#I’m saying tumblr likes to pick and choose what they think is morally wrong
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1, 8, and 10 for the Violence Meme :3
1. The character everyone gets wrong
The way that ‘Loghain Mac Tir’ immediately comes to mind probably says a lot about the way he’s portrayed in fandom, huh…
While I obviously don’t expect anyone to see my blorbos 100% the same as me, sometimes I’ll see takes that are so diametrically opposed mine that I’m just like: huh.
That being said, Loghain is a very complex and layered character, and all the different possible ways to read his motivations only leads credence to that fact.
Anyway, here are my own preferences/biases when it comes to Loghain:
1) Maric is Loghain's everything, and not only that, but the Maric that lives in Loghain’s head is even larger than the man himself was in real life.
Personally, I like how this explains the discrepancy between the way Loghain describes Maric (as though he farts rainbows) and the way Maric is described in the tie-in novels (rather punchable).
Sure, they might've gone through a lot of shit together, but Loghain is completely abnormal about Maric and I love that for them.
2) I think Cailan’s death at Ostagar wasn't planned, per se, but rather that Loghain was willing to take that loss if necessary.
And look, Loghain did try to warn Cailan that fighting on the front lines would be foolhardy, but Cailan refused to listen and well… what can I say other than Loghain knows how to pick his battles? 😌
3) Loghain is not very politically savvy: I like to think Anora got her more astute people skills from her mother.
That being said, I think people sometimes forget how at the start of Origins, Loghain is a man deeply in mourning: in the preceding years he’s lost his best friend and his wife.
I feel this is also part of why he doesn’t realise he can rely on Anora: fully accepting that she’s a capable adult and no longer a little girl with pigtails as skinned knees would be to accept that there is no going back, he can never go back: the happiest, most purposeful part of his life is behind him and who is he, other than a father with a disobedient daughter, and the general of a nation that is starting to rise up against him?
Loghain basically suffers from like, a catastrophic loss of identity during the course of the game and is pretty much ready to die by The Landsmeet. If anything he’s glad to have found such a worthy opponent in the Warden: it means Ferelden’s fate is in good hands.
4) Leading to my last point: a combination of all the factors above means Loghain is very open to manipulation (by Howe, by Anora, by the Warden should they so choose).
That being said, I don’t think that absolves him of his complicity in his crimes, and especially not the slavery in the alienage. He very much knew the elves were being sold, but had also accepted that the alienage was lost to the darkspawn. I can certainly see someone with Loghain’s background deciding that giving the elves at least some chance of survival as well while also making more money for the war effort as the practical choice. While it’s not the moral choice, it is a pragmatic one and Loghain is a pragmatist.
Anyway my actual point is that while some Loghain fans might try and minimise his involvement in the alienage, I find it far more fascinating to explore through the lens of who he is a person. After all, I am not looking at fiction to inform my morals wholesale, but rather to explore other perspectives, and I am especially drawn to how people can justify atrocities to themselves, SO! Here I am, sharing my Loghain thoughts on tumblr dot com 😌
[choose violence ask meme]
#i've answered the other two for dragon age in the past but have different mass effect answers for them so will write them up separately#god knows this post is long enough already!#loghain mac tir#bc i've been waiting for a moment to dump my loghain thoughts for a while#asha answers#breadedsinner#thank you for the ask!! <3
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You know, I’ve been thinking.
There’s a particular mentality that I see quite often on Tumblr and all over the damn internet that I just don’t vibe with, and have never vibed with: the “Actions are (to varying degrees of exclusivity) what you should judge a person by” rhetoric.
And it wasn’t without some hard thinking as to why exactly that mentality bothers me, but I think I found the answer in a very ironic medium: because It’s quite literally A Slippery Slope.
How? Because judging actions without context very quickly becomes judging actions without evidence.
And it’s all fine to say, “well no one would be so dense as to not give context a chance to explain a person’s behavior” but that is actually what ends up happening more often than not with people of that particular mindset, because I notice a stunning overlap between people who believe actions are the best measure of morality and people who can’t distinguish explanations from excuses.
Which leads to a slippery and twisty rabbit hole of finding reasons why people’s context for their behavior is “just an excuse” and criminalising them anyway, even when their actions are perfectly justified.
I have known people like this IRL. I grew up with people like that, actually, so maybe I am a little biased towards the assumption of danger inherent in that mode of thinking.
But it really rubs me way the wrong way when people harp on about how reasons don’t matter as much as actions, when they actually mean that intentions are not an excuse for harm.
To quibble, the difference between an excuse and an explanation is rooted in fact, not feelings. There is a categorical and linguistic distinction between those:
Excuses are about deflecting responsibility. They’re quite often lies or exaggerations.
Example: a kid breaks a vase. He knows he will be in trouble for it, so instead of explaining why or how it happened, he tells a wild fib or something close to one so he avoids being in trouble; alternatively, say your boyfriend gets angry and breaks a mirror. Rather than confessing that he lost his cool and wants to fix it, he instead says things like “well I can’t help it when I’m angry” or “that wouldn’t of happened if you didn’t make me” etc.
very often excuses look identical to blame-shifting and has lots and lots of “but poor me” vibes.
Explanation is not about deflecting responsibility. It’s about explaining what happened and why. Simple right? Eh, not always so. More often than not children learn young that excuses by themselves don’t cut it, and learn to work explanations into their excuses to make them sound more believable. But the hallmark of an excuse never changes; it’s always about not being held responsible.
The issue is that too many people who see actions and outcomes as the main stalk for moral values is that they pick and choose when they want to call something an excuse based on how they feel about it. If an explanation seems untrue, it’s automatically an excuse, regardless of further proving or the person’s demonstrated willingness to accept responsibility. This is the fundamental spirit of callout posts. It no longer matters that you are trying your best to make amends if your actions condemn you simply for your having done them.
“But,” I hear some of the people I am sure reluctantly follow me these days say, “I’m not that hardcore! I just don’t like it when people give more attention to a person’s intentions than the fact that they’ve caused harm to me or someone else”
And that’s valid. What isn’t is making the assumption that because you can’t see what’s going on in the accused’s head, that you just automatically know what’s happening in there. What’s not cool is when you claim knowledge in ignorance of how and why things happen because “it doesn’t matter, it’s done now, and I want to see JUSTICE!”
And that, my dears, is why history repeats itself. That is why abusers walk free while victims are believed to be the perpetrators. That is why people get bullied in callouts that could not possibly matter less. Because when people cry “JUSTICE!” What they usually mean is “I want to see them bleed/be killed/be punished!” Not “they’ll get what is appropriate to them to render them harmless or to amend the problems they caused”
No one is owed forgiveness. But if you get SO fixated on “they did bad, therefore do bad to them” then maaaaaybe it’s time to examine why exactly you feel that way. And possibly get a therapist. (99% of the time it’s because of the way their, usually socially conservative, parents raised them)
And it all seems to start with “ But Actions Speak Louder Than Words” as a specific justification for “others Actions are the center of my moral philosophy and damn the consequences”
#mini rant#philosophicalparadox has a thought#you’re not obligated to agree#but if not then you probably won’t like me
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I wish the fandom discourse surrounding Jason wasn’t what it was because it honestly really sours my opinion of him a lot of the times. I’ll read something with him in it and I’ll be like “he was neat in this and I liked his character” and then I go on tumblr and I see the worst takes imaginable like “Jason only hurts people who deserve it” or “Jason can’t be blamed because he has pit madness” or “Jason is women-coded” and I’m just like “nvm I don’t like him anymore” 😔. I want to like him but at least 50% of the people who talk about him need some reading comprehension first lol
Ya that is so true... and i feel like in most cases is not even just "needing reading comprehension" at this point. There are people that genuinelly never read comics or don't want to, but are interested in the characters, i guess. Or they just read 1 issue and other specific posts online about them... though this might just be speculation on my part... but still.
Jason is a complex character and one that in some ways can resonate with a lot of people. Which is great. But, it also leads to people somehow becoming blind to the character's mistakes and outright inconsistecies in his actions and motivations, which is what actually makes him so interesting in the first place.
Also, either talking about some readers or non-readers, both tend to pick and choose what constitutes "good" or "meaningful" or "real" writing for a character (especially one like Jason). Like ya, the canon writing can be inconsistent at times (and sometimes to a annoying and disrespectful degree), but that doesn't automatically erase all the character development, thoughts and experiencies that led Jason down the path he did. I mean, how tf can you seriously "look in my eyes and say" that Jay's actions in, and some after, UTRH are "good/justified by the pit/completely justifiable by his trauma/etc".
Like, i love Jason, and he is in my top favourite characters. Lots of people love this character, and understandably for various reasons, but i think some people also need to reevaluate if they are actually "falling in love" with the actual character presented to us in canon or a fantasy version of him that they created and then spread around the internet. And well, sometimes it feels like some people have the need to make their fave characters "squeacky clean", because they are afraid to support a "bad/evil" character or something... and like, your favourite characters and stories don't define your morality, lol, only the motivations that you have for liking them in the first place, with messed up filosofies and actions in all. This is meant to be entertaining, not a morality contest online, lmao... but i think i am kinda getting ahead of myself... the point is that people seem to have gotten too used to having just the way they want it, despite the actual "truth" that comes from canon, and some also treat it like some kind of contest of "who is the most traumatized uwu boi out there".... especially with the Batboys... okay sorry for the rant, but i am so tired of people just looking at the stories and the situations in them just from the perspective of their fave.
What is the point of having a fave in an universe/stories where the fave can do no wrong and where you choose to ignore the other characters' motivations and if your fave is actually "in the right" in any capacity. Also, your fave being in the wrong is very fun to read, ok. Stop interpreting everything they do with "emotional and moral" justifications. Sometimes they are just messed up individuals and that are wrong in the actions they have taken - and this is great,, it's wonderful, because it gives them more complexities and it gives you more to explore with your fave... so the question is: why do people like so much to "minimize" their fave and put them (usually) in the victim that did no wrong box... like, where is the fun in that, really? I mean, if some people want a flawless character that did no wrong ever or whose wrongs can be always somehow justified, then i think they should probably look into other characters in dc to get attached to and talk about or if they don't find them in dc look for them in something else that might be more to their liking (just a suggestion, idk).
Anyways, i think the best thing that can be done is to try to instead spread more knowledge about how Jason and other characters are actually like. Because it is very difficult to make people change their minds when they already reach certain conclusions. And also to how to start reading comic books in some cases... though other people in fandom are doing a ton of meta posts and reading guides for characters to help new readers, is just a question of personal want and understanding if they truly want to engange with this media as it truly is.
Also, if you like a character in canon material, i think that you shouldn't let fanon interpretations ruin them for you... i understand it can be kinda hard because it is every where, unfortunatly. But hey, maybe the more people start talking more reasonably about them and truly coming from canon, things in fandom discourse might change (or at least i hope it does a little, lol).
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I’ve been pretty quiet on the situation, but I’m always quiet about her personal life (yes even in relation to the songs) because for me I don’t listen to them to think about how they relate to her. I never liked Matty before any of this and I didn’t even know about any of it until tumblr started talking about it. I just find it exhausting debating Taylor’s morality 24/7 I’ve got to the point now where I just feel like nothing I say would productively add to the conversation it would just add to the echo chamber and feels performative. Like what effect could me saying anything have, everyone’s said what needs to be said and it’s not like Taylor’s going to see me posting about it or change her mind even if she did. In the end Taylor’s a flawed person like all of us and I think what we should take from this is that you shouldn’t worship a person or derive all your happiness from them because they will ultimately disappoint you, because they are human, flawed and will do bad things sometimes.
