#no it's also the daily microagressions

[itsjustpoopeh]

my hot take is that i think Isaac should have a homophobia issue actually. he should have a bias that he has to think about and overcome. i don’t want the narrative to be “it’s silly for queer people to be hesitant or afraid of coming out to their friends” because that’s condescending and inaccurate. sometimes you lose friends for it! i don’t want that to happen, but the likelihood of a straight man who’s been in professional male athletics for years having some homophobic tendencies he needs to address is very high! just like some of them had to address their misogynistic tendencies in the latest episode! it is not bad writing for that to be shown!

#ted lasso spoilers #and yes it would be perfectly fine for him to correct himself within one episode #y'all keep saying it's a disservice to the story for resolutions not to be stretched out #but then with this story line that hasn't been resolved since the third episode i keep hearing 'they should address it in the same episode' #nah fam you don't get it both ways #next week they gon deal with their shit and i don't wanna hear y'all moving goalposts again #some of y'all act like homophobia is just the extreme westboro end of 'god hates fags' or w/e #no it's also the daily microagressions #the ones straight ppl don't even recognize #the ones we have *seen isaac commit* #colin may not want apologies but i bet he'd like his friends to stop saying 'that's so gay bruv' #that's the kind of shit i mean #ted lasso #richmond till we die

[dojae-huh]

Do you think when it comes to foreign members sm treat them equally with k members??

Yes.

Naturally, there are ought to be xenophobic staff members, who are probably mean and microagressive in daily life, however, the company itself gives the same opportunities.

Don't listen to the buzz fans produce. Look at the history and the facts.

Yuta was the first Japanese trainee. He was debuted as a Rookie earlier and he was pushed alongside Jaehyun and Taeyong. He was a pannelist on a TV show, he was a guest MC, he had cameos prior to debut. Here he is in an EXO's MV together with Jae. Yuta is allowed to make his own image (the hairstyles, the rock vibe of recent). And let's not pretend it was Yuta's idea to launch himself in Japan with "the Japanese with most IG subscribers". Or that he personally contacted all Japanese magazines to get a pictorial.

Shotaro was debuted after a few months in the company and got a lot of brand deals, magazine covers, was established as a dancer (ConNextion), films a lot of pre-debut promotional material for the Japanese market (the roadshow with Yuta, what is NCT with Sungchan).

Ten debuted in t7s, got 2 solo songs before Taeyong, is in SuperM. Is getting a solo album ahead of all 127 vocalists this year. Together with Jisung he attended tap-dance classes in SM.

Xiaojun is pushed as a vocalist a lot. A song with SM's DJ, covers, guesting on Korean TV shows where he sings live, KunXiao duo, now he is a music show MC. He also acted in a Chinese tv-series.

WinWin never put much effort in learning Korean or hip-hop based idol dances, and yet noone mistreated him for it.

LSM first took Lay who was exiled for bad behaviour from SM back and later gave Lay a whole company in China. NingNing gets a lot of spotlight in aespa's MVs.

Chenle, Renjun, Kun - all were hosts of a Chinese language radio show. Yuta got a radio show in Japanese as well. Renjun will soon have more covers on YT than Doyoung put out.

It's Koreans who hate on foreign members, and Korean TV companies that don't have enough opportunities to offer (although it seems to change).

Yuta doesn't get many lines because he is not the strongest vocalist in 127. On the other hand, Renjun gets a lot of highlight moments in Dream songs because he is a lead vocal.

"Zoo" got its own stage for SMtown. And 3 out of 5 unit members are non-Koreans (Giselle is half-Korean, half-Japanese, but Korean public doesn't accept her easily).

It's an idol's responsibility to have NingNing's (and Xiaojun's) attitude and better oneself constantly to trample all "company's attempts" at getting in their way.

Ask yourself, why both Hendery and Xiaojun are Chinese, and yet it is the "more hateful" mainlander who is on Korean TV.

[taryn-phillips]

Ch.5 Fieldwork

White Supremacy

White supremacy is beliefs and ideas emphasizing that the white human races is superior over other racial groups. This is largely shown and viewed in American culture (our country). For example, our formal president Donald trump was a white supremacist who's slogan was to "make America great again" meaning to gain power and benefits for only white people. Additionally, a riot perpetrated against the capitol by Donald trump supporters that was enforced by Donald trump himself. Our country is viewed as white people can get away with things that black people or any other person of color can't. The system has been like this since the beginning and it all roots from white supremacy.

American culture

in 2018, Childish Gambino an American rapper/singer released a song called "This is America" where the song focuses on a side how the world views America and then the other side what America is hiding (that is not shown). The side that is portrayed to the world is the American dream where every family is living behind a white picket fence, in a beautiful home with great jobs. The side that is not shown is the struggle minorities go through in this country on a daily basis. The music video targets black life in America and American culture by including secret messages and symbolism throughout the video like black people fighting the police etc. We can say that our culture the (American culture) is portrayed to other culture as fast food, sports, and privileged.

Genetics

In the human we race we distribute ourselves into groups based off of race. According to chapter 5, based on variations of skin color and other visible features associated with race are shaped by less than 0.1% of genetic code. For example, a person from Western Africa who starts walking east will have more in common genetically with someone in Russia compared to their neighbor at home.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are widely held fixed ideas of a particular race or group. A popular stereotype among the black race is that we have large noses/ large lips. As the first humans evolved from Africa, your features came from where you are in the world and the climate of that location. According to the article sciencelet, an advantage with having a larger nose facilitates breathing in more air thereby supplying the body with more oxygen especially in warm climates. Physical activity in a hotter environment is more demanding because your body requires more oxygen rather than in cooler climates. So

The show blackish also portrays black culture stereotypes. It shows how a typical black family lives in America and the struggles that come with it. In the show, it shows how black culture is viewed from an inside and outside perspective.

Microaggression in American society

Microagression is common for POC in America and it is simply a term for everyday insults, snubs, or negative attitude to target someone solely on their race or culture. We have a common with microagression in many places such as the workplace, hospitals, and unfortunately schools. Many black children are judged right when they walk in the door that they are either disruptive or will slack off. This judgement roots from racism and has turned into a microagression in schools. For example, the award winning movie The great debaters portrays a group of kids from an HBCU that challenge white kids in debating during the 1935 era. In the movie, actor Denzel Washington starts a debate team at a hbcu which was highly unheard of during that time. In the movie, nobody expected anything great from this all black debate team. They were viewed inner American culture as dense and unintelligent. Surely, these kids made a good name for themselves and ended up winning the debate contest. Although they won, they were judged on their knowledge just because they are black which gave them the disadvantage.

Racial genocide

Racial genocide is the systematic destruction of a group of people because of their race, ethnicity, or religion. In the us, too many black people have died for crimes they did not do. We call this a racial genocide as many of them from the same race was killed. For example, according to the article Black Agenda Report, the Martinsville seven were seven black men who died in the state of Virgnia's electric chair for a rape they never committed. Black genocide still occurs under color of law.

Sources:

[ndellasall]

6 Key Concepts Regarding Race/Racism.

White Supremacy

Pictured above is Jeffery Dahmer. Dahmer is a white male serial killer who ate, violated, and brutally murdered his victims. His victims were mainly young brown and black men. His youngest victim was a 14 year old boy of Asian descent, in fact his victim managed to escape into Dahmer’s apartment hallway where his neighbor Glenda Cleveland a black woman and her daughter saw the young boy, drugged, stumbling and clearly needing help, so she called the police. When the police arrived Jeffery had told them the young naked boy was his “19 year old boyfriend”, after this with no further questioning or investigation toward the boy they allowed Jeffery to take him back into his apartment where he later strangled the boy immediately after.This shows how white cops automatically believed Jeffery over Glenda because he was a white man.

Hypodescent

Jussie Smollet, pictured and tagged above is biracial. His father is a white Jewish man and his mother is black (also pictured on the right), yet his classification is simply “black”. This portrays how being a “Hypo-descent” is still a modern issue. It could be a drop of African American in his blood and yet just like that, he is no longer regarded as even “half white” to racists.

Microagression

Most people may not realize when they are performing an act of microagression. This is why it is important to be cultured and respectful. Racial aggressions are not stereotypes, they are racist statements in a form of a backhanded question or compliment. The photo above references some every day sayings you may want to reflect on before you say aloud.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is by far the best example of modern day segregation. In the video above you will see how it is exactly broken down. An example, would be HBCU’s and PWI’s. HBCU’s are historically black colleges and universities, where majority of the students are black, on the other hand PWI’s are predominantly white institutions. Both teach the same things yet HBCU’s receive a drastic funding difference then PWI’s and it is not a upgrade.

