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jaaryl · 5 years

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jaaryl (or if someone beat me to it, daaron)

Some answers are going to be based on the rewrite of my Daaron fic which is going to be set during 9.16 (that one day I will get around to finishing I swear lmao).

So, spoilers for that I guess lol.

1. Who makes the first move and how?

It would have to be Daryl.

Even though Aaron has the most experience dating another man/ person in general, I have no doubt in my mind that he would find it incredibly daunting to even try and proceed a relationship with Daryl. His friendship with Daryl is one of the few bright spots of the apocalypse and it would absolutely break his heart if he scared him off or was rejected.

Since my fic is set during the 9.16 blizzard, the two of them are going on ahead to collect supplies at the next way station and, of course, it has to have the cliche trope of Aaron being all heroic and pushing Daryl out of the way of cracking ice so he’ll fall through instead… all while they are escaping ice zombies. Cue the trope of them cuddling naked for warmth and waking up with an awkward situation yada yada.

Aaron: [incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out] This doesn’t have to change anything.

Daryl: [also incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out, and just fresh off thinking Aaron could of so easily died one (1) day ago and not wanting to waste what time they have together] Ahhhh I kinda want it too????

2. Who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?

Being seen as outcasts still bothers them a lot, even if they try their best not to show it. No matter how far into the apocalypse, or how important they have become to the success of the communities, there will always be those douches who look down on people for being different. And the best thing about Daaron is how leaning on each other for support and having each other’s backs when they are feeling this way is literally the foundation of their relationship.

3. Who is the most romantic?

Aaron’s the obvious choice with his tendency to be extremely tactile and handing out affection left and right while also giving away huge gifts, like the bike. However, Daryl is incredibly sentimental, and loves and cherishes that bike like it’s one of his most precious possessions, and he also shows his love by making sure the people that he cares about are well provided for. So, it’s for you to decide.

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Daryl is extremely touch-starved but he is also pretty awkward when it comes to asking for affection. Aaron is a mix of very tactile, begging to give hugs and super lonely.

So, once Aaron figures out that Daryl wants to be touched more than the occasional hug, handhold or brush of arms all bets are off. I can only imagine how bad it will be when they get into an actual relationship.

5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

I feel like Aaron has said those words long before they started dating, “Daryl, I love you, but no,” and completely mean them (both platonically and romantically). So, the moment Daryl says the words back for the first time…he is kinda worried Aaron’s smile is going to split his face in half.

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Season 5: Eric, for obvious reasons.

Season 9: Paul, most definitely, hot, gay, single and already someone they both trust completely.

Post 9.08 though? Ah, no one? Aaron is literally the only male character that Daryl is close to lmao.

7. What do they get up to on a night out?

I doubt there is much to do datewise beyond the wall, even for two bamfs like Aaron and Daryl. Maybe fortnightly overnight camping trips when it gets too stuffy in Alexandria and they need to escape for a bit.

On the nights that they have the house all to themselves, it is pretty quiet. Just the two of them hanging out, kicking back beer, pressed up against each other, talking about mindless topics, and having sex etc.

8. What do they like in bed?

Daryl: when you said “magical in bed” this isn’t exactly what I was exp-

Aaron: *holds up 8 of hearts* is this your card

Daryl: *softly* holy shit

Aaron knows that Daryl doesn’t have a lot of experience in the bedroom department, and is happy to help guide him. I see Aaron as someone who is super into foreplay and body worship, especially on someone like Daryl who needs all the touch he can get and is v receptive to praise kink. As Daryl becomes more confident I do see him taking charge a little more, maybe some manhandling etc and he doeeesss have an oral fixation, always putting things in/exploring things with his mouth so take that as you will lmao.

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Honestly, Aaron is pretty hard to embarrass. Like, sure, he does embarrassing things but he’s always the first one to laugh at himself. Things like his over-the-top dorky dances to make Daryl laugh, his celebrity impression of people Gracie has never even seen, or heard of, and she is super embarrassed about when he pulls it out as his party trick, his off-key singing to Disney songs with Gracie and trying to get Daryl to join in (AK can take Disney nerd Aaron from my cold dead hands these people have solar panels and the kids have definitely seen movies).