See here’s the thing, I’m not talking about this in hopes Taylor will see and suddenly change her mind. If she’s gonna hear about it it’s probably gonna be from the media picking it up. Granted the media will probably pick it up because people are talking about it but that’s not the main goal. The main goal here for me is to try and add volume to the bipoc, jewish and other fans of hers who are hurt and affected by this man she is choosing to associate with. I’m trying to help those people be heard by others to understand their pain and their hurt.
Describing her as ‘a flawed person’ is already minimizing these actions. This man mocked the Japanese holocaust, is a racist and antisemitic. That’s something insanely wrong and serious and should not be minimized. Her choosing to associate with that man is incredibly hurtful to the members of her fanbase that are a part of those communities. It’s not her simply being ‘a flawed person’. It’s much more than that.
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your cat dog person analogy is soooo true
sorry to go off rn but those m cr fans are just soooo bitter for no fucking reason. they think their morals have to align with their music tastes and find any sort of way to find any sort of dirt on other bands they don’t enjoy. example i constantly see callout posts for band guys that usually overlap with similar fans and music with m cr. look i know band guys can suck and obviously they shouldn’t be praised like saints, but these out of nowhere callouts for band dudes i see are always from m cr accounts. are you actually wanting to call out shitty behavior or do you just want points for being high and moral because youre the fan of the most unproblematic feminist anti capitalist band who’s never done anything wrong?
they always pick and choose on who’s worthy enough to even be liked on some level of m cr example i remember seeing posts about how the savior m cr were the only ones there for paramore 😫🥹 they are just so cool like that!! no other bands were there for paramore 😞
they act like they are the underdogs and how nobody understands them, but i constantly see several thousand notes about how cool the band is on my dash every so often
they will always call other bands cringe or saying they never understood the assignment with their newer stuff or how they were just never on their level of punk rock in the first place. i seen people say m cr has always made consistently good music unlike those other bands who are pop sell outs but bitch your band hasn’t put anything new out in a decade how tf do u know 💀
sorry to go off, but god damn it’s just music, stop, whatever happened to the emo trinity, you all use to love that, what happened
thank you bestie!!!! NEVER be sorry for going off i am always here for it!!! especially when it’s well thought out like this. cuz a lot of my opinions UNFORTUNATELY boil down to “mcr fans annoying” (OBVIOUSLY not including my moderate mcrtuals!!!). im putting the rest of my response under the cut cuz i also popped off but a tldr is: u are the best and i love u.
i absolutely agree with everything you had to say here tho…like why do these people act this way. like babes your guys are embarrassing sometimes too or whatever. we all saw frank having an overpriced garage sale of his trash or whatever recently. not really anti-capitalistic to me sounds like!! that’s crazy about the thing you said about paramore tho cuz it’s like. what does that even mean to be a saviour of paramore????? as if they need saving?????? that doesn’t sit right with me for SURE to imply that 😡
sooooo real about the underdogs comment cuz like. i think that mcr feels like the most popular of the “emo trinity” of times past. it’s not like i know this for a fact but i don’t know anyone else irl that is into fob that i HAVENT specifically got them into them!!! whereas i feel like i have so many friends who are into mcr but had never listened to fob until i sent them my playlists. and also another piece of info that backs it up is i’ve gone to 4 emo nights in the last year, and the reception of when they play the black parade vs like…sugar we’re going down is like a BIG difference. except for maybe the specific fob edition, the crowd i would say is duller during sugar like 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄. also like i think you can tell by the dynamics on tumblr too, i feel like there’s like 20 fob girlies and every other bitch is an mcr fan here. we’re outnumbered like CRAZY. and the amount of times i’ve seen people be like “if mcr ain’t your fave from the emo trinity = 🚩” but people NEVER say that about fob. i think i had another example but lost my train of thought bc people are talking around me LMFAO
ALSO THAT SECOND LAST PARAGRAPH LMFAOOOO GET THEIR ASS!!!!!! literally it’s not that deep, it’s music, i get spicy bc i’m frustrated with fob being treated this way from people fob fans are allegedly supposed to be “making out with” or whatever. like i know i’m insane about my four men but they are like INSAAANE about their four men and it’s not in a cute way. as i always say, mcr and fob as bands respect each other and i GUARANTEE the mcr guys wouldn’t want fob to be treated the way these crusty ass mcr mainies treat them. god.
this was rambly, i have no idea if any of this was smart or good, but my main takeaway is to say THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!!!! and i always appreciate the support ofc bc i’m worried i’m going to be eaten alive by the mcr fans bc they have a history of eviscerating us.
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okay I guess I missed a lot because I haven’t been on tumblr since wednesday bc school and life has been shit but. what the actual fuck is wrong with people.
and by people I mean the person who runs that tea account I just blocked and the coward anons who send in asks there.
i was scrolling through their page after i saw the hate thrown at you on one of your posts and i feel so disturbed. not only does the account only spread negative information about authors, it also is a open door to all boring haters on the internet. the account doesn’t do anything but bring others down, not even educate authors who made genuine mistakes. It is purely just hate and harsh words others throw at whatever author they want bc they’re in a bad mood
the comments directed to you and your account on there made me sick not just because of sympathy for you because you genuinely don’t deserve this but also the amount of misconceptions they have of your blog and the way they make you out to be a shitty person. I’ve been following your blog for a while now and in your profile you had NEVER changed your age. It has always remained “minor” and the only time it changes is on your birthday when you put #6teen and then #7teen in ur desc ON YOUR BIRTHDAY.
And the whole thing about “keeping minors safe” and “they are still literal kids” makes no sense. this is the 22nd century. Kids start having sexEd in middle school. Minors have sexual hormones and minors read smut. I’m not saying it’s okay for a minor to interact with something clearly labeled not for them if the author put it but even if it’s not reading or writing smut, I can promise you 99% of minors have watched porn or masturbated to SOMETHING. Yeah. I fucking said it. It’s true. It’s amazing how minors have sexual tendencies because we go through puberty. Absoblutely unbelievable right. When we get horny we seek outlets. we gotta stop this idea on the internet that minors cannot read a single word of sexual shit. We will feel horny either way. If you actually cared so much about minors and illegal sexual things maybe check up on that recent overturn of abortion and find out ways to protect minors with a uterus instead of fighting for your life on the internet to stop minors from exploring their sexual health. Minors ARE children. And minors CAN have sexual tendencies, FACE IT.
but because the anons couldn’t drag you down for that they decided to pick on you for writing yandere content and claim that you are romanticizing abuse when you are writing FICTIONAL PIECES OF LITERATURE about FICTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. You have never said “oh readers btw this is what you should look for in a relationship” or said “this is so cute that tc jk is abusing yn”. You have never conveyed the idea that abuse or manipulation should be okay or romanticized and you’ve never been PROUD of “supporting” it. On the contrary you have clarified almost all the time that IN REAL LIFE these relationships are not okay and even to tell readers who are treated like this in reality to look for help. Yes the pieces you write often include morally wrong concepts that are unacceptable in real life and abusive. But that’s why it’s fictional. And whoever CHOOSES to read it is at their or discretion. Whoever reads it and enjoys it can do wtv they want with it as long as they know that it’s not right. Which most people do because they have a brain. “Enjoying abuse is wrong and problematic” WE DIDNT SAY WE ENJOYED OR SUPPORT ABUSE. We enjoy READING fictional things centered around the idea of a person being obsessed with you. Is it morally wrong and fucked up? Yes a bit. And? As long as this shit doesn’t carry over to real life I personally don’t think it’s a problem. This whole throw of terms and “romanticizing” is so out of context. It’s like when people write hybrid fics, does that make them a z00phile? no. when people write idol fics, does that make them a delulu sasaeng? no. when people write mafia fics, are they romanticizing felony? NO. The concept here is that these are all FICTIONAL pieces of work and people who write it are using their creative energy. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to get when it comes to yandere themes.
Lastly. This whole chaibts account and the anons on it act like they’re the Supreme Court of Justice or sth. Yeah there are obviously fucked up things on the internet and there are things that are morally disgusting to support. But they gotta get off their fucking high horse and admit that it exists and not everything is picture perfect. In the writing community if people only wrote morally correct, completely serene, realistic fanfics we would run out of good things to read. If only non!idol fics existed we would turn into Wattpad. Stop acting so pristine like you’ve never been interested in something fictional your whole life and you’re an Angel that dropped straight from heaven. They’re calling all these people out and throwing the word moral around but do they even have any themselves? What moral do you really have if you’re boring enough to sit on a device and type out oceans of sentences of hate directed to a creator on the internet that you don’t even know. They act like saying this will make the world a better place and they’re the ultimate protectors of shit that will set things right but they’re not. The truth is they probably have got off to all of these “disgusting” fics and are ashamed that they liked it so they deny the fact that it’s okay for fics to have dark concepts. i don’t get it, if they cared so much about all these terrible things like abuse and stalking and obsession why don’t they focus on minimizing it in real life instead of trying to delete some fictional word docs online, it has 0 effect on the actual issue and it just makes them a part of the problem. They are ignorant and pretentious.
In conclusion. I was going to chill about this and just write a cute lil “cheer up!” note to you but I can’t stand this anymore. The fact that these fake ass morally correct mfs come in ur asks and give you r-pe threats says enough about themselves and I can’t believe they’re the same people who wanna “protect minors”. I hope you know that wtv tf they say they’ve done something morally fucked up in their lives and have no right to be judging and tearing you down like this. It makes me concerned. Stay smiling, you’re one of the prettiest, most talented and creative authors I’ve seen and chaibts and those anons has nothing on you but their sorry pathetic self.
- 🐇
babe I took my time to read this and I really wish I was THIS intelligent enough to explain and defend myself…. But thank you for taking your time to write this when you absolutely didn’t have to.
I love you. ❤️❤️ thank you for supporting me so much, ☹️❤️
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Hot takes about Severus Snape are a wierdly decent glimpse into how a person with progressive values analyses things. Literally every time someone talks about Snape, it’s like this tiny window into how one-dimentionally people actually think.
Recently saw a twitter post that was a fantastic example. Here’s how it goes (paraphrasing):
Person A:“Snape is POC and Queer coded, that’s why you guy’s hate him uwu lol.”
Person B: “Actually I hate him because he was mean and abusive to children under his care uwu but go off I guess lol”
Both of these takes are designed to be dramatic and/or reactionary. They each use partial truths to paint very broad strokes. These are get-em-in-one-hit quips. This is virtue signalling, if you’ll excuse that loaded phrase. Nobody had a substantial conversation, but now everyone who sees their statement knows the high ground they took.
At least a hundred other people chimed in to add their own little quippy hot takes into play, none of which add anything significant, but clearly made everyone feel very highly of themselves.
So many layers of nuance and complex analysis is completely lost in this kind of discussion. On tumblr, you get more of this kind of bullshit, but you don’t have a word count limit, so you guys just spew endless mountains of weak overblown evidence backing up your bullshit arguments, none of which was really about engaging in a real conversation anyway.
Here’s the thing about Snape.
He is a childhood domestic abuse victim. His abuser is a muggle.
He becomes a student at a magical school that takes him away from his abuser and immediately instills in him the idea that being a part of this magical world is a badge of self-worth, empowerment, and provides safety and security - provided that he keeps in line.
There is a war is being waged in that world over his right to exist (he is a half blood).
He is a marginalized person within the context of the narrative, forced to constantly be in the same living space as the children of his own oppressors who are being groomed and recruited into a hate group militia (the pureblood slytherins). They are in turn trying to do the same to him.
He is marginalized person bullied by children who are also part of his oppressor group, but who have “more liberal” leanings and aren’t direct about why he’s being targeted (the mauraders are all purebloods, Sirius, who was the worst offender, was raised in a bigoted household, the same one that produced Bellatrix.).
