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saltypiss · 16 days

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Russia's hypernormalization hit america so fucking hard our presidents are gonna become kings.

I wonder if R's really think it a good idea to make people lose confidence in the government and all systems. Because they're doing a fantastic job ensuring nobody can really give a shit anymore.

Much like how Dems have Absolutely No Plan after Biden's second stolen term (only stolen in that he lied about being an interim) (because the elections are nothing if not completely corrupt unless blue wins) they also have no plan when SCOTUS permanently sends the country down the shitter.

It's just a reality TV show until we decide to do something. Sucks but, dems of all variety, ain't gonna do shit. Just gonna sit on their hands and bitch. Sucks to suck but, Dems aren't gonna be the solution. They're more of a shitty doorstop.

Dems once had The Hype. It's gone and dead now, now we argue if a Genocide is moral so long as a Blue person is aiding or committing it. We were so excited about raised minimum wages, making the rich pay back trump's tax cuts, fix schools, universal healthcare, better work protections...

But sure ya'll. Let's energize the voter by saying you can't criticize Dear Leader because he did nothing to earn anyone's respect or trust and instead killed the hype and made us scared to demand better, but he's not Dump, so he's clearly infallible and anything less than sheer devotion is republican.

Nah man. What's republican is Dear Leadering Biden like R's did Dump. Like...ya'll? Just google this dude's history and he stops being anything but another corporate crony. Dude's sub-human in so many points of history.

All I'm saying is: Dems demanded better from Dump but refuse from Biden. R's don't even demand better from anyone. Why the shit are Dems being republican on progress? How is he supposed to know shit if half of his base supports genocide and the other just wanted 4 day work weeks? How is he supposed to know shit other than making that easy oil money of tens of thousands of known casualties, half being children? That one's obvious, he knows he's fucking up but no one is holding him accountable, so he doesn't care, and next term he's given the keys to all our homes to burn and rob.

For people to defend a genocide with "of course he was going to be pro-israel" Ever consider the problem is he's pro-genocide because you idiots enable him? This is exactly what ya'll are demanding?

Oh and the Larpers claiming they'll stop supporting him if he stops the genocide? Understand that sounds like a Great Thing. To kick you out of the group of dems? Yes. When ya have a nazi at the table of 10, they're all nazis. Congrats Dems. You're now Nazis. Undeniably. Your body count is now higher than Dump's. At least I didn't expect any better from him, ya'll had me believing I could with Biden, until ya let him decay further and further until he became a whipped bitch for corporations. Just saying, at least Dump simply GOT millions and millions killed by covid for political gain, Biden's just aiding in a genocide because he has absolutely no morality or ethics you can trust, because, again, Pro-Genocide. But also because he's just gotta go with the popular opinion! Not...Not the actual one, but the one's that will net him votes from those who laclkcritical thinking and flip flop their empathy depending on the victim.

Just sayin'. If Biden was mostly aiding in the tens of thousands of deaths of children and any minority inside america, Dems would support it. Because it's Blue no Matter Who! Nah, realistically they'd be mad because now it matters to them...somehow. Yeah the people you'll never meet? They can Die. But your fruity friends? Well, clearly they're The Most in danger right now as we speak (Ignore Palestine's 70 years of oppression by Israel) (oh yeah and that whole Active genocide thing) (seriously stop focusing on the child crying over his father's blown up corpse CARE ABOUT THE GAYS WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN SAFER)

and remember you HAVE to vote for Biden because even though it costs the lives of tens of thousands, when it Really Fucking Shouldn't?????????????? It's an important... PFFFFT...haha..."""sacrifice""" (people think other country's I don't know about matter?) to protect the gays! They're what this election is 100% about! Minorities. (In america) (Must be virtue signallable) (preferably black, mexican, gay or trans) (but not some other label) (human lives are cheap) (blue no matter who!)

AREN'R YOU ENERGIZED AS SHIT TO VOTE FOR GENOCIDE!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN EVERY ARGUMENT I MADE IN SUPPORT OF GENOCIDE MADE YOU NOT WANT TO VOTE FOR BIDEN? WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS!?!? THEY'RE LESS HUMAN THAN AMERICAN GAYS!!!!

Really consider the fact R's and the rich approve of the genocide, that Biden is working with both, because ya'll MFs can't be consistent morally, ethically, or logically. Of course he's aiding in a genocide, the only people being fucking understandable are R's and the rich, because they're consistent, Murder is Good, I just wish Dems weren't Actually Worse about that than R's. R's can be seen through with a hint of critical thinking, Dem's will actively Lie about their morals and beliefs the second it becomes inconvenient. Ya can't trust a grift ever, and my friends, Biden is a grift.

Weak. Dems are Weak. I can see why R's have more confidence in their rapist leaders, they're surprisingly consistent when you ignore the public relation noise and focus on the Larp.

A republican 10 years ago to this day still thinks a lynching is appropriate when seeing a Brown. Dems will claim otherwise unless it hurts Dear Leader's chances at re-election. Because in their mind, anything short of Percieving Perfection is tantamount to treason.

Biden could come out and repeat what he's said with Israel and Palestine about R's and minorities and I guarantee you this, most Dems will flip flop because now? Dems got their own Larp, and it's that Biden is the best president of allllll time! He...he has...he has to do something first. Something historic? Like. Raise minimum wage? Shit man.

No. You're supposed to demand better. Not demand worse. Not demand genocide. Not demand our Leader be Cruel and a Grifter. You aren't even necessarily expected to not vote for him, let alone against him. Just Demand Accountability. Demand Better. Demand Leadership. Instead? He hides behind his God Awful Sub-Human cohorts to speak for him.

We heard you loud and clear Biden. Anti-Genocide is Evil in your eyes, Genocide is Moral. I heard you, and ya lost my vote completely for it. The chance of apology has passed, the chance of regaining votes lost. He told everyone his ethics are that Genocide is Moral.

What would've make him votable, kept him votable, is the fact he'd listen, and would do what is Ethical and Moral. The fact we Can Demand Change. The fact we can Approach And Consider. Y'know, like what you're supposed to do with your leaders. Not just accept them as Gods of perfection.

But sure. Telling disenfranchised voters that their opinions don't matter and People and Children Just Have To Die For Biden, that demanding leadership or any accountability is actually rather Republican! Yes Dems are saying exactly this right now. Because otherwise? Maybe don't tell people they just have to accept the guy who's done nothing but kill the hype, and Kill Children.

Maybe don't tell disenfranchised voters that that whole silly genocide thing isn't as compellig to your morals as the possibility...it's..it's not a possibility. I'm not sorry, Dump ain't ever getting in office again. What we're doing is working with the definite second term Biden right now. And the fact we're letting him commit a Genocide simply due to fear mongering? That's not the Dems I remember.

Okay so, After Biden gets the second term, what are we gonna do about that "silly ol genocide thing?" Because I sure hope you idiots aren't seriously considering he can get a third term? Remember how tens of thousands of children died thanks to this guy? Because you refused to demand he simply...not. do that? Maybe Biden could simply, not? Come with the Thousands of Dead Children baggage? Maybe we can ask him to y'know, drop the dangling corpses of, again, children, and instead, be reasonable?

y'know, we used to say Dump was going to commit a genocide. The fact we got exactly that? I really, really, don't have the energy to vote. I don't have that blue no matter who in me anymore. Because Dems are as bad as R's with their Dear Leader.

just a dump in blue, of course he's smarter, but fact is, he's still a politician. Not your friend. Not your hero. Not shit. He's never been shit and will be passed on in history books. Because again, he's actively done nothing his entire career, except hurting minorities. Or sniffing kids. Yeah sorry, ya can't ignore that one anymore. Demand leaders that aren't genocidal pedophiles, dems, do better than R's.

Just saying. Maybe we shouldn't demand diet dump as our leadership? Maybe instead of just letting these people be completely unchained is a bad idea? Maybe just because R's are blatantly corrupt, doesn't mean Dems aren't at least halfway as much? Because the whole of the government is corrupt and broken.

Idunno man, seems REAL fucking lucky that in a 2 party system, that somehow, miraculously, only One Party is actually moral and good and perfect. Seems more likely that one party fell apart and the other party simply hasn't, but they're both shit. They both are pro-genocide. And there is no fixing that other than to minimize a genocider's voice. That requires more parties to make such a decision absolutely a political suicide thing, instead of simply one thing to consider.

Really

Understand your shortsightedness will lead to another R president. No on after Biden. And dems just exposed how little they believe in the words they've said. I don't trust dems when they say "genocide good" and "save the gays!" on the same profile. Hopefully. Dema will understand that kinda shit is why people left R's. That this is an open wound that will only fester.

Dems enabled their genocidal immorality. It's only a matter of time before they're as bad as R's. Sorry that I make it a principle to not support Genocide. I'm sorry for you thinking that's a necessary "sacrifice" when you could've simply demanded better instead of compromising your morals for a dude who has never done shit for you.

#biden

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littlemissidontcare · 10 months

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Meanwhile you continue loving Sebastian no matter what he does, right? / Of course they will, Sebastian can never do any wrong in their eyes, unless of course it ruins their fantasy. That's why Seb gets more shit for dating skinny blonde bitches than he does for actively surrounding himself with dipshit trumpies/conservatives.

Bro you got me fucked up if you think I ever said that Sebastian can do no wrong, because BOY HAS HE. But shit, he’s a human just like all of us and has made mistakes. Shit, I’m surrounded by people who support trump, but do I get hate for it? No. I have my opinion on things that may be different from others, but like I said, I’m not political, and even if I don’t agree with those said people, I’m not going to crucify them for disagreeing with me.

I tried to explain that the best I could but I’m literally about to pass out since I just got done working out, so if that didn’t make any sense, sorry. But I hope people see what I’m saying.

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miu-miiu · 3 years

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♦ busting SYNASTRY MYTHS ♦

11th HOUSE SYNASTRY - THIS SYNASTRY DOESNT MEAN SOMEONE SEES YOU AS A FRIEND OR YOU ARE BETTER OFF AS FRIENDS, STOP REPEATING THIS SURFACE LEVEL SHIT YOU’VE BEEN EATING UP FROM MODERN ASTROLOGY POSTS. This is the house of wealth and gains, it’s the fullfillment of our desires and sudden profits. It’s an indicator of your sources of income and allies. So of course, you will have strong foundation with someone you have 11th house synastry with because it will be built on a ground of trust and support. Along with emotional connection, there’s also a mental connection that makes you share your secrets and ideas to them as you would do to a friend but that’s only one piece of the puzzle WHICH DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU WILL BE GOOD FRIENDS (you can’t make that comment for any type of relationship in this synastry because if 11h is afflicted by malefics that will most likely bring a negative result which can make you enemies or drain one another’s life force lmao). More than anything, especially if you have your 7th house lord in your partner’s 11th house you will gain so much from them in so many ways including oppurtunities and finances and helping you achieve your earthly desires. They will be your ally and support, supporting you in your pursuits and opinions. It’s like a debate team with financial support lol. It can also indicate you will go back to university and complete your education or get a new degree after you get together with this person. Most of this also goes for 3rd house synastry.

5th HOUSE SYNASTRY - “This indicates a fleeting romance” FUCK NO. That’s one of the most trumped-up interpretations i’ve heard. You CAN’T predict the longevity of a relationship based on house overlays. Ever heard of Davison charts? Anyway, prominent 5th house is anohter EXCELLENT synastry. It often donates a relationship where you can discuss ANYTHING - your wildest thoughts, plans and experiences. Someone you jump from topic to topic. Very often the planet person is the “childlike” one which the house person adores and takes inspiration from. Planet person becomes a ball of joy and energy that makes the house person destress and cheer up, thought it can feel like an ‘overdose’ sometimes. Both parties become some sort of an energy source for each other. You play games together, indulge in fun activities, create things (can even be an invention) together. Even doing nothing and just talking to each other feels fun and full of laughter (unless there are some other placements disturbing this synastry). This is the synastry of never-ending honeymoon. A couple with rahu/mars in 5th house might have a son as the first child. If venus is there with the nodes, it might be a son with venusian qualities. You can also get more popular or lucky if you are with someone you have 5h overlay with. The house person also pushes you to focus on your studies more.

12th HOUSE SYNASTRY - There’s a lot of stigma around his house (8h as well) and people often fear it. Weeeeeell...It IS a karmic house so people you have this synastry with are likely to be karmic partners. HOWEVER, don’t take this to oH NO this is not my TWIN FLAME this is a KaRmiC pErson shit. Literally almost everyone is a karmic partner lmfao, there’s a difference between good and bad karma. This synastry can play out good or bad depending on your own individual karma with this person and how you are managing your life. You can look to Rahu/ketu & saturn to get more info on the karma and to see how it’ll play out. Basically the planet person becomes your escape especially if their sun/moon falls into your 12h. They can end up being your savior. There’s an undeniable theme of profound change that this synastry brings. It often leads you to liberation, through a path of restriction. You need to overthrow the restrictions the other person brings to achieve total liberation. This is often a part of the soul’s karma. A couple with this overlay often keeps a secluded relationship from their relatives (maybe even ghost their families lol) and tend to travel together. They often open up to each other surprisingly quickly about their past and traumas, though there’s a really odd distrust within the couple.