10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

Damn, I can’t cheat and answer with ‘a book on how to build a raft’ or ‘survival guide for dummies’ because they are both very survival competent lmao.

For luxury items: Daryl’s crossbow and Aaron’s knife.

Ahhh I am worst at music questions! I can see Daryl being a sentimental loser and bringing Rick’s terrible music with him even if he hates it.

Ross apparently headcanons Aaron’s favourite song as “Hand in Glove” by The Smiths, so why not?

11. What do they hide from one another?

Their unspoken feelings uwu (lame).

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Their relationship status.

13. When do they realise they should get together?

There has always been something simmering under the surface of their friendship. From the very beginning, Aaron has been incredibly fascinated by everything Daryl Dixon and Daryl in return has found comfort, acceptance and an overwhelming amount of fondness towards Aaron.

It has just never been the right time to explore the unspoken thing between them. But after the six-year time jump, Daryl is finally in the right emotional place to settle down and Aaron has been ready for a long while. Daryl is confronted once more that the world is a dangerous place when Aaron almost dies again (in the fic) and the prospect of leaving their relationship open-ended weighs on him heavily.

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Aaron has been run ragged by the worrying he has done about sick Gracie all week (even just a cold in the apocalypse is a scary thing for Aaron with all that he’s lost). He probably got one good day in before his own immune system came crashing down hard. Daryl feels a little useless that he can’t really help him get better so he goes out and hunts whatever bird he can find so he can cook him something at least resembling chicken soup, and distracts Gracie for the next couple of days so he can get some rest.

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

In this house, we appreciate animated films and since Lydia and Daryl are not really accustomed to the broad range of them they get the final vote. It would probably be Jungle Book (after years of rejecting civilization they finally rejoin it) or even something like Spirit (refusing to let anyone tame their wild).

16. When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

Do I need to answer this one lmao?

17. When they find a time machine, where do they go?

Try and change the events of 8.02? Saving Eric and having the three of them adopt baby Gracie? Changing the events of 9.08, so Paul lives and Jaaryl can happen? 7.01, so Glenn lives? 9.05, Rick never blows up the bridge? 9.15, so there are no pike deaths?

Ahhh there are just so many options, these two have such a sad life!

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

19. Where do they go on their first date?

Out on a hike in the woods, a picnic is involved.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

You and @boltsandashes have given me major daaron beach day feels, it’s an absolutely adorable visual. Aaron making sure Daryl has the best day possible visiting the beach for the best time? I dieeee.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

They are still both not the biggest fan of parties unless it is a family event with people they like.

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

Waystation cabin.

Aaron makes sure to ask him if it’s okay if they kiss for the first time after they are already in a heated grinding session, the goober.

23. Where is their favourite place to be together?

Beyond the walls and out in the woods hunting, hiking, exploring ect just like old times.

24. Where do they first have sex?

Waystation cabin.

25. Why do they fight?

Pissed at each other for being so damn self-sacrificing (“Whether we make it or not, we do it together,” remember that, asshole?!)

26. Why do they need to have a serious chat?

Aaron’s first priority is his daughter’s happiness so it is pretty crucial to find out where their relationship stands before it gets way too deep (which good luck on that one), it would be different if Gracie wasn’t in the picture but she is so he needs to know if Daryl is 100% on board with being a parent to her or not.

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

The shifty way they try and keep their relationship under wraps.

There’s nothing strange about Daryl moving in with Aaron, they are both close friends, right? But what is strange is Aaron turning up to every council meeting absolutely glowing and grinning ear to ear, and Daryl being a super nice to everyone in Alexandria.

Are they sick???

It goes on and on until Gracie accidentally spills the beans when she excitedly tells Judith that her daddy and Judith’s uncle are dating(not that Gracie knows all the details of their relationship or anything it’s just what she suspects lol).

They probably going to get married one day, and it will make her and Judith related!

So, Judith goes home and asks her Michonne if Aaron and Daryl are dating, causing Michonne to finally connects the dots on why the hell they have been acting so weird.

28. Why do they get jealous?

Aaron is super jealous over how cool Daryl looks on a motorbike, while Daryl is pretty jealous over how well Aaron can articulate his words to describe how he is feeling.