He had a crush on a girl who is a muggleborn, and therefore she is considered even lesser than him and carries a stigma to those who associate with her. That girl was his only real friend. In his entire life.
For both Snape and Lily, allying themselves to a pureblood clique within their own houses would be a great way of shielding themselves from a measure of the bigotry they were probably facing. There would have been obvious pressure from those cliques to disconnect with one and other.
Every other person who associates with Snape in his adulthood carries some sort of sociopolitical or workplace (or hate cult) baggage with their association. Some of them will physically harm and/or kill him if he steps out of line. He hasn’t at any point had the right environment to heal and adjust from these childhood experiences. Even his relationship with Dumbledore is charged with constant baggage, including the purebloods who almost killed him during their bullying getting a slap on the wrist, the werewolf that almost killed him as a child being placed in an authority position over new children, etc. Dumbledore is canonically manipulative no matter his good qualities, and he has literally been manipulating Snape for years in order to cultivate a necessary asset in the war.
He is a person who is not in the stable mental state necessary to be teaching children, whom has been forced to teach children. While also playing the role of double agent against the hate group militia, the one that will literally torture you for mistakes or backtalk or just for fun. The one that will torture and kill him if he makes one wrong move.
Is the math clicking yet? From all of this, it’s not difficult to see how everything shitty about Snape was cultivated for him by his environment. Snape was not given great options. Snape made amazingly awful choices, and also some amazingly difficult, courageous ones. Snape was ultimately a human who had an extremely bad life, in which his options were incredibly grim and limited.
In fact, pretty much every point people make about how shitty Snape is as a person makes 100% logical sense as something that would emerge from how he was treated. Some if it he’s kind of right about, some of it is the inevitable reality of suffering, and some of it is part of the cycle of abuse and harm.
Even Snape’s emotional obsession with Lily makes logical sense when you have the perspective that he literally has no substantial positive experiences with other human beings that we know of, and he has an extreme, soul destroying guilt complex over her death. Calling him an Incel mysoginist nice guy projects a real-world political ideology and behavior that does not really apply to the context of what happened to him and her.
Even Snape’s specific little acts of cruelty to certain students is a reflection of his own life experiences. He identifies with Neville; more specifically, he identifies his own percieved emotional weaknesses in his childhood in Neville. There’s a very sad reason there why he feels the urge to be so harsh.
Snape very clearly hates himself, in a world where everyone else hates him, too. Imagine that, for a second. Imagine total internal and external hatred, an yearning for just a little bit of true connection. For years. Imagine then also trying to save that world, even if it’s motivated by guilt. Even if nobody ever knows you did it and you expect to die a miserable death alone.
There are more elements here to consider, including the way Rowling described his looks (there may be something in there re: ugliness and swarthy stereotyping). These are just the things that stand out the most prominently to me.
J.K. Rowling is clearly also not reliable as an imparter of moral or sociopolitical philosophies. I don’t feel that her grasp of minority experiences is a solid one, considering how she picks and chooses who is acceptable and who is a threat.
All of that said, this is a logically consistent character arc. Within the context of his narrative, Snape is a marginalized person with severe PTSD and emotional instability issues who has absolutely no room available to him for self-improvement or healing, and never really has. And yes, he’s also mean, and caustic, and verbally abusive to the students. He’s also a completey miserable, lonely person.
There are elements in his character arc that mirror real world experiences quite well. If nothing else, Rowling is enough of an emotional adult to recognise these kinds of things and portray something that feels authentic.
In my opinion, it’s not appropriate to whittle all this down by comparing him directly to the real world experiences of marginalized groups - at least if you are not a part of the group you are comparing him to. There have been many individuals who have compared his arc to their own personal experiences of marginalization, and that is valid. But generally speaking, comparing a white straight dude to people who are not that can often be pretty offensive. This is not a valuable way to discuss either subject.
Also, I believe that while it’s perfectly okay to not like Snape as a character, many of the people who act like Person B are carrying Harry’s childhood POV about Snape in their hearts well into their own adulthood. And if nothing else, Rowling was attempting to say something here about how our perspectives (should) grow and change as we emotionally mature. She doesn’t have to be a good person herself to have expressed something true about the world in this instance, and since this story is a part of our popular culture, people have a right to feel whatever way they do about this story and it’s characters.
The complexity of this particular snapshot of fictionalized marginalization, and what it reveals about the human experience, cannot be reduced down to “he’s an abuser so he’s not worth anyone’s time/you are bad for liking him.”
And to be honest, I think that it reveals a lot about many of us in progressive spaces, particularly those of us who less marginalized but very loud about our values, that we refuse to engage with these complexities in leu of totally condemning him. Particularly because a lot of the elements I listed above are indeed reflected in real world examples of people who have experienced marginalization and thus had to deal with the resulting emotional damage, an mental illness, and behavior troubles, and bad decisions. Our inability to address the full scope of this may be a good reflection of how we are handling the complexity of real world examples.
Real people are not perfect angels in their victimhood. They are just humans who are victims, and we all have the capacity to be cruel and abusive in a world where we have been given cruelty and abuse. This is just a part of existing. If you cannot sympathise with that, or at least grasp it and aknowledge it and respect the people who are emotionally drawn to a character who refects that, then you may be telling on yourself to be honest.
To be honest, this is especially true if you hate Snape but just really, really love the Mauraduers. You have a right to those feelings, but if you are moralizing this and judging others for liking Snape, you’ve confessed to something about how you’ve mentally constructed your personal values in a way I don’t think you’ve fully grasped yet.
I have a hard time imagining a mindset where a story like Snape’s does not move one to empathy and vicarious grief, if I’m honest. I feel like some people really just cannot be bothered to imagine themselves in other people’s shoes, feeling what they feel and living like they live. I struggle to trust the social politics of people who show these kinds of colors, tbh.
But maybe that’s just me.
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A Lesson in Love - A “Character Analysis” on Asmodeus
I had to come for the tracks, wigs, and weaves of bitches when Pomade dropped because I saw people talking shit about my boy. This was a milestone “project” or “reward” I guess?
I hit 400 followers today while I was out running errands!!! Thank you guys SO SO MUCH for the love and support! I can’t WAIT to produce more content for everyone!!!
Below the cut there WILL BE talk of season 3, as well as some talk of chapter 16. There’s a healthy amount of theorizing on his personality as well, I hope you don’t mind! This came out more like a plea to get people to change their minds about how Asmo really is, rather than a comprehensive essay of sorts. So here we go!
There’s something we apparently still need to talk about in this fanbase. The unrealistic idea of Asmodeus being a sex freak, and an unreliable person in general despite there being little proof of it. We need to set a few things straight about Asmo moving forward.
December 25th rolled around and Asmo’s audio drama and song were released. I take it everyone enjoyed both parts, as well as I did. My timeline both on twitter and tumblr were filled with Asmodeus content, as well as the other brothers and such. But I mostly got Asmo content. However, in peeks and cracks, if I looked hard enough, I still saw people who absolutely loathed Asmo or who were indifferent to him. Keep in mind; I think it’s okay. You don’t have to like everyone.
I’ve only joined the fanbase in September, but even I could tell some of these takes were old fashioned. I downloaded the game on October 17th, a very important anniversary for me, while I
was still in bed in the morning. I blazed through the entire story of season 1 and now I am stuck in season 2, specifically in Chapter 24. I obviously don’t have every card of Asmodeus with his Devilgrams, but I have been analyzing his character over the past few days for this.
So needless to say, I have a considerable amount of information on him, as well as personal thoughts that may help some learn to love him. Or at the very least, from spreading a negative idea of him around as if it were true. Enough that should help clear his name, so to speak.
Let’s look at his title; Avatar of Lust. Now naturally the thoughts that come to your head are sex and other sexual bits. So I can understand how some people would come to the conclusion that he’s just a sex freak. But if you look under the surface of his title, like I’m sure you’ve had to for your own personal favorites (*cough* Lucifer, Belphie, and Satan ESPECIALLY) you would discover that Asmodeus is more than just about sex. In fact, sex takes up very little of his pass time, if you were to believe it!
In recent chapters, as I’ve been told, Asmodeus doesn’t really get around much anyways:
Granted, this was said while in Celestia, but I imagine not much has changed for him since his fall, as well as his brothers.
Not really comfortable being with just anyone, huh…? Sounds like someone who doesn’t have sex so warily often as you’d think!
Being lustful can come in many shapes and forms. It can be merely in appearance, which Asmo is not afraid of doing. He’s very comfortable about skinship and it’s very apparent in how he dresses and acts that he wants you to adore his body. To worship it! Maybe not sexually, but aesthetically! Being lustful can mean just thinking about sex or sexual scenarios often, which if you take a peek at Asmo’s chat’s either with you or his brothers, is very apparent too.
Personally, I believe that people would assume he is not good in a relationship because he would have a “cheating problem”. I don’t think Asmo is a monster, just like I don’t think any of the brothers are monsters. They may be demons (technically fallen angels) now but they used to be angels too. Their falling out with their Father doesn’t mean they’ve completely abandoned morality, it was a rebellion for Lilith’s right to live. Not for them to sin as they pleased. For all we know they might have been fine in Heaven otherwise! (with the exception of Lucifer.)
A monster knows right from wrong and chooses evil anyways. An ignorant person doesn’t know right from wrong. Asmodeus is not a monster, nor is he ignorant.
When Asmo genuinely loves you, I think he would take steps to calm down that side of him, if it were to exist. Lust is fairly limited, but it is a part of love to some extent. LOVE is vastly different. Love has many languages, and they aren’t all spoken either. For me, personally, I found that Lucifer’s love language can be either very direct, or roundabout so as to not let it go to your head, for an example. Asmo is just far more direct about his care for you.
I feel as though Asmo gets a lot of crap constantly for his presumed nature and because we don’t get to see much else of him at first, especially in season 1, his impression on us sort of stays. With most of the fanbase either somewhat new to the game or somewhere lost in the sea of the difficulty curve that is season 2, we can only assume based on what we’ve seen, and what others have headcanoned about him.
Let’s break and talk about Satan for a moment; this is going somewhere.
I’m led to believe that Satan can control his sin fairly well. He’s easy to get irritated, sure, but he isn’t as much of a walking ball of rage as I suspected. I would argue that, aside from Leviathan, Satan can handle his sin the best out of the brothers. But again, we’re forgetting about Asmo. The Avatar of “Lust”. Like I’ve shown before, he doesn’t really sleep around a lot, according to anon.
At worst, Asmo being flirty is through text and he’s not actively trying to sleep with you. It can be interpreted that way, but for me personally, it comes down to having a friend that is very up close and in your personal space.
(I myself am one of these types of people. Having ADHD, my social cues are always sort of off, and I’ve struggled with coping with it for years. With my best friend, we have seen each other naked countless times and have slept in the same bed as well. We were never romantic with each other. We were just very comfortable being close and personal with each other.)
I’d like to point out also that Asmo isn’t even there for most of season 1 too. Which can give you the idea that maybe he just was out sleeping around a lot, but to me he probably just went out partying a lot. You don’t get known that fast for sleeping around. Maybe in 5,000 years, sure, but I’d imagine being a party boy, as his Devilgram “Guided by Desire” suggests.
So the idea that Asmo isn’t in the house a lot because he’s out having sex all the time isn’t true is it? He’s probably just out partying, which can LEAD to sex with someone sure, but again, Asmo doesn’t feel comfortable doing that, now does he?
I feel like of all the boys, Asmo is the one who radiates with everyone else the most. Most people will never realize how surreal it is that Asmo is faking it until he makes it. He doesn’t always think he’s beautiful, or that he’s worth all the love he’s striving and straining to get. Something that is extremely relatable for a lot of people with self-worth issues. Asmo is just like that, but instead being sarcastic and self-deprecating, he simply works to make himself look as beautiful as possible, so that in his eyes, his beauty matches the affection he gets.
