, I’d like to know the most prominent areas so I can try to start fighting it (the rights abuses, not the immigration)

Okay, but I'm not entirely sure what your point here is. It sounds like "we shouldn't allow immigrants into America until we can help every American first," which is probably not what you mean, but still. Yes, America as a culture, society, and economy has many, MANY problems. Nobody is denying or disputing that. But it is also literally a nation built on immigrants, and why is it "inhumane" to let them come here when they are so desperate to reach it that they will risk their lives in any number of ways...? Is it just that you're afraid you aren't being Socially Aware Enough on any particular economic or social issue, and need to find something else to worry about?

People come to America, or want to come to America, for many reasons. They are being persecuted, or their country is politically unstable, or they have few job opportunities, or they have family here, or whatever. They are not coming here because they're being passively manipulated "by the rich to make another slave class." The way we treat them can often be disgraceful (see: Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott), but there are also many, many communities and resources for welcome and support. Immigrants can often get jobs and save money. They can build new lives. This is something we should welcome, and because the right wing in America, with all its racism and xenophobia, has so long dominated the immigration debate as "scary brown people," this is long, LONG overdue.

Any strategy that wants to reduce "illegal immigration" must offer valid and safe pathways for legal immigration. That's why the UK is in the middle of such a clusterfuck: the hardline Tories who want nobody to move to Britain ever are trying to stop the small boat crossings across the Channel by being even more cartoonishly evil and deliberately unhelpful to the poor souls who do make it. They feel that if they can make a "hostile environment" (their own words) for refugees and asylum-seekers, eventually none of those irritating brown people will ever bother to try again, problem solved. Which of course, hasn't worked, not least since Britain refuses to allow any pathways for safe and legal immigration/resettlement from unsettled and/or third world countries. Even highly skilled workers have lots of trouble getting a UK settlement visa these days, so your average refugee/economic migrant? Forget it.

Because Biden is allowing generous quotas of legal migrants, that cuts down on the chaos and brutality of people-traffickers and other criminal enterprises who make their money by extorting desperate people who have no other option. Also, lest we forget, we are less than four years removed from the Trump policy of tearing children away from their families and putting them in literal cages, under the same "make it so bad for them that they'll stop coming!" fetish for institutional cruelty that drives the Tories.

There is also an additional moral responsibility for former empires to be open to immigration, given that they built their political systems' wealth and power by moving to OTHER people's countries and invading, exploiting, and enslaving them. Now when the descendants of those people want to come to your country in turn, the racist white conservative pearl-clutching is both depressing and predictable. But yes, let's not read people making the choice to come to America, for one reason or another, as either an attempt to siphon overstretched resources from Real Americans, or as helpless dupes manipulated by the capitalist class to just live more lives of drudgery and misery. They are real people making real choices, and the fact that they're still so eager to come to America, even with all its problems, is something that should be supported, in a sustainable way, as much as possible.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[kinfriday]

Savagery

It’s hard to know how to feel as I’ve been going through the history of the Viking age peoples.  

On one hand they were profoundly inclusive, traveling the world, inviting other cultures to trade, and even including some of them. People with Persian DNA have been found in graves, along with rings with Allah inscribed upon them.  

What’s more we have written firsthand accounts, some of the only surviving, of Viking funerary rites from traders, and many historians now believe that the ancient Silk Road had its western terminus in Scandanavia. 

While gender roles seemed to have been strictly enforced, women still had the ability to own property, or serve as warriors. There even seems to be evidence, though it would be easy to read too much into it, that the Vikings were comfortable with a type of non-human identity in some.  

In a vacuum all of this sounds amazing. Here we have a warrior culture, that also traded and welcomed others and had at least some degree of respect for women as they ventured across the world.  

Truly, they must be a model of 9th century progressive values and ideals.  

Not so fast...  

While, to a degree welcoming, worldly, and inclusive, our spiritual ancestors were also, at the very same time, terrible people. A bulk of the slave trading in Europe came from the Viking World. Rape, and the murder of children was an acceptable war tactic, and virtually anything could be done to a person one owned, even up to murder, with little to no consequence.  

