#discourse on colonization

[mandala-lore]

Discourse on Colonization - Aimé Césaire

"First we must study how colonization works to decivilize the colonizer, to brutalize him in the true sense of the word, to degrade him, to awaken him to buried instincts, to covetousness, violence, race hatred, and moral relativism; and we must show that each time a head is cut off or an eye put out in Vietnam and in France they accept the fact, each time a little girl is raped and in France they accept the fact, each time a Madagascan is tortured and in France they accept the fact, civilization acquires another dead weight, a universal regression takes place, a gangrene sets in, a center of infection begins to spread; and that at the end of all these treaties that have been violated, all these lies that have been propagated, all these punitive expeditions that have been tolerated, all these prisoners who have been tied up and "interrogated," all these patriots who have been tortured, at the end of all the racial pride that has been encouraged, all the boastfulness that has been displayed, a poison has been distilled into the veins of Europe and, slowly but surely, the continent proceeds toward savagery. And then one fine day the bourgeoisie is awakened by a terrific boomerang effect: the gestapos are busy, the prisons fill up, the torturers standing around the racks invent, refine, discuss. People are surprised, they become indignant. They say: "How strange! But never mind-it's Nazism, it will pass!" And they wait, and they hope; and they hide the truth from themselves, that it is barbarism, the supreme barbarism, the crowning barbarism that sums up all the daily barbarisms; that it is Nazism, yes, but that before they were its victims, they were its accomplices; that they tolerated that Nazism before it was inflicted on them, that they absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples; that they have cultivated that Nazism, that they are responsible for it, and that before engulfing the whole edifice of Western, Christian civilization in its reddened waters, it oozes, seeps, and trickles from every crack."

#discourse on colonization #aime cesaire #philosophy #cultural studies #anti colonialism

[sneezypeasy]

Why I Deliberately Avoided the "Colonizer" Argument in my Zutara Thesis - and Why I'll Continue to Avoid it Forever

This is a question that occasionally comes up under my Zutara video essay, because somehow in 2 hours worth of content I still didn't manage to address everything (lol.) But this argument specifically is one I made a point of avoiding entirely, and there are some slightly complicated reasons behind that. I figure I'll write them all out here.

From a surface-level perspective, Zuko's whole arc, his raison d'etre, is to be a de-colonizer. Zuko's redemption arc is kinda all about being a de-colonizer, and his redemption arc is probably like the most talked about plot point of ATLA, so from a basic media literacy standpoint, the whole argument is unsound in the first place, and on that basis alone I find it childish to even entertain as an argument worth engaging with, to be honest.

(At least one person in my comments pointed out that if any ship's "political implications" are problematic in some way, it really ought to be Maiko, as Mai herself is never shown or suggested to be a strong candidate for being a de-colonizing co-ruler alongside Zuko. If anything her attitudes towards lording over servants/underlings would make her… a less than suitable choice for this role, but I digress.)

But the reason I avoided rebutting this particular argument in my video goes deeper than that. From what I've observed of fandom discourse, I find that the colonizer argument is usually an attempt to smear the ship as "problematic" - i.e., this ship is an immoral dynamic, which would make it problematic to depict as canon (and by extension, if you ship it regardless, you're probably problematic yourself.)

And here is where I end up taking a stand that differentiates me from the more authoritarian sectors of fandom.

I'm not here to be the fandom morality police. When it comes to lit crit, I'm really just here to talk about good vs. bad writing. (And when I say "good", I mean structurally sound, thematically cohesive, etc; works that are well-written - I don't mean works that are morally virtuous. More on this in a minute.) So the whole colonizer angle isn't something I'm interested in discussing, for the same reason that I actually avoided discussing Katara "mothering" Aang or the "problematic" aspects of the Kataang ship (such as how he kissed her twice without her consent). My whole entire sections on "Kataang bad" or "Maiko bad" in my 2 hour video was specifically, "how are they written in a way that did a disservice to the story", and "how making them false leads would have created valuable meaning". I deliberately avoided making an argument that consisted purely of, "here's how Kataang/Maiko toxic and Zutara wholesome, hence Zutara superiority, the end".