Which is why, when he falls in love with you, it’s strange. You are constantly telling him he’s nice and pretty, but you aren’t lusting after him. You’re just being nice. It may just be me, but when people are overly nice just for the sake of being nice, I’m very attracted to that. That is Asmo, to some extent. The fact that he reflects the insecurities and habits of others so clearly may make others uncomfortable, but that brutal honesty veiled behind insecurity is what a lot of people with self-image issues deal with.
Now for me to share my favorite personal idea for Asmo that completely changed how I saw him in season 1 onwards; Asmodeus is an empath. Now let me explain:
First, what is an Empath?
The term empath comes from empathy, which is the ability to understand the experiences and feelings of others outside of your own perspective. Seems simple, right? Everyone can do this to some extent. However, what makes you an empath is the fact that empaths genuinely feel the same pain as you do. So much so your experience becomes a very personal part of their own. They are capable of being able to feel other people’s emotions without them speaking, or even showing signs of it through their body language.
This would explain, for me personally, why there’s so little of him in season 1. The intensity of what goes on in the house, his sensitive soft-spoken mannerisms, the only time he truly gets mad is when he’s childishly arguing with Mammon? Asmo is afraid of true conflict, he’s afraid of violence and negative emotions. Let’s face it; everyone is indifferent or hates you at the start of the game.
While this changes fairly quickly, all the intense feelings come to a head in chapter 16. All those negative emotions swirling around, of course Asmo isn’t going to want to be in the house when it’s that intense. The attic didn’t just disappear completely, too. Belphie was still in the attic hating humans. That negative emotion could be affecting Asmo and he didn’t know why, so he could have been out of the house more.
Where Asmo can feel the emotions of others, it may mostly be the negative ones because they fill him with anxiety and panic if it persists. Which can be helpful in making him so urgent to want to make others smile and feel better, right?
Imagine being intimate with Asmodeus, and suddenly you aren’t in the mood for it anymore but don’t want to make things awkward. He could pick up on it in an instant and wouldn’t get mad because he understands how you feel completely.
Now to close this out about something that genuinely hurts me; Asmodeus is a narcissist.
I mean, the wiki says that he is, but personally? No, no he isn’t. Since when is loving yourself a bad thing? Sure he may go a bit far sometimes, but people with self-image issues need to go a little harder than the rest to make sure they're getting the love they need.
(Talking about myself AGAIN, but I do this a lot. At random, I will look up in my own mirror in front of my desk that I sit in front of all day and tell myself I am a cute bitch. I am VERY VERY cute and anyone would be lucky to have someone as drop dead gorgeous as myself. I say that a few times a day. In reality, I am very insecure about my looks. I do believe I’m cute, but sometimes it’s hard to say it. Which is why I force myself. Why wouldn’t Asmo do the same?)
Talking yourself up to be as beautiful as a sex god is no easy task, but Asmo isn’t the Avatar of “Lust” for no reason. When an insecure girl talks up her beauty, it’s her being strong and independent. When Asmo does it, its narcissism… it doesn’t really seem fair, now does it? Maybe he’s just an insecure person who needs to tell himself ALL THE TIME that he’s beautiful. That if he stares at his reflection long enough, he may see it too.
(Also, Simeon literally calls him out on being insecure. Insecure people tend to try and overcompensate where they feel they’re lacking.)
”Asmodeus is hinted to be insecure and seeking for love and attention. When Simeon was asked about what he thought of Asmodeus, he says that Asmodeus is still trying to fulfill the role of the angel he used to be; an angel that was adored and loved by many. Asmodeus laughs at Simeon's remark and brushes it off by saying that he is only jealous.” - A section from said Asmodeus Wiki.
People can choose to love or hate Asmo, obviously. Making things up about his character without having anything but speculation and having that dictate how he acts is plain silly. This entire “essay” if you can call it that, comes from the heart. I love Asmo as a character, and in the beginning he did make me uncomfortable, I didn’t like him that much. But I learned to look past that and figure out why he acts the way he does. Something didn’t sit right with me about him for a while, and it was that air of insecurity that I didn’t see at first.
All I can really ask for, is giving Asmo another chance as a character. He’s not as wild and wacky as Mammon, or as cool and sexy as Lucifer, or as edgy and precious as Belphie, but he matters in this story too. He fell from grace with his brothers for Lilith. Give him another chance, and let him show you that he is the Avatar of Love.
#obey me#obey me shall we date#obey me swd#om!#om! swd#om! asmo#om! asmodeus#obey me asmo#obey me asmodeus#Thanks for 400 followers!
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Hey guys, I’ve decided to stop publishing Saltcoats for a number of reasons. I'm aware that many of you are going to initially be let down or confused, but hopefully once you’ve read through this post you’ll understand why this had to stop. I’ll try to hit all my points, but of course if you have any questions pls feel free to dm me or reply to this post.
DISCLAIMER: Ending this fic was a decision I came to by myself! No one asked me to do this, though many did help, and if you have something to add please do not bring other tumblr or ao3 users into the conversation unless they’ve explicitly said they’re ok with that. It’s a draining and heavy topic (not to me, but for those affected) and I don’t want to cause anymore unneeded distress.
Also, I’m the only author, all the problems with this story were created by me, and were biases I should have recognized and acted on much sooner. I’m very thankful to all the people that have reached out to me about the negative impacts on this fic, but it really does come down to: I wrote and published a story that was fundamentally ignorant of its setting and racist. So now I have to do my part to apologize and educate myself/take accountability.
First off, this was a flawed concept to begin with because I was trying to do a low fantasy setting with aliens in period clothes and a work of historical fiction at the same time, and those are not things you can go halfway on.
Historical fiction that centers around people of color has a long history of simply going race-blind and faking diversity by giving poc the roles of white people in Eurocentric stories and erasing their identities. (This article about Bridgerton explains the problem better than I could.) And it was something I tried to avoid by still having the Fetts written as immigrants from Aotearoa (NZ), but completely missed the execution on because I didn’t commit to full historical accuracy in all characters and aspects of the story. Meaning, I might as well have gone race-blind because you can’t pick and choose what to include, it’s just as racist.
This creates situations like the Fetts being immigrants facing real life oppression while the Organas, also people of color, are unaffected by the social climate and living as members of the British upper class. That’s not accurate to any version of history and ends up wiping clean any point I was trying to make about race and oppression. That also extends beyond the Fetts, I was not addressing how the american characters come from a country that still allows for the ownership of slaves, the British oppression of Scottish people and their culture, or even an in-depth look at real Queer communities of that era. (and more)
Given the real life historical climate in the 1850s, a multi-racial story like this one is not successful, and is racist in its ignorance of the struggles of poc, immigrants, and the intersectionality that had with class and crime.
In addition, the Fetts being written as criminals, even if it is framed as a morally correct choice*, is still playing into negative racial stereotypes that shouldn’t have been ignored.
* I should add, I don’t mean to make it sound like i’m creating excuses for myself when I give explanations for some of these choices such as “but it was framed as morally correct”, that doesn’t lessen the damage being done, it’s still racist, I guess I'm just trying to show why so many of these things went overlooked for as long as they did, and how easy it is for white/privileged people to find mental loopholes around racism when you’re not being sufficiently critical of yourself.
On another note, the Fetts being indigenous immigrants to Britain in the 1800s is not something I should have tried to tackle in fanfiction - a medium that often lacks nuance and can easily end up romanticizing or glossing over most heavy topics. This goes for period typical homophobia, addiction, and class struggles as well.
That being said! I’m not implying that any of those things should be completely ignored in fanfiction. Addiction, for example, is something very close to me that I do still want to explore in fanfic for the purposes of education and normalization, I’m not telling anyone what not to write, just checking myself. Because in a story like this where literally everything is so heavily dramatized and also applied to characters of color by me, a white person? It’s only going to end up being out of place, lacking in historical accuracy, and wholly disrespectful.
Another major problem I wanted to address is the relationship between a rich white person and a poverty stricken poc. That's a bad stereotype to begin with, but then I tried and failed to frame Obi-Wan as ignorant and biased to a point where his social status plays into the theme of class critique. But, if he’s still being written as Cody’s love interest, all his negative characteristics are ultimately going to be ignored and excused by the narrative (by me).
I’m not trying to end this conversation, I’ll always be willing to talk about this to anyone who’d want to say/hear more, but I don’t want run the point into the ground with over-explanation.
So, in conclusion, this fic had to stop and be broken down into the problem that it was. All white authors who write for the clones need to be hyper-vigilant about the fact that we are creating narratives for poc, and that our inherent racism is always in threat of being baked into in the stories we publish and spread to an audience. I was in the wrong when I wrote this story, and it should never have gone on for this long. I apologize for both my actions, and to anyone I may have hurt along the way.
This is getting posted on ao3 in the fic, and then, for now anyway, the fic is going to be deleted after a week. I’ll leave this post up and answer everyone unless it's someone trying to change my mind. Also, if I ignore an ask please send it again, tumblr might just have deleted it. I don’t want to try and bury this or run from my mistakes, I just don’t think that leaving the fic up where it can still find an audience will do anyone any good. Thank you for reading
If you're interested here's some resources I've been using to educate myself further:
What caused the New Zealand Wars? - An excerpt of the book by Vincent O'Malley of the same title. It gives a good summary of the violent colonization and oppression of Māori people and their culture by the British empire.
NZ Wars: Stories of Waitara (video) - Very educational documentary about the NZ wars and British colonialism. There are some historical recreations that get violent so pls watch with caution.
Historical American Fiction without the Racism - Tumblr post by @/writingwithcolor that talks specifically about Black people in the 1920's, but makes a good point about race and historical fiction in general. I'd recommend any post from this blog, especially their navigation page just a lot of great resources
Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story? - An article about writing outside of your race that includes a diverse series of testimonials
History of Scottish Independence - Details the colonization of Scotland by the British empire, sort of long, can cntrl + f to "The Acts of Union" for a more direct explanation.
The best books on Racism and How to Write History - A list of well written and diverse works of historical fiction and why they are good examples of representation
I have a lot more that I can share if you're interested (x x x x) but this post is getting a bit too long.
#I proofread this a lot but I'm sure there's problems with this post too#If anyone has something they want me to change or of theres anything I said that was offensive I'd appreciaite any help fixing it#but also I'll be rereading this all night and it will likely change before I put it on ao3#saltcoats#racism
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My Last Post Regarding The Tommy Scandal:
Let me start off by just saying holy hell, what a day.
And second:
Twitter is literally the most disappointing platform I have ever been apart of.
I don’t even know where to begin with how badly Twitter handled the situation with Tommy. I’ll admit, it isn’t the worst they’ve acted before, but damn they really didn’t do their best either. It sucks, cause the situation could have been handled better- and it was at first.
Cis Twitter stans are probably some the most confusing bunch I’ve ever come across. The fact that they pick and choose who can get away with doing controversial things is so annoying, and probably one of the most high and mighty god complexes I’ve ever seen. The fact that they called out and made Tommy trend instead of the actual problem itself was just pathetic in my opinion. KSI has interacted with so many other creators before in the past, a prime example being Quackity, yet no one made a single post in calling them out until now. This fact alone just goes to show that Twitter stans will come out of hibernation when they feel like it.
Twitter had made no type of effort in the past to call out KSI when he first made these transphobic comments before. There were no trending tags or @‘s or “lets educate him 🥰” posts for him because Twitter didn’t bother to care about it until now. The amount of hypocritical energy that was brimming through the platform is astounding.
