#because confronting that specific privilege is just too much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tansypaws · 10 months

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gonna drop some adopts soon w/ the proceeds going towards mutual aid efforts in maui. keep an eye out.

#wren speaks #the rage i feel about this situation is fucking endless #and taps into the rage i feel for how puerto rico is treated #and how the US gets away with colonization like this bc people think they should be able to travel wherever they want #because fuck solidarity when it gets in between you and your tropical travel fun times #even though it’s so fucking well known that tourism is killing these places #figuratively but also so so so literally #if i think about it too hard it makes me cry #if i think about water resources diverted so vacationers can swim in oretty pools #and every other resource is depleted bc people choose to believe the lie that tourism is good #that it’s good for theee places when all it does is disenfranchise and harm and kill and kill and kill #and dehumanized #the plight and nature of these places is so cool and fun when you can make a pseudo thoughtful instagram post about it #as if you have any fucking right to go to these places #and you can’t even speak about thjs ppl it’s so normalized ppl look at you like you have two heads #because confronting that specific privilege is just too much #how can we ever succeed in this when people are unwilling to give up such meaningless pleasures #for the sake of solidarity for the sake of other people to prevent their suffering #it just makes me fucking sick

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wylanslcve · 1 month

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So if you've been following me on Instagram you would have seen me say recently that I've decided to take a step back from posting/sharing/creating Grishaverse content due to what Leigh Bardugo said (or rather what she didn't say) about the situation in Palestine. For context, during the press tour for The Familiar, an audience member asked Leigh about the justification for non-BIPOC authors profiting off BIPOC stories yet not advocating for real-life BIPOC people (since Leigh has been silent on Palestine since October, despite having expressed solidarity with Palestine in the past).

The video (which you can watch here) has been circulating the internet for a while, and I've already spoken about this on Instagram. I just forgot I had Tumblr for a second there, hence why I'm only addressing this now despite having already spoken about this. However, as someone who has an entire online presence dedicated to Leigh's work, it would be wrong and rather hypocritical of me to not address this.

Disclaimer: This is not a conversation about whether or not white/white-passing authors should be allowed to write BIPOC stories, as many people both in the comments of the original video and online generally have taken it. The issue isn't that Leigh is writing BIPOC stories - it's that she's writing them and choosing not to advocate for real BIPOC people.

The audience member asked a confronting but necessary question, and isn't harassing Leigh as many people online have interpreted it. Holding your favourite people accountable isn't "harassment", especially when that person is a successful author profiting off stories that reflect issues in the real world. Art is inherently political whether or not you want to acknowledge it. This also isn't about specifically asking Leigh this question because she's Jewish - it's because she profits off these stories and yet when these exact same issues are prevalent in the real world, suddenly they're "too political" for her to speak up about despite having expressed solidarity in the past. It has nothing to do with her being Jewish.

However, what's going on in Palestine isn't a political issue. It's basic human rights. It's about humanity, and acting as if posting about this issue is "performative" is ridiculous. I don't know what she's doing behind the scenes, so I'm not going to act as if she isn't doing anything outside of social media because I simply don't know, but when you have an online presence as big as Leigh's you should be using that platform to raise awareness and express solidarity. I understand that it's very easy to come across as "performing activism", especially on social media, but Palestinians have asked us time and time again to use our platforms to help raise awareness and amplify their voices. When you're someone like Leigh who profits off stories of the trials and tribulations of BIPOC people, the very least you can do is talk about the atrocities being committed against BIPOC people in real life.

No one is expecting you to be an expert on what's going on. If you've previously posted misinformation, why not learn from it and actually educate yourself and do better? You're literally an author who profits off stories of colonialism, oppression, dissemination, apartheid, segregation and genocide and suddenly that happening in real life is "too political"? And the amount of privilege you have to not want to get involved in talking about a real-life genocide because you "stopped being political on Instagram" is laughable. Just feeling sad about it isn't going to do anything. It doesn't erase the fact that an entire people are being ethnically cleansed in a genocide you refuse to talk about.

The Grishaverse means so much to me, it's gotten me through some extremely tough periods of my life, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support an author who chooses silence over her own humanity. All she had to say in response to that question was "free Palestine", but she instead said something akin to "I know about what's going on and I know silence and feeling sad about it probably isn't enough, but I'm just not going to do anything about it". Again, I know she's advocated for Palestine in the past, but why not continue doing so? No one is stopping her - she's actively chosen to stop.

As for my accounts? I'm still deciding what to do with them. I won't be deleting them, I'm not going anywhere, but I won't be posting edits or sharing analyses or general posts about the Grishaverse until Leigh decides to do better. This blog will probably turn into a multifandom blog, but who knows at this point. All I know is that I won't be promoting Leigh's work.

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olderthannetfic · 4 months

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I definitely think there are people who use those "diverse reading challenges" to show off, but I also think you can have a truly genuine desire to diversify your reading habits, and challenges can be a good way to incentive yourself to do that and keep track of it. And I'm not sure there's a go-to standard for who is "tryhard" beyond if they act cringey and show-offy about it on social media. I was going to say something like "do they genuinely seem like they're trying to branch out, or just reading the same things as they usually do but with a black lead" - but honestly, I want the people who are "just reading YA" or "just reading romance" or whatever to read more diversely, too. Like for romance readers specifically: Read more romance with COC or written by POC, read more M/M and/or F/F if you primarily read het, read more stuff written by people from outside of North America and Western Europe, etc. And if you primarily read serious "classic" literature, try reading one from Africa beyond the lit-class staples like Things Fall Apart rather than another white British author, just to give an example. I think everyone should do more of that. I think those can all come from a genuine desire to try new things, not just show off to your followers about how open-minded you are.

Actually, I think the big way to tell if someone's being "tryhard" is, yes, their reaction on social media, but particularly how they talk about the book when they're done. The one big Tell I see on Goodreads about people who want to be seen as "reading diversely" but don't really appreciate diversity is when they read a book about, say, Muslim characters and then leave a 2-star reviewing whining that they didn't like that the book expected them to know 101-level things about Islam like what Ramadan or the hajj is. (Or alternately, are mad that it DID explain that stuff "too much," oblivious to the fact that in Christian-majority cultures, that's a publisher expectation that you do that with any other religion, because of ignorant readers who will whine if you don't spend a paragraph teaching them what Ramadan is because apparently these supposed "diverse readers" can't be assed to learn literally anything about the best-known Muslim holiday.) I saw someone complain on Tumblr about Goodreads reviewers getting mad at all the "Jewish stuff they were expected to know" to read Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, and this person was like "I'm a goy and I understood all of it because it's stuff you would know just from having seen Fiddler on the Roof. If all the Judaism you need to know for a book is stuff that you can get from watching Fiddler on the Roof, then maybe the issue is not the book, it's you for not having such basic information about a major world religion and then reading a book about it."