Why am I not willing to be the fandom morality police? Two reasons:

I don't really have a refined take on these subjects anyway. Unless a piece of literature or art happens to touch on a particular issue that resonates with me personally, the moral value of art is something that doesn't usually spark my interest, so I rarely have much to say on it to begin with. On the whole "colonizer ship" subject specifically, other people who have more passion and knowledge than me on the topic can (and have) put their arguments into words far better than I ever could. I'm more than happy to defer to their take(s), because honestly, they can do these subjects justice in a way I can't. Passing the mic over to someone else is the most responsible thing I can do here, lol. But more importantly:

I reject the conflation of literary merit with moral virtue. It is my opinion that a good story well-told is not always, and does not have to be, a story free from moral vices/questionable themes. In my opinion, there are good problematic stories and bad "pure" stories and literally everything in between. To go one step further, I believe that there are ways that a romance can come off "icky", and then there are ways that it might actually be bad for the story, and meming/shitposting aside, the fact that these two things don't always neatly align is not only a truth I recognise about art but also one of those truths that makes art incredibly interesting to me! So on the one hand, I don't think it is either fair or accurate to conflate literary "goodness" with moral "goodness". On a more serious note, I not only find this type of conflation unfair/inaccurate, I also find it potentially dangerous - and this is why I am really critical of this mindset beyond just disagreeing with it factually. What I see is that people who espouse this rhetoric tend to encourage (or even personally engage in) wilful blindness one way or the other, because ultimately, viewing art through these lens ends up boxing all art into either "morally permissible" or "morally impermissible" categories, and shames anyone enjoying art in the "morally impermissible" box. Unfortunately, I see a lot of people responding to this by A) making excuses for art that they guiltily love despite its problematic elements and/or B) denying the value of any art that they are unable to defend as free from moral wickedness.

Now, I'm not saying that media shouldn't be critiqued on its moral virtue. I actually think morally critiquing art has its place, and assuming it's being done in good faith, it absolutely should be done, and probably even more often than it is now.

Because here's the truth: Sometimes, a story can be really good. Sometimes, you can have a genuinely amazing story with well developed characters and powerful themes that resonate deeply with anyone who reads it. Sometimes, a story can be all of these things - and still be problematic.*

(Or, sometimes a story can be all of those things, and still be written by a problematic author.)

That's why I say, when people conflate moral art with good art, they become blind to the possibility that the art they like being potentially immoral (or vice versa). If only "bad art" is immoral, how can the art that tells the story hitting all the right beats and with perfect rhythm and emotional depth, be ever problematic?

(And how can the art I love, be ever problematic?)

This is why I reject the idea that literary merit = moral virtue (or vice versa) - because I do care about holding art accountable. Even the art that is "good art". Actually, especially the art that is "good art". Especially the art that is well loved and respected and appreciated. The failure to distinguish literary critique from moral critique bothers me on a personal level because I think that conflating the two results in the detriment of both - the latter being the most concerning to me, actually.

So while I respect the inherent value of moral criticism, I'm really not a fan of any argument that presents moral criticism as equivalent to literary criticism, and I will call that out when I see it. And from what I've observed, a lot of the "but Zutara is a colonizer ship" tries to do exactly that, which is why I find it a dishonest and frankly harmful media analysis framework to begin with.

But even when it is done in good faith, moral criticism of art is also just something I personally am neither interested nor good at talking about, and I prefer to talk about the things that I am interested and good at talking about.

(And some people are genuinely good at tackling the moral side of things! I mean, I for one really enjoyed Lindsay Ellis's take on Rent contextualising it within the broader political landscape at the time to show how it's not the progressive queer story it might otherwise appear to be. Moral critique has value, and has its place, and there are definitely circumstances where it can lead to societal progress. Just because I'm not personally interested in addressing it doesn't mean nobody else can do it let alone that nobody else should do it, but also, just because it can and should be done, doesn't mean that it's the only "one true way" to approach lit crit by anyone ever. You know, sometimes... two things… can be true… at once?)