Racial Ideology

Today, some common ideological forms of racism include the belief that Black women are loud and ghetto, that Latina women are “spicy” or “hot-tempered,” and that black men and boys are criminally inclined. This form of racism has a negative impact on people of color as a whole because it works to deny them access to and/or success within the educational and the professional world, and subjects them to heightened police surveillance, harassment, and violence, among other negative outcomes we see daily. (Source linked)

Colonialism

In the GIF above the words “bloody” are portrayed as we see the Europeans putting up the British flag at what seems to be newly found land. This however was done in real life in real time. The British army still till this day is one of the strongest army’s in the world. They enslaved and sold many slaves, goods, and land. They swept the world of its riches vastly and while they did it they ran the rivers with blood. This is colonialism, in turn stealing a world that isn’t yours and saying you found it and it is now “yours”.

[selamat-linting]

my friend offered me to accompany them on their friend group outing thing. theyre all having a jam session in a proper music studio. i dont know any of their friend group guys (one of them was an old acquaintance in middle school), but i dont have anything better to do that night so i just say yes. after the short jamming session, we watched a horror movie in my friend's house. the movie was satan's slaves : communion. a sequel of a remake of a local horror movie.

god, the movie made me realize how much watching english speaking horror movies had turn me into a softie. i cant believe i turned away from the gory elevator murder scene. i even hugged my friend in fear! oh this is so unbecoming of me. oh god that was not fun at all. that was scary! but it was also awesome. like, fuck that was great. its been a while i got properly spooked and its super fun. i need to watch intense horror movies again, not just because its fun, but because i need to up my tolerance to gory shit again.

overall, this outing has been a mixed bag. the movie was fun, but im suspecting that one of the guys from that friend group is a crypto-fascist. and he's already rubbing off on them. i dont know them well, like this is the first time i actually work on remembering their names and faces, so i might be wrong but. yeah, the warning signs are there. what kind of weirdo would point out some random racial minority on the street to their friends like its some kind of spectacle? my friend and their partner are way too spineless they might as well be just like them if they let behaviors like that slide on a daily basis. i almost got into a nasty argument several times that night. geez.

i'll meet up with them one more time just in case one of them actually has a chance to be radicalized in a more revolutionary manner. but i dont have my hopes up. it was a friend group that had stood the test of time and i was only an intruder who just met them all together. oh man, they all might have crossed through the fascist line already. why did my friend hang out with them? sigh, this is the worst part of organizing. making sure if your new acquaintances are just folks who need to unlearn reactionary junk using theory and praxis or if theyre full blown fascists who already set up their irl environment and online spaces to reinfornce that belief. if i have my friend backing me up i could try to mitigate the damage even if i found out two out of three of them are professed fash, but i dont have that kind of support or social capital. also, i still have self respect. im not befriending a man who would throw microagressions at me, even if my nonbinary bestie thinks he's tolerable. im afraid you need to be more assertive, buddy.

god, those guys are probably cowards anyway. my friend say they all hung out at their house and they all bond over tiktok memes and video games like genshit midpact. i know i say shit about friend groups who made shopping and drinking coffee as their main bonding activity, but thats a lot better than getting cooped up on the online space. i dont even see any of them smoking or vaping. the way the shittiest of them crumple into 'heyy im joking' once i started to speak about how fucked up what theyre saying is? yeah, they wont survive a police questioning. literally the basic skill of all leftists, keeping your head cool when the pigs try to talk to you. and he dont seem to have the backbone necessary to learn. look, if you cant even be defensive in the proper way when a stranger intrude on your friend group and say that they think your words are creepy, you dont have it. even if youre some kind of wisecracking gigachad.

funny how fascists tend to be relatively inexperienced with fighting brutality when theyre the ones boasting over strength and power. like, whatever man, i dont see them actively ramming down a police brigade or throwing back tear gas. its always someone walking alone with no backup. if there's any win with a mass of people, they do it with surprise tactics and more funding, not raw strength or ingenuity. not to glorify fighting and martyrdom, but fascists already lost at the things theyre bragging over.

#post that will get me doxxed

[sciencetynan]

Hey fellow enby! I saw your latest post and as someone who came out 11 years ago at the age of 16 (as a trans man at first, nb later) I don't have the lived experience you have, but I do have a few things I'd always wanted to tell my younger self and so I feel they could be valuable to others.

(I apologize for the length, I'm bipolar and currently manic. Feel free to skim or just totally ignore, it's quite long, I'm sorry. TLDR: it gets better - for real.)

First things first, it absolutely will get better and easier. I came out as a minor in a conservative town after wearing pretty dresses and having long hair. To myself. My parents had already accepted my bisexuality (mom's bi so it was literally nbd) so I expected them to accept me being trans. Nnnnnno. They absolutely relentlessly mocked me for it at every opportunity.

But one day, it completely changed. I needed a new laptop. (2011, so we went to a physical store.) The salesman used he/him toward me, which almost got my father to "correct" him, but he realized in that moment, it absolutely could put me in danger. Just a few moments earlier, the salesman had made a slightly racist comment/microagression toward my native mother, asking if she had a tax-exempt card before he even addressed me so he could get the manager if needed. A biiiiit of a nothingburger but it's her Button, cuz she doesn't, because she has a criminal record, and that pulls your TA card and that's fuckin racist ass bullshit but she can't explain that concisely which frustrates her a lot. In that moment, I visibly saw my extremely abusive father realize that, as a trans person, I faced these precarious situations daily. And sometimes, it doesn't matter what's the truth (I'm biologically female) and what's relevant (I'm otherwise male). From then on, publicly, he used he/him or Sam, despite continuing to call me a lesbian at home until it stopped being relevant. I'm lucky to have received a full beard after 8m of T.

Sometimes it happens naturally that your loved ones come to accept you and use the correct pronouns. It took almost 5 years for my mother to say "son" without hesitation. 3 for her to even bother to correct it when she said "daughter" first. But I've found, in my limited experience with maybe 5 other trans people I know, there's often a moment when it clicks for people.

There's another caveat I want to make: in 2011, non-binary reaaaalllly wasn't.... widely known. And to me, having always deeply wanted to be viewed as male, that's what I went with. Today I'd say I'm just "non-binary", not genderfluid, just.... not on the binary. And ideally, I'd prefer they/them.

But I was a man for 8y before being non-binary because I didn't want to jeopardize my being perceived as male. I was 16 when I came out and had just started wearing makeup, which I love. Took me 11y to finally put it back on. I've had long hair for maybe 6y? It's kind of a "fuck you" response to being told that my Algonquin grandfather had to cut his hair at the Residential School at his funeral. But I only grew it out once "man-buns" were a bit more common and I had a full beard because I just do not wish to be perceived as female at all, and I'm extremely pale so I don't get read as native. So I guess I'm not on the binary, but I'm close to male, so I can live being he/him. So another caveat there, that I'm lucky that I can feel valid without having to correct. I won't say I can relate to that. I'm also lucky to be stealth, always perceived as male.

I can, for ages, explain my identity. Because I've had 11 years to think about it. 11 years to see the way society has changed and grown to respect me more. I'm not quite as afraid of being outted anymore.

I know you know that it takes time. But the amount of time for specific things to take varies. I thought it would take years and years and years to ever be seen as male. Only 2-3ish. Now it's not a thought I have at all. (Again, a privileges, I acknowledge.) I actually thought I'd stop misgendering myself in my head instantly, but that's taken nearly 10 years for me to stop actively thinking about.

I'm so sorry for the novel. Here's my last bit of advice regarding clothing/gender presentation: it takes the longest, but it won't always be hard or upsetting. When I first came out, I rebelled against the female form hard. Baggy jeans, t-shirts, buzz cut.

After a few years I let my hair grow back and went back to my preferred skinny jeans.

After a few years I started painting my nails again.

After a few years I did some fun makeup for Halloween.

After a few years I wore makeup to work once. Wasn't for me, but actually got a few compliments. Now I do it for the artistry.

Over time, what you're comfortable with - and what you're comfortable showing the world - will evolve and change. Things that seem uncomfortable, daunting or impossible today could totally change in a year, even a month. It takes work - especially if you have social anxiety. Practice. Being uncomfortable at times. But it's worth it. I promise you that.