Or as another example, when people complain about how the particular set of lingo this person who is oppressed in a way you are not used to describe their oppression is not the exact thing that Twitter discourse has told you is "correct" to use or that it is offensive. When they get mad that a book where a black person is talking about their life experience with police brutality has "too many descriptions of violence" and "I'm rating this lower because it might be triggering." (In general, when people seem to conflate "this triggered me" with the kind of "productive discomfort" that relatively privileged people NEED to confront in fiction about marginalizations they don't experience in order to grow as humans. But also it's just like... there are some topics where it would be doing readers a disservice not to describe them graphically. Not everything can be communicated in a way that would earn a G rating on AO3. That might mean the book is inaccessible to you, but that's on you to deal with, not on the author to censor themselves.) Or when they, as in the American Fiction example, expect it to fit some stereotypical ideas of "authenticity" and are mad that this POC or LGBTQ+ or disabled person's lives are more like their own rather than feeling like a museum exhibit about an exotic Other culture.

To me, "tryhard" is when you don't actually value diversity FOR diversity. If you're going to read diverse media, you can't get mad when it actually is diverse. If you want to read about stuff about/from other cultures and identities, then a) you need to be okay with being challenged, b) you need to not expect the author to hold your privileged hand all the time. You can look up unfamiliar words like "hajj" or "Purim." It's 2024. You have a tiny computer in your hand that is several times more powerful than the big computers that put astronauts on the moon. You can use it to go to Wikipedia when you see a word you don't understand, it's not that hard! Expecting authors from other cultures and identities to patiently explain every aspect of that to you like an elementary school teacher is the ultimate sign of entitlement and privilege, especially if you're reading, say, a book by a Congolese author about the Congo, not one that they wrote specifically for Western audiences!

When people make a big show of reading "diversely" but then seem to be upset that those books are actually, you know, DIVERSE, that's a big flashing sign that it's performative tryhard nonsense to me.

--

It's pretty sad when we'll go google some xianxia thing to watch The Untamed, but we can't manage to look at a ten thousand times more commonplace wikipedia article on a major world religion.

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aquaaquila · 2 months

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As for Marcy's name translating to god of war, for some reason my brain always sorta associated it hinting how war started in amphibia, one that did (unintentionally) forge through Marcy's hands via Andrias

Ok, rant time since it's like my first ask which isn't about reblog games or some support scam:

All Calamity Girls represent each race they were sent to in their entirety. All the wars, invasions, and conflicts started with newts. Down from Valeriana and her order creating the Calamity Box that would be later used to conquer the other worlds which would be directly under the command of the Newt dynasty Andrias belonged to (all 3 races contributed though, much like all 3 girls came together to waste their lives together, and sure Sasha was the ultimate control freak, but it was Marcy who "always had a plan" according to Sash and both Sasha and Marcy bonded over pragmatic understanding that Anne is too "nice" (granted it's usually Sasha perceived as mean, Marcy as nice and Anne as in-between, it's more so about Anne being moral to Sasha's immoral and Marcy's amoral), and how she should go along with their schemes like them throwing dance parties + Marcy also always inviting Sash and Anne to do stuff with her even if they weren't interested). And of course the aftermath of Leif's betrayal in which Andrias started Amphibia's racism and used newts specifically to uphold such a system by making them in charge and most privileged, and then leading another invasion on Earth which was basically a war to end all wars.

Because as I said, Marcy represents the newts, she also kickstarts all the conflicts in the show. She got all 3 of them stuck in Amphibia, which finally made Anne confront Sasha, all of their misadventures, and finally enabled Andrias to lead the invasion to Earth by supporting him. And we shall also not forget about Darcy, who while not the same person as Marcy, is still part of her character. Darcy's color scheme also matches the planet Mars which is where the part of "God of War" in Marcy's name comes from, whereas Marcy's normal color scheme represents the Planet Earth, ironic considering she was the least eager to come back to Earth. Darcy of course was the ultimate Mastermind behind the invasion and the tradition of starting wars. Darcy was one of the final bosses of Amphibia to defeat, the one representing the ultimate consequences of how far the toxicity of all 3 girls could've gone.

So yeah, personality-wise Marcy may not seem like she would suit her name, heck people probably would think she should be more like Athena. However without doubt the name of Marcy Regina Wu fits her actual role in the story, even if it wasn't exactly her willing choice. Though it's not like she doesn't have it in her, I mean she is a gamer who always slays-

Just in case you haven't noticed I just love how the entire trio was crafted, they're such perfect characters ong-

#keep sending me more asks and I'll give you meta analysis on all 3 girls #and also Hunter x Calamity trio xD if it escalates out of hand #amphibia #marcy wu #darcy wu #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #amphibia newts

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trickster-archangel · 9 months

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Random thoughts about Hawaii Five-0 rewatch: part 1/?

So, as someone of my mutuals already knows, I'm currently undergoing the exhausting task of checking all the fucking 61 DVDs from the H50 box set before the 30-days guarantee expires, because it's physically impossible to watch them all completely in that time, even if I took 1 month leave. So I'm simply skipping back and forth and leaving the regular rewatch for when my life will be less of a living hell...so, supposedly around 2038...

I have one complaint, which is the subtitles are not completely matching all dialogues, but since my brain only needs them until it's switched to English-mode and I can start understanding it again, I guess it's alright. Second complaint: they're fucking HUGE and OVERLAPPING THE SCENES SO RANDOMLY IT HURTS.