Anyway, if anyone reading this far has recognised that this is basically a variant of the proship vs. antiship debate, you're right, it is. And on that note, I'm just going to leave some links here. I've said about as much as I'm willing/able to say on this subject, but in case anyone is interested in delving deeper into the philosophy behind my convictions, including why I believe leftist authoritarian rhetoric is harmful, and why the whole "but it would be problematic in real life" is an anti-ship argument that doesn't always hold up to scrutiny, I highly recommend these posts/threads:

In general this blog is pretty solid; I agree with almost all of their takes - though they focus more specifically on fanfic/fanart than mainstream media, and I think quite a lot of their arguments are at least somewhat appropriate to extrapolate to mainstream media as well.

I also strongly recommend Bob Altemeyer's book "The Authoritarians" which the author, a verified giga chad, actually made free to download as a pdf, here. His work focuses primarily on right-wing authoritarians, but a lot of his research and conclusions are, you guessed it, applicable to left-wing authoritarians also.

And if you're an anti yourself, welp, you won't find support from me here. This is not an anti-ship safe space, sorrynotsorry 👆

In conclusion, honestly any "but Zutara is problematic" argument is one I'm likely to consider unsound to begin with, let alone the "Zutara is a colonizer ship" argument - but even if it wasn't, it's not something I'm interested in discussing, even if I recognise there are contexts where these discussions have value. I resent the idea that just because I have refined opinions on one aspect of a discussion means I must have (and be willing to preach) refined opinions on all aspects of said discussion. (I don't mean to sound reproachful here - actually the vast majority of the comments I get on my video/tumblr are really sweet and respectful, but I do get a handful of silly comments here and there and I'm at the point where I do feel like this is something worth saying.) Anyway, I'm quite happy to defer to other analysts who have the passion and knowledge to give complicated topics the justice they deserve. All I request is that care is taken not to conflate literary criticism with moral criticism to the detriment of both - and I think it's important to acknowledge when that is indeed happening. And respectfully, don't expect me to give my own take on the matter when other people are already willing and able to put their thoughts into words so much better than me. Peace ✌

*P.S. This works for real life too, by the way. There are people out there who are genuinely not only charming and likeable, but also generous, charitable and warm to the vast majority of the people they know. They may also be amazing at their work, and if they have a job that involves saving lives like firefighting or surgery or w.e, they may even be the reason dozens of people are still alive today. They may honestly do a lot of things you'd have to concede are "good" deeds.

They may be all of these things, and still be someone's abuser. 🙃

Two things can be true at once. It's important never to forget that.

#zutara discourse #the colonizer argument #anti anti zutara #text post #long post #anti maiko #anti mai #tagging just in case #anti purity culture #this is not an anti-ship safe space

[theweeklydiscourse]

It’s just interesting to observe the differences in how people treat Zukka vs how they treat Zutara. Because I searched Zutara on TikTok to look for some edits and the comments were filled to the brim with people saying “But Katara belonged with Aang 🥺” or “How can you ship Zuko with her after Mai said such a romantic line?” Or perhaps the most insufferable of all “Maturing is realizing that Zuko would’ve thrown himself in from of lightning for ANYONE” as if that’s some revolutionary reading of the text. It’s so irritating how this kind of behaviour is…accepted by the fandom.

But you don’t get that with Zukka, instead you see people gushing over how sweet they are together, hailing it as a wholesome and unproblematic ship, praising artworks of it with positivity and appreciation. It’s difficult to find much negativity under Zukka posts, you won’t see people saying “But Sokka belongs with Suki 🥺” or boldly going on a tangent about how another ship is SO much better. I saw one person praise Zukka as the most unproblematic ATLA ship because of how little conflict there was about it, that you wouldn’t see the same hostility among that fandom as you might with Zutara.

But there’s a reason for that which has less to do with Zutara shippers themselves, and more to do with the harassment and hostility they face on all sides of the fandom. Fans will go out of their way to antagonize Zutara shippers, they’ll feel brazen enough to leave backhanded or outright hostile comments under Zutara posts and art, they’ll interject their shipping opinions in spaces where nobody asked and condescend Zutara shippers by framing them as shallow or delusional for shipping it.

I think Zukka is admittedly cute, and they definitely have their haters, but the difference between it and Zutara is astounding. It’s incredibly frustrating to watch this phenomenon play out, especially when these shippers carry themselves with a kind of false moral superiority that can only be found in shipping discourse.