I'm again so sorry for the length. But to wrap up, I've dodged the age part because I simply can't relate 1:1. I'm almost 30, but been 'male' for almost half my life. And I truly am not coming at this from "oh poor me". I know it feels like the younger the better, but I'm 27. You're 3y older than me, we would've been in high school together. And if you'd gone to my high school, you would've endured so much trauma that it would take years of therapy to undo.

Obviously not all schools, lives, stories are the same. But I was the first trans person at my school. I was president of the GSA. One day we had a cupcake drive to raise money. 2 were thrown at me. I was called a faggot by a freshman and the seniors, a few I'd considered almost friends just a year earlier, laughed along. I was never once correctly gendered. By anyone. For 2 solid years. When I asked my guidance councilor, I was advised by this professional to "maybe just use the bathroom in the Tim's across the street at lunch" to "avoid causing problems for myself".

Again, I've come to peace with it in therapy - but it cost me thousands. My parents, my peers, nobody understood. I have one ride-or-die best friend from 1st grade but besides him, for the first 2 years, I was mocked by almost every single person I came into contact with.

And now that I'm almost 30, I know so much more than I did 11 years ago. While I'm glad I did come out, I actually wish I'd waited one year. It would've been very hard, but save me a lot of bullshit. (I came out one week before a French exchange student came to live with us and then went to France myself and had to use the girl's rooms and would be corrected if I used male adjectives for myself). You've got a lot of life left, and a lot of experience in the world. While I won't invalidate your wish to have come out earlier, there's never a perfect time, a perfect age. We'll all face struggles. Not all of mine are yours and yours mine. But we're all in it together.

One last thing, I promise - keep writing/journalling/documenting your journey. It helps, and one day you'll be able to look back and really see how far you've come and realize that it's been worth it.

Have a good night my gender-nonconforming sibling.

Thank you. I just hope it all becomes easier with time.

Sorry for the length if it bothers anyone.

#long post

[enbynextdoor]

Justifying monel being a slave owner by saying that he was raised among a family where slavery was okay is bullshit.

We have M'gann who came from a place where the entire community loathed the green martians. Yet we saw her not sharing that hatred and has been trying constantly to even get her people to become allies with the green martians.

We have Lena, growing up with her brother who has an unhealthy obsession with ruining Superman, and a genocidal mother....do i even want to talk about CADMUS.

Lena is now working with Supergirl, paragon of hope, to save the world going against the Luthors. May I also remind that L-corp released the image inducers that have helped a lot of the aliens to cope in their daily life without being wary &threatened by constant attacks from xenophobes like Agent Liberty

Mon-el is just a trash character who did nothing but standby because he was too comfortable in his privilages and luxury.

I also don't believe monel changed for the better in the future. We literally heard brainy say how microagressive he has been.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #m'gann m'orzz #no i dont want manhell back #rant

[ivyglow]

see me? i'd be hell as a hockey girlfriend because i dont give a FUCK! 🗣☝🏽 no one would be able to talk to me a certain way. i'm well versed in microagressive de-escalation from spending 18yrs on this earth. and we all know that's just ~professionally~ putting bitches in their place. so either the women are nice to me or we won't talk idccccc how that looks. everyone in the hockey community KNOWS being racist has been a part of the "culture" so facing that transparency head on would be so easy for me 😭 i think that's also why theres so little WOC as partners because ppl know in this day and age were not dealin' with bullshit. that prolly has PR shaking in their uggs so they advise to "stay away from us" 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️

while I see where you're coming from, I don't 100% agree with your point (but yes you would be a hell of a hockey girlfriend <3). I think that it doesn’t matter if we ‘give a fuck’ or not, it takes energy to deal with it on a daily basis, so yes maybe people wouldn’t treat you bad because they know you would do it back, but this environment is not healthy at all, it makes us sick and it messes up with our heads. and there are always people who are gonna be violent without the ‘intent ‘ to do so, and we need to deal w them too and it’s just as stressful. the NHL is not even a healthful environment for white people, let alone poc :/ 

#mel answers #ackermanc4msl4t #hockey culture

[savnofilter]

answering all hawks asks

i choose to answer this separately simply because i think it's important to me and not promote the stigma of “sounding black” or any other stereotypes like that. while there are most common ways such as AAVE (formerly known as ebonics), not everyone from one race will sound and act the same. while i will not ignore that yes, race does sometimes play in how you act or talk, but no one does it the same as another person. to lump us altogether and give us a “look” is degrading and disgusting. black people are not just one person, and if you think a foreign group or culture is lower than yours because it’s not the same, you need to reevaluate yourself. the asks on the topic i will be answering are the ones in regard to this screenshot.

if you guys didnt read in the post, some people made some distasteful ignorant comments about important black community topics. as someone from the black community, many things in and outside of our community has bothered me. whether it be racism, colorism, police brutality etc. i am the biggest believer and supporter of uniting the black community no matter what hair texture, what their kids will look like or how dark their skin is -- and it doesnt just stop there.  

-> on the topic of the black community, here are some BLM petitions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

+ protest safely 1, 2!

-> Zeno Robinson is such an amazing man, and not to mention he also went to the premiere dressed as hawks. his adoration for the characters he plays always shines through, no matter what role you put him in. you may have seen him in young justice as victor stone (cyborg), kimetsu’s no yaiba genya shinazugawa and many more! the way he embodies the characters he plays should never EVER be shadowed because of his skin color. this is for every black voice actor too. if anyone wants to make poor “jokes” about him not “sounding black” then you go fuck a fork. zeno did not show up to sound black, he showed up to play a character (which he does sUPERBLY at, and this is coming from someone who doesnt like hawks). if you think any type or form of stereotyping is okay, then i ask you kindly to escort yourself from my blog and never look back. i dont want your support. 

-> i have heard about the Miruko (with her v.a Anairis Quinones) situation, so i will be touching on that too since both of “doesnt sound black” and “sounds white” has been tossed around. theres a BIG difference between not liking someone’s voice, and relating it back to their skin color. i can see the point of we were expecting more of a more punchier tone (saying this because of the relation and excitement like we’ve seen in her interactions with bakugo) but if youre saying she sounds white, you can go eat a spoon. again, Zeno and Anairis didnt show up to “act” their race. they showed up for the job, and were hired for it. i love both of their voices so much and i love them, they dont deserve this.

i love my people, and i will stand for them because it's the right thing to do. i want my followers to see and understand why it's important to be aware of the different communities around them. without further adieu, i will get started. everything is under the cut (answered from oldest to the newest)!

TW: pseudo racism (microaggression), fandom discourse.

*Hawks’ English V.A (Zeno Robinson) & Hawks for reference. 

*Miruko’s English V.A (Anairis Quinones) & Miruko for reference.

~ Asks I’ve answered that I think are insightful on the Hawks situation (1, 2) ~

Anonymous said:

I would like to add onto the Hawks situation if that's ok? For those who don't know, Zeno Robinson is a black man and voices Hawks. When his English voice was revealed in trailers A LOT of fans commented how PERFECT his voice was. So Zeno literally embodies what makes Hawks' Hawks for some people. Also fans have also compared and drew Hawks as Egyptianesque gods. So to sit down and say/accept someone saying things like 'he doesn't sound black' and 'George [FLOYD] is a regular dude' is not only

A microagression and a blantant show of lack of compassion/support for a character that is a part of your safe space if you come home and thirst about hawks, but don't want to make your safe space 'political' by posting about police brutality. I'm not trying to make this explanation too 'political' but fans have to think what it's like for Hawk's VA to see someone like him getting murdered almost everyday in media for no acceptable reason and then have fans that choose to turn the other way.

- this is exactly the right point. people will not open their eyes to see what is wrong here. whether it be mocking a black actor’s voice acting, an ignorant comment about George Floyd, or ignoring black petitions to help the community. its subtle shit like that gives us and let’s us know that there is still ignorance and that these people dont hide it. it's disrespectful and disgusting. 

the writer’s who said the George Floyd comment has since now apologized, but god that makes me so angry. people actively make a safe space that is supposed to be for EVERYONE not welcome by promoting stuff like that. its gross, it's disgusting, and people need to see that theyre actions are wrong. furthermore, if anyone thinks inappropriate race “jokes” are somehow funny, i will not be associating. i will not waste me energy on people who refuses to get the point.

