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espressokiri · 3 years

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Hi there. Another Muslimah here.

Hope you don't mind me sending you an ask. I read your fic about the BNHA boys with a muslim s/o. It was really good. I loved it so much. (There aren't many fics like this, which is a shame cause we like fanfics too. So this was very refreshing. Thank you.💚😉)

Could you do one for the Haikyuu boys, specifically Tsukishima, Kuroo, Sugawara, and Bokuto. But only if you want to, of course.

Hope you have a great and productive day.

Tsukishima Kei, Kuroo Tetsurou, Sugawara Koushi, and Bokuto Koutarou x Hijabi!reader

In which reader is a hijabi Muslim.

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Notes: You're welcome to send asks anytime <3 I may be slow at getting through them but I will make sure to get them out! Thank you for being so sweet anon <3 I hope you enjoy this one! ^^ I’m sorry if it seems bland as I was slowly losing ideas.

Tsukishima Kei

His eyes would constantly drift to you during class hours, lips twitching into a smile as he would watch you struggle with the assignment sheet given during history class.

Would take that as a leeway to make conversation and help you out.

"Tsk, can't even do a simple history assignment?"

Just sits down next to you and points out what you did wrong while helping you out.

Flinches his hand away and mutters a sorry if your hands accidentally graze each others.

He knows how strict the dating rules were and he admired it, thinking it was a safe way to keep them away from harm and heartbreak.

Becomes your unofficial tutor just to spend more time with you.

Has the urge to flick your forehead most times when you purposely tease him.

Is worried when he sees you zoning out in the middle of class during Ramadan, you have to convince him you're fine and that you're getting your studying done despite the odd sleep schedule you've created.

He'll give you a small box of his favourite treat, strawberry short cake, randomly throughout Ramadan because he knows you crave more sweets during the days you fast than regular days.

He calls you a masochist when he finds you watching cooking/baking videos while fasting.

Will stop by your house to drop off pastries during Eid for you and your family because he wants to peak at you all dressed up as he's only seen you in your school uniform or in casual but modest fashion.

He feels a sense of security, enjoying the aspect of getting to know someone with no sense of rush.

Kuroo Tetsurou

He's such an awkward nerd please.

Wants to approach you but fears he might accidentally offend you due to his provocative nature, hence resorts to staring at you from across the room.

Would research more about your religion and would use that as a way to start small talk;

“Hey, uh, I was wondering how do you manage to pray Zuhr when you’re in school? Isn’t it bad that you have to miss it?”

“Oh uh, I usually run home as soon as I can or pray in my club room if there are meetings, my club members are very understanding.”

“Oh... I see.”

“That’s pretty cool of you to be concerned, Kuroo-san.”

Cue him asking you random but wholesome questions with genuine curiosity.

“Did you know men who oppress women are considered to not follow Islam? I find that really nice that women are equal to men in your religion!”

You smile at him and his interest in your religion.

Study sessions in the library because you both wanted to spend time with each other but he knows it is wrong for a male to be alone in the same room as the opposite gender so you both opted for the library where there are lots of people.

Gasps and immediately looks away when you unravel the scarf around your head to fix;

“Y/n! You can’t do that!!”

“I’m wearing an underscarf calm down.”

You rolled your eyes at the dramatic male but smiled at his respectful nature.

Ramadan? Catch him ruining his sleep schedule just to have movie nights with you through the phone and Netflix Party.

Kenma teases him about it because Kuroo used to yell at him about his own staying up late gaming obsession.

Likes it when you wear a cap on top of your hijab, he thinks it looks cool on you.

He’ll convince you to skip school during Eid if it falls on a school day, telling you that it’s important that you spend at least the first day of it with your family.

Overall, he’s the type to keep up with the Islamic calendar and learn new facts daily as he asks you to explain each and everything about your religion and lifestyle.

Sugawara Koushi

See’s you for the first time with Kiyoko when he went to excuse her from class for managerial duties.

Smitten from first sight.

Begs Kiyoko to let you be her assistant manager.

He keeps a distance from you during your first introduction and conversation because he didn’t know what you were comfortable with.

He was in awe to find out there were sports hijab when he saw you sporting one to play a short game with an over-enthusiastic Hinata.

“Here, stay hydrated.”

Hands you a bottle of water along with a towel, a newfound respect for playing in hot weather conditions fully covered.

Due to the chaotic nature of the first and second years, Sugawara would run to cover your eyes with his jacket or hover his hands in front of your face whenever Tanaka would rip off his shirt to swing around whenever he spiked.

Sugawara had to stop himself multiple times from clapping his hand onto your shoulder, resulting in him just smacking either Asahi or Daichi when they mention him almost touching you.

Outings between you two is always monitored by the third years, Asahi smiling proudly at his friend Suga while Daichi and Kiyoko would sneakily take candid pictures of you both.

“What’s one verse you hold dear to your heart?”

You look at him from the warm mug of drink you are holding, tilting your head as you look at him in confusion. Sugawara felt the tips of his ears go red at the cute expression you held, and explains his question.

“Ah,” you thought long and hard before giving him an answer, “ ‘Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear...’ I find that part of the verse very reassuring in times when I feel like I’m overwhelmed.”

Sugawara held onto every word, finding the beauty behind those words, he felt at peace. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiles.

It felt like he was more excited than you for Ramadan.

He would read out loud the Japanese translation of the Quran after you read out the Arabic words in a beautiful and soothing voice. He wanted to understand and learn.

He was hooked onto the peaceful energy the month brought despite life going on normally.

This man would wear a formal Kimono when your family invites his over for Eid, he wanted to make the best impression despite already meeting them in passing.

Suga had a sense of security and comfort around him and you felt lucky to have met someone such as him.

Bokuto Koutarou

Oh God.

Akaashi had a field day trying to stop him from initiating any and every kind of physical affection when he first introduced you to him.

Bokuto is a man who expresses himself with affection, so he was lucky for Akaashi to explain to him why he shouldn’t initiate any physical affection without asking for what you considered crossing a boundary.

He knows he can’t drag you to the gym to watch him play volleyball by hand, so he asks you to hold onto the end of a pen, which you took, confused as to what the male exactly wants before realizing he was holding the other end and using that to drag you to where the gym was.

It was oddly endearing.

“Did you see my spike, Y/n?! Didya see?!”

“Yes, Bokuto. It was really cool!”

Cue a chest puffed up Bokuto who grinned with pride.

Invites you to eat lunch with him and Akaashi on the roof.

Having to refuse his food because you weren’t sure if there was pork in it or not.

This made Bokuto stop bringing in food that contained pork, not knowing even aside from that, he had to have the halal form of chicken or beef.

Akaashi had to explain everything to him when he asked him once.

Tried to go vegetarian one day, failed the minute he took a bite out of his food.

Feels bad when he eats on days you are fasting, so he tries finishing the meal before you come up to their usual meeting spot, resulting in him giving himself a stomach ache.

Brings you tuna filled onigiri to take home so you can eat it as a snack during the night after breaking your fast.

Sends you spam messages minutes before having to break your fast;

‘Are you excited to eat?!?!?!’

‘What are you having today?!?’

‘If you want to get any snacks later let me know! :D’

‘ONE MINUTE LEFT!!’

He’s so wholesome please.

Wants to skip school with you for Eid, but pouts when you tell him you’ll be spending it with family.

Asks you to send an OOTD pic so he could be your hype-man.

Bokuto is always willing to understand more about you and your religion, making sure to note things in his head for future references.

#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #sugawara fluff #haikyuu scenarios #sugawara scenario #sugawara koshi imagine #bokuto x reader #bokuto imagines #sugawara x reader #bokuto fluff #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima imagine #tsukishima fluff #kuroo imagine #kuroo fluff #kuroo x reader #haikyuu headcanons

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meirmakesstuff · 3 years

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1/2 Hi Meir! I saw your answer on WWC, and since you mentioned you're professionals, I figured I'd ask directly: I'm writing a second world fantasy with a jewish coded people. I want to be clear in the coding but avoid the "if there's no egypt, how can there be passover?" so I called them Canaanites. I thought I was being clever by hinting in the naming that the whole region does exist, but I've since read that it might've been a slur in fact? Do you have any advice on this?

2/2 I did consider calling the group in question Jewish, but aside from how deeply Judaism is connected to the history of the Israelites, I haven't used any present-day real-world names for any other group, (I did use some historic names like Nubia). I feel like calling only one group of people by their currently used name would be othering rather than inclusive? Or am I overthinking this?

Okay so I want to start out with some disclaimers, first that although WWC recently reblogged an addition of mine to one of their posts, I am not affiliated with @writingwithcolor, and second that the nature of trying to answer a question like this is “two Jews, three opinions,” so what I have to say about this is my own opinion(s) only. Last disclaimer: this is a hard question to address, so this answer is going to be long. Buckle up.

First, I would say that you’re right to not label the group in question “Jewish” (I’ll get to the exception eventually), and you’re also right in realizing that you should not call them “Canaanites.” In Jewish scripture, Canaanites are the people we fought against, not ourselves, so that wouldn’t feel like representation but like assigning our identity to someone else, which is a particular kind of historical violence Jews continue to experience today. I’ll get back to the specific question of naming in a moment, but because this is my blog and not WWC, and you asked me to speak to this as an educator, we’re going to take a detour into Jewish history and literary structure before we get back to the question you actually asked.

To my mind there are three main ways to have Jews in second-world fantasy and they are:

People who practice in ways similar to modern real-world Jews, despite having developed in a different universe,

People who practice in ways similar to ancient Hebrews, because the things that changed us to modern Jewish practice didn’t occur, and

People who practice in a way that shows how your world would influence the development of a people who started out practicing like ancient Hebrews and have developed according to the world they’re in.

The first one is what we see in @shiraglassman‘s Mangoverse series: there is no Egypt yet her characters hold a seder; the country coded Persian seems to bear no relation to their observance of Purim, and there is no indication of exile or diaspora in the fact that Jews exist in multiple countries and cultures, and speak multiple languages including Yiddish, a language that developed through a mixture of Hebrew and German. Her characters’ observance lines up approximately with contemporary Reform Jewish expectations, without the indication of there ever having been a different practice to branch off from. She ignores the entire question of how Jews in her universe became what they are, and her books are lyrical and sweet and allow us to imagine the confidence that could belong to a Jewish people who weren’t always afraid.

Shira is able to pull this off, frankly, because her books are not lore-heavy. I say this without disrespect--Shira often refers to them as “fluffy”--but because the deeper you get into the background of your world and its development, the trickier this is going to be to justify, unless you’re just going to just parallel every historical development in Jewish History, including exile and diaspora across the various nations of your world, including occasional near-equal treatment and frequent persecution, infused with a longing for a homeland lost, or a homeland recently re-established in the absolutely most disappointing of ways.

Without that loss of homeland or a Mangoverse-style handwaving, we have the second and third options. In the second option, you could show your Jewish-coded culture having never been exiled from its homeland, living divided into tribes each with their own territory, still practicing animal, grain, and oil sacrifice at a single central Temple at the center of their nation, overseen by a tribe that lacks territory of their own and being supported by the sacrifices offered by the populace.

If you’re going to do that, research it very carefully. A lot of information about this period is drawn from scriptural and post-scriptural sources or from archaeological record, but there’s also a lot of Christian nonsense out there assigning weird meanings and motivations to it, because the Christian Bible takes place during this period and they chose to cast our practices from this time as evil and corrupt in order to magnify the goodness of their main character. In any portrayal of a Jewish-coded people it’s important to avoid making them corrupt, greedy, bigoted, bloodthirsty, or stubbornly unwilling to see some kind of greater or kinder truth about the world, but especially if you go with this version.

The last option, my favorite but possibly the hardest to do, is to imagine how the people in the second option would develop given the influences of the world they’re in. Do you know why Chanukah is referred to as a “minor” holiday? The major holidays are the ones for which the Torah specifies that we “do not work:” Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, and the pilgrimage holidays of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot. Chanukah developed as a holiday because the central temple, the one we made those pilgrimages to, was desecrated by the invading Assyrian Greeks and we drove them out and were able to re-establish the temple. That time. Eventually, the Temple was razed and we were scattered across the Roman Empire, developing the distinct Jewish cultures we see today. The Greeks and Romans aren’t a semi-mythologized ancient people, the way the Canaanites have been (though there’s increasing amounts of archaeology shedding light on what they actually might have been like), we have historical records about them, from them. The majority of modern Jewish practice developed from the ruins of our ancient practices later than the first century CE. In the timeline of Jewish identity, that’s modern.

The rabbinic period and the Temple period overlap somewhat, but we’re not getting into a full-scale history lesson here. Suffice it to say that it was following the loss of the sacrificial system at the central Temple that Judaism coalesced an identity around verbal prayer services offered at the times of day when we would previously have offered sacrifices, led each community by its own learned individual who became known as a rabbi. We continued to develop in relationship with the rest of the world, making steps toward gender equality in the 1970s and LGBT equality in the 2000s, shifting the meaning of holidays like Tu Bishvat to address climate change, debating rulings on whether one may drive a car on Shabbat for the sake of being with one’s community, and then pivoting to holding prayer services daily via Zoom.

The history of the Jews is the history of the world. Our iconic Kol Nidrei prayer, the centerpiece of the holiest day of the year, that reduces us to tears every year at its first words, was composed in response to the Spanish Inquisition. The two commentators who inform our understanding of scripture--the ones we couldn’t discuss Torah without referencing even if we tried--wrote in the 11th and 12th centuries in France and Spain/Egypt. Jewish theology and practice schismed into Orthodox and Reform (and later many others) because that’s the kind of discussion people were into in the 19th century. Sephardim light Chanukah candles in an outdoor lamp while Ashkenazim light Chanukah candles in an indoor candelabrum because Sephardim developed their traditions in the Middle East and North Africa and the Ashkenazim developed our traditions in freezing Europe. There are works currently becoming codified into liturgy whose writers died in 2000 and 2011.