#especially ESPECIALLY when Zutara is constantly being hit with the old *colonizer x colonized* accusations #But somehow Zukka manages to avoid that same criticism despite Sokka being from the same tribe as Katara #Frustrating as a poc zutara shipper to constantly be accused of being a white person romanticizing a supposedly *colonizer romance* dynamic #katara #Zuko #pro zutara #atla discourse #atla fandom #atla fandom salt #atla fandom critical #shipping discourse #enemies to lovers #anti Zukka #anti maiko #avatar the last airbender

[ecoterrorist-katara]

on “Zutara is a colonizer x colonized ship”

“Colonizer” is not an ontological category. It’s a role within a specific geopolitical power dynamic, and therefore it can change — or even cease to exist — when these geopolitical power dynamics change (like when, idk, a Gaang of teenagers overthrow a genocidal imperialist colonial regime to install a new monarch who vows to stop the genocide and imperialism and colonization and bring about an era of love and peace)

I know it’s a bad faith anti argument, but it bothers me more than most anti Zutara arguments because I think it is indicative of a very pessimistic, defeatist attitude about power relations in general. Any type of oppressor is not a fixed role. It’s subject to change, and indeed ATLA’s message is that it’s your obligation — and your right, your power — to fight for that change, even if you’re just a ragtag group of kids against a whole empire. Calling Zuko a colonizer is not only a baffling misunderstanding of what colonization is, it also implies that even when you successfully challenge and restructure oppressive power dynamics, old sins cast long enough shadows that there is nothing you can do to be free of them. It’s one thing to acknowledge the complexities of a close relationship with someone who used to benefit from your oppression (indeed that’s kind of the whole arc of The Southern Raiders where Katara confronts the ways in which she has projected the trauma of her mother’s murder at the hands of the Fire Nation onto Zuko, who is now a valued ally). It’s quite another to claim that neither of you can ever escape the ontological categories of oppressor vs victim even if you’ve both changed the world.

#Also the water tribes were never even fucking colonies so even the premise is wrong but other folks have talked about that #The colonizer does not exist without the colonized that’s like anticolonialism 101 #source: my anticolonialism seminar where I first read The Colonizer and the Colonized #Zutara #Zutara meta #atla fandom critical #Pro Zutara #anti anti Zutara #look what the antis made me do they made me type anti twice #my meta #ATLA colonization discourse #which apparently warrants a tag now lmao

[ravagen]

Can anti mspec lesbians not use “colonizing” to describe queer ppl identifying in a way they don’t want

#like dude. #are you seriously comparing colonization. to fucking queer ppl #i swear to god #discourse #mspec lesbian #pro mspec lesbian #whitewashing tw #I Guess cuz it’s appropriating a term #exclusionist tw

[zauncomeon]

Let’s get one thing very straight. Genocide will always be horrible, impactful, and damaging. To minimize it or act like it has no effect would be obtuse, and I’m not here to debate on whether colonization or genocide is worse than the other, especially since often those things intertwine, but even alone, they are evil.

All that being said, the Water Tribes were never colonized. Genocide was definitely enacted by the fire nation onto them, but colonization never happened. Genocide alone still impacted the water tribes heavily, and you can see for yourself when you look at how the Southern Water Tribe looked before the genocides have taken place. Not only that, genocide leaves damaging effects psychologically, as evidenced by how the people at the SWT seem so visibly emotionally exhausted, and a bit hopeless. But of course losing family members due to it only makes it more difficult and heartbreaking

I’m going to say now, even if the fire nation colonized the water tribes, I’d still ship zutara. So this isn’t a defense of any kind, but this is only an answer to seeing fellow zutarians misuse the word, and I think it’s important to know the difference so we can talk about it properly

#had to delete the other post because I don’t think it expressed how genocide was still bad #and also I don’t care about these ship wars in regards to this topic #I’m not bothered by people who claim zutara is colonizer/colonized #zutara #zutara discourse #atla critical #atla criticism #anti atla #atla zuko #atla katara #zuko #katara #atla zutara #anti kataang #anti maiko

[rhaenin-time]

If The Hunger Games series was released today, with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes released first, you wouldn't be able to use it as a discussion of colonialism and imperialism because you'd have entire circles of the internet dedicated to proving that the author is wrong and actually Snow is the true victim and screaming "Oh my god this is so disrespectful how dare you bring real world colonialism into your fandom discourse just to justify your faves. Stop moralizing fiction! Now let me tell you about how my meow meow isn't a colonizer and also Katniss is a crazy fascist."

