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likethecities · 3 years

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In “Defense” of Bo-Katan in Mandalorian S2

(or, why Bo’s refusal to accept Boba as Mandalorian in 2x08, after Din did accept it in 2x06, is internally consistent with her character and view of Mandalore, and is not only because she’s a self-serving ass*)

*(although she is both of those things)

NOTE: This is a discussion of why her view of Boba is logical for her character and where I hope/think it will go in S3 and the concept of “Mandalorian”. It is NOT an endorsement for her behavior.

This is ONLY based in current, Disney canon, not Legends. In Legends, Jango was the leader of Mandalore for several years if not decades. However! that line conflicts with TCW. So we’re using the old rule of “if it conflicts, current canon wins” and tossing it out. If it gets recanonized, we can come back to it.

Okay first! Let’s break down the major Mandalorian characters/factions in the Mandalorian.

Din Djarin/Children of the Watch

Bo-Katan Kryze/Nite Owls

Boba and Jango Fett

What do they have in common? All three groups place a lot of practical and symbolic/ancestral value on their beskar armor. Bo and Din also place a lot of importance on the value of the Way, although with different interpretations. Lastly, Bo specifically cares about Mandalore as a place. Unsurprisingly, they all have different interpretations of what it means to be Mandalorian.

Let’s start with Din and the Children of the Watch (CotW). Here’s what we know about their definition of Mandalorian:

high cultural and symbolic value on Mandalorian armor

foundlings/non-Mandalorian children can be raised Mandalorian

very strict interpretation of the Way/Creed

non-Mandalorians cannot wear Mandalorian armor

As a final note, they don’t appear to have much actual beskar. Most of their armor, though forged in Mandalorian style, isn’t made of beskar, but other metals instead. It’s a big deal when Din rolls up with enough beskar to forge a whole suit; that kind of windfall doesn’t just happen.

So when S2 rolls around and Din runs into people wearing Mandalorian armor who don’t follow the Way as he knows it, he assumes they aren’t Mandalorian, with the following results:

Cobb (2x01): admits to not being Mandalorian when Din challenges him, offers to return armor to Din (standing in as a representative of all Mandalorians) once Din helps him. Din agrees, helps, and then leaves with the armor.

Bo-Katan/Nite Owls (2x03): claim a different interpretation of the Way, declare ownership over their armor through family heritage. Din recognizes their claim.

Boba (2x06): identifies himself as the rightful owner of the armor, refuses to claim clan ties or the Creed. Din (eventually) recognizes his claim.

Once Din has accepted that other Mandalorians don’t have the same interpretation of the Way that he does, he’s willing to accept proof of ownership as enough. Likely, this is because the CotW don’t have much beskar, and so they recognize prior claims much more strictly. For Din, at least, owning the beskar is enough to drop the argument about being Mandalorian or not. Now let’s move to Bo and her supporters. Here’s what we know about them:

high cultural and symbolic value on Mandalorian armor: status symbol, but not required by all members

looser interpretation of the Way

high value on clan/community membership, or connection to Mandalore as a planet

non-Mandalorians cannot (or at least shouldn’t) wear Mandalorian armor

We know from SW Rebels and TCW that Bo, her followers, and most of the Mandalore-based people that you do not have to wear armor to be Mandalorian. Sabine’s father is an artist and is never seen fighting or wearing armor, but no one questions that he’s Mandalorian. The armor and Creed alone aren’t a requirement.

How else do we know this? Because Bo spent several seasons backing Pre Viszla and the darksaber for the Mandalorian throne, but when Viszla lost the darksaber - and his head - to Maul, Bo objected. Maul wasn’t Mandalorian; he didn’t care about the place, the community, the culture, or the Way. So Bo turned to Satine, the leader that she had just deposed, as a more “Mandalorian” challenger. Satine still has her House Kryze ties and close attachment to Mandalore as a place; that was enough to make her Mandalorian and a better choice than Maul, even though she’d nearly completely broken with old Mandalorian ways.

(And, we should note, that some Mandalorians did switch their allegiance to Maul after this, because they recognized the right of the darksaber over any community or clan ties. They’re also still Mandalorian.)

So when Bo and her team meet Din, they recognize Din as Mandalorian. He’s part of a Mandalorian offshoot sect: that’s his clan/community. They think his rules are weird and antiquated*, but they recognize them as related to the Way as they know it.

*yes, Bo is a jerk about this, because Bo is a jerk about a lot of things. She does accept it, though, which is the important part for this discussion.

Okay, now let’s turn to Boba.

Boba never explicitly claims to be Mandalorian, with Din in 2x06 or in the bar 2x08. He says that Jango was a Mandalorian foundling, but despite Din giving him multiple opportunities to claim to be Mandalorian, Boba rebuffs every single one. He doesn’t have any clan or community ties, and he doesn’t care about the planet; he’s actively derisive about Bo’s goal to retake it. He doesn’t appear to follow any parts of the Way. Frankly, Boba doesn’t seem to even want to be Mandalorian, he just puts up with being associated with them because of the armor. He certainly doesn’t care who considers themselves Mandalorian or why. The only things that Boba cares about are that a) his ownership of his armor is acknowledged, and b) he’s recognized as Jango Fett’s son. That’s it.

Again, for Din, that’s enough. Boba can prove that the armor is his and he can prove that Jango obtained it properly (ie, as a Mandalorian foundling). Conflict solved, everyone move on.

For Bo and her followers, that’s not enough. The armor isn’t the sole thing that marks you as Mandalorian, and Boba (and Jango after becoming a bounty hunter, apparently for much of his adult life) has none of the clan/community ties that are part of her definition and no attachment to the planet or culture of Mandalore. Ergo, he’s not Mandalorian, and rightfully-obtained armor or not, him wearing it is against their culture. And yes, Bo is being racist (something -ist, at least) when she calls Jango his “donor”, but she also has a point. There are millions of Jango Fett clones in the galaxy, and none of them were raised in Mandalorian culture or have any connection to Mandalore except DNA. Rewatching the bar scene, she doesn’t seem to have any idea who Boba is until she recognizes his voice and identifies him as a clone. Why should he or any clone deserve to wear Mandalorian armor, especially when they don’t participate in Mandalorian culture?

(the answer, obviously, is because Jango raised Boba as his son and heir and chose to pass down his armor/ship accordingly. But Bo has no reason to know this and she wouldn’t consider him Mandalorian either way, so there’s no point in Boba proving his ownership even if he cared enough about her opinion to bother.)

This also ties into the problem of the darksaber. Gideon isn’t Mandalorian, and it seems likely he obtained the sword when the Imperial Remant “glassed” the planet, so he’s not recognized as ruler of Mandalore even when he holds the darksaber. Din

Mandalorian, and he won it in combat. That’s an undeniable claim. He’s also worked with Bo multiple times, it’s not his fault that Gideon outplayed both of them, and he’s very, very good in a fight. Bo really wants that weapon to shore up her claim, but she also knows it’s not very honorable to attack an ally who didn’t ask for this, and she probably doesn’t want to risk the possibility that she might lose. She’s in a bind.

Similarly, Din really doesn’t want the darksaber or the responsibilities that go with it, but he can’t just hand it over because that’s against the Creed. Sabine did, but she never “won” the darksaber; she just picked it up out of Maul’s garbage cave, which was vague enough for everyone to accept her passing it up. (She was also probably 17 or 18 at the time and was considered a traitor by most Mandalorians, which probably helped). But Din is also very honorable; if he can’t find a way to pass the saber off, he’ll probably feel obligated to fulfill the requirements to the best of his abilities until he either does find someone else to take them or accepts them permanently (kinda like Grogu himself HMMMMMM). We already know that Din is fairly good at diplomacy from 2x01, but he’s never worked with Mandalorians outside of his clan before, so he’s got a steep learning curve.

So my guess: S3 is going to be about reuniting the disparate Mandalorian groups, all of whom have different versions of what it means to be Mandalorian, and finding some common ground. They will either attempt to retake Mandalore or find somewhere else to make a homeland, or possibly make the decision to stay dispersed. If Bo stays as a major character, we might see her trying to recruit Din into her clan to influence him; if not, she might slink off and wait to see how he does.

Something that could be cool? Din putting a lot of effort into trying to connect with other Mandalorians and Bo admitting that he’s actually doing a pretty good job, even if she wanted to do it herself! #growth for both of them. Meanwhile Boba, who again appears to not give two shits about any of this, will probably be chilling on Tatooine, maybe throwing some info or weapons Din’s way if he thinks Din actually has a shot at something. Or ignoring all of them and taking over the Hutt empire instead, who knows.

