#please educate yourself

[bromelads]

I am not playing the “you're racist if you say Ed is abusive" game with y’all 😒

This shit is not new or helpful to POC in the fandom. I wrote about it earlier this year (too little, too late), so I've built this post up from that.

I encourage folks to read this analysis and call to action by uselessheretic from back in JANUARY since it addresses key aspects of the harassment campaign that was par of the course for the fandom in 2022. This discourse plays into that harassment.

Listen, for all of its widely-held progressive values, the ofmd fandom is still a hobby space filled with mostly white, first world, LGBTQ+ ppl. Most ofmd fans fashion themselves leftists and generally agree that structural racism exists and is a problem. Overall, there's worse fandoms to be in.

That said, this particular wave of hand-wringing about fans calling Ed abusive is not at all about the ways indigenous people are stereotyped in media.

The most telling giveaway is the timing: fans expressing frustration towards Ed following the sneak peek that shows Fang, Archie, Jim, and Frenchie all but having an intervention for Izzy because they think he is "in an unhealthy relationship with Blackbeard" since Ed "cut two more of his toes...[which] seems pretty toxic to me."

I am not emotionally prepared to deconstruct the dark humor of holding a spontaneous intervention for your asshole white assistant manager who's on his last fucking wit because your brown and beautiful rockstar boss is too high to function and keeps cutting the guy's toes off. You either get the joke or you don't.

For the purpose of this post, all I care to extract from it is what it tells us about who is exercising the most control over the ship. Despite his physical absence, Ed’s ghost is all over this beautifully crafted scene. The tone of their wardrobe is dictated by Ed’s. They are carrying out Ed’s orders. Frenchie and Jim’s exclusive presence as former members of Stede’s crew was decided by Ed. Izzy’s authority as first mate is sanctioned by Ed. And it is Ed’s fitness to lead that Frenchie, Fang, Jim,and Archie are questioning ultimately.

I’m not particularly worried about Ed’s integrity as a charismatic lead being hurt by a storyline that paints him as someone who abuses power--the flow and exchange of power is a running theme for ofmd. Stede and Izzy themselves abuse their power in season 1 for their vanity. What I am worried about is this cute cultural feature of the wider ofmd fandom:

the chronic unwillingness to grapple with interpersonal power dynamics amongst peers, not only in the show, but in the fandom itself. 

So here we are again, ofmd fandom, working ourselves up into a moral outrage so that you, in your leftist white glory, can publicly police yourself because apparently you only know how to experience People of Color in fiction through these two lenses:

white guilt (am I racist for thinking this? are people around me racist for thinking this?) and

the white imagination (stories about characters of color are valuable because they inform my politics)

This push against reading Ed as abusive is not about calling out the problematics of depicting an indigenous man as mentally ill, violent, lonely, and rageful, it is about trying to sound self-righteous to mask anxiety about accidentally doing a racism on the indigenous, brown lead. 

This is even more obvious now with the season 2 premiere days away and audiences being primed to question whether the severity of Izzy's punishment was appropriate.

Now, here's the hard-to-swallow pill the ofmd fandom's been avoiding cuz we don't wanna point out the inevitable problems of representation within canon:

We are being served a storyline where a complex protagonist (who happens to be a brown, queer, indigenous man in a position of power) harms people who are close to him and we are meant to recognize this as a problem that he must come to terms with. I don't like it either, but I'd rather have this than no Ed story at all.

Other people have written far more intelligently about this than I could, but it bears repeating: what's happening here is fans projecting their own insecurities about racism and power onto a white character ("izzy exotifies ed!" "he wants to control ed!" "izzy is an incompetent pirate actually!") while at the same time applying a shiny veneer of respectability and perfect rationality to a nonwhite character ("ed had every right to hurt izzy!" "maiming is fair game as retribution for racism, it's in-world rules!" "ed can't be abusive because he's been abused!") in order to mask white leftist fandom's discomfort about a morally ambiguous brown protagonist.

Anyway, take a breath.

Ed is a character whose impact in "the real world" does indeed go beyond how he makes us feel. Taika Waititi's Edward Teach represents a watershed moment in indigenous representation—not only for his position as protagonist, not even for his queerness, but because of his depth, charisma, complexity, and connection to a community that cares about him. These things have been rarely afforded to the very few indigenous leads in the global film canon--no matter how his story is handled in season 2 and 3, Ed's impact has already been cemented.

Okay I'm done, here's some actionable advice to wash this all down with.

If your goal is to foster a welcoming environment for fans of color and elevate engagement with characters of color, then immediately remove shaming people's headcanons from your toolbox and read this article. Take stock of who is in your fandom social circle and take stock of what you do in order to at least see more fanworks featuring characters of color.

If your goal is to promote or participate in productive race-conscious conversations with other fans, get real about your relationship with power, your positionality in life (and in fandom) and the channels through which you want to have these conversations. Some questions to start with: Can you describe your relationship with your race? What is your experience talking about race in mixed-race spaces? What avenues do you use to participate in fandom? How do you participate? Where do you have influence? How do you manage unwanted feelings that spark from disagreements about racism?