Anyway, I've by now processed only s1-s5, and dude....some things I caught in the deleted scenes (which I've watched entirely) AND in some parts of the commentaries I specifically sought because curiosity won, and which I've never seen giffed or captioned....man, I was so angry and disappointed at times. So I thought I'd be randomly processing them here, no pics sorry, only thoughts.

~~~~~~more under the cut~~~~~~

Thought #1: Alex and Scott goofing around.

Trust me. The gag reels are so much better than you'd expect. At times I was genuinely laughing to tears and god knows how rare it is.

What I loved most was to watch that scene where Alex and Scott start cussing in Italian, and I bet no one who's not Italian could understand a fuck about what they're yelling. Best part, though, were the subtitles, captioning ALEX AND SCOTT: SWEARING IN ITALIAN 😂 Just to make sure what language exactly they were using.

Thought #2: missed chance to make Amber's character less of a plastic doll, or: Why did you fucking cut those 57 seconds?!?!

While watching s5 deleted scenes, I stumbled upon two real jewels from the 24th episode. I'm still trying to understand why they couldn't include them in the canon episode, since both of them combined are less than a minute and surely there were other moments that could've been cut. My only explanation, sadly, is that it would've painted Amber in quite a different light, making her a stronger, rounder character, and giving her an agency we rarely saw in her, except when confronting her ex husband. They could've followed that route, but we cannot have a beautiful woman who's also her own person, a self-confident person, and not just a plastic Barbie doll, right?! God forbid a woman can have agency and call out men on their bullshit, it would threat masculine privilege too much....

So, what exactly happened that bothered me so deeply? (Be aware I'm quoting by heart and not literally, as I didn't take screenshots and anyway I can't make gifs. Also, the following meta is just my interpretation of the implications running through subtext).

The first scene is very short, just six or seven seconds long, but it's a jewel in subtext and non-verbal communication. It takes place presumably after or around the moment Rachel tells Danny about Charlie: we see them from afar, clearly in a street-taken point of view, from an external observer. They are agitated and distressed, Rachel more than Danny, who's tensely spread on the bench with his arms looped behind the backrest, angling far from Rachel's compact and almost self-hugging frame.

They're distressed, not happy, not even remotely connecting to each other, so it's clear it's not a scene which could be envisioned as romantic. It's only a couple of seconds long, and then we see whose this external point of view belongs to: Amber. Amber who's not an idiotic, mellow, shallow doll. Amber who's been so clearly upset by Danny's lie about the texts, that she decided to follow him to the place Rachel had indicated. Amber who's been manipulated and controlled and abused long enough to become suspicious and self-preserving when someone she loves, and who knows her vulnerability, tries to play her around. Amber who looks at them, and clearly isn't angry nor jealous, because those few moments the actress uses to convey all of Amber's inner distress, are some of her best ones (giving that the actress, alas, is not very expressive to begin with), and we understand that she doesn't see any romance in the air. She's disappointed. She's hurt. Betrayed. Again.

Amber's face, in a handful of seconds, perfectly displays the devastating feeling of someone who finally felt safe and respected and secure, only to discover that it's yet another kind of control and manipulation, less cruel, less brutal, but not less humiliating and even worrying.

This is something she's learnt at her expense, and now that she knows the red flags, she cannot trust a man who can't be honest with her, not with this kind of problems, not with something which is clearly affecting his life to a deep level. He wants Amber to be a part of his life, but only if he can control the terms, limits, boundaries and times of their relationship. And Amber has been through it all before, and can't trust that history won’t repeat itself.

She then drives away, hurt and disappointment written all over her face.

The second deleted scene is even more important plotwise, because it explains Amber's absence as Danny’s plus one at Kono's wedding, after all the talk he did in the car about bringing some Amber's friend as Steve's date, and it casts a new light over Danny's reaction to Steve's resolve to ask Cath to marry him, or his tension about Lynn, or Amber's condistent absence for the whole first part of s6, or even Danny's and Amber's fight during their Valentine's dinner.

The scene is longer, about fifty seconds, and it supposedly takes place right at the end of the episode, after Danny pulls up at the hospital's parking lot, after Steve's affectionate text. He takes his phone out of his pocket again because he's received a voice-mail message.

A message from Amber (sorry, I noticed just now I'm still going with Amber instead of Melissa).

She says she's sorry to be doing this by voice-mail because she'd prefer to do it in person, but given their situation it's probably for the best if she spares them both the trouble to be forced to find shallow excuses. She says he's an amazing man, and that she likes what they have and that she thinks it might be real, and that she hopes he feels the same. She's understanding that his job comes first and it's terribly demanding, as she's also aware of how hard his life and his backstory is, with Grace and Rachel. This all considered, she thinks it's best if they stop and take a pause, so that he can reflect and decide if he wants to keep this thing going, but as for now, she can't keep seeing him on these terms.

Amber decided to stop seeing Danny until he decided what to do with their relationship and be honest with her, and started thinking seriously if he was just using her, as she probably felt.

Why?? Why did they cut this whole plotline? It's pivotal for Danny's arc, for his strained and angry attitude towards everyone, for his constant distress, for his even worsening negativity, for the way he's overcompensating with excessive euphoria to Steve's announcement about Cath, for how he meddles with them and confronts Cath about being honest, for how he's not thrilled about Lynn's insertion inside Steve's life.

Because he's alone, at that time. Call it temporary breakup or period of reflection or a break, but he was single and thinking, again, about everything he was doing wrong with his life and his relationships, and falling again into his old black hole of depression and self-sabotage, and seeing Steve going on with his life even at the cost of pretending he was happy with this woman he had supposedly no trouble cheating on, during their "couple retreat", making him wonder if either what he had with Lynn wasn't serious, or if his obvious charade about his threesome with Alyssa and her friend had a second meaning.

Also, they were probably both single again, or at least testing the waters, when they were at the retreat. And Danny definitely was when Cath left Steve once again abandoned, betrayed, and never-chosen in face of anything else.

Quite a lot of subtext to think about, for just 57 seconds which were, prudently, cut.

#h50 #mcdanno #steve mcgarrett #danny williams #h50 5x24 #danny/melissa unhealthy relationship #rachel edwards #h50 meta #h50 rewatch #h50 deleted scenes #h50 gag reels #long post #amber vitale #melissa armstrong #alex o'loughlin #scott caan

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alphinias · 4 months