Either way, I hope we get more discussion of what happened to Mandalore, Mandalorian identity, and Mandalorian politics in S3.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #din djarin #bo katan kryze #boba fett #jango fett #children of the watch #nite owls #mandalore #mandalorians #meta #darksaber #star wars

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hahahalifelol · 4 years

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my thoughts about folklore so far <3

i solemnly believe that taylor swifts new album could redefine writing in the music industry. the storylines .. the passion ... the “fictionalised” scenarios that speak with the audience and let them resonate with each song depending on who they are as a person , wether they identify as straight or gay or bisexual. She did not write her 8th album for financial gain or worldwide recognition and although she had sold 1.3 million copies already since the release, it’s clear that it wasn’t about that, and instead to show a true reflection of her soul without the media getting a say before the release , much like Lover, reputation.

it was about finding herself during this period of reflection, being her most genuine and raw self, the explicitly of her lyrics, despite being vague so the audience can see themselves through what she is saying speaks volumes.

along with this, she has proved in this album that she isn’t just some pop writer of heartbreak anthems, she has inner battles, and her songwriting should not be defined by her relationships, past or present.

her album to me personally, speaks about heartbreak, from a young age, along with finding yourself along the way, that all the relationships and scenarios in her life have made her the way she is, that she understands that her heartbreak has created the mindset towards relationships , sexuality etc.

ALSO ITS JUST SO SAD AND NOSTALGIC AND THERES BON IVER AND ITS 2:20 AM AND ITS JUST A LOt SO MOST OF THIS WONT MAKE SENSE

does this album feel like climbing a mountain and seeing the view at the top , and just reflecting on everything that’s happened, the climb and the people who helped you get to the top, wether it was a negative or positive relationship, i genuinely can’t explain the vibe other than damn taylor this seems kinda sapphic, and also WAYYYYY more swearing which i love, taylor swift saying “ mouth fuck you forever” is probably the most satisfying thing ever i don’t know what it is.

alternatively the album could be seen as taylor looking back at her experiences as a younger woman , when she was 17/18 and the things she experienced which helped her get to this point , wether that was discovering parts of herself, which is again exploring now in solitude as shes had lots of time for reflection and self growth.

The woods in her album promotional shots, and the white cardigan, dress and rawer photography style, specifically the vintage black and white film look could also explain the nostalgia she feels now shes had time to look back, and as a 17 year old girl myself , her lyrics speak to me in a way in which her other album have never done before , the uncertainty and certainty of what she wants and what she doesn’t want, the desire to be with someone ( listen to cardigan, illicit affairs, betty august, seven) regardless of what others think about them.

whilst it’s important to notice the queer undertones of her entire album, we cannot forget that the albums nostalgia and sad tone creates the themes of heartbreak, and perhaps looking back at mistakes made.

lyrics that speak to me:

“ i think i’ve seen this film before, and i didn’t like the ending” - talking about her failed relationships / and or , the relationships which she felt she could’ve done better in, and looking back onto them, showing she disliked the way which she/ or the person acted to make the “film” end and for her to snap back into reality, out of the safe bubble which was the relationship.

“wishing i could write my name on it”

“ i had the shiniest wheels, now their rusting”

“ i was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere”

“ and we can be pirates, then you won’t have to cry”

“ now i breathe flames each time i talk// and women like hunting witches too”

“ all these people think loves for show but i would die for you in secret” - this lyric simply states taylor’s love and adoration for the person, whilst she might want to be loud and pubic, she is willing to “die” for the person in secret, meaning she’s happy just to be with that person, in love and happy just to show it to that person, and not having to be forced to do or say anything for the media’s consumption.

ialso think everyone should stop placing labels onto her , yes i’d absolutely love it if she was bisexual/ into women and that kaylor had been real, and that all the men she had been with she was just bearding for, however we need to keep respectful as it’s not fair to insinuate anything about a women that we only know through her songs and some fan interactions with her. whilst betty, august, illicit affairs etc seem to be sapphic ( HELL YEAH, Go taylor) we need to remind ourselves as fans it’s not our place to say that a certain song means something, especially what it means to the artist, we will never know the true meanings behind many of her songs, so let’s keep the vibes positive and not place labels onto people who obviously support the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how they feel about the same sex

thankyou for coming to my ted talk and stream Folklore !!!

#music #taylor swift #musiclover #kaylor #swiftgron #new music #swifties #folklore

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degenerate-perturbation · 4 years

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Chapters: 18/28 Fandom: Dragon Age - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Female Amell/Female Surana Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Self-Harm, Blood Magic, Prostitution, Drowning Series: Part 2 of void and light, blood and spirit Summary: Amell and Surana are out of the Circle, and are now free to build a life together. But when the prison doors fly open, what do you have in common with the one shackled next to you, save for the chains that bound you both?

When the Maiden’s Teeth launched, Yvanne dreaded the onset of seasickness, before remembering that she was here explicitly as a mage didn’t have to hide her magic anymore. At first she felt shy using magic—it had been so long, and a part of her was afraid she’d forgotten—but when the ship began to pitch and roll properly, she rapidly got over it. The spell for suppressing nausea wasn’t exactly simple, but cast well consumed little enough energy that she could afford to keep herself cloaked in its soothing aura indefinitely.

She had spent her last voyage huddled miserably in the hold. Now she stood on the deck, nominally a part of the crew, feeling the spray of the sea

The captain was a grey-bearded Nevarran man. He was, charitably, not particularly talkative.

“When do we arrive?”

“Soon.”

“What should I do if there’s already a strong wind?”

“Eh.”

Yvanne soon gave up.

The strangest thing was how the crew treated her. They were unfailingly polite—but it was a politeness born of fear. After all, all they knew about her was that she was an apostate, a criminal. That she technically wasn’t didn’t seem prudent to mention. Yvanne got the impression that most of them didn’t really know what magic was and wasn’t capable of, and suspected that a few thought that she was already possessed. She tried explaining it to them a few times, and got a lot of polite, nervous nods.

Having nothing to do, she practiced wind spells, dreading the moment she’d be called upon to do her job. The might of her magic had once summoned storms and sustained armies; now she wasn’t sure if she could even manage a decent gale.

But as it happened along the journey the winds were fair, and Yvanne’s services weren’t needed. After several days of bored staring at the horizon, they made port.

Dairsmuid...wasn’t what she’d anticipated. It seemed so plain. She had been expecting—well, more than this. This port looked not too different from any large Ferelden town.

She made to disembark, eager to release her anti-nausea spell, when the captain stopped her. “Be back in two hours.”

“Back?” she said quizzically. “But I’m getting off. Isn’t this Dairsmuid?”

He looked at her like she was stupid. “No,” he said, “This is Jader.”

“Jader? But that’s in Orlais!”

“I congratulate you on your grasp of basic geography.” He went back to examining the manifest.

“But I thought this ship was bound for Rivain.”

“Yes, yes,” the captain said irritably. “Eventually Rivain. But first, Orlais”

“And when exactly will we reach Dairsmuid?” she demanded, but the captain pretended like he hadn’t heard her.

She didn’t go ashore. She spent her two spare hours steaming in her hammock belowdecks, furious at the captain for his rudeness, Anders for putting her on this ship, and the Maker for making her be born in the first place. She would come to regret this decision when the Maiden’s Teeth launched again, and her opportunity to set her feet on dry ground for a time disappeared.

The few days she had spent with nothing to do had been tolerable. The next few, less so. Yvanne could tell by the sun that they were headed west, not east. They were getting further from Dairsmuid. This would be a long voyage.

The prospect of nothing to do for weeks on end but be alone with her thoughts was unspeakable. So she cut the skirt of the dress she’d bought back in Highever in half, clumsily stitched the tattered remnants into half-decent trousers with a borrowed whalebone needle, and resolved to become a sailor.

She learned to tie knots, scale the rigging, read the stars. What she liked best were the songs. The sailors sang work songs as they heaved and pulled, and these she learned swiftest of all; their simple call-and-response structure made that easy.

The crew didn’t seem exactly thrilled by her participatory spirit, though she could usually find someone to show her how to do something that needed to be done. With her magically augmented strength, she made for a fine strong pair of hands, and the Maiden could always use those.

The only member of the Maiden’s crew that didn’t keep some level of distance from Yvanne was a Qunari woman covered in intricate tattoos. She was as much an outsider as Yvanne, and no wonder; as the only Qunari aboard, she stood out. Easily eight feet tall, she had biceps as thick as Yvanne’s waist, and a long white braid that wrapped around the sawn-off remnants of her horns. It was she who taught Yvanne many of the skills she needed to be a real member of the crew.

“So you’re Qunari?” Yvanne finally asked her, by way of casual conversation.

Immediately the woman’s massive hand darted out to cuff her across the ear. Yvanne saw stars. “What was that for!” she demanded.

“I am not Qunari. I am Tal Vashoth.”

“Alright,” said Yvanne, who didn’t know the difference and had a hunch that asking would warrant another cuff across the ear. “What’s your name, then?”

“I am called Cheddar.”

“Cheddar?”

“Under the Qun I was told I was Arvaarad. Now I am no longer under the Qun, and I choose what I am called.”