Human sacrifice to the Gods was common and means of justice were shockingly brutal.  

None of this existed in a vacuum. The Christian kingdoms of this era were at least as bad, and in some ways worse, as were the Romans. You aren’t going to find a human society that is without its horrors, and if you read the legends, even the Gods do reprehensible things.  

As I’ve grown in my knowledge of the legends, I find it interesting that, from my perspective, Ragnarök was a preventable tragedy. Loki’s three monstrous children are bound, but the why is at best hazy, and with Fenrir it’s an outrage.  

The Gods feared the great wolf, but nothing that survives ever indicates he was a threat. Perhaps we should trust the wisdom of Woden here, perhaps he had some foresight, but all we have from the legends is fear, and it is his binding that sets up the great cascade of events that culminate in the death of the Gods themselves.  

I wonder if one of the reasons Loki went after Baldr, was a result of Woden binding Loki’s son unjustly.  

One might be surprised to see such sentiment from me, but the Gods call me to be honest, and the one thing they never claim to be in all the legends is perfect, nor do they claim to be unchangeable.  

As said, they even face death, which is an ultimate form of change, perhaps the most necessary kind.  

I say this because I realize I am not so different from the ancestors. While many might see my actions as progressive, or even virtuous as a vegan, as someone that strives to go fair trade with her clothing, chocolate and bananas etc. Striving isn’t good enough, is it?  

I’m writing this on a computer that was built with conflict minerals, it’s unavoidable. Most likely some ten year old child working his fingers to the bone mined the cobalt for my fancy electronics.  

Migrants denied any pathway to legal or easy immigration into this country are exploited to grow my food. Some of my clothing was most likely made in sweatshops.  

We like to think that we’ve come far as a society, and we have. We now keep our slave labor, our exploitation of others firmly out of sight while we pat ourselves on the back for wearing hemp and shopping at Whole Foods, judging those that came before us with a type of virtuous horror.  

And it’s not fair to them, and it won’t be fair to us when, five or ten generations down, they look at us as brutal savages either.  

I don’t think anything can make many of the actions of our ancestors right, or understandable, but I think to honor them properly we must look at them with honesty and as lessons of what not to do, how not to be, as much as how to be.  

I see this with the Gods too, and the chronicling of their savagery and past mistakes recorded in the mythology. Woden is not the same God that he was a thousand years ago, he has grown and changed. I am deeply convinced of this. What’s more, the culture that interpreted, or misinterpreted his actions is now gone, and we’re left with our, in some ways, more progressive time where we can forge new relationships with these High Ones.  

Nothing is static, nothing will ever be perfect, but in every era, every time, there were at least a handful, some known, some unknown, that bucked the trend, that sought to be better than the world they were raised in and went beyond what they were given.  

There were people who freed their slaves, fought for justice, or never kept another human being because it just felt wrong. There were noble warriors who never harmed a child or violated a woman in a village.  

They may have been few, they may have done their good deeds under a cloak of eternal anonymity, but we have the same choice.  

I can’t stop it all, but I can stop some. I can’t keep myself from benefiting 100% in the privileged position I exist in, but I can use that privilege to shout from the rooftops and intervene for those that have none.  

We are our deeds, in totality. Much is made of being a warrior in many modern heathen paths. Well, I feel my war is within, and against every systemic cruelty that exists in the world.  

It may be my Jörmungandr, it may be the end of me, but as long as I’m working to do better, and be better, than I feel I am honoring the Ancestors and the Gods.  

#heathen asceticism #heathenry #anglo saxon pagan #anglo saxon heathenery #asceticism #wandering ascetic #neopaganism #neopagan #therianthropy #therian #otherkin #the way of the hare #troth #discipline #asatru #looking back #hope #calling #Ancestors #history #modern problems #modern age #being better #odin #Woden #loki #fenrir #Thunor #human sacrifice #fair trade

[transmalewife]

does anyone have any leftist reading on the subject of tourism to recommend? Specifically about how travel for fun, education, sport, friendship or whatever might work in a communist or anarchist or socialist society. Because like yeah, open borders or no borders whatever, cool. But that usually only gets discussed in the context of permanent immigration