29. Why do they fall a little bit more in love?

When Daryl is being absolutely precious with Gracie, Lydia and Dog. It makes Aaron’s chest tighten and his heartbeat frighteningly fast. Those are the moments that Aaron wants nothing more than to raise a family and have a future with him.

Aaron is probably being dorky af just to make Daryl laugh, for real not just an under the breath chuckle. Every time he pulls one from Daryl, Daryl can feel his heart expand tenfolds.

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

Oh man, I could write an entire essay on why these two are perfect for each other but to really simplify it: they already have a super strong bond, they are comfortable with each other and trust each other, both relate to feeling like an outsider, both like kids, they have history, their personalities balance each other out etc

It’s one of Daryl’s healthiest relationships on the show I don’t think there are any reasons why not?

#daaron #aaron twd #daryl dixon #twd

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we-toldjokesonsaturday · 6 years

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3x21 thoughts

Finally came to terms about the past two episodes of superstore, read a bunch of opinions from the fandom and I wanted to weigh in with some of my thoughts. I tried my best to split it into each of their perspective in order for me to understand where they were coming from. I’m glad most of you agree that the fight was needed and as messy as it is, I still think it wasn’t enough? They still left a lot unsaid, understandably so since they were very driven with pent up emotion and it wasn’t really the time for rational thought. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they argue again. Btw, watch me try to be unbiased and fail big time because I feel like there are some things missed out on Amy’s perspective. So, please feel free to add if I was unfair to either one of them or didn’t address some issues. This is an attempt to paint a full picture on this, so I can stop feeling so incredibly torn between them, it’s torturing.

First stop, the kiss.

That was a really messed up decision on Amy's part because she knows he's in a relationship and to kiss him because she "wanted to” is selfish in every way. The reason behind why she wanted to do it is sad but obvious. She felt like she was losing control, which are usually her lowest moment where she ends up doing dumb things in effort to keep it together and it has constantly ended up backfiring. (See literally every time she has tried to help anyone & truthfully am getting annoyed that it’s always her character who screws up and screws up even more trying to fix it but that’s a rant for another time.) She gave zero thought to how the kiss complicated his feelings and then Kelly’s too. It was partly fuelled by the fact she was feeling vulnerable and desperate to hold on to things she wanted, thanks to the unwanted pregnancy which reminded her of how much she lost and missed out on by having a baby at 19. It was a repeat of what she had gone through and she saw how her life was going to get derailed and is going to change again. Another part of it and equally as important, in my opinion, was that she saw how important he had become to her, even though he’s always been there, she’s never paid attention to how big of a role he played by always being the one who had her back and never judged. Being pregnant made her look at her current situation and see the full picture. That realisation and her recent feelings for him added up and in a way, she convinced herself that kissing him is okay. She took advantage of the fact he always took whatever she threw his way without lashing back or complaining, he was the one to tolerate it and make their friendship still work.

It was obvious how much he himself wanted it and have waited for it. It was the worst timing, but it showed how his feelings never faded one bit. The way he reacted to the kiss after finding out she’s pregnant was so heart breaking. He had no idea what to do and obviously couldn’t understand her selfish reasoning. It must have felt like she was just using him and wanted to kiss him because of her difficult position and it had nothing to do with her feelings since she had never really shown her romantic feelings towards him. It was undoubtedly unfair to him and him walking away was completely justified. There was just no way for him to comprehend what she had done, that she kissed him on purpose, not out of panic or out of the heat of the moment, but on purpose, knowing that she’s pregnant and that he’s taken.

I do kind of wish he would have let it out in the warehouse because would have been far less messy that way instead of everything else that went down after and it looked like she was ready to hear and take whatever he had to say.