“So you chose to be called Cheddar?”

“Yes,” she said proudly. “And what are you called?”

She hesitated, but what was the point? “I’m Yvanne.”

Cheddar burst out laughing.

“What?” Yvanne demanded. “What’s so funny?”

She grinned. “Someday when we are better friends I will tell you what that word means in my language.”

Yvanne harrumphed. But she took that to mean that they were at least some kind of friends.

From Jader they made port in Cumberland. The College of Magi met here, Yvanne was vaguely aware. The Maiden wasn’t staying in port for long enough for Yvanne to see much of it, though the soaring pillars and golden domes of Cumberland tempted severely. Surely this was a city large enough to fit several Denerims within it. She found herself feeling terribly provincial, and sorry that she wouldn’t be staying.

After Cumberland the Maiden again made west. Yvanne nearly tore her hair out when she realized where the vessel was headed. She was further now from Dairsmuid than ever. She confronted the captain over this, nearly kicking down the door—with slightly more force than she could naturally produce.

“Yes, yes,” he told her, unphased by the crackling in the air. “First Jader, then Cumberland, then Val Royeaux. Then Dairsmuid.”

“Are there any other stops that I should know about?”

“Get back to work,” the captain said disinterestedly.

Her anger drained quickly, though, when they made port in Val Royeaux. It shamed her proud Ferelden heart, but it was the most beautiful city she had ever seen. They had a few days of shore leave, and received some of their pay besides. This astonished her; she hadn’t realized that she was getting paid.

She wandered the markets and cafes with Cheddar, gawking at the ridiculously outfitted and masked Orlesians.

“I’ve been a sailor for many years,” said Cheddar, “But Val Royeaux still impresses me. Bit of a backwater compared to Qunandar, sure, but I like how colorful it is.”

“What’s Qunandar like?”

“Big. Efficient. Steel and smoke and wondrous works.” The corners of her mouth tightened. “But I don’t miss it.”

They passed a stand of colorful pastries that looked like tiny clouds. Cheddar’s face lit up. “Here, little bird, you have to try these,” she said eagerly. “I’ve only ever seen them sold in this particular quarter of Val Royeaux.”

Yvanne bought one. It tasted exactly like how she always imagined clouds tasted, and disappeared almost at once. The sugar was so intense it made her teeth hurt. “Since when am I ‘little bird’?” she asked, wondering whether it would be worth her meager pay to buy another sugar-cloud.

Cheddar grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. I can’t bear to call you—what you’re named. It’s just so silly.”

“This coming from someone named Cheddar?” Yvanne said indignantly.

“At least I chose my silly name.”

They both laughed.

For the first time in years—for the first time since she’d met her—Yvanne hardly thought about Loriel at all.

—

The next leg of the journey was the longest yet. Yvanne’s hands grew thick and calloused. Salt settled in her hair, and the sun freckled her skin. As time went on, she had to rely on arcane warrior magic less and less to pull her weight. For the first time in her life, she actually had something identifiable as muscles.

One morning she forgot to cast the anti-nausea spell, and didn’t realize it til late in the afternoon, when despite its absence, she felt perfectly fine. The sea was within her now. She wondered how much sooner this might have happened if she’d forgone the spell entirely.

The other sailors never quite felt fully at ease with her, but that was changing, especially as she used magic less and less. Sailors had to trust each other in order to work together. But what she thought really did it was the songs. It was hard to sing with a person, striving for the same goal, hauling the same load, and not get to like them at least a little. The longer Yvanne spent as a sailor the more the crew seemed to forget that she was also a mage.

“You have to tell me,” she asked Cheddar one night. “Why Cheddar?”

The Vashoth woman wrapped her braid contemplatively around one massive finger. “I will tell you,” she said. “When I decided I would no longer be Qunari, it was not an easy journey. First I had to escape the Qun in mind and soul. That part was very hard. Then I had to figure out what I was to do with my Saarebaset—”

“Saarebaset?”

“Things like you. Eh, I forget the word—maj? Mage?”

A drop of cold slid down Yvanne’s back. “Things?”

“In your language Saarebas means ‘dangerous thing,’” Cheddar said casually. “And yes, I knew they were dangerous. I knew if I ceased to be Arvaarad, demons could take them, and many would suffer. But they made me so sad. I didn’t want to hold their leash anymore.”

“You were like a Templar.”

“No,” Cheddar said irritably. “I was Arvaarad. Now I am Cheddar. Get it straight, eh?”

“Alright, alright. So why Cheddar?”

“Oh, yes. I told my Saarebaset that I was freeing them. They begged me not to. They would be lost without me. That was the worst part. It almost made me reconsider! But I was no longer Qunari. I could not protect them, even if I wanted to.”

“What happened to them?”

“Oh, they killed themselves, I think,” Cheddar said vaguely. “That is what they are supposed to do. I doubt they had the imagination to do anything else.”

“And you let them?!” Yvanne stood up, unconsciously pulling in Fade energy in preparation for—she didn’t know what.

“I could hardly have stopped them.”

“You could have freed them, too!”

“I told you—they did not want to be free.”

“You didn’t try!”

“They were Qunari, body, mind, and soul,” said Cheddar, unperturbed. “I had no say over their souls. That was their business and theirs alone.”

“Then—you could have stayed for them.”

“And remained a prisoner myself?” She shook her head. “Now that I was not willing to do.”

Yvanne had no response to that.

“That’s life for you.” Cheddar shrugged. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”

With effort, Yvanne let go of the Fade energy she hadn’t realized she’d been holding on to. “Yes.”

“Once I had freed my mind and my soul, I had only to free my body. Now that part was easy. I just walked away.”

“You could do that?”

“Sure. It was easy. I was stationed in Kont-arr, on the north coast of Rivain. Hardly the Qunari heartland.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway,” said Cheddar, “I was walking down the road, completely alone for the first time in my life. The first night, I slept under an white-barked tree, ate what I could find, drank from puddles of rainwater, and I did not see another soul. At some point along the way I realized I was no longer Arvaarad, but did not yet know who I would be. I could not stand to be Arvaarad, but neither could I stand to be nobody. Within that very hour I saw a man headed up the road, his cart pulled by a brawny goat. I did not speak his language very well, but I asked him the name of his goat. He answered that it was ‘Cheddar,’ and that was as fine a name to me as any, so I decided that it would be my name, too.”

“You named yourself after a goat?”

“Yes!”

“That doesn’t strike you as demeaning? What with, you know—” Yvanne gestured vaguely at the remnants of her horns.

“No more demeaning than accepting someone else’s naming of you like a dumb animal is named,” she said disdainfully.

“Fair, I guess.” Perhaps some day she would leave Yvanne behind for good. “I didn’t realize you were from Rivain. What’s it like?”

Cheddar thought on this. “Bit of a backwater,” she said eventually. “Swamps are full of crazy women summoning demons. But it was home, for a time. Maybe you’ll like it.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

They lay in their hammocks for a time—Yvanne curled inward, Cheddar nearly spilling out from hers, legs dragging on the deck floor. The Maiden creaked in her comfortable way. Somewhere beyond the haven of the ship that had become (however briefly) home, roared the sea.

Eventually, Yvanne said: “So will you tell me what my name means in your language now?”

Cheddar grinned. “No. It is much funnier this way.”

—

“Hey, Cheddar,” Yvanne said as Ostwick—yet another stop that Yvanne was not, in so many words, informed of—disappeared behind them. “You were kind of a Templar—”

“Arvaarad,” Cheddar corrected. “Not much like your toothless Templars.”

Toothless. Not the word Yvanne would have used. “Right,” she said, disheartened. “I’m just surprised. Of everyone on this ship you’re the only one who doesn’t seem to think I’m dangerous—”

Cheddar burst into laughter. “Of course you are dangerous!” she said. “At any moment demons could burst through and take your soul, and then you would kill us all in your mad rage.”

“That—that wouldn’t happen!” Yvanne said, indignant. “I trained to guard against that. I was the youngest Harrowed mage in a generation.”

Cheddar waved away her words with a wiggle of her fingers. “Trained,” she said dismissively. “That is just there to make you feel safe! You cannot train to guard against a demon. It will take you whether you will it or no, if it decides it wants you.”

“If you think I’m so dangerous, then why befriend me?” Yvanne demanded. “Why agree to work alongside me at all?”

Cheddar gave her a quizzical look.

“The sea is dangerous,” she explained, as though Yvanne was a slow child. “But still we sail upon it.”

“But—”

Cheddar reached out to pat her on the back. “Do not worry. If demons eat your heart,I won’t blame you. I’ll know you couldn’t have done anything about it.”

Yvanne was so puzzled by this reaction that she only managed to produce a consternated, “Thanks, I think?”

“Enough about that,” said Cheddar. “Ostwick is little to write home about, but next we go to Antiva City. Now that is a marvel! Rialto Bay at this time of year is a flurry of colors from all the ships that come to trade there. You can find anything in Antiva City!”