6th HOUSE SYNASTRY - People have a very poor understanding of the 6th house, it’s often condensed to ‘service’. 6h synastry is similar to 12h synastry as they are the same axis anyway, but the difference is 12h’s effects are more abstract meanwhile 6h’s effects are much more physical and can be observed on a practical level. The theme with this house is “either serve or die” and has a karmic tone to it too. It’s not often this dramatic tho lol but usually a couple with 6h synastry feel a deep sense of responsibility towards each other which can make it hard to leave even if it turns toxic. Planet person often triggers the house person’s instincts to ‘serve’ the planet person in one way or another - the house person may do random gestures, buy lots of gifts, support them every way possible etc. so in this way it’s a very cute and beneficial synastry, because they are very much involved in each other’s lives and make a visible impact. They often make one another’s daily routines change, so they can spend time better. Though, one of them can treat the other like an assistant or in worse case scenario, a slave. Think I’m a slave 4 U by Britney Spears lol. They can begin constantly demanding things and get mad when the other doesn’t live up to their expectations. They can also become a disciplinarian for the other (this can also apply to 10h synastry)

OTHER NOTES ♥☺

If you have a mutual mars overlay with someone in 10th house (your mars in their 10h, theirs in your 10h) your aggressive energy as a couple will most likely be public. Meaning you are prone to have public arguments or fights. Alternatively you can also do illegal business or outlaw activities together, often involving some sort of violence or marsian quality.

If someone’s rahu falls into your 4th house, they will feel peace in our presence but they might drain the peace out of you, meaning they can emotionally and physically drain you, bring conflict and chaos into your life. It may become addictive in some cases. Rahu person will keep wanting more. If at the same time your rahu falls into a water house in their chart (so if ur rahu falls into their 4h,8h,12h houses) you will keep giving more and also find it addictive and hard to get out of. It will push you to surrender.

Rahu in 7th overlay indicates a pre-destined marriage/partnership

Moon in 1st or 2nd house is a very common overlay between soulmates and married couples. Moon in 2h is especially a very auspicious placement in terms of material wealth. The planet person often spoils the house person and knows EXACTLY what to get to the house person as a gift, they have a natural understanding of what the planet person would like and their needs (unless afflicted or outweighed by other malefics placements)

[personal experience] Gemini moon men always try to make me talk about myself so they can gather and store information about me, all the while i’m a sagittarius moon (so sidereal scorpio and in opposition to their moon) and i never reveal anything important or “deep” about myself - i can make myself look like i’m being vulnerable and intimate but when the conversation is over, they realize i didn’t reveal to them anything that is actually valuable and important SHDAIWHJGJGKJG which is why after some time...like in about 2 days they even start trying harder. One of them literally begged me to talk about myself and i think this is a good example of the synastry between this axis

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phoenixonwheels · 3 years

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A tale of COVID denial and shifting the blame

It takes a special kind of COVID denier to refuse to believe they have COVID while they’re in the hospital dying but Lisa pulled it off.

Her Facebook page is a shining example of her special brand of delusional. She claims to be taking precautions while also denying there’s a pandemic and being antimask and antivaxx. And she blames her health problems on her doctor for refusing to see her unless she takes a COVID test and on a lack of Invermectin, not on COVID which she actually has. Good on her doctor - I wouldn’t risk my life for these plague rats either.

Of course there’s also a shit-ton of racism, transphobia, classism, ableism and Trumpism on her page but we rather expected that, didn’t we? Why else would a working class woman with underlying medical conditions have her head alllll the way up Trump’s ass. Like so many of these antivaxxers Lisa rode the bigotry train straight into the grave and didn’t once consider climbing off.

Bye Lisa. Can’t say as I’ll miss you although Trump might. How is he going to get on with so many of his delusional masses dying off?

[ID: Facebook posts by Lisa Wright Sowards: Mar 31: “Fake plandemic coming soon to a liberal network near you WAKE UP PEOPLE!! Still not taking no V” Apr 1: “I might have to move to FL.” Repost of post by WFLA news Channel 8 “"It'll end up being in a situation will live to regret in the future," Florida Gov. DeSantis says he will not support ‘vaccine passports’ in Florida.” Apr 18: “This map may help those of you who plan to vacation this summer. States with no mask mandates.” Jul 11: “Prayer warriors I need prayers this morning 🙏🏼I started running a fever in the night. Not been sick like this in a long time.” Jul 13: “Well my doctor refuses to see me without a Covid nose swab test, not happening” Jul 16: “Ok I gave in I am at urgent care now. I am so sick. Now my mom and daughter are getting sick. Prayers needed !!” Jul 17: “another update - I’m back in the hospital my breathing levels in the 80s I can’t breath. Now my mom and daughter are here checked in to. Please pray for me us. An update for those that been asking I have pneumonia they say from covid but everything gets listed as covid these days. So I will just leave that there.” Jul 19: “Being moved to ICU being put on vent 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼” FB post by Gail Jones, Aug 11: “DAMN YOU COVID!!! DAMN YOU!!! My friend - Lisa Wright Sowards lost her battle with Covid last night.”]

#dying to own the libs #karma’s a bitch #fucked around and found out #antivaxxers #antimaskers #covid deniers #Lisa Sowards

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archertf2 · 3 years

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TF2 Youtuber AU Headcanons

Scout: The Epic Gamer

The True Epic Gamer of our time

Actually isn’t a total jerk

Is really nice to the little 12 year olds that play with him (unless they’re being little shits, then he trolls them)

Streams on Twitch, but prefers to stream and upload vids to YouTube

Uploads almost every day

Will sometimes do different stuff besides gaming just to change it up like meme reviews or browsing Reddit posts

Likes to use clickbaity titles and thumbnails just to mess with his fans

“I ALMOST DIED PLAYING THIS GAME (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL)”

Loves to collaborate with the others and play games with them

Lots of fans talk about how he looks and acts like Spy and he gets really defensive about it

“What are you guys talkin’ about?! I ain’t nuttin’ like dat French baguette!”

Medic: The Medical Guy

Likes to make little informational videos about frequent medical questions and myths and stuff

Also tells very odd stories about the operations he’s done

The story of how he lost his medical license changes every time he tells it

He’s just really strange but we love him anyways

He’s kinda like Dr. House from House M.D. but less of an a-hole

Likes to react to people getting injured and tells people how the injuries should be treated

Also likes to critique unrealistic medical dramas like Grey’s Anatomy and Chicago Med

DO NOT CALL HIM A N*TZI OR YOU WILL GET CANCELLED

Enjoys collaborating with others and contributing to the chaos of some of the others’ chaotic videos

Heavy: The (Heavy) Weapons Guy

CrazyRussianHacker 2.0

“Safety is number one priority”

Loves reviewing all kinds of different weapons on his channel

Likes to review guns the most

Of course, he shows off his Sasha the most because he loves his big ol expensive gun

He has names for all of his favorite guns and weapons

The fangirls/boys always talk about how they want to hug and cuddle him

His fans call him “Papa Heavy”

Doesn’t mind collaborating with the others, but he usually has no idea what’s going on unless it’s one of his own videos

Soldier: The Crazy Politics Guy

This guy is nuts but we love him anyways

He’s like the crazy political uncle, but not as awful

He’s kinda wholesome in a weird sort of way

Just talks about his opinions on politics and such...very loudly

Also tells war stories about “serving his country back in the day”

His titles are usually all in caps

Makes it very clear that he is NOT a Trump supporter

Wants to fight Trump

His fans always type “SOLDIER FOR PRESIDENT” in the comments

He eventually made SOLDIER FOR PRESIDENT merch

Now wants to become the next president

“I THINK I’D DO A DAMN FINE JOB OF BEING PRESIDENT”

Will fight you in the comments if you dislike his content

Sniper: The Living Survival Guide

Most of his videos take place outside

Just shows little hacks on how to survive in the wild or maybe the apocalypse if that ever happens one day

It’s amazing what this man can make out of a paper clip, a string of yarn, and a piece of chewed gum

Also likes to show off his weapons like his sniper rifle and his kukri

Has shown people the art of jarate, but those videos got demonetized

Is actually pretty wholesome despite his tough and stoic nature

A fan once sent him a stuffed koala and it was so sweet, he wouldn’t stop thanking them

He now has that koala in every video

He named him Gerald

Doesn’t mind collaborating, but doesn’t do it a lot because he’s kinda introverted

Spy: The Snobby Critic

Basically like ReviewBrah but more of a jerk

Acts like an actual critic but he really isn’t

He can and will review anything and everything

Books, movies, tv shows, music, you name it!

Isn’t fond of inviting the others to collaborate with him

He doesn’t want his “high quality content” to be ruined by his friends if they say or do something stupid (which they most likely will)

He doesn’t mind collaborating with others in their videos

He’ll only collaborate if he’s interested which isn’t very often

Fans make theories about him being Scout’s dad, but he ignores the comments and never brings them up

Demoman: The Drunk Explosives Guy

Is wasted in just a about every video he’s uploaded

Doesn’t get sponsored or monetized very much because...y’know he’s always wasted

Also swears a lot

His videos are very chaotic and consist of him blowing stuff up

He’ll put a giant ball of tin foil in his microwave for fun just to see if the microwave will explode

Or he’ll put a stick of dynamite in a washing machine just for shits and giggles

Favorite person to collaborate with is Soldier

They’re both very chaotic in their own way so these videos are even more so with the both of them together

Pyro: The Mystery Arsonist

One of those guys who never talks or shows their face

Only uses text in their videos to communicate

If he is on screen then he’s in his gas mask and fireproof suit (like in the game) to hide his identity

Just likes to set stuff on fire

Makes satisfying videos kinda like those hydraulic press videos except it’s burning stuff

Wanna know what happens when you set a unicorn plushie on fire? How about a watermelon? Maybe a flatscreen tv?

Doesn’t collaborate much with the others but sometimes he’ll invite them to join his videos

Is actually a really sweet guy and the fans love him

Engineer: The Wholesome Southern Tech Guy

“Howdy, y’all! Welcome back to another video!”

Always giving that Southern hospitality to his fans

Loves to make little doodads and show them off in his videos

Also does tutorials and videos on how he makes said doodads

Extremely wholesome

Has quite a following of fans who just adore his wholesome southern content

He just makes ya feel so safe and welcome

Doesn’t collaborate much, but when he does he’s a pretty cool dude and likes to have fun

Adding my OC because I can and nobody can stop me:

Archer: The Reactor

She just kinda makes content reacting and giving her opinion on different stuff whether it's new or old

Her main thing is just humorously reacting to weird or stupid (kinda like Cody Ko/Drew Gooden/Danny Gonzales)

She just kinda makes videos on whatever she finds interesting lol

She also does a little gaming on the side to spice things up lol

She’s British so she’s also a meme in herself and makes fun of her British-ness

Loves collaborating with the others

Likes to collab with Scout the most since he’s the most fun

Adores her fans and is appreciative of every single one

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whatiwillsay · 3 years

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kaylor oomfs avert your eyes 😞

i get asked from time to time “why don’t you like kaylor, why don’t you like karlie, why do you think kaylor isn’t together? why aren’t you and ttb married yet?” and i think it’s high time i centralize my thoughts and receipts on all of that in a little timeline of shady things karlie has done to taylor that have made me wary of kaylor/karlie/that whole situation. don’t read if you stan kaylor this isn’t for you (unless you know you’re interested in the truth.)

first things first, i do think something romantic happened between kaylor go read @swiftiesleuth‘s realistic kay timeline for what i (generally) think happened between them.

but long story short - i think joshlie is real, i think they weren’t all that serious at the beginning, she famously didn’t meet his family for years, he didn’t take her to work events for a long time, so there’s room for her to have a fling with taylor even though we ended up with a real joshlie endgame.

taylor’s music and art supports this theory - in the wd mv she paints herself as the other woman, on rep she sings of secret sexy sex with her best friend that drives her crazy, in cruel summer she sings of a miserable, secret, and toxic situation with a person who rejects her love, in illicit affairs and august again she is the other woman - the art matches up. she also sings about her sunshine being gone on lover, and eclipsed on folklore. we have good clues in taylor’s artistic expression.

taylor’s given interviews about some of these karlie songs - she said cruel summer was about the start to a “doomed” relationship and look at what she said about august:

“It kind of explores the idea of the undefined relationship. As humans, we're all encouraged to just be cool and just let it happen, and don't ask what the relationship is — Are we exclusive? But if you are chill about it, especially when you're young, you learn the very hard lesson that if you don't define something, oftentimes they can gaslight you into thinking it was nothing at all, and that it never happened. And how do you mourn the loss of something once it ends, if you're being made to believe that it never happened at all?”

if joshlie is real which i think they are that 100% sounds like taylor having to process being gaslit by karlie while she cheats on josh with her.

so why do i think joshlie is real?