We’ve gone through months of Twitter stans watching by as KSI interacted with other Minecraft youtubers and not a single one of them complained the entire time until now.
A lot of the adults on that platform did nothing but post passive aggressive comments to back handed advice. Adults, actual adults, were mad that a kid they put on some pedestal made one mistake and continued to state about how “disappointed” they were in him. Let me just remind you that once again, there’s no reason for any of the older fans to talk down to minors like some type of parent. Cause you’re NOT. It was very mature of Tommy to reach out to his own mom and take effort to see how he had hurt his words had affected his fans. It’s so abundantly clear that Tommy would never maliciously hurt his fandom in any way, not to mention that his first instinct would be to immediately apologize to everyone as well.
It was honestly mind boggling to see so many adults debating on whether or not is was morally right to forgive a 16 year old for a mistake he would obviously fix. The amount of people who were making threads stating how “it’s valid if you never want to forgive Tommy” was childish in my opinion. You’re adults.....holding a grudge against an actual child??? Like come on.
Twitter stans did nothing but juggle back and forth with “Tommy needs to address the situation right now!” And “Tommy, you need to take a while and think about what you said 🥰”. Yet when Tommy posted his first apology people were mad that it didn’t live up to their expectations. Were they aware that Tommy, like I said, is a whole child who was under the pressure of posting an apology despite not having time to really grasp what had happened? So many people flamed him because his post “sounded so confused” and “Tommy, honey nobody called you transphobic 😘”.
Except you did.
Of course Tommy is gonna sound confused in his apology. He wakes up and the first thing he’s greeted with are hashtags linking HIS NAME to the the word transphobic/transphobia. Of course that’s gonna be the first thing he apologizes for! Twitter basically made nothing but click bait posts that did nothing to properly explain to Tommy why transphobia was being brought up. And even despite this Tommy STILL apologized even when he didn’t know what he did wrong.
It’s so blatantly obvious Twitter realized that instead of tackling the problem at head, aka calling out KSI for his transphobic behavior, they chose to force and instigate a minor for collaborating and apologize on KSI’s behalf. It’s the most childish thing I’ve seen this year. It’s clear that Twitter stans are just awaiting to jump into next drama and put their two cents in before leaving the moment they realize they can’t get clout off their posts.
It’s frustrating because the amount of users making those posts as well weren’t even trans. The amount of “savior complex” energy cis Twitter stans showed while they spoke up over actual trans people who were genuinely upset was so embarrassing. It’s stupid to see how so many cis users got thousands of likes and retweets on their posts and acting on behalf of the trans community.
I’ll just wrap up by giving a genuine thank you to the trans community on Twitter who had the best interests in the whole Tommy situation. I’m sorry that a lot of you got trampled over by the cis users who basically used your problems as clout chasing tactics. You had every right to be upset and I appreciate that a lot of you took the situation with ease and attempted to quietly solve the problem without a hassle. Once again the cis side of Twitter blew everything out of proportion and attempted to but their two cents into the whole thing despite knowing it was an issue for the trans community to handle.
Dear Cis Twitter users, next time don’t be hypocrites and tell other users that they have no right to speak up about the situation before making your own posts for clout and followers. You look like clowns. I’d like to think that in another situation like those Twitter will act more mature....but I wouldn’t count on it. However a super big thank you to trans tumblr users who treated the entire situation with a mature personality. The mass difference between the two platforms shows me that people here have always had the best interest in actually making a difference.
In conclusion: Twitter is a dumpster fire 😁
#tommyinnit#mcyt#hopefully I won’t have to talk about this again#yesterday was so draining I hate Twitter
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what the characters of haikyuu smell like pt. 3
featuring: 𝐧𝐞𝐤𝐨𝐦𝐚, 𝐟𝐮𝐤𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐢, and 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐤𝐢
read part one and two!
DISCLAIMER: (just in case) this is my sister’s first impression on some of the boys so don’t take it too seriously!
warnings: touches on gender and sexuality at some parts.
post made by: alex 🍒 - ALSO I FIXED OUR ASK BOX AND SUBMISSIONS! i didn’t even realize they were disabled i apologize :c but yes, feel free interact with us!! maybe we shall open requests? or at least on my end hehe
— kuroo: nail polish
a strong aura
has a superiority complex but he knows bc he genuinely believes he’s better than everyone else
a cheater... in every way
wanted to be cool but then he created his own level of c00L B)
was popular - like the freshman that was friends with the seniors for nO reason
wears platform shoes
prefers vans over converse
drinks straight up expresso shots instead of coffee
uninterested in finding a relationship
(little does she know that this actually geeky science loving nerd is the loml so)
— kenma: wet fall leaves
tired of everyone’s bs
wanted peoples’ approval when he was younger but he’s grown out of that. already figured out it doesn’t matter
“i dont care if my roots grow in”
trans
hangs with the boys
shy
has a mysterious vibes
his old friend group kicked him out and is now a lone ranger
started playing volleyball to find friends and get his emotions out
has his own superiority complex because he wants to feel that he’s better than everyone else but he knows it’s unhealthy
acknowledges his own problems
likes edgar allan poe
— yaku: apple cocktail with vodka
mix of things: nice but also gets ticked off real easily
if he went to parties, he’d just be playing beer pong
has a girlfriend - one of the few things keeping him nice
doesn’t look he cares for people’s approval of him but he really does
B student
likes science but thinks astrology is stupid
jealous of vinnie hacker on tik tok
straight now but will become gay
— yamatoro: leather
grew up in a uhm... unfortunate place?
originally dyed his hair to look cool but went with the mohawk
people think he’s cool but just wants approval
single
dresses different than everyone else
but now since it’s becoming a trend, he’s really annoyed that he used to get bullied for it
had a michael jackson phase
likes edm
really bad at showing his emotions
pansexual
— lev: pool / chlorine
the kid that pushes you into the pool when you didn’t wanna be there in the first place
makes fun of you for watching anime but recently started watching it
grew up watching pokemon as a kid but he only liked team rocket
ALSO has a superiority complex
capricorn energy, moon in aries
actually dresses up scary for halloween
parents are sweet but he can be a bit of a meanie
had a toxic relationship with a woman... because he’s actually gay
— bokuto: gasoline
A CAR DUDE SKDJFSKDFJ
infatuated with cars
specifically owns a tesla in which his dad probably bought for him
spoiled as a kid
the popular kid
every popular person has at least dated him twice
everyone thinks he’s attractive
the class clown but may unintentionally make fun of people in the process
“iTs mEnTAL iLLnesS isN’T IT?”
has rich parents but at least he has morals!!!
but also might take your lunch money
taken, straight
changes girlfriends every two weeks
my sister basically thinks he’s your every day local fuckboi
— akaashi: burnt pasta
really trying his best
has good intentions but his execution’s either subpar or just awkward
likes science, specifically physics
really likes making paper airplanes and that’s how he flirts: he writes love notes and sends them your way
bad at showing emotions so he writes them
doodles and writes in class a lot
a transfer student
hasn’t had his first relationship yet
doesn’t like swimming but he likes pool floaties
knows how to play piano
straight... for now
— konoha: miso soup
a warn person
people who don’t know him are afraid to approach him but to people who are friends with him thinks he’s very comforting
hard on others because he’s hard on himself
has an arch nemesis that fights for his position
passive aggressive but means well
was bullied for the smallest reason... like he owned a spiderman lunch box in third grade
one guy stole his girl and his is SALTY
he’d be very startled if someone came up and hugged him
with that being said, his love language is acts of service
straight
— kita: ink
artistic
he does calligraphy
dabbles in spray paint
a bit conservative
enjoys watching skateboard falls, parkour gone wrong, etc.
cheated in elementary school
a- a bully
doesn’t let people get close to him
people don’t know what to think of him
rather good at things that people may not realize, but he really doesn’t care if they realize or not
prefers iced tea over lemonade
takes health very seriously and doesn’t drink soda
uses they/them and states he doesn’t need a relationship
but he’s had one in the past and that’s how he figured out
— osamu: cotton
a reliable person
doesn’t necessarily have a lot of friends but cherishes to make sure they feel appreciated
has a creative side
specifically sketches using pencil
likes movies and goes on movie dates
people like him for how forgiving he is
a hopeful person
has a realistic outlook on life
very practical
has several friends that are girls that think of him as an older brother
a lot of people like him but he he already has his eyes on set on someone
a closeted bi
— atsumu: butter beer
GEEK
a popular kid with a quirk
a marvel geek, his favorite superhero is the th3 classic iron man
likes girls who don’t wear a lot of makeup, also goes for bruh girls
genuinely a nice person
tries his best to be a approachable person but his geeky-ness gets in the way
has strange intentions?
puts a lot of thought into what he does but does it in a not-so-logic way
needs guidance
questioning life
is NOT like his brother
wants people to like him but he portrays himself weirdly
also questioning his sexuality
takes a gap year before college because he doesn’t know what he wants to do yet
— suna: battery acid
“there’s a potency to his presence”
takes all AP classes
does things for himself but he’s not that full of himself
wants to make it far in life
he doesn’t know what he wants to do but he knows he wants to make a difference in the world
always chooses to pick up trash for volunteer work
likes math because it’s straightforward
his dream significant other is someone just like him: he needs someone to care for him and soften him up
people say he’s intimidating but his friends say otherwise
into alternative rock
he would dress the way he wanted if he didn’t get bullied :(
pan and single
𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬!
— sakusa: the inside of a missionary
overwhelmed by his own thoughts but whatever he thinks, stays there
not much of a talker
he tutors people in math and science
reads a lot of fanfic
has a famous tumblr account - swashbuckler26 and posts abstract and contemporary art
desperately wants to graduate
wanted to become a doctor until he actually started researching
now wants to be an artist
owns peacocks
he has one best friend because they share the same interests but that leads them to argue a lot
goes by they/them and doesn’t care for a relationship
asexual
this is the last part but i’m sure i missed some :/ if you guys have any other characters that you would like her to react to, lmk! hopefully i’ll be able to write for them soon!!! - alex 🍒
#haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu headcanons#kuroo x reader#bokuto x reader#kenma x reader#akaashi x reader#yaku x reader#yamatoro x reader#lev x reader#konoha x reader#kita x reader#osamu x reader#atsumu x reader#suna x reader#sasuke x reader#hq x reader#haikyuu scenarios#haikyuu imagine#nekoma#fukurodani#inarizaki#alex 🍒
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Something I can never bring myself to understand is the MY fandom’s seeming obsession with *proving* Mahidevran or Hürrem as the more morally correct, more noble, more respect-worthy etc sultana. Or measuring whose actions and beliefs were the most justifiable or who suffered the most unfortunate circumstances. It seems to completely ignore the fact that most characters in the franchise, sans a small handful of characters, fall into the category of morally questionable or ambiguous. I feel like both Mahidevran and Hürrem are both victims to the same terrible circumstances and the enviornment in which they both lived and were forced to adapt to was a catalyst to a lot of their deplorable actions and beliefs. They both came to the palace as concubines with no family nor money to their names (I can’t recall if this was held consistent in the TV series for Mahidevran’s case or not but I know this is the case for her historically as well), both of them had their worth and their livelihood tied to their ability to produce princes and please the Sultan (who will take any opportunity to remind these women that they are a mere piece of property to him anytime they attempt to assert themselves in any way.) Then there’s the looming threat of the principle of fratricide that basically haunted them throughout the entirety of their motherhood. I’m in no way saying the immoral decisions they made was justifiable or somehow okay (Mahidevran killing Mehmet, Hürrem killing Mustafa, etc.) I just feel that there’s a lot of black-and-white thinking at play whenever the Mahi/Hürrem discourse comes up. What do you think?