Pushing Jonah to talk about it and giving him absolutely no room to breathe just added onto Amy’s pile of bad decisions. He had kissed another woman while in a relationship and that must have messed with his head. He had to deal with lying to Kelly, kicked into denial mode and ended up taking drastic steps in their relationship. In a way also trying to proof to himself that he could make it work with Kelly, and that he had stronger feelings for her. On top of that, he had to deal with his resurfacing feelings for Amy which in my opinion he thought had faded. He had wanted that for so long and probably gave up hope, so to have her kiss him like that was hugely disappointing and hurtful. When Jonah gave her 2 minutes to speak, he was actually willing to hear her out, and his attitude was such a good addition because for once he was the once dictating how things were gonna go and taking a stand for himself without compensating to her. When he let her talk, she finally admitted to having feelings for him, but I don’t think she made it clear on how serious she is about those feelings. Personally, I think that to him it was still a “crush” or just minor feelings. However, feelings or not, it clearly did not justify what she did and further proved that what she did was purely selfish.

Amy knew she screwed up, she saw the way he was upset and knew she had to do something to fix it. The way he avoided the conversation made it evident that it was something they had to talk about, so she was persistent, oblivious to how the kiss brought up his long-buried feelings for her and that he was not ready to talk about it, because she didn’t want to lose their friendship.

The last time when he brought up the tornado kiss, the both of them simultaneously agreed not to talk about it, Jonah most probably doing that in consideration of her situation at that moment. But eventually, they did confront how awkward things were and worked past it. Even though it was just them avoiding the whole thing, they still went back to being friends and maybe somewhere in Amy’s head, she thought they could work past it this time around too. They needed to confront things, so she pushed, admittedly inconsiderate. But she did it because he was that important to her. Even with all the things she had to deal with that day, and with Adam and Alex around, her main focus was still Jonah.

At the end of the day, I’m assuming Jonah saw that Amy wasn’t around and went to find her, maybe feeling guilty over the whole day after having finally had some time to breath and think. He took a step and even apologised, finally ready to try and resolve their issue but she shut him down.

She gave no thought to the fact that he was having a rough day too thanks to her foolish decision of kissing him. And when he said okay, she still pounded on him because he sounded upset when he had every right to be. In a situation that she brought on herself, he still had to be the understanding one.

“It’s what you want, when you want it.”

I don’t know what other contexts there are involving them, so I’m assuming it’s mainly about the fact she kissed him when she wanted to and now she only wants to talk when it’s convenient for her. And it’s true, plus, she does this thing where puts her opinions on top of everyone else, even in situations where she isn’t the main person. She does it thinking that she knows best, ignoring the person who the situation is about.

Anyways, the degree of complications that the kiss has provoked still hasn’t hit her and she assumes that Jonah is overreacting. Because right now, she has bigger problems to worry about other than a kiss and to her, that seemed to be the main problem in his life. Totally unfair to him and he was right to call her out on it. She had a horrible day and still had to face her pregnancy, the nightmare wasn’t over so to be honest it’s a miracle she’s still keeping it together. But it gave her no right to compare their problems, especially when she had no idea what problems he could be having in his life.

He had always gone the extra mile and cared about her, noticed whenever she was upset and was ready to lend a helping hand. Amy, on the other hand, never probed into his life. I feel like both of them are at fault here, Amy a little more for not being aware enough to care for him the same way he does with her. He was always cheerful and bright, never really showing when he’s down. He doesn’t go to her with his problems, assuming that she has stuff of her own to deal with and that she probably doesn’t want to hear it; Amy being so guarded about herself, she probably isn’t good at reading him and if she does see that he’s upset, she doesn’t know how to approach the subject with him. Her affection always comes off as teasing or sarcasm and rarely heartfelt declaration because she’s just that awkward about being vulnerable. She never lets it show that she cares about him even though she does; note that she does make an effort to apologise whenever they tease him in the store & in 2x11, one of the few times he spoke about his past, she was there to help him, even with the time when he was so disturbed that Glenn didn’t particularly like him when dating Kristen, she did offer a little advice. Obviously, it’s minimal, not nearly as much as Jonah does and could use a lot of improvement. One thing I really need her (and everyone in the store) to change though, is how they always shut down his opinions and never listens. Y’all are rude and insensitive af when he’s literally just trying to help.

That being said, still a douche move for her to compare problems and dismiss his.

“Are you really that pissed off that I kissed you?”