- josh has no credible gay rumors that didn’t originate on gaylor tumblr: he has old ex gfs that came before karlie, harvard message boards gossiped about him and didn’t like him but never said that he was gay, in fact one of the complaints josh’s schoolmates had about him was that he got special treatment for her girlfriend at parties.

- as stated before taylor’s art suggests she’s been the other woman with someone in her life recently. if josh and karlie are beards then what is the affair? why is taylor the other woman so often all of a sudden?

- i’ve spoken to someone with a mutual friend with the kushners - grain of salt of course, i know you can only trust stuff you hear from me with no proof so much, but i do absolutely trust this person and they say - no way in hell is joshlie fake, no way in hell is josh gay, no way in hell is karlie having taylor’s baby. also karlie absolutely has moved down to miami with josh. i’m sure we’ll see her in nyc and la from time to time but she is living in miami now.

- vicky ward, who is a real investigative journalist not some unhinged person on tumblr, wrote a tell all about the kushners. she uncovered gay rumors about josh’s father and josh’s brother but not josh. she had actual sources and was legitimately digging up tons of dirt on these people and not a word about josh being gay or joshlie being fake.

- yes karlie did convert to judaism. it’s really offensive to suggest she didn’t. of course she always could have done it for personal reasons but occam’s razor dictates she did it for josh i don’t know what else to tell you 🤷‍♀️

- also just vibes. karlie writes him love notes and leaves them with his breakfast. they make playlists for one another. if the kushners weren’t so heinous they’d be cute.

so in the joshlie is real world view i inhabit, i don’t stan kaylor the same way i do swiftgron because i don’t think kaylor was ever a committed monogamous relationship. important and impactful on taylor’s life? absolutely. inspired some amazing music? 100%. but was is true and tragic love that drives me insane and makes me feral? no. i don’t believe so. is it still an interesting and iconic ship? yes! but i don’t stan because it wasn’t like...true love or gay shit like that.

so let’s talk about karlie’s screwups that 1. assure me kaylor is not together and 2. make me have no desire to stan karlie/kaylor.

1. after the kimye drama (something that deeply traumatized taylor we now know thanks to miss americana) karlie said she was sure kim was a lovely person 😭 now i know she walked it back and tweeted she and taylor had one another’s backs. i know karlie was just trying to be diplomatic. but come on...if someone did what kim did to taylor to my lover or hell even just my friend i would say “fuck that clout chasing fame whore” bottom line. c’mon guys. have higher standards for your otp.

karlie also has vibed with kim on IG about her adidasas line. recently! yes i know she’s just promoting her brand but c’mon. taylor still hates kim, their drama got rehashed in march 2020 and just 6 months later kim n karlie are bestie-ing around on ig.

2. ALL the fucking masters drama and scooter fucking braun

- not long at all after the masters heist karlie was palling around with scooter on a yacht like come on the only other thing taylor is equally as traumatized over as the kimye drama is the master’s heist. why is karlie hanging out with him and partying with him at this time?

- karlie liked a tweet completely incinerating taylor (in a gross and unfair/inaccurate way) regarding the masters heist. she unliked it but still. why was she even looking at that shit.

- and yeah we gotta talk about perez. so perez hilton (who is a scumbag and gross but sometimes does have legitimate tea) posted a video saying that karlie and taylor were no longer friends because karlie betrayed taylor to scooter. now if that were all there was to it, it’d be dumb gossip. but a taylor fan account posted the video to twitter ashley avignone and claire winter both liked the tweet. ashley liked two tweets about it. perez proceeded to tweet that since two of taylor’s oldest and truest friends liked the tweets it must mean he was correct and neither of the girls unliked the tweets. ashley and claire are low key people, not celebs, not pawns in a “fued narrative”, just long time and loyal friends of taylor’s. they liked the tweet, imo, because there’s some truth to it.

- that brings me to spencer pratt. spencer is a reality star and super swiftie/huge fan of taylor’s. he despises karlie. he’s tweeted negatively about her and he also had perez onto his podcast to talk about the drama between karlie and taylor. taylor herself sent him a cardigan. do you really think taylor is going to allow a cardigan to go out to the guy who’s dragging her girlfriend or bestie? i don’t think so. receipts on perez and spencer here.

3. karlie posted for hailey fucking beiber’s bday instead of taylor’s and hailey hates taylor 🤢🤢🤢

4. karlie married into a fascist family that is associated with the trumps. like how can you expect me to stan? trump is a fucking criminal evil piece of shit. i know karlie isn’t like him (probably) but it’s still awful. kimby even goes around liking ivanka’s ig posts like give me a fucking break 😭.

in summation, you can disagree w me all you like, you can ship kaylor all you like, but if you’re of sound mind i don’t think you can look at the facts in this post and think i’m misguided for not being a kaylor/karlie stan. and you can’t blame me for thinking if you spend a lot of time obsessing over that ship you may not really be that big a fan of taylor’s. and if you’re spending a lot of time leading lgbt kids on to think they’re going to get a kaylor end game when all the objective facts of the case suggest that that’s never going to happen you might need to reevaluate but at the very least you certainly can’t press me for not doing all that.

#komments #of interest

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abbbiemarie13 · 4 years

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There are so many things that I want to say. So many things that I’m thinking. But I actually believe that I lack the vocabulary to fully express how I’m feeling. Since last night my brain, and my heart, have been cranking and spiraling trying to process what has been happening.

I’ve been in shock mostly. Truly, truly shocked by all of it. I’m shocked at the continued disgusting obsessions that people have that drives them to so heavily stalk a young girl and her friends, leading them to leak private videos and photos onto the internet. There’s just so many things wrong with that I can’t even.

I’m shocked that people took these obsessive behaviors to nearly the farthest that it could go by digging up someone’s voter information. Something that is so private and so personal to an individual. It made not seem like a big deal but that is a HUGE deal. I don’t even know how people do it. And it honest to god terrifies me.

I’m shocked that people had the nerve to drag Sandra into it. And then continued to worm their toxicity in by saying that Jodie has no right being around Sandra. Which is one of the most vile things I’ve heard, not only about a person that they supposedly look up to and admire. But that is also such an insult to the very strong friendship that Sandra and Jodie share.

To be quite honest, the thing that shocks me the least is the potential knowledge of Jodie Comer dating a republican. The girl isn’t even American first of all, so American politics is probably not something that is on her mind often. How many of us are thinking of British politics? Exactly. Second, who the fuck cares? Unless he is out screaming his love for Trump or saying he hates people of color, well then we can talk about that. But I think it is safe to assume that Jodie wouldn’t surround herself with people like that. There are people who are actually causing problems out there that we should focus all of this energy on. Not a young couple who is trying to live through a pandemic (which is hard as fuck in case anyone has forgotten). So please. Let Jodie get drunk and have rocking sex with her dumb white boyfriend if that’s what she wants to do. Because god forbid that girl gets to happy for a second.

What I am shocked about the most, what really has been making the blood boil in my body like a freaking magma pit, is how quick. How. Damn. Quick. People were to shit on her. How quick most of the people in this fandom were to just drop her like a dirty sock. I watched people I had interacted with for months who would talk endlessly about Jodie and how much they adored her; people who only mere hours earlier, were gushing about her new haircut. And all it took was one rumor. One stupid Twitter thread of “receipts” for people to flip a switch and say “I fucking hate Jodie Comer” or “how dare Jodie Comer” and so on. It was so unbelievably heartbreaking to see that it quite literally had me in tears.

Cancel culture is morbid. It’s degrading, humiliating, and just straight up wrong. I can’t believe that this is the world we are living in. And that there are individuals who are so unhappy with their own lives, that they feel the need to try to negatively affect someone else’s.

Now, I am not the kind of person who will stan a celebrity so hard that it blind sights me and I turn the other cheek when their flaws are pointed out (even though yes I am quite far up Jodie’s ass, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget my morals). Of course I’m aware Jodie has flaws. There is probably shit about her that would annoy the bejesus out of me. But guess what? We’re all human. We are all so beautifully flawed in our own ways.

And I don’t know how many people need to hear this, but Jodie’s flaws do not give anyone the right to insult her or “cancel” her. From her opinions on Killing Eve to what kind of tequila she drinks, to even the people she dates, it is none of our damn business. At all. Period. I can’t believe people need to be reminded of that.

However, if there are valid reasons and proof that she is expressing shitty behavior, or that she exhibits conservative views, then that is a completely different conversation. But that’s not the conversation we are having so everyone please, calm down.

And I’m really sorry to everyone who is actually feeling negatively affected by this. I’m sorry to my LGBTQ+ family who feels betrayed by just the thought of Jodie associating herself so closely with someone who could believe that we don’t have rights. I’m sorry that it hurts to feel that someone you love so much doesn’t care like you thought she did. But don’t give up on her yet. Don’t take yourself into that dark hole of doubt. Have a little faith that she is still the beautiful woman who loves and supports us the way we love and support her. But if you can’t, and need to let go. Do it. Do what is best for you and for your health. Stick to your values. And just know that if you aren’t feeling the love from her, you’ll always have it with the rest of us.

ANYWAY.

I think that I’ve taken up enough of everyone’s timeline. If you are still reading, bless your heart. If anyone would like to have more discussions about the matter, my asks/DMs are open. I will NOT accept any negative comments tho so please keep that to yourself.

#jodie comer #sorry i really did not mean for this to get so long #i just have so many feelings #i hope we are able to move past this #and people take a look in the damn mirror #killing eve

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characterdevelopmentmakesmenut · 3 years

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So, I finished the first season of Hannibal a few days ago, and I'm torn. On multiple things.

First, I'm not sure what to make of Hannibal claiming he sees Will as a friend and values his friendship. He does a rather good job convincing everyone, to the point where even I can't figure out if he's being honest or if he's just using Will. There are some moments that may support the former amongst the many supporting the latter. You don't just blatantly manipulate a friend like that, possibly endangering his life in the process. That, and framing him for murder. Multiple times.

Then again, self-preservation is an intense thing. The framing could be viewed as a contingency plan in case they start to suspect him. It's either him or Will. To someone like Hannibal, the choice is obvious. (Will was literally the perfect scapegoat.) And as we saw with the phone call to Garrett Jacob Hobbs in the first episode and when he covered up Will's encephalitis, he's fond of unethical psychological experiments. Sort of a two for one deal there. He gets off free and gets to see how all this shit affects Will and how he deals with it. Honestly, he probably just doesn't see what's wrong with it. Which still isn't an excuse, of course. But to someone like Hannibal, this route would be logical, and it completely trumps friendship. Unfortunately, his personal interests and goals must come first.

Part of my hesitance to believe that Hannibal's friendship with Will was completely fake is due to the fact that I like their dynamic. I always enjoyed their interactions, and I just like their friendship. So much so that it pains me to see them at odds, however illogical that response may be. I really loved watching their relationship grow and develop.

Speaking of relationship development, my next talking point: I don't like Will and Alanna together romantically. At least not yet. Their relationship simply didn't develop on screen enough for me. It was implied that they had been friends for a fair bit in the first episode, but also that Will was too unsociable for them to actually spend much time together. (Unless I misread that, of course.) Because of this, their romantic feelings for one another feel rather sudden and maybe even a little forced. I would have been willing to accept the kiss as "heat of the moment", but then they talk as if they'd been romantically interested in each other for a while. I just don't really see it.

Will and Beverly had the same amount of relationship development and virtually the same dynamic as he and Alanna, as well as multiple potential shippable moments. Why not just throw them together? Because it wouldn't make sense. I feel like the only reason Will and Alanna were put together was because the writers wanted the drama and romantic tension of it. Alanna was the best choice because they had "history." That, or the characters they're based on/adapted from were romantically involved/interested. I personally wouldn't know about that one. I'd also like to note that up until about within an episode or two of the kiss, Will had more and/or longer interactions with Beverly than Alanna. At least, it felt like it.

Third, this isn't much of a point or something I'm torn on, just something I'd like to say. I hate Freddie Lounds and Dr. Chilton. Both of them. I never really liked Abigail Hobbs that much either, but she was at least okay.