So what are the historical events that would change how your Jewish-coded culture practices, if they don’t involve loss of homeland and cultural unity? What major events have affected your world? If there was an exile that precipitated an abandonment of the sacrificial system, was there a return to their land, or are they still scattered? Priority one for us historically has been maintaining our identity and priority two maintaining our practices, so what have they had to shift or create in order to keep being a distinct group? Is there a major worldwide event in your world? If so, how did this people cope?

If you do go this route, be careful not to fall into tropes of modern or historical antisemitism: don’t have your culture adopt a worldview that has their deity split into mlutiple identities (especially not three). Don’t have an oppressive government that doesn’t represent its people rise up to oppress outsiders within its borders (this is not the first time this has occurred in reality, but because the outside world reacts differently to this political phenomenon when it’s us than when it’s anyone else, it’s a portrayal that makes real-life Jews more vulnerable). And don’t portray the people as having developed into a dark and mysterious cult of ugly, law-citing men and beautiful tearstreaked women, but it doesn’t sound as if you were planning to go there.

So with all that said, it’s time to get back to the question of names. All the above information builds to this: how you name this culture depends on how you’ve handled their practice and identity.

Part of why Shira Glassman’s handwaving of the question of how modern Jewish practice ended up in Perach works is that she never gives a name to the religion of her characters. Instead, she names the regions they come from. Perach, in particular, the country where most of the action takes place, translates to “Flower.” In this case, her Jewish-coded characters who come from Perach are Perachis, and characters from other places who are also Jewish are described as “they worship as Perachis do despite their different language” or something along those lines (forgive me, Shira, for half-remembering).

So that’s method one: find an attribute of your country that you’d like to highlight, translate it into actual Hebrew, and use that as your name.

Method two is the opposite: find a name that’s been used to identify our people or places (we’ve had a bunch), find out what it means or might mean in English, and then jiggle that around until it sounds right for your setting. You could end up with the nation of the Godfighters, or Children of Praise, The Wanderers (if they’re not localized in a homeland), The Passed-Over, Those From Across The River, or perhaps the people of the City of Peace.

Last, and possibly easiest, pick a physical attribute of their territory and just call them that in English. Are they from a mountainous region? Now they’re the Mountain People. Does their land have a big magical crater in the middle? Craterfolk. Ethereal floating forests of twinkling lights? It’s your world.

The second option is the only one that uses the name to overtly establish Jewish coding. The first option is something Jews might pick up on, especially if they speak Hebrew, but non-Jews would miss. The third avoids the question and puts the weight of conveying that you’re trying to code them as Jewish on their habits and actions.

There’s one other option that can work in certain types of second-world fantasy, and that’s a world that has developed from real-world individuals who went through some kind of portal. That seems to me the only situation in which using a real-world name like Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites would make sense. Jim Butcher does this with the Romans in the Codex Alera series, and Katharine Kerr does it with Celts in the Deverry cycle. That kind of thing has to be baked into the world-building, though, so it probably doesn’t help with this particular situation.

This is a roundabout route to what I imagine you were hoping would be an easier answer. The tension you identified about how to incorporate Jewishness into a world that doesn’t have the same history is real, and was the topic of a discussion I recently held with a high school age group around issues of Jewish representation in the media they consume and hope to create. Good luck in your work of adding to the discussion.

#Ask #kermab #Meir Makes Stuff #Writing #jewish representation #Fantasy Writing #fantasy fiction #Mangoverse #Meir Makes Long Posts

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sparksinthenight · 3 years

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Advice for Little Me

This is advice that I have for my twelve-year-old self. If I’d known all this at twelve my life would be a whole lot better.

1) Capitalists are horrible, manipulative, lying, selfish, apathetic, overwhelmingly dangerous, incredibly bad for society, wrong, and deeply disturbed.

2) Anyone who ever says or insinuates that they earned the wealth they have are the worst types of people.

3) Anyone who goes around measuring the value of a human being by how fancy their job is incredibly shallow, materialistic, lacking in understanding, and not worth your time.

4) No. No people did not "earn" anything through hard work. They got it through privilege, privilege, privilege, and privilege. The fact that they could afford a decent quality highschool education is already a huge privilege. And no, being poor when they were in college absolutely does not count as not having privilege. They got to go to college. That’s a privilege so many don’t get.

5) You know who's actually working hard? The people in the sweatshops, the mines, the agricultural plantations, the warehouses, etc. The people getting paid poverty wages as they work themselves to death. Have some fucking respect for them you’re not above them just because you were born in a rich family.

6) All humans have equal value.

7) And the value of a human being is inherent.

8) If you have a house and fancy furniture and a flatscreen TV and a car and a closet full of clothes and enough money to go to restaurants and golfing and shit and then you turn around and say you're oppressed I fucking hate you so goddamn much.

9) The voices of the poor people are fucking ALWAYS silenced in this world, all over the world.

10) There's men in suits somewhere defending capitalism and our centrist dads are defending them while most of the world are wage slaves.

11) The poor are always ignored, pushed to the side, and silenced.

12) Hi. Hello person reading this. Check out the Red Deal. It's fucking awesome. Please read it. It will save your soul and change your life.

13) Also my Wattpad account is here please check it out https://www.wattpad.com/user/Balladoad it won't save your soul and change your life but I write communist stories.

14) Your value is inherent. Child. Darling. Your value is inherent. You are alive. That is enough. You don't need a fancy job or a big income or a fancy degree or something. You're a human being trying to do the best you personally can with the resources and knowledge you have and in the situation you're in. Your value is inherent. Baby.

15) Check out the Red Deal.

16) Nobody is liberated. None of us are liberated. Especially under capitalism none of us are liberated. We are all equal. We are all capable of being free. Of having an equal amount of power. Of making decisions equally and democratically where everyone has a seat at the round table. Seperation is a myth. Wow that sounds like a fucking hippie thing to say but I mean it in the most practical, tangible way. We are all equal and we should be treated equally and under capitalism we are not. Not even close. We can all be together, all be comrades, all help and support each other, all protect and provide for each other, all listen to and understand each other, and all create a world where finally, finally people are free.

17) True freedom does not and should not feel forced. Corporate capitalists tell us that freedom is the ability to be successful in the capitalist framework. That is not what true freedom is. True freedom comes from within. It does not feel forced. It feels good and right and beautiful and true. It's not forced upon you it's something that sparks to life inside your own soul.

18) Sucess as a human being is about the kindness and compassion you show other people. Which is actually rather inversely proportional to how much money you make from what I've seen. At every step of your life seek out people who need help and help them.

19) Children should all be treated with equal respect, reverance, affection, and love.

20) Your value is inherent. Human value is inherent. Valuing human life does mean valuing the continuation of human life but not just that. It means valuing the quality of human life too. It means valuing human happiness.

21) Take every opportunity you have to learn. Not learn trivial "knowledge" about string theory or CRISPR or valence orbitals. Real, important knowledge about how to be kind to other people. How to be respectful towards other people. How to uplift the downtrodden. How to be in solidarity with the oppressed. How to live in harmony with other people. How to tear down the walls that divide us. How to live in harmony with nature. How to have respect and reverence for nature. How to protect and defend the Land and Water. How to be brave to put the needs of others before your own. How to think for yourself and be your own person. How to live your life in accordance to the truth and intangible mystic forces behind everything that guide us all. Wow that sounded hippie.

22) People are exploited and oppressed. So many people are exploited and oppressed. They deserve better than this.

23) You shouldn’t go after power. Seeking power is the way to corruption. You should seek to destroy the unequal distribution of power itself so that all people can have equal power.

24) Absolutely power corrupts absolutely. Power corrupts whenever it’s not equally shared.

25) Money is power. It always has been, it always will be. It’s what determines if people are able to eat or not. It’s what makes us spend most of our time at our jobs working for our bosses and doing what they want us to do.

26) Learn history. Please.

27) Read books about the Holocaust. About slavery. About all the types of slavery that have happened in various societies not just the Transatlantic Slave Trade though definitely you should learn about that too. About the Irish Potato Famine, the Armenian Genocide. About colonialism. About settler-colonialism. About feudalism. About monarchy. About the Industrial Revolution. About segregation. About the genocide of Indigenous peoples. About workhouses. About the Witch Trials. About the French Revolution. About the Spanish resistance against fascism. About residential schools. About the 60s Scoop. About the Stolen Generations. About resistance against the Roman Empire. About so much more. Just read them. Make sure they’re not written through the lenses of oppressors and/or rich people though.

28) Recognize that while history affects the present day history IS NOT the present day and present struggles are unique and different though not altogether separated from history. The present day is the present day. It’s struggles are unique and the way that the struggle for universal equality and liberation manifests in the present day is unique.

30) Don’t trust Christian priests.

31) Actually be cautious of any rich, privileged person trying to teach you religion.

32) Just because someone’s older doesn’t mean that they’re right or they know more than you. Knowledge of the truth and wisdom comes from kindness, compassion, humility, and suffering. It does not come from age. A rich man born to a rich family who thinks he’s better than poor people and does not have humility and respect towards them is not someone who knows things, no matter how old he is.

33) Men are generally less trustable than women because they’ve been taught to believe they’re always right and as such do not question themselves and think deeply and critically about their opinions as much as women do.

34) This does not apply to men who are poor or mentally ill since society never teaches them that.

35) Despite this being an unpopular opinion, pain and struggle are actually really good teachers. If you’re suffering, you deserve better. You deserve to not be suffering. But still, use it as an opportunity to learn.

37) Gender roles are the biggest scam ever created.

38) But the even bigger scam is capitalism.

39) You do not need material wealth. It is inherently addictive and bad for yourself, everyone else, and the Land and Water.

40) It’s just stuff. It doesn’t matter.

41) If you’re in a situation where people are treating you like you’re better than other people just get the fuck out of that situation as fast as you can. And never fucking look back no matter what ANYONE says.

42) Have respect and reverence for nature. Learn from it as much as you can. But from like, nature directly. Not from people talking about nature. Unless they’re Indigenous. And pristine, untouched nature is better than nature that’s been tampered with.

43) The world runs on bonds of love more than bonds between atoms.

44) Work hard not for money or to increase the power you have but rather to humbly and reverently improve the lives of the oppressed.

45) But recognize that you can’t do everything and do what you can and don’t beat yourself up over the things you can’t do.

#advice #eat the rich #capitalism #advice for living #advice for myself #I wish someone had told me this #rebellion

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swordoforion · 3 years

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Orion Digest No. 9 - The Rights of Humanity

There is nothing in nature that I appreciate more than humanity. Our species, though it has committed acts wrong and right, is a beautiful work of art in it's history, structure, and enduring quest to make a better world, and figure out their place in the universe. The tapestry of history that we have woven is, truthfully, filled with mistakes, but those mistakes have taught us lessons, and every day, we progress a little bit further.

One of the greatest parts, however, is not what we accomplish as a species, but we accomplish as people. Individual people, in their own worlds, living out their own unique stories. Each person is on a journey to find meaning and personal satisfaction in life, and that takes them to places that perhaps you and I would never see or think about. What may be mundane to one person is magical to another, and that means that billions of people are constantly experiencing something new. No one person is truly unimportant compared to another.

And yet, the lives of so many are held back by the constraints society has placed on them. Some groups are incapable of doing the same things as their neighbors because of who they are, who they love, how much of a imaginary currency they possess. We've trapped each other in small, invisible boxes; a perversion of how society should function. Our distrust and blind hatred of differences has created a society of false education that turns people who, in another life, could have been virtuous and friendly into racists, homophobes, sexists, and all the other vile categories of hatred that plague the world today.

For I think that is where the problem really starts - societal conditioning. Some factors are present in us from birth - ability, temper, personality types; but much of who we become is dependent on the circumstances of our childhood. In subtle ways, the biases and opinions of previous generations hang down on us - our parents, teachers, and other childhood influences all contribute to how we see the world. Our experiences of the world, too, help us see the world - the kinds of people we interact with and how they treat us, which in turn, is a product of how they were treated. Negativity is the spawn of growing up with negative experience, a subconscious weight added to every decision we make.

I often see history as a line of dominoes, with every event that happens being caused by every event that came before it. The conditions of one's childhood are shaped by the world around it, which was shaped by the people of previous generations. They were, in turn, shaped by the world they grew up in, which was shaped by those who came before, and so on. Society is like a layered tower, where the faults and shape of every floor will result in changes and additions to the floor above it. By the top floor, you no longer have flat ground, and that is caused by all that came before.

As I have said, many of these faults are mistakes that breed lessons, lessons we have started to learn from. We have taken steps to better ourselves, and successive generations become more tolerant of others (we are not quite there yet, but there is improvement). Still, until the rights of humanity are respected in full, we cannot look at ourselves and be satisfied, because we not only continue to discriminate against each other unjustly, but we carry the marks, the weight of divisions in society, and we will likely unconsciously pass those on to our children.

A good guideline for social progress is measured by the rights and freedoms of any individual human. That is, if they are not only treated with the same respect as any other human being, but are able to live a satisfying life. This does not mean a life without hardship; rather, I think a healthy amount of struggle in life builds character. In school, you have to put effort into studying and work in order to learn and further your knowledge. The difference between just struggle and unjust struggle is whether or not every student has the chance to succeed, for the goal should be for everyone to eventually reach the goal. Students that take a bit longer to learn deserve help and more tailored programs, and should not be shamed for experiencing difficulty, but they should be lead to the same goal.