If your goal is to interact in fandom with integrity, get explicit about your values. Engage in dialogue, treat others with the respect you want. Be curious and ask questions. Avoid becoming someone's useful idiot and learn to think critically.

Finally, if your goal is to enjoy your blorbos without having to think about the problematics of representation for QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color), then save us all the grief and just join a different fandom.

Good luck!

#phew anyway #ofmd meta #cuz i actually had to explain the sneak peak scene oh my god #the izcourse #ofmd fandom #ofmd #our flag means death #fandom discourse #ofmd fandom discourse #fandom racism #long post #edward teach #ed teach meta #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd fandom meta #thank u everyone who marinated on some of these thoughts with me in the circle <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 #and thank you everyone who proofread and gave feedback on this <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 #anyway ofmd fandom oh my god #please educate yourself #I hate to be like this but if you want to say meaningful shit about racism in this show #u need to do some actual fucking research and exercise your interpersonal skills lol #EDIT: fixed a couple links thanks anon! #la meta de mi meta

[daliasmay]

Just saw how E/riels try to use another sick theory where Beron and LOA are MATES and that's why they are together.

And try to compare Helion and LOA with E/riel because they love each other.

And Elucien with Beron and LOA.

It's just a reminder that theory isn't about using your sick fantasies without any argument or logic and calling it theory.

Because when you theorise, you use facts from books and connect the dots. You can't say something far-fetched and then say it's your theory. No. A theory has a pattern, it explains a set of facts and reduces everything to a single beginning.

Writing nonsense is not a theory.

#anti e/riel #please educate yourself #acotar is not a difficult book #lucien vanserra #elucien #helion spell cleaver #lady of autumn

[imthegayone]

Some short form information about Palestine and the Gaza Strip by iamsbeih on TikTok. Plus links to the vid and to the podcast he mentions.

#free palestine #gaza strip #please educate yourself #and use this only as a jumping off point to learn more if you haven't already #generic muslim podcast

[emiliosandozsequence]

maybe use your own money instead of leeching from fiance

lol you sound like my abusive father. why don't you kill yourself instead of sending shitty asks to people on the internet?

#literally am Not having it today #i can't work you idiot lol #i'm disabled #also disability is impossible to get on and gives you basically nothing to live on #please educate yourself #or kill yourself #either one is good with me lol #ask #anonymous #sorry you have no one that cares about you anon but this is probably why :/ people don't like being around mean people

[adiresituation]

As much as I hate it when my mother forces me to shave my legs, as much as I despise her for it, deep down I just feel sorry for her. Because she was also just a young girl whose mother told her that her own beauty, her own worth came from the perception of others. That she would never find a boyfriend, never have friends, because they would all look down at the hair and her legs and find it disgusting, unhygienic, “masculine”. And so she would shave them. Every few days for forty years. And then she would have a daughter and the cycle would continue. My mum would repeat those words to me. The same words that her mother told her, that her mother’s mother told her, that society had told her over and over again that it become almost subconscious - second nature. They are the words they tell every woman, young or old. They humiliated them and convinced them that they were “ugly” and “unclean” so much so that even women now will still repeat those disgusting words.

So how can I blame my mum when it was never really her fault. The whole thing’s a mess. But I swear if I ever see anyone telling anyone they should shave their legs, arms, whatever, I WILL PUNCH YOU. (I’m half joking)

#rant #rant post #femenism #internalised misogyny #misogony #mother #society #fuck society #fuck social norms #the idea of shaving legs literally came from men trying to sell razors to women #I have to say though #any girl who hates another girl over that fact that her legs are or aren’t shaven can die #like wtf #please educate yourself #before I punch you #women #everyone is beautiful #fuck the haters #women supporting women #as they should #😡🤭😍🥰

[celestialthinking]

A guy at work mentioned how fucked it is to have to consume multiple types of media instead of being in the quiet……clearly he hasn’t spent time with any neurodivergent people.

#adhd brain #neurodivergent #adhd #actually adhd #actually mentally ill #neurotypical #autism #please educate yourself #thoughts #blogging #rants #like ugh #whatever

[itachis]

Are Palestine and Israel the same thing?

#ask #please educate yourself

[haredjarris]

how you can have listened to butchered tongue and still make "hozier is speaking garlic" jokes is BEYOND me

#honestly fuck those people #please educate yourself #the first person who just accidentally typed garlic when they meant gaelic (its actually gaelige) is excused. just about #everyone who has deliberately called it garlic for the “banter” is not.

[i-restuff]

no way you guys going to ignore this,

donate to palestine children's relief fund

#for fuck sakeee #please just for once try to educate yourself on what's been going on #don't be neutral #this is racism and fucking genocide #israel #palestine

[eyeciclez]

People say their Special Interest is autism and then claim autism being genetic means one or both of your parents definitely has autism as well

#personal #it's downright scary how little so many people know about genetics #please educate yourself

[pilloclock]

Link to donate to Congo !