Sidenote: The Hunger Games universe is an amazing distillation of the core-periphery model of colonization and imperialism and I will not shut up about it they should honestly teach it alongside Decolonialism 101 in schools which is why you know they won't.

#the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #fandom discourse #what has happened to the internet #team black #shouldn't even need to be a thing why does it need to be a thing #i just want to talk about the patriarchy without willful misinterpretations you guys! #yes the way Panem works is a little hazy with the lines of colonialism/imperialism because it's lack a settler aspect #But the core-periphery exploitation aspect stands STRONG #In a lot of ways it's more comparable to European colonization of Africa rather than North America which is interesting

[licorice-lips]

I am generally an anti-violence type of person (unless we're talking about revolution and war against imperialism) but I find so much humor when someone says that communism/socialism doesn't work because it creates violent dictatorships like that isn't the pure description of capitalism.

I mean, just because the violence is hidden from your eyes and your understanding, it doesn't mean it's not there, and just because you have the illusion of control through the con of democracy, it doesn't mean you actually have control over your government.

Apparently, socialism failed after a try period of 30/40 years under heavy capitalist opposition and oppression, but capitalism has been falling for 500 years now and that's okay, like we're not dying by the thousands because of it.

#politics #political discourse #to be honest fuck capitalism #communism #socialism #leftism #left wing #anti capitalism #anti capitalist love notes #fuck the police #fuck the idf #fuck patriarchy #free palestine 🇵🇸 #free palestine #free gaza #free west bank #anti colonialism #anti colonization #anti imperialism

[catgendermikus]

some1 pro-israel just followed so huge clarification: PALESTINE DESERVES ITS LAND. ISRAEL IS A COLONIAL NON-STATE & IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. IF U ARE PRO-ISRAEL/NOT ACTIVELY PRO-PALESTINE LEAVE THIS PAGE & DO NOT USE THESE GENDERS. /srs

#genuinely block me right now if u r not pro-palestine. #i don’t care if xenogender blogs r an escape for u #this is not a safe space for fucking zionists & colonizers & genocide supporters. #i may be ‘discourse neutral’ generally but this is not fucking discourse it is an active genocide & neutrality is complicity

[stackslip]

lmao this clownish, hypocritical, farcical, vindicative mess of a country. this loony nation that will literally throw a whole tantrum, from government to media stations to randoes on the street, because it deeply believes that it is entitled to the spoils and fruits and suffering of the people it oppressed for centuries, as *thanks* for "civilizing" them. any backlash to that notion creates unprecedented fury and petty vindictiveness towards the nationals of said country. on one hand the new governments of niger and mali are "human rights abusing juntas", on the other any national from this country must be severely punished for their governments' refusal to bow down and lick the sole of france's boot like they're supposed to.

#you guys don't wanna see the french comment sections to the news stories about morocco it was fucking vile #literally jubilating at the suffering of hundreds of thousands because 'they disrespected us and now they want our aid' #there is nothing redeemable about this country! it was built on lies and suffering and supreme entitlement and vindictiveness #it was built on the idea that there is a Supreme Civilisation and all others are below it and must be subsumed in its honor #or punished for refusing it #france actually didn't gain all that much economically from its colonies during active colonization but it gained everything in terms of- #defining itself as a country and nation. literally the nation state and identity of the republic were built during colonization. #and ofc economically from the 50s/60s on it gained immensely from its 'former' colonies that for all intents and purposes were- #its cheap source of resources and riches and labour #and today still 'francophonie' and former colonies are seen as france's dominion to rule and 'advise' as it sees fit #and of course extract as much as possible of. #you know during all the nuclear discourse in france so few mention where our uranium comes from lol #and what the actual human cost to nuclear in france is. bc it isn't to the population of the metropole. #it's to the workers who extract uranium for us. #anyhow. #eli talks

[sneezypeasy]

This is why I prefer to let other people take the mic when it comes to fandom/moral critique. Even on my best day, I couldn't publish a fandom-critical take half as comprehensive and coherent as this one.