Yvanne found herself looking forward to it, and not thinking too much about what would come after.

—

But as it happened, Yvanne never reached Antiva City, because off the coast of Llomeryn, they were attacked by pirates.

The rival ship began to approach late in the day. Yvanne didn’t notice it at first. When the captain pulled her away from swabbing the deck to summon a wind, she didn’t think it too strange, although usually she was only ordered to use magic if the winds were really still. A merry gale already the sails that morning, albeit at an angle, when Yvanne took up her position

Her wind magic was woefully inefficient, even she could tell. Only a fraction of the magical energy she was expending was going into the gale itself; the rest sparked off as waste heat, crackling sound, and little lightning strikes that left her hair standing on end. Work like this at Kinloch would have seen her whipped.

“Can’t I stop yet?” she complained to the captain. “The wind’s plenty strong as it is.”

“No.”

“But—”

“You’ve your orders.”

She grumbled, but maintained the wind. Only then did she notice the other ship on the horizon.

“Are we close to a port?” she asked a fellow crewmember, a dwarven woman named Molly who was adjusting the aft sail in earshot. “I thought we weren’t due in Antiva City for another few days.”

Molly only shook her head and grunted in response. By afternoon the captain had not changed his orders, and she was starting to feel faint. Cheddar brought her a midday meal.

“Is it normal for a ship to pursue another for so long?” she asked Cheddar, once she’d finished scarfing the unexciting sailor’s fare.

Cheddar looked to aft, and the other ship there. It was still there—and closer now than ever.

“No,” she said. “Probably pirates. Captain hasn’t said anything to prevent panic, but everyone knows, I think, or at least suspects.”

“Pirates?” Yvanne said anxiously.

“Oh, sure. Plenty of their ilk around here.”

Yvanne watched the ever-less-distant blur for a time. Now she understood the captain’s orders, but would it have killed him to tell her? “How are they still behind us? I’ve been summoning wind all day!”

“They’ll have their own windmage,” Cheddar explained. “And they’ll be in a smaller ship, not so loaded with cargo. They will not catch us at once, but if they are very determined, they will catch us.”

“And then what happens?”

“We fight them, of course!” Cheddar laughed. “These canons are not just for show.”

“And if we lose…?”

Cheddar rubbed her chin. “Well, we might be killed. Or compelled to join their crew, or marooned on an island, or enslaved.”

“Killed? Enslaved?”

“Well, that’s life for you.” Cheddar shrugged. “But I’ve never been killed or enslaved by pirates before, so I don’t see why I should start now.”

Yvanne watched the ship in the distance. It didn’t appear to draw any closer, but that made it worse—the thought that they would be caught inevitably, however long it took if they did not make Antiva City first.

And it was inevitable. At her peak Yvanne had commanded oceans of mana—and even then she’d consumed lyrium by the gallon to sustain her casting habits. Since then, she had abandoned magic, let it atrophy and rot away like a vestigial limb, and while she had forgotten nothing, she was not as strong as she had been. She could already tell that she wouldn’t be able to sustain a wind this strong for much longer; already she was feeling the telltale signs of mana exhaustion.

“Get back to work, windmage!” the captain barked in her ear startling her out of her reverie.

“If I do that, I’ll be useless by sundown,” she protested. “Unless you happen to have a stash of lyrium potions somewhere aboard that you’ve failed to inform me of?”

He scowled at her.

“The problem is you have me summoning wind,” she complained. “I can do so much more than that. If you’d let me—”

“Do your job,” said the captain. She sighed and began again to cast.

And still the pirates approached.

Well, we might be killed...or enslaved. Was that true? She had no way of knowing, but no real reason to doubt. But the Maiden’s cannons were strong, weren’t they?

Now the pirate ship was close enough that even a dull eye could spot the colors they flew.

The crew was beginning to murmur nervously. Some threw her dirty looks, no doubt holding her responsible for being bad at her job.

The next time Cheddar came to check on her, as the sun was setting, even she looked a little unnerved. “What’s going on?” Yvanne panted. She was scraping the very bottom of her well of mana.

“Things don’t look good,” said Cheddar. “Raiders out of Llomeryn can be handled civilly, but these aren’t Raiders. Those are Silesian pirates, sailing out of Tevinter. They don’t generally come this far.”

Yvanne did not like how nervous she sounded. “What does that mean?”

“It means that we had better sink their ship before they engage. Or else.”

“Or else…?”

Cheddar shook her head. “Best not speak of it. If you are lucky you will not live to see it.”

“And what are the odds of us sinking their ship?”

Cheddar made a noncommittal sound and wiggled her hand back and forth.

Yvanne snapped. She ended the wind spell, damn what the captain said. She would have to take this into her own hands. The pirate vessel was obviously too far for ordinary combat magic. She could shoot all the lightning she wanted at them; it would still fall short, though it would probably fry plenty of the fish in the sea in the bargain. And any closer, the pirates’ own mage—and they would well have more than one, if they were out of Tevinter—would be more than a match for her. Her mind tumbled and spun and produced an idea.

“Cheddar,” she said, steady, “would a smaller ship like theirs withstand stormy weather as well as ours?”

“No, of course not,” she answered, puzzled. “It would be much more likely to sink. Piracy’s dangerous business, after all.”

Yvanne’s teeth flash in the growing dark. “Great,” she said. “I’m going to try something.”

Cheddar didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

“I think we have no other choice,” she said grimly “You may want to hang on. And tell everyone else to hang on, too.”

For a moment she thought the Vashoth woman was going to stop her, that her essential Arvaarad nature would get the better of her. But she only shrugged, said “Alright, little bird, good luck,” and asked no more.

Yvanne wasted no time, even as other crewmembers shouted at her for abandoning her post. Betrayer, they called her, faithless abandoner, but she paid no heed. She climbed the rigging with practiced if not expert ease, until the deck below was dizzyingly far away.

Vertigo she was used to. Being in the crow’s nest itself was another thing. Barrel duty—for the nest was little more than a barrel fastened to the main-mast—was often doled out as punishment, and no wonder; every motion of the ship was multiplied many times over, with every motion threatening to toss the barrelman into the sea. Yvanne regretted having no anti-nausea spell, but now there was no time for it.

What she needed was a storm. A big one.

She had always been good with storms. Her earliest use of magic had been lightning, and many had told her that even her healing had felt like a shock back to life. It was all second nature to her, the thunder and the lightning and the wind and rain—not so much the constituent parts as the tempest as whole. Of course she was no good at tempered wind spells; her magic tended to spread out and spark and roil. A simple gale did not become her.

But a deadly storm at sea to sink a rival ship? This she could do.

She reached inside herself, drawing from the endless well of power that she knew the Fade to be, and found—a puddle. A few drops. It was like forcing the ocean through a drinking straw.

Cursing her shortsightedness in not abandoning her post earlier, she wished for lyrium above all things. She had not had a drop of it in so long. But she had no lyrium. She had nothing. She was spent, utterly empty.

...no, not utterly empty. There was power yet inside her. Power in her blood.

Sickening memories overwhelmed her at the thought, worse even than the swaying of the ship. She reached again for the Fade, desperate for any other way.

Please, she called out in panicked anguish. Please! But there was nothing.

She would have to do it.

At first she worried that she would not remember how to do it—but blood magic was not the sort of thing one could forget. She had no dagger; only her own ragged fingernail. She had to make several attempts, and she had to press hard. At first she worried that she simply wouldn’t be able to break the skin, but finally her scrabbling succeeded. The wound bled, and it hurt.

Like a dam breaking, new power flowed through her. It came from a reservoir that was all her own. And from this reservoir, still clinging to the mast, she began to chant.

Nobody came up to stop her. She silently thanked her friend for it.

The storm that materialized off the coast of Llomeryn came on fast, even for a storm at sea. Mere minutes ago the sky had been clear, and now clouds gathered there like battalions of an army. As her lips formed the words—words that were not necessary, no more than the precise shapes of her fingers, although they helped—the storm grew. The waves rose taller, rougher.

The clouds she had gathered rumbled darkly. Rain began to fall, first in drops, then sheets. They fell so cold and hard that it hurt her skin, and this pain, too, she channeled. Life was pain—where had she heard that? Life was pain, sure enough, and life was power.

She could feel the storm’s power. It dwelled in the clouds, in the growing waves, the rising winds. It filled her up even as her blood flowed. For one wild moment, she felt alive again.

Lightning streaked out towards the Maiden’s mast, sure to strike—and at the last moment, she turned it away. Instead it hit the pirate’s vessel. In the distance—though it was increasingly hard to see—she saw a brief fire ignite before being put out.