Another example of healthy struggle is labor. Society will always need labor of some sort to produce goods, otherwise we will not have the goods and services we need. Working at a craft will refine it, earn monetary reward, and contribute to the operation of society, giving skill, pay, and purpose all in one. It becomes unjust struggle when workers have no say in what they do, and are left at the mercy of wealthier higher-ups who would prefer to act in their own interests rather than the workers'. It is unjust when those that are unable to contribute are forced to in order to earn what they need to survive, and when education needed to get a job in the first place only puts the worker in further debt, making the path to stability like climbing up a steep hill of slippery mud.

Indeed, every citizen of the world should still have challenges, ones that inspire them to rise to the occasion and to improve themselves. However, the point of any challenge is not to permanently fail, it is to learn and succeed. At the end of the day, anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, physical ability, religion, or any other of the factors which determine our identity, should have the right to live and to pursue their dreams. There should be no hindrance on someone because of what makes them who they are, and failure should not result in poverty and disgrace, but education and assistance.

Anyone on Earth, by virtue of their very existence, is entitled to have equal protection and freedom no matter their identity, and among those protections is the right to have the resources necessary to live. A system that does not allow for any person to be born and express themselves without oppression and financial obligation is inherently immoral. Why should someone be in debt the moment they are born? Why should the color of one's skin and their choice of gender make their life matter any less in the eyes of society? The ability to be born and live freely is a simple right that people deserve, and it is baffling that our world has still not reached a point where it is the norm.

- DKTC FL

#human rights #civil rights #equality #political essay #politics #equal rights #orion #orion digest #sword of orion

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chiserendipity · 4 years

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Why 2020 has Changed Me Forever - and Why I'm Grateful for That

*Warning, this deals with emotional and physical abuse, trauma and just is really long. Please do not reblog or repost this post.*

I'm just gonna say it. 2020 as a year has been terrible on a global scale with the pandemic, and the oppression of many people across the world. However, 2020 has allowed us to both reflect personally and on the world around us and demand change. I think that makes 2020 a great year for growth and shouldn't be merely dismissed because we couldn't go to concerts, have large parties, or the hot girl summer we hoped for. Real change is happening before our eyes, a movement for equal rights and to end the the endless cycle of oppression and suffering for not only the black community, but minority groups whether that be race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, religion, those with mental or physical disability, the poor, and so many more. Yes the world is seemingly in shambles. But guess what? We have nothing but time to try and fix it now. To demand better. Both for our communities and ourselves.

Personally, I feel 2020 really pushed pause on my life and asked me "what are doing?" "why are you doing this to yourself?" and "what do you want from life?" I began looking at what I had become and I was disgusted with myself and how I decided to try and cope with past trauma. Before corona, I found myself in a very dark place mentally with seemingly no way out. I would have panic attacks repeatedly and just cry myself to sleep many nights (despite not getting very much). My endometriosis was continually getting worse with every flare up (probably from all my stress). I had no direction and very little motivation to continue.

Then, the virus hit. Once I was sent home and online classes began, I had time to stop and catch my breath. To look around at my life and really ask what I was doing wrong. As young people we tend to give ourselves a pass for poor behavior and bad decisions, or even encourage it. I realized I was falling victim to my own anger, bitterness, anxiety, and depression that had haunted me for years and it was finally rearing its ugly head. I had been suffering from depression and anxiety for years but that spring semester while still on campus was different. My moods began to swing from a hyperactive anxious state to a haunting and chilling depression that made me want to stay in my room and hide. I didn't really get much sleep in either state. But, now back home all alone and with nowhere to go. No class to dive head first into. No parties to dance the night away. No kickbacks to chill at. Just me and my monstrous thoughts. At first my overwhelming thoughts were suffocating. I would question "what is wrong with me? Why can't I get my moods under control? Why must every facet of my being so overwhelmingly broken?" Then as classes began to finish, and with the help of antidepressants, I finally started to feel a shift. I started unpacking my compartmentalized trauma I had shoved away for years in a desperate attempt to leave it the past. People always say the past is the past, but the past will never not be apart of your journey. Without properly dealing with the past, it'll always show up again in your present reeking havoc in your day to day life.

With meditation, therapy, medication, and a lot of self reflection through videos about helping your inner child, I realized I didn't know me. My life had always in some way shape or form been controlled by others. I was assigned the role "golden child" by a narcissistic father who demanded I perform that role perfectly. Even as a child, I was taught to ignore my pain and sadness and push through, because my feelings didn't matter. I was fed, lived in a nice house and had nice clothes and whatever I asked for. That was enough to prove my father’s love for me; in his eyes. I lived merely to please. As I aged this mentality seeped into my romantic life as well. My feelings always came last so I began to simply just turn them off until I became an emotionless shell. Acting as a robot, I went to school and grinded myself to the bone in all my AP and IB classes. Joined all the community based clubs and took leadership roles. At 16 I even got started working 20+ hour weeks. Meanwhile, I had to surgeries courtesy of endometriosis. The first was a emergency surgery due to a ruptured ovarian cyst and the second to dislodge my right ovary from my abdominal wall since the endometrial lining cemented the two together.

I remember complaining about cramps and my father punched me saying, "Toughen up”. My father said things like that all the time and didn't want to discuss my chronic illness or mental health. When I was 16 I admitted to having suicidal thoughts and a previous attempt a few years back and he responded that was "white girl bullshit". Another time,my father cussed me out in a pizza shop for wanting a margarita pizza calling me a stupid bitch in front of everyone in the restaurant. He constantly mocked my choice for my major and university, saying that majoring in marine science was idiotic and I'd do better in political science and studying at Vanderbilt. Pain wasn't allowed. Feelings wasn't allowed. Choice wasn't allowed. Only thing that was allowed was to do the work expected. To be "perfect".

Finally I was beginning to understand that after being told my entire life that I was nothing more than robot with marching orders, the lack of orders now that I had cut my father out of my life was causing me to feel that I had no purpose at all. I had never known freedom, and it was was now suffocating me. Now knowing this, I was able to start retraining by brain and discover who I wanted to be. My feelings were valid. I wasn't just my report card or my ACT score or my medals and academic awards. My body while it doesn't function like it should, it is still worthy of love and respect. I wasn't insane for my moods fluctuating and I just needed help to get where I needed mentally to function. And that's okay. I had to start being me and living for me, not for the approval of others. Savannah the person, not the robot, matters. I matter.

This was when I had a spiritual awakening of my soul and ego, truly deep diving on how to heal from my past. I spent hours watching videos and discovering how to dismantle the false self I had created to appease those around me and stop acting as a emotional crutch for others whilst ignoring my own emotions. I began to recognize the trauma bonds I formed with exes and current friends. I choose to associate with those who encouraged these negative social responses and bad coping mechanisms. I was merely re-entering patterns that begun in my childhood.

From our earliest years, the ego is formed. Our deepest need is to gain love + approval from our parents + caregivers. The ego, in an attempt to protect creates a concept of self identity in alignment with what we believe will give us this love.We begin to say "I am smart" or "I am strong" or "I am bad at x." We internalize the beliefs of our parents about who we are + who other people are + how the world is. All of this ego identity unconscious. Because we are not taught about our egos, we are unaware they exist. So we operate as if we ARE the ego. This brings us a ton of our own suffering + shame. It makes us feel "stuck" + unable to escape our learned patterns. That's what ego does: keeps us repeating the past. Ego work is the process of questioning the ego stories that are just thoughts + not "reality." Becoming conscious to this allows us to access CHOICE in how we respond.

- @the.holistic.psychologist

Now aware of my ego and really getting to the heart of why I'm bad at sharing my feelings and why in past relationships I was described as "distant" and "inattentive" but also “good listener but won’t open up”. Today, I can honestly say I'm no longer in that dark place I was before. I'm beginning to relearn the things I loved and truly appreciate them. I'm being the true goofy, silly, marine scientist I always wanted to be. I have friends who do care about me and I've tried to open up more emotionally. Of course I have a long way to go and constant improvement is necessary. 2020 allowed me to return to myself, not the burnt out, bitter and depressed woman I had become. I'm happy 2020 happened and for the first time in years, I'm excited for what the future brings.

#self reflection #2020 #my 2020 #short narrative #black writer #female writer #writeblr #black writers #black female writers #new writer #new writing #tw suicide #tw abuse #tw depression

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hopesdreamsmentalillness-blog · 4 years

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On the Basis of Sex

When one watches this movie, it is impossible to leave it without the innate belief that something must be done, and there must be avenues in which to do it. There must be a way to appeal to White Men so that they will believe us. The only thing stopping me from dedicating my existence to such a cause is the fact that I am quite too depressed to work a ninety hour week. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a legend for that alone, and one must acknowledge the strength of conviction she brings to the position.

If the United States Government was willing to discriminate against women in 1970, that means that a number of things must be true.

The one that I was compelled the most with by the end of the movie is that women are truly oppressed. Yes, of course I knew that. But we say in every conversation about black oppression and their rights that if black women got the right to vote in 1965, you are looking at such a short period of “freedom” that the black society has yet to fully form. White society is a pillar because white men had hundreds of years to build up their intellectual boys club, and now we’re banging down the doors. They let us in, but we’re new to it. Of course, we don’t know the etiquette and are then thrown out.

Thus, if laws stopping the innate social segregation of men and women began in 1970, women are fighting the same uphill battle towards figuring out our place in society, more so for women of color, naturally.

What does this mean for LGBTQ+ members? If we’re to claim that society is still a club for white men that women and people of color are slowly trying to place themselves in, where does it leave people who still don’t have full rights?

And if we are claiming that women are not fully incorporated into academia and intellectual society as they should be, then the current abortion laws going against them are not simply laws against abortions on the basis of religion and “murder.” They are laws still segregating women from men, meaning that women are not even physically viewed as equal.

Okay, okay. So black men are viewed as unequal in society because of their race, yet they have been “allowed” to vote since 1870. They have had 150 years to fight for their place in society with the constitution to back them. White women are going on 100 for suffrage, black women 55. And that’s just suffrage. And the right to vote is still widely discriminatory due to practices where they’ll throw out black votes, miscount, refuse to count votes sent in until after the vote then tell you that your vote was thrown out. And that’s not even getting into the socio-economic barriers of who is given the day off on election day and who is expected to work a double. Or who is even educated on what election day is and why is it important. Or the horrible amount of propaganda spread by the wealthy to convince poor people that one vote doesn’t matter in order to ensure that the wealthy continue to win elections despite class, race, and gender divides.

If there are still laws today that stand against women and are being Created(!!!) against women, then women are not free in our country. LGBTQ+ are not free in our country now, and they likely won’t be for another 200+ years if we take this history into account. Black people have an uphill battle, especially in the South. Black men have had one president, but that does not in any way account for the social boundaries still pressed against them. Black women are 100 years behind black men. And that’s not even counting Latinx or Asian populations still dealing with immigration laws, discrimination, diaspora, and the prejudices of modern society as well as the long-lasting cultural distrust from concentration camps made for the Japanese in WW2.

America is 244 years old. We have spent half that time fighting for what should be inalienable rights under a constitution written by white men for white men. If anything is going to change in this country, it first has to start with legislation. Only, legislation is controlled by Congress and each state’s individual Congress. And those elections are controlled by money of outside donors (See the movie Dark Money if you don’t believe me). Elections are controlled by corporations (See the donor log for individual donors for this election with Biden coming in behind Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg). Corporations are still controlled by white men. Courts are still controlled by white men. Everything is still controlled by white men.

Gun laws are the most legal thing in the country, and if anything, the Constitution says so. In the Bill of Rights, the tenth amendment states that anything not stated herein goes to the states. Meaning that the states should make laws about anything other than amendments 1-9. So if we are to take it literally, as all good gun-toting assholes do, technically, the federal government should be in charge of creating blanket laws for gun control and should do so with the intentions and preservation of the American government at heart. Meaning all state gun laws should be illegal. And Congress’ lack of action to create gun laws is basically directly in opposition with the Constitution. Now, how I see it is that Congress is shirking their duties because of the NRA but also because the more conflict there is, the less people there are to speak against them.

Look at the numbers of who is dying from gun violence. It isn’t white men, and they won’t hold other white men accountable for gun violence. They are trying to create a systemic system that makes it hard for women and people of color not just to get ahead, but to exist. They have made it easier and sometimes even legal to kill us for their own personal gain. They hoard the wealth and tell us its our fault that we’re poor. They have created a society where we are stepping stones to their inevitable success, and they are telling us that we would be farther ahead if we worked harder.

This is not an argument of rights anymore because they took away our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. White men in the US fought an entire revolutionary war on the basis of freedom of a people for religious reasons (and tax reasons, obvs). Then they turned around and fought an entire war to oppress black men with the North supporting their existence but not their success or right to work or thrive in the same spaces. Separate but equal. We are still separate but equal.

And I am not willing to wait 200+ years, almost as long as our country has been a country, to be treated equally. Change the laws, change the society, change the discussion, or change the fucking constitution. This generation is not willing to sit by and see the radical oppression of everybody we love, and we will not be tricked by old white men anymore. We should not have to vote blue no matter who. The people of this country spoke for Sanders and Warren and literally anyone else, but we were told who we would vote for by corporate America and white men. Let this be an example to young generations.

No, this is not how the system works. No, this is not why you shouldn’t vote. No, this is not why rioting doesn’t work.