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That bridgerton sneak peak had some good chemistry they might make me tune in idk, I usually agree with you on most things ship related but I have a problem with this specific ship, Colin is the least interesting of the siblings so far but that's okay I didn't care for anthony either before his season, my bigger problem is Penelope, I think they tried to go for the drama and the twists too much and made her seem kind of awful? They're trying to pretend racism doesn't exist in that era but the way she outed Marina in s1 ( who was not doing a good thing at all but I don't she had much of a choice given her other option was abject poverty) and the way she talks about her friends in her column and outs everyone's shit, things that have really serious consequences on people's lives. The writers literally called her a villain which???? They're doing something I feel a lot of shows have a problem with lately, trying to girlboss women doing shitty things, same with their brand of white feminism for Eloise who spends all her scenes lamenting her fate and being "quirky" with no actual depth or confronting her privilege or trying to help other women or really anything at all, all she does is talk like a "not like other girls" girlie circa Tumblr 2012 and they're thinking omg we're being such feminists right now 🤣😅🤣

Girllll you better tune in anyway so we can get more seasons and other ships you might like better! PRESERVE OUR LIMITED ROMANCE GENRE.

In all seriousness, I totally get where you’re coming from! I personally love polin and I’m very excited for them, but I don’t think the writing has always been the best. Obviously a lot of polin fans don’t agree with me, but I still think this season not being Benedict’s is so strange and a mistake. The general audience adores him and I think both Colin and Penelope could’ve done with another season of personal growth (and slow burn) to help them win over the rest of the audience more. I like Colin and I think he’s actually really funny when they give him a chance, but he’s done nothing to scream leading man like Benedict has yet. I guess S3 will tell us how much is on the writing so far vs Luke Newton. I want him to be so amazing, but I get the doubts because I still have some nerves about it too. I think the sneak peek looked great and is a great start so I’m gonna go in with optimism and positive thoughts!

Gotta defend Eloise because I think her thinking she’s ranting and valid but actually being more out of touch than she realizes is mostly purposeful! I like that as a character flaw and I think it’s realistic for someone in her position. Or maybe I just love Eloise lol. Penelope is a bit of a more… complex case. I see why people hate her, although I personally mostly like her even though I think she sucks for what she did to the Bridgertons. She’s just treated so polarizing one way or the other by the fandom and the producers are obsessed with her and I think that’s part of the problem.

I have doubts any of the Bridgerton ships will beat kathony for me but overall this fandom is so weird! I don’t get the ship wars amongst the ships because they are all canon and they’re all meant to have their spotlight and be enjoyed. I don’t mean you anon when I say this btw, I mean more the hardcore Bridgerton fandom. It’s why I don’t engage with them a lot lol. I just want to enjoy a cute ship every season.

#polin #ask #bridgerton

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bbygirl-aemond · 1 year

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daemon.... daemon, i suffer. he's so unhinged but he won't let anyone insult aemond. but seriously, i love how that part very easily shows the difference in power between daemon (blacks) and the greens. aemond's family couldn't do anything about the insults, the comments, because viserys didn't care and because they were all raised in such a mannerly way that publicly calling out all those lords would be going against what they were taught. alicent and his siblings could only offer him quiet, private support. and then you have daemon, who has the power, and who knows he has the power. he doesn't care about consequences because there won't be any for him, for who is more powerful than he is (not counting rhaenyra). he can protect him. it's just fascinating how alicent is the queen but she wasn't in a position to protect him and now that he's rhaenyra's consort he has that protection. and im rambling and it might not make sense but im still trying to process what i've read haha a great chapter like always

i feel like this illustrates the power difference between the blacks and the greens so elegantly, too! as aemond specifically mentions, it's not that the greens didn't want to stand up for him. it's not that they didn't do everything they could, in private, to help him feel better. but they are firmly below viserys within the political hierarchy of king's landing, and if viserys takes no offense, it puts them in a really tough position. they don't have the king's favor, the way the blacks do. so even though they have similar titles, they're much more restricted in their ability to help each other.

the blacks, in contrast, have always lived with the privilege of being the king's favorites. daemon is an example of this; mans is truly wilding like 99% of the time and the most viserys ever does is kick him out for a few years. he and rhaenyra are both comfortable openly flouting traditions and cultural norms, because they know that they are protected from the consequences of doing so. and viserys's death doesn't change that; if anything, with rhaenyra's ascension, it gives them greater freedom.

this is honestly a large source of aemond's resentment for daemon and rhaenyra. it's less that he has this righteous fury about them breaking the rules (even though this is what he tells everyone), but more out of this terrible envy that no one powerful enough ever loved him enough to do that for him.

so when daemon comes in swinging on aemond's behalf, it's like a shock to aemond's system. he'd resigned himself to the fact that he would never have anyone able to protect him in that way; that he'd always have to protect himself. and he has to decide whether to trust and rely on daemon's protection, or to continue insisting he's fine by himself as he always has. that's why he's so desperate when he confronts daemon about it; why he's so terrified at the idea that daemon didn't really mean anything be it.

and it's why, the moment daemon confirms that aemond is his to protect now, the last of aemond's walls finally come down.

#ask #asks #answered #hotd #house of the dragon #fic: stormbreak: spoiler free #fic: stormbreak #fic #stormbreak #aemond #aemond targaryen #daemon #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra #rhaenyra targaryen #daemyra #daemond #rhaemond #aemyra

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qqueenofhades · 1 year

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I just saw some article abt a tiktok where a mother asks if her 10 yo's written music piece can be played (yes it can) and she starts with the kid having played violin for 2 yrs but it turns out it's a family thing with parents/aunts/grandmothers involved too...

And the reason I'm bringing this up is because of my university experience. I didn't do anything like AP classes or A levels when I was in high school. My parents have their high school diplomas and they're at very basic levels. I used to attend a different form of tertiary education attended by ppl who had backgrounds a lot more similar to mine, but in academia I'd say 80% of people had university educated people and probably about 10% had at least one parent and/or grandparent with a PhD.

I messed up my MA thesis. I mean, I passed and realistically I know that a lot of what happened isn't my fault (I ran into a serious medical issue which meant my process was delayed AND then my supervisor left after giving me minimal feedback and w/o any sort of decent transfer, after which I was not allowed to get any feedback from the replacement supervisor who was new at my university/in my country).

At the same time, I feel like the situation is definitely compounded by not having any academics in my family. I wasn't raised with the academic sense of thinking (and therefore rely too much on background research because I get insecure!) and I don't have the degree of Background Knowledge that is sort of expected of people when they wanna succeed (and yes languages like Latin are sort of included but the STORIES and HISTORIES are a lot more important, in the sense that learning Latin can be done postgraduate for sure but catching up on many many of the stories and references is a lot more difficult).

I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. I don't know if this really qualifies as a hidden curriculum as technically it ISN'T needed to succeed, but I DO notice that I have had to work a lot harder than my peers for the same outcomes, and the moment I faced setbacks I simply didn't have the type of backup in place (esp with few friends) that other people did have.