Amy thinking that that’s the reason he’s pissed was astounding considering how much history they have. I don’t think she expected it to invoke such huge complications because she didn’t realise the degree of his feelings, that it goes back so far and how hard it must have been to keep it under wraps. To a certain degree, I think she thought it was gonna be a kiss they can just ignore like they did before. She would have to go back and face her pregnancy making a relationship with him impossible so initially she probably figured that the consequences were just gonna be her and her feelings. Apart from him always being concerned for her, she doesn’t know/never noticed that his caring attitude towards her was more than platonic or “crush”. He never let his feelings slide past their boundary, possibly in fear of losing their friendship. While we may have thought it was so obvious, she never really saw the way he looks at her. He’s dated multiple people since they’ve known each other, so to her, it couldn’t have been more than a simple crush.

“I’m pissed off that I waited around for you for two years and you waited until I was in a relationship and you were pregnant to kiss me.” “Who asked you to wait around?”

At first, I thought he was blaming it on her but really it was a comparison on what he did vs what she did. That he stood by and waited, not making a single move while she chose the worst time to make a move. He had so many triggers to make a move, but he never did out of respect for her marriage and subsequently her divorce. Even when he was with Kelly and Amy’s news with Tate and Alex came up, he was so obviously so bothered by it but he never said/did anything. Partly because he was already with Kelly and it would have been out of line to do anything considering how he was committed to another person. Through all of that he never made a move on her because it would have been selfish put what he wanted first, his wants that would have ended up causing damage to either Amy’s marriage, Amy or Kelly. So, Amy being that selfish made absolutely no sense to him.

I wish that Amy took what he said as a comparison because her response would have meant that she hoped he made a move on her but clearly that’s not the case. She obviously took it as him blaming her and thought it was unfair hence throwing it back at him with “Who asked you to wait?”, not realising the depth of his feelings, that he waited because he wanted her that much. I know what I said about him respecting her space after the divorce, but he could have made his feelings clear then. Yes, maybe if he did, she would have reacted badly/strangely to it, but at least it would be out there.

She realised her feelings for him only after he started dating Kelly, so there really wasn’t a suitable time to make a move between getting a divorce and him getting into a relationship with Kelly. Unfortunately, her being pregnant ended up pushing her to do it out of fear of change. She had a time constraint, something that he didn’t have. Not his fault but it is worth pointing out that their circumstances were different.

“I don’t even know what you’re still doing here, Jonah. You can leave whenever you want.” “So could you, but we all know that’s never gonna happen.” “Go to hell, Jonah.”

It was a low-blow by both of them in all honesty. They were vulnerable and so they got defensive, doing the typical things people do in a fight; push them away or hurt them. She said he could leave, pushing him away as though she doesn’t need or want him there. (But this is up for interpretation because I’ve seen some interpret this as the fact that he isn’t stuck at Cloud9 the way she is and it’s a valid point.) He said that in response, knowing it would hurt her because it was the truth. Highkey understandable because hearing her say that she didn’t ask him to wait and that he can leave must have been so hard to hear. It made it seem like he had little to no importance in her life. Amy’s final line to him, regardless of the fact he was actually right, was because that was the last thing she would have expected him to say. She knew that he knew it would hit her right on the mark as it was something she had shared with him in the past, so for him to pull that out was huge and immensely painful, especially with everything that’s happening in her life.

Wish I could do a TL;DR version but I wouldn’t have written such a long rant if I could

More opinions no one asked for:

I truly think the pregnancy is a re-do moment for her. Her job at Cloud9 started off with a pregnancy and the series started off with her realising how stagnant her life is. This pregnancy, unwanted and untimely like the first time around, is the exact thing that would force her to make big decisions. The pregnancy scare in season 2 drove her to admit to Adam that she wasn’t happy, and the tornado made them realise that they shouldn’t stay together. She’s always been a person who’s scared of change and always needed something big to push her into confronting her true feelings. I don’t know where they’re taking this plot and I’m scared but also quite intrigued.

Jonah & Kelly; You guys knew from the start that they were gonna break up and sure, it was a horrible way to break up, but I appreciate that moment where Jonah knew he couldn’t go on. After everything he did and the way he tried to make it work with her, it just wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t intentionally leading her on. He genuinely wanted to make it work, because she deserved that, but he attempted and failed. He stopped trying to trick himself into forcing the relationship and was finally honest with himself about his feelings. A huge part had to do with the kiss and how he had to come to terms with the fact his feelings are still stubbornly there.

