The most moderate, nuanced and productive people I have discussed the Israel-Hamas war with have been Jews, Israelis, and people with Palestinian family. Everyone directly affected by this just wants it to stop and to have peace and safety in the region in a way that minimises the casualty count.

The most extreme and performative and vile things I've been told are by people who have no connection to this and like to think they are experts because they have covered adjacent topics during learning, or read stuff online.

If all the randos in the west would just shut up for ten minutes and let those of us actually affected, with an understanding of the history of the land and the culture and the generational trauma experienced by Jews and Palestinians alike talk, we might actually have a chance to salvage this and stop it spiraling

Me, casually browsing Pinterest: oh cute dog, seems familiar *continues browsing before coming to an absolute halt* WAIT FUCKIN MACHETE-??

(I see the beloved gay Catholic hounds everywhere (/pos), though I’m not sure if you’re like,, cool with those folks reuploading your art ^^; )

As a side note, I needed a topic for a research project and your art has sent me on the wild trail of the historical prevalence and spread of different hound species in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. Your lads are officially peer reviewed XD

.

My dear lgbt+ kids,

Any variant of "Human beings are by default bad" has the same problem: it actually protects those who choose to be bad.

Let's look at some examples:

"Straight people just can't relate to those who are different" actually gives those people who choose to say homophobic stuff a perfect excuse to do so. After all this means it's not their fault, straight people just are like that, there is nothing they could do about it! ... which obviously isn't true.

"Men are designed to be aggressive and violent, it's their nature" actually gives those men who choose to act violently a perfect excuse to do so. After all this means it's not their fault, men just are like that, there is nothing they could do about it! ... which obviously isn't true.

Your behavior isn't determined by your sexual orientation or your gender. People of all sexes, genders and orientations are capable of behaving in compassionate, calm and kind ways.

Men are perfectly capable of treating women with respect. Straight people are perfectly capable of being allies for gay people. Acknowledging that doesn't take away from the fight for equal rights - far from that, it actually highlights that equal rights are possible.

People can change their attitudes, people can change their behavior.

For some people it's easy to behave that way, others actively need to work on it and of course there are internal and external factors that can influence this - but we want to encourage them to work on it. We don't want to hand them a golden excuse not to work on it.

With all my love,

Your Tumblr Dad

If you truly want to do what's best for mentally ill people, you have to learn that you often won't be able to separate the "salvageable" parts of ourselves with our illnesses, and you can't pretend like we are sane people underneath the façade of insanity, like we can flip a switch and magically erase the differences that make us "disordered"

britechester’s newest cuties

i want to make a zine but like... i dont know where to start. like, how do you even choose something to write about. D:

make a list of your interests! ask yourself questions, like what's a pet peeve of yours? favourite snack? what are you looking forward to? any controversial food opinions? maybe you want to do a theme, colours are always fun to work with [example one + two]! compile them and do the good ol' method of picking out of a hat, random number generator, whatever you need to help you choose.

i know picking a topic is hard, but i honestly think that starting is even harder - at least that's what i struggle with the most. so whatever you pick, just commit to it and get it down on the pages. don't worry about getting it 'right'. you might be happy with the outcome, you might not. good! you can try again, or do something else. all that matters is that you've made it and it'll get easier

One of my pseudo predictions/ideas for khml is that it could involve a manhunt for Master’s Defender

Let’s say that Ephemera passes MD down through his family—four generations after him as Nomura mentions, til we get to present day missing link. He gives the specific instruction that it must be returned to Brain whenever he’s destined to arrive in Scala in the future (which might be mentioned in the Book of Prophecies). At the end of khux, Ephemera said he still considers MD belonging to Brain, so he wants to return it to its original owner.

But by the time missing link takes place, and Brain appears, what if the current wielder of MD (aka one of Ephemera’s descendants) refuses to return it, firmly believing that it’s their right to wield it rather than Brain.

This causes a stir within the family, as certain members would find this to be selfish, unreasonable, and going against Ephemera’s wishes. Along with just being dishonourable to Brain, assuming they respect him. Meanwhile, other members of the family end up agreeing with this wielder, believing that MD should stay in the family.

