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thatfunkyopossum · 3 years

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whys it a worthless video essay? genuinely curious on your thoughts :0

The racism mostly!

Disclaimer: i’m white, and not meaning to speak for any person of color! My opinions on this are formed based on what i noticed in combination with what i know about racism, and I believe that in this case i’m right about what i’ve observed. That said, my observations are open to criticism from any black people who might be reading this and feel like weighing in, as my only personal experiences in bigotry are with my identity as a queer person. In short: i’m not an expert, but i do have eyes and what they see is repulsive. Anyway this will be rambly.

First and foremost, The Tragedy of Droids by @popculturedetective’s editing directly connects the Droids in Star Wars with the atrocities of chattel slavery in the americas, and the perceived connection is at times hinted at in the script.

@4:10 into the video “...they’re also bought and sold like cattle” is a quote i caught when trying to find the following time stamps, because the editing is the real beast here.

There’s also @ 4:35 “you can probably guess where i’m going with this, because the social arrangement i’ve just described is one of property and owner. And a property relationship between two intelligent beings that gives one absolute power over the other is called slavery.”

In this video essay, there are multiple times when the visuals cut between Roots and the droids of Star Wars. This is important because Roots is a mini series based off the family history of the black man who wrote the book, Alex Haley, and the scenes being directly juxtaposed with Star Wars droids are the scenes from it where black people are on slave ships or being sold at auction. TToD essay, which was at the very least presented by a white man, wants the viewer to connect robots and black people for the sake of the essay’s argument. TToD essay wants the connection between real black human beings who actually lived and suffered and died in the real damn world to, i cannot stress this enough, machines.

To anyone who is reading this and not seeing why thats fucked up, because they view the droids as people, here’s the problem. Droids aren’t people. No matter how you slice it, no matter how much you love them, theres actually no way for us to be sure that 99% of droids are sentient beings, that are self aware, and that feel things. Droids in the Star Wars universe are constructed to be tools that talk to you and have fun personalities. Some droids might be self aware and sentient, but the likelihood is that the vast majority aren’t due to being what they are. Tools. This is in stark contrast to black people, because black people are, uh, people!!

At 4:00 into the video essay, we start to see the cuts between Roots and Star Wars. Pop Culture Detective cuts between C-3PO/R2-D2 being sold to Luke’s family and a black woman being put in front of a crowd of white people to be auctioned off. This same sequence of cuts is used again later in the video essay.

At 28:20 into the video, a clip from Star Trek: The Next Generation is used wherein Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg, a black woman) is talking about slaves and slavery, how there have been disposable people in history. This clip on its own is so, so good. It aired in 1989, and I have no idea what the political climate was like for black people then (im not as well versed in history as i would like) but i can guess it probably wasn’t good!

“...They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do because its too difficult or too hazardous. You don’t have to think about their welfare. You don’t think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.”

And then Pop Culture Detective uses this (to me) powerful line about atrocities done to human beings... and cuts to R2-D2 serving drinks to Jabba’s crew. PCD says some bullshit about how star wars is using the droids as an allegory for slavery but has nothing to say with the metaphor, and then it cuts back to Guinan to finish her speech. Might i say: what the fuck. What the fuck.

I can’t find it right now, but i distinctly remember there is also a bit where the visuals cut straight from a black man’s face to the face of an astromech.

And the cherry on top is that the clones are in this video... and never mentioned. Okay actually i’m going to talk about this video’s treatment of the clones and how utterly fucked up it is because i was so caught up in the “this essay wants you to think of the horrors of chattel slavery done to black people as being even remotely comparable to the existence of R2-D2” that i forgot to talk about the clones.

Okay so this video does not mention the clones at all. It uses clips from the clone wars and clips from the prequels movies with clones in them, but the clones aren’t even so much as talked about in passing. The closest we get is this brushing off of the issue in general @29:50:

“Remember, this is a universe where humanoid slavery exists as well, but its presented as unambiguously negative, though not exactly something the heroes are in a rush to abolish.”