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cartoonessays · 7 years

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“Both Sides”

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Pocahontas is a controversial Disney film. It’s not hard to see why. In its attempt to tell a story of a historical Native American figure, especially one alive during the beginnings of European colonization of the Americas, it ended up reinforcing a lot of Native American stereotypes and myths about colonization. For the sake of this post, I’m only going to address one of the sources of backlash towards Pocahontas. Which brings me to the song above, “Savages”.

The way in which Pocahontas chose to portray English/Native American relations was to compare their tension to the Capulets and Montegues from Romeo & Juliet, with John Smith and Pocahontas standing in as the eponymous characters whose love can help both sides grow past their animus towards one another. This framing is very kum-ba-yah “can’t we all just get along” in its intent, but it’s dishonest. It wouldn’t have been dishonest if, let’s say if the conflict between the two warring families in the story began with the Capulets claiming the Montegues’ property and resources as their own and spent the next several centuries removing the Montegues from their property through pillage, rape, and genocide.

In telling any story about Native American history, especially if your story takes place during the first European settlements of the US, and especially if you’re a non-Native American telling the story, the reality of colonialism cannot be ignored or soft-pedaled. Unfortunately, the song “Savages” and Pocahontas in general mostly frames the Native Americans and English settlers on equal footing. This isn’t to say that systems of colonialism didn’t or couldn’t bring about comparable individualized prejudice both Pocahontas’ Powhatan tribe and John Smith’s fellow settlers showed towards one another, but those feelings are the manifestations of living under a system based on inequality.

However, if you take a look at comment section of that “Savages” video, most of the comments proudly say “yeah, both sides are evil”, “both sides are bad”, etc. (along with a bunch of other obnoxious right-wing buzzwords like “SJW”, “PC police” or “T R I G G E R E D”)

Which finally brings me to that damned “well, both sides are bad” political talking point.

In the wake of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA that left numerous people injured and one person killed, President Donald Trump has been roundly and rightfully criticized on all sides for equating one side of protesters marching in support of Nazism, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, etc. and the other side of protesters marching against Nazism, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, etc. in his statements about the tragedy over there. This type of stance of not really having a stance is not a new angle and it certainly isn’t an angle that someone who usually revels in being polarizing like Donald Trump invented.

If there is a contentious issue being debated, it is always a good idea to get a firm grasp of the arguments on each side and understanding all the nuances of each side. With all those nuances in mind, it’s perfectly fair to have disagreements or misgivings about aspects of each side. However, the “both sides are bad” view never actually does any of that. It’s a very lazy and extremely reductive way of viewing the issues that only serves to self-righteously provide a veneer for sitting on the fence that forgoes giving either side any further thought or analysis by reducing them to strawmen. Another version of this is the reflexive “well, one side says this, one side says that, so the answer must be somewhere in the middle”. The South Park episode “Chef Goes Nanners” mocked this type of thinking when various townspeople would only flaky, indecisive answers when asked by news reporters whether or not their town flag is racist.

The funniest thing about South Park criticizing that way of thinking is that this show has been the biggest purveyor of this exact type of lazy “well, both sides are bad” thinking. Their episode “Goobacks” more literally does this than any other episode by hosting a debate between two characters literally named “pissed-off white trash redneck conservative” and “aging hippie liberal douche”.

The other thing about the “both sides are bad” point of view is that while it prides itself on being even-handed and taking the middle road, it very often doesn’t even do that. More often than not, it simply takes a “softer” conservative point of view. Another South Park episode “I’m a Little Bit Country”, which centered around the debate over whether or not the US should invade Iraq, settled the conflict between the pro-war side and anti-war side by arguing “only a truly great country can go to war and act like it doesn’t want to”. What the fuck does that mean? First of all, I have to outline the way this episode defined both sides. The pro-war side was defined as “we have to go to war cuz terrorists and 9/11” and the anti-war side was defined as “we should not go to war cuz war is violent and icky”. The “middle-ground” argument that united both sides amounted to arguing that the US should go to war in order to maintain its powerful geopolitical status in the world, but the image of a robust anti-war populace makes the US look a lot less barbarous to the rest of world. This completely ignores all of the other arguments made against invading Iraq, such as the Bush Administration’s false claim of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and the Administration’s disingenuous connecting of Hussein to the attacks on the World Trade Center (and these are just two of the counter-arguments brought against invading Iraq).