Anonymous said:

Bro Zeno is an angel and hawks voice is fucking phenomenal, it's the only dubbed voice I've ever liked tbh. They don't deserve him. and WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT I'M SORRY HUH

- I FUCKING KNOW! letting that shit slide is beyond fucking disrespectful. i dont fucking like hawks but i will absolutely fight for zeno. that disrespectful isnt “not important” -- these people are actively ruining safe spaces for fucking everyone! let me be fucking damned if thats not “important enough” for you. 🙄

Anonymous said: 

If you like Hawks at all, The LEAST you can do is not say or stand for things like 'George [FLOYD!!] is just a regular dude' and 'his voice doesn't sound black'. Don't be a part of the reason that makes Zeno's daily life and experiences harder than what they should be. 3/3 This goes for the amazing Mirko as well but I'll stop for now.

THIS!

seeing stuff that is hurtful, and it is damaging. people need to wake up and realize that anything can trigger anyone for any reason. people need to wake up and realize that “it’s not important” BECAUSE IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MANY PEOPLE! considering everything that is happening, this type of stuff will be deep rooted into someone who comes across it. i know what it's like to be blind about color until one situation flips your thinking on a switch.

for the Miruko situation, i remember seeing stuff about it. people need to understand that people are their own out of their skin color. we are people are people out of our skin color. let that sink in. if you dont like their voices outside of expecting them to sound “black” then that is completely fine. if its racially charged there is no excuse.

#bnharem #tw microaggression #tw: microagressions #tw: pseudo racism #tw pseudo racism #blm #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha hawks #bnha miruko #hawks #miruko

[coolgirltactics]

It’s actually really insane to think just because you’ve been watching something for years you know more than the person born in the situation like? He’s a literal prince ofc he knows more than some random biddies I swear they’re so wieeerrrdd

This though. It’s one thing to point out Harry doesn’t care about the royal rules or traditions, but it’s another to say he doesn’t know how it works, but you, a completely & total outsider, think you know more?! 😂😂😂 It was like the voting thing.

People really acted like they were teaching Harry he could have voted the entire time but was too stupid to know. 🙄 this is what happens when you read daily mail/Richard Palmer/Dan Wootton & the like for three years straight to find reasons to hate the Sussex. Their stupidity, antiblackness, and ignorance becomes your own.

The entire Get Out Crew is a great example of what happens when white people become allies to Black people, to the point they’ll leave behind their racist friends and family to protect a black person, and grow. They turn against them. Suddenly their reactions towards them are 10x louder and more aggressive than they ever were before when they didn’t have white guilt. They become obsessive, they desperately cling to their anti blackness or excuses like - I have a black friend, or I’m Latina or Hispanic, I can’t be racist. Or recognizing the brutal antiblackness, but passing off the consistent anti-black microagressions as peoples reasonable dislike- which is because they depend on those microagressions to express their hate without hopefully being caught up.

These dumbasses also think the BRF should not talk about BLM because they should prioritize their comfort (like these racist do there’s) over speaking up for equality because of the same traditions they gaslighted Meghan with.

#british royal family #meghan markle #royal tings.

[m0th-rambles]

How the lupin members would treat me if i came out to them as non beanie cause i thought about it in the shower

Lupin: Would be really cool about it i feel like 👉👈

I feel like id tell him my preferred pronouns and preferred name and he’d be like “ok!! Good to know :3”

10/10 very sweet

Jigen: I feel like jigen would also jusy he cool about it. He’d probably crack a joke and be like “one less women on the team’s always a plus”

Goemon: Goemon just nods and starts using my preferred named and pronouns.

Fujiko: Purposely misgenders me and commits microagressions on the daily jkjk she’s not that mean. She’d probably misgender me a few times though which is understandable

#feeling dysphoric rn so #gotta make a post with my current favorite franchise #lupin f/os #fujiko aint an f/o but shes included #familal f/os

[mysticalcoffeequeen]

MY 2¢ :SNEAKO

I just got done watching this video and IDK guys it just seemed very off to me.

Also he keeps taking this comment down on his YouTube so ima post it here.

https://youtu.be/qXdPN8SVuN0

Some people have never truly listened to “Chocolate Rain” and it shows.

Its wild how you have white/non-black people who not only say but act on racist stuff to/against black people ON A REGULAR BASIS across the globe most often escalating to points of actual hate crimes and murder which in most cases the result of the law being on their side. This stuff has been happening for centuries and is still happening today. Its in the news, White supremacist groups are alive and well still on their shit all over social media and in political groups, it’s in history books, Media, Anti-Blackness is global and oppressive, they fuck up our self esteem by calling us ugly or seeing us as undesirable (especially on dating apps) and then copy our features, Italians assaulted Africans back when Ebola was around, black people (&Hispanics) are incarcerated for petty crimes that their white counterparts wouldn’t pay that high of a price for in America and often twice as longer, YouTube has extensive videos on anti-black racism from black people living in a non-black dominant country, to their own experiences in the LGBTQIA community to “PRANKS” that are basically white dudes assaulting/harassing black people in their own neighborhoods minding their own business, to recent criminals, celebrities & famous content creators acting out on their racism only to give shit apologies. Even FUCKING TIKTOK has white/non-black 9 y/o & teens recording themselves saying N*gger on TRENDING (which gives you a glimpse into their upbringing) and hardly nothing is done about any of this! This kind of toxic stuff are very real things that have a direct effect on black people’s lives!

But, according to this guy, black people venting their frustrations ON TWITTER, from living with this stuff, to their toxic personal experiences starting from a ridiculously young age, to institutionalized racism, profiling, microagressions, assaults, unlawful arrests and incarcerations, harassments, laws and rules set by systemic racism rooted in white supremacy, and GLOBAL anti-black discrimination that they face as a whole, (like they deal with so fucking much DAILY, ESPECIALLY if they live in AMERICA) by saying, “ I hate white/non-black people” making jokes, memes, & having a good laugh at their ignorance, and literally nothing more....

Is a DEFINITE ISSUE OF TOXIC RACISM that is just as horrible must be addressed.........???

Yes Black people can be Racist towards other POC and it’s wrong, do not misunderstand me, and feel how you want about this video, but to me this in itself appears to be a self-inflated out of touch display, especially coming from a half-black person, to directly point the finger & criticize black people (and only black people in this case for some reason 🤔) on their particular “RACISM” towards white people, making them appear just as bad if not worse with a lack of any basic understanding or careful look into what ‘Racism’ in itself means (for Black people or POC in general) beyond Webster’s, black peoples experiences and frustrations from it that they see and face from white/non-black people & at least try to understand where they come from or why they vent their frustrations in such a way, even if he doesn’t agree.

Instead it’s just another video of an egoist who like to hear himself talk about something he doesn’t completely know about or understand (nor does he care to), simplifying a very real social issue by downplaying or just straight up ignoring the deeper more branching aspects of it or how it disproportionately affects black people/POC, by dumbing it down to “Racism affects everyone the same way / All Lives Matter”.

#also subtlely flexing his antiblackness #this vibe is in his other videos #also the skits are fucking terrible #just my 2¢ #antiblack racism #racism tw #youtube #sneako

[al--sheikha]

No one has to like Meghan and if they don’t then they are NOT racists contrary to what you are suggesting. Meghan is criticised because everything she does has to be about her she brings drama wherever she goes that is why people criticise her and complain about her

I frankly don’t care who does or doesn’t like Meghan, and I also didn’t say that people who don’t like Meghan are racists. My rant about racism and Meghan originally started after seeing comments labelling her and Archie as “nigger” and “half-breed” along with criticising her. If the criticism was valid you wouldn’t need to put a bunch of racial slurs to make your point. I then pointed out that a lot of . The criticism directed towards Meghan and now Archie stem from racial microagressions - from the ignorance presented in this ask I’m assuming you have never heard of the angry black woman steortype. The press portray Meghan as this angry black woman on a daily basis, this fake feud they’ve set up, Meghan is always seen as the aggressor, like @heavyarethecrowns said, there is an ingrained racism here and people’s eagerness to accept that Meghan is aggressive, difficult, pushy, over the top, and trashy is an example of ingrained systematic racism, these traits are applied to mixed race and black women in practically every setting. You don’t need to look far to find an article implying that Meghan is the master manipulator, able to fool the queen and everyone else. I don’t think Meghan brings drama wherever she goes, the press creates the drama, and it sticks because let’s be real, racism here is still a thing and more often than not, poc and any other type of foreigner is already targeted here and some people wanted the royal family to remain lily white ☕️.. English rose white. I’ve seen some of the vilest things when it comes to Meghan that play up to the most subtle stereotypes - the bbc “comedy” show is just one example.meghans race makes for a good canvas- it seems people notice more faults when this canvas is darker! Covert racism is often so covert it can’t be explained, I don’t expect you to understand just by reading one piece of text. Racism is a core part of how Meghan is viewed and critiqued. A lot of poc parents let their children down lightly by saying things along the lines of “you have to work twice as hard to get half as far” and it’s seen with Meghan, she could do the greatest thing ever, do hiurs and days and even years of work and people will still expect more from her because they still see her as a lesser/a woman scrounging of the state. Go ahead and criticise Meghan for anything she needs to be critiqued on, but make sure you give the same energy to critiquing her white counterparts who literally have done the same thing.

