One of the most terrible things about this event is the sense of its inevitability. The violence of apartheid and colonialism begets more violence. Many people have struggled with the straightjacket of this inevitability, straining to articulate that its recognition does not mean its embrace. I am reminding myself that it was from Palestinians, many of them writing and speaking in these pages, that I learned to think of Palestine as a site of possibility—a place where the very idea of the nation-state, which has so harmed both peoples, could be remade or destroyed entirely. And it was Palestinians who opened my thinking to multiple visions of sharing the land. On the left, I hope we do not mistake the inevitability of the violence for an inescapable limit on our work or the quality of our thought. Even if our dreams for better have failed, they must accompany us through this moment to the other side. We need to imagine a movement for liberation better even than the Exodus—an exodus where neither people has to leave. Where people stay to pick up the pieces, rearranging themselves not just as Jews or Palestinians but as antifascists and workers and artists. I want what Puerto Rican Jewish poet and activist Aurora Levins Morales describes in her poem “Red Sea”:

We cannot cross until we carry each other,

all of us refugees, all of us prophets.

No more taking turns on history’s wheel,

trying to collect old debts no-one can pay.

The sea will not open that way.

This time that country

is what we promise each other,

our rage pressed cheek to cheek

until tears flood the space between,

until there are no enemies left,

because this time no one will be left to drown

and all of us must be chosen.

This time it’s all of us or none.

If two YouTubers that haven’t been “relevant” since 2013 can raise 83,000$ for Gaza, then yall can share posts about Gaza. It’s literally the least you can do.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thieves:

this is a HETALIA post that will end with a conclusion about hetalia. thx

i dont want to focus too much on global south victimhood or this or that, i dont want to take away agency from the global south, but its kind of heartbreaking to me how you can run through the entire history of this or that western country with colonialism, imperialist wars, and the flow of money as a footnote, but the histories of those countries they ravaged are forever ripped by that same imperialism.

I guess i was thinking about this, about history and nation personifications and what counts as ‘political’. To be honest, its impossible for me to totally separate nation and history from politics, to completely cleanse away the mentions of anything bad or scary or painful, you may treat it gently or grimly or comedically but it’s always going to be there as long as you see these nations as nations, as history (ie not an AU). And of course, that history of the global south which so deeply intertwines with colonialism/imperialism is almost always labeled as political, always seen as sensitive.

However… I think it’s telling that much of the fandom who engages with western characters (and I should put a quick disclaimer that there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself) are able to shrug the colonialism away and simply choose not to engage. Just like history books on western nations can cleanly sweep each war, each colony, each invasion under a quickly brushed aside footnote, it’s not hard to look away from where the money and resources come from. Total empire, colony influence on the metropole, they do exist, but what are they compared to the influence on the colony itself? To build the framework of a nation personification of a formerly colonized country, to make even the most basic decisions on their age and birth and identity becomes difficult without delving into the imperialist violence that formed their modern state. To give a recount of any country ravaged by imperialist wars, it’s impossible to avoid giving name to the violence that left the nation reeling into modern day.

So, yes, it’s very telling to me how easy it is to brush aside ‘politics’ when speaking only of western nation personifications.

In the country where your cousins live, the head of state of an ethnic minority has been assassinated and his people’s greatest assets stolen or destroyed. They are forced to beg your cousins for help, who refuse, and they fall to fighting and a pyrrhic victory.

They are exiled and seek asylum, coming through political turmoil in two separate and suffering hosts to your country. Do you a) offer them aid and unite against a common threat, or b) bar many entrance to your realm (the only politically stable area), restrict the places they’re allowed to go, and ban their native language?

Thingol wants to make Doriath great again.

For the good of the world

But to Runaan and those like your parents, love is rooted in all families, all creatures... Souls like that feel called to protect everyone as fiercely as those they hold dear. Each time Runaan leaves, it is with the weight of knowing that he may not come back. That to fulfil his duty, he may need to sacrifice everything, himself, and all that we have here. 

+

Splatoon 3 hero mode spoilers past this point!

----------------

Am I the only one who feels really fucked up by like, log four's lore? It's really horrifying how it's described. Like, imagine being the scientists, so desperate to see the sky, that your ambitions end up snuffing out humanity for good. But that's not all! The log goes absolutely out of the way to let us know that anyone who survived the initial disaster died soon after.

Imagine being a child during all this. Perhaps your name is Rhea, and you don't exactly know what the sky is like, but you're excited for the big day of the rocket launch because your parents are. But then everything goes wrong. There's so much screaming and fear, then silence. You emerge from the rubble not knowing what happened or where your family is. And now you can't do anything but wander the ruins of humanity, scared, alone, and soon to be very hungry.