Ofc this also isn't to say that people who do have all this background knowledge should be excluded or whatever! It's just supremely difficult to catch up once you're behind, and it really has confronted me with class immobility more than anything else. Jobs in the academic world ARE notoriously difficult to come by, but this is about the step before that - succeeding in programs where previous knowledge DOES really benefit students simply because they're capable of drawing more connections because they KNOW more, and how that should be dealt with. The idea that people who are "behind" in their way of approaching academia and/or the knowledge required being immediately put at a disadvantage (and I know I am and I am a rare case bec most ppl with this disadvantage don't MAKE it to uni in the Netherlands or don't do as well as I somehow managed to do at all), AND the idea they need to catch up in the same amount of time that other students without the disadvantage to catch up... And of course not doing as well be cause we need additional time to catch up!

Like... University to me has been sucu a confrontation with how different classes of people (whether traditional income based or more education based) function and the inequality functions in a way I can't really find the words to express. All I know it's been very difficult and made me feel the odd one out pretty much the entire time I was studying.

How do you feel about inequality in higher education, and I guess also how do you feel about the current postgraduate system (MA/PHD).

Okay, so if I'm understanding your question correctly, you're specifically asking how I feel about how inherited privilege functions in academia, and how this contributes to overall inequality in the discipline/in regard to people involved it?

Obviously, kids from well-off homes, who have access to better education, private schools, personal tutors, cultural/learning opportunities paid for by their parents, etc. etc., all have a big advantage going into university. This doesn't always translate into actual results, but we all know about the nepotism/Ivy League kids who get into Yale while clearly not being very bright (cough cough George W. Bush) because, well, their families have always gone to Yale and it's what they do. I often see people expressing incredulity that particularly noxious American politicians, such as Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Ron DeSantis (who all went to Harvard/Yale/Princeton etc) act that way, because "they went to Harvard, shouldn't they know better?" This naively assumes that because Harvard is so prestigious, it must therefore teach a more Correct or Intelligent Curriculum, and totally ignores the fact that when Harvard IS in the news, it's usually for some scandal or gatekeeping or corruption, because it's functioning exactly as designed in transmitting the mentality and privilege of the American ruling class. Harvard is prestigious (and very hard to get into) because of that, not due to any extra rigor or merit in its curriculum. If you have that name on your CV, then yes, doors will automatically open for you whether or not You Personally Deserve It. That's just not the way anything works.

As such, academia reflects the inequalities that are already present in society, and it often magnifies them, especially because the long-term pursuit of higher education is, to put it bluntly, almost impossible without equally long-term funding resources. People either have to go into massive amounts of debt, or rely on having the Bank of Mom and Dad to pay for them. If you don't have and/or want either of those, your options are limited. Tons of people quit because they just can't afford to do it, they have no job options afterward, or they're burned out. Academia is a corporate structure just like everything else, and it's certainly not some magical fairyland where everyone is judged only on the quality of their ideas and nothing else. Getting an academic job is all about who you know and how you can leverage your existing connections in the field. So yeah, it can often function as a microcosm of all the other inequalities in society, and produce narratives that are, as ever, beneficial to the powerful.

That said, I do think there has been important and meaningful progress in the last few generations of scholars alone. Diversity, equality, and inclusion statements/institutional values can often sound canned and stereotypical, but the fact that they're there at all, and have broad acceptance across the academy, is remarkable and somewhat underappreciated. Ron DeSantis and his fascist footmen aren't trying so hard to totally destroy higher education in Florida (and if he wins the GOP nomination, across the country) for no reason, and conservatives aren't so hyper-obsessed with their local school boards for the same reasons. There is more awareness of marginalized narratives and dynamics in the academy than there has ever been before, and there is real and important work being done by a wide variety of incredibly diverse scholars. One critique of academia that really gets my goat, and shows me that those repeating it have no idea what they're talking about, is "academia is all old white men at elite universities!" That just isn't remotely equivalent to what things look like in 2023, or what they focus on. What about that guy who couldn't even read until he was 18, who just became Cambridge's youngest black professor at age 37? Obviously, obviously, more work needs to be done across all levels in increasing access and opportunity. But that shouldn't prevent us from recognizing the real progress that has been made, and just why anti-democratic, anti-intellectual forces perceive it as such a threat.

Likewise, academia is an incredibly fusty and outdated practice based on rules and systems originally developed about 1000 years ago, which is why it can be -- to say the least -- resistant to change. So the whole MA/PhD system is predicated on those very outdated systems, but nobody has really come up with a better one. I was very fortunate to have had the support of friends and family, including financially, while I was completing my degrees; without that, I too would not have been able to finish. Likewise, anti-intellectualism and the idea that all information is created equal, that academic expertise doesn't matter, that all intellectuals/college professors must be secretly lying to you for the power trip, etc., is something that often turns up in left-leaning as well as right-leaning spaces (see, uh, Tumblr, which tends to think that whatever is empirically true is whatever aligns with their favorite belief). So I have to push back on that as well as the rest of it, if that makes sense.

#saucerfulofsins #ask #school stuff #academia: not even once

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outrunningthedark · 1 year

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It seems to me that they really didn't realize the casual ableism tbh. Using Marjan's Islam subplot in the first two seasons of LS, it took them two seasons for them to change their Islam consultant even though that infamous praying scene was in the very first episode. OG's mental health-related subplot also took a noticeable downturn the past few seasons (not that it was that good to begin with) so it seems like no one was warning them a.k.a minimal sensitivity testing was done until the backlash was too bad for them to ignore.