Idk I guess I just find it hard to imagine how it could be organized since where I live the most obvious ways capitalism has made things worse over my lifetime have all happened because of and through the lens of tourism. Rents literally doubling over the last five years, while the standard of living falls because apartments are bought, split into tiny pieces and renovated to accomodate a couple days of living at most. The specific kind of gentrification that is NOT being pushed out by richer people moving in permanently, who might cause more expensive shops and services to replace the affordable ones, but do still need the basic necessities everyone does to live. Instead, all hairdressers, repair shops, clothing stores (especially thrift shops), pharmacies, post offices etc etc close and are replaced by luxury boutiques, clubs and stores whre you can only buy snacks, alcohol and microwave meals. Restaurants and bars hiking up prices because most of their clients come from places with stronger currencies etc etc.

At the same time though I believe travel is a crucial part of a fulfilling life for most if not all people. I believe people have the right to see and appreciate the culture and history of other places and also like... maybe go somewhere warmer and lay on the beach sometimes, even if they prefer to live and work somewhere colder. Or go skiing even if they chose to live somewhere warm and without mountains. Or even just like... vacation in a big city if they live in the countryside and vice versa. Or pop over to another continent to visit an online friend maybe. Although obviously intercontinental travel would have to be hugely limited until and unless we find ways to do it that don't destroy our planet.

At the same time some precautions do have to be taken to protect historical and especially sacred sites. Like, I don't think endless crowds should be allowed to trample through historical buildings and also open borders obviously doesn't mean white tourists get to go camping on Uluru. But on some level I do believe everyone who wants to should get to see Venice at least once in their life. But that's probably not feasible so like... who gets to decide? On what merit? Are historians, artists, journalists privileged? Or should it be a lottery?

Also I think there's a significant amount of tourism that would simply die out if going to that place wasn't a status symbol. Like you cannot convince me that if you spend 2 weeks by the pool in an enclosed luxury resort it makes a difference that it's on Hawaii rather than like... in florida. And then theres places like the Hamptons. What the fuck is the point of the Hamptons, other than bragging rights?

Obviously I know none of this is even remotely the main pressing issue to solve about a potential communist society, but then again, that's why I'm asking for reading materials, because it so rarely gets discussed. I mean I bet Marx wrote about it, which, great, point me to the relevant fragments please and I'll have a look but also this is an issue where a modern perspective would be really important. I don't think Marx, for all his wisdom, really has a solution to "what are the ethics of taking an 8 hour flight to visit a tumblr mutual".

Or maybe this whole thing is me being cynical and this is another place where things would sort of just regulate themselves. Anyway. Send me reading recs and let's very unscientifically try to check if it could work. Do try to be honest, like I've been several times as a kid and I would still go again in a heartbeat.

btw the goal of the poll is to get some kind of percentage that can be compared with the world population and how many tourists venice can support per year, though I obviously know tumblr skews mainly american and european

#mine. #leftist #tourism #venice

[lesbiansgoal]

I (19F) Was Outed by the Priest's Daughter (18F) to My Whole Church

This is a very long story with a lot of relevant backstory, so please bare with me.

I(19F) was outed by the priest's daughter (18F) at my church, and I'm still not over it.

It has been a year since my parents found out and 2 years since the rest of the church found out. I know I should be over it, at least a little bit, but I feel constantly anxious and angry about the whole situation.

Before I get into a deep dive of what happened, here's the backstory:

The Priest's daughter at my church, we'll call her L, and I became best friends when I was around 6 or 7. We were inseparable and found any way possible to see each other. We got to hang out every Sunday at church, but we were like sisters so that obviously wasn't enough for us. This whole situation hurts even more thinking of all the fond and happy memories we had. Of course, as most friendships, it became rocky. I admit, I wasn't the best friend in the world to have. I often had severe mood swings as a child and it affected my friendship with L a lot, as well as the other relationships around me. I was deemed as the "weird kid" pretty often because of the culture I was raised in (my mother is an immigrant) as well as the religion I was brought up in. With this, things became worse when a bully (we'll call him X) started coming to our church.