Or maybe you're Marcus - somehow, you got out unscathed say for some scratches when your apartment collapsed. But, you've got a problem; you're trapped. The walls caved in in such a way that you have plenty of air, but no hope of escape. You can only scream for help, struggle, pace and eventual lay down in what you realize is your tomb.

Hell, maybe you're even one of the luckier ones. You're Salem, and you don't really care that much about the launch. You were having a wonderful afternoon nap when you were awoken by a horrible noise - and following soon after it, a cacophony of screaming and crashing. You scramble to your window to be met with the sight of the sky falling in on itself into darkness. As your freeze response hits, you have just enough time to comprehend what's happening and despair over the loss of humanity before your house is hit and you die instantly.

There are theoretically infinite scenarios to describe the last humans of splatoon's earth and their experiences. Those pinned under rubble, realizing everyone they know is dead, or those injured horribly but still struggling to live. Something about the way that they specifically described the disaster really makes it real to me. It's upsetting in a very compelling way. Like - all that was left of humanity died! And given the time span of the event, there were almost certainly children and elders and others who were even more helpless than everyone else. That's fucked up.

Look ok. I am not American. I am Australian. I have seen the fucking trickle down effect of letting someone genuinely unhinged with absolutely no political experience and a hard right radical mindset globally. It's infectious roots reaching out and poisoning everything to the point it has affected me personally.

I know you hate Biden. I know your political system is fucked. But I am on my hands and knees, begging you, as my will to live trembles in a world where I genuinely feel like I fell into the wrong timeline the second Trump got in because 'surely people aren't that stupid?' - we are literally watching you all from the outside baffled.

You're the western world power whether you like it or not. You are the goddamn orchestra conductor and you set the tune for the entire Western world and you have a responsibility to.

FUCKING.

VOTE.

You do realise this is basically a vote between Mr. Burns and THE LITERAL FUCKING DEVIL right?

I don't care if you don't agree with Biden - because you know whose gonna vote if you don't vote 'in protest'? Republicans. He will 120% get in again because you decided to sit on your ass and do nothing to stop it.

Your disillusionment with the system is just spurring your own inaction. Yelling does nothing. VOTING DOES SOMETHING.

Like I genuinely fucking wonder if this disillusionment to the point y'all are just giving up, lying down flat on your back and letting the rabid dogs feast on your still living, breathing corpse - has been purposefully seeded and promoted by your right wing factions because as long as you don't vote? They win.

You aren't protesting. You're lying down to become their feast. You want action? You vote. You vote for the people who will most likely listen. They don't listen? GET INTO POLITICS. BE THE FUCKING CHANGE, NOT A ROADBLOCK IN YOUR OWN FUTURE.

Dear god please. I want to feel like humanity is worth living for. I am hanging on by a thread here.

Fucking vote.

i hate americans on the internet because for some reason every american assumes that every single person on the internet is from america

been struggling to actually open the game and play lately

I wouldn't be too sure about that, sadly.

Wait until the predicted 2030 crop failures hit.

edit: I'm not trying to be a doomer here. But I have a PhD in history and I don't like the way things are lining up. I make sure to only check into certain things from time to time... but it's not great. It's not great. Nothing is actually being done in any meaningful way to stop the destruction of the climate cycles we rely on to feed people.

I'm trying to make peace with my own intentions and live the best I can, which is all I can do. But there's a lot of major issues and a global war isn't off the table in my lifetime.

The 20th Century was awful but I am afraid that, in terms of mass death, the 21st Century will be worse.

edit 2: There's always hope and it always matters what we choose to do.

There’s so many things to say, and so many to not. Daily updates of more and more horrific events taking place, daily protests feeling like we’re getting no where, an intense loss of hope. Coming to more and more realizations of history repeating itself and knowing there’s only one way to end this for good but no one can say that out loud without fear of being attacked or arrested for it. Knowing the end goal of this and what’s gonna happen to Palestinians that do survive it. Continuously being on Congress and the world leaders and still seemingly getting no where despite it being an election year. More and more fear mongering and propaganda spreading misinformation and pitting people that don’t know any better against each other. Seeing less and less updates from journalists because they’re either not on this earth anymore or have given up hope. The people saying ‘oh the Hamas could end this’ there have been multiple attempts at a ceasefire, the Israeli government has denied all of them and broke a temporary one. When a government is hell bent on destroying a place there’s not a damn thing the civilians can do, Palestine doesn’t have a government. Any government that steps in on behalf of Gaza risks an all out war with the opposing side. No one wants to talk about it no more, seeing and sharing posts that would and have made people throw up and have nightmares. The world continuing as if nothings wrong because unfortunately life goes on, nature finds a balance. People acting like this is some holy mission, when it’s not, it’s not religion vs religion like propaganda has made it seem. For reference there’s still people alive today that were apart of ww2, so no it wasn’t that long ago. What we’re seeing in the Middle East is the trail of tears and the holocaust all over again. Government doesn’t seem to remember history but then again cut one head off a million more grow in its place. There’s nothing more to say that hasn’t been said, keep fighting for change, history is not erasing this like it has with so many other things.