Thank you for bringing this up, because it's probably the thing that bugs me the most about this fandom (outside of Tumblr currently). You voiced my overall thoughts into words so well!
I think these double standarts come from many places that can be both the only reasons for a person or just one of the many. In my experience, this "black or white", "all or nothing" attitude stems from the absolutist belief that people should pick sides and root for only one character (usually the protagonist) in a narrative. They're using the standard, superficial narrative roles of the protagonist and the antagonist in terms of Hürrem, thinking that for some reason the protagonist is always morally right in all she does, simply because she's the protagonist and we're supposed to unconditionally root for her. And if they don't like the protagonist, they choose root for "the other side" instead. They're better than that anyway, so of course, we should root for them!!
To be honest, the earlier seasons of the show make an attempt in justifying this assessment, with them having the narrative voice be rooted in Hürrem's favor, despite of all possible problematic actions that tell a different story altogether. MC Hürrem was given very understandable and sympathetic motivations, thorough character exploration, gradual character development and the privilege of far too obvious Plot Armor (make no mistake, every historical figure in the show has Plot Armor, but with the many attempts at her life, Hürrem's in particular, was way too glaring at points, sometimes to a ridiculous degree.) and the writers making her enemies doom themselves by their own failings, with her seemingly only enduring the "charade". (Valide's flanderization post-E38 is the most egregious example of this.) People I've encountered that are excusing Hürrem's behavior, are citing precisely the first episodes to present their arguments, often refusing to go beyond that. Mahidevran's motivations, while as nuanced as Hürrem's, don't seem as delved into in comparison at first (the origins and backstory of MC Mahidevran are shrouded in ambiguity, and while this is thematically appropriate for her character arc, as I explained here, it definetly doesn't help her case in bringing in more vocal sympathy.) and it could seem that her character is simply antagonistic to Hürrem, doesn't go anywhere and later revels in the depths of her ambition and wounded pride earlier than Hürrem began that similar development of hers. Some Mahi stans could see that probable difference of treatment in narrative and support her simply because of that, as well.
Assessing moral ambiguity isn't all that easy in the grand scheme of things, but it especially falls short when the narrative voice seemingly doesn't support it at first. But many miss that there's a very thin line between the actions and the narrative voice, that only turns into a very deep incongruity as the series progresses. I don't know, perhaps determing the moral ambiguity is indeed so complex, confusing and conflicting, since the whole story could get too complex and many might wonder who they'll root for now when everyone is so problematic. And that's a show that began as a simple soap opera, no less! Why would they even put in the effort in this case?
Not many people are used to ambiguous and questionable character development and are still trying to prove that there is one main positive characters in the show, which is why they try to make Mahidevran or Hürrem more morally right and justifiable than they actually are. They are so passionate about the debates they engage in, because this time period and MC is truly so ripe in analysis and it could be very fun to figure out where these characters come from and go through their 4-seasons long evolution in one chosen context, but by doing this, they so often miss the depth and nuance of the subject at hand and it all turns into a one-sided discourse that drives me nuts.
There is a historical context of the issue is also important to note, in my opinion. Both Mahidevran and Hürrem are historical figures and quite a bit of facts and deeds of theirs are now widely known. Most people in the fandom have opinions of them in advance or could've gained opinions of them a while after they began to watch the show. (There are also numerous fictional interpretations of the events during Süleiman's reign and the players in it, which may also play a part in the overall judgement.) Either way, the known historical facts about them (and other fictional interpretations one could've read, of course) could influence their points of view by a certain amount and use these general impressions to present them while analyzing the characters in the show. I've heard numerous arguments that this Hürrem isn't like the Hürrem the history knows about, that she isn't "their" Hürrem and what they read about her isn't depicted all that much in the show, which takes a lot away, according to them. I especially hate when they call MC Hürrem a one-dimensional "evil" caricature that only has vileness and smug about her, no conscience, no complexity whatsoever. (no, MC Hürrem isn't as simplistic and is much deeper and more nuanced. As far as fictional interpretations go, what they're describing is Hürrem in "The Sultan's Harem" from Colin Falconer, not MC Hürrem! In the MC/K franchise's terms, all they're doing is reducing her to the level of MCK Turhan Sultan, which is disrespectful to this character, to say the least. Turhan is the exact thematic contrast to Hürrem smh while Falconer's Hürrem is the most absurdly evil caricature imaginable, at least IMO, please and thank you!) Or even more unbelievably and outright hilariously, considering Hürrem's actions and the Sultanate of Women overall the downfall of the Ottoman Empire o.o and that's why Hürrem is so ruthless, so cruel, always intentionally, of course. This is plain ridiculous. Mahidevran, on the other hand, is presented by this clique as her "victim", as a completely innocent victim that had everything taken away from her. That Hürrem had stood between her and Süleiman and "ruined" their family. This take ignores every other factor of this falling out (Süleiman, that is) and a part of the nuance of Mahidevran's character. Reducing her to a simple "victim" doesn't cut it at all. Conversely, we have fans that simplify MC Mahidevran's character beyond every belief, loving the historical figure, but claiming they made her an "evil" and "stupid" bitch that cries and whines all the time. It's limiting and one-sided and even if it appears so, there are way far more layers to her character, that develop consistently throughout the narrative. The historical context of the time period itself is usually brought up in the debates, too, justifying whoever they want to justify by "It's a war, only the strongest ones survive!" or "You eat or get eaten! We should understand their time period, not judge by our contemporary times !", which is understandable and valid, but the only thing they end up doing is applying this logic only to their preferred characters when it should be applied to everyone. They try their best efforts to make one more morally right than the other, but they continually fail in the process, because the metric they judge them from is plagued by double standarts.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that excusing one of them, but not the other for most situations is wrong, because Mahidevran and Hürrem.... aren't all that different. What most people seem to miss, is that their character arcs are so contrastingly paralleling, because both of their endings were far from victorious and they got it for the exact same character reason, gained in a different way and in a different time. The persistent insistence of the fandom wanting a main character necessarily having a triumphant grand finale fails flat immediately, because there is no true victory in the franchise. They also miss the negative character development of both of them, them having to do the exact same stuff in many instances, both of them letting go of their pasts and/or former attachments, becoming vicious and ruthless in order to adapt to the circumstances, both of them had to make moves out of desperation because they felt threatened and they both protected their lives and the ones of their children at the end of the day. Heck, they're way more alike than they're different in my book. There is no morally right, no more noble here. Both of them had no qualms to do whatever it took to secure their own future and as you said, the narrative presented very neat motivations for them to do so as a whole. There is always a shade of grey and yes, who has the lighter shade of gray could be up for debate due to differing sympathies and perceptions, but that mustn't stop people to at least try looking at the "bigger picture" and try to view their characters with a bit more criticality, depth and respect.
Rooting for both conflicting sides is still seen as questionable and contradictory by some, but there really is nothing wrong with exploring their motivations without justifying them, no matter where your sympathies extend. I think it creates a more unbiased outlook on the both these characters and the themes around them and it's always awesome to see people doing that in any fandom, really.
And both Sultanas are worthy of respect, I said what I said.
#magnificent century#mahidevran sultan#hurrem sultan#ask#stuffandthangs#again this is all in my experience#there could be many other reasons for the double standarts#but they're all equally wrong and one-sided and one-dimensional and transparent
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Loving your analyses of Astarion's behaviour and character so far! It has really reaffirmed in my eyes just how much of a bastard he really is. (I say that fondly, of course.) Do you have any thoughts on why the general reaction on tumblr has leaned so much towards woobifying him? After looking at his actual (explicit and implicit) morals in game it seems quite odd that some people are reading him as an edgy soft boi who just needs a hug from the right person to fix him.
Hello!
Thank you very much! I really enjoy seeing chars in a deep way. It makes me change my opinion on them, sometimes. That's why I like to do these analysis, even though it's a lot of work for a person who doesn't speak English as a native.
Lol, please, I won't be offended. Astarion is a bastard in the whole sense of the word, lol.
However, I find Astarion an interesting evil (evil neutral imo) char to explore the narration of “abuser who found a greater abuser”, with all the topics I talked about in those posts. I would feel a bit disappointed if Larian suddenly changes him into a man who always had a gold heart (because for that, you need to give hints, even in EA, and none of that has been seen so far).
An example of how this is done is with Shadowheart, she is evil and she supports a lot of cruelty that Astarion does too, but we got meta-knowledge (and not so much meta when we see her heavily drunk after killing the tieflings) that gives us enough reasons to believe she has some heart in her, despite Shar and her teachings. I do not support the idea of “she is a softie”, because she is not, but she doesn't have the same level of cruelty nor revels in murder so much as Astarion does. They represent different degrees of evilness. What plays in her favour is her face, which gives the idea of more softness than she truly has; the same happens with Astarion. Lae'Zel is less cruel than Astarion in general, with more logical reasons to be so because her brainwashed culture made her to be more pragmatic than a taster of cruelty, and yet, she receives a lot of more hate in the fandom... and it is clear to me why: she is not “beautiful” in the traditional white euro-centric standard sense.
And this is my point to answer your question (remember all this is personal opinion): I think there are many reasons why people woobify Astarion (not only in tumblr, but also in Reddit or in Larian Forums, it's a big part of the EA fandom).
First and foremost, I believe it's his appearance. If he were a bugbear or a goblin, few in this fandom would give a thought about his abuse, his pain, Cazador, etc. They would focus on his “bastard” side and leave it at that (again, Lae'Zel has this treatment). I want to make clear that I'm not questioning people's taste, everyone can like whatever they want to. I'm saying that, for me, there it proof enough to sustain this idea that Astarion is woobified because he is beautiful: when you read that a lot of people in this fandom never had an interest in Larian's previous games, or isometric rpgs, or even turn-based combat games (there are some people who are giving feedback against the game being a turned-based combat one! It's the nonsense because it's basically Larian's style), but they bought bg3 because they saw Astarion, even though they knew nothing about him.... All this, clearly, shows to me that a lot of people approached this game for only one char, for only his design (a big amount of them say it explicitly), and it is not far-fetched to know that people justify more easily beautiful villains than ugly ones.
We can explore a lot of examples of this in many fandoms. People can love villains because they have real complex reasons to be so (like Loghain in DAO), but they also can like whimsical villains just because they are “hot”. I feel this is Astarion's case, he is a “beautiful villain” who apparently has always been evil. His reasons for his whimsical evilness is more like “it's always been in his nature”. Unless the family part has a different role in his backstory (mirror option) and it's not a mere line for a player to play a “good aligned” Astarion when picked as Origin. I don't like to read much about it in that scene because the game still doesn't have companion Tags; those options in the mirror can be there just for the player to pick, flavoured with each origin, but not necessarily the three of them are canon. This will be seen once we have the companion tags activated as it happened in DOS2.
What we can say for sure is that Larian knew what they were doing when they picked Astarion's design; they choose a dangerous white guy with white hair and evil alignment: an archetype that catches a lot of people in many fandoms.
Part of his woobyfication process has a deep root there, in my opinion. Again, if he were a bugbear, a goblin, a githyanki, a monster-humanoid... we would not have 90% of the EA fandom collapsed with his image, or Larian focused on him to the point that after 4 patches he had new scenes, lines, corrections, and development, while Wyll is still there, sitting in the bench of “the less developed chars” (with around 2k less lines than the rest of the chars, and his personal quest bugged since the first day). Yes, I don't like the preference on one single companion when I am seeing the “future Beast” (from DOS2) in Wyll.
Second, he is a vampire. Vampires are a great element in any fantasy narrative. You know you will have a lot of fans behind a vampire char. Not by chance Vampire The Masquerade is one, if not the most important product of White Wolf, which keeps still giving them a lot of profit despite being decades old. Vampires are always a good element of personal horror, of lack of control of your own body, and also an allegory of abuse, power, and rape. This concept of “being a monster without control” that they embody helps a bit more for the woobification.