I can see this drama getting so out of hand that it spreads to Scala’s wider community, causing the wielder to go into hiding with MD, and leading to a widespread manhunt alongside other various conflicts. Maybe the game is about finding a missing link to the past in the form of MD, assuming that the titular “missing link” could be a physical item and not just a metaphorical or symbolic thing. As far as I know, MD and No Name are also the only keyblades to have chain-related abilities? Just as an added layer

Brain’s whole role in this is up in the air. I’m going to assume that he’d want to get MD back because of it being Ephemera’s wish (and he will get it back eventually, so it can be passed down to Eraqus), but I can see him getting exhausted by all the drama caused by it. Either way, he feels a sense of responsibility to try and fix everything that goes down

ngl having bad brain times. Can you ever physically FEEL the lack of the get things done chemical

kinda frustrating how we've spent the last few months acknowledging how a lot of well intentioned but guilt trippy social justice posts are like specifically designed to worm into ocd ppls brains and then now every single post abt palestine is "i dont care how bad your mental health is, i dont care how bad looking at all this makes you feel, if you don't read every single post you see on this topic in full you are a horrible person and directly contributing to their deaths. 'waaaah my mental health' well at least youre not being bombed, did you think about that??" and its like. i absolutely get where youre coming from but you dont get to complain that guilt tripping is bad then turn around and use it anyways because you think the cause youre using it for is worthwhile. like. everyone thinks the cause theyre using it for is worthwhile, thats why theyre using it. but its still a shit way to do it

I don’t thinkk you guys really get it so I’m gonna say it because it’s important to me that everybody understands: Damian Wayne does not like murder or killing or any kind of death. He hates it actually. And I’m speaking canonically. That little boy was someone who was forced to kill and hurt people but never really wanted to. He never wanted to kill he had to.

hi!! i know u talk a lot about aromanticism a lot on here, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen u talk about aromantic anthy. would u mind discussing/elaborating on it or linking to a post where u do because i’m very curious!!

i got a similar ask half a year ago or something ridiculous like that on my main blog, but i’d like to really do justice to my url right now and explain it in more concrete terms.

i will say, it’s important to bear in mind that this reading of anthy’s character is very much informed by my own experiences, and a lot of those experiences are ones im not keen to talk in depth about. but you know. let’s make some nebulous gestures towards ideas of being traumatised, being autistic, struggling to meaningfully connect with others and honestly not really wanting to do such because of how they treat you.

like ive previously said, an aromantic perspective on the world would, i think, really benefit anthy. when youve lived your whole life experiencing violence at the hands of these patriarchal structures, of which romance is absolutely one, it’s kinda like. damn. im uncomfortable buying into those ideas.

anthy also has this lovely line in ep 19 where she says to utena ‘romance either happens or it doesn’t’ and it’s just sooooooo. so very interesting to me, actually, that anthy would say something so black and white about ‘romance’, a topic that anthy knows better than a lot of rgu characters is hopelessly confused and arbitrary and often enabling violence. and utena (fellow aromantic gaybo) says 'yeah, i know, but...'. these simplifications, these elisions. what is and isn't articulated. but what? maybe things are much more complicated than we'd like to think.

anyway enough of that tangent. one thing i as a trans and aromantic person always return to when discussing trans and aromantic readings of characters/texts more broadly is that there's no singular piece of evidence that can really cement these readings as Undeniable. it's like. okay. there's a critique of romance as a patriarchal structure in revolutionary girl utena. there's an ambiguity about anthy's feelings towards characters like utena, where there is clearly a queer connection but it takes shape in unconventional and complex ways. me, i'm aromantic, i see all of these pieces and i go oh well that's because she's an aromantic lesbian. you know, there's plenty of little moments i can evidence but those moments can be used to argue for an alloromantic lesbian anthy too. romance is a very arbitrary thing and i think everyone should take their own approach to it unapologetically. of course, mine is that it's hellish and i want nothing to do with it, but im just one guy. and im okay with that. i feel strongly about this reading and it is personal, and id be dishonest to say otherwise, but i do also find that it's well-evidenced in the text. as one of my lecturers once said, don't worry about authorial intent, it isn't real <3

Foster AU: what if as Tara approaches her 18th birthday, she has this fear in the back of her mind that Sam will kick her out/want her to leave because that’s what “normal” people are “supposed” to do when they turn 18. Cue her pulling away a bit because she’s so anxious about it and Sam being confused and a little hurt until it finally just comes out that Tara is scared that she won’t want her around anymore.