Which is said about Anakin and his mother. And its not like they forgot about the clone wars and to talk about it at all! No, they had this to say on it @15:10. See if you notice anything.

“...But what about Battle droids?... Well, the separatist droid army in the prequels seems specifically designed as little more than canon fodder. Making the bad guys unfeeling robots avoids the messy moral complications and mass casualties that would result from an interstellar war. If battle droids aren’t alive then the audience doesn’t have to care when thousands of them are killed in extended battlefield scenes. Indeed we’re encouraged to think of these types of droids as mere objects and to cheer at their dismemberment.”

Drink it in y’all, i’m still absorbing it. I’ll note that sections of this were played over clips from the first battle of geonosis, and there were clones on screen. So, PCD completely sidesteps the issue of the clones, seemingly unaware of the actual explicit enslavement of brown men who are unquestionably living thinking feeling people, in favor of projecting humanity onto every single droid including the infamously poorly programed B1 Battle droids.

I don’t know what else I can say on that besides the fact that some obscure ass clips from the clone wars are used to humanize the robots, implying that PCD watched tcw and missed the episode where Slick calls the Jedi slavers.

There’s other problems with it as a whole, like the essayist completely failing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that all droids are sentient, or that even most droids are. No consideration is given to the purpose, construction, or make/model of droid into the question of “are they sentient”? And we’re left with the implication that your average mouse droid is at all relatable to a black person.

In fact, PCD in this essay seems to actually imply that r2-d2 and bb8 being sentient-ish robots we’re supposed to empathize with, and the battle droids being not that, is due to a failure/breakdown of internal logic. And not that they’re, you know, different machines...?

I have so much to say on this mess, but this is long enough as it is. In conclusion, Pop Culture Detective’s video essay should have been about the clones, but it chose to focus on droids instead and in doing so dehumanized black people in an attempt to humanize robots.

I’ll leave you with this quote from the video, but edited slightly to be instead about the clones.

“[Slick]’s observations about [clone] slavery could have been an opportunity for Star Wars to finally grapple with the uncomfortable fact that...the good guys seem to have been keeping sentient beings in a state of perpetual servitude.”

#long post #racism #slavery #star wars

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maddiviner · 5 years

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I’m not a Thelemite. At one point, I counted myself among that tradition. Since then, I’ve grown into a different perspective and left Thelema (and its community) behind.

Nowadays, while my interest in the Golden Dawn’s work persists, I view Aleister Crowley and Thelema from a (mostly) historical perspective.

Nevertheless, having spent four years spent studying Thelema and the general milieu of Crowleyan magick, I believe I’m at least somewhat qualified to speak on the matter, and often answer questions about this tradition on my blog.

There are not many contemporary authors writing about Thelema that I can recommend. Most either sidestep the serious issues, or are overly-obtuse.

When I saw Colin Campbell’s book, Thelema, offered by Llewellyn on Netgalley, I was naturally interested. I’ve often sought to find a succinct, comprehensive book to recommend those who ask me about Thelema and what Crowley was all about.

In recent years, with occult interest exploding and growing well-beyond even what was seen in the 1990s, more and more people have discovered ceremonial paths, such as Thelema.

Beyond that, there’s also a great deal of controversies currently overtaking Thelemic communities. There’s an urgent need to contextualize Crowley, Thelema, and the influence of both in contemporary occultism

Colin Campbell did not appear on my radar prior to the publication of this book. Since then, I’ve learned that he has over thirty years of experience with ceremonial magic, and, as you might guess from the title of the book, with the traditions surrounding Aleister Crowley, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and the Golden Dawn.

He’s more than qualified to tackle a comprehensive look at Thelema as a whole. Having just finished reading the book, I can say that, while assuredly not perfect, I can recommend this one to the folks pressing me with questions about Thelema. I’d have to recommend it with some qualifiers, but still...