#duke of sussex #duchess of sussex #meghan markle #baby sussex #archie mountbatten windsor

[dramajib]

I’m proud to say I’m Singaporean, but lately I’ve become more and more disappointed with my country.

Our pledge states that we are a democratic society, “regardless of race, language, or religion”, but the amount of microagressions and casual racism our minorities face on a daily basis is so mind boggling that most people prefer to just close their eyes to it rather than try to fix the problem.

Given the state of the world, and the news stories we read, I would expect more from my countrymen.

Recently, a nationwide advertisement was released, with a Chinese man dressed up in a headscarf to portray a Muslim woman, and his face painted brown to portray an Indian man. This ad managed to go through levels of approval, and not one person during that process, from conceptualization to actualization across the entire country, saw anything wrong in it.

When the public eventually pointed out how offensive that was, an apology was issued, the ad was taken down, and we were all supposed to be satisfied with that.

Two local entertainers, not satisfied with that level of response, created a video, parodying Iggy Azalea’s Fuck It Up. This wasn’t the first time ‘brownface’ had been called out in our country, someone, somewhere along the line, surely must have known that this wasn’t okay.

The response to that video?

A police investigation was launched. Not against the creators of the initial ad, but against the video.

My country’s law minister issued a statement saying a line had been crossed, and that the video “ insults Chinese Singaporeans, uses four-letter words on Chinese Singaporeans” (note: the lyrics of the parody song state “(racist) Chinese people out here fucking things up”. Not once does the phrase “fuck Chinese people” ever occur).

This is an offence, while the ad was a mistake, because apparently this video shows a “deliberate intent to wound the religious or racial feelings of any person“, which is against the law.

Multiple other government officials, notably all from minority races, have continued to condemn the video.

No such condemnation was made when the ad was aired, when the apology was made, when the ad was pulled.

The issue goes further than just the disparity in response to these two incidents though.

Subhas, the rapper in the video, had worked with migrant workers in Singapore, to create a song titled Utopia, highlighting their struggles in the country. It was to be part of a documentary by Channel News Asia, in celebration of Singapore’s National Day on the 9th of August.

After the announcement of this police investigation, Subhas’ section of the documentary was pulled - along with the work of the migrant workers. Their story is no longer going to be told, because someone somewhere has decided that this perceived attack on all Chinese Singaporeans is unlawful.

I’d love to say I come from a multicultural country, where I feel safe as a minority, where I know my voice will be heard. But that would be a lie.

Instead, I have to now say I come from a country where I am expected to be tolerant of other peoples mistakes, I am expected to be responsible for educating others on how not to be offensive, and I am expected to file a police report when I am offended, but also to not be surprised when the authorities tell me that “no laws have been broken”.

I come from a country where it’s safe to walk home alone at 3 in the morning, but only if I’m willing to hear people make casual racist remarks and generalizations, and not get offended when I’m told to “learn how to take a joke” and “not take things so seriously”.

I come from a country where I have to watch my words, but silently acquiesce to offensive things said to me.

I come from a country that is young, is struggling to grow up, but thinks it has a long tradition and culture to uphold, that thinks it knows better.

I come from a country that is no better than the young people I work with on a daily basis, and I’m struggling to hold on to the belief that like my students, my country has potential, and will eventually shine.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49205225

Change.org petition for including the migrant workers’ voices in the documentary

#excuse my departure from dramaland #hopefully I'll be back with some lighthearted joy soon #singapore #racism #preetipls #k muthusamy #migrant worker

[alluratron]

What’s wrong with VLD?

This is gonna be a two-parter post expressing all my various frustrations with VLD, and highlighting exactly where I think it went wrong (all of them. yep). I’m going to keep it ship-neutral because ship discourse has a tendency to blind people and make them belligerent (myself included, I can admit that) however I will be discussing the canon relationships. This isn’t ship hate by any means - in fact I like all the canon relationships (or at least I like what they could’ve been) - but I think it’s pretty undeniable that VLD did not do them justice, and in fact took the worst possible route with them.

That said, let’s dive in.

(sorry to those on mobile, this is RIDICULOUSLY long.)

“Voltron: legendary defender” is a show that began with a whole lot of promise. Off the back of the (widely regarded as) almost faultless storytelling in A:TLA and the much celebrated queer ending of LOK (which resulted in a lot of writing issues being brushed under the rug but I digress), VLD was heavily anticipated, tapping into these shows loyal fanbase(s) - as a show produced by their alumni - as well as the market of older viewers, nostalgic for the Defenders Of The Universe cartoon they grew up with. It always had a lot to live up to, and when it dropped in summer 2016, it seemed to live up to the hype.

I personally didn’t join the voltron bandwagon immediately. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of it until around November of 2016. I was late to the LOK and A:TLA hype (very late actually. I first watched LOK around October 2016 and then doubled back to watch A:TLA) but got deeply invested and quickly followed several blogs with these interests. Through following these blogs, I kept happening upon the word “voltron” but didn’t pay it much mind.

Until I came across a post titled “HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH VOLTRON.”

I decided to give it a read. The 4 key points of this post were:

A diverse main cast, with 3/5 of the main characters being confirmed POC, and a dark-skinned princess.

Focus on character and team dynamics, reminiscent of the A:TLA found family spirit.

Possibility of queer representation as suggested by the EPs, whom both worked on LOK, as well as the freedom of the Netflix platform.

Beautiful animation thanks to Studio Mir.

(Only one of those things ended up delivering in a convincing, satisfying manner. Hint: it’s the animation.)

These 4 points were enough to pique my interest enough to delve into the show and, after watching the first season in late November 2016, I was won over. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, burgeoning dynamics and light hearted tone interspersed with deeper moments. Was it perfect? No. It was a little goofy. But that was ok, it had time to grow and settle. I joined the fandom and excitedly awaited the release of season 2, which came in January 2017.

This is where it started to go bad.

I will admit that, with the benefit of hindsight, season 2 is not as bad as I initially felt it to be. It struggles with pacing and balancing of the 7-character core cast, with several characters reduced to more one-note figures (namely Pidge, Hunk and Lance, although Pidge’s note as a genius is more flattering than the latter two). But story-wise, it is a solid season. The biggest problem of the season comes from the poor handling of the conflict between Allura and Keith over his galra heritage.

Allegories for racial discrimination are always tricky, especially in children’s media. They’re storylines that should only be tackled upon input from people that have experienced such discrimination, so that they may be handled with tact and grace. VLD season 2 did not do this.

What we got was several scenes designed to frame Keith as the victim of Allura’s aggression and intolerant nature. Bear in mind that Allura is a genocide survivor, whose entire race was (at the time of the season) believed to have been eradicated by Zarkon and the galra, whom had previously been her allies. Her emotional response is entirely justifiable and yet, through the framing of the conflict, the narrative was able to manipulate viewers into seeing her as the offending party, with many fans taking to social media to call out her “racism”.

To add to this, Allura is, in design, a black woman. Black women are often portrayed as harsh and aggressive, and VLD played into this to further sway support to Keith’s side of the conflict. He - a light-skinned boy of unspecified ethnicity - was often seen looking hopefully at Allura or looking down dejectedly. Allura, however, was shown glaring, ignoring and turning away from him. We are given an episode (Belly of the Weblum, S2E9) in which Keith talks to Hunk about Allura’s “hatred” for him, but we never see Allura expressing her hurt to a companion (ideally Coran as a fellow genocide survivor) or even lamenting alone. In fact, the only time we hear Allura’s side of things is when she is apologising to Keith (Best Laid Plans, S2E12).