Agree with all of these points. As of right now (and until further notice) the only writer I feel like "gets it" re: ableism is Andrew for the way he wrote Fools. Having the opening call (the guys trying to go viral) specifically shout out able-bodied viewers in an episode about Chris being confronted with his "limitations" seems like one hell of an accident otherwise. Plus, Carla gave good advice about Eddie needing to be honest with Chris (he won't actually be able to do everything he sets his mind to, and that's okay) and Buck was ready with the story about Jim Abbott, the major league pitcher who was born with just one hand. And then of course we got the adaptive skateboarding scene. As a physically disabled fan, one with Chris' diagnosis at that, I thought the execution was the best it's ever been. The Natacha/Marjan info (that came out in s3) is the biggest "proof", IMO, that something stinks among the crew. Natacha mentioned how her character's story is personal to an EP/the other co-showrunner according to reports (Rashad), and no, he's obviously not a woman, but a co-showrunner trying to represent his own culture wasn't able to encourage the change prior to last season? He (obviously) had to defer to Tim, the *real* boss? Can of worms was opened with that one...and then promptly shut tight because no one's talked about any of it since. (If anything...the problem still exists based on the decision to write Marjan out for a few weeks just because they could rather than Natacha having other commitments...) The fact of the matter is that both shows are run by white, cis, (assumed) het, able-bodied folks, and those privileges (and thus ingrained biases) don't automatically disappear just because they create a piece of media people care so much about.

#anonymous #tina speaks

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kermitthekrog-blog · 2 years

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I figured out my trigger event: a Parahumans thought exercise

Background and inciting incident:

I’ve struggled with ADHD since I was very young. I’ve been in and out of residential therapy. It is the number one significant factor in how my day-to-day life turns out. Not to go into too much detail, but at the moment, things are good for me, and have been for the past two years.

But, let’s say they weren’t. I backslid. I let things go too far, and now I can’t bounce back. My school is trying to expel me, because I put off my student loan paperwork too long. My professors are tired of my excuses. My parents think not supporting me, this time, might actually be key to solving my issues instead of handholding me through therapy. My writing group is sick of me showing up as the only person who keeps not actually starting the works they promised to write.

Each of these problems, and more. I realize this all on the same day.

This is a long, long term stressor, that finally came to a head: a pretty clear Tinker power.

Also, I have gender dysphoria and social anxiety, especially related to how I present myself: I hate presenting masculine, but don’t want to be obviously different or ‘freakish’, so I put up a male persona and try to be as deniably androgynous as I can within that boundary. I reassure myself that one day, when I’m ‘correct’ enough, I’ll have earned the privilege to transition fully. These are always in the background, but don’t overlap (much, at all really) with my main issues.

So, I happen to have a friend with a shard; this buds off on me as well, giving a Changer power with Master undertones.

Power expression:

My shard is Agitated Auxiliary: a neoshard composed four Cycles ago from buds of an (A) precog shard, (B) efficiency Tinker shard, (C) behavior-modification shard which previously only expressed itself as a blaster power, and (D) an entropy-inertia shard. The Tinker power lets me build systems, specifically systems to automate tasks, mitigate future consequences, and shirk effort.

That paperwork? Scanned from the website, filled and submitted automatically. That sci-fi novel idea? I took my outline doc, writing sample, and summary and turned into into a magnum opus. I can develop a mnemonic system to take tests perfectly, I just don’t actually learn the material. My docket can anticipate what people want from me months in advance and prepare the right resources and actions, but at no point have I grown closer to them or understood others more. I can always avoid bad situations, as long as no-one is actually confronting me face-to-face.

Ultimately, this solves none of my problems, just puts a bandaid over them ... which is how a person with ADHD acts, so why am I complaining? (asks my shard). And yet, no matter how bad I feel that it’s not actually my effort being put forth, no matter how much I used to respect myself as an academically competent person, a strong person, no matter how low my self-esteem sinks ... I will keep using my power. The crutch is too great, the benefit is too strong, and if I was the kind of person to resolve my situation, to take the hard way out to permanent security, to sit back and act when I understand that I’ve fallen too far ... well then, I wouldn’t have triggered, would I have?

Also, you would think a transgender person would love having a Changer power right? The secondary power lets me grow or accentuate not just masculine features, but whichever physical features or social qualities are structurally dominant for the society I’m in; in exchange, people around me believe me and attribute positive qualities to me, usually in line with whatever that social identity I’m changing into. This is hell on a transgender person, especially since I’m trying to run away from ‘male privilege’.

Complicating factors & irony:

If I had these powers a month ago, I would be flying high: my paperwork would be complete, my novels would be written, my academic status wouldn’t be in question; I could sit back and program out the rest of my life. But I didn’t: I burned my bridges. People are sick of catering to me, institutions have already sent me through their second-chance policies, and I have no resources of my own. Perhaps if this had come in a year or two, I’d have marketable skills other than what my power provides me. I still need to eat, and more: I’m not idle, I have ambitions I want to fulfill, it’s just that I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. At times, I consider what money or other resources I’d need to risk the exposure and bargaining with a biotinker, like Bonesaw, Panacea, or Second Skin, to fix my awful body.

I reassure myself that one day, I’ll be in a stable position: I’ll settle down, I’ll work on my ADHD, I’ll develop my executive function, I’ll do the work and effort myself, I won’t have to rely so much on these powers any more. Good luck, me.

Because I would be fixated on the gender aspect, I never figure out my secondary power beyond ‘this makes me more masculine/reverses my transition for some social benefits’. I try not to use it, but the bud would not have occurred if I wasn’t going to use the power: eventually, when I’m in situations where I need resources or someone on my side, I break it out, then have to reassure myself that it’s okay, that I’m really who I am inside, that this is temporary.

Both of my powers let me continue in, and excel at, the same coping behaviors I’ve been engaging in for years. It’s just a shame that these are the parts of myself I hate the most.

Conclusion:

Tinker 5-7, Changer 1 (Sub: Master 4)

Thoughts? Feedback? If you triggered in the Parahumans setting, how would your power express itself?

#parahumans #wildbow #worm #meta #thought experiment #tinker

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vigilskeep · 1 year

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So, all right. This is a thing I've spent too much time thinking about not to share. In Origins, Leliana's writing is contradictory and, frankly, makes no sense because Leliana is flat out lying to herself in almost all of her dialogue. She thinks that she needs to embody the ideal (pious, simple - hence the bad haircut, gentle, always forgiving, always a prude, etc), is struggling with the (implied sexual assault and/or rape) she went through right before converting to the Chantry because she felt she was saved from that fate by Mother Dorothea (and therefore some of that prudishness is genuine disgust), and thinks that her past is useful and therefore shouldn't be discarded even if she now has to pretend to fully hate it (Mother Dorothea asks her to keep using it, and after all, she was Saved capital S by her). It is a hot mess in there, and that's the appeal. She can't not be who she was before, it's too ingrained and was her whole life, she's a new convert and therefore is overdoing it but inconsistently, and she does generally act sheltered/privileged/pampered (see her dialogue about elven racism with an elven Warden), but at the same time, she's not anymore. You're basically witnessing a character in crisis the entire time, the same way one is with Alistair. His problems are just, honestly, more relatable to the average person, and you STILL see people (including David Gaider) suggesting he's "just a whiny kid".