Reposted anonymously with permission from OP, who understandably does not want to deal with hate comments/hate asks for expressing these opinions.

(Hopefully the screenshots load properly on tumblr, I know the first one is incredibly long 😅)

#zutara discourse #anti anti zutara #the colonizer argument #fandom analysis #anti purity culture #anti ship war #anti kataang #anti maiko #anti aang #anti mai

[gimmethemprimals]

I’m trying to get all my words together neatly so this might be a mess but I’m so happy that staff did this. I love the new harpy lore. I love that I don’t have to be terribly uncomfortable anymore whenever beastclans come up in canon.

I’ve seen far too many people argue that the pre-existing lore was fine. No, it wasn’t. If you’re arguing for lore that makes the characters we’re rooting for (the dragons) into genocidal colonizers that only shows me that the lore was a mistake in the first place.

I vividly remember seeing someone in the past argue in a discord server for the old beastclan lore because “They liked edgy stories about war.” I have seen so many comments like that before, far too many to count. Some of them are about how they hate the beastclans, some of them are about how “its realistic.”

This is a pixel dragon game. We don’t need this in Flight Rising. We never did. Thank you FR staff.

TLDR: don’t be fucking weird <3

#flight rising #fr #fr beastclans #discourse #? #drama #???? #idk just in case #tw colonization #tw genocide #racism #i guess

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I saw you say you mind the mishmash of cultures in the show. That’s fine and all (well actually not fine but whatever), but the show is still orientalist at its core

And two white men mishmashing different stuff from various Asian and indigenous cultures isnt cute nor endearing, and it’s weird for you to think it is. it just shows they don’t actually respect those cultures and see it as a playground of some sorts. Something they can dip in and out of, as if they are fucking crayons and not actual cultures. Especially cultures that are undermined. Like….the fuck is wrong with you?

Oh you don’t know what Orientalism is lmao. Edward Said wrote Orientalism to demonstrate how the West had created a vision of the Middle East (through art) that is mysterious & depraved & Other, which in turn justified imperialist politics in the Middle East. Even if you applied this to East/Southeast/South Asia and the Indigenous Americas, ATLA doesn’t qualify, because 1) precisely due to its deliberate eclecticism, it is explicitly a fantasy setting that never claims to represent the cultures that influenced it, and 2) the narrative does not Other its inspirations in this fantasy setting, because the people and cultures depicted in ATLA are framed as aspirational to a young watcher. Orientalism is not wrong just because white people learned about Sultans and decided to paint them: the framing and the political environment make all the difference. An Orientalist text does not encourage the audience to identify with the Other, yet hordes and hordes of kids grew up identifying with Katara and Aang and Zuko, who are shown as the protagonists in their world.

Ironically, I would be harsher on ATLA if it wasn’t a pastiche (and I mean pastiche, not parody) of existing cultures. I would have a much higher standard for a cartoon depicting Imperial Japan, but bringing inspiration from e.g. Thailand into the Fire Nation allows for a greater degree of playfulness and subsumes it into an explicitly fantasy setting. That doesn’t mean ATLA is always successful at it — in fact it annoys me quite a bit that the Earth Kingdom is very much China — or that the adult audience is capable of differentiating between fantasy and history. It also doesn’t mean there isn’t disrespect in the actual depictions: Guru Pathik is a pretty lazy stereotype. Were Bryan and Mike 100% respectful of the cultures they took inspo from? Probably not, but their intent is not interesting to me.

I do take issue with the way ATLA portrays resistance (ie Jet and Hama), or how the subsequent comics talk about colonial progress (North and South, The Promise), or whatever milquetoast political allegories that were in the Legend of Korra, so you'd never hear me claim that ATLA is politically sound. But do I take issue with the fundamental conceit of ATLA, as a fantasy world inspired by Asian & Indigenous cultures? No, I don’t. I actually come from one of the cultures that heavily influenced ATLA, and I didn’t like the show when I was younger because I used to think it was culturally appropriative. Of course you’re free to feel that way, but then I don’t get why you would read ATLA posts, and read my tags on a post that wasn’t even mine, if you fundamentally object to this piece of media.