This is what we’re fighting for. This is why we’re mad. Ask where they’re getting their money. Ask why you wouldn’t get the same. Ask who is in charge and how do they treat the people at the bottom. Ask if they care about you because this is a government for the people by the people. And we are the people. Any politician or judge denying anybody’s right to exist freely is not speaking for you. And if they are not speaking for you, they are not doing their job. Hold them to it. Walk them back into a wall and force them to recognize that you are a person or they are a bigot. Do not walk away because this fight is hard and we are all nihilistic and done with the horror scape that is this fucking four years of hell.

Fight now, so it won’t be two hundred years of fighting. Fight now, and see the patriarchy fall in your lifetime.

You either fight now, or let the white men win.

#eat the rich #eat the fucking rich

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a-dragons-journal · 5 years

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Otherkin Challenge

Putting this under the cut so I don’t spam the tag.

1. What name do you go by? What is the significance of it to you?

Rani! It is, as near as I can figure, the name I had when I was physically a dragon.

2. How old are you? (If you don’t mind sharing.) What is the gender you identify as?

18, nonbinary woman.

3. What is your Otherkin/Therian species?

Dragon.

4. How long have you known that you are Otherkin? How old were you when you Awakened?

Around a year and a half now; I was 16-17 when I awakened (the period I label as my awakening happened to fall over my birthday, inconveniently enough).

5. How did you find the Otherkin community?

I stumbled across an Otherkin FAQ - I have no memory of how that happened, only that it was entirely accidental - and that led me to tomorrowlands.org and the rest of the community.

6. How does being Otherkin affect your life?

Not hugely, tbh - I’ve long since learned to override most behavioral urges, people learn remarkably fast to translate nonhuman noises and even respond in kind, etc, so there’s usually not a huge tangible effect. (It’s also hard to tell, given that nothing has changed since I awakened, I just have a name for it now - so what’s affected by being otherkin and what’s not? Hard to say.)

7. Are you “out of the metaphysical closet”? If so, to whom?

Yes! Mostly. My family does not and probably never will know. Most of my friends do, and those who don’t don’t know because it doesn’t come up rather than because I make any effort to hide it.

8. How did/would your family react to you being Otherkin?

I suspect it would be hard for my mom to believe, but other than that, I don’t think she would respond hugely negatively - just skepticism and neutrality. Still. Better not to bring it up.

9. What does being Otherkin mean to you?

I don’t know that it does mean anything, beyond the literal “identifying as something other than human” bit. It’s just a state of being. It’s not something I choose, so it’s somewhat counterintuitive to me to try and apply a deeper meaning to it - the same way I don’t apply a deeper meaning to me having blonde hair, or being asexual, or whatever. It just Is.

10. How do you believe you came to be Otherkin? Is it a psychological connection? Were you reincarnated? Explain.

I believe my draconity stems from a past life - that I lived a life as a dragon (on another planet or in another universe), and that for whatever reason my soul resonated particularly strongly with that shape and still remembers it, causing it to “bleed over” into this life.

11. What do you hope the Otherkin community will be like in ten years? Are you for public awareness or against it? Why or why not?

a) A little less... conflicted than it is now. I hope things will have settled down somewhat, and that we can sort out this issue of “Tumblrkin” (for lack of a more accurate but equally concise term) that’s arisen in the last decade or so - people calling themselves otherkin without really putting enough thought into it, or even actually understanding what it is first. On the other hand, I also like the shift away from “grilling” that the community seems to be taking - but that’s so recent that we’ve yet to see if it’ll stick.

b (and c)) ...Yes and no, honestly. Would I love public awareness that’s truly accurate information? Yes. Am I 99.9% sure that any large- or even medium-scale documentary or similar thing done on the subject will be sensationalizing and attention-grabbing at the cost of accuracy, making us out to be “crazies” and “wolfaboos”? Also yes. It’s happened before, and I have great faith in patterns.

12. Do you have phantom/astral limbs? What are they and how often do you feel them?

Yes! Most often, wings and/or tail (several days or weeks at a time, usually). Less often, horns, claws, paws, teeth, muzzle/snout, and digitigrade hind legs.

13. Do you mental-shift? Have you ever harmed yourself or someone else during one?

If I do, it’s so subtle/gradual that I’m not really aware of it. No.

14. Have you ever mental-shifted at a time when it could be considered inappropriate?

Not that I’m aware of, though I probably lean more draconic when I get tired/worn out and that does happen a lot during class, soooooo...

15. Do you Astral Project or practice any occult crafts?

I’m a witch, so yes. Haven’t gotten the astral projection thing specifically down yet, though.

16. Do you feel you are any sort of danger to society?

...No?

17. Does your nonhuman identity complicate every day life for you? If so, how?

Not particularly.

18. Why do you believe you are here as a human?

Because I was reincarnated here. :P

More seriously, I do tend to believe that we learn lessons across all our lives and thus life is about the living and the learning - but I don’t know if I chose to reincarnate here or if it’s determined by chance or some outside force.

19. Are you active among the Otherkin community?

You could say that, yes. (Thanks for 1200 followers, by the way, y’all.)

20. Are you religious? What faith do you follow? Does it contradict your Otherkin identity or do you feel that the two are synonymous somehow?

I am, though I’m not sure spiritual isn’t a better word. I’m Pagan, and please don’t ask for any more specifics than that at this moment - I’m in a bit of a questioning phase right now. Nothing about otherkinity inherently contradicts literally any religion, as far as I know, unless there’s a religion I don’t know about that has a rule about identifying as something other than human. The fact that I already believed in reincarnation sure helped pave the way for my explanation for my otherkinity, though.

21. Have you ever been emotionally, verbally, or physically harassed simply for being Otherkin?

Verbally, yes, though only online. Emotionally, not really, mostly because not a single antikin I’ve ever met is actually good at being cutting and insulting. They’re all boring and mediocre at it, and rehashing the same handful of bad insults a thousand times.

22. Do you feel you are oppressed because you are Otherkin?

No.

23. What is your take on fictionkin/mediakin? What about machinekin and appliancekin?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s really not my place to judge whether someone’s identity is “valid” or “real” or not. As long as they’ve clearly put thought into it and understand what otherkin is before they call themselves that, I try to live and let live. If they don’t seem to have a good understanding or seem to be misinformed, I try to gently correct them.

24. Did the awakening process seem relatively easy, or difficult to you? Why?

Somewhere in the middle, for me. On the one hand, it was less complicated than for many because there was never a doubt as to the possibilities - either I was a dragon, or I was a human (or, as it turned out, both). On the other hand, I loathe change, especially to something so integral as my labeling and identity - so I probably spent longer agonizing over it than I really needed to.

25. What do you think of the information provided online about Otherkin, is it relevant or not?

As with everything on the Internet, some of it is good, and some of it is bad. Read critically.

26. How has your Otherkinity/Therianthropy defined you as a person? Do you feel as if it has given you morals that you didn’t have before?

Not really? It’s something I’ve always had, whether I knew it or not. Trying to figure out how different I might have been if I wasn’t a dragon is both time-consuming and pointless.

27. Have you learned any life-long lessons due to your Otherkinity?

See above. Also, I’ve only known I was otherkin for a year and a half. Check back in in another five or six years.

28. What do you want to do with your life?

Marry my girlfriend, love and take care of my family, not have to constantly stress about money (or anything else, preferably). Chiropractic medicine.

29. Do you have any tips or advice for young and newly-Awakened Otherkin?

Take your time. You can’t rush self-exploration, nor should you. Furthermore, there will be some questions you can’t (or don’t want to) find answers to, and that’s okay. You’re not obligated to explain yourself to anyone but yourself - and your obligations to yourself are only to be truthful, to do your research and make sure you know what you’re talking about, and to be kind to yourself (and others).

30. Anything else you’d like to share with us?

I am very tired and I would like to sleep for a thousand years. Thank you.

#otherkin #dragonkin #rani talks #journaling

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agirlinhell · 5 years

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OF CLEMENTINE & THE ENLIGHTENMENT

A year after the events of The Final Season, Clementine began negotiations with Hilltop and The Commonwealth. Together, they reached a common agreement that a little hamlet or village would be settled beyond the eastern borders of the school's territory in the little valley, having had enough of the cold winters and hunting for food, and in exchange The Enlightenment would bring volunteers from Hilltop and The Commonwealth to live at the little settlement and to assist with the reconstruction of the territory. Clementine, as the ambitious Headmistress founded a settlement there in the hopes that the group would thrive in more ways than one after having declaring The Enlightenment an independent kingdom with its own laws, customs and lands. After two years have passed since the events of The Final Season, the greenhouse was revamped, stables for horses and any pets or mounts that students and/or faculty may have and nurseries were added in, secret passages were created and The Enlightenment had several trading outposts by the train station in the southwest and even beyond their borders, in The Commonwealth and as far east as Richmond and Oceanside. As a result, The Enlightenment trades heavily with The Commonwealth, Hilltop, Alexandria and Richmond. The Enlightenment has trade routes both on water and on land and they often hire soldiers from The Commonwealth to defend them, should they ever need military assistance and farming supplies from Hilltop. Ships often come from the western coast from the beach to trade. The school obtains electricity and running water half a year after the events of The Final Season with the assistance of The Commonwealth. Television and internet are thus available and on weekends, the group often watch movies and cartoons together. When Clementine introduced television to AJ for the first time, the boy was simply ecstatic.

As Clementine rises, so do her closest comrades. She also promotes Aasim and Louis/Violet as her Vice Masters - her second-in-commands and advisers. She also promotes Ruby as the head of the medics and nurses as the Minister of Healing. In the scenario where James returns to the school, Clementine gladly welcomes him back with open arms.

Every year, Clementine leaves her refuge in The Enlightenment and travels to the settlement and the trading outposts to check on its progress - this happens four times a year, in the spring, in the summer, in the autumn and in the winter, either by horse or by car. Their territory ranges from the school and the campus - from the train station that now functions, to the south, the valley to the east, the beach to the west and the mountains to the north.

The Enlightenment are a neutral group. They do not solicit any activities of positive or negative natures. Their only purpose is to act as a sanctuary for the lost in the apocalypse and to educate the next generation as a guiding light in this cruel world. As far as alliances with other organizations go, it’s pretty much who wants to be involved. As a result of its neutrality, it doesn’t pick sides in wars and conflicts outside of their borders. Violence towards The Enlightenment despite it’s neutral alignment will result in appropriate action from faculty or Task Force members. They have been threatened once and it cost them many lives, the residents at The Enlightenment do not think fondly of raiding and kidnapping children. The last thing they want is another Delta fiasco. The residents will not hesitate to defend themselves once again if they have to. They fought and won a war against invaders, they can do it again. Betrayal of the group is a tedious business! The residents of the group have a deep dislike for traitors!

Clementine does lay down a few ground rules, however, including but not limited to:

The settlement has no room for wanderers or those who can’t handle the true heat of a settlement. Those who leave without a good reason are not welcomed back. Once a member, always a member. This is only due to past experiences, considering how easy it has been in the past for members to suddenly get up and leave of their own accord during a settlement’s time of need, without saying so much as a goodbye, some even leaving without so much as a whisper as to why. In order to make The Enlightenment a greater place, she demanded organization and absolute loyalty.

Her success in creating and maintaining The Enlightenment was the result of an intelligent blending of diplomatic and military skills and her rule was tempered with wisdom and tact. She respected the culture, language and religion of her subdued enemies and did not assimilate them in similar methods. Clementine was relatively liberal and after what she’s seen and experienced of its horrors, desired to put an end to slavery and dictatorial oppression. While she herself ruled according to her pagan beliefs, she made no attempt to impose Paganism or witchcraft on the people under her realm. She was a very down to earth person. Some residents of The Enlightenment called her mother, and The Commonwealth saw her as a worthy ruler and lawgiver. Her ideals were high, as she laid down that no one was fit to rule the settlement unless, they were more capable than all of their people. As a result, The Enlightenment was a humane, equal and religiously tolerant society that consisted of a multitude of different languages, races, religions and cultures. The Enlightenment guaranteed their internal autonomy, rights, freedom, independence, equality and humanity of the group - a rarity in the cruel world of the apocalypse.

Everyone, regardless of race, skin color, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, political opinion, origin, opinion, birth or status, would have their own voice heard, this way, no one will be overlooked. She may be the Headmistress but the words of the people are just as important as her own.

Clementine would also open up orphanages and women’s shelters in the settlement. She visits all of them four times a year, with each season, to check on them. She would often sing to the children and give them gifts.

No one would be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and slave trades would be strictly forbidden.

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, sexual orientation, belief or religion, would have the right to marry and to have a family, as long as the pair agree to this.

Everyone would have the right to have a home and the necessities required to live, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control. Parents and children would have special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, would enjoy the same social protection.

Education would also be an important factor in the settlement and it’s curriculum. It would promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among their people.

Women would also have equal rights, like divorcing spouses, owning property, the ability to hold up arms and fight in battle. Many of Clementine’s closest confidants are women and they all hold important positions of power.

She would create her own seal, the symbol of The Enlightenment with a C intertwined with it for “Clementine”.

In honor of those who have given their lives in order to maintain peace and those who have died, Clementine has a mass gravesite created to celebrate and honor the fallen. Every year, a mourning ceremony takes place and it is then followed by a feast and a celebration.

Unity between each and every member was expected. Not everyone gets along, but petty squabbles that lead into bigger conflicts would not be tolerated anymore, not after the incident with Marlon and Brody and her previous experiences. Clementine intends on having the settlement to reach across the land and shake it, to plant their flags in the furthest corners of this broken world and make a new era.

Eventually, there would be 'sub-groups’ in all of its territories and in charge will be an appointed leader(s) who will end up ruling these little settlements who will swear an oath of loyalty to The Enlightenment and most, if not all their laws, would apply to these little groups.