PLEASE READ 🇨🇩

#Congo #help Congo #Congo awareness #black lives matter #blm #Africa #Africa matters #donate #donate to congo #donate to Africa #please help #phones #iPhone #oppression #world issues #free palestine #inform yourself #educate yourself #the eras tour #hermionie granger #friends #Matthew Perry

[dirtyheathencommie]

DEAR EDUCATIONALLY NEGLECTED HOMESCHOOLERS

I’ve gathered some resources and tips and tricks on self-educating after educational neglect. This is only what I did and what I know helped me. I’m about to graduate college with honors after having no education past the age of 9. I wouldn’t be here without the following. Everything is free, and at/well above the standard for education in the US.

The holy grail: Khan Academy. Nearly every course you could take is available here, in order and by grade level. Their open-source free courses rival some of the college classes I’ve taken. This is your most solid resource.

For inattentive types: Crash Course offers a variety of courses that are snappy, entertaining, and extremely rewarding. They work for my ADHD brain. They also have college prep advice, which is essential if you’re looking to go to higher education with no classroom experience.

To catch up on your reading: There are certain books that you may have read had you gone to school that you’ve missed out on. This list is the most well-rounded and can fill you in on both children’s books and classic novels that are essential or at least extremely helpful to be familiar with. You can find a majority of these easily at a local library (and some for free in PDF form online low key). There are a few higher level classics in here that I’d highly recommend. If it doesn’t work for you, I’d always recommend asking your local librarian.

*BE AWARE* The book list I recommend suggests you read Harry Potter books, and given their transphobic author you may or may not want to read them. If you choose to, I’d highly recommend buying the books secondhand or borrowing from a library to avoid financially supporting a living author with dangerous and damaging views.

TEST, TEST, TEST: Again, Khan Academy is your go-to for this. I don’t personally like standardized testing, but going through SAT and ACT courses was the best way I found to really reveal my gaps so that I could supplement.

Finally: As much as you can, enjoy the process. Education can be thrilling and teach you so much about yourself, and help shape your view of the world. It can get frustrating, but I’d like to encourage you that everyone can learn. No pace is the perfect pace, and your learning style is the right learning style for you. In teaching yourself, be patient, be kind, and indulge in the subjects you really enjoy without neglecting others. You are your teacher. Give yourself what others chose not to.

#if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to message me anything #I’ll help however I can #homeschool #ex fundamentalist #ex homeschool #ex homeschooled #educational neglect #education #self education #ex fundie #send me asks #homeschool recovery #resources #educate yourself #ex christian #exvangelical #religious trauma #tw religion #deconstructing christianity

[runningwithscizzorz]

I feel a deep sense of anger and grief for Palestine. I’m angry at God, at the world powers donating to those who are killing civilians, angry at people looking away and encouraging you to worry about yourself when people can’t even walk down their streets without being attacked. I’m angry that my friend donated, only for it to be stolen and taken by the soldiers abusing Palestine. I’m angry that I can’t do much of anything but tell you to at least CARE about the people being bombed and slaughtered. Please, if you can’t do anything please just CARE about these people and listen to their stories. Hold them in your hearts at the very least. Don’t pretend they don’t exist or just brush it off as “its been going on for centuries, there’s no point in stopping it.” I want to do more, I want to make people care and love those who need it, rather than continue spreading anger and hate.

These are real people I’ve drawn. Keep the people of Palestine in your heart at the very least please.

#two of my best friends had to run away from their homes because they were Muslim #it was too dangerous for them to stay #but in leaving they also had to leave behind large parts of their families #they tell me about their friends and loved ones that have died and how empty they feel to it #that they also feel a deep sense of hopelessness and guilt at not being able to help #I have a friend now who teaches me about the qur’an and how it talks about having peace and not being afraid in times like these #so please DONT BE AFRAID TO SAY SOMETHING #Please talk about this with your friends #please educate yourself on what’s happening #please please please just CARE about the people of Palestine #even if it’s scary and even if it hurts you #do it for those who don’t have a choice to be afraid or hurt #free palestine #palestine

[bearotonin-international]

Apex predator, my ass. I’m going to pet the dog 🐻🐻‍❄️🐼

perhaps now is a good time for some responsible bear programming to remind everyone that as cute and cuddly as they may seem, bears are lethal apex predators and should absolutely be treated accordingly if ever encountered.

DO

NOT

PET

#Responsible Bear Programming #^^ that's our tag for bears doing what they naturally do #if you do not like seeing bears behave as they naturally do -- as apex predators -- then please filter this tag accordingly friends #we are actually not accepting any complaints or suggestions about our tagging system or the content we post at the present moment #or at any point in the foreseeable future #so please don't try to comment or suggest otherwise #informative rant over now commencing educational rant #DO NOT try to pet the lethal beasts #you will be mauled and or killed #and then the bear will be killed for attacking a person #if you like bears the best thing you can do is ensure that they are not habituated to humans and do not view us as a source of food #either through your trash or through your flesh #keep yourself your neighbors and the bears safe by keeping human-bear interactions as minimal as possible #okay the team's done ranting now #(we're having A Day) #(it has a lot to do with the squirrels breaking into the floor of HQ and eating through our electrical wiring) #ask