And Sam subsequently saying something along the lines of “you can stay with me as long as you want but I don’t want you to leave ever.”

Tara usually joins Sam at work. Sam trusts Tara to stay home alone, and more importantly, she trusts in the rigid security system, thick doors, reinforced windows, and numerous locks, their new home - recently moved into - has had installed. But Tara doesn't like being left alone in the house, and her tutor - Sidney - has the week off for Thanksgiving. (She had actually invited them both over to stay for the holiday, but Sam had recently been promoted to manager because she works the holidays, and didn't feel right then dumping the responsibility on the others and disappearing).

So, Tara sits in the staff room on her Nintendo Switch playing Pokemon, exploring Kanto with Sam the Pikachu, when Jill, 19 years old and only several months into the job, takes her break.

Tara doesn't like Jill (she doesn't like anyone). The way she speaks to her makes her uncomfortable, but she can't quite figure out how to explain why, so she doesn't say anything about it at all. Sam says she needs to think about her words more. Sam was laughing when she said it, but Sam doesn't say things she doesn't mean, so Tara tries to think about her words more before she says them. Dr Martin says she should think about the why behind the words, and that if she can't really explain why she wants to say what she does, then maybe she shouldn't say them. Sam told her that was stupid and she could ignore what Dr Martin said, but Tara still thinks about it sometimes.

"Hey, so I hear it's your birthday soon," Jill pipes up, pulling out a chair at the table. Tara wishes she wouldn't speak, and just nods her head, eyes never leaving the game.

"Soooo... what're you gonna do when you turn 18?" she continues. The question confuses Tara and she flicks her eyes to the girl for a moment. "What do you mean?" she asks, frowning. She continues to stare at the screen, but her hands still on the controls, battle screen flashing.

"Well," Jill says, chewing obnoxiously on her gum, "are you gonna, like, go to college or get a job, or what?"

Tara puts the Switch down to stare at Jill. She thinks carefully about her words. Don't be stupid is probably the wrong thing to say. "Why would I do that?" she eventually settles on.

Jill stares at her in bafflement, a weird smile on her face. "Well, you can't just stay with your sister forever." There's a laugh in her voice, like the idea is ridiculous. "You're an adult, not a little kid. 18 is when you leave the nest and make your own way in the world!" Jill looks at her, waiting for Tara to speak, then frowns, as if remembering who she's talking to. "Well, I mean, for normal people anyway. I guess it's not the same for people like you, what with your..." she waves her hand around in place of finishing her sentence.

The door opens and Sam appears over the threshold. "Jill, your break was over 3 minutes ago and there's a line of customers waiting to be served," she chastises, not unkindly. Sam catches sight of Tara's face, tight and upset, and lingers, moving out of the way for Jill to pass. Once she's gone, she moves into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Kneeling down at Tara's side, she puts a hand in her lap and the other brushes against her cheek. "Hey, you ok, what happened?"

Tara squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. "Fine," she mumbles out, taking a deep breath. Sam frowns. "Did she say something to you?" Tara shakes her head again. "It's fine," she says, more solidly this time. Sam goes to push the subject, when they hear muffled yelling in the distance. Sam sighs, getting back to her feet, hand lingering on her cheek. She pulls Tara's head up to leave a kiss on her forehead and gives her a smile, "just a couple more hours," she says wistfully. "What do you want for dinner?" "...Mac 'n cheese?" "As my girl requests, mac and cheese it is."

~

Tara's quiet over dinner that night, and retires to her own room for once. Sam struggles to fall asleep without her. She's not used to sleeping alone anymore.