More still, the entirety of BotW has Keith on the receiving end of several microagressions from Hunk. Microaggressions are “slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership”. Hunk’s prodding about Keith’s heritage, initial discomfort about being alone with him and joking remarks (e.g. “do you guys all know each other?”) are strongly reminiscent of microagressions that POC (myself included) encounter on a daily basis. Except, voltron decided to flip the script. This time, the microagressions are directed at Keith for being part galra. Remember that the Galra are the perpetrators of oppression, colonisation and imperial rule, making them allegories for several White endeavours in human history (space nazis, so to speak). And yet, voltron has the fat, dark-skinned boy (who would ordinarily be on the receiving end of such microaggressions in our world) be the perpetrator of these microagressions against the slim, light-skinned, space-white boy.

To sum up, their handling of the arc of Keith’s discovery of his heritage was extremely tasteless at best, and insidious at worst.

And the issues surrounding the writing of the Galra don’t stop there. Though Allura was treated as in the wrong for distrusting the Galra as a whole, the story makes you question whether this should have even been the case. Throughout the length of the show, the Galra are continuously portrayed as a violent and warmongering race. Their history involves conquering all the other races that called Daibazaal home and their most prevalent salute, “Vrepit Sa”, is revealed to mean “the killing thrust” (Omega Shield, S6E1). Proponents of the Empire will often declare “victory or death”, while their counterparts in the Blade of Marmora have a mantra of “knowledge or death”. Even more pertinently, Keith is a character with anger management issues, prone to aggressive outbursts. Instead of these being treated as a character trait, something that he has to work through, it’s chalked up to his “galra side” by the EPs. When he faces Clone Shiro (The Black Paladins, S6E5) he occasionally fights with more aggression, with the clone’s remark of “that’s the Keith I remember” implying that this aggression is a trait that has been present in Keith for a long time. This comes with the animation of Keith with tinted yellow sclera, narrowed pupils, purplish skin and fangs. All of these are traits associated with his “galra side” and all of these only make an appearance when he’s fighting with more aggression.

So how is it that the narrative repeatedly shows us that the Galra are an inherently aggressive and violent race (which is such a problematic concept anyway: they’re not wild animals, they should have agency and self-control), yet also tells us that Allura was wrong for not trusting them?

It’s because the narrative was dead set on punishing Allura.

Throughout the length of the show, we see Allura put through emotional punishment time and time and time again. She is portrayed as wrong for her behaviour towards Keith in season 2 (as detailed above). In season 3, she is explicitly stated to be the “decision maker” (The Red Paladin, S3E2) then is swiftly demoted from that position (and yes, it’s a demotion, but more on that later).

In the same season, the team enters an alternate reality (Hole in the Sky, S3E4) where they find alteans, alive and well. This is especially exciting for Allura (which genocide survivor wouldn’t be thrilled to find their people alive and thriving?), but her joy is short lived when, after she helps the alternate alteans, they are soon revealed to be evil, arguably moreso than the galra in the main reality as they use technology to enslave races that oppose them by taking away their free will entirely. The comet ore that they manage to keep out of the Alteans hands to prevent them from making a second voltron is quickly snatched from them by Lotor when they return to their own reality. Allura laments that she “finally understands” why her father, King Alfor, scattered the lions: it was to prevent this reality. However, in the pilot episode (The Rise Of Voltron, S1E1) Allura spoke with King Alfor’s AI, complete with all his memories. The AI told her that she had in fact been right to want to keep voltron and fight the Galra, and he had been wrong to send them away. If he had sent them away to “prevent this reality” why didn’t the AI say that? HitS retcons Allura’s rightness in that call, further devaluing her judgment. How would Alfor have sent the lions away to prevent the reality where Lotor gets the comet ore, when Lotor wasn’t even born when Alfor died?

This tendency to punish Allura continues with Allura’s relationship with Lotor. When Lotor is first taken prisoner by team voltron (The Prisoner, S5E1) Allura doesn’t trust him at all. He asks her to see past his Galra race and, following her arc in season 2 of not seeing galra as an evil monolith, Allura eventually does. She works alongside Lotor even before discovering that he has Altean heritage. Eventually, they fall for each other and Allura is on cloud nine for a while as the war seems to be over and she is spending more and more time with Lotor, who encourages her, praises her and helps her connect more to Altea. So, of course, this doesn’t last for long. Lotor is revealed to have been manipulating Allura (and the others) all this time, using her to upgrade his Sincline ships while secretly using Alteans he found in the diaspora as batteries.

(Pictured: Lotor holding Allura’s hand in Bloodlines, S5E5. She agrees to help him search Haggar’s den and during this search, learns of his Altean blood.)

So, what was the need of this relationship? She was punished for not trusting the Galra, and then punished for...trusting the Galra. She clearly could not win. And why was it necessary to have Allura fall for Lotor, only for it to end on such a terrible note? Why did their relationship have to be romantic? Was it simply so Allura would feel the pain of his “betrayal” that much more? Because it sure comes off that way.

There are so many scenes of Allura breaking down in tears - Crystal Venom, The Red Paladin, that one episode in s8 that I can’t remember that has her crying bc Sincline was about to kill Lance, probably more - and she is constantly giving up pieces of herself and her heritage. In the very first season, she heals the balmera (Rebirth, S1E8) at expense to her own health. Through the length of the show, Allura continues to risk her life to protect others. She desperately wants to maintain connections to Altea (hence her joy at the alternate alteans, as well as her close bond with Lotor) yet she is constantly losing every connection she has. She has to destroy her father’s AI, the alteans turn out to be evil, Lotor turns out to be evil, they blow up the castle to save all of existence, she gives up the jewel from her crown (which she never took off) to save shiro, and then ultimately, she dies to save all realities (because...reasons). One would have thought that her arc would involve being less self-sacrificing, but no. Allura is tortured emotionally, loses everything she cares about and then dies.

On a similar note, while Allura was constantly put through emotional torture, Shiro was constantly put through physical torture. There are several pieces out there by people far more eloquent than myself that detail the constant use of Shiro for torture porn throughout the show so I won’t rehash them. I will say that, like Allura, his torture does not culminate in a satisfying ending that made all his suffering “worth it”. Throughout the first and second seasons, we see Shiro bond closely with the black lion. He battles Zarkon for control (Space Mall, S2E7) and almost fails, until he realises that “nobody controls the black lion” and this galvanises the lion to take action and save him, severing zarkon’s bond. In the final episode of the season (Blackout, S2E13) Shiro and the black lion connect more deeply than ever before and we are shown a montage of all their bonding moments, leading up to Shiro unlocking the black lion’s wings, which enable them to phase through Zarkon and collect the black bayard, a plot point introduced in the very first episode. After seeing Shiro work so hard to earn the black lion’s trust, forge a bond stronger than the one that lasted 10 thousand years, and triumphantly collect the bayard, his fans would be understandably excited to see him use it. But he never does. After all that hard work, Shiro never sits in the black lion’s cockpit again. His clone does for a while, but Shiro himself does not, and he never touches the bayard again. This is a huge disappointment to his fans, after 24 (technically 26) episodes of buildup to that moment.

And to add insult to injury, it’s never explained why he doesn’t. The EPs said in an interview that when Allura unmerged Shiro’s quintessence from the black lion, she also broke their bond. But this explanation comes with a number of issues. Firstly, this is never stated in canon. Viewers should not have to rely on extra-canonical material to get a full story. Extra-canonical material should be supplementary, an opportunity for eager fans to learn more about the universe and the characters. It shouldn’t be a requisite to understand the story. And, believe me, this information was. When I was watching season 7 with my (at the time) 10 year old brother, he turned to me and asked me why Shiro wasn’t flying the black lion now he was back. I shrugged and told him I didn’t know. I, in fact, did know the EPs explanation, but I wasn’t going to do their job for them. Secondly, the explanation falls apart upon the slightest examination. Say Allura did remove Shiro’s bond with the black lion (somehow...because that doesn’t even make sense). In the pilot, Allura says that “the quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion” and this is why they can bond and fly together. Well, Shiro’s quintessence hasn’t changed, as Allura simply extracted and transferred it. The black lion’s quintessence hasn’t changed since nothing happened to make it change. When they first met, Shiro and the black lion didn’t have a bond. They formed and strengthened that bond upon flying together. So, why can’t they do that again? What is stopping Shiro from simply sitting in the cockpit and restoring their bond?

Short answer: Keith.

Long answer: the EPs desperate desire to have Keith in the black lion at all cost.

Keith was the leader of voltron in DOTU. This isn’t news, we all know this. Keith has also been the leader in every iteration since. This means that Keith has always flown the black lion. VLD following this trend makes sense, right?