The waves reared up taller than the mast itself; the Maiden surged up, crested, fell. She could no longer see the other ship, and anyway, now all her focus was concentrated on keeping the Maiden intact. She had more than an inkling that the only thing that now protected it was some fey power she had summoned from within herself—but which was not quite of herself. But the storm was hers, and the ship was hers, as Vigil’s Keep had once been hers; this, she would protect.

Time froze, or compressed, or both. She could not have said how long she clung to the crow’s nest, crackling with blood and spirit, her awareness more in the wind and water than her body.

The storm raged.

Eventually, it ceased.

The Maiden had survived.

She had no idea how she got down from the crow’s nest. Her world spun and sparked, the residual rain flattening her clothes to her skin and making movement all the more difficult. Rough warm hands studied her; the grey blur resolved itself into her astonished friend.

“Wow!” she told Cheddar, breathless and giddy. “I had no idea I had that in me!”

After that she knew no more.

—

Yvanne awoke in chains and darkness, sodden and frozen.

She tried to scream, and realized she was gagged. I failed, she thought despondently. The pirates had captured them after all.

No! She would not allow it! She would die first. She would ensure she died first—

—but no. She had seen the encroaching ship break and sink. Hadn’t she? It had been so dark. Perhaps she had felt rather than seen them go down.

She risked a wisplight, and as its greenish glow illuminated her surroundings, her heart sank. This was the hold of the Maiden. Her own crewmates had put her in chains.

How long she sat there shivering in the dark, she couldn’t say. She’d never been in solitary at Kinloch. Loriel had always managed to protect her. She had no worked out method of marking the time, save by her growing hunger and thirst; and even then this told her little, save that she was very hungry, and very thirsty.

And worse, she was tired; tired in a way she’d never been before. Something vital had been wrung out of her. Even her connection to the Fade felt tenuous, a fog obscuring her sense of it. The blood magic, she realized dully. It had drained her so completely that, though enough time had passed by now that she should have full access to the Fade again, she had almost no mana at all. This was what Loriel had been doing to herself? It was completely unsustainable. No wonder the Tevinter magisters sacrificed their slaves.

The shackles chafed her wrists, and her shoulders ached miserably from the awkward position they’d been forced into, but the gag was the worst of it. It had been done inexpertly and pressed at the corners of her mouth, making it impossible not to drool.

But finally they came for her.

Two men, who she had trusted with her life less than a day ago, hauled her abovedecks, where relentless daylight nearly blinded her. It must have been high noon already. The Maiden had survived, yes, but barely. The mainsail was in shreds. The jibe was gone altogether. The mast leaned at a crooked angle.

But all the crew were alive. Alive, and staring at her, not a shred of pity in their eyes.

The men forced her to her knees.

She found Cheddar in the crowd, towering head and shoulders above the rest. Yvanne stared at her, pleading, but Cheddar only gave a little shrug.

Someone ripped away her gag. The captain approached her, keeping a careful distance. He looked only, and said nothing.

Yvanne fought the bizarre urge to apologize. She kept her chin up and looked him in the eye.

“Windmage, you are being tried for treason,” the captain said finally.

“Treason?” she burst out. “I saved all our lives!”

“You have lead this ship into needless danger. You have blown us hopelessly off course. You have all but destroyed this ship. All this is tantamount to treason.”

“I’m no citizen of any country,” she protested. “How can I be a traitor?”

“You are part of this ship!” roared the captain, “and now you will answer to it!”

She glared. “I did only what was necessary to preserve the life of this crew. At great personal cost. I’m no traitor.”

“She’s possessed, I say!” shouted a crewman. His name was Derrick. He had ruddy red cheeks and a fondness for dirty jokes. He’d shown her how to tie a bowline knot. “Demons dwell within her! Traitor or not, we must be rid of her before she dooms us all!”

Stone-faced, the captain turned to Cheddar. “You, Arvaarad. You know about demons. Is she possessed?”

“Cheddar,” Cheddar corrected absently. She scrutinized Yvanne with her bright blue eyes, and for a moment Yvanne was so bold as to hope. Then Cheddar shook her head. “Can’t say for sure. Demons are tricksy; it’s their nature. She might be possessed, and the demon yet hiding.”

“And do you suppose,” said the captain, “that an unpossessed mage would have been capable of what we saw?”

Cheddar shrugged. “Couldn’t say. Best assume every mage is possessed, if you’re not sure. Saves a lot of trouble in the long run.”

Murmurs of assent spread through the crowd.

“Please,” Yvanne said. “At least consider self interest! You’ve blown off course. With the damage to the ship it may take weeks to find your way back. Once my mana regenerates I could shorten that time to mere days.”

“That would have been so,” said the captain, “if you could be trusted.”

“Alright, then,” she replied coldly. “Don’t trust me. Fear me instead. You saw what I did last night. You all know what I’m capable of. Do you suppose, if you turn on me, that you’ll be spared my wrath? Release me now and I may yet guide this ship to safe harbor. Keep me bound and you may be sure that none of you will ever see land again.”

Scraping at the corners of her soul for even a drop of mana, she managed to briefly make her eyes glow. Just to make a point. Just so that they would remember what she was.

It almost worked. Several members of the crew drew back or gasped.

Then the bosun—an Orlesian elf called Annette—called out, “She’s bluffing. She has no mana left. She said so herself! Arva—Cheddar, that’s true, isn’t it? They need time to regenerate, do they not?”

“That’s true,” Cheddar said reluctantly, not looking at Yvanne.

“If she had any power she would have freed herself already,” the Orlesian snarled. “If she really had the power to slay us all and seize the ship, she would have done so. I suggest we do not wait to see whether she is capable of this. Execute her now for treason while we still can!”

“Bad luck to slay a mage at sea,” rumbled another crewman, a burly Marcher with a short blond beard. “The winds would turn on us. We would be lost for certain.”

This got murmurs as well. Thank the Maker, thought Yvanne, rejoicing, for all these stupid bloody sailor’s superstitions.

“That’s true,” said the captain, measured. “Bad luck to slay a mage at sea. But neither can we risk her presence.”

At length he considered.

Finally, the captain spoke: “Throw her overboard. The sea will decide her fate.”

Yvanne at least had the satisfaction of not begging as they hauled her to the edge. Even now at her most powerless the crew was loath to touch her; they dragged her by the chains.

She had one chance to look back at the Maiden, at these people she had raised her voice with, these people she had trusted, at Cheddar who she had thought her friend. The Vashoth met her eyes. There was no trace of guilt in them. Regret, perhaps, but not guilt.

All of a sudden the crowd receded. She stood bound and alone at the precipice.

“You will jump,” ordered the captain.

“You can’t be serious,” Yvanne said dully.

“We prefer not to force you. We are good men. And I am sympathetic,” the captain said reasonably. “I understand it was not your fault. But you cannot remain aboard this ship. If we must use force, we will.”

Cheddar gave her an encouraging smile and a shrug, as though to say, Well, that’s life for you!

Yvanne gazed at the choppy waves. How many miles would her body sink? How long would it take her to drown? Would it hurt? Would it be so bad?

She tried to think of some parting words, but found that she had nothing to say. Nothing at all.

Whether she jumped or slipped or was pushed in the end did not matter. She managed a single deep breath against all odds, and then she sank, dragged down by the weight of her chains. She struggled; it was a difficult instinct to suppress. Her hair and clothing billowed out, medusa-like. How quickly the light went away, how rapidly the pressure built. Only a moment ago she had bathed in sunlight and in air, and now her world was crushing darkness, crushing cold.

Now this was truly the end of the line. The Fade would not save her. Her blood would not save her; it would hasten her death if anything. She could not escape the chains, and even if she did, what then? She could not swim forever. The sea would get her in the end.

Oh, and wasn’t it better this way? Wasn’t it neater? What in her life had been worth living, since she had left Vigil’s Keep? What a pointless farce it all had been. A drowning woman’s final gasping struggle, before succumbing to the totality of her irrelevance. How fitting, how neat.

Her lungs burned. Seawater poured into her throat. Oh Maker, drowning hurt. She had not thought it would hurt so much.

Then all of a sudden the pain receded. Her rigid limbs relaxed. It no longer seemed so bad to drown.

The blackness in front of her eyes faded to a pale and calming grey. It would be easy. It would be good.

Then somewhere something deep inside called out with the animal fury of a thousand generations:

want

LIVE!

The pale grey of a peaceful death bloomed into a violent green.

—

Eventually she washed up on a beach.

She had no memory of how she came to be there; not of escaping the chains (though she must have, for they were gone), nor of floating on the currents, nor of being deposited on the shore. It did not seem like she had been unconscious; she could not say that she had ‘woken up.’ At best it felt like she had been a passenger inside herself, and was only now fully in control again. When she searched for the memories, they were not there.

Best not to think about it, she told herself as she lay in the sand, the tide lapping at her feet.

For hours she lay there, too tired to move. She drifted in and out of consciousness, half in dream and half in fantasy, not quite in either realm. Every time she managed to open her eyes, the sun had fallen further into the horizon.