While we're on this note, I used to like Jack, but not so much anymore. He was a good character and a generally likeable person at first. But he became so single-minded about a lot of things, starting with Abigail. I mean, he was right, but that kind of attitude is what gets people wrongfully imprisoned simply because the people in charge refused to consider other potential alternatives. Will was sort of guilty of the opposite mindset, but he was supported by a lack of evidence. And once the evidence presented itself, he accepted it, more or less. Jack saw the lack of evidence at the beginning and was still steadfastly convinced of her role. It's just not right and can lead to major oversights in an investigation.

I feel like there was more I wanted to talk about, but I can't quite remember any of it. (Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!) Maybe I'll post them if I remember later.

All in all, I like the show so far. I'm curious to see how they can keep it going for longer than one more season. It doesn't seem like there's too much more to delve into, after Will's situation is figured out/cleared up. Although, who's to say how long that will truly take? He's too central of a character to be gone so soon, either by being in prison for the rest of the show or being given the death penalty. Clearly, he's still going to be around for awhile, and his arrest is a major plot point. I'm looking forward to continuing the series.

#hannibal #hannibal season one #hannibal spoilers #tv series

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catbountry · 3 years

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Glancing over some of my older essays on politics, I’m kind of struck how, despite them not being written that long ago, I feel like I come across as a dumbass, or at least like somebody who thinks they’re much smarter than they actually are. And it’s weird, because most of my views are roughly the same; rather, it’s that I feel the way that they’re articulated comes across as too... I don’t know, smarmy? Smug, maybe? Lacking nuance. Blunt. Like I’m talking down to people. Obviously, this was never my intention, but it’s weird how something that was written while in my early 30′s somehow makes me wince a little... as I rapidly approach being smack-dab in the middle of my 30′s. God, I’ve been in my 30′s for almost 5 whole years now, fuck, where does the time go?

I think being able to come out of the other side of the Trump presidency in one piece has kind of helped add some much-needed perspective, at least for myself. I think the hypothesis that a lot of people who voted for Trump were desperate for some kind of change was proven correct when he failed to be re-elected due to his bungling of COVID, which, funnily (or not) enough, he almost could have looked like he was doing the right thing when he initially wanted to close the U.S. borders... except he’d been trying to restrict travel and close borders so often that of course nobody took such a suggestion seriously. And even if they had? Rich people still would have brought it over, because as we all know, rich people can just get away with all kinds of shit. Of course, once it actually hit, Trump really couldn’t handle the idea of looking weak at all, so instead, it was downplayed, joked about, not taken seriously, even though he’d been briefed that it was going to be really, really bad. And when he got it, and in private thought he was going to die? Well, once he beat it, of course he had to say it wasn’t so bad... even though it killed almost a thousand times more people than the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Most of them were seniors. I think that, as well as a general fatigue and disappointment over the lack of swamp-draining from those who weren’t fanatical devotees, probably sealed his fate. I admit, I wasn’t very sure Biden really had much of a chance for a long time... until COVID happened. But hey, at least we got our stimmy from Trump, right lads?

I’m still fully convinced that Trump never intended to win, and that his run was done purely for ego and financial gain, but his ability to effortlessly bait the media, as well as his unexpected exposing of the sham we all knew presidential elections to be, wound up rocketing him to success. Trump will no doubt go down as one of the most successful conmen in American history, one so slick he wound up conning his way all the way into the White House. The whole thing was like if The Producers was a presidential campaign, fascism included. Granted, I don’t think Trump was ever a true fascist; I think he wanted to be a dictator, but the actual job of being President was a drag. The cult of personality he accrued, however, was the biggest source of narcissistic supply that he’d ever experienced in his entire life. Hell, just being the literal President, the most important person in the entire fucking world, is a hell of a high that I don’t think he’ll ever really be able to reclaim. Trump’s going to be chasing that dragon for the rest of his life. Having “President” in front of your name is a lot nicer than actually, you know, having to be the President. I mean, look at how quickly Obama went gray. A lot of people are convinced Trump will run again in 2024, and I don’t doubt it, but unless something happens that completely throws us for a loop, I don’t see him being able to recreate the, er, “magic” of 2016. Everyone getting to see that, not only was his fanbase capable of having embarrassing public meltdowns just like the le epic triggered snowflake lib Hilary supporters, but that their meltdowns were even more embarrassing, and that they all looked like a bunch of fucking English soccer hooligans during the Capitol siege... well, I think that’s going to put off the swing voters, as well as the moderate Republicans.

Also, that Twitter knock-off founded by Trump’s aide, Gettr, being flooded by gay furries posting Sonic the Hedgehog foot porn? Feels like classic 4chan-style raiding. I approve. It almost feels like we’re healing, even if it’s just a little bit.

But what the fuck did we even learn from all this? What did I learn from this?

I don’t know. It feels like over the time I’ve been on Tumblr, what was once SJW became woke, and being woke has become very normal; so normal, in fact, that fucking massive corporations that use slave labor overseas will change their Twitter icons to rainbow every June because The Gays have become a safe, marketable demographic. On one hand, it’s nice to know that, at least in what I guess is considered the western world, LGBT people are more accepted now than they ever have been. On the other... god, it feels so cynical, doesn’t it? This is all very stream of consciousness, here. I don’t write very much on here since, surprise surprise, Tumblr’s been kind of dead since the porn ban. I still see people post, but it used to be that I couldn’t refresh my dash without seeing dozens of new posts. Now it feels like I refresh my dash and I’d be lucky to see a new post there an hour later. This is why I’m on Discord more. It feels like I have more productive conversations than I ever could on Tumblr or Twitter. Twitter is just... god. It’s like all the worst parts of Tumblr without the parts that made it fun aside from a few memes.

Sorry, I got off track there. The point I was going to make before is that, while I am still very firmly anti-censorship, I’ve managed to put myself in a position where it no longer feels like the stakes are so high. I can relax. I don’t have to feel like I’m on the defense the whole time as somebody grills me over some slip-up. I don’t use Twitter that much. When I do post something in response to somebody, I feel like I instantly regret it. I posted in response to some dumbass spreading a rumor that 4chan’s favorite Simpson’s meme about Sneed’s Feed and Seed is secretly ableist, and I got a response from some dude with an Umaru-chan avatar telling me how he’s proudly racist because he and his friends call each other slurs? Like bro, you’re posting cringe, you’re going to lose subscriber-

I don’t know what I’ve learned yet. Maybe that social media sucks and that chatrooms with friends are the superior way to communicate online. I tried out Telnet recently to go into some random IRC, that was neat. It just feels nice to not have to get into a fucking argument every fucking day over shit that doesn’t matter as much as people thinks it does, to not have to hear about every fucking time the President sneezes or farts. It’s not that there’s no longer anything to worry about; there is. I’d really like to see fellow lefties go after the handful of massive corporations that control the majority of the online experience, who censor not just all the racist white dude grifters in suits who all look suspiciously similar to one another, but us as well. I want to see us raise a bigger stink about the web being santized, sterlized, and gentrified to be friendlier to corporations who only want your precious data and eyeballs. Maybe without the constant distraction of Bad Orange Man, we could make that happen. Maybe.

Or maybe fucking Dream will breathe again and all the fucking children will piss their pants and clog up Twitter, fuck these kids, get off my internet, GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

#not fan fiction #political bullshit

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elenyafinwe · 2 years

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The DNI hate comes from the fact that ao3 is a public archive and not tumblr or another social media. Once you put it on there, everyone can read it, unless you restrict access to it. And any attempts to change that through dnis come off as not understanding the site at best and controlling, a-holish and a big red flag at worst. DNIs in general are completely useless, because most people who the author thinks of as terfs, antis, freaks or whatever the monster-of-the-day is do not think of themselves as such and would therefore ignore the warning; and those who are the actual bad actors the author wants to keep at bay will ignore the dnis because they are, well, bad actors. So, most people see dnis on ao3 as immature sanctimonious virtue-signaling that only serves to clog the tags and attempt to shame readers. And, well, most people don’t react well to immaturity, sanctimony, virtue-signaling and shaming. Some even overreact.^^

Thanks for your insight and I agree with you! <3 May I add my own thoughts on DNIs?

Because I also think that DNIs in their original use are completely useless for the reasons you named. That's why my only real DNI here is 🔞 I actually don't care if minors follow me, I'm not your parent, I'm not responsible for you. Just ... don't talk to me. I technically have a lot more DNIs like terfs, antis, trump supporter and a whole lot of other nazis, racists and so on. But well. They won't respect that anyway, so I never bothered with actually naming them.

If I see something like TERFs DNI, then it's more an info for me that this account is probably safe for me at least in this aspect. Or a "proshippers DNI", then I know that this blog is in anti-hell and I actually don't interact and run away as fast as I can 😅

I see DNIs as an expression of personal boundaries. Someone don't want to interact with certain people and it's basic decency to respect that. I never ever want to be dragged into pro-anti-discourse and I never ever want to see that in the comments on my texts. Luckily it hasn't happened so far (but then I only have one text that might be considered "problematic" I think?? Ok, someone was scandalized that Shisui and Itachi might be cousins in fanon ... not even canon, mind you).

Of course ao3 is public, but so is Tumblr and no one can hinder you to interact with a text that has a DNI. But you can have the decency to respect the author's boundaries and don't harras them. Just be nice to each other, but that's too much for a whole bunch of people on the internet.

I stated this on reddit and oh boi, the hate was real, but then it's reddit 🙈

I don't think DNIs are a sign of immaturity, rather the total opposite. Someone clearly stated their wish, that certain people don't violate their personal space, and even if the internet is in most places open, this still doesn't give you the right to overstep boundaries. Imagine, I have a conversation with my friends on Twitter and even if we tweet about it not from restricted accounts that doesn't give a stranger the right to step in and throw a tantrum. You wouldn't do the same, if we sit in a public café and some random person comes to us and tells us that we talk shit or something.

As for fanfics: I just want to have fun and a good time. I don't want antis yelling at me for my "problematic ship" or terfs spreading their far right ideology in the comments, because I included genderqueer characters, who are cis in canon, or something else. Of course a DNI note would never hinder those people to interact with my text (unless I restrict or outright delete it), I know that myself, I'm not that stupid.

To be honest I still don't get the whole fuss over DNIs on fanfics, but that's maybe because of my approach to DNIs, that seem to differ from the generall use.

#ask #dni #ao3 #fanfic struggles

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teaboot · 4 years

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Hello! Feel free not to answer this, but you've said that you like people coming to you for advice before, so I'mma just ask for just that gfhbdjnskjnbd. My best friend is a Trump supporter. I didn't know about this side of her until later into our friendship, so we basically clash in every way politically. I'm sure you probably don't remember this, but this is also the girl who told me I was going to hell for not being Christian and all that a few months ago and was scared for my soul. 1/3

.... "Anyways she keeps trying to bring up politics and calling me stupid for my beliefs. It's really hurtful and it makes me angry as a person who is very much so against trump and a big advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, which she isn't against, per say, but doesn't like it being talked about by her friends, most of which are queer (we banded together fbhjdknfbhds) because she feels left out and all that. I was just wondering if you had any advice as to how to deal with this? I don't feel comfy 2/3

"Talking about politics or anything with her, and since pride is coming up I'm even more anxious. I'm not sure how to properly set a boundry without hurting her feelings, if that makes sense. Have you ever had to deal with this sort of thing? Feel free to answer this punblicly or not at all, have a nice day! 3/3

Ah, shit, friend. It seems like you're really dealing with a lot right now!

Now, I hate to make any flat-out judgements on other people's business, because obviously it's a lot easier to call the shots when I'm not the one whose life is on the wire, but I'm going to make a rare exception here.

My personal verdict:

This person is Not Your Friend.

Not by any adult of yours, of course- Not-Friends and Friends can share many similar characteristics, up to and including Fun Times Together, Inside Jokes, Family History, Drama, Emotional Talks, Secret-Sharing, Interests, Hobbies, and More.

To defend my findings, I intend to compare and contrast what precisely differentiates a Friend from a Not-Friend directly below.

A FRIEND:

-May not agree with you on everything, but respects and values your point of view so long as the ethics and morals behind your beliefs coincides with theirs: IE, "People deserve to be treated kindly", "Genocide is evil", "We should take care of our environment", etc.

-May critique your opinions, but will do so with respect for your intelligence as an independent person capable of forming logical conclusions based on the evidence at your disposal. Think, "I disagree, have you heard about X?" As opposed to, "you're a deluded sheep and you're blind to the truth, Only I Use Brain Thoughts"

- Will tell you to your face, ideally with a kind and thoughtful manner, what their issue is with your actions and behaviors. Perhaps they went to another trusted friend first to get advice, but they SHOULD at least try to get the full picture before blabbing to everyone, if they have to blab at all.