It’s customary to always let a fellow friend know where one will be going if one were to go outside of campus, and for how long an individual expected to be gone. Unless if an individual has a good reason to be away longer, all members of the group except for the Task Force if need be must be within the borders by sunset, and all children and adolescents safely within their walls at this time. This is for the safety of everyone. Constant border patrols taking place are also a must. In the days since even before she arrived, the group has had several intruders, including those affliated with the Delta. This would not be tolerated anymore. For the safety of the group, every adult must take the time to patrol at least once a day. For too long have the group been at peace, and slacked off because of it. As the group grew bigger and stronger with every passing day, there would be those who would wish to take what is theirs, and Clementine would be damned if she let that happen.

If an outsider desires to join the group, the necessary protocol is carried out: check them for weapons and disarm them if they do, and check for any signs of bites or injuries. If they are not bit and they have no weapons, they will be allowed in. If they are bit, they will be escorted to quarantine and the medics will decide what to do with them. It’s also important to not to speak to strangers and especially do not give out personal information about any individuals or the group, whether they ask for it or not, especially not if they ask for it.

Secrets can be kept as long as it doesn’t jeopardize anyone’s lives, especially if it involves the entire group’s safety. The punishment for treason is exile and expulsion from the group and in extreme cases, in the scenario where one kills another in cold blood with no justifiable reason, is death. The group has no more patience and tolerance for traitors. The last time a betrayal happened, it indirectly led them all into a war no one wanted and as a result, innocent lives were lost. Never again.

The settlement in the valley included rental cottages complete with plumbing and central heating, a post office, shops, a local hospital, school, and several places of worship. Intending that the settlement could be self-supporting, Clementine, with the assistance of Hilltop, Alexandria and The Commonwealth, set up scientific forestry programs, farmhouses, dovecotes, barns, mills, stables, lighthouses, poultry farms, cattle farms, hog farms, and a dairy. Clementine enthusiastically supported agricultural reform and promoted the establishment of an agricultural fair in the summers. Several residents from Hilltop taught the residents of the settlement how to make hand-carved furniture, woven baskets, homespun wool fabric, and more. Its vineyards, fields, orchards and vegetable gardens produced fruit and vegetables consumed by the residents of the entire realm. Animals from Hilltop, according to the instructions of the Headmistress, were raised on the farm. During her visits to the settlement, Clementine helped in milking cows or sheep, which were carefully maintained and cleaned by the people there.

There are secret whispers that Clementine is a witch and warrior queen of the apocalypse and is locally seen as a boogeyman figure and urban legend of sorts in the area, as she is well known for leading an attack that singlehandedly destroyed the Delta, a powerful and infamous faction. She is highly respected, feared and loved.

#YOU'RE A WEAPON GIRL &&. WEAPONS DON'T WEEP. ( HEADCANONS. )

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lepus-the-bun · 5 years

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Fascism in FF14, and the post no one ever asked me to make.

Hello and welcome, it is I, the Garlean Scum, here to come way to late to the actual discourse, with a post no sane person asked me to do. That being said, I wished to make this, with the intent to help explain some things, give a little insight into some stuff, and maybe help people see things a different way. Now importantly, this is not a post of ‘excusing’ violent beliefs, or fascist activities. Those who know me, know I hold a strong distaste for fascism in the real world, for reasons I will make evident. Now, maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, which is no problem! I’ll be starting in earnest below the read more line, so I don’t fill up feeds. Please, look over, read, comment with your own observations and beliefs, and share your stories!

WHY DO PEOPLE ACCEPT FASCISM?

Lets start off right at the hardest point. What drives people to accept Fascist ideologies? Now, I’m not putting this all on the Nazi branch of Fascism as there are many types, including american fascism, and they all have their unique takes on certain things. But one main key point for fascism, is that it usually involves a form of radical Authoritarian Ultra-nationalism. Most commonly, this is helped and reinforced by racist world views. But okay, we know the basic key point of fascism... Why would people choose to so heavily join into a radically Authoritarian state?

Well, the first reason is simple. Safety. Fascist organizations, hold the firm belief that liberal democracy is a failure. They want a single party to hold control of the state, and for it to completely mobilize society in a party to -serve- the state. Now, this ideal became really prominent in the post WW1 state of our world, and it’s not an unheard of reasoning. They wanted a strong government that can respond to -all- threats, be they another nation, or a group that is disturbing the status norm.

Which, brings us into the second point. Fascism most commonly, keeps the norms of society, save the dismantling of liberalism. In example, if being a white man was good for you before, it’s still good now. This makes it seem an attractive alternative to radical liberalism or activists. After all, if they are on top of the social ladder, they want to -stay- on top, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they are all super racist, but they can feel that losing their ‘spot’ means not just no longer being number one, but having to accept ramifications for it.

Finally, Fascism often holds heavily to the belief of ‘merit based’ social progression. Which, in essence isn’t incorrect. In an ideal fascist state, someone’s sex/gender/ethnicity doesn’t matter. What matters is their -success-, which when you have a culture that is actively oppressing individuals, can drive some to cling onto this as their way to progress up the social ladder. After all, there is no truer equality to them, then everyone suffering the same BS and having to work up on their own.

WHY DON’T THOSE OPPRESSED BY FASCISTS RISE UP?

Now, this is an interesting question, and one that’s actually been shown commonly in our own history. Simply put... Rising up in revolution isn’t as easy as we display it in media. For every single successful revolution in history, there are countless bloody revolutions that were put down to the core. Even those revolutions that succeed, are often filled with death and destruction, which even if it’s to improve the world... It can be a daunting thing for people to accept. So people hold onto the hope, that the longer they hold on, eventually the world will change for them. They’ll have the equality they wanted, without war.

In short, when everything around you belongs to the state, including yourself, it’s hard to imagine you can stop it.

DON’T THEY REALIZE WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS WRONG?

Perhaps. But, there’s one simple thing that hurts the most in realizing that -you’re- the bad guy... You’re just doing what you have to, for the good of everyone else. Fascism doesn’t hold violence or imperialism as a strictly negative experience. Again, it’s about results, not ethics.

Secondly, if they were to say ‘yes I’ve been the bad guy, and need to stop’, something hard to grasp for anyone comes into play... Namely that everything you did, was for nothing. If you live by the ends justifying the means, then it’s even harder to accept that.

Thirdly, they fear the retaliation. Why would people forgive them? It’s better to burn standing by those who are wrong, than standing alone. It’s a hard choice for people to make.

WHERE DOES THIS COME INTO FF14?

Well, more often then you’d think really. If we look at the three city states, they all have a heavy hint of Fascism in them. In Limsa, the Admiral has her own secret police essentially, and what she says is law. If you think she’s wrong, you better bend the knee, or get the hell out or die. However, she’s more dedicated to a free market, and appears to be trying to change her nation... However, they are also heavily dependent on stealing land from the indigenous populations in order to expand as necessary, which is a nice little story point to explore.

Ishgard was a fanatical state, that used religion to help reinforce ultra-nationalism, and had a foe that could ‘not be negotiated with’, that threatened them to the core, for a cause that was their fault but information was hidden from the public. Granted, they have since shifted governmental styles, and this process alone is just fascinating, as it is a perilous point in a society... But luckily they have another large nonnegotiable foe to take the public’s attention.

Gridania. Man. Okay, so they have many conflicting things about them. On one hand, I view them as the most liberal of city states within their borders. Their government seems less likely to police most things, save the things that anger the elementals the most. In short, a high rate of personal freedom, but if you disobey the elementals, death or exile is almost certain. However, this isn’t due to a persons interest, but rather a force that already flooded the world once. So... It’s weird, and the most unique one I can see.

Ul’dah. Now, this was obviously meant as a city with the most capitalism possible, and honestly, I’d say has the least fascist tendencies to them. However, there are... Implications. That the sultanate, was going to dissolve the government, is a curious amount of power for one person to have. The syndicate, seems like so long as it doesn’t hurt their profits, most of them would assist fascist ideology. Then we follow with the banning of beastmen. It’s another unique case, as usually in a heavily capitalist society like this, you would have more of a ‘puppet’ ruler, than one with the power to dissolve the government.

Garlemald. Man. Oh man. Ya’ll already know this one. It’s Magitech rome during the latter portion of the roman empire during the decline. It’s basically ‘worlds first great fascist enterprise’.

OKAY, SO SOME OF THE CITY STATES HAVE FASCIST HINTS, AND GARLEMALD IS PURE FASCISM. WHY BRING THIS UP?

Well, I feel that if we don’t incorporate this into our RP, or even acknowledge this... We are not just doing the lore a disservice, but ourselves as well. We as people have a tendency to make characters who base their beliefs and values on our societies. It’s not bad to do so, but that’s not always an appropriate thing to do. RP can teach us new things, and help us understand why people do things.

THE FUCK YOU MEAN?

Well, let me put it like this. Aedwen, is a Gridanian Native, whom left her homeland in secret to join the Garlean Empire. Why? Well, because she felt betrayed by the elementals, and felt her people were less living in harmony, and more as slaves. No matter how good you were, the seedseer, padjal, and the hearers would always be above you. No matter what, unless you were one of these groups, in her opinion you were second class. She was young, angry, and trying to figure things out. Then she gets told by someone, how the empire is harsh, but they are -fair- and everyone can advance. How they don’t want to destroy, but to unite everyone. How the empire could be the one thing, that could help free her people from her perceived subjugation.

Right there, I can explore the feelings of a character who isn’t -evil- by nature, but who took the path of the unjust.

WELL DON’T THEY KNOW NOW?

Yes. They are well aware of the reality now. But, here comes to the hardest part of someone who accepted fascism, and violence as their path for so long. Namely, if she accepts that it’s all for naught, then she’s a traitor, a liar, and a monster. In her eyes, she couldn’t accept that. To admit that, would break her.

SO WHAT NOW?

Well, she explores her morality more and more... And one day, will have to choose between standing by her morals, or by the actions she has committed... And honestly, I enjoy it. Because it helps me to figure out what would happen if I were in similar straights.

CLOSING THOUGHTS!

Don’t reject certain character types out of the blue, and don’t think people are playing them because that’s their ‘ideal’. If you have the desire to explore the thought process of people you oppose, or those that you do not understand, then roleplay can be the most invaluable tool available. So few have the capability of actually putting you in their shoes.

#ff14 #garlean #fascism #fascist #balmung #discourse #long post

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preevelynn-blog · 5 years

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ManyVids Interview

Tell us about your cult:

I am the High Priestess of the Cult of Yith. We are a cult that is dedicated to learning all there is about consensual sexual perversion and deviancy. We accept every kind of gender identity and expression and sexuality. The main goal of our cult is to collectively have as many different kinds of sex and orgasms as possible for the sake of knowledge. We only condone fully consensual sexual interactions and fully condemn any kind of nonconsensual sexual act. The Yithians collect data on all the different kinds of sexual activities that our cult members are a part of and they add it to their grand libraries that hold knowledge from infinite places and times.

The Yithians are a species of highly evolved extraterrestrial (and sometimes terrestrial) beings who can swap their consciousness with individual creatures through not only space, but also time. A Yithian living on prehistoric planet earth could potentially swap bodies with Genghis Khan, or Abraham Lincoln, or a random person living in the year 2045. They can swap their consciousness with creatures and beings from anywhere in the universe at any time. This is how I first came into contact with them. They must have taken control of my body in the past because I now exist in strange dreams that involve them. I understand that all they seek is knowledge and I’ve always seen knowledge as power, so I’ve created the Cult of Yith to use my own talents as a sexual deviant to help the Yithians gain knowledge about human sexuality. It’s very convoluted, I know. The bottom line is that if you join the Cult of Yith and you have interesting, fun, consensual, and unique sex eventually when the Yithians come back to Earth and claim their rightful place as rulers of the planet, we will be given the role of librarian in their grand libraries for our contributions. Plus your life will just be better with a religion that fully supports your odd kinks.

What role does music play in your life?

Music plays many different roles in my life. The biggest role music plays in my life is that of a way for me to communicate. Music is also a friend, an enemy, a religion, and many more things. I am almost always listening to music unless I am sleeping and I create music every single day. It has a near constant presence in my life. I create music for all the porn that I make. It may not be very good, but it’s something I made and that makes me proud. My favorite art has always been art that is provocative and socially conscious. I think in American society right now we need to be pushing for sex work to be more protected, socially and legally, and music is a great medium to do that. Music can be a wrapper for a message that makes a message an easier pill for humanity to swallow. I love to make music that focuses on and is influenced by sex work, intersectional feminism, and the rights of genderqueer people while theatrically wrapping it all up in a recognizable package, such as the imagery of a religion or cult. *hint hint nudge nudge* Music, and all art forms that I indulge in, are a way for me to unapologetically say what I want to say.

What do you see as the major issues facing the LGBTQ+ community in adult entertainment?

I think one of the most glaring issues faced by LGBTQ+ people in adult entertainment is the remaining stigma around trans and gay performers and the silence of many cis industry members about this topic. Performers and managers steer away from gay and trans people for a lot of different reasons and some of these reasons are direct reflections of a past that’s already been thoroughly gutted and exposed as idiotic and queerphobic. There are some very stark differences between how cis and trans performers in the adult entertainment industry are treated. For example, segregation between cis and trans women is alive and well on MyFreeCams to the extent that MyFreeCams doesn’t allow trans women to perform on their site even though they are supposedly a “women only” cam site. In their rules and wiki there is a lot of trans exclusionary language. On their wiki it says “Natural-born women” only and on their official site rules they say nothing about disallowing trans women, but they do say “No men.” So if a trans woman can get through the background check (Which I did because they don’t ask for a picture of your genitals) and gets banned from the site, what rule did she break? It’s pretty safe to assume she only broke the “No men” rule even though she isn’t a man. MyFreeCams won’t address the issue at all and when I got banned from their site my account was deleted, they took all the money I had earned during my show, and I never got a response as to “why” I was banned. Their silence protects them.