X was very close friends with L's older brother, and soon after became friends with L. X, however, didn't like me all that much. I remember when he'd make fun of me for eating, saying things about how overweight I was (which was completely untrue, I was severely underweight for my age), and telling me to take my "mental pills". My self esteem was crushed week after week, and it seemed the longer this kept going on, the more I noticed L taking his side rather than defending me. However, because I was a pushover, I didn't say much about it and continued being close to her. When X finally moved away after a few years of torment, I felt extreme euphoria. I was so unbelievably happy. But this is where the problems had started.

One day, about a year after X had left, I came to church a bit late and saw L by the doorway with another girl as they whispered to each other. When they saw me approaching them, they quickly ditched their conversation. However, I noticed that something seemed off and asked what was going on. The other girl kept her mouth shut while L told me nothing was happening. I was sceptical, but didn't press much further and waited for Communion. But first, I needed to go to confession. As I stood in the line, I saw X emerge from the altar. I remember how scared I was. I was frozen in place as he made a passing glance at me. After I had a very nervous confession, I ran downstairs and cried.

L's mother saw me and tried comforting me, asking what was wrong and the other usual questions and remarks when comforting a child that could barely breathe between sobs. That's when I told her that L had lied to me and that X was back. She brought L down and she explained to me that she didn't tell me because she knew I would "act this way". L didn't even apologize. I told her I wasn't forgiving her for lying to me, and to leave me alone. This event marked a long period in which L would constantly ignore me, attempt to single me out of every conversation and event, and borderline bully me.

After my mom and the priest found out about the feud, they decided to sit down and talk about it. This, unfortunately, led to a screaming match between them. While my mother tried addressing what was going on between me and L, the priest started blaming me for being tainted (being taught in a public school while his daughter was home schooled) and for introducing the idea of "crushes". I was, apparently, sinful for making his daughter jealous of the pretty dresses I wore and the friends I got to have outside of the church. At this point, our families were at an impasse. The next Sunday, the priest took me into his office and asked if L and I could rebuild our relationship. I remember being hesitant, but eventually saying that I'd make an effort.

I was now in high school and making progress in my friendship with L. Although it was a bit awkward at times, it seemed like we were making progress. Then COVID happened, and we were confined to our devices for interaction. At this point in time, I was in the closet about being bisexual. However, after texting L and getting deep with our emotions, L confessed to me that she had been having "gay thoughts". In an effort to comfort her, I said that I knew what she was going through, that I was bisexual, and that I was there for her with whatever I needed. We then both decided to delete the messages to make sure our parents wouldn't see them. When COVID restrictions were lessened in 2021, L and her family came over to bless our house. When we were alone, I confided in her that I defined myself as pansexual instead of bisexual, to which she nodded and told me she was glad I told her. This happened around February or March.

Then, one Sunday during the Summer of 2021 while my mother was out of the country, the priest asked me to go into his office. He laid everything out about how L had told him I was bisexual. I cried a lot. I had a minor panic attack. I begged and pleaded for him not to tell anyone, especially my parents, but he said "people will learn, OP". I didn't know what to make of this as I was in fight or flight mode, so I didn't question most of what he said to me that meeting too much. I just remember him humiliating me and calling me a sinner. At the end, we treated the meeting like a confession and did the closing prayer.

Fast forward to March of 2022. I was about to graduate from high school and I was extremely anxious about various different things that were going on in my life. It was Good Friday and I was at an evening service when suddenly I had one of the worst panic attacks of my life. I could barely breathe, think, talk, or control my body. I remember how my hands and mouth were going numb. My dad took me into the car to while my mom stayed behind. She was inside for a very long time, even after most of the other people had left. By that point, I had fallen asleep (or maybe passed out???) in the car. When I woke up, we were at a gas station near our home and my mom asked me if I had ever talked to L about being gay.

We had a very long conversation that night, and I had found out that soon after the service ended, my mom and the priest got into a heated argument about why I had such an awful panic attack. With this, L joined in and yelled at my mother about how I was bisexual and was a sinner.