i guess so. i don’t know why it doesn’t come off like part of her character to me the way other characters’ inconsistencies do... i guess that i feel like there’s no effective conclusion to her story arc where we get to have any of this out. unless it’s for very specific situations when romancing her, does hardening or not hardening her even affect her story? i did both between my two surana playthroughs and it felt like nothing really changed at all except the one hardening conversation. and there are specific conversations (like that with an elven warden) where we get to confront her prejudices, but otherwise it feels like most of it goes unchecked. i wish that we could argue with her more without being completely unreasonable; it felt so easy to make friends with her just by being a normal civil person to her even though she doesn’t really agree with my warden on anything

i should play leliana’s song and see if that does anything for me

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jentlemahae · 9 months

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Maybe I’m reading too much into it. But I’ve noticed that fans like to run with the “they’re a groupie/friends” when confronted with obvious evidence that someone is stalking these idols, just because the stalker if from the US/outside Asia. But if a Korean fan happens to meet an idol at the same restaurant in Seoul than that person must be a saesang and has to go to hell.

you’re definitely not reading too much into this, i 100% agree with u !!! if korean fans follow the members it’s all “they’re a sasaeng! a stalker! theyre bad!” but as soon as it’s somebody western people are super chill about it and making jokes 😐 i would say that in this specific instance, there’s also pretty privilege at play bcs i think the main reason why some ppl are so quick to think that she’s canoodling with the members is that she is objectively attractive :/ but still i totally agree with you - maybe if she weren’t attractive people wouldn’t insinuate that she’s sleeping with them, but i think they wouldn’t be so quick to call her a sasaeng/stalker

#anonymous #sophie ask

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adanseydivorce · 1 year

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☕️ + crazy ex girlfriend’s 4th season

I think overall I like season 4 as a concluding season for the show, certainly compared to a lot of other concluding seasons of shows I love it does a better job at what it sets out to do and that makes me I think more inclined to be generous with it (I’m used to really really hating the conclusions of things I love tbh because they can go so wrong, so when something is decent I think I’m easier on it than I would be if the same thing was in an earlier installment). I overall like what the season does with concluding Rebecca’s arc, there are places where I think it could be stronger (particularly the aspect of the season that’s supposed to be about Rebecca confronting her own privilege/white feminism doesn’t succeed as much as it thinks it does imo, but that also is part of the largest overall issue I have with the season which I’ll get into later) but other parts I think it succeeds with beautifully (I love the arc with Rebecca and her little brother, the final scenes with her mom this season, the realizations she comes to in the finale etc.), and I think Paula’s arc comes to a basically flawless conclusion.

My biggest gripe with the season is in the treatment of WoC in the season. Particularly Valencia and Heather’s (who would be my second and third favorite chars on the show after Rebecca respectively) character arcs are so neglected compared to Rebecca Paula’s even Darryl’s even NATHANIEL’s and it makes me sad

:(. I’ve talked about this before but I really don’t care for the writers decision to treat Valencia’s sexuality in such a throwaway way rather than being willing to explore her feelings about it the way they did with Darryl. Her and Beth’s storyline being all about Valencia wanting to get married… it just does not work for me at all. I’ve seen justifications that the reason the writers approach Valencia differently is that she’s a different character who wouldn’t be into coming out with a song the way a character like Darryl would but like, these are written characters the writers are making those decisions… and there are so many ways you can explore a character’s sexuality that are unique to the character, that just seems like such a lame excuse to me. I have more unfavorable things to say about this take but I don’t want to get off topic, basically I feel like Valencia was majorly cheated out of her own arc in s4 and it is my biggest sticking point with the season, ngl partly because Valencia’s a character I actually identified with quite a bit so there’s bias at play there too even if I stand by my reactions. I don’t have a rant for Heather the way I do for Valencia but if I’d rewatched more recently I definitely would, some of the issues with Heather’s storyline do stem from the end of s3 (I sort of wish the surrogacy storyline had never happened). Even though I did like Paula’s storyline re: the women in the prison Rebecca was at those storylines had a lot of problems. And I think seeing how much room the writers were willing to give Nathaniel’s arc and place in the narrative vs Valencia and Heather was also really disheartening to me, and I don’t particularly like Nathaniel so that does effect my relationship with those choices but I think even if I had much more of an affinity for his character than I do, it would still be revealing of the writers priorities to me and not in a good way.

I don’t mind the meta-ness of the season but that’s probably because I’m more inclined to like that type of humor than a lot of people, I get why others had complaints about it. Idk what else I have to say about the season really? The songs aren’t as good as earlier seasons but the ones that slap (particularly Love’s A Game and Hello Nice To Meet You) were bangers imo. oh and I LOVE the Halloween episode, it actually has many beats designed specifically for my enjoyment and unlike many other episodes I did like Valencia and Heather’s roles in it a lot.

thanks for the ask!

(send me a ☕️ + a topic and I’ll give you my honest opinion of it!)

#s speaks #crazy ex girlfriend #asks #catty-words #ceg #I would have more coherent thoughts if I’d rewatched more recently!#mutuals #my meta

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pontevoix · 2 years

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❛ do you plan to pretend like nothing happened? ❜ ( for shoko )

imagine an x-ray film: the contents of shoko’s purse. full of nothings & trash & more specifically: a wallet that contains approximately none of her cards & absolutely none of her coin currency, an empty water bottle, receipts, scattered bandages, a package of mints, a lighter, headache medicine, a caffeine pill without a container, & receipts & receipts & probably some trash & a dry tube of lipstick & her id, tucked religiously & securely into a separate pocket.

shoko carries her purse every day & she seldom itemizes its contents or thinks much about what she carries - but it’s a daily habit that she carries over her shoulder &

drops heavily atop the surface of her work space. it sounds like a slam, & it gives a dramatic effect, & shoko is grateful for the use of her purse as a prop for dramatics. she’s even more grateful because it’s

coincidence. it must be said ( it really must be ) that shoko has no flair for dramatics. maybe she used to . . . but nowadays, she prefers to claim ritual / calm behaviors in her day to day behaviors.

‘ i’ve heard whispers that you’re looking for a mole.’ she drawls instead . . . & amends. ‘ not whispers. you’ve chosen your company well —- but you’re looking for a mole. it’s only sometimes subtle . . . for the people that know you. & for the record, right now you’re giving me every reason to wish that i really were the mole. ‘

a heavy sigh & she has to shake her head — a little thoughtfully —

‘ i’d be a terrible spy. ‘ for a lot of reasons. mostly because she claims neutrality a little bit just a little & shoko has to reconsider — it’s possible that she would be a better double agent than a spy, but it’s even more likely that she would excel only where she already stands: married to no cause, but reliably present. it’s easier that way, because she can argue that she’s not thinking too hard about anything.