Space considerations mean that much of the material is either truncated or a bit simplified. This is entirely fair, considering Crowley’s own work numbers in (likely) tens of thousands of pages, and a summary can only really skim the top of it.

Campbell devotes a large portion of the book to Crowley’s life story. I think this approach is excellent, but I didn’t like how he portrays certain historical figures.

For example, Rose Kelly gets a particularly negative treatment, and her break-up with Crowley gets characterized as Aleister leaving her due to her alcoholism. Having read Perdurabo and other Crowley biographies, I see this as an extreme oversimplification.

Other than that, the sections give a really nice overview of Crowley’s history and relationship with the various organizations in his life. On my blog, folks always ask about what the A.’.A.’. and Ordo Templi Orientis actually are, and this book covers it pretty well.

I’ve got serious reservations about the OTO these days (as well as certain A.’.A.’. lineages, though. Campbell has no such compunctions, and a large portion of the book gets devoted to OTO-specific rituals like the Gnostic Mass.

The rituals are well-described and Campbell even includes helpful information about terminology, going beyond what you’d usually see in these kinds of books.

Again, though, I can be quite critical of the OTO at times. Basically, I’d recommend the reader think critically about these organizations. Do as much research as possible.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that Campbell’s got a very positive perspective on Crowley, so I’d recommend supplementing this book with more historical texts and biographies that give a fuller picture.

This section also skates over some of the nastier aspects of Crowley’s childhood, namely the severe abuse he suffered both at home and in school. Considering how influential that was on his later life, I would have liked more about that.

I wish there was a more in-depth look at the central Thelemic godforms. The Kemetic aspects (Nuit, Hadit, and Ra Hoor Khuit) receive some pages. I would’ve liked more historical context for them, though.

The section on the Stele of Revealing is pretty good, and probably qualifies as the most succinct, yet thorough, explanation of it that I’ve seen from a contemporary author.

Babalon, Therion, and a few other notable entities receive only brief mentions during the section of rituals. I can imagine anyone not already knowledgeable would find this a bit confusing.

As a side note, Lon Milo DuQuette wrote the introduction to this book. I’ve discussed on my blog and elsewhere some of the issues I have with DuQuette’s work, particularly how he portrays Qabalah.

This book is, refreshingly, devoid of most of the same problems, so again, I do recommend it if you’re curious about Thelema or Crowley.

Overall, I’m giving this book three out of five stars. There’s some problems here, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the better offerings out there about Thelema.

You can pick it up on Amazon, or directly from Llewellyn. I particularly recommend it to other witches who want to know a bit about Crowley and his influence.

Have questions about Thelema or my sojourn into it, back in the early 2010s? Message me here! My perspective’s kind of sour about the whole thing, but I am okay talking about it!

#magick #magic #witchblr #witch #witchcraft #thelema #occult #eliza.txt #eliza reads

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petersmparker · 5 years

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Welcome Home epilogue (Peter Parker x Reader)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: 1791

A/N: We made it!!! The end of my very first series!! 12000 words isn’t a lot to some writers, but I’m so proud of what I’ve done here and I’m grateful that all of you enjoyed it!! Thank you!!! *Edit- there are spacing errors and italics that won’t process and tumblr won’t let me fix them. Sorry for the lower quality than usual because of this 😒

INTRO PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 EPILOGUE

The early afternoon is upon you by the time Peter’s stories begin to drift off into conclusions. At first, you’re a bit worried about what you’re learning about the person you care so much about, never having fully acknowledged just how much you didn’t know about his life. Listening to him speak, smiling, laughing, and sometimes bringing a sad tear to his own eye, you realize that you’re not being exposed to anything more than the Peter you’ve always felt you’ve known. The stories he describes in great detail fit cleanly into the image you’ve always had.

You’ve always known that Peter is relentlessly kind. It’s been years since he’d stumbled into your life, bringing with him a constant desire to ensure that those around him are content. There have been a number of times that you’ve witnessed him mocked for his inability to walk past a beggar without giving them change, despite his own financial difficulties. You had never teased him for it; unable to see any foolishness in his dedication to give to others. For years you’ve viewed Peter based on those actions, never realizing that he’s done far more, at far greater a cost.