In the following days, we learned many things:

1. The whole church knew before my parents knew.

2. L had screenshoted my messages, so she had them as proof.

3. I was discussed as if I were a predator.

4. Both the priest and L talked the all of the families about it.

5. They started telling people at the funeral of a very notable church member in the summer of 2021.

I was shocked and heartbroken. I felt truly betrayed, and my family and I decided to leave the church and go elsewhere.

Since the events that took place in 2022, I am no longer religious (though not entirely because of this reason), but I still go to church with my family to support them. I know they adore their religion, and I still find beauty in it, so I don't really mind. I am currently going to college and I have an amazing partner who I absolutely adore with all of my heart. In many areas, I'm thriving. But in some, I still find myself very resentful.

I still see L from time to time, whether it's at school or at work. At first it really bothered me, but I've come to accept that she'll just have to deal with me and vice versa. We live on the same planet, so what's the point in bothering so much?

I was starting to get over this event until recently. I have contact with some friends at my old church, and one of them confided in me saying that L was telling everyone I had "started it". She said that I was the one to blame for all that had happened because I had apparently pushed her to do what she did. Up until recently, I really tried to forgive L. I genuinely thought about reaching out and telling her this. But now there's no way I could ever lower my self worth in order to give her an ounce of pity. She's using this whole situation to put me down and lift herself up.

So, dear readers, thank you for baring with me, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to write out my feelings and version of events. I've kept my mouth shut after all these years, and defending myself feels almost liberating in a way. Thank you.

TLDR: After a long, heated history with my ex best friend (the priest's daughter), she outed me as bisexual behind my back to my whole church.

#wlw #glg #comingout #outing

[mirrorbashir]

when juxtaposed with a human character like sisko especially, julian is almost culturally defined by his lack of culture. we can quite safely assume he's english based on the casting for him and his dad, holosuite stuff, and scattered details (plus i believe it's confirmed in supplemental canon) but unless i'm forgetting something, he doesn't outright tell us in any capacity. he definitely doesn't have an established hometown or anything. sure he's attached to earth more generally in a lot of ways, he's well-versed in classic literature and geography and he likes centuries-old history if only on a superficial level, but he still can't trace his own family tree back three generations. i would blame the writers not knowing what the fuck to do w him for half of julian's characterization (and lack thereof) so of course i'm cheering for anyone who wants to fill in the gaps by projecting onto him, but you really do have to make things up yourself because there's next to nothing actually there.

it's worth confronting the real-life side of ds9 leaving julian as a very generic "probably second or third-ish generation immigrant from somewhere in the swana region but maaaaybe south asia, who knows" type guy. and i do think it's questionable for the majority white writing team to have not even tried to give the character any sort of ethnic background. but when julian is a dishwashed version of british on top of that, he's most often an everyman who happens to have an RP accent and not be white, for better or worse. in more than one interview, alexander siddig has reflected on the fact he wasn't really thinking much abt his own cultural/racial identity in the '90s (and how he was then suddenly forced to post-9/11) and i think that was mirrored in julian. but even since then, siddig has politely declined to give his two cents on julian's ethnicity at least once, so at this point the genericness is arguably a semi-intentional facet of the character.

considering this again within the four walls of the story, julian is interested in all sorts of things including what other planets have going on culturally, so you can't chalk his cluelessness up to fundamental lack of curiosity. i can't imagine the nature of his relationship with his parents would've made him especially eager to connect with any heritage he may have otherwise had, but i think it's still more than that. so finally, i want to briefly consider garak as his foil: garak has to advertise his cardassian-ness because he's in exile, he's fundamentally failed at being cardassian and he's trying aggressively to cover it up because if he's not cardassian, then what the fuck is he? julian, on the other hand, may not want to draw too much attention to his own humanity because he's also fundamentally failed at being human in some sense but he hasn't been figured out yet.

luckily for him, star trek's earth is hyper-globalized and he probably wouldn't be an outlier for his absence of strong geocultural identity. and with the combination of the aforementioned factors, you could argue (from a purely in-universe standpoint) that it's even more than him just not caring – julian is obscuring this shit on purpose.

#umm. weeeeeeee #ds9 #mine