I’ll stop beating up on South Park for a moment.

Jon Stewart’s 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity was one great big exercise of “both sides are bad, the answer’s gotta be somewhere in the middle”. Besides taking a dig at Glenn Beck’s 9/12 rallies, Stewart mentioned in interviews that he organized this rally to fight against what he saw was a growing extremism on both sides. This was during a time when the Tea Party movement was on the rise, Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News was a ratings giant, and at the heels of a massive Republican sweep on the upcoming midterm elections. This was during a time when debates about Obama’s healthcare reform were characterized by one side arguing that a widely available public program would give private health insurance companies an incentive to reduce their costs and the other side arguing that Obama is a socialist attempting to implement a Nazi policy with “death panels” that will “pull the plug on grandma”. The response to this growing movement on the right by the Obama Administration was to adopt a healthcare plan formulated by the right-wing think-tank the Heritage Foundation (implemented by his future presidential opponent Mitt Romney in Massachusetts when he was governor) as his healthcare reform, to greatly reduce the government branch that tracked the activity of white supremacist hate groups while membership of these groups were on the rise, and to assist in defunding ACORN and firing US Department of Agriculture director Shirley Sherrod after doctored videos of both falsely incriminating them of wrongdoing circulated around right-wing media. This is all extremism that clearly skews on one side. The only example Stewart could bring up of “liberal extremism” was CNN’s firing of news anchor Rick Sanchez after he made veiled antisemitic remarks about Stewart (and how is that liberal extremism?). I think Jon Stewart did such a disservice to his audience by rallying thousands of them for something based on a false premise. His snide, dismissive coverage of the Occupy movement the following year further reinforced his adherence to false “both sides” paradigms by framing the Occupy protesters in similar “ha ha look how stoopid and ridiculous these people are” as their coverage of Tea Party protesters.

Which brings me to one of the major tenants of “both sides are bad” ideology, the horseshoe theory. This theory equates the left with the right without a shred of nuance or any actual thought whatsoever. In President Trump’s clusterfuck-of-a-press conference where he doubled down on equally blaming both sides for the violence in Charlottesville, he place a chunk of the blame of what happened there on what he called the “alt-left”. “Alt-left” is a new-ish slur used to discredit the left-wingers, particularly activists inspired by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run, by giving them a moniker similar to “alt-right”, which was just a way of rebranding all of the things like white supremacists like the ones who committed violence in Charlottesville stand for as something deceptively softer than calling it what it really is. This term “alt-left” has been used quite a bit over the past year by right-wing pundits like Sean Hannity and powerful Democratic party insiders and surrogates like MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid, Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas. Many who throw terms like “alt-left” around, particularly those invested in the Democratic party, have in the past justified their use of such terms by expressing agreement with the horseshoe theory. Both the alt-right and so-called “alt-left” are allegedly so extreme that they’ve become identical to one another, and Trump and Bernie Sanders are the respective poster boys for these extreme ideologies. This is a comparison between a cult of personality who finds absolute kinship with neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members and a cult of personality whose politics is more comparable to Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, or even Dwight Eisenhower than to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, or Antonio Gramsci.

The near unanimous admonishing that Trump has gotten for equating both sides in his remarks about Charlottesville is encouraging. This type of vapid equivocating has been ubiquitous in political discourse for a long time, so my hope is that this will signal a complete deconstruction of this point of view.

But if I may go back to Pocahontas for a second, another major mistake the film made was framing anti-Native American sentiment as starting and ending with the villain Radcliffe. Trump himself is a very despotic and ridiculous type of character with a lot of parallels to Radcliffe, and I worry that this admonishment of “both sides are bad” type of arguments will not go further than simply denouncing him. It has been too politically expedient for the opportunists that have trotted it out for all these years, so it likely won’t go the way of phrenology or other pseudo-sciences anytime soon.

#pocahontas #savages #south park #Donald Trump #both sides #charlottesville #horseshoe theory #cartoon essays #just my thoughts

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