-Will treat you kindly, even when you're not there to appreciate it. They will speak of your positive characteristics and talents they admire, and go out of their way to put you in the best light when speaking to strangers or employers. And not JUST to be kind, or polite- but because they genuinely do respect and admire you, and hope for you to succeed and be happy.

-May not understand aspects of your personality, habits, or identity, but will take the time to quietly look into these things to learn how best to support or help you. They don't know what "trans" or "pan" means? They'll Google it, or ask you questions, and take you at your word about how you feel and what improves your life.

-They'll give you the benefit of the doubt. A rumor goes around that you secretly kick people's grandmas? They think, "no, that doesn't sound right, I'd better look into this". They don't believe in your religion, and think you're wrong? So long as you aren't in danger, they'll learn what they can to respect your practice, and hold back on insulting thoughts they may have, because your happiness is more important than winning an argument.

A NOT-FRIEND:

-Looks like a friend, but doesn't respect you.

-Treats you like a friend, unless they have something to gain.

-Feels like a friend, until you really need one.

-Knows your secrets, but in a way that makes you nervous.

The words, "anxious, humiliated, nervous, scared," and, "stupid" should not come to mind when you think of spending time with a friend. FEAR is not a thing you feel when you're with a friend- not unless you're feeling it together, and the company makes it less.

So I may not know what exactly do do about this person in your life, but the first thing I need to to know is that you MUST stop thinking of them as an ally, because their actions prove that they certainly don't consider you one.

Make a list of all the things that matter most to you in your identity as a person, going out into the world. How you think people should be treated. How you want them to treat you.

Then make a list of the values you two share, of the way she treats others, and the way she treats you.

If those two lists aren't more or less made up of the same things, she's not a friend. She's someone you know who you don't actively dislike.

I don't know what else to say, except "stay safe".

I do hope this is helpful.

Take care.

#Long post

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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I was hoping you would be able to help me form a response when my family says they're sick of hearing of systemic racism and white privilege because THEY have had to work for everything and believe nothing got handed to them (true in the way they're thinking, but you know what I mean).

Welp. First, I applaud you for taking the initiative to engage in difficult conversations with your family, since the only way embedded racist ideas are going to get confronted in white society is if racist white people hear it from their friends and family. They are going to cheerily ignore protestors, academics, newsreaders, popular culture, and certainly politicians who say anything to the contrary, but it’s harder to ignore and brush aside when it’s coming from people who are directly within your own family group. They can still then ignore it, but at least you’re trying to do something that is not at all fun but which is deeply necessary, and good for you.

First, there are a few things for you to consider. Is this a case where they actually don’t know the difference, but are willing to learn, or is this essentially sealioning (where they act like they don’t know the difference, but they absolutely do, and put the emotional labor on you to extensively define and explain and educate while never intending to change their stances on anything). If it’s the former, then there is some point in engaging in dialogue with them. If it’s the latter, it’s a giant emotional trap that you are within your rights not to engage with until they signal that they’re willing to engage productively. You don’t have to educate someone who is categorically unwilling to be educated (especially when it’s often deliberate ignorance). As people like to say, Google is free, and it’s their responsibility to take the first steps to change. You can continue to talk with them, but yes, that is contingent on them actually standing a chance of listening to you and not just you wearing yourself out on something that they don’t want to actually hear (because it threatens them and makes them feel Personally Wrong, and white people don’t like that).

There have been various books written on why it’s so hard to talk to white people about racism, which you may be interested in checking out, not least the book "Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Renni Eddo-Lodge. Ibram X. Kendi has also written “How to Be An Antiracist,” one of the bestselling books of this summer, either of which would be useful either in shaping your own arguments or (if they’re receptive) giving to your family. Once again, this is contingent on them signalling that they’re actually willing to listen, and not just to make you do pointless emotional labor. These books are probably available from your public library (though there’s probably a waitlist) or in other easily available formats.

Next, it’s a basic tenet of an anti-racist education that white people have never had to do this kind of reckoning, and thus get whiny, defensive, guilt-tripping, and “it’s not about ME I’m a GOOD PERSON” when it comes up. This also rests on the damaging and deeply intertwined effects of racism and classism, which has to be understood if you’re going to talk about it. One of the greatest tricks that racist capitalism ever pulled is convincing poor white people that they had more in common with their filthy rich white masters (people whose way of life will never in a thousand years be anything like each other’s) simply because they shared the inherent racial “purity” of being white. There have been political studies written on how poor/undereducated/working class white people have become such a reliably Republican constituency, because they have been successfully manipulated to believe that the white overlords are their “people” and they will constantly vote against their own economic, social, and cultural interests in favor of enriching amoral white demagogues who beat the populist xenophobic drum. Then they blame black and brown people for society’s ills and for the reason that they stay poor, rather than the rampaging oligarchs awarding themselves massive tax breaks and billion-dollar bailouts and refusing to extend unemployment benefits in case people “make too much money” from not working, just to name the most recent example. They are so poisoned on populist politics and white supremacy, which assures them that they’re better than anyone else by virtue of being white, that they actively attack politicians and policy platforms and other social welfare initiatives that would materially improve their own lives as “un-American.” This is maddening and sometimes baffling, but it’s how it works. Whiteness trumps all, currently literally thanks to the Orange Fuhrer. Problems in life are the fault of the Other.

This isn’t to say that poor white people are “dumb” and just unable to realize it, because they’re caught in a system that has done this literally from the start of America. In the early 17th century, indentured laborers and slaves in the American colonies were in fact more likely to be white. (The word “slave” comes from “Slav,” since that was the predominant ethnicity of slaves in medieval Europe; i.e. white eastern Europeans.) But even despite the fact that they were unpaid laborers, they were still white and thus recognized as human by their white masters, and thus when slave ships began arriving, it was easier for everybody to simply outright demonize and dehumanize the black African slaves. The poor white indentured servants got to feel better than the black slaves simply for the fact of their whiteness. Their lives obviously sucked, but their whiteness was in fact a mitigating factor in the suckiness that it involved once it was easier to use “animalistic” black people. And we wonder why America can’t ever confront its racist history properly. As Kendi calls it in his other book, it is stamped from the beginning.

As it has been put before, white people can and often do have difficult lives, because late-stage capitalism devours its workers no matter what color they are, but their whiteness isn’t a factor in why their lives are difficult. They will never encounter racial prejudice, race-based hate crime, discrimination for housing, education, employment, bank loans, daily microaggressions and identity erasure, constantly racist tropes in the media, politicians fingering them as everything wrong with America/the world, casual prejudices or assumptions even from close friends, assumed criminality based just on their race -- etc etc. The list goes on and on. Just because you have a hardscrabble economic background does not mean that your life has been made harder by your race -- because if you’re white, it hasn’t. (And as noted, poor white people have consistently voted for megalomaniac white men who don’t give a shit about them but promise them that everything is fine or should be better for them because of their whiteness, and then blame minorities for being the source of their problems.)

I honestly wonder if racism would still be such a problem in America if we had a remotely more equitable economic system, because when you’re well off and have your basic needs consistently met and don’t need to worry that you’re one paycheck away from disaster, it’s harder to constantly be paranoid that your differently colored neighbors are stealing everything from you and the cause of all society’s ills. The historian Patrick Hyder Patterson wrote a very interesting book on material culture in Yugoslavia in the 20th century, where he basically argued that despite the spectacular collapse of the federation into the Yugoslavian wars of the 90s, things didn’t really go to hell until after the economy crashed following Josip Broz Tito’s death in 1980. While there were obviously ethnic fault lines and conflicts between Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Albanians, etc, when there wasn’t any money and any jobs and everyone thought everyone else was to blame, THAT is when the whole thing blew up into a genocidal civil war clusterfuck. Food for thought.

This is why people talk about economic justice and racial justice as going hand in hand. When there is a scarcity of resources and no social safety net, people are obviously more inclined to look for scapegoats and to blame someone for taking their entitlement (while still somehow refusing to blame the billionaires and corporate oligarch who are ACTUALLY stealing from them). They indeed actively resist any attempts to make their own lives better as being “socialist” or “un-American” and take pride in the fact that there’s absolutely jacksquat nothing (until of course, something like the coronavirus pandemic hits and it’s revealed just how many of us were always one missed paycheck away from disaster). Then when they need government assistance (while disdaining the government as tyrannical the rest of the time, unless it’s Trump’s actively tyrannical lot, but hey, we don’t have time to unpack all that) it’s still shameful and something they shouldn’t be using, instead of their basic entitlement to a decent life.

This country is poisoned on a lot of toxic beliefs, but this is one of the deepest-running one, and which will always get in the way of poor white people dealing with racism: their lives suck, but they have ALWAYS been told that despite that, they’re still better just for being white, which is their consolation prize for supporting white populists who actively rob them, and they haven’t even always consciously registered that. They just feel that if they’re “fine,” even if they’re not fine, then black people are just malcontents and criminals who can’t hack it. In 2016, there was a lot of ink spilled over how poor white people felt a sense of economic grievance and being left behind, which was why they voted for Trump, but... Trump was never going to do a damn thing about that??? He doesn’t actually do anything for his supporters except feed them his jingoistic Orange Nazi stump speeches. They voted for Trump to feel vindicated, not to actually improve their lives, and it’s damn clear by now that not only has he NOT improved their lives, he has no desire to do so. He just wants them to cheer for him and feed his ego, not fix any problems.

Basically, racism and capitalism and the American political system intersect in multiple deeply toxic ways to do precisely what you’re talking about; producing poor white people who feel that they shouldn’t be included in the reckoning with racism because if THEY worked hard and they don’t live in a mansion, somehow racism is fake and black people should just shut up and get a job etc etc. This is because poor white people have been systematically conditioned to support white supremacy at the direct expense of their own economic and social interests; it’s terrible, but that’s how it functions. They will never in a million years have anything in common with the (white) ruling class, but they still instinctively identify with them rather than people in their own deprived economic class who are different races or colors or religions. That is how white supremacy has supported the hyper-inequality of the industrial age, and vice verse, and it is one of capitalism’s best functions for survival, so it’s in the interests of the overlords to maintain it. Stop the workers from recognizing pan-racial solidarity based on economic grievance, and compete with each other and blame each other rather than the overarching system, easy!

Anyway. Once again, this is long. But in short, the attitudes your family are exemplifying are a direct result of both racism and classism as they have been deliberately cultivated in the American social and political system, and the interlocking causes and symptoms of both have to be recognized (and acknowledged) before they can get to dealing with that. I don’t know how that will go, and I don’t have an easy shortcut. But I’m glad you’re trying. Good luck.

#politics for ts #history of racism #long post #anonymous #ask

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hi-im-dazey · 3 years

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Doomscrolling tips

Hi.

Shit is weird right now, again, some more.

And it is going to get weirder. The next month or so (this isn’t going to magically go away after the inauguration), and even after that, it’s still going to be weird and might get weird in a whole new way.

Here’s some tips to safeguard yourself, and your mental health, and how to be proactive online without driving yourself nuts.

- If you sign any petitions, just sign them. Don’t allow your name to be seen, don’t “chip in $$”, don’t post a comment, don’t share them, publicly, on your SM. If you want to get others to sign, DM friends that you know would want to sign them, share them as friends only, or share them in a space where no one can find your real info and you have a layer of anonymity.

- Don’t sign any petitions that you do not recognize the hosting site for. Random ones you are not familiar with can be phishing sites or want money to include your signature. Ones your reps send you are almost always campaign fund begs once you click through. Stay with Change.org (but don’t give them any money) or the official government petition site, https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

- USE RESISTBOT, resistbot is getting slammed right now, because, of course it is, and you may end up on “hold” unless you can chip in a donation, but you do not have to and they will get to you and the queue is rarely very long.

Instructions on how to start using them are here https://resist.bot/ they will generate and automate letters, electronic and physical and deliver them to your reps at the federal and state level. They have also just added city level so you can write your Mayor too.

Donations go to cover operating costs like hosting, storage and postage and such. They offer a skip the line when they are slammed for ANY donated amount (I think as low as a dollar, but I am not sure, it might be 5$) but as I said before once you are in the queue, they will get to you pretty quick. And when they are not being slammed, it’s instant no matter if you have donated or not.

When you use resistbot, keep in mind that your information is given to your reps, and once there, your reps keep it on file, but resistbot itself does not use your info for anything else.

You do not have to write a massive tome either, a resistbot message of, Oh, I dunno, something simple like “Invoke the 25th”, “Arrest him”, or “Remove Trump” for example, are fine. And most of the time, your rep will respond, often addressing your concerns directly.

- Do not engage. When you are scrolling through twitter or facebook or whatever, do NOT engage with people spewing incorrect information or conspiracy theories or faux-news. Report them.