It’s impossible not to be grateful for the opportunity to understand him better than before. You’ve been here to discover everything that is good in Peter- a lengthy list of traits- and taken the time to accept his flaws, as well. He’s prone to overworking himself, forgetting to prioritize that which isn’t immediately obvious, and hyperfocusing on interests until others are neglected. However, despite the times you’ve noticed his shortcomings come to the surface, you’ve learned how to work with him to get back on track.And of course, Peter has done the same for you every time you’ve gotten lost in the world around you.

The Snap and the death of Tony Stark had been a new hurdle to overcome. You had been forced to watch him mourn his uncle several years back, but it had been clear that he hadn’t truly been allowing himself the time he needed to grieve. Peter had set his shoulders and put on his strong face for Aunt May, now that they only had each other. This time around the difference had been clear. Having seen this new side to Peter, having learned how to care for it, and now, gaining the background necessary to fully understand it… It’s opened your relationship up to new things that you hadn’t ever expected.

Peter is, without a doubt, the most wonderful person you’ve ever been given the honor of having in your life. This morning’s kiss had caught you by surprise, because of that. Despite that, smiling through a swelling of emotions as you reach over to brush another tear that slips down Peter’s cheek, it makes sense. Your time together these past few years has been leading up to this, you’re sure.

You pass snacks back and forth between you, both of you now laughing even as Peter describes his memories of Tony: the man whom he’d slowly and tentatively come to view as a father figure after having lost two already. He wipes at his eyes, still grinning, as he tells the story of being lectured at the top of the jungle gym after having taken an unplanned plunge into a pond that could have killed him.

“I must have annoyed him so badly that night while he was at some resort in who-knows-where, trying to have a good time,” he says, taking a bite of a twizzler, “I was being such a brat, honestly. His suit was just hovering there lecturing me with its hand out like it was holding a fancy mixed drink and he tells me to go to college, knowing full well I just wanted to go fight bad guys for the rest of my life. He was just not having any of my shit. I’m really going to miss that.”

He’s healing, that much is clear. The letter seemed to have delivered to him a contentment that he hadn’t previously had. Riding the waves of relief that have been passing through you for the past few hours, you lean forward to give him a kiss. It’s soft and not very long, but it was more of a message than anything else. “When aren’t you a brat?” You question teasingly, lifting yourself up to press an extra kiss to temple.

“Bold of you to assume that there’s any existent moment where I’m not a complete bastard,” he responds, gently grabbing your face before you can sit back down and pulling you into another, longer kiss, that makes your face heat up.

You break it, laughing, because what he’s said is such absolute nonsense that even his touchiness can’t distract from it for more than a few moments. “Says the literal nicest person on this planet. You’re full of it.”

“I’m a brat, but I’m the nicest person on the planet? Can we check the math on that? I think your calculations are flawed, honey. Where’d you get it confused?”

You push him over, which is probably only possible because he lets it happen. “I take it back. You’re the worst.”

Peter waves a pack of twizzlers in front of his face, a clear mimicry of your own swooning jokes. “Don’t talk so sweet to me, I can’t handle it,” he jokes, “I’m too young and innocent to allow you to corrupt me with your flattery.”

It’s hard to respond without sounding like you’re posing a challenge by questioning his innocence, so you settle for poking him in the sides. He squirms, letting out a cry of surprise, and drops the pack of twizzlers onto his own face. You burst out laughing at the sound of the package smacking him on the forehead.

Since he’s the worst, Peter is quick to recover and launch himself at you for payback. You scramble off the bed, just escaping his grasp, and run the few steps to the bedroom door.

Peter is much faster, you know, but his foot catches on the tangled-up mess of blankets you both had been nesting in all day. He hits the carpet, cursing, and you navigate through your apartment as quickly as possible to get to the front door. As your hand reaches the doorknob, you can hear him rounding the couch.