This is a really important issue because MyFreeCams is probably the biggest cam site in the world and they sponsor so many huge events and conventions related to sex work. So you’ll have safe spaces and events for MyFreeCams models that are essentially spaces and events for women, but trans women are excluded. MyFreeCams is a huge part of the industry and they should treat all women equally, we should demand better from the large companies that represent the different aspects of sex work. Just a reminder to all cis models on MyFreeCams, 40-50% of your hard earned money is going to supporting this behavior. I understand you might not have the privilege to leave, but that’s not stopping you from emailing MyFreeCams asking why trans women aren’t allowed, or from putting them on blast on social media. On other issues too, we should not be silent. When MyFreeCams is transphobic we need our cis allies to call them out and be loud because they don’t care about what trans people think. If you’re an ally and your manager is being homophobic don’t be silent, call them out. Homophobes and transphobes don’t care about queer people, they will mostly only listen to other cisgender straight people. Power structures are torn down from the top, not the bottom. Please help.

What are your favorite fetishes? Are there any you got into thanks to making content? Any you keep for your private life and don’t film?

I think my favorite fetish is blasphemy targeted at Roman Catholicism. I got into blasphemy from doing private shows for ministers and active church goers who wanted me to really dig into their religion and basically replace their God with myself. I was raised Roman Catholic and I find the King James version of the bible to be very problematic and anti-queer, so I revel in the opportunity to tackle something that often puts me down. Whenever I do one of these shows I often start by detailing to my submissive the passages in the bible that condemn me as a trans woman, specifically the ones in deuteronomy, and explaining how their God wanted me to be in league with the devil by creating me this way. Then I will go on and explain how Satan and I are converting God’s own angels and humans against him by helping them to see the light of sexual deviancy. Then we do all kinds of naughty things in MY name instead of God’s name.

I find it refreshing and empowering to fight against something much more powerful than myself that actively oppresses me and people like me. The Catholic church is one such force and I revel in the opportunity to not only voice my opinions about the Christian mythos, but also to get someone who is a part of it to realize how anti-trans their own book can be. It is beneficial and positive for both me and the submissive and every single submissive I’ve done a blasphemy show with has returned more times than I can remember for the same experience.

Who are your: musical heroes, adult entertainment heroes, and political heroes, and why?

I don’t really have many heroes. I think some of my biggest influences when it comes to music and porn are Marilyn Manson and Natalie Mars. Marilyn Manson’s provocative style just really makes my inner goth girl squeal, and I think Natalie Mars is just so gosh darned physically talented. I wish I could take the things in my butt she does.

What is the most heartwarming thing you’ve ever seen?

That scene at the end of the Witch where the girl talks to the goat.

What is the most annoying question that people ask you?

It’s not a question, but I hate when guys want to talk about how they are straight, but they would still fuck me. Like, yeah… duh… if you were gay you would probably want to fuck a man?

What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of?

Ariana Grande

What sexual fantasy would you like to make a reality through making an adult vid?

I would love to recreate the exorcism scene from the Exorcist, but instead of Regan and two male priests I’ll be possessed and two sexy female nuns will fuck the devil out of me.

Say something to your fans:

I appreciate you all and if you respect and support me I respect and support you. <3

Fast 10:

The Best Topping/Ice Cream Combination Is:

Spaghettieis from Germany

One piece of entertainment I wish I could erase from my mind so that I could experience it for the first time again is:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

If I could have an orgy with anyone on Earth it would be the following people:

Marilyn Manson (1994 version), Katie Marovich from CollegeHumor, and Peter Steele (Also 1994 version).

If you wanted to talk dirty to me you should say:

Describe giving me oral sex and then cuddling me.

The sexiest outfit I own is:

A lace bodysuit that one of my biggest supporters of the name Ser_Koopa bought me!

This sex toy I love and this sex toy I dislike:

I love my fleshlight and I’m not a fan of plastic prostate massagers.

If I could time travel I’d visit this era:

1994 for the metal or some time in the future when I’m not living way below the poverty line and I’m comfortable.

The best way to start the day is:

Yoga!

One thing I wish I knew more about is:

Stocks and investments

The one major sex tip I have for people is:

Communicate. It’s always a good idea to ask someone if they are ok during a sexual experience.

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recovery-within-the-iris · 5 years

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Political rant to gain some courage

Once you stop really caring how other people feel about you or your interests, you do become happier.

I get it, being into social justice and removing biase is a good thing and all but not everyone was raised to be completely unbiased and politically correct.

I can go on for days about how privilage truely dose shape the mind but its like your irredeemable if you have one flawed belief on here. People will tear you to shreds, sometimes rightly so but its like they dont know that people do change and they need to be pushed to in a manner that dosent call for their head if they arnt completely woke.

Im white, i recognize this gives me a privilage over colored people. I dont hate myself because im white and im proud of the heritage i have. Im proud of the many european places my ancestors came from and their culture. I may not approve of the actions commited by the government in those place all the time but i understand a whole country cant stand behind something realistically. I know being white dosent make me better than colored people and i advocate for equality for all races. I dont condone violence, missionarism or imperialism.

I have german roots, i enjoy learning about and participating in german culture and its events. I live near a city that has alot of German immigrants in it and is one of the only american cities that wide-spread celebrates Oktoberfest and has a german name. This dose not make me a fucking nazi. This dose not mean i condone the invasions the german military has done in the past aginest jewish, polish, greek etc. People. For fucks sake i have polish immigrant great aunts,uncles and cousins.

I mentioned having a partially german last name and heritage and had a proudly jewish account call me suspicious on the bases of " having an anti-semitic heritage".... What. Are you seriously gonna dehumanize, assume and dismiss an entire culture,country and millions of people based on the actions of one man in charge of the government for a short time?? The actions of his friends and the orders given to soldiers that upheld them? By that logic we can throw just about every single country in existance under the bus for something. This dosnt mean i dont recognise the holocaust, it also dosent mean i condone the active mistreatment jewish people still recieve today. I actively advocate aginest anti-semitism and nazism.

However, If i was an actual nazi per what that account assumed of me, i would be advocating my own death. Im gay, trans, autistic, mentally ill and have polish heritage... I also dont have blue eyes or blonde hair.... And based on the story of how my mom's side of my family came to america... You are spitting in the face of my great grandmother who survived a nazi invasion in holland...holy shit...

Its like people on here dont understand you can be partically privilaged on one side and not on the other and still be a decent person.

I have heavy german heritage and yet i dont comment on jewish issues other than to support the Jewish community.

Im white and yet i dont comment on colored people's issues other than to support the colored community.

I get it, if a privilaged person is over stepping their boundaries, call them out on it but advocating hate towards a whole group of people isnt more progressive or even intelligent.

The goal shouldnt be the oppressed minority attempting to put the privilaged majority in the place of oppression. It dosent teach them anything, your more than likely going to fail and you've gone from victim to bully pretty fucking quickly.

The goal should be equality and fair ness. Instead of this end all be all radical craziness push the scale to the opposite side shit, we should remove the whole fucking scale and everyone stands on equal footing.

No race is better than any other race. No gender is better than any other gender. No country is better than any other country. No religion is better than any other religion.

This isnt even centrism by this point. Its just equalism.

Honestly, being a minority isnt a get out of jail free card for you to harass one person on the actions of others who happen to be apart of it, wether or not by choice.

Example? Sure.

Im transgender. If terfs and transphobes are to be believed, im automatically doomed to rape, murder and torture other people. There are trans people who have raped murdered and tortured other people.But.. Umm.. Ive never raped, murdered or tortured another person... Also cis people have a privilage over me on account of me being of the oppressed minoriy of cis vs trans. Thats over stepping a boundary as most transphobes are cis.

I will call out a cis person or a trans person( looking at you truscum and transmeds) who are openly transphobic. I may call them names like cissy or other things.

I dont call my cis gf a cissy.

I dont call innocent cis people cissy.

What other cis people have done in the past dose not mean that the cis person i am interacting with now is transphobic.

I get it, being trans means you have to be on defence incase the cis person infront of you is openly and/or violently transphobic but its also not fair to assume they are. Yes, this may be considered catering to the majority but its also respectful of other people in a realistic setting.

If i accused a random cis person, who happened to be an aggressive trans ally, of being transphobic just on the basis of being cis. They'd be outraged and rightly so. Accusing someone of being inherently bigoted is... Ignorant.

If i was accused of being inherently racist just on the fact of being white, id be outraged.

If i accused a random binary trans person of being enbyphobic, they'd be outraged.

Any way, though this post has been all over the place, ill give some last concluding thoughts.

If you think your better than someone else who is part of a majority, simpley because you are part of the opposing minority. Your not woke, your not progressive and your really honestly just a dick.

Also being oppressed on one axis dose not erase your privilage on another and opression and privilage dose not exist in a vaccum. No one privilage trumps the rest and no one oppression trumps the rest.

Lastly, dont expect a fucking award for being a decent and respectful person to minorities. Woo hoo, your white and not racist, laa dee fucking da. Your straight and defended a gay person from someone homophobic like any decent person should, you want brownie points? The minority you protected will more than likely thank you but you shouldn't expect more than that.

Thats about it and if your gonna give me shit for pushing for real equality rathur than real superiority( so it pushes out the satire and fun of things like gay superiority or the down with cis bus cause its a joke). You should really reevaluate the last three conclusions of this paragraph and addres your victim/superiority complex, thanks!

Now have a cute gif of zenyatta laughing

#political rant #racism #homophobia #transphobia #addressing the ins and outs of oppression and privilage #tw rape #tw murder #tw torture

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psychichideoutpeace · 3 years

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My take on this foreign family’s intercultural and interpersonal problems

It was 31st August, Well I clearly remember the date because that's my girlfriend's birthday. I was chatting with her in messenger and planning about our upcoming date night and It was a pretty intense situation. The TV was turned on as background noise, i wasn't watching it. Suddenly Tv has all my attention because I heard someone is saying “amra bideshider shathe aageo bhasha niye lorai korechi abong joyi hoyechi, amader itihash ache bideshi der shathe bhashar jonno llorai korbar, uni amar meye ke bangla shikhte dey na” 2 young daughter of his holding his arm from both side while he was briefing the press. Few moments later that news made it to online news platforms and I have seen people going crazy in support of a man named Imran Sharif, no wonder why ?

Photo source : Google

Language itself in its raw form is not interesting, at least to me because I took it for granted. I have been using it since I started talking and no one stopped me from doing so. When I got to know at my early age that in 1952 people lost their lives in order to achieve the rights of speaking in our mother tongue, it straight away gave goosebumps and as I am writing this blog it's still the same feeling. So that's the strength and power of the “idea of our Bengali language” which can create larger spikes in all Bengalis' heart rate. So we are emotionally attached to this idea of our Bengali language and how this idea affects the behavior of people demonstrates real power. Now the question is why I am mentioning this ? because power yields people ! We have just seen cultural hegemony in action in the comment section of this news of Imran Sharif’s case. Let's look at what this case is all about and deconstruct it with the lens of cultural studies.

Photo source : Google

Eriko Nakano US-Japan holding citizenship and Imran Sharif holding US-BD Citizenship tied the knot on July 11, 2008, according to the law of Japan. Eriko is a physician and Imran Sharif is an It engineer, and has his own It firm. So they both belong to superstructure. They used to live in Tokyo and the couple has been blessed with three daughters aged 11, 10, and seven. The kids were studying at a school in Tokyo. On January 18, Imran appealed for divorce but it was held in processing because he didn't attend the hearing and left Japan later. Upon asking why did he file divorce, Imran replied to the press that Eriko and her father booked an apartment which costs around 2.7 million USD and Imran had to pay the major part of installment of US$ 3,800 monthly, Eriko was paying 2000$. Imran was facing a hard time in his business and proposed Eriko to move to the USA so that he can do better with his skill there and earn more money. But Eriko was not willing to move to the USA. Eriko said, pay the installment fees as rent because he was staying in that apartment but Imran was not generating enough cash to pay out the taxing 3,800 $ US monthly and he was not willing to pay this much amount from his savings for the property in which he was not even a stakeholder. Eriko then asked her husband Imran Sharif to leave that apartment. She even sent three legal notices to leave the home because Imran stopped paying the installment. This sounds more like straight out oppression and unequal treatment but I have seen many people who actually wear the feminist's badge on social media, blaming Imran as he is not paying the installment and why would he ask Eriko to move to the USA if his IT career and business is not doing good in Japan. We know feminism, which became the buzz word of the internet in the 21st century, is actually about the oppression of women by men and feminist's stand for equal rights and treatment. There are feminists and then pseudo-feminists come along.

Photo source : Google

Pseudo-feminism suggests that women deserve more respect, or people of other sexes do not deserve respect. Living in a culture where women face many challenges every day is the worst thing is that some people hurt the term feminism. On social media, hardly anyone knows about feminism and they end up being pseudo-feminist. Do pseudo-feminists really want equal treatment? No, they want to create a world governed only by women. Will a woman be getting away with any wrongdoing? Women on social media who identify themselves as feminists want equality and recognition for women they think to deserve it. They’re going to bash a woman if he’s their lesser wife or sister like a politician but they’re going to support a woman bashing that same political leader. Hypocrisy and pseudo-feminism get a melting pot here.

Feminism is simply about freedom and is not about judgment. People who recognize feminism don’t wear the feminist badge. These are the people who want a good education for their daughter, and support their companion if she wants to be working in the field. Some women want to give their husbands food; some women want to take more care of their house and children than work. That is not making them slaves; it is up to them to decide what to do.