I have had to make peace with the fact that Red, White and Royal Blue is fundamentally American Brand Hopium and therefore white liberal shit (I think that's like a prerequisite for being one of my hyperfixations. They all live in the space between trashy glamour and an irritated moral consicence, never giving me a moment's peace). But one thing Casey Mcquiston did right (apart from letting the Jewish girl and MoC dunk on T-Swift*) was making Henry walk away from the Crown in the coda. The amount of fanfiction that centers on making him and Alex have a Westminster wedding and being granted dukedoms is fucking me up. Like, it's not just one or two, it's nearly every single fic written well enough to be readable.

In the USAmerican liberal mind, having a brown man of colonized origins ascend to Royal White Gay status is somehow progressive, rather than making him also complicit in an institution that is the literal symbol of white supremacy, colonial genocide, pillaged wealth and systemic inequality. Mcquiston, for all their faults, at least recognised that the wealth of empire is a blood-soaked thing, and to partake of it makes you complicit in its sins. Literally that's one of the first things that sets Henry apart from his family, and gets Alex's attention. The fandom otoh, hasn't gotten the memo. Or maybe not having to live the reality of colonial violence and trauma gives them the privilege of escaping the moral implications of British royalty. I know that the US's Overton window is fucked beyond all hope, but what passes for the leftist solidarity among white queers is a tragedy. No wonder every Black person or PoC over there is fucked up in some way.

As you can see with Meghan Markle, bringing BIPOC into violently oppressive, white supremacist institutions isn't a win for their communities, it's feeding them alive into maw of the beast for liberal tokenism. The virulent racism is a fucking foundational feature, not a bug. I'm not faulting her for marrying the man she loved, and they don't deserve any of the horrible shit the RF has been putting them through, but in a purely political context, her joining the RF was a betrayal of her fellow colonized. And the fact that they refuse to relinquish their titles, even after everything, tells us that they're still not in solidarity with everyone else this parasitic, anti-democratic relic institution has fucked over. But apparently that's peak fantasy for USAmerican and white queers.

This is why I don't fuck with fandom outside of AO3 anymore. It's always the same. Whites and the West just don't have any actual leftist values, or if they do, they're purely cosmetic. It's nothing to do with your generational cohort bullshit, y'all are just as fucking racist and white privileged as your parents.

*substracting every single point for having Alex crush on Justin Trudeau immediately beforehand though. Trudeau's blackface scandal and allegations of misogynistic and racist harrassment way predated 2019, when the book would have been in edits. Also minus fucking points for making Alex idolise Obama, and Scalia's BFF Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I wonder whether white libs know that this white woman refused to retire during the Obama administration, making the current Handmaiden's Tale state of affairs directly her fault. Also the fact that Thurgood Marshall and also the heroes of the Chicano Civil Rights movement were right the fuck there. And stop fucking blaming your education system because the rest of us learned about US history on our own, because y'all's global cultural hegemony penalizes us for not knowing this shit.

One of my on-going project snippets. Avatar!Steve

“Why is Danny’s place still frozen?” Steve demanded as soon as he saw Duke. 

“Our water-benders are trying, but there is a limit to their ability,” Duke replied. 

Steve’s clarity was being disrupted by his worry over Danny, so he snapped, “Limit? It’s ice! They’re water-benders!” 

Duke often revered to Steve with the respect gained by his rank, in both military and as Avatar, as well as the respect he was born with as a McGarrett. But in that moment, he was an older Hawaiian native who gave a strict gaze as he reminded Steve of where they lived. “You have traveled far and seen many other places. Maybe it has escaped your memory that out of all the benders that live or visit our small islands, water is arguably the one with most restrictions and rules. Only a limited few water-bending masters exist here who are experienced with colder temperatures and ice or snow manipulation.”

Steve closed his eyes for a moment to collect himself before he opened them again and apologized. “Sorry, Duke. It’s...it’s Danny, y’know?” 

“I do. And I know that there’s no one else on this island who knows those ice bending restrictions better than him. Given how much flack he got in the early months of him being here. So I understand your concern...but these ice structures were created by Danny himself. They’re fortified with the strength that will take the Hawaiian August sun hours to melt. We can’t get inside yet.”

“Yeah, well...I’m here now. Let me work.” It was nearly a threat but it most certainly was a warning. Duke called off the benders and let Steve try. 