Around dusk she finally sat up and examined her surroundings. The beach was deserted, littered with stones and shells and little creatures. The strangest trees she had ever seen grew further up the beach, swaying gently in the late-afternoon breeze.

Abruptly she was struck by a memory at Kinloch Hold. Back before Anders had tried to escape across the lake and gotten them all banned from outside time, they’d been permitted on the lakeshore. Yvanne had liked to swim, and Loriel had liked to sit on the rough grey sand and read, but sometimes she could be persuaded to come play. They’d waded in the shallows and looked for interesting rocks and shells and built lopsided structures in the sand. Then at night they would giggle and whisper about the island they would rule someday, as soon as they escaped. When had they stopped fantasizing about their secret island? Presumably the day they realized that they would never escape.

Despite everything, this place was beautiful. Soft white sand. A soft breeze of gentle air. The smell of salt and fading sunlight, the rustling of the trees. She watched as the sun sank into the sea and set the sky aflame, a panoply of color just for her. As it set, the stars came out, a sparkling veil with no moon to dim their shine.

She wondered if Loriel would have liked it here.

Then she bent over in shattered grief, keening, and for the first time, felt no anger, none at all.

#amell #surana #femslash #dragon age #please read my wizard lesbian fanfiction

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spokenmind93 · 5 years

Note

Lily just published her list of criteria that put someone on her banlist. The fact she qualifies for like half a dozen of those things herself doesn't seem to occur to her, or any of her fans, of course. is/m4IdS

Lemme see... I’ll just underline everything that Lily is also guilty of. Bear with me, this is a long list xD

Abuser -

Is known to be guilty of some form of abuse

(I mean, just look at Brittany, Patch, Lizzy...)

Antifeminist -

Expresses any of the following

Denial of the wage cap

“Traditional Values” regarding gender.

Denial of rape culture

Denial of the damage rape does

Complaining about “Feminists”

Complaining about “Third Wave Feminists”

(Complains about Lindsay Ellis a LOT)

Bestiality -

Is known to be guilty of sexualizing animals

(Let’s share that google drive again, shall we https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UfoTkoI2AE6xaiGMSI6nil11NQWCMevI)

Child Pornography -

Produces material that sexualizes children.

(Maybe not children, but there was a lot of teen fucking in Stockholm and all other stories you wrote)

Con Artist -

Sells scam products.

Conspiracy Theorist -

Known to push conspiracy theories.

(“Kiwifarms is trying to dox me!” “Lizzy is trying to swat me!” “These people are trying to make me kill myself!”)

Homophobia -

Category of Bigotry. Expresses any of the following, regardless of one’s own sexuality.

Opposition to same sex marriage

Opposition to gay adoption

Opposition to LGBT Discrimination bills

Support of “religious belief exceptions” for harassment, abuse and bigotry

Supports Conversion Therapy

Use of anti-gay slurs

Using children as an excuse for one’s own homophobia.

Biphobia is under this umbrella.

Internalized Homophobia

Nazi -

Fits any of the following criteria

Pro-Fascist beliefs

Hardline anti-immigration

Romanticizing “western culture”

White genocide paranoia

Advocating genocide and/or mass incarceration of minorities.

Talk about the “JQ”

Using “14 Words” rhetoric.

Holocaust Denial

Advocating a “White ethnostate”

Self identifies as nazi dogwhistles like “white nationalist” “nationalist” “alt-right” “Identitarian” “classical liberal” or “Real America”

Complaining about “Antifa”

Is a member of pro-nazi or nazi-adjacent political parties (GOP, UKIP, People’s Party of Canada)

Is a member of Nazi hate sites

(Would looooooooooove to see all “haters and Republicans” die. That’s mass genocide, darling. Not to forget your lovely Valkyr stories where you obliterated planet Earth cuz they disagreed with Ryder)

Nazi Apologist -

Any of the following, regardless of intent or personal identities.

Portrays Nazis or Nazi-adjacent totalitarians as sympathetic in creative works

Trying to “have a discussion” with Nazis.

Getting on someone’s case for calling a Nazi a Nazi.

Denial of the reality that Donald Trump is a Nazi.

(Again, I point to Tales of the Valkyr that literally have Nazi stuff in there and then you make Ryder out to be sympathetic and misunderstood cuz God gave him a boo boo once)

Nazi Sympathizer -

Any of the following

Sympathizes with Nazi beliefs

“Trying to understand”

Is against Deplatforming Nazis

Is against punching/egging/milkshaking Nazis

Is under the delusion that there is a “middle ground” with Nazis.

Neo-Nazi -

Fits any of the following

Expresses three or more of the categories of bigotry (sans the ones that start with Nazi).

Antisemitism

Known to follow Nazi personalities.

“Triggered” jokes.

(Don’t think I forgot those anti-jew posts you made)

Pedophile -

Any of the following

Sexual assault of a child

Consumption of child pornography

Self-identifies as such in any way, shape or form

Advocates in favor of legal age of consent below 18/19

Is known to have sexual thoughts about children (POCD Notwithstanding)

(Stockholm and the fact you want your toddler characters kissing full on the mouth... That’s just gross...)

Racism -

Any of the following

Apologia of police brutality

Complaining about BLM

Supporting racial profiling

Use of racial slurs

Islamaphobia

Attempting to tie upbringing, region, racism or capitalism induced characteristics to race or culture

Devil’s advocate for racism of any kind

Rape Apologist -

Downplays the severity of sexual assault

Respectability Politics -

Arguing being “calm and dignified” and needlessly demonizing a very justified anger.

Slurs -

Any of the following

Use of slurs

Advocating the reclamation of slurs

Stalker -

Is known to stalk people and hoard their social media archives

(Didn’t you explicitly know what IP address Lizzy and Patch have? Probably a lot more of your “stalkers” too)

TERF -

Synonymous with Transphobia, but dressed up in feminist rhetoric

Transphobia -

Expresses any of the following, regardless of whether one is cis or trans.

Bathroom segregation

Anti-LGBT rights

Anti Legal Change of Sex

Misgendering trans people at all

Deadnaming trans people at all

Opposing allowing trans children to transition.

“Did you just assume my gender” and “attack helicopter” jokes.

Internalized Transphobia

Denouncing “Gender ideology”

Truscum -

Selectively policing trans people’s identities while being trans oneself.

(Pretty sure you’re guilty of this one too, atleast in the past. You were all about “you don’t have to feel dysphoria to be trans”)

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

Now, let’s see, she called me a Neo-Nazi and a stalker. Let’s check the ACTUAL definition of a stalker, shall we:

“a person who stalks: a person who pursues someone obsessively and aggressively to the point of harassment“

If you think I’m harassing you then why am I not arrested yet?

And she also called me a Neo-Nazi:

- Give me proof I was ever a bigot? I have tons of LGBTQ+ friends- Antisemitism? I am VERY interested in Jewish religion, symbolism and the Hebrew language. - Yeah, but it’s very hard to NOT be a Nazi personality in Lily’s eyes. She probably thinks most of the Brony analysis community is Nazi...- When did I ever make a “Triggered” Joke?

All in all, this list is just so mind-blowingly dumb, it’s not even funny anymore.

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meterteller4-blog · 5 years

Text

Those Who Care and Those Who Don’t: Children and Racism in the Trump Era

DECEMBER 14, 2018

This piece appears in the latest issue of the LARB Print Quarterly Journal: No. 20 Childhood

To receive the LARB Quarterly Journal, become a member or purchase a copy at your local bookstore.

“Trump does some bad things,” 10-year-old Kenny tells me one afternoon. I’m sitting across from him at a coffee shop in a small town in Mississippi. Kenny is black and loves soccer. As he talks, he anxiously spins a pen cap on the table between us. “Trump talks about racist things … and he does racist things! He puts inappropriate things on Twitter. Like, people won’t admit it but saying, ‘I’m going to build a wall from Mexico,’ and saying bad things about Mexicans is racist and [people] won’t admit it!” Kenny pauses, looks down to the ground, and shakes his head with disbelief. “To me, that’s something.”

Kenny is just one of the millions of children growing up in the United States under the Trump administration. And he, like many of these children, is experiencing a shocking moment in American history. These are young people who have otherwise been taught that America is making progress when it comes to issues like racism and sexism. Their childhoods unfolded during the “post-racial” era of President Obama; their television programs celebrate multiculturalism and diversity; their T-shirts have girl-empowerment slogans; their schools conduct anti-bullying and inclusion campaigns. For the youngest generations in the United States, racial progress was the common narrative across the political spectrum. This changed during the 2016 presidential election, which marked a drastic turning point in this narrative. Things were suddenly different, and the election of Donald Trump deeply complicated how many children in America understand their country.

