#abstractwithahumanheart

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

Sasuke, I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now. I used to think analyzing people’s reactions to the Uchiha genocide was fascinating. I would say to myself “wow, people treat this like it was some kind of ‘both sides were wrong’ type of thing but I’m sure if it was happening in front of them, they would think differently.” WELL. Now a genocide is happening in front of us and people are REACTING THE SAME WAY. “Oh it’s not a genocide, you are being dramatic.” “They deserved it because they’re all evil.” “Is**** has a right to defend itself against terrorists!” Holy moly… Literally word for word. I feel so naive to have believed in humanity as much as i did.

I feel you, my friend. I never talk about these things because I think it might be upsetting if an anime blog starts talking about real life genocides in between joke posts and memes. I also don't like to parallel fictional and real life crimes for fear that people will find it frivolous and offensive. So please, everyone reading this, know that this is not by any means my intention, and that I am not trying to use real life massacres to justify my take in this fandom or anything, I am just answering a friend here.

I don't know what to say, really, I lost all hope in humanity long ago too. But, it baffles me that I keep seeing people around me repeating the bullshit you describe. And it baffles me mostly because I see this coming too from good people that have nothing to win out of this infamy. Now you are thinking that "good people" would never find excuses to turn a blind eye to a genocide, but I can ensure you they are no monsters, they really aren't. They are not indifferent to human suffering, I saw them committed with other causes, I know they wouldn't hurt a fly, so what is wrong with them?

I am no psychologist so, forgive me if I say something dumb. But I think the thing is, reality is just to damn painful. You just can't accept it like that. A genocide, complete and atrocious extermination of a whole group of people, just because? Just based on hate and lies? Just to steal their land? And you are comfortable at your home, safe just out of sheer luck, because you were born in the right moment in the right place. Two very agonizing realities arise when you become aware of this. The first one is that you, citizen of the so-called "free world", convinced during your whole life that you have the voice and the power in your very democratic country, are practically impotent; unable to do anything or to help anyone, unable to even get your government to officially condemn the genocide, let alone to get them to stop sending weapons to the perpetrator. The second one is that you are only safe until your annihilation can be of purpose to the geopolitical interests of some dominant global power.

So, I believe blaming the victim is a defence mechanism to help us convince ourselves that bad things happen for a reason and that we could never be subjected to such cruelty. Similar to when we blame poor starving people for their bad choices, or when we blame women for being raped because, you know, they were dressed like that, they drank or whatever. We want to believe that we know better, that we are safe because we are clever and not because we are lucky, because that would mean our luck could end one day and we could be susceptible to monstrosities any time. And I guess that is unbearable.

And then, of course, we have the media bringing us those excuses. Thoroughly. Picturing the victims as terrorists for defending themselves and the aggressor as a victim with legit reasons to commit a genocide. It is extremely well-thought and intentional, from the language they use to the things that they decide to tell or not. They know very well how to manipulate people and how to redirect their feelings and empathy to fit the goals and interests of the very rich people behind mass media. Many people speak only one language, never left their homes, never met a foreigner. They have access only to mainstream tv channels and newspapers, and they will never believe anything different from what they consider "official". And you would expect something more from educated people, but even the school curriculum is designed to shape your mind in a particular way that fits the political interests of your nation.

And going back to fiction, of course, I understand that people have a right to enjoy whatever they want and like any character they want and this is no reason to judge their morality. But, indeed, like you, I also find parallels between the excuses people give to overlook or justify fictional massacres and the real ones. I guess fiction mirrors reality and this is why, sometimes, we live this fandom a bit to viscerally. Because when you see someone justifying a fictional genocide you imagine them doing the same in reality and, well. As you say, we don't really need to imagine that at all, it is happening.

#ask #abstractwithahumanheart #sorry this was kind of too long

[mokutone]

Wait are you still around episode 200 of Naruto Shippuden? How do you feel about it? What arc are you watching rn?

i think i'm at 208 rn? actual answer will be under the cut

i like it! i can only manage about 3 episodes a night though because the pace of information has increased RAPIDLY!!! like. my chats with kate (my best friend who got me into naruto) are really messy now and frantic when im watching naruto

it used to be that i could watch like 5 or 6 episodes in a row without feeling like i'd seen anything i'd want to tell them about, but now i'm constantly having to pause naruto to give them my liveblogged observations.

i think i'm at the 5 hokage summit arc. literally the last episode i watched, danzō revealed his fucked up sharingan arm to "madara" (who i am dead sure is just obito) and sasuke. i know sasuke kills madara. i hope this is where it is.

i feel really bad for all the team kakashi kids. like. sakura, the perfect mirror of her sensei, is trying to take on the burden of the whole team and spare everyone elses feelings, she said she accepts if naruto hates her for killing sasuke, i think part of her would probably want naruto to hate her for killing sasuke.

sai was just trying to "look out" for naruto (it seems he's really recently developed a bit of a. shockingly protective tendency towards naruto? i think he's finally given in to the sway of naruto's weird ability to make other lonely teenage boys obsessed with him) but he fucked up big time and goaded sakura into trying to kill sasuke, which obviously. is not. comforting for any of them.

naruto literally has not had a second to rest, every 5 seconds somebody comes to him with a new problem and is like "also? this thing you loved and trusted is exploding. good luck" and he looks dead on his feet.

yamato seems like hes getting REALLY agitated about that specifically? like when sakura showed up and started confessing her love to naruto and following it up immediately with "so stop looking for sasuke! please stop looking for sasuke. its fine. stop looking for sasuke" Yamato seemed to get almost legitimately mad. kakashi kinda kept him from interfering.

then sai's clone appeared and explained sakura planned to kill sasuke. and then gaara showed up and explained that sasuke attacked the 5 hokage summit. and naruto seemed so exhausted and overwhelmed he looked like he was gonna pass out. yamato, again, stepped forward like he was gonna try to help but kakashi held him back again and was like "let naruto deal with this on his own"

fair enough. a probably the last thing naruto needs is having somebody up in his space trying to make him feel better when he's already so bad at allowing himself to experience negative feelings in the first place. fair enough.

also unrelated but i hate when obito sucks people into the hole in his twisty little mask. it looks like hes inhaling them. like the kirby.

i am sitting here trying to watch naruto and then it looks like he just fucking eats torune and fū (danzō's special Root Bodyguards). man. that obito guy is weird.

#yamswers #abstractwithahumanheart #sorry this was SUCH a long response #there was also a very interesting little moment where temari is telling kakashi hes got to be hokage #and kakashi is hedging about it like "uhhh i don't...i don't want to do that. if. if not everyone agrees.'' #and then yamato behind him comes in strong with a like ''Okay. Well. Everyone will agree. So you should just proceed as though— #''—you're going to become hokage Kakashi. Besides if the Akatsuki or Madara attacked we can't allow ourselves to be slow to respond.'' #and matt mercer who is his va makes the choice to say that last bit very softly like an apology...it's very. interesting. i like it #its like he saw kakashi beginning to shrink back and was like ''oh no. no. you have to do this. but i'm sorry you have to'' #he does an excellent yamato i have to say like i thoroughly enjoy his dub work in this