Third, people tend to mix a lot headcanon with what a character gives us as canon. We can have a long useless discussion about which is more worthy: canon or headcanon, or about why one should or should not respect canon, but putting all that discussion aside, and considering the previous two points, I see that a small part of his woobyfication comes from the fact that people love denial and self-projection instead of analysing of what they are given (and let's be honest, we know in tumblr, reddit and others social networks, people lack of reading comprehension skills, which makes analysis all about self projection without a real effort in understanding the character's perspective. It's all about the player unilateral perspective. How can you analyse a char you didn’t play with or explored in all its paths? ).
So if their beautiful character is behaving in a way they don't want to, they start considering him “random” (I read this so much that confuses me, because Astarion has clear patterns for everyone who wants to see them, like the rest of the companions. He is not random, he follows pretty well all what I listed here, that list helps you to predict what he will disapprove or approve) so they end up filling this apparent “randomness” with headcanons and self-projections. Don't get me wrong, I don't despise headcanons, I love them, I have a lot of them and create with them. But I also like honest analysis and separate what I want from what I get from a company (to correctly give them feedback, otherwise I will be giving them my headcanons).
If you don't want an aspect of a given char, and you want to deny it, it's perfectly fine. Do it, it's your entertainment, but be honest with the fandom about it, acknowledge this is a personal denial you enjoy. And mainly, don't use headcanons and self-projections to attack the rest of the chars you don't like in their own tags. We know how aggressive some people in this fandom are, and it's a bit frustrating to see aggression without the slightest effort in understanding the character they hate.
There is also something sad to say, related to self-projection, that contributes to Astarion's woobyfication too: a lot of players are survivors of abuse who connect with him from trauma, and I can understand if denying his past is a way to help them to release any kind of pain or need for vengeance against their abusers. It's a natural and totally understandable projection. The woobyfication, then, ends up in an intense self-projection where they give to the char something that they needed because their own trauma.
This is why I would like Larian to give us other survivor chars that people can project onto, whose stories are really about survivors of abuse who were not evil in the beginning. Because I feel a lot of people approached Astarion as a narration of a “victim who will become a victimiser” or as a “bad behaved victim”, instead of what I think it's shown: an abuser who found a greater abuser (and his story is about punishment of the abuser and the concept of justice in a world which has none), so trauma survivors will end up with disappointment if they think Astarion is something similar to the representation of what they experienced. Plus, vampirism is never good to use as allegories of abusers/victims because the relationship Sire/Childe is too sick and twisted. So, again, this is a mere opinion from all what I've been reading since the game came out.
I hope Larian sticks to the narration they seem to follow with Astarion: an abuser who found a greater one, and now wants to become the next Cazador, and this woobifycation doesn't change the real potential of a dark deep story that I believe they want to give us: not every char is redeemable, and sometimes evilness is capricious. We had chars like these in bg1 and bg2 after all.
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I’ve seen a lot of talk about anti anti culture lately and an emphasis on canceling people who write stories where bad things happen (i.e., rape, molestation, abuse). I’m really interested in facilitating a positive, open space here on my blog. So sharing my personal opinion about this at all is something I thought about for a while, and my hope is that it offers a helpful perspective as well as solidarity to people who use fiction the same way as me.
It’s not directed at anyone in particular or any event in particular. The tl;dr version is – people should always have a choice, they should be allowed to read or choose not to read, they should be allowed to write and share or choose not to write or share. Taking that choice away from people ultimately hurts survivors by making topics taboo and forcing everyone to fit a specific moral narrative for their pain or experiences to be valid.
Trigger Warnings: Rape, abuse, cancel culture, child molestation, depression, suicide, dogmatic religion, homophobia
1. These things DO happen in real life, and yes, they are harmful, and yes, reading about them can be triggering. Fully, completely acknowledge all of these things and have experienced my share of it firsthand.
2. People should be allowed to know before they get invested in a story whether triggers might be present so that they can choose to avoid it if they want to. It is their choice, and responsibility to decide not to read something that is appropriately tagged. (And please, please tag appropriately!)
3. Being interested in reading about dark subjects does not make a person evil. Somewhere between 31-57 percent of women admit to having rape fantasies. (x) That does not mean women want to be raped in real life. It does not mean that half the population of women are perverted degenerates. Reading fiction, like indulging in our fantasies, is a safe place to explore and enjoy sensations, dramas, and experiences we still don’t want in real life.
In less touchy examples - I love reading about gladiator arena battles! I love playing apocalyptic games where monsters jump out of the dark and scare the shit out of me! I do not want gladiator rings or to live in an apocalypse in real life! That doesn’t mean my interest in these stories or games condones them in real life. It doesn’t mean I think it was right that Rome irl forced slaves to fight to the death for entertainment.
4. I grew up in an environment without grey areas. The dogmatic Bible-beating hatemongering kind. Someone was good and did everything right according to my beliefs and worldview, or someone was bad and a direct threat to me. If I did something wrong, I had to punish myself physically and emotionally to make up for not being perfect. I was taught to despise myself. My parents believed there was only one correct way to view any situation - their way. I was petrified of punishment and learned that it wasn’t even worth trying to do better or accommodate someone else’s experiences because I would never measure up and would be condemned for doing something that wasn’t perfect. That is immensely, cripplingly harmful to an individual and to society. Cancel culture does the same thing. It excommunicates people who aren’t pure and allows others to get by with abuse because they are ‘teaching’ or an ‘authority on morality’ – and guess what? Nobody is pure. We are all human, we all make mistakes, and we are all learning. None of us have moral authority.
We cannot build a healthy, inclusive society if we are unsafe. We cannot be safe if we are not allowed to first admit that we ALL make mistakes and have prejudices that we can improve on. So we need to be kind and nonjudgmental whenever we have the chance to be. And we have to accept and respect that what’s fun or helpful or healing for us might be the opposite for someone else, or vice versa. Which is okay if we are respectful of each other’s boundaries and don’t try to force a way of being onto someone else without their consent.
5. With regard to writing, this means that people need to be allowed to explore difficult, even painful topics if they wish to. Even for fun. Even if someone else might not want or need to explore those same topics. That doesn’t make either person inherently evil or wrong. It just means we all have different needs and wants and diversity is normal.
As a serious example, as someone who was molested by a teenage neighbor as a child, I can guarantee you that the fact these topics were considered so disgusting and taboo by society made it very difficult for me to cope. It was not my fault, and I’ve healed from it, but when it happened I didn’t even understand what was going on, and the guilt and self-blame that followed me for years afterward were almost crippling. So yes – what happened to me in real life was wrong, inexcusable behavior. But censorship did not protect me. First it made me ignorant and vulnerable to manipulation, and then it made me feel dirty, disgusting, and isolated.
What I needed was a safe avenue to talk about it and the thoughts and sensations it stirred up, in order to heal. I needed to know it was okay to have automatic thoughts – they were a result of fear and trauma or even just being human, not a moral failing on my part. I needed to actually talk about and explore what I had felt openly, and how that related to the rest of my life, before I could move past it and have a healthy view of intimate acts that weren’t soaked in guilt and self-loathing.
I read a book after that happened, set in ancient Rome, where pederasty took place. And the victim was allowed to admit that he’d enjoyed some of what had happened to him while enslaved, and was then assured that even though he didn’t hate everything that he experienced, it didn’t make him to blame, nor his abuser right, and those thoughts/feelings did not define him or his morality. That has been immensely healing to me – but this ‘grey’ exploration of a topic is not compatible with mainstream cancel culture.
Or alternatively, I watched the series 13 Reasons Why. I hated it. It felt like nothing but shock value entertainment and not a respectful management of topics like suicide that were very, VERY real to me. Except for someone else I knew who had also struggled with suicidal thoughts and impulses, 13 Reasons Why was immensely validating. They were glad that a series showed such graphic representation of these events in a way that couldn’t be ignored or brushed over. What had been hurtful to me, was empowering to them.
I believe it is not mine, or anyone else’s place, to decide that a piece of media should be across the board banned because of what it might do. Because while some of us share traumas, we still each have different experiences, needs, and healing processes.
Such strict censorship allows for only victims who meet a certain “standard” to receive care and healing. The rest are left to suffer or are even punished further.
All of us have gone through life with vastly different levels of privilege, opportunity, expectations, etc, which leads to vastly different interpretations of the world, none of which are 100% correct or true.
6. Cancel culture hurts LGBTQ+ rights. I’m neither straight or cis, and I might never have learned that if I hadn’t been able to build friendships outside of my social circle who allowed me to integrate and ask questions without being obligated to agree with them. Where I grew up, there was immense prejudice against gay people. My cousin was disowned and disinherited for coming out. I was sheltered from anyone who might argue for gay rights, and discouraged from looking at or being curious of the deep south’s version of ‘problematic.’ That’s what I was taught – to be uncomfortable toward, judgmental, and condemning. If I had been on tumblr during those years and gotten ‘cancelled’ I would have been even more suspicious and condemning of Others, and even more determined that my way was the only right one. I specifically avoided tumblr social circles because I ‘knew’ they hated ‘people like me.’ It’s not exclusive. This trend where people become even more convinced to pick an opposing side because the Other person is being hateful is one of the first things they teach you in social psychology.
The kind of intolerance that goes with mobbing people for saying anything they consider problematic at all is the same cruelty that makes me unable to tell my parents I identify as agender or pan. It’s what gets women stoned to death and gays beheaded. It’s not moral.
What changed my point of view was friendships. One of my friends came out as gay and my world turned upside down because here was someone that didn’t match any of the stereotypes I’d been taught to fear. He wasn’t hateful or condemning of me, he was one of the most thoughtful and peaceful people I knew. That is what started to change things for me, and made it safe for me to explore other ways of thinking and interpretations of scripture. Because I cared about him more than I needed to be right.
7. Nobody is obligated to interact with someone who is being violent or hateful to them. You’re not even obligated to interact with someone you disagree with, if the topic is too painful or you simply don’t want to talk about it. Keep yourselves safe. But within the world of writing, live and let live. If someone posts a story you don’t like, and they’ve tagged it appropriately, please, please consider that your experience is not universal. You have the choice not to read that story. Someone else might need to read it. Let them, and don’t shame them for it.
#cancel culture#tw rape#tw abuse#tw child molestation#tw depression#tw suicide#tw religion#tw homophobia#tw cancel culture#wyn gabs#not fallout#text#long post
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ngl I'm kind of surprised by how much people still stan poppy after her blatant racism and classism, not to mention her making fun of a sexual harrassment victim and they hide behind 'if poppy was a guy you wouldn't have this kind of reaction' like I know the fandom can be misogynistic but I'm pretty sure everyone draws the line at said racism, classism, ect
Look, I get it and I agree wholeheartedly but that part of “if poppy was a guy you wouldn't have this kind of reaction” kind of troubles me because IF Poppy actually was a hot guy, I’m almost certain he’d have even more fans. Let’s not pretend this fandom doesn’t coddle white and white-adjacent men
Like, both of these statements can be true; she’s trash and if she was a guy, people would stan him
With the way this fandom treats black characters in general, frankly no I don’t think racism or classism would be enough to stop them. I mean, Tumblr does a pretty good job of educating people but the fandom is bigger than Tumblr and a lot of people in this fandom have shitty takes in general when it comes to issues regarding the -isms. I mean even a bunch of people on here thought Zoey was partially at fault or even thought she deserved what happened at the Bacchanalia (at least they knew to hide that shitty take behind anon) and loads more had the same thing to say on other platforms with their whole chest. I mean, Nathan Sterling was a classist little shit who thought he and his friends could just do whatever they wanted because they were rich and lots of people still wanted him so classism? Check. And tons of people on here simp for a white dirty fucking cop too so racism? Check
I saw a comment somewhere on here yesterday about how we found out Poppy had a bad childhood or daddy issues and that doesn’t excuse what she did and that’s true; I’m a firm believer in your past/childhood being a reason for bad behavior but not an excuse. For example, I was bullied to shit as a child in elementary school by my entire class and I even lost my two front teeth in the process but I didn’t turn into a school shooter. This is why every time the news tries to portray every white kid school shooter as some kind of loner victim so he won’t get jail time, me, and every other black kid that was ever bullied in school scoffs. And this is why I have such a big problem with people saying Noah from It Lives did nothing wrong and want him to be a love interest (Sorry, I think I’m getting off-topic here...)