After analyzing the available information, It feels more like there are pseudo feminism or women supremacy present in Eriko’s actions which build up to some degree and lead to the current situation. I am not entirely blaming her for anything and I am not here to judge anyone. I am just writing my take on this. Do humans only value other humans when they have jobs, money, status and are capable of paying for mortgages ? What about someone suddenly losing their job ? Let's break it down even further. What if men, husbands loses their job while wife is still working or earning more, will this make the man or husband lesser than who they are as human beings ? No right. Then why do the relationship and power dynamics takes a paradigm shift all of a sudden in these situations, I wonder why ?

As Marks describes, capitalist society will inevitably experience conflict between its social classes. The owners and the workers will have different ideas about the division of the wealth generated, and the owners will ultimately make the decision. This constant conflict, or dialectical materialism, is what instigates change. Marks also describes that the only real social division is class. Divisions of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion are artificial, devised by the bourgeoisie to distract the proletariat from realizing their unity and rebelling against their oppressors. Here in this case we see race, gender, religion, ethnicity and also social class differences between the proletariat Eriko and Imran.

In this case of Eriko and Imran, when Imran refused to pay for the mortgage of Eriko’s apartment, the relationship dynamic changed and Eriko wanted to evict Imran from the house.

On January 21, Imran filed an appeal to the school authorities to take one of his daughters but they refused following the objection of Eriko. Later, Imran picked up the other two daughters from the school bus to a rented building on February 21 and returned to Bangladesh with them.

On May 31, a court in Tokyo handed over the custody of the two daughters to Eriko. On July 18, Eriko came to Bangladesh in search of the custody of her daughters leaving behind their six years old daughter in Japan. Despite her report being negative, Imran did not believe the report and refused to meet her children. On July 26, Eriko’s mobile connection was cut and he was given the opportunity to meet the girls blindfolded. On 19 August, Nakano Eriko, filed a petition with the HC seeking its directives to return her two daughters Jasmine Malika,11, and Laila Lina, 10 from their Bangladeshi father Sharif Imran. The court then asked the authorities to present the two children before the court on August 31. It also asked Imran not to leave the country with his daughters for the next one month. At the directives of the court, Imran and Eriko, accompanied by their daughters, are living in a rented house in Gulshan 1 of Dhaka. The court will issue further directives over their dispute on 16 September. High court ordered them to stay under the same roof and suggested they figure out a mutual solution as these kids were staying in a victim support centre before. Lawyers were also suggesting the same.

Photo : Google

Now comes the interesting part, Why did Imran come to Bangladesh with his two daughters ? Eriko and Imran were married legally in Japan and there is a case going on about the legal custody in Japan’s court. Their daughters have Japanese citizenship. He was living in Japan and has US citizenship, so why Bangladesh ? Imran was saying in his press conferences that he won't get custody of the child in Japan’s court. Maybe to battle the ethnocentric advantage that Eriko had in Japan. But as these daughters are minors, In most cases the custody goes to mothers side. Maybe Imran made a calculated move that he will get the empathy of Bengali people as we have seen him saying to the press that Eriko takes these kids out whenever Imran tries to teach their daughters Bengali language. Bengali has a long history of fighting against foreigners for language. I found these statements of his, a bit over the top, dramatic and only to shape the public's point of view against Eriko.

If we analyze the situation carefully, we can see, Imran is using tools like cultural hegemony to get advantage as he is communicating and reaching out to the mass people through press conferences, YouTube channels and interviews. Imran is exercising the power of language and culture more efficiently. He is forging his words carefully and deliberately to get the empathy of the mass people and Bangladesh is the only place where he can have leverage over Eriko in this case because he is now identifying himself as Bengali and wearing it as a vanguard to defend anything that coming against him. In a interview he said to a journalist that “ I am a Bengali like you are and I have the rights of a citizen in my country, only my passport is American that doesn't mean I am not Bengali” Imran is using identity politics to create positive public opinion about him. He is trying to portray Eriko as “other” and not as the mother of their daughter. Also he is trying to create a us versus them situation with these statements so that public sentiment remains on his side. People have already made lots of propaganda videos against Eriko on their own Imran Sharif didn't tell them to do so, Its cultural hegemony in action.

On the other hand he has already sought Tk 50 million as compensation for revealing defamatory information about him from Eriko. Otherwise, he threatened to lodge a case against her over the matter. But we hardly have any detail explanation from Eriko’s side.

The future of three minor kids are now dependent on the dialogue and intent of their parents. The High Court on 16th September directed concerned lawyers to settle the custodial dispute between Bangladeshi father Imran Sharif and Japanese mother Nakano Eriko over their two daughters within 12 days and fixed September 28 for further hearing and delivering a final verdict on the matter but as of today there is no latest news available.

References :

High court sends 2 children of Japanese mother to support centre. (2021, August 23). Dhaka Tribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/08/23/hc-sends-two-children-to-a-support-centre-as-parents-fight-over-their-custody

Https://www.risingbd.com. (2147). CID rescues two daughters of that Japanese woman. Risingbd Online Bangla News Portal. https://www.risingbd.com/english/national/news/81810

Japanese mother files petition with HC to remove CCTV cameras from residence. (2021, September 6). The Business Standard. https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/court/japanese-mother-files-petition-hc-remove-cctv-cameras-residence-298648

Japanese woman in HC for kids’ guardianship. (192021, August). New Age | The Most Popular Outspoken English Daily in Bangladesh. https://www.newagebd.net/article/146772/japanese-woman-in-hc-for-kids-guardianship

Japanese woman’s petition for daughters’ custody: HC asks father to present the children. (2021, August 19). The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/japanese-woman-comes-bangladesh-starts-legal-battle-custody-daughters-2155956

জাপানি দুই শিশুর বিষয়ে যে আদেশ দিলেন হাইকোর্ট | বাংলাদেশ. (1970, January 1). Somoy News. https://www.somoynews.tv/news/2021-08-31/

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theblankgarden · 3 years

Text

Dear Frances,

Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted (1892) centres on the eponymous heroine, Iola Leroy, the daughter of a white slave owner and one of his slaves. When the novel opens, we are at some point during the American Civil War, and a group of slaves meet in secret to discuss the Union army’s progress. Forbidden to congregate, they hold clandestine prayer meetings in the woods. They are talking in code about the war, so as to hide their knowledge from their white owners. Most of them desert their owners and join the Union army, and one of them informs the Union commander of a young woman who is being held as slave in their vicinity. Her name is Iola Leroy, and they decide to rescue her.

The story then jumps back to the years prior to the war, and we follow Iola’s story. Her father, Eugene Leroy, was a wealthy slaveowner who had survived a serious illness through the care of one of his slaves, Marie, who was one-quarter black. He fell in love with her, set Marie free, sent her to a northern school, then married her and had three white children.

Eugene decides to raise Iola, Harry, and Gracie as white, to protect them from prejudice. They were educated in the North and their black ancestry was hidden from them. While at school, Iola even professes a pro-slavery stance. However, when Eugene suddenly dies of yellow fever, his cousin, Alfred Lorraine, decides to make use of legal loopholes to overtake Leroy’s property. Lorraine goes to court to declare Marie’s manumission illegal and her marriage is then annulled. She and her three children revert to slavery and are separated and sold away by Lorraine, who becomes the heir of Eugene’s fortune.

The plot shifts back to the war, when Iola has been rescued from slavery and becomes a nurse in a military hospital. She then receives a marriage proposal from a white medical doctor, Dr. Gresham, who initially professes to be against miscegenation. Upon knowing about Iola’s black ancestry, he asks her to hide it from others and to pass as white. The novel explores her struggle with the question on whether or not she should pass as white and hide her ancestry, so as to make her life easier and take advantage of opportunities for assimilation into white society.

This is a topic that would be explored many times later in literature, such as in Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral by Jessie Redmon Fauset (1928) and Passing by Nella Larsen (1929), and you take a clear stance on it: embracing black identity is a more fulfilling experience for the characters, even if it means that they will have to confront racism to find a job or a house. Further, you make clear that, by asking Iola to ‘pass as white’, Gresham is not only exercising a (not so) subtle form of oppression, but also romanticizing her past as a slave as well as fashioning his role as some kind of ‘white saviour’.

You explore not only the personal but also the political implications of ‘passing’, and, such as in Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859), you also dismantle the conflation of skin colour, social class, civil rights, and morality, as well as criticize the racism of northern white Americans who were used to think of themselves as ‘more enlightened’ as their southern counterparts.

As Iola sets out to find her mother and bring her family together, she strives to improve the conditions of black people. Caught in the intersection of racial and gender oppression, she struggles to assert her professional independence as a woman during the post-war Reconstruction period.

Such as in Geraldine Jewsbury’s The Half-Sisters (1848), you explore the idea that the fact that a woman has a career does not endanger her womanhood, but rather enhances her roles as wife and mother and contributes to a better family life, as a source of self-respect. Further, you seem to equate enforced domesticity with moral corruption. “”Uncle Robert,” said Iola, after she had been North several weeks, “I have a theory that every woman ought to know how to earn her own living. (…) I think that every woman should have some skill or art which would insure her at least a comfortable support. I believe there would be less unhappy marriages if labor were more honored among women.””

Through conversations between the characters, you incorporate discussions (and speeches) on religion, racism, the rise of violence against black people, temperance (the discussion on the damaging effects of alcohol, as part of a larger discussion on male violence against women), women’s rights, assimilation, education, moral progress, and the movement for equal rights for black people. “”Slavery,” said Mrs. Leroy, “is dead, but the spirit which animated it still lives; and I think that a reckless disregard for human life is more the outgrowth of slavery than any actual hatred of the negro. “The problem of the nation,” continued Dr. Gresham, “is not what men will do with the negro, but what will they do with the reckless, lawless white men who murder, lynch and burn their fellow-citizens”.”

The novel incorporates genres such as slave narrative, sentimental novel, historical fiction, social protest, and the coming of age narrative, as well as political and social commentary. I particularly liked the use flashbacks and dialect throughout the novel, and the fact that its main political ideas are incorporated through conversations conveyed in dialect, providing not only a black perspective but a black voice. You seem to link the topics of how slavery fractures the family unit and how racism fractures one’s notion of identity – particularly racial identity, as in the case of ‘passing’. “I ain’t got nothing ‘gainst my ole Miss, except she sold my mother from me. And a boy ain’t nothin’ without his mother. I forgive her, but I never forget her, and never expect to. But if she were the best woman on earth I would rather have my freedom than belong to her.”

The subtitle of the novel – “(…) or, Shadows Uplifted” – seems to suggest racial and civil empowerment, as well as the release from the shadows of war and slavery. “The shadows have been lifted from all their lives; and peace, like bright dew, has descended upon their paths. Blessed themselves, their lives are a blessing to others”. It also hints at religious enlightenment and salvation, at the uplifting of the afflicted, as you explore the moral contradiction of slavery and Christianity: “But, Mr. Bascom,” Harry said, “I do not understand this. It says my mother and father were legally married. How could her marriage be set aside and her children robbed of their inheritance? This is not a heathen country. I hardly think barbarians would have done any worse; yet this is called a Christian country.” “Christian in name,” answered the principal”. Finally, the subtitle also points to the lifting of the “veil of concealment” represented by the act of ‘passing’, and to a defence of the assertion of black heritage and black identity.

Iola Leroy resists the literary convention of the “tragic mulatta” and its conflation with the “fallen woman” trope to evoke sympathy in a white reading audience: your book does not portray miscegenation as a catalyst to a female character’s demise, and you refuse to use Iola to placate white readers. She is her own woman.

Iola will eventually choose her black heritage, and you frame this choice as one of truth and moral fortitude over (white) appearance and shallowness. Some have read this framing as a conservative choice in its disavowal of passing (which they read as a disavowal of miscegenation and equality); to me, however, particularly in the context in which you were writing, your framing reveals ‘passing’ as a subtle form of oppression and the need of assimilation into white society as a conservative stance.

The highlight of the book for me is the fact that it encompasses a variety of black experience, from slaves to freed blacks to mixed-race characters to black intellectuals and the black upper class: it is a jam session of black voices, with an underlying, radical beat of resistance and hope.

Yours truly,

‘Head of Mrs Eaton (Fanny Eaton)’ by Joanna Boyce Wells (1861)

“Miss Leroy, out of the race must come its own thinkers and writers. Authors belonging to the white race have written good racial books, for which I am deeply grateful, but it seems to be almost impossible for a white man to put himself completely in our place. No man can feel the iron which enters another man’s soul.” – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted

Now, Captain, that’s the kind of religion that I want. Not that kind which could ride to church on Sundays, and talk so solemn with the minister about heaven and good things, then come home and light down on the servants like a thousand of bricks. I have no use for it. I don’t believe in it. I never did and I never will. If any man wants to save my soul he ain’t got to beat my body. That ain’t the kind of religion I’m looking for. I ain’t got a bit of use for it. Now, Captain, ain’t I right?” – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted

“Miss Iola, I think that you brood too much over the condition of our people.” “Perhaps I do,” she replied, “but they never burn a man in the South that they do not kindle a fire around my soul.” – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted

One day a gentleman came to the school and wished to address the children. Iola suspended the regular order of the school, and the gentleman essayed to talk to them on the achievements of the white race, such as building steamboats and carrying on business. Finally, he asked how they did it? “They’ve got money,” chorused the children. “But how did they get it?” “They took it from us,” chimed the youngsters. Iola smiled, and the gentleman was nonplussed; but he could not deny that one of the powers of knowledge is the power of the strong to oppress the weak. – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted

About the book

Broadview Press, 2018, 352 p. Goodreads

Penguin Classics, 2010, 256 p. Goodreads

Beacon Press, 1999, 320 p. Goodreads

First published in 1892

My rating: 3,5 stars

Projects: The Classics Club; A Century of Books; Back to the Classics, hosted by Karen

My thoughts on Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted (1892), by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper #readwoman #readsoullit #zoracanon Dear Frances, Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted (1892) centres on the eponymous heroine, Iola Leroy, the daughter of a white slave owner and one of his slaves.