Steve has begun his water bending training but it was with the basics. Learning to alter the water’s temperature to make it freeze or unfreeze wasn’t anywhere near the curriculum. Didn’t mean he didn’t try. Except he was too angry because he didn’t want to be worried. 

So he stopped trying to water-bend the ice away and instead unleashed his fury with his fire-bending until he saw some of the ice give way before earth-bending a stalagmite to shatter it’s way through. 

I started thinking about world building rules and them being applied to different fandom. Implementing the Avatar bending to H50, and it made me think. Being surrounded by so much water, water benders are pretty dangerous. They always have a weapon, and if they’re mastered it enough the humidity in the air, even if there isn’t an obvious body of water, they still have access to it( never mind potential gangs and criminal organization potentially having Blood Benders). 

Then I was thinking, how much of the average tourist would a)not know a fuck shit about the proper water temperature a place, it’s plant life, and animal life need to remain stable? And b)would be assholes to try and make their own waves or bigger waves or retaliate against anyone or to show off? 

Beaches in an Avatar AU would have STRICT rules in place. Lifeguards might need to be specially trained to like a military level to secure the peace, ensure the safety of native plant and animal life.

Water benders, no matter the profession or life style they lead/live, if they’re in Hawaii they are limited to just water bending. Healing, yes...but when it comes to temperature control...there are like...two official water bending MASTERS who know how to turn water into snow or ice. And it’s become a thing where it’s just been like that for so long that no one really questions it unless they’re not from there. 

I made Danny a Water-Bender and with how winters are on the east coast, and because I personally headcanon Danny to just have a more affinity to colder climates, to him ice and snow are second nature. And because he came from a big city where younger water benders as young as 7-8 year olds make their first bit of chump change by offering to snow-bend the drive ways of little old ladies or get more allowance if they wake up and defrost their parent’s car...when Danny first came to Hawaii as he followed Grace, seen as an outsider with the element that may have the most restrictions, particularly in his specialty. It was hard but Danny learned to ‘control’ himself..aka adjust his mannerism. (He’s always in control. Just...things that were normal for him are a big deal on the island, but he has never been out of control of his element. Danny is also a Blood Bender and that’s why but it’s not knowledge anyone knows and he’s terrified of anyone learning)  

Steve has seen plenty of Danny’s power, potential, and most importantly his control. It’s why Steve chose Danny to be his Water bending master instead of the native Hawaiian born they wanted to assign him. There are also a lot of deeper feelings involved, so Steve hearing that Danny elsa fortressed himself means something is very wrong! 

but on like a lighter note, when they need something from Kamekona, Danny has bribed him with water-bending him x-lbs of shaved ice. 

RANT INCOMING!

TWs: mentions of police brutality, mentions of government abuse, mentions of the climate crisis' effects.

This rant is overally full of eco-anxiety :)))))

I care about my future and I'm honestly worried about it because of the climate crisis.

So I start marching peacefully in the streets, holding kind signs with puns on them (We have been doing it for YEARS now).

I either get ignored (if I get lucky) or beaten by the police (it happened multiple times, recently or not, see what happened for example at the Genova G8 in 2001, tw for police brutality tho).

So I get angry and realize that I NEED to do more, I need to take action and be loud and visible and viral if I want my government to do something.

So I do something disruptive and shocking that does not hurt anyone. Like, for example, throwing soup/paint on the glass that covers and protects a famous painting. (Yeah this is about Ultima Generazione and the painting actions)

I get insulted by the media and by random people on the internet that do not even bother to check the facts, and they say that I'm doing everything wrong because the problem is the government.

So I try to make myself seen by the government.

I try to crash summits etc but I immediately get taken away and arrested by the police, so the government completely ignores me (just think about the various useless COPs).

I realize the problem is systemic, if I want to make myself heard I need to sabotage the system.

So I start doing strategic roadblocks.

I get insulted and beaten and receive death threats by the people that witness the roadblocks, they tell me that the climate crisis is not their fault, which is true, and that I must stop something else, like for example private jets.

So I block a private airport.

And they tell me that intensive farms are way more polluting.

So I try to boycott meat, and they tell me that I'm just a vegan extremist, it is useless, the problem is that the majority of people litter and waste water and ride cars etc.

So I try to advocate for a more sustainable living, and they comment that the real problem is the carbon/fossil fuels/deforestation multi-nationals.

I try to actively advocate against those, and if I get lucky I get accused of being a conspiracy theorist, but if I get unlucky I literally get killed in "mysterious circumstances/terrible accidents" (see what is happening in South America).

So I get tired, I give up, no more.

And then I get told that I'm "uncaring and lazy" and when eventually something bad BAD, like, global level post-apocalyctic shit will happen, it will all have been my fault because "I didn't do enough".

I am so fucking tired.