As many people have pointed out, Trump began his political career by propagating a racist conspiracy against President Obama. Sociologist Matthew W. Hughey argued that the effect of “Birther” movement was in fact twofold: it stoked white fear of a black man in power and encouraged fantasies of a white ethno-state as a remedy for those fears. Trump perhaps noticed its effectiveness. He went on to use explicitly racist rhetoric and antisemitic dog whistles in his presidential campaign ads. Even after taking office, Trump has continued to stoke racial division and white fear. He has used racist, derogatory language to refer to Mexicans, Muslims, and entire nations in Africa and the Caribbean. He has insulted a long list of black celebrities, politicians, and athletes. And his rhetoric is also backed up by action. Within its first year, the Trump administration advanced a ban on Muslim people and refugees entering the country; it has more recently enforced family separation at the border, taking children from their parents and putting them in cages; Trump has pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man with a long history of racial discrimination. Trump also famously refused to denounce white supremacists after their racist and antisemitic rallying and violence in Charlottesville. His racist rhetoric has only escalated in the run up to the midterm elections.

In October 2017, political scientist Cathy J. Cohen and her colleagues at the University of Chicago reported findings from their GenForward Survey of Millennial Attitudes on Race in the U.S. They found that across all racial groups, Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that racism is one of the three most important problems in the United States today and that this problem is getting worse (Cohen, Fowler, Medenica, & Rogowski, 2017). However, nearly half of the white young adults in this research believed that “discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against Blacks and other minorities.” Across all racial groups, very few young people thought racial relations were improving in the United States, and when asked if they believed Trump is a racist, 82 percent of African-American respondents, 78 percent of Latinx respondents, and 74 percent of Asian-American respondents said they did. White respondents were split almost exactly down the middle: 51 percent believed he is racist while 48 percent disagreed.

My conversation with Kenny was part of my ongoing research with youth and racism in the United States. My work as a sociologist focuses on racial socialization — I study how children learn about race and racism in the context of their families, communities, and everyday lives. Part of my work involves speaking with children directly about their experiences and perspectives of the social world. I knew from my previous research that for many white children who grew up in the Obama era, they believed that racism was “no longer a problem in America.” In many ways, it made sense for these children to feel this way. Although the United States has a long history of racism and white supremacy, in more recent years, social scientists have found that racism at the individual level has not disappeared but, rather, is expressed in more subtle and implicit ways. The circumstances, however, have clearly changed, and these same children are now confronted with explicit and overt forms of racism in the public sphere. I wanted to know what young people, particularly children in middle school, are thinking about racism in the new Trump era. What are their views on this matter? How are they feeling? What do they have to say?

Over the past year, a team of graduate students and I interviewed children between the ages of 10 and 13 in two distinct geographic locations: Mississippi and Massachusetts. We asked them a range of questions about current events, their schools and families, and their reaction to Trump’s words and actions as president. After interviewing more than 50 children, we found that children of color in both states expressed a great deal of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger about the present moment. The white children’s responses, however, surprised me. For many, their acknowledgment of Trump’s explicitly racist words and actions seemed to mark a rearrangement of empathy, and a rearrangement of how they thought about racism — and, perhaps more importantly, how much they cared.

One day after school in Mississippi, I talk with 10-year-old Crystal, who describes herself as “African American and mixed.” Crystal tells me what she remembers from the night of the 2016 presidential election. “We were very scared the night before…When I was sleeping, I did have a bad dream so I think I could kind of tell that it wasn’t going to end up as I expected.”

“What happened the next day at school?” I ask. She brings up race right away.

“Some black boys and girls were saying that that, like, they really didn’t want Trump to win or that he had won and [that they] didn’t really like him. And then some people who did vote for Trump were like, ‘I’m so happy!’ and they told their friends who also voted for Trump. … It was like allll day.”

I ask her if the kids who supported Trump were black.

Crystal replies immediately: “No. They were all white.” For Crystal, the connection between whiteness and support for Trump is clear.

At the coffee shop, Kenny has similar ideas: “When Barack Obama was the president, I wasn’t thinking about politics,” Kenny explains. “I didn’t really talk about Barack Obama because there’s nothing to talk about! He didn’t do anything bad. He didn’t start anything. So I mean, when he was president, I didn’t get into politics because I didn’t have to. Because he was a good president.”

Later in our interview, I ask Kenny, “What do you think is a big problem in America?”

“Racism is one of the main things that this country has always had problems with. And I’m scared Trump will make that worse,” he adds.

In Massachusetts, children of color express similar fears and anxieties about this moment of reemerging racial animosity. Mariana is 10 years old and identifies as “Mexican-American and white.” She and I sit together talking in a small classroom at her afterschool program.

“Do you think Trump is doing a good job or a bad job leading our country” I ask Mariana.

“I don’t like Donald Trump!” she shouts as she slaps her hand on the desk. “He is terrible! I want Obama to come back. Obama is a better president. In my head, I’m like, Trump is going to get us all bombed. Like, after he won the election, at school, everyonewas like screaming, ‘Ahhhh!’ People were running around and then someone started crying and said, ‘I want Obama to come back!’” Mariana goes on to tell me how “Trump is racist” and a “bad president.”

I also talk with 11-year-old Dominick who identifies as “black and Cape Verdean.” “I have heard him say something bad about black people,” Dominick tells me. “Donald Trump shouldn’t build the wall. … It’s just weird and just like, you’re making fun of a certain region because they like look different? Really?”

I ask him how he feels when the president says bad things about black people.

“I feel like if the president says something racist, I think that they shouldn’t be the president,” he replies.

I hear this opinion echoed in Massachusetts, over and over again. Suzannah tells me that she thinks Trump is “very racist” and that “we need someone [who is] both of our colors so they can be more fair ’cause he only likes really the whiter people.”

Devion, an 11-year-old black boy, responds so quickly I can barely finish asking the question. “He’s said stuff about Mexico, and he’s basically just racial-profiling people! … And people have been joining him! I’ve heard some things on the news and what he says isn’t right!”

I ask him how he felt the day after the election.

“I felt just sad for America. … I was very surprised.” He goes on to tell me about white kids chanting, “Build a wall,” and harassing Latinx kids at his school.

“I honestly think that it’s crazy that kids would say that. I’ve had, um, a kid in my class that I was just fully ashamed by that kid ’cause he was saying some racist stuff [after Trump won] and that was the kid that has [previously] said racist stuff to me.” Devion tells me that he absolutely thinks the election of Trump has emboldened the already-racist bullies at his school.

These conversations reveal that these particular children of color are deeply affected by the state of the country and the larger events and conversations happening around them. My findings are reinforced by a recent survey conducted with teachers by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). This survey, held in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, described what the Center referred to as the “Trump Effect. “The report found that more than two-thirds of teachers noted increased anxiety on the behalf of students of color, immigrant students, Muslim students, and LGBTQ students. The report also found that 90 percent of teachers surveyed indicated that their school climate had been negatively affected by the political campaign and election of Donald Trump. This was also reflected in the news: during the past two years, headlines from across the nation have described instances of white youth engaging in forms of racial violence and other forms of harassment — chanting “Build the wall!” in the faces of Latinx kids at athletic competitions or in the school cafeteria, bringing Confederate flags into classrooms to taunt their black peers, sexually assaulting and “grabbing” girls, inflicting physical violence such as pulling hijabs off Muslim students, and so on (SPLC Hatewatch, 2016).

White children are also thinking and engaging in the current political moment, of course, though our conversations are notably different. With white children, I notice a profound divide between how much some children seem to care about Trump’s racist words and actions and how much some don’t.

Paige, 12 years old, was one of the children I talk to in Mississippi. I sit down with her in her living room on a Saturday morning. “We had an assignment after the presidential election,” Paige tells me. “We had to draw a picture of what we think the future is going to look like under our new government…The teacher actually made half the class redo it because she was unhappy with the results because she got a lot of walls and cities in flames or like evil-looking politicians.”

“What did you draw?” I ask. “I personally drew Trump behind a wall of fire,” she says, matter-of-factly. I ask her why she drew that particular image. “I just felt like we were making so much progress with Obama. Like on everything. Like women’s rights, gay rights, racism, like things like global warming. Then, like, now that we have the new president — it’s like a million steps backward.”

A bit later, I ask her if she thinks the election of Trump has had any immediate impact on kids.

She nods. “I think that him being elected has made some people think, ‘Oh, well, since our president has these beliefs, it’s okay.’…Like him being disrespectful to women, some people are like, ‘Oh [if ] the president did that in his past, it’s okay for me to do that,’ … and that’s not okay.”

Zena, another white 12-year-old girl growing up in Mississippi talks to me about some recent changes in how some of her friends are relating to their parents.

“Trump’s not the best person and I think we all know that,” she tells me. “I have friends with parents who are like, ‘We need to raise you like this, and you need to do this, and you need to be a big supporter of Jesus and Trump and racism, and [my friends] are like, you know, ‘I’m going to need you to take a few steps back.’…These kids are like, ‘I should do some of my own research before I jump headfirst into his big agenda.’”