Right now twitter and facebook are having an “Oh shit, we helped cause this” moment and being pretty (twitter more so than facebook) active on responding to these reports and removing and blocking this sort of stuff. And removing a public platform for someone spreading disinformation is a great way to stop the spread of it. If you see nonsense, report it.

On twitter, the most useful one right now is the political one, and spreading false information about a political event, person or party, or a civic event. On facebook just do your best with their crappy reporting tools.

BUT, most importantly, do not engage; do not angry face react, do not retweet with disparaging comments, do not argue with them, report it, block their account and move on. This is for both your mental health, and physical safety.

- Retweet sourced and cited information, straight from the source if possible. Once you have established that you have found a good source, follow that twitter. Like all the op-ed commentary you want, but try to only circulate citable fact. Hyperbole and humor might help you feel better right now, and that’s fine, but right now the truth needs to be circulated far and wide so it overwhelms the people spreading the stupid shit.

- If you are having a problem with knowing if what you are reading is true or not, then install the Media Bias Fact Checker extension for your browser. This will give you a real time overlay of how truthful articles you see on facebook and twitter are, and if you follow a link to an article, it will give you a run down on the factual trustworthiness of that site.

You might have a left bias or a right bias site, but as long as the site also says Center, as in left center, right center, it usually has a good factual rating.

So you might go to let’s say NPR and this extension will tell you Left Center HIGHLY FACTUAL. Meaning they are very stringent about checking their sources and run multiple fact checks before publishing.

Wire services will often be listed as Highly Factual with no bias as they tend to be very “the 5 W’s” on reporting. So look for AP and Reuters if you want only facts and no bias. If you have any questions about Media Bias Fact Check, look here https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

- TAKE BREAKS, stop scrolling, do some stretching or take a walk. Knit a little, make a paper airplane, doodle a tiny cartoon, watch a show, find a new song to add to your playlist. Have some water, eat something healthy, then eat something comfortingly unhealthy.

- If you start to feel like you want to argue with a stranger on the internet, open up a text file, copy their spew into it, go to town responding,IN THE TEXT FILE, then save it, wait 24 hours, open it back up read it again. Then delete it. Do not publish it.

Arguing with idiots on the internet achieves nothing except getting you into an argument with idiots on the internet. Get it out of your system, re-read it once with fresh eyeballs, then delete it for your mental health.

- If you really do find something you feel you MUST RESPOND TO, then do this: gather reliable, factual, citable, linkable, information that proves them wrong beyond a shadow of doubt, AND MAKE A SEPARATE POST ABOUT IT on your own SM, without tagging them.

Fight lies by spreading the truth. Don’t fight the liar. Oftentimes you aren’t even dealing with the liar, you are seeing a person who was gullible and brainwashed by the liars. So, present the truth in a non confrontational way that does not call the brainwashing victim out directly.

They might be a lost cause, but you can more effectively fight the spread of lies by showing the truth then by getting in a slap fight with them on the family facebook group.

If the person responds to your post, thank them for reading, and encourage them to provide equally factual information that they feel supports their argument ON THEIR OWN SM. delete any subsequent comments from them.

#social media #january 7 2021 #mental health #doomscrolling #self care #social media curation is self care #helpful tips #be proactive without driving yourself insane #facebook #twitter #resistbot #media bias fact check #invoke the 25th

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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RWBY Recaps: “Gravity”

Good lord, folks. Buckle your seat-belts because we’ve got a lot to get through this episode. I think this is my longest recap to date, so settle in.

Episode Eleven’s “Gravity” starts out simple enough, focusing on the two fights we’d set up during “Out in the Open.” First up, Ironwood vs. Watts. Overall this fight does a really excellent job of showcasing their different fighting styles. Right from the start Watts is pointing his gun forward to take a clear shot at Ironwood, whereas Ironwood points his backwards to use as a surge of momentum.

He’s going to do this frequently throughout the battle, constantly using his gun to maneuver in the air, slow falls, regain his balance, and change directions, a much more complicated series of choices than the one-off shots we see Ruby use with her sniper rifle. This is partly because Ironwood seems to have a much larger supply of bullets---some sort of energy/dust ammo---than Watts does. His steampunk-esque gun holds only nineteen bullets, requiring him to keep track throughout the fight. Which is always a fun trope but sorry, Watts, you can’t compare to the king.

Thus, with limited weaponry available to him, Watts is forced to get creative with the arena itself. We see him manipulating gravity, shooting up columns of water and fire, and making use of his own pathways between platforms, all in an effort to throw Ironwood off and catch up unawares. However, Ironwood is, frankly, the much better fighter. He was right last week to assume he could handle Watts even though he sent three off to tackle Tyrian. He’s able to recover much more quickly and learns from any mistakes, as evidenced by his ability to hit Watts dead on while in the air the second time he takes out the gravity. When they come together in hand-to-hand Ironwood easily dominates, no doubt thanks not just to his military training and huntsmen lifestyle, but also in large part to his prosthetics which I would assume grant him more speed and power. Throughout the course of the fight we see Watts consistently take more damage to his aura and he’s unable to sense when Ironwood is sneaking up on him. After that little maneuver, Watts (presumably) grows reckless and lets off his last three or four shots in a random barrage. All of them miss.

This emphasis on emotion continues when they land back onto the main stage with Watts shouting, “You never appreciated my genius, James! You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant.” Oh, did Ironwood actually do something horrendous in the past? Is there something juicy that would explain---though not excuse---Watts’ turn towards villainy? Nah. He quickly follows that up with, “You chose that fat imbecile over me!” referring to Pietro. So... nice one, Watts. Crazy arrogance, willful ignorance of Pietro’s own, clear genius (anyone who can create Penny is no slouch), as well as a bit of fat-shamming on top of it all. No sympathy from me.

This moment emphasizes how unhinged Watts is becoming though as the fight turns against him. Even when he manages to setup a head shot Ironwood reveals, “You’re smart, but you’re not the only one who can count,” referencing that Watt’s emotions got the better of him, leading to him wasting his last bullet before it could be of real use.

...except not. I’ve got to admit, I was very pleased when all of this---or at least this particular moment---was merely a plan to get Ironwood to let his guard down. Watts is way too smart a character to be done in by the “You got too emotional and that made you sloppy” trope. So kudos there (even if it remains to be seen whether that Pietro comment was really his motivation, or just another part of the plan). Instead, he uses Ironwood’s confidence in his victory to trap him with the rings that control the arena, essentially pinning Ironwood’s non-prosthetic arm through the energy shields he’s been using. We can immediately see that the parts that have touched Ironwood already have horribly burned the skin.

And that ends up being Watt’s downfall. Not stupidity on his own part, but his lack of understanding of Ironwood himself. He assumes that this truly is a trap for him, rather than another sacrifice. After all, what fool would ruin their one remaining arm to stop him? Watts himself wouldn’t. Don’t pull, he cautions Ironwood, not “unless you’re hoping to add more metal to that body of yours.” Watts goes so far as to turn his back on Ironwood who then makes the sacrifice we all knew he would. One burned, useless arm later and he’s free.

I would like everyone to keep this moment in mind. Namely the utter devastation of it. I’d go so far as to say it’s as bad at Yang losing her arm in Volume 3. Despite seeing it bandaged later, Watts at least thinks it will be a complete loss if Ironwood sacrifices it. He’ll need to “add more metal,” AKA replace his arm, so though he obviously still has it in the following scenes, we don’t know if it will ever be functional again. Just as important, Ironwood had to choose to do that to himself. That wasn’t a horrific, but ultimately clean cut done in a moment of surprise. That was a conscious decision, a slow pull through all that pain, and then having to finish your fight immediately afterward. It’s a very different kind of psychological trauma, no better or worse than having someone take your arm from you by force. Throughout this volume I’ve seen a lot of fans being critical not only of Ironwood’s main decisions, but just his overall attitude as well. Too strict, too stern, doesn’t smile enough, yells sometimes, etc. basically associating someone who isn’t all sunshine and smiles with someone who is “bad.” Ignoring for the moment that we can say the same thing about many of our group---notably Yang---I have little doubt that I’ll see similar posts after this episode. Writings in the vein of, “Ironwood is unhinged! I can’t believe he yelled and hit his desk like that!” So everyone just keep this moment in mind and ask yourself how calm you’d be if you’d sacrificed your arm like that all of half an hour ago. And then found Salem’s calling card on your desk. And then came to the realization that the allies you trusted have been lying to you from the start. And then Salem herself appears to mock you. And then your city is about to be overrun. Basic summary of the rest of the episode: holy shit. So yeah. If Yang is allowed to be angry and upset after losing her arm, or just angry in general like she is in the later half of “Gravity,” I think we owe it to Ironwood to let him be angry too. I have a lot of feelings about the utter insanity he’s been forced through with little to no support and if he wants to take all that out by hitting his desk once, by god I’d say that’s a good coping strategy given the circumstances. Both the writing and the fans tend to erase trauma once you’ve passed age 25. The girls have every right to be upset, to break, to not trust people because they’ve been through a few months of hardship, but Ozpin isn’t allowed the same after a couple thousand years of that. We’re going to see the same hypocrisy later in this episode---the group can be upset about lies but Ironwood is not---and I’m hoping (against hope) that the fandom doesn’t make that worse by sweeping this injury under the rug. It’s horrific and absolutely has a bearing on his inability to keep his cool with the group immediately afterwards. We’ve long passed Ironwood owing them endless reassurances and calm responses.

Anyway, Ironwood still manages to finish the fight because his remaining arm is his robotic one, giving him the strength to easily drag and raise Watts into the air one-handed. He dangles him over the edge of the arena, announcing that he will “sacrifice whatever it takes to stop [Salem].” A clear bit of foreshadowing for his decision at the end of the episode. Watts responds that he hopes he does.

We then move to the Tyrian fight which, on the whole, I don’t think was done quite as well. Granted, there are a lot of enjoyable and badass moments. I like that Clover’s first act is to announce that Tyrian is under arrest, maintaining the law that Atlas (and Ironwood) works to uphold. It doesn’t matter that Tyrian is a crazy serial killer in league with an immortal sorceress hell-bent on destroying the world. Even crazy serial killers have rights and are given the option of surrendering, even when everyone present knows there’s exactly zero chance of that happening. It’s the principal of the thing and the ability to say, “We gave him a chance.” In a world overrun with inequality, this is a small but important attempt to level the field. If you do something wrong you face legal action and those rights are announced to you. Same for Tyrian. Same for Team RWBY. But we’ll get to that.

For now, we see Qrow attack first and like back in Volume Four he and Tyrian are pretty evenly matched. The tide doesn’t turn until Robyn and Clover come into play. Throughout this exchange we see a lot of cool combos among the three of them. Tyrian will block an incoming arrow with his tail only for Clover to snag it with his hook. Robyn can get another arrow to perfectly bounce off the walls and then Qrow’s scythe, hitting Tyrian dead on. Clover can dive between Tyrian’s legs, giving Qrow the opening he needs to attack. It is, as said, pretty badass... almost a little too badass. Personally, I would have appreciated them messing up once or twice. They’re all professionals, yes, but Qrow and Clover have only had one fight together. Robyn, meanwhile, wasn’t even allied with them until an hour ago. This is a situation where skills shouldn’t really trump, “We’re three very distinct people who don’t know each other’s fighting styles well, trying to attack one guy in very close quarters.” There should have been some screw-ups. Especially when we take semblances into account. What, are we supposed to assume here that Clover’s semblance just conveniently overrides Qrow’s? That no mistakes---let alone anything bad---will happen in this fight despite the fact that it’s an extreme parallel to Volume Four? That whole battle emphasized, “Don’t come closer!” because when people fight near Qrow bad shit happens. Now, he fights with two other people in a narrow alleyway and there’s not a single repercussion. Based on their travels looking for the geist, I don’t buy that Qrow’s semblance is just conveniently inactive while near Clover. Even if I did... that’s not a very good writing decision. To me, it’s just more evidence that Rooster Teeth doesn’t understand its own rules/doesn’t know what to do with an ability like Qrow’s. It causes problems only when they explicitly want it to. Then, miraculously, it’s no longer in effect.

Still, we’ll acknowledge that RWBY had a lot else it wanted to accomplish in this episode, so the need to power through this fight is somewhat justified. I personally would have had the entirety of this episode be the two battles---I was shocked when both ended just eight minutes in---but I’m obviously not the one writing the show. Thus, instead of an episode devoted to both the action and the emotion of confronting our two main villains this volume, Tyrian loses his cool after getting punched in the gut, manages to catch Robyn’s arrow in his teeth...

But it’s a bomb.

Down he goes. Fight’s done.

Which leads us into the second half of the episode. I want to preface this with a short acknowledgment before we go any further.