You throw open the door, hoping to hell that his own apartment is unlocked, and throw yourself into the hallway.

Immediately, you collide with someone just outside your door. You’re startled into a halt for a brief moment. “Oh, shit!” Ned exclaims, caught off guard.

“Block him!” You shout as your apartment door’s closing motion is halted by Peter throwing it back open.

You sidestep around Ned, who reacts instantly to your request and throws his arms out to grab Peter. Peter is stronger, but isn’t expecting the barrier when he exits your apartment, and lets out a surprised “Oh!” as Ned snatches him up.

Peter’s apartment is blessedly unlocked, and you dive inside of it, tripping on a pair of his shoes in the entryway. Aunt May startles in her seat by the TV, turning to see what’s going on. She settles as soon as she realizes it’s you and understands the situation. This is not the first time that you and her nephew have gone stampeding through the complex. Despite the fact that you’ve made an absolute mess of the shoes in the entryway, she calls out a hello as if you’d walked in carrying a bouquet of flowers with her name on it.

You realize afterward that her joy had come from the knowledge that Peter is becoming lively again.

Too busy running for your life, you don’t respond, knowing that Peter will escape Ned in no time at all. You sprint past the living room and into Peter’s bedroom. As frantically as you’ve ever moved in your life, you climb the ladder to his bunk and throw yourself onto it.

You hear a thump across the apartment as Peter hops over the shoes and keeps going. Ned gives a cheerful greeting to Aunt May. You hurriedly throw a blanket over yourself, knowing full well it won’t trick him. There’s nowhere else you could be hiding in his room.

Because Peter is a monster, he pretends for a moment that he doesn’t know where you are anyway. “What the hell?” He says exaggeratedly, and you imagine that he’s probably got his hands propped up on his hips.

There’s a sound like something hitting the ceiling, and you know that the end has come. He crawls over you, still wrapped up in his old comforter, and drops onto you, forcing an involuntary ‘Oof!’ out of you .

"And you called me the worst!“ He exclaims, flipping over to start yanking the blankets away from you, “Sicking my own best friend on me! What a filthy little cheat!”

“All’s fair-” you struggle to holler in between your laughter as he digs his fingers into your sides, “all’s fair, Peter!”

Peter doesn’t bother to pin your arms, even though you slap wildly at his chest and shoulders. He keeps tickling you until you’re completely breathless and laughing noiselessly.

Ned shouts from the living room, “Don’t kill her, no one else is gonna put up with you that much!”

At that, Peter finally gives you a chance to breathe. “That’s fair,” he chuckles, reaching forward to brush away the hair that had been thrown into your face by your squirming.

When you’ve managed to get a couple of gulps of air through your system, you shoot him a look. “Hate you,” you half-wheeze, and grab his face to yank him down into a kiss.

You push him off of you when he’s kissed what little oxygen you have away, and he laughs at you, clearly delighted. He climbs over the side of the bunk and drops to the floor. “You love me,” he says, heading for the door.

You don’t argue, since you don’t have the breath to do so yet, but his statement is very much correct, so you figure it isn’t really necessary anyway.

Later on when Peter shows up at your bedroom window, decked out in the White Spider, he exchanges a hello for a kiss.

“I love you too. You know that, right?” he asks as he settles down by your side for the night, voice soft.

This morning you hadn’t, not really. Now, though, you’re beginning to understand your best friend better than you ever have. Peter’s made a home out of your room these past few weeks, and by extension, maybe he’s made a home out of you, too.

“Yeah, Peter,” you assure, “I do.”

tag list

@undiadeestos @moonstruckholland @deathofthethrones @souvenirsvisuels @meliapis @jackiehollanderr @nedthegay

#peter parker #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fic #peter parker fanfic #peter parker angst #peter parker fluff #peter parker series #peter parker x reader #peter parkerxreader #peter parker reader insert #peter parker self insert

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