Then again, even when I was the most self-righteous freshman knees-deep in PoCo theory, I wouldn’t have asked someone “what the fuck is wrong with you” for enjoying this cartoon, so maybe I just can’t relate to you, anon 🙃

#ATLA fandom be even mildly literate in the postcolonial theory that they keep throwing around challenge (impossible) #ATLA colonization discourse #anti Bryke #But very mildly because of their multitudes of writing sins “creating a fantasy world inspired by other cultures” is not one I care about #can i ask you a question?

[deathbirby]

Is it bad that I find the "invasive species" to be some blood and soil shit? Like for all the claims that they're not n*zis it's not doing them any favors when they start parroting n*zi talking points like that or say that one race cannot be a political leader (or any leader for that matter) or guide the people solely because of their race.

Oh yeah it has been pointed out to them, they just get mad when you say that because the Nabateans are fictional beings. And they're not REALLY from Fodlan so it's technically true!

#edelgard discourse #grey borb #yeah its #the rhetoric is fucked #they said the genocide against the nabateans was justified for that reason #because they were colonizers and invasive species

[faggotry-enjoyer]

oh i'm definitely gonna lose some friends for this one huh

#already got vagueposted about by one former friend as 'comparing pro-palestine sentiments to antisemitism' #direct quote 'israel desperately wants them to believe this is a religious war and not a genocide' #same guy who said 'boy howdy do we know their side of the story' and ten short texts later said verbatim: #'we can't use religion as birthright thats stupid and the Number One Tool of Colonizers' #which is a STAGGERING amount of cognitive dissonance #as if religion is the relevant part and not the literal historical fact of jewish indigineity to eretz israel #mind you at the time of the vaguepost the ONLY thing i said regarding palestine #was that if your 'support' for palestinians includes sharing basic antisemitic dogwhistles and blatantly lying about history #then that 'support' will accomplish nothing for palestinians and only get jews killed #and i feel like looking at that and insisting that i'm comparing all pro-palestinian sentiment to antisemitism is uh. telling #we'll see how this ends up going - i fear it may not be the greatest for my social life but i stand by what i said #bc even if i am wrong about Everything directly surrounding israel and palestine #i was strictly discussing antisemitism in the discourse surrounding it #and a longer version of 'no stance on israel makes you immune to antisemitism and antisemitism runs deep and will affect your thinking on #the matter and refusing to acknowledge that is dangerous' isn't actually dependent on the intracacies of the conflict it's just True #and i'm not gonna back down again i'm not going to downplay antisemitism again i'm not going to give up #i'm not sure if i have jewish friends i simply do not know about who see what i say on there #but if i do then i need it to be clear they have Someone who is willing to fight for them #and if not i still need to make it clear i won't stand for blatant antisemitism no matter whose name it's in #the only thing that would make me consider taking down what i said is if i believed it's counterproductive #and part of me wonders if it is - i don't want to put people on the defense bc that's simply not conducive to good faith discussion #but at the same time i know that a lot of what i've needed to hear was fed up or harsh words #that i started off just reading and keeping my defensiveness inside until they sunk in over time #and maybe my frustration will have that effect for someone #damn i really need to make some jewish friends... maybe after break i'll reach out to hillel or a local shul to ask if they could use a han #or something idk we'll see #personal #faggotry enjoyer original

[treesofgreen]

Something something David Jenkins says piracy is queer life something something Izzy is the one most hung up on being pirates and not talent show participants something something Izzy is in fact the queerest character in the show and is trying to save Ed from the heteronormative relationship and lifestyle Stede is presenting as superior (you know since we're just making shit up).

#speaking of shit #how do you miss that izzy's revenge is clearly a reference to DIARRHEA #what's with this idea that it's a grand reveal of izzy's colonizer tendencies when the natives had no such problem with him #yet put stede and pete on trial? #sorry #none of the antis ever bother to address episode 3 and it makes me crazy #that's enough discourse for me for awhile #izzy hands #discourse