it doesn’t make her unique. in her line of work, there are two types of people: 1) those who want to rethink & rebuild & overthink & assume arrogance like it’s a privilege 2) those who dedicate way too much time building distance between themselves & what they know / thinking too hard.

shoko doesn’t try to deny where she falls.

what she does try to deny is the voicemail she left on her colleague’s phone at two in the morning. she knows she left a voicemail; she’s not so sure if it were a buttdial or something intentional. that’s why she strikes up conversation about spies & moles & conspiracy. she abandons her purse on her desk & taps a nondescript pattern on her computer keyboard until the screen wakes. once again, she remembers that she hates the default screensaver on her computer. once again, she notes that she’ll do nothing about it.

maybe she should get a cat. she could take a picture of the cat & set it to her screensaver.

. . . probably a bad idea. shoko might forget to feed the cat.

all things being said, embarrassment is not a frequent visitor to shoko’s heart. it does not grip her frequently, & it does not grip her now. whatever message she left on gojo’s phone . . . there are worse things. that doesn’t mean she feels partiicularly thrilled at the idea of his antagonizing her about it.

she concedes to lean over her desk chair & type a password onto the computer’s login so that she can eye her calendar. she thinks she has to take a train for a consult at noon, but she can’t remember for sure.

‘ depends what you think happened. if you think there’s anything worth talking about. whatever message i left you, i really doubt it was anything particularly haunting. pretending like nothing happened seems like a great way to calm you down. can i help you in any way? ‘

confrontation meme | @bkkorosu

#to the tune of mmmmm whatcha saaaaay #bkkorosu #me thrilled to write anything for u whenever sdfg #thank you for this sdfg #126. ieiri #1. question

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literaryscribs · 5 days

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I deleted my last personal social media account from my past today after letting it stagnate for years. I have to admit that I'm conflicted over the decision but I know its for the best rather than give in to temptation to go confronting a person who'd been harassing me for months on end. However it does leave me wondering, just how did the world get to the point where people think it's perfectly okay to just reblog or post up traumatic images online in the name of word spreading. No trigger warnings, no heads up about it. Just death and destruction in all it's bloody glory. Then when someone complains because they got their PTSD triggered off, the poster just goes ahead and blames the person for having the reaction in the first place. Calling them privileged for being able to turn off while also telling them to "get off the internet". The whole idea keeps reminding me of the old "there's children starving in the world so eat your food and be grateful" whenever a kid leaves something they don't like on their plate. Only this time around it's being accompanied by images or videos of kids being shot, people being crushed under tanks or buildings, missing limbs. I have PTSD for certain and very specific imagery and while yes I do cater my viewing and news practices around that so I don't end out in a full blown breakdown, the algorithm works against me every dang time. It assumes because I've seen that content that I must want to see more of it. Because I viewed posts regarding x country then I want to see every single activist post regardless of how much misinformation or bias it contains. Twitter (i refuse to call it by it's other name), f*cebook, y*utube, t*ktok, i*stagram, t*mblr even... they all *thrive* off of this. Because that's what the background programming is. Showing you more of what you've seen because it looks like you have a interest in it. I've had videos animals being euthanized and animal abuse (the fake rescue vids) be thrown at me before because y*utube assumed that because I liked animal videos I wanted to see those too. I had to go beat the algorithm half to death in tears because I wanted to ensure I'd never see that again.

It's not a matter of being 'sensitive' or 'being unable to cope with real life'. It's just basic human decency and respect for one another. To not tear someone else down in order to elevate someone else. It not just alienates people to the cause but makes them outright turn against it if you hurt them bad enough.

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copurrnicus · 4 months

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3/5 ⭐ Review: even this page is white by Vivek Shraya

From the outset, I found myself grappling with Shraya's unorthodox approach to poetry. The lack of clear rhythm or rhyming scheme left me feeling adrift at times, struggling to find solid footing within the verses. Additionally, the formatting isues in the ebook edition I got further impeded my comprehension, additing another layer of difficulty to the fluidity of an already challenging read.

While I could appreciate the overarching themes presented in the collection, such as identity, race, queerness, and societal expectations, the passages often eluded my full understanding. It felt as though the essence of the poems hovered just beyond my grasp, leaving me with a sense of disconnectedness from the text. Despite my efforts to engage with the material, much of it seemed to slip away, leaving me with only a vague sense of what I had read.

Despite that, even this page is white provided me an interesting reflection on the topics presented. From the beginning, we're introduced to some quotes, that already set the pace for the marvels we're about to endure:

vivek- the page is always white because it is a void - "a voidance"- until ink cometh to make it right- and blankness is destroyed- and black words dance - george elliot clarke (december 2015)

The first poem of the book, white dreams, was an excellent opening. It's a juxtaposition of the speaker's aspirations and realities, symbolised by "white dreams" and "white" imagery such as billboards, magazines, and accolades. All of these symbols are a clear representation of societal ideals and standards that often prioritise whiteness and perpetuate systemic inequalities. It shifts to a more intimate exploration of desire and intimacy, specifically within the context of interracial relationships: the relationship with a white partner is fraught with complexitiy, as the speaker grapples with questions of power dynamics, identity, and self-worth.

The last poem lets it come full circle: brown dreams. The opening line of the poem "how often must you prove your pigment" strikes you immediately. It's directed at POC, confronting them with the exhausting burden they're faced with to justify and validate their existence in a world that privileges whiteness. The metaphor of the body being "painted bronze" emphasises the external imposition of identity onto the individual, highligting the superficiality of societal perceptions of race.

I'd say, amongst everything presented in this collection, I particularly enjoyed Conversations with White Friends. Perhaps because it was one of the easiest things there for me to read and thus absorb. But also because I wasn't expecting that approach, so it was very interesting to see it included amongst it all and read their understanding and reflection of these thematics.

This collection holds undoubtedly immense value and significance, particular for readers well-versed in the nuances of poetry (emphasis on modern poetry, too). However, for those, like myself, who approach poetry with trepidation and uncertainty, it may prove to be a challenge. While I may not have fully grasped the intricacies of Shraya's poetry, I recognise the importance of engaging with diverse voices and perspectives within the literary world, even if it means stepping outside of my comfort zone.

#vivek shraya #even this page is white #poetry #book review #review #racism #queerness #whiteness #oppression #colonialism #eng #📚

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