Well, no.

Other iterations of voltron always begin with Keith in the black lion. They don’t shuffle him there later, they start with him there. Keith is always the strong, sensible, heroic figure that makes him perfect to lead the team, so he does. VLD strayed from that, and that makes all the difference. In VLD, Keith is introduced as a loner with a temper. He’s closed off from the team, only displaying affection for Shiro. This makes him unsuitable for the leadership position at the time of inception. Does that mean he can never lead? No. He can absolutely grow into leadership. But the problem is, the show already presents us with a valid position for him: the red lion. In the red lion, Keith’s fiery nature, intuitiveness and fast pace are positives. He’s allowed to stretch his legs, flying in the fastest lion and doing cool stunts, then returning to the team when necessary. He doesn’t have to change the core of who he is. Additionally, he is shown to have abandonment issues, hence why he clings to Shiro so tightly. It seems fitting then, that the lion he is matched with is the only one that comes to save their paladin so often, retrieving Keith on five different occasions (S1E1, S2E6, S2E8, S2E11 and S2E12) and even across several galaxies.

In previous iterations, the lions are not given personalities, nor do they demand unique traits/quintessence from their pilots. They’re just ships. But in VLD, Allura tells us in the pilot that the lions are meant to be piloted by these five alone. Their quintessence is mirrored in the paladins as she assigns them. They are perfect matches, just like with red and Keith. Hunk is fearful and Yellow has superior armour. Pidge is brilliant and Green is inquisitive. Lance is insecure (especially in relation to Keith) and Blue is nurturing, but more importantly, chose Lance out of all 5 pilots available (Keith visited the cave several times but blue didn’t take him. She waited for Lance). And Shiro and Black are both strong leaders that suffered from trauma and struggled for control over themselves.

Naturally, when you begin a story with a perfect fit, you want to shake things up because conflict begets growth. However, shaking things up shouldn’t cause them to end up in a worse place than they began because the question becomes: well, why don’t they just go back to where they were before? And that’s the big question in vld. Why didn’t they go back?

So, ok yeah. I think the lion swap is trash.

(Pictured: splitscreen of the paladins minus Shiro in All Good Things, S6E6. They form voltron with Keith in the black lion, Lance in the red lion and Allura in the blue lion.)

Now, like I said, you want to shake things up because conflict begets growth. And for that reason, I don’t think the lion swap was a bad concept. Putting Keith in the black lion forces him to learn to work with his teammates instead of remaining a lone wolf. Putting Allura in the blue (or any) lion brings her closer to the paladins. Lance and the red lion could have easily been the most interesting switch. In the pilot, the first major thing we learn about Lance is that he only got a spot as a fighter pilot because the best pilot of their generation had a discipline issue and flunked out. This student happens to be Keith, and Lance has a lot of insecurities about the guy, instigating a rivalry with him (mostly one-sided but Keith shoots back with his own barbs too). Coming back to the lion swap, the red lion is Keith’s old lion. There was a wide open opportunity to explore Lance’s insecurities here, as he would once again be stepping into the pilot role that Keith left behind. Lance could have felt that he would yet again be in Keith’s shadow (as Keith has now levelled up to leader) and this could’ve caused some major conflict. But nothing was done with it. Lance simply makes a comment about how Keith “probably trained it to bite my head off” and that’s the end of that. Lance then has no qualms about flying red and his Keith related insecurities (and indeed, all his insecurities that aren’t about romance) are brushed under the rug and he props Keith up as “team leader”.

Personally, I think each of the characters affected by the swap should’ve had a mini-hero’s journey. The characters start in their original lions (the castle for Allura). In their original position, they have whatever issues it is they need to tackle (Keith’s lone wolf tendencies, Allura’s self sacrificial nature, Shiro’s trauma and sense of worth, and Lance’s insecurities). When the swap happens, they struggle with their new positions, but are forced to grow. They then take this growth with them when they return to their original positions as wiser individuals (Shiro knows he isn’t a monster, Allura learns that the weight of the war against the galra isn’t entirely on her shoulders, Keith comes to trust and open up to the team and not only Shiro, Lance realises that he isn’t a discount Keith and he has his own strengths).

But the wasted opportunities aren’t the only problem with the lion swap. Arguably a bigger problem is the hierarchy it suddenly establishes. The concept of voltron is five equals coming together to form something that is greater than the sum of its parts. They cannot form voltron if even one of the lions is indisposed. So, by definition, all of the lions should be equally important. The black lion being the leader shouldn’t make it the most important, it should just be because every team needs someone to organise them and black happens to be that for the lions, just as Shiro was for the paladins. After all, of what damn use is voltron with only a head and torso? No, all lions should be equal.

But they aren’t. When Keith moves to the black lion, Lance moving into the red lion is framed as a promotion. Allura says that it is because Lance put his need for glory aside when accepting Keith as leader and this somehow passed the red lion’s test, but what about the others? Did they put their needs for glory first? Did Allura? Why was she unable to fly the red lion? The EPs said in interviews that the blue lion is the nurturing lion and is like a mother bird that pushes her baby out of the nest when the baby is ready to fly, suggesting that she pushed Lance to red because he didn’t need her anymore. They also refer to the blue lion as the “training wheels lion”, implying that those who fly the blue lion are not yet ready to fly a real lion. What does this say about Blaytz, the previous blue paladin? He was the leader of his planet, yet he spent his entire time in voltron in the training wheels lion? And, more pertinently, what does this say about Allura? It completely infantilizes her and is absolutely insulting.

Ultimately, the downgrading of the blue lion to a training wheels lion and the sudden insistence on the red lion being the right hand man to the leader establishes a hierarchy of Black > Red > Green/Yellow > Blue. Allura used to be the decision maker. In the pilot, Shiro says “Princess Allura, these are your lions, you've dealt with the Galra empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?” From the very first episode, Shiro (who is already the leader of the paladins) defers to Allura. She was their commander, calling all the shots, superior to even the black paladin. But once she steps into the blue lion, she loses that rank. She falls to the bottom of the totem pole. Taking a dark-skinned woman and putting her in a powerful position, only to strip her of that and relegate her to the bottom (mind you, it only becomes the bottom when she gets there), is either the height of ignorance or deliberate malicious intent.

In fact, the lion swap leaves us with a very uncomfortable set up. With the establishment of the hierarchy, we know that the head is superior to the arms, which are superior to the legs. Well, the head happens to be the space white (arguably earth white too - his ethnicity was never revealed, possibly because they knew they would lose support if they countered the popular Asian Keith headcanon) male character. The arms are the white female character and the brown (but lighter brown) male character. The legs are the darkest-skinned characters.

At the end of the day, VLD was racist. Plain and simple. The characters of colour that remained in voltron were short-changed terribly, and Shiro was shuffled off onto the atlas because they weren’t allowed to kill him.

I mentioned how pretty much all of Lance’s insecurities were brushed under the rug, save for one: romance. From the very first episode, Lance displayed a crush on Allura. He flirted with her incessantly, to constant rebuffs but remained undeterred. In the 3rd season, he suddenly stopped flirting. He and Allura developed a friendly and mutually encouraging rapport. It was sweet. They were sweet. But then everything changed when the fire nation attacked Lotor arrived. Despite Allura and Lance’s continued sweet moments, Allura fell for Lotor. She didn’t shun Lance or anything, and she certainly still valued and cared for him greatly, risking her life to save him (Omega Shield, S6E1). But she didn’t see him romantically. How do we know this? Because when the mice inform her of the depths of Lance’s feelings for her (Timey Wimey ep, sorry idk the name, S6E2) she is initially surprised, but then sad.

(Pictured: Allura’s face after the initial surprise of the mice recounting what Lance told them about his feelings for her in S6E2. This episode comes before the one where she and Lotor share a kiss.)

It can be argued that she’s “conflicted” and not sad, but I personally don’t see that. I just see sad. But even if she was conflicted. Even if she did have romantic feelings for Lance by this point, her feelings for Lotor were stronger. We don’t see her torn between the two men. We see her consistently choose to spend time with Lotor and kissing him despite knowing how Lance feels about her. Whatever potential romantic feelings she may have for Lance, they weren’t enough to deter her from choosing Lotor. That is inarguable.