Did these last ten minutes give me what I’ve been looking for since the beginning of Volume Six? No. It’s easy to assume it did because all the pieces are there. Ironwood is finally angry about the secret keeping. The Ace Ops are criticizing the group left and right. Surely this is the “The group is capable of making mistakes and they should be called out for it!” that I wanted, right? Not really. For the simple reason that there is a massive difference between:

A story that acknowledges mistakes as mistakes. The characters either grow from this lesson or dig in their heels and are painted as being in the wrong for that decision.

and

A story that takes what the audience (me) perceives as mistakes and frames them as justified choices. The characters do not grow because they’re 100% sure they’re in the right and those who would criticize them are painted as in the wrong.

“Gravity” is so far into that second option I don’t think the series can come back from it. Does the group face criticism? Yes, but every single time the writing insists that it’s undeserved criticism. It paints the group as the underdogs facing unfair odds, rather than equals---with all the responsibility that comes with that---facing criticism that they need to own up to. Absolutely nothing in this second half implies that the group is going to learn from their mistakes because they, and the writing, still insists that they weren’t mistakes. Which is precisely what we’ve gotten before. Cordovin might criticism them, but Cordovin is in the wrong. Winter might criticism them, but Winter is in the wrong. Every time a character goes, “Hey, you shouldn’t have done this” the group responds with, “Yes we should have!” and the story backs them up. Yes, you should have attacked Argus. Yes, you should have stolen an airship. Yes, you should have lied to Ironwood and spilled the secret to Robyn. Yes, yes, yes. That’s the takeaway every single time. The group is never in the wrong. Others just think they are and those others are painted as cruel, militaristic, unhinged characters.

It’s not at all what I was looking for. Just more of the same.

So that’s the preface. In terms of what we actually get, Ironwood returns to his office with his arm bandaged and in a sling, carrying Watts’ bag, only to drop it when he sees the queen piece on his desk. He calls Winter asking, “Was anyone caught entering the school grounds while I was away?” and when she says no Ironwood has her race off to the Winter Maiden, unknowingly leading Cinder there in the process. “Now show me where you’ve been hiding her.”

We then cut to the group where the trouble begins. They’re not just curious about why Ironwood is recalling them with Mantle still in need of evacuation, they’re actively questioning it. This is the attitude I simply don’t understand. The group acts as if Ironwood is deliberately screwing everyone over when they know better. This is no longer the beginning of the volume where they thought he was some horrific dictator hell bent on destroying his own Kingdom. This is just an hour or so after, “We should tell Ironwood!” and the happy-go-lucky ‘We trust him now’ moment. Even less time after Ruby stared up at him in awe with, “He’s doing it.” They had reason to trust him before they even made it to Atlas. They were given even more reasons in the form of Ironwood sharing his secrets, early licenses, and being allowed to work on the tower. They then still waited until Ironwood was doing everything they wanted before giving him some of that trust back... but the moment he stops doing precisely what they want---we want to keep evacuating Mantle---he’s deemed suspicious again.

I mean seriously, is the group that dense? Are they incapable of thinking to themselves, “Wow, something must have happened if Ironwood is recalling us before evacuations are complete,” which is precisely the case. The scene tries to frame it as “Group Good” and “Ace Ops Blinding Obeying Orders Bad” but that aspect doesn’t even come into play. There’s nothing blind about it. It simply takes two seconds of critical thinking skills to realize that something really awful must have happened back at the Academy that trumps what you’re doing in Mantle. This is what I mean by the writing being biased. Before we even reach the fight in Ironwood’s office it’s trying to paint him as potentially cruel, potentially suspicious, potentially abandoning his people, look how worried our heroes are about this secret decision he’s made... when all that requires ignoring some really basic deduction in order to reach those assumptions. Remember that intelligence is a plot device in RWBY. If they want Ironwood forced to spill his secrets, he’ll randomly start talking about them in front of his enemies. If they want Ironwood painted as the villain, the group will randomly be incapable of realizing that maybe, just maybe, something went wrong on the home front and you’re needed there.

Things just get so much worse from then on. The group splits with JNR going off to find Oscar and, admittedly, I was shocked we got that at all. I mean yeah, it’s setup for the final reveal at the end of the episode, but the fact that anyone remembered Oscar was missing---let alone happily went off to find him---was still a surprise. So only Team RWBY heads back to Ironwood’s office where they find him (rightfully) panicking over the queen on his desk. Weiss tries to baby him, acting like he’s freaking out over nothing, when all these characters should recall precisely what Ironwood himself points out: the last time we saw this symbol it was a message that Beacon had fallen. He’s not paranoid here. He’s entirely justified in his panic. Ironwood likewise points out that they may have been duped into bringing thousands of people into Atlas as easy targets and Vine agrees, setting up that the Ace Ops are on Team Ironwood throughout the course of this conversation. Not out of blind loyalty, but because he’s right. That is a concern. That may be the plan. We do need to try and do something about that. Team RWBY, however, isn’t convinced.

That is, until Ruby realizes that the chess piece is made of black glass. Which means Cinder left it. Normally I’d congratulate her on that deduction---it is the one smart move we see Ruby pull this whole episode---but I just hate what follows. Namely that Ruby and Ruby alone controls her team’s opinions on a situation. Again. We saw it back in the snow, then again when Blake announced in the elevator that they’d do whatever she wanted. Team RWBY is the one who blindly follows their leader, not the Ace Ops, the only exception being Blake and Yang going rogue in regards to Robyn, but we see that hive-mind mindset here again. Ironwood brings up a good point? Nothing. Ace Ops support that point with more logic? Nothing. Ruby supports it? Oh, suddenly Weiss and Blake are taking this seriously. Suddenly Yang is fired up and ready to do whatever is necessary. Ruby controls the room. It’s only when she’s on board that her teammates decide this is worth getting riled up about.

Which, as I’ve said before, is a horrible way to write a diverse group. Especially when the writing is trying to paint the Ace Ops as mindless soldiers. For all their claims that they just have to follow orders, they’re the only ones parsing through this situation and coming to their own conclusions. It’s just that their conclusions do end up aligning with Ironwood’s which is the “bad” take in this scene. Team RWBY, however, waits until their leader makes a decision and then simply rides her cloak tails. The day that Blake, Yang, or Weiss legitimately disagree with Ruby---not a token “Are you sure we should keep secrets from Ironwood? We’re not actually challenging this. Just checking in”---is the day the writing will disagree with her. AKA, no time soon.

Blake tries to give some bland reassurance about them all being with Ironwood to which he responds, “Are you with me? How did Robyn know about the global communications tower?” Thank you! Thank you for giving us Ironwood’s characterization back and acknowledging that he has no reason to buy their generic ‘Got your back’ statements when everything they’ve done this volume has proven otherwise. They don’t support Ironwood, only themselves and their own teams. The minute he does something they don’t like he’s chucked under the bus. Too bad the writing doesn’t acknowledge any of this and instead continually paints the group as being justified in their decisions. It’s that hypocrisy again. When the group yells at Ozpin for keeping secrets we’re supposed to be on their side. When the Ace Ops yell at the group for keeping secrets we’re... still supposed to be on their side.

Weiss tries to diffuse the situation with “None of this matters right now!” which is real rich when they were just complaining about Ironwood not telling them why they were called back. They get to worry over that, but Ironwood isn’t allowed to worry about them outright betraying him? “Loyalty always matters!” he shouts back and he’s right. Why should Ironwood trust them to have his back in this crucial moment when they’ve never had it before? I’m already seeing more of this hypocrisy among the fandom. When Ozpin kept secrets and told lies the group was given a whole volume to be pissed about that and fans still, to this very day, insist that it hasn’t been enough time for them to get over it, to regain even a portion of that trust. But now that Ironwood has been lied to and betrayed in the same manner? People are annoyed that he’s not just shrugging it off. How dare you not get over in thirty seconds what our heroes got weeks to work through. His inability to just suck it up, as it were, is used to make him seem irrational here. I don’t see anyone, characters or fans alike, acknowledging that his anger is as righteous as the group’s was out in the snow. That there is the disconnect.

Of course, something has to break the tension. Drawn by all the fury and fear, a grimm pops out of Watts’ bag. A fail-safe for if he was defeated and captured. Salem immediately takes control of the grimm and kills it, using its form to appear before them. She reveals that it doesn’t matter that her men were captured. They were just there to “set the stage,” which they’ve done. Still doesn’t explain the random Penny side plot to my mind (seriously, why did the story bother to resurrect her when she has done nothing plot-wise or emotionally?), but whatever. Much more importantly, the stage is set for Salem herself. She’s approaching with the grimm army we saw her amassing which is... iffy.

First off, why? Why after a thousand years has she suddenly changed her MO from keeping to the sidelines to a full-on attack? Again, what’s the catalyst for that massive change? We don’t know. Meanwhile, from a writing perspective, I’m hesitant about having our Big Bad thrown into the mix before the finale. We know there are plenty of volumes left in this series, which automatically undermines any battle they might have with Salem. Will they win?? Of course not! Because RWBY isn’t over yet. Granted, this could all just be a ruse of some sort. Maybe Salem just wants them to think she’s approaching with an army, which would be much more up her alley in terms of long-distance manipulation. But if not... seriously, what’s the point of that?

Here’s hoping it’s a bluff.

Speaking of manipulation, we get a fantastically creepy moment where Salem tells Ironwood to “simply accept the futility of your situation” while smiling like a kind mother. That’s the Salem who is truly dangerous. Ironwood reaffirms that he won’t give up the relics and Ruby pips up with, “We don’t have to kill you to stop you.”

Hey wait. I’m gonna give you all another graphic.

This is Ozpin’s stance! This is his plan! His version of hope! We spent all of Volume Six having the cast beat on him for, “Omg Salem is immortal?!” and with the exception of Nora’s comment, no discussion of this in Volume Seven... but now suddenly Ruby is making this announcement? The group came to this revelation sometime off screen which we a) don’t get to see and b) once again created no scenario in the form of, “Wow! Ozpin was right all along! Maybe we should go talk to him...”

I’m just... wow. The number of times the writing takes what the group and the adults do, the exact same perspectives and decisions, and twists it so that the group comes out looking like heroes and the adults look like misguided, unhinged fools who need to be put in their place... I’m really over it at this point. And by extension the group themselves. Their characterizations have been so badly mangled at this point I legitimately don’t like them as people. I don’t care if they say they want to protect Mantle, or if they say they’ll support Ironwood, or if they say they’re unsure about their choices. All their actions claim otherwise.

Rather than grappling with the huge revelation that the group is apparently no longer obsessed with Salem’s immortality (or rather that Ruby isn’t. The rest of the group doesn’t actually matter. As established, they sync up with her beliefs the second she announces them), we return to Summer Rose. Salem goes, “Your mother said those words to me” and Ruby... loses it? What? I would have been 100% on board with this if we’d gotten it last Volume because then we saw Ruby losing her cool periodically. The smashed alcohol bottles. Chucking her scroll. Screaming at Qrow. That was all building to something. But then we had a year and roughly twelve episodes of normality. Ruby jumps into her fight with Cordovin and has been fine ever since. Hell, she’s been bubbly and confident, goofing off with Penny in one episode, then giving strong orders to her team in another. The one time we see her falter was in her conversation with Qrow and he reassured her completely that she was both doing the right thing and in no way comparable to Ozpin. Now, suddenly, one line from Salem and Ruby collapses? Full on incapacitated? I could buy the crying while still standing strong, I could buy a collapse if we’d kept her characterization going from Volume Six, but this kind of reaction in this context just felt so extreme. Doesn’t help that I really wasn’t sold on the voice acting here. Those cries sound less like devastated sobs and more like weird hiccups. Not to rag on Lindsay. On the whole I think she does a really excellent job as Ruby, it’s just this particular moment didn’t read right to me. I didn’t feel Ruby’s supposed grief here.

So that was... a lot for one line from Salem in a volume of otherwise confident and cool-headed Ruby. We also don’t see it amounting to anything, as per usual with RWBY’s writing. Ruby isn’t out of commission for the rest of the conversation or anything. She pops right back up after a second in Yang’s lap, just as confident and go-getting as before. There was no lead up to this and there are no consequences for the breakdown. Rooster Teeth honestly seems to think they can just chuck random things into the story---Ruby needs to show emotion at some point!---and then just leave it at that, entirely disconnected from everything else around it. Would we have known that Ruby just had her first breakdown of the series a minute later while once again betraying Ironwood? Nope.

Finally, this scene shows us again that the Argus battle was a bunch of nonsense. Ruby’s eyes nearly activate when she’s grieving for her mother, imagining---or perhaps seeing via Salem?---a sad Summer, not a smiling one. Just like her eyes activated while seeing Pyrrha die. Just like they activated when Blake was nearly killed by the Apathy. They activate now while thinking about her mother’s death. The montage of happy moments in lieu of the sad ones not working last volume was entirely out of place.