The following week is weird. Tara chooses to stay home, even though Sam knows she doesn't like to be alone. She sleeps in her own bed, and hides away, and picks at her food. She shies away from Sam's touch.

Sam thinks back, trying to determine when it started, what caused it. She thinks back to that day in the breakroom, and corners Jill, demanding to know what she said.

"I just asked her what her plans were," Jill exclaims, hands up and a little nervous at Sam's expression. Sam's face scrunches in confusion, "plans? What plans, what are you talking about?" "Y'know, for being 18, the future or whatever." Sam shakes her head, she doesn't understand, and voices so, frustrated.

"Wow, you two really are sisters," Jill mutters, rolling her eyes. "Look, normal people turn 18, they move out, they go to college, th-" Sam storms off before she's even finished speaking.

Normal. Sam hates that word.

~

Sam crawls into Tara's bed that night. She curls around her and pulls her back into her and whispers "you're not gonna leave, right? When you turn 18?" She watches Tara's fingers tighten around her wolf. "Cause," Sam continues, "I would really like you to stay, for like, the rest of your life, but I understand if you want to leave, if that's what you want."

Tara twists in her grip, shoving her face in Sam's neck. "Don't want to leave," she mumbles, voice barely audible. "Oh," Sam replies, "that's good, because I don't want you to leave."

wdym i cant change primary blogs

I made the mistake of digging into the notes on that post I reblogged about having opinions counter to major fanon, and found someone flat out admitting that their hatred for a character arose entirely from adherance to what the rest of the fandom seemed to think. Happily, encountering a compelling opposing view snapped them out of it, but I just...grrr!

It makes my skin crawl, if I'm being honest. In my view, the capacity for independent thought is directly tied to the notion of autonomous personhood. The idea of choosing not to exercise that capacity--of choosing to let the group do your thinking for you unless explicitly compelled otherwise--feels personally threatening and a little profane to me.

I *need* to be able to show that my thoughts are my own. Even in situations where I largely agree with popular opinion, I'm not comfortable unless I can point to having come to that agreeable conclusion via a unique angle, or to a collection of minor or nuanced exceptions to that agreement.

(And please note that this is a separate issue from simply not being vocal about one's unpopular or unusual opinions due to fandom hostility or what have you. It's about failing to develop one's own opinions at all.)

why does butch = top surgery? genuine question

Short answer: It doesn't! Hope this helps <3

Long answer: I'm gonna ignore the fact that this is probably an inflammatory bait question of someone who did not even bother to check my blog and see the diversity in butch bodies that I draw. So far only 2 of the butches I've drawn have top surgery, while the rest don't <3

So! First of all I have never said anything of the sort n_n it's a term of how one identifies, you know? What a butch woman does with their body is no one's business, some butch women take T, some even get top surgery. Butches explore masculinity in their own way and that's just how THEY embody butchness.

I'm a butch woman and I don't take T nor plan on getting top surgery, yet that is how EEEEEYE embody my butch identity and it doesn't invalidate neither mine or another woman's butchness. The way I identify as a butch doesn't mean I won't draw other ways of butchhood, I aim to draw every type of butch woman I can think of! I love butch women! I want them to be loved in every way they choose to present! I want other butches to feel handsome with my art and for femmes to see a dashing handsome woman <333

I want to draw fat butches, thin butches, buff butches, trans butches, butches who go on T, butches who choose not to, non-binary butches, etc!

And before you or anyone else asks because I know they will, no, this has nothing to do with trans men. Butch women can choose to take T and get top surgery and it won't make them men, on the same slot as trans men can choose NOT to get it and it doesn't change the fact they're men. It is an individual way of presenting that at the end of the day doesn't concern you! I hope this helped you a ton!!

I LOOOVE talking about lesbianism and the diversity of butch women! Ask again soon and have a good day!! <333

normalise saying "I don't have enough information on this topic to have an opinion on it"

and then staying out of it completely rather than going along with wtv opinion u imprinted from three random posts/reels/tweets and having weird misinformed debates with full confidence