I reiterate: Poppy is trash; she is a bad person who crossed several lines and I’m ashamed to say that I stanned her before but let’s not pretend the straights are morally superior to the lesbians and bi girls that picked Poppy because at least in their defense, straight women get their pick of good men and still choose trash but good and interesting LGBT characters are few and far between from PB and even if Poppy is awful, at least she well-written
Side note: @nikkisha16 made a post about how her MC hooked up with Poppy the second time because her MC is also a bad person and you know what? Valid. She’s right; people asked to get to play a villain and romance one so if that’s how you played it, more power to you
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While you're looking into rps can we talk about Devereux Academy for a minute? A basic look at their main and rules reveals Kristin Stewart as an FC but she's asked repeatedly not to be used in rp, people getting originally tested for being Dom Switch or sub at 17, the rp wording is almost an exact replica of another rp that ran for a while, and they are allowing the Motta family to be whitewashed with a white Robert Pattinson FC. I'm sure theres more i was just too disgusted to keep looking.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been told to take a look at @devereuxacademy or heard about it being problematic. I can’t tell you about the dash and I’m not going to troll through everyone’s blogs, so if there is something on the dash that anyone would like to share with me (problematic plots, not tagging triggers, admin behavior,etc) then feel free to send another ask.
More than one person came to me when this rp first hit the tags, asking if I thought they had stolen parts of their rp. I reported this by answering multiple different asks about it and they never responded, which is very telling. Honestly, I think they did. Intentionally or not, they do have a lot of parts of other, existing roleplays in their plot and there are so many copy and pasted things that it looks to be done on purpose. You can say, “but it’s a D/s academy rp and there’s only so many ways to rp in a school, so of course it looks similar to other rps of the same genre” except for the part where even academy rps have their own unique plot points, including the history of the world, social economics, and the school as well as the history of the administration. And that wasn’t the last time it was brought to my attention, or the only reason. I do see it, if we’re looking for my opinion on the matter of stolen plot content. I can see at least three different roleplays that were already in the tags for a long time, weaved together to make this group. I don’t really see anything that is original in the plot or worldview info, aside from maybe the intense details on IVF as the reason for there being so many triplets. Don’t quote me on that, though, it may have been used before. I just haven’t seen it.
It weirds me out that they have all of their characters being thrust into nsfw situations before 18, with what should be an 18+ concept like BDSM, and at the same time they’re a discord rp as well as a tumblr rp. It says on their application that the characters are tested to find out which mark they are at 17. That’s a minor, being tested in a nsfw way because however you slice it BDSM and D/s are nsfw and nobody under the age of 18 can legally or morally be allowed to even dip a single toe in and that includes taking a test to find out what kinks they like and whether they’re going to want to be catching or receiving when it comes to sex. It just makes me wonder what’s being hidden in the discord. I’d also like to mention that they do have the option to play teachers as well as students, which is just weird and gross to me in this instance. The content is nsfw, clearly some students are going to get with teachers. It’s weird enough when it’s a sfw college rp and students do not smut with teachers, but being a teacher is a respectable character choice so I can see why you’d want to do it. If you were going to focus on talking to other teachers and developing plots with other teachers. In this instance though... the power dynamic between teachers and students are way different and there is a sexual overtone automatically because this is a kinky smut rp. You can also play a character as young as 21, which just makes me hope there are no relationships being written out by naive 21 year olds with their 30-40-50+, way more mature, could be their parent teacher. That might sound like I’m making up something that would never happen, but I have seen someone try to play a 62 year old lesbian that was predatory towards 19 year olds and even claimed one in a D/s rp like this. We all know how Glee rps work, we all know this line has already been crossed. We all also know why that’s gross- it’s an abuse of power and there is no way that a teacher/student dynamic could be cute because there will always be a sense of one person being way more mature than the other and being in a seat of power. Another reason to wonder what’s being hidden on this discord.
There are incorrectly casted families. In particular, I’m seeing POC families with fcs that should not belong because they do not match. I’d really like to know how it is that two Filipino girls and a black girl are twins. As a general note to the admins, you can’t erase half of someone’s ethnicity either. There are other families where one or more character is half right but also half wrong in an offensive way. And some families that are just wrong. I do give them props on some of this being right, but that doesn’t erase the other problems. You can’t whitewash people. Not all Asians are the same. Not all Latinx people are the same. Brown people aren’t interchangeable. Let me just list these so they’re easier to fix:
In the Adams family, Alex Newell is African-American but the fc has a sister that’s British, Polish and Caribbean. That might be picking at straws but I always find it offensive when people pick and choose how to group ethnicities- like deciding all Asians are the same so they can be related. Either way, she’s over half white which doesn’t match up.
Laura Harrier is Rachel Berry, she is half black and half white with Jewish background so that’s a really nice choice but then she’s twins with two Haliee Steinfeld fcs? Hailee who is Filipino... She’s also been accused of using the N word and being racist so she’s on a lot of people’s banned lists for the same reasons as Lea Michele.
Brianna Tju is in a Chinese family but she’s half Indonesian. She’s also a Disney Channel star, so some people find that problematic from the start, because most of her resources are from kid’s shows at an age that is too young to be roleplaying. She’s only 22 now, which is old enough to rp, however the only real resources she has are from something that aired in 2015 and was likely filmed in 2014 or earlier. When she was definitely a minor.
Kaya Scoldelario is Brazilian. She’s whitewashed by being placed in the Clarington family.
Zoe Deutch is Jewish. Her siblings are Matthew Daddario (Slovak, Italian, Irish, Hungarian, and English) and Haley Lu Richardson, who has a white background that doesn’t include Jewish. This is the Corcoran family as well, which should be Jewish, since they’re all related to Idina Menzel.
Victoria Pedretti is Jewish and she’s in the very white Evans family.
None of the older Fabrays are Jewish, and Ashley Johnson is Native American but also somehow a twin of the white Frannie Fabray.
Principal Figgins is played by someone that is Pakistani but the Figgins on the masterlist is played by Dev Patel, who is Gujarati Indian.
Tyler Hoechlin is also partially Native American, but he is placed in the Flangan (Irish, like straight out of Ireland) family that has Rory recast as Thomas Dogherty (Scottish) with an Ariana Grande (Italian) twin as well.
Kristen Stewart is on the masterlist but she has asked numerous times not to be used in roleplay because it makes her uncomfortable. I just covered this for another roleplay, and I’ve seen other people mention it, so it’s common knowledge at this point. She has been saying this for a long time. She’s also placed as the twin of Danielle Campbell, who is Mexican and Cajun French while Kristen is just white and the canon family member (Gilbert, so Adam Lambert) is Jewish.
Zendaya is also placed as a twin to Samantha Ware. Zendaya is mixed race, half black and half white, while Samantha is black.
Yvette Monreal is the twin to Demi Lovato. Yvette is Chilean. Demi is Mexican and Portuguese.
Avan Jogia is a Hart, but he is Gujarati Indian and white. He would be a better family relation to Dev Patel than anyone else on the masterlist and vice versa. As a refresher, Samuel Larsen (the canon fc for the Hart family) is Mexican, Danish, Spanish and Persian.
Maddison Jaizani is Iranian, but she’s listed as a Holliday which makes her related to Gwyneth Paltrow... a blonde, white woman.
Jacob Elordia is Basque and his sibling on the masterlist is Marie Avgeropoulos, a Greek actress.
Rafael Silva is Brazilian, but he is a Lopez triplet, related to a Mexican-Irish sister (Lindsay Morgan) and a Mexican-Jewish sister (Alexa Demie).
Sugar Motta is played by Vanessa Lengies on Glee, an Egyptian actress. Her family is whitewashed with two white fcs, Kelli Berglung and Robert Pattinson.
Kaylee Byrant is Japanese but she is twin to Madison Beer (Jewish) and Daisy Ridley (white).
The Puckerman family has lost its Jewish heritage. The only two on Noah’s side are Adelaide Kane (white) and Luke Pasqualino (Italian). Jake Puckerman has been recast as Justice Smith, who is half black and half white but is not Jewish. His sister is Samantha Logan who is half Trinidadian and half white and Pauline Singer, who is full Fijian.
Antonia Gentry is cast as a Weston. She is Jamaican, her listed twin is half white and half African-American. The newest acceptance for a Weston is for an African American fc.
Lili Reinhart is on the masterlist, but she’s problematic. She’s defended the abusive behavior of her cast mate, Cole Sprouse, who was very publicly accused of sexual assault and abuse. She’s also been accused of blackface annnnnnnd she’s used queer baiting to get people to watch the show. (She teased a girl on girl relationship publicly, telling people to watch the show because they might finally get to see something between Betty and Veronica, knowing that the fans wanted it, but then when she was asked about it in a later interview she scoffed and acted like it was absolutely impossible and would never happen, some would say she even sounded offended by the thought-- which is what everyone got mad at Melissa Benoist for doing with Supergirl.)
David Corenswet is Jewish, cast with Emily Browning as a sister, who is not.
I applaud the Brazilian change for Lauren Zizes, but Ashley Fink was a welcome representation of plus size actresses and the new fc is less than half her size. She’s still plus size technically, but she’s “model plus size,” which is not at all the same as Lauren’s body type. I ran this by someone that this change would affect and they were not pleased. They were the one that pointed this out to me, because it bothered them as a plus size person to see one of the few plus size characters recasted with a skinnier fc.
Dove Cameron is also on the masterlist, but she’s on a bunch of people’s banned lists. She replied to a fan that said they wanted her to notice them that they were stupid and had no life if that was one of their goals. She’s been rude to cast and crew on set. Dove has also been accused of throwing a fit and making the writers change the Descendants script to take the relationship that was written out for a black actress. She’s being accused of yellow fishing, which I believe is the term for trying to look Asian. She wore a Native American headdress in a cultural appropriation type of way. She’s been accused of being fatphobic and hiding behind photoshop on her social media while saying she doesn’t photoshop, so she’s giving off a false sense of reality to her fans. She’s been talking badly about someone that is trying to get their sexual assault story out there. The latest thing that’s come out about her is a rant about how mental health isn’t real and that people just need to logic their way out of depression? Which would be coming from a seat of high privilege. She wrote a series of tweets on the topic, calling negative mental health and the feelings they cause “a choice.” There’s a whole hashtag on Tumblr for her.
I’m not at all surprised to see that all of the diverse characters are open. No Artie, no Unique- who could definitely be recast as an actual trans woman, now that we’re living in the age of recasting for reasons of problematic natures- if we can have a new Puck, new Finn, new Rachel, and new Santana why not an appropriate Unique? She is literally the only canon trans woman, why not treat her with respect? They recasted Cooper to better fit the proper ethnicity, so...
#glee rph#glee rp#glee twin rp#glee multiples rp#smut rp#ds rp#kink rp#rph#rpcw#rpcha#sebastian answers#devereuxacademy#Anonymous
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