Salem finally leaves. Now everyone is panicking about this army. Elm points out that they’ll know if anything approaches. Vine checks and realizes that Watts took out their perimeter. Either that or Salem has already destroyed everyone and everything out there. It’s impossible to know. During all this Blake asks if the Amity tower is actually finished and we get more nonsense about how Ironwood is evil for telling a lie, but the group is always justified in telling theirs. The writing really tried to compare Ironwood telling Mantle---who I guarantee 100% does not care about whether a communications tower is finished while they’re getting attacked by grimm---a lie to lure out one of their biggest threats to Blake and Yang going behind Ironwood’s back to tell a potentially non-trustworthy outlaw about said tower, risking that the information would fall into the wrong hands and doom the project before it could be completed either way. Those are not in any way comparable situations, yet the writing really has Weiss going, “General Ironwood?” in a ‘How could you betray us like that?’ tone while Yang continues to look pissed.

And as if they didn’t know! How is this a personal betrayal? They were all helping to build that tower. Surely they’d know it it was that close to being done. Again, critical thinking skills, people. Anyone with two brain cells and their insider information should have looked at Ironwood’s announcement and gone, “Oh, that must be a bluff. Just a few days ago we were arguing about whether to continue taking resources from Mantle. No way is Amity ready. He’s going after Watts. Who is indeed the much bigger threat. Considering that he has control over the entirety of our technology and there’s literally no downside to telling Mantle about a finished tower when they’re getting devoured by grimm.” This is another, “But lying is wrong!” in the face of “But lying kept us alive...?”

Does everyone get what I’m saying here? How RWBY takes these situations and tries to paint them in an absolutely ridiculous light, expecting the audience to blindly accept this perspective despite everything else they’ve seen for themselves? Like, two episodes ago? I swear I’ve never encountered writing that treats its audience this badly. Scene after scene relies heavily on the viewer having no ability to think for themselves. Just accept that Ironwood is a horrible person for lying about the tower even though there are no repercussions for that and we JUST watched him defeating Watts as a result. Like, five minutes ago. That just happened. In this episode.

Ironwood then drops the bomb that Winter has gone off to claim the Maiden power. Interesting development. I wonder what that means exactly. Is she just going to lock herself away until the Maiden dies naturally? Do they have her on some sort of life support and is there an agreement to pull the plug if necessary? Are they going to use a machine similar to the one Pyrrha was in and try to force the change early? Or is this just a misleading comment and Winter is merely off to protect the Maiden, no intention of taking the power now? Who knows. We’ll have to wait until next episode to find out.

Ironwood likewise announces that the staff and the lamp need to be locked away now that they’re compromised, even though they’ve been compromised since they first saw Tyrian in Mantle. Insert another [this scenario is so stupid and contrived] explanation here. It’s made worse by Ruby’s childish “You said we could keep it.” Excuse me? What, did you think the lamp was your personal property now forever and always? Is Ruby really sitting there arguing that something Ironwood told her weeks ago trumps the obvious logic of putting the relic where it’s somewhere safe? That’s the characterization we’re going for, a leader who cares more about, ‘But you said we could have it!’ over the fate of the world? What even is this? The fact that Ironwood has to explain to them that the situation has changed just reinforces the group’s overall attitude. That is, one of arrogance and importance. They literally need to be told why putting the relic in a nearly impenetrable vault is better than letting them have it just because they want it. Plus, you know, they lied about the lamp from the start. So there’s that too.

Finally, Ironwood reveals that Amity was originally a plan of Ozpin’s but he didn’t push it far enough. Instead, he intends to use the staff to lift all of Atlas instead, hopefully taking two relics and a Maiden far out of Salem’s reach. Ruby wants to use the tower for its designed purpose instead, which is only a valid option in her mind because the writing was stupid last week. If there had actually been any logic there---if people had been allowed to react naturally and in a variety of ways to the Salem announcement, rather than a super convenient “Yeah! Let’s all work together!” across an entire, panicking city---she wouldn’t be quite so eager to tell the whole world. But we all know at this point that logic bends to the protagonists’ whims, so Ruby wants that same perfect ending across all of Remnant. She stands her ground, as does her team. Obviously.

Meanwhile, the Ace Ops aren’t just following Ironwood’s orders like the writing wants us to think via Harriet’s earlier comment. Rather, they’re each thinking through the situation for themselves and making very good points. If Salem has taken out our perimeter than we know our tech and people don’t stand a chance against this army. We just finished up the fight in Mantle and none of us are in a position to start another. Notably, Harriet brings this up, the one whose aura took a massive hit while nearly getting crushed underfoot. Vine points out that sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war, but Team RWBY, to be blunt, simply doesn’t care.

I’ll be blunt myself here too: I don’t have an easy solution to this particular scenario. I don’t know what the “right” or the “wrong” choice is. Weighing starting a fight with VERY high stakes you’ll lose against abandoning the people of Mantle is just a straight up horrific decision. Like so much of what Ozpin faced, there is no clear-cut, good answer here. Do you stand by the people and risk the world, or work to save the world and doom the people? I don’t know and I do commend Rooster Teeth for writing a difficult choice... just not in giving each side the weight it deserves. Because as said, we’re meant to root for Team RWBY, always. Theirs is presented as the “right” choice every time, despite the fact that, as established, this is far from a black and white decision.

What frustrates me the most is when faced with all of these logical and very important considerations (we might not have backup, we’re in no position to fight, if Salem gets the relics and another Maiden the world is screwed) the group won’t even acknowledge these things. They’re so set in their own perspective they won’t even give these HUGE concerns the time of day. Rather, Yang shoots back, “You can’t just back down from a fight!”

That’s it. That’s the group’s problem in a single line.

This is what got Pyrrha killed.

It’s something the group should remember. She also insisted on fighting when she should have retreated and, since this was back during the days when characters actually faced consequences for their actions, it cost Pyrrha her life. Granted, going after Cinder was a truly useless endeavor. Pyrrha achieved nothing with her sacrifice. Here, Team RWBY hopes to save the people of Mantle, adding a clear justification for their insistence on fighting... but this is nevertheless indicative of that larger “punch it until it stops moving” mindset. It’s not that they decide to fight instead of retreating that’s the problem, it’s that to their mind fighting is the only option. Ever. This is what led to them attacking Cordovin and destroying Argus’ mech, drawing a massive grimm in the process. When faced with the option of backing down, Team RWBY doesn’t consider that an option at all. Which is heroic when up against an actual enemy, far less so when you’re facing an ally and the choice to fight has serious repercussions attached to it. Hell, the group doesn’t even consider compromises. They could have easily acknowledged that collecting the relics, the Maiden, and getting the staff to work on Atlas will take time. You do that while we focus on evacuating the rest of Mantle to the city. But no, even the concept of a compromise simply isn’t possible. You just always fight. Straight up. Anyone who suggests anything less isn’t a true huntsmen. “We’re loyal to the people!” Ruby shouts, as if “the people” doesn’t also include the rest of the world that Ironwood is trying to save and that they’re endangering by keeping the relics and Maiden within Salem’s reach.

That is one messed up perspective to tout in a story infused with the complex and the morally gray.

The real kicker though? Ruby’s ‘My way or the highway’ attitude obliterates a solution that fell straight into her lap. Jaune calls and says straight out that they have another situation. If Ruby had listened to her teammate for just three seconds they all would have learned about Oscar, thereby undermining Ironwood’s plan. He can’t keep the lamp safe if he doesn’t know where it is. You look for it while, again, we evacuate Mantle. Then we take everything out of Salem’s reach. Win-win. Instead, Ruby blasts her way through the situation. Literally, dodging Ironwood and hiding behind his desk shouting a highly bias version of his plan in the hopes of getting everyone on her side. And it works.

Because those like Clover don’t get to hear any of that context. Like how the perimeter is gone, there’s an army potentially coming, no one is in a position to fight, we’ve already lost a relic... they just here a Ruby’s version of events that paints Ironwood as the callous man Robyn thought he was---oh my god he’s abandoning Mantle for no good reason!---and people will react accordingly. Ruby likewise doesn’t care that shouting such information over all channels does things like, say, clue Tyrian into their plan. She just wants to do things her way, right now. Pausing to think (because thinking isn’t fighting) simply doesn’t happen.

I used to adore Ruby as a hero. Someone who was intrinsically good, hopeful, and wickedly clever in her ability to come out on top. Now she’s stubborn, arrogant, at times cruel, and charges in headfirst like her sister, refusing to consider any perspective other than her own. And her team endlessly supports that. The writing endlessly supports that. This isn’t our hero working through her flaws, but rather a flawed character that the writing refuses to acknowledge is flawed. When Ruby flies behind Ironwood’s desk the music rises triumphantly, just like it did when she attacked Cordovin’s mech. When Ironwood announces that they’re under arrest, Ruby spits back, “We won’t just let you take us” and we’re supposed to cheer.

Which brings us back to the question of whether the group really faced consequences here. Let me give you all a random, non-RWBY example of two scenes. Scenario One:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: I... I know that, okay. Back off. I just get so angry...

Parent: I know. We’re going to work on that. You’re grounded this weekend. We can discuss this more then.

Teen: [sighs] Fine.

vs. Scenario Two:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: Screw you! It worked didn’t it? I think a good punch goes a long way.

Parent: That’s not... okay look. You’re grounded this weekend so---

Teen: Like hell I am. [Proceeds to run off]

Teen: [Later to friend] ---and then she tried to ground me? Can you believe that?

Friend: Holy shit what an asshole.

If we put aside my own iffy dialogue for the moment, Scenario One acknowledges the complexity of the situation while likewise pointing out that the teen didn’t handle herself well. RWBY has achieved that here: the ethics of this scenario are acknowledged as complicated, but the group did things they shouldn’t have, as evidence by Ironwood’s anger and the Ace Ops’ criticism. However, Scenario One goes on to let the teen acknowledge that mistake, thereby validating it in the first place. A consequence is set, grounding, and they accept that, thereby further validating that their behavior needs work. They accept the consequence because both they and the writing acknowledge that the consequence is deserved. It takes what was previously two subjective stances---they say I’m wrong, I say I’m right---and encourages the audience to find the middle ground. Neither was totally wrong or right. The teen might be justified in some respects, but still made mistakes in others. She needs to improve.

RWBY, however, steers firmly into Scenario Two wherein the teen (Team RWBY) insists points blank that they never made mistakes in the first place, thereby encouraging the audience to question whether Ironwood and the Ace Ops (the parent) is right to be calling them out at all. We see no humility or guilt, only confidence. Ruby shouting “No!” at Cordovin when she’s told to surrender. Yang keeping silent after admitting that she and Blake told Robyn, not bothering to apologize or admit that this might have been a breech of trust. They challenge the validity of the claim that mistakes were made and by virtue of being protagonists encourage the audience to challenge it too. Finally, we see them reject the consequence because they will not admit that it’s deserved. The teen will not accept a grounding. Ruby: “We won’t just let you take us.” We’re then told by others that this rejection was warranted. The friend reinforces the view that the teen was right to run because that punishment is undeserved. The message is, “You never did anything wrong in the first place.” The plot of RWBY likewise reinforces the view that resisting Cordovin’s arrest was right by having her randomly let the group go. The consequence is replaced with a reward and, presumably, we’ll have a similar situation wherein the group either defeats the Ace Ops or is released by them. The consequences never take hold because the writing doesn’t think there should be consequences in the first place. Team RWBY isn’t going to be arrested here. They’re certainly not acknowledging that on some level they deserve to be. We didn’t see that humility while they were cuffed on the airship---that most basic acknowledgement of, “Did we make some mistakes? Could we have done something better? Is Ironwood right to be this mad?”---and there’s none of it now here, either. The tone is pure, “How dare you try and arrest us? We’re the good guys here!”

This remains as pro-protagonist as it has been the last two volumes. There are no consequences, only another hurdle for the group to overcome, painted as heroes for doing so. It’s Team RWBY vs. The Ace Ops and there’s no confusion about who we’re supposed to be rooting for. The Ace Ops because the group should rightly be stopped from hindering Ironwood’s attempts to keep the relics and a Maiden out of Salem’s hands, for their own lies and secret keeping that endangered them all this volume? Nope. It’s Team RWBY as the presumed heroes, facing off against soldiers who (supposedly) prioritize orders over what’s “right.”

And yeah, Oscar is gone. There are a number of dismantled robots and blaster fire in the room where Neo presumably took him. So unless they do a flashback we don’t get to see if/how Ozpin reacted to this initial attack. I hope they do provide a flashback because otherwise that’s another crucial scene of Oscar’s that happened off screen...

Can’t wait to see what else we’ll end up with next week! Until then, 💜

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby recaps #mymetas

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