#Classics #Feminism #Frances Ellen Watkins Harper #Novel #racism #United States

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thatasianthatnevershutsup · 4 years

Text

19TH AMENDMENT ANNIVERSARY!!

As you all should know, womxn are oppresed.

womxn were, and are oppressed by men and society. they are portrayed as the dishwasher, the sandwich maker, the baby sitter, the inferior, the submissive (comfort womxn thing back in war times and STILL NOW portrayed against east asian womxn that makes it okay to rape and abuse a womxn because they’re viewed as submissive).

before 1920, womxn could not vote. until the 1970s, have a legal abortion or get a bank account. 1986 was when womxn were able to properly report non-consensual sex as rape. throughout most of history, rape was not viewed as a crime because womxn were considered property, and, therefore, without rights.

however, today we are not talking about rape. that’s a whole another topic for another day. today, august 18th, 100 years ago, congress ratified the 19th amendment, granting womxn the right to vote.

so let me take u luvs on a brief history and the queens of feminism back in the days. this amendment was the first step towards equality between both genders that we have accomplished and is the motivation for today’s feminist movement.

suffrage started in the 1820s, when most states had extended the franchise to all white men, regardless of how much money or property they had. this is also the time when many reform groups and movements were formed.

the suffarage movement is not only limited to america. it has an impact on the whole world. for example, in britain, the first suffrage comittee was founded in 1865. but we’ll be focusing on america.

In 1848, a group of abolitionist activists—mostly womxn, but some men—gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the problem of womxn’s rights. They were invited there by the reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

after the civil war, around the 1840s and 50s, the 14th and 15th amendment were passed. granting the voting rights for white men and black men to vote respectively.

between 1850 and 1916, the leaders of this movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Fredrick Douglass formed the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to address members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a WHOLEEE lot of events happened. read more here.

by the late 1800s, nearly 50 years of progress afforded womxn advancement in property rights, employment and educational opportunities, divorce and child custody laws, and increased social freedoms.

passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted womxn the right to vote. on November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time.

although Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton devoted 50 years to the woman’s suffrage movement, neither lived to see women gain the right to vote. but their work and that of many other suffragists contributed to the ultimate passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.

so, what did we learn from this?

first of all, womxn are not and will never be anyone’s property. the power of their unity has won them their civil rights in the past. although this movement has proven that womxn should have rights, many straight white men do not believe so and still think womxn need their validation and that men cannot control sexual urges. here’s my take:

everyone has a certain amount of sexual urges and desires. the fact that you’re horny does not make a man “involuntarily act” or as people say, “boys will be boys”. womxn do have sexual desires and sometimes are stronger than men, but a very small amount of them rapes or violate a guy because of it. i’m not saying guys don’t get raped, but the trend here, from history til now, womxn were (and probably still are) viewed as objects and property so it’s understandable why rape is still such a widespread thing (not that it makes it any less wrong). the point is, your thoughts do not influence the way you act in this context. so it’s about teaching guys to control themselves instead of lashing out on their nearest victim, and instead of teaching girls that they need to cover up so that they don’t get attacked :)

this is what the feminist movement fights for. for men to have the mentality that he should treat a womxn as a human being that has equal rights as them, and to not look down on any womxn or sexualize them out of any reasons that their grape sized brains can come up with. the idea that womxn needs to fit in to what society forces them to do or be a certain way to not get violated or assaulted does not sit right with me (and neither should it sit right with you).

unfortunately, the suffrage movement intended to not include black womxn and trans womxn.

intersectionality is key in being a feminist. every womxn (and man) deserves respect and deserves rights regardless of their sexuality, race, religion, etc. the feminist movement fights for every womxn to have rights, and that includes those who identify themselves as womxn too :)

you are not a feminist or an ally if you do not fight for ALL womxn. that includes those who identify as a womxn (anyone that has she/her pronouns), trans womxn, cis womxn, white black yellow red womxn, lesbian bisexual pansexual asexual womxn, indigenous womxn, womxn of color, etc. the feminist movement fights for equal rights for men and womxn and non-binary, regardless of who they are. it doesn’t intend to put down men or is “anti-men”.

our fight for equality still has a long way, but these womxn of history have proven that we can win.

————————

all sources are cited above.

for more activism content, find me elsewhere :)

ig: kateedly

twitter: taednii

don’t be a silent reader! leave a note and reblog as people might not know :) thanks for your attention! i hope you have a good day/night.

#democrats #feminism #feminist #19th amendment #woman #civil rights #history #women suffrage #history lesson #black woman #trans woman #every woman #and men too #anti rape #u rape u no bro #feminism history #feminist history #civil rights movement

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ahsokalivesbitch · 6 years

Note

Are you for or against Jedi, even in spite of their mistakes?

Okay so I’m going to have to sincerely beg your pardon forbringing my own personal religion/spirituality into this discussion, but itabsolutely plays a role in how I view the Jedi, and the question of whether Ithink it’s important this saga have the Order eventually reestablished, orwhether it really and truly is ‘time for the Jedi to end’. I am in no waytrying to push my religion on anybody else, or even trying to coerce anybody toagree with me about the Jedi. This isall, 100%, just me expressing my own personal thoughts and observations. Iunderstand if others don’t agree with them.

Philosophically speaking, I am a very proud, you might even say ‘devout’,Christian. I’m also proudly bisexual,devoutly feminist, pro-gay and transgender rights, pro-abortion, anti-capitalist,and a lot of things certain people would have you believe is decidedly non-Christian.

In my own very personal study of religious philosophy, I don’t believethat my stance on any of the aforementioned issues is in any way incongruentwith the teachings of my Lord. In fact it’s the exact opposite for me: I amcompletely and irrevocably convinced that my God has always and will alwaysstand on the side of the marginalized and oppressed.

That’s not to say I’m unaware of the very real and veryproblematic ideas espoused by certain other figures in the Bible. Or the rolemany powerful religious institutions have and continue to play in upholdingoppressive attitudes rather than tearing them down. While I’ve never feltcompelled to give up my faith of choice, as I don’t blame God for humans whoexercise their free will to be shitbags, I’ve certainly wondered whether itwould be best for me to give up the title ‘Christian’ and all the baggage thattends to come with it. Rebrand myself as something else to better distancemyself from these ‘communities’ who dedicate themselves to things I cannot reconcilewith the God I know. And I know I’m not alone. Hell, even William P. Young,author of the bestselling novel “The Shack”, incorporated a very candidconversation into his book where Jesus bluntly asks the main character, “Do Ilook like a ‘Christian’ to you, Mack?” Honestly, that line hit home for me in a very real way.

But what has kept me from turning my back on the legacy ofChristianity altogether is the fact that my religion is not a monolith. Not all priests and pastors arebible-thumping, fire-and-brimstone-spewing judgmental monsters who want nothingmore than to put the fear of hell into you. Many if not most are very genuinein their desire to serve and help others, and I’ve had the fortune of connectingwith a number of them who not only welcome LGBTQ individuals like myself intotheir churches with open arms, but also proudly perform gay and lesbian weddings,rebuke discrimination and denial of women’s reproductive rights from theirpulpits, and advocate openly for gay and transgender rights.

On a more broader level, for centuries there have been innumerable churches around the world who devote countless time, money,and resources to feeding and clothing the poor, sheltering the homeless, providingresources to single mothers and orphans, providing sanctuary for hunted-down immigrantsand refugees, helping abandoned and abused animals. There also have and continue tobe MANY Christian minority groups (not just in America) who were able to drawupon the religion as inspiration to push back against their oppressors and succeed. There were thousands ofChristians present at the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, and Muslim banprotests this past year alone.

On a very personal level—both times my sister was diagnosed withcancer, not a day went by when she didn’t receive a letter, phone call, goodiebasket, you name it, from one of her pastors or fellow parishioners. Wheresomebody didn’t offer to come and help her watch the kids, clean the house,cook her food, whatever she needed.

Two months ago I came to receive the very same response from myown Christian friends when my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

I’m in no way suggesting Christians deserve giant gold medals fromthe rest of the world for any of this. This, in my opinion, is just doing their fucking job. But these acts do matter, even in the shadow of all the horrible thingsother, more powerful institutions who use the Christian ™ label to advancetheir shitty causes perpetuate. Because they demonstrate that being a judgmental,small-minded, holier-than-thou hypocrite is not inherently some ‘consequence’ of what itmeans when you decide to become ‘Christian’. In fact the true purpose of thereligion always has been just theopposite.

So tying all of this into my view of the Jedi—it’s very hard toargue that, just from the stuff we’ve seen in the films/tv shows themselves,the Jedi Order didn’t operate under some pretty fucked-up ideals. Separatingchildren from their parents at infancy? Forbidding emotional attachment,marriage, a family of one’s own forever?That’s downright deplorable! And the canon itself frames how this directly leadto a number of people who couldn’t possiblyfit into such restrictive ‘ideals’ turning to the Dark Side of the Force,Anakin Skywalker himself being the most notable example. Based on all this, I understand entirely where certain peoplecome from when they think it might be better if Rey just dumps the mantle of ‘Jedi’altogether and starts an entirely new institution. Just like some days Iwish I could come up with a new way of framing my religious identity other than‘Christian’.

But here’s the thing—the Jedi also did a lot of things RIGHT. Theyespoused selflessness, serving the needs of the weak and helpless first, compassion, justice, therestoration of peace, fighting for the rights of those threatened by fascistideals, and using their abilities to defend others rather than gain any sort ofpower over them. You could also be literally ANY species or gender under the sun to be welcomed into their fold and climb high in their ranks. They pushed back ceaselessly against greedy, opportunist, discriminating and oppressive forces in all forms and fought and gave their lives to try and uphold aRepublic that, while arguably equally flawed, at least stood resolutely fordemocratic ideals and equality among all species.

One of the things I LOVED LOVED LOVED most about Luke’scharacter development over the course of the OT is that he recognizes where his masters’ old ways of interpreting the will ofthe Force failed, while not forgetting where he also very much succeeded in learning from them. Becauseyes, the training and encouragement he receives from Ben in ANH (however brief)was absolutely ESSENTIAL to his ability to “trust the Force” and ultimately destroythe first Death Star. In TESB, his journey with the Force continues to be strengthenedexponentially by Yoda’s insistence he must forget all the arbitrary limitations convention taught him to believe about himself.That moment in the swamps of Dagobah where Yoda lifts the X-Wing after Luke’sattempt failed is very powerful, because it is here that Luke FINALLY learns heneeds to stop doubting himself, dammit tosucceed.

But even in spite of all that, Luke never, not once capitulatesto his masters’ insistence that he have to let go of all emotional attachmentfor good to win the day. He knowsintrinsically this is wrong. And ultimately it is his refusal to adhere tothis faulty principal, to abandon his friends in their time of need or killVader even when not one but TWO of his masters tell him he must (one frombeyond the grave), that ultimately leads to the long-promised achievement ofBalance in the Force. “I am a Jedi—like myfather before me.” It’s a very multilayered statement because he’s not justsaying ‘I’m a Jedi like my Dad’. He’s also saying “Like my Dad, I’m a Jedi whoembraces unconditional love and attachment, even in the face of my destruction”.

Because he KNOWS the Old Jedi’s interpretation of this issuewasn’t just wrong, it was actually downright COUNTER to what the Light Side ofthe Force really stands for (again, it was his unwavering love for his fatherthat brought him BACK TO THE LIGHT). But he doesn’t throw the baby out with thebath water either! He had enough insight to understand (before Disney and RianJohnson screwed this up for UNFATHOMABLE reasons), the best way to proceed inthe Force is to build on all the goodthat the Jedi espoused and accomplished, while preening away all the bad elementsat the same damn time.

Because, when you come down to it, if every successive generationjust throws away everything the previous generations learned and accomplishedbecause of how muddied or imperfect their general approach was in retrospect, nothing gets built. No legacies stand. Invaluablelessons inevitably get lost along the way as we just dismiss all of ourancestors’ insights as ‘meaningless’. And ultimately what would happen isanything anyone would attempt to build would just get burned to the ground over and over again as every humaninstitution tries and fails to achieve perfection. That’s not how people themselves work. We don’t abandon everything we are every time we realizewe need a major shift in our world view. We build upon all that we’ve already learned and experienced throughout ourlives, keep the good while casting off all the toxic bullshit. So why shouldour institutions be in any way different?

So yes, I am very much pro-Jedi, in spite of their many, many egregious mistakes. In fact(and this was actually a very good message that would have been SO MUCH BETTER COMMUNICATEDhad it not been delivered in the context of Luke’s shitty character retrograde)I DO believe failure is an invaluable teacher and absolutely 100% necessary ifany institution or humanity as a whole is to grow and improve on what camebefore. What I WANTED to see Luke achieve, but hopefully we’ll see through Rey,is a Jedi Order that, while probably never ‘perfect’, learns how to balancelove, family, and attachment while never abandoning the virtues of selflessnessand commitment to justice, compassion, and equality the Jedi always dedicatedthemselves to. There’s a beautiful legacyalongside all the fuckery there and, imo, it doesn’t deserve to be burned away alongwith all of the bad.

#rochester-born #the jedi #anti tlj #christianity #religious issues

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