So after totally ignoring all other aspects of Lance’s insecurities, the narrative then validates the only one left by confirming that, yeah, he is the second choice. And I know people love to argue that just because he isn’t Allura’s first kiss doesn’t mean their relationship isn’t valid and obviously this is true. I’m not saying Allura can’t kiss more than one man in her life or she’s some sort of impure slut. Of course not. What I am saying, is that we know that Lance has insecurities pertaining to being second choice. He is insecure because he’s been told that he only made fighter pilot because Keith messed up. Well, guess what? He only became Allura’s boyfriend because Lotor messed up. He’s in the same situation all over again. Allura knew her options and made her choice. When that choice was no longer viable, she went for the other option. The narrative confirms Lance’s inferiority. There are so many other ways this could’ve been handled. For example, if Allura and Lotor had been spending a lot of time together working on the ship, and it only looked like they were dating, that would’ve been fine. Finding out about the colony would still have been heartbreaking for Allura because she trusted him. As another example, if Allura had feelings for both men but chose Lotor because she felt it was almost her duty, to secure a stronger alliance with the empire, that would’ve made the ultimate endgame with Lance more believable. Or, if the mice simply never told her how Lance felt and she didn’t know he was still into her. Or if they even had one moment after the colony reveal (The Colony, S6E4) where Lance did or said something and Allura was shown to be considering him romantically, before she walks up to him in season 7 all blushy and stammering (I don’t know s7 episode names but it’s there, I think it might be s7E10). That moment seems to come out of nowhere because all of Allura and Lance’s scenes that can be interpreted as romantic on her part occur before she kisses Lotor (and no, Lance comforting her in S6E5 doesn’t count because she’s literally crying on his shoulder over another guy. That’s not romantic. Her comforting him in S6E7 doesn’t count either because it’s essentially the same day as the colony reveal and there is no way she’s believably gotten over it that fast. Also he’s literally crying over their dead friend’s body. Nothing says romance like a corpse, amirite?) so we’re left wondering: when? When did she start liking him back? Which is a shame, because a relationship built on mutual support is a wonderful thing to show. VLD just didn’t show it well.

The buildup to relationship fails Allura just as much as it does Lance, because it appears as though she is being punished (yet again!) for making the wrong choice. She had the options of Lotor or Lance and she chose Lotor. And her reward for choosing Lotor is discovering that he neglected to mention the tiny fact that her people are not eradicated and he’s been using them as batteries all this time. A lot of heartbreak would’ve been avoided if, upon finding out about Lance’s feelings, she’d just chosen him directly instead of going through the Lotor thing first. Because she learnt nothing from that experience that required that she kiss him. There was no need for her to have romantic feelings for Lotor; after all, he needed her magical abilities so it’s not like they wouldn’t have gone to Oriande anyway. So what was the need to put her through that heartbreak When her romantic endgame was already available, willing and able? It ends up just feeling like someone working on VLD once had a crush on a girl who chose a suave bad-boy type over him, and he’s reliving it through this cartoon by showing how the bad boy type is actually just using her and she should actually have chosen him (my guess is JDS but that’s just me).

Continuing on the topic of romance, Shiro’s relationships are a mess. From the whole ordeal with Adam, his death and the 5 seconds of mourning Shiro was allowed, to Curtis’ name only coming up in captions and he and Shiro never actually having a conversation before getting married, it’s pretty clear how little effort was put into queer representation. The EPs knew how desperate the fans were to see queer rep and they played on this in interviews and at panels, stringing fans along with hope to see at least one queer main character and couple. But they never intended on fulfilling that. Several sources reveal conflicting information on how and when Shiro being queer was decided, with some sources saying it was Bex Taylor Klaus that asked for it, some saying it was a recent development and some saying they’d been sitting on it for a long time. In fact, the EPs themselves claim they’ve been sitting on the knowledge for a while, but with their awareness of the “Bury Your Gays” trope, they considered making somebody else The Rep™️ (because y’know. They wanted to kill Shiro. They have been very vocal about wanting to kill Shiro. Also The Rep™️ because heaven forbid you have representation for marginalised people in more than one character, right? Can you imagine having TWO WHOLE QUEERS? Scandalous!) but when their higher ups informed them that they were not to kill Shiro, they decided to make him The Rep™️ again. If this is true (and that’s a big if) one must ask: if they were aware of the “Bury Your Gays” trope, why did they do it anyway? And TWICE for that matter (thrice if you include Shiro’s death and resurrection. That’s right, shiro is Jesus).

They killed Adam supposedly to show the casualties of war, but we’ve only ever seen Adam once and it was during his and Shiro’s breakup scene. Of what emotional value is he to us? To show the emotional stakes, killing Sam would’ve made more sense because we’ve at least met the guy and we’ve seen how much Pidge loves her dad. Adam was barely a character. In fact, my brother didn’t even know we had ever seen the guy before when I paused during his death scene and asked him who that was (he said it was just some random pilot we’d never seen and had no idea what I was on about when I said it was the guy shiro was arguing with in the first episode). So frankly, I don’t care that Adam died. I only care that Shiro is yet again on the receiving end of the VLD stick of pain, and that a queer character was killed for no good reason. And Ezor is only alive because of the backlash after season 7 (sidenote: well done y’all. Making your voices HEARD and getting change is a beautiful thing). Yet another queer character would’ve been killed off unceremoniously if the EPs had their way.

I could go on forever about how much this show fucked up but I’m actually getting tired of thinking about it so I’m gonna summarise the next few issues in another post.

PART 2

#finally posting this #hoo boy #i have A LOT of thoughts #i've been sending snippets of this to friends whenever we're talking about one specific issue #but here it is in its entirety #well part 1 of its entirety #vld critical #a pinch of salt #vld #voltron #long post #voltron legendary defender #more like #voltron legendary disaster #or #voltron legendary disappointment #whats wrong with vld

[levyfiles]

im feeling kind of violated levy lmao. we have a personal shyan discord server and someone- we thought it was tw*nsf*wn herself cuz she introduced herself as 19 and named julie but we aren't sure anymore- joined, and we didn't know she was an anti, and then tw*nsf*wn made a literal callout post for the server owner with screenshots from two different servers. one of the scs was from the vent channel. i just can't believe someone would do this

I’ve actually heard about this noise secondhand from quite a few people and I didn’t care to weigh in until I knew more of the facts. First of all, I’m sorry that happened; really very sorry that it went down the way it did. I think people will move forward though especially since the individual who was targeted is young and still learning how the world works (a journey we’ve all had to embark upon within the realm of what we can do given our upbringing).  

What I do want to encourage people to do is if you make a discord server, and you don’t want to feel anxious about who you can and can’t trust to behave like an adult, make sure it’s invite only so that people can vet and advocate for others. This can also ensure that we are still curating our own online experiences instead of enabling troubled people to seek out things that make them angry.

I’ll be fully honest. Reading the rant as it was made me feel ill because even up here in Canada there are people who think like that and teach their children to think that way as well. I also think that as a person of colour who is a frequent witness and victim to  microagressions and foul beliefs about the system we participate in daily, I don’t like generalisations and I feel nothing but distaste for bullies. So expecting an entire group of people to answer for an individual’s actions/beliefs/words is in and of itself such a white privileged response to what was also a white privileged rant as shown in the screenshots. It’s unfortunate that some people have the luxury to brandish words of ignorance and bigotry like that around as a weapon to fuel their movement against a goddamn not-that-deep ship but that is part of the reality we live in. A person can read a youtube comment that says something as innocuously humorous as ‘Ryan and Shane are like a married couple’ and that same person will log onto the blogging website where they live all day and send hate to every shipper they’ve ever heard of because it’s easy to just assume the people you can access are responsible for the tenets of the internet that make you angry. Just the same, an anti can say something as reductive as ‘shippers are racist’ and my hapless shrug at the claim is simply because my blasian ass has just had a Day listening to white people talk over me about my own identity so I have no obligation to listen to a group of tiny-minded rage mongerers baiting me into an inquisition without conviction when they haven’t experienced an iota of the crap a lot of us have. 

I’m not into dogmatic bullshit about people I don’t know or care about and whether they are Good or Evil but I’d file call-out posts for younger teens on the internet about a subject that is non shipping related and spinning it as a shipper’s Thing as a Bad Move. 

Once again, it’s a shitty reality and people are going to keep being how people are especially with the victorious light of faux justice in their anger but you can do better; keep blocking shit, talk to your friends when they say things that hurt you or others, and lock the shit up you don’t want a mean spirited person to see. 

#discourse #this is the last time i want to talk racism in this space #message me directly if there's any real presence you want to add to this conversation #antishyan #Anonybae