Zena goes on to tell me about one friend who is outraged by Trump’s racism despite her parents’ full support of him. “She argues with her parents all the time,” Zena explains. “What about you?” I ask. “Do you think we still have racism in America?” “I think we are 100 percent not past racism,” she states definitively. “I think recently everyone has had this realization that we are not past this because there are people … who sit in the big chairs and say, ‘No. I don’t want that law [that would help racial minorities] passed,’ and I feel like it’s a problem because the people who have power … they like use it for the wrong reasons. I don’t think we are past [racism] because people in power like Trump aren’t allowing us to get past it. And that sucks.”

Trump’s election has made 12-year-old Charlie, who is also white, rethink aspects of President Obama’s time in office. “I knew President Obama was the first black president, but I didn’t understand the significance of it until Trump became president,” 12-year-old Charlie tells me one afternoon at a restaurant in Mississippi. Charlie attends a public school that is almost 70 percent black. Like many of the white kids I interviewed, Charlie tells me that lately he has been talking about racism with his parents, his friends, and his teachers “all the time.”

“Trump has definitely done something to make things worse,” he tells me.

I ask him what it was like at his school around the time of the election.

“I was surprised [when Trump won]. We did this vote at our school and it was 16 people who voted for Trump while the 360 other people voted for Clinton. But I heard that at this other school [nearby] … the vote was so Trump.”

“How is it that these two schools that are located pretty close to each other have such different results?” I ask him.

“Well, I think our school is more racially diverse than that school,” he responds. Based on his experience growing up in Mississippi — like Crystal — Charlie could also see a connection between support for Trump and whiteness.

A number of white children, in both Massachusetts and Mississippi, tell me they are shocked and outraged by what they perceived to be racism radiating from the highest seats of power. For these kids, Trump’s presidency not only challenges their understanding of the country but also sheds new light on previously held notions about race in America. In addition to their outrage, these children also exhibit racial empathy for people of color, immigrants, women, and other groups that they perceive to be under attack by the Trump administration. In fact, part of what they dislike so much about Trump is how badly he treats the vulnerable and how he seems to bully the marginalized.

Other white children I speak with have a different reaction. They don’t all consider Trump’s racism to be a problem. Children, in both Massachusetts and Mississippi, tell me that even though they recognize Trump’s racism, they ultimately don’t care.

Twelve-year-old Erin lives in Mississippi and attends a former segregationist academy that is still almost entirely white. Erin knows she is white, she explains, because “I was born in America and my skin is white.” I ask her how she felt after Trump won the election. “I was happy he won because I think he knows how to handle, like, people who threaten us and stuff.” She describes kids at her school making jokes about building a wall at recess, but she says she did not tell the teacher because she “did not think it was a big deal.” Like many of the kids, Erin also shares her views on the differences she has observed since President Obama was in office: “When Barack was president, like, there was a lot of tension going on ’cause he was, like, the first black president … the people didn’t think it was right that he should be president because he was black. Now we have a white president again.”

When Erin is asked if she recognizes the rise of racial tension in the United States right now, she acknowledges that Trump “has said racist things,” but she isn’t too bothered by it. “I honestly think it’s fine,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t really care.”

Erin’s attitude echoes what contemporary social scientists have found when studying the racial attitudes of white Americans. White people in the United States have found more subtle ways to express their prejudices toward people of color over time. These new forms of racism often help people maintain the external appearance of not being racist even as they continue to engage in practices and behaviors that reproduce racial inequality — a way of “saving face” so to speak. Drawing on findings from a large, national survey of racial attitudes spanning 40 years, sociologist Tyrone A. Forman finds evidence for an increasein what he defines as “racial apathy” in the United States. White racial apathy, he argues, “refers to lack of feeling or indifference toward societal racial and ethnic inequality and lack of engagement with race-related social issues.” In his research, Forman finds an increase in whites’ use of “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” when asked survey questions about racial integration.

When it comes to young people specifically, Forman and his colleague, sociologist Amanda E. Lewis, explore expressions of racial apathy in white high school students over time. They find that instead of new generations of white kids being less racist and more tolerant than generations before them, this population instead embraces more subtle forms of racism like being indifferent to racial inequality. Data from this important research suggests that racial apathy is actually on the rise.

In talking with some of the white children in my study, I find similar patterns. For instance, Blake, who is 10 years old and lives in Massachusetts, tries many different ways to avoid identifying his race. Eventually, though, he tells me he is white. After talking with him a bit about his hockey team and upcoming game, I ask him what he thought the day after Trump was elected.

“I didn’t care,” he tells me, shrugging.

When I ask him if he thinks Trump is racist, he responds, “I don’t know ’cause I’ve never heard him be racist. But he said um, that we’ll build a wall between Mexico. … Mexico is like part of our world so you shouldn’t try to keep them out.” Blake tells me that there is racism still in America, but that he doesn’t really know much about it. “I’ve never heard anybody say [anything racist],” he tells me. He explains he does not talk about race or racism with his family members. Generally, he says, he does not think much about racism — but he knows that it exists.

“Yeah.” He tells me. “But I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”

Betsy, who is 12 years old, white, and lives in Massachusetts, is more engaged with politics than Blake. She tells me that she loves knowing what is going on in the world. In fact, she gets up early to drink a cup of tea and watch the news before school every morning.

“I feel like I’ve heard stuff on the news about [Trump] being racist, but like, the [news anchors] exaggerate stuff. But I don’t really think he’s racist. I think when he does one thing wrong, people turn it against him.” She can discuss many of the issues that have come up while Trump has been in office, like the wall and the Muslim ban. “Overall, I’m not saying he’s the best president, and he’s definitely not the worst. But he’s not racist. There might have been one or two incidents when he was racist, but he’s not racist.” Betsy tells me that even though she wishes we could have elected a woman for president, from her perspective, Trump is “fine” and even though he is racist sometimes, she does not think that it is a major problem.

Back in Mississippi, 12-year-old Ellie, who is white, tells me about voting in a mock election at her private school, complete with mock voter ID cards that students had to show before casting their mock ballot. “Everyone wanted Trump to win and they were like, ‘If you want Hillary to win, then you’re terrible.’” Ellie was not surprised when Trump won the actual election. “I knew he was probably gonna win,” she tells me. “I didn’t really think anything about it [when he did.]” Ellie talks about how she liked one of the other Republican candidates better than Trump but that ultimately, she was happy Trump won.

When Ellie is asked about her thoughts on racism in the United States today, particularly in light of Trump’s election, she says she has heard people say he is racist, but she “do[esn’t] really know.” She also explains that her family does not talk about racism. “There’s not really any [racism] going on in Mississippi but there might be in like, other states, I just haven’t noticed anything. … I don’t really know. … It’s not something I care about.”

Kids offer different versions of this opinion. James, a 12-year-old boy who identifies as “Caucasian” and who goes to the same school as Ellie, “felt good” after Trump was elected because he supports many of Trump’s positions, even the more controversial stance on the wall between the United States and Mexico. James understands that Trump’s policies may upset people, but he ultimately cares more about other things. For example, he spends a lot of time discussing the conflict between the United States and Muslim countries. “I think it’s silly that [conflict] is still going on,” he says. “They’ve been fighting since 1999 and nobody’s won. Why [hasn’t the United States] dropped an atomic bomb on them? It would just end them, so they wouldn’t like, come at us again.”

In terms of racial politics at the national level, James recognizes that racism exists but does not think that it is serious enough to merit a solution or any political action. Regarding football players kneeling at NFL games, he says, “Some people are doing it because they don’t like the president. They don’t like racism. They don’t like the way some people are getting treated. … But if [they] want to live in America, why [are they] kneeling instead of like, loving our country that people fight for every day so we can be free? If they don’t like wanna stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or the National An

them, why are they living here?” James makes it clear that he understands these protests to be about real racism in America, but he ultimately concludes that racism is not a legitimate reason to protest.

Ava, who is 12 years old and white, also likes Trump but finds him “embarrassing” at times. Sometimes, he “acts like a kid,” she says explaining that her family and friends share the hope that he “straightens out soon.” Despite how embarrassing he is, Ava goes on to say that she was happy Trump won. But, she still thinks “he seems kinda mean.” When I ask her what she means, she says: “Well, I don’t really want him to build a wall even though it keeps some mean people out,” she explains. “There’s usually nice people who want, like, a better life too.”

When Ava is asked if she thinks that the president is racist, Ava replies, “Mmm, maybe, sorta, kinda because he built the wall and because like, he wants to keep some religions out. And I think if it’s just because of like, the religions, we could try to teach them like, about God and like that Jesus Christ came for our sins.” For Ava, racism is, again, not an important issue. Even if Trump’s wall and Muslim ban are “maybe sorta kinda” racist, the real issue with these policies is that they might prevent people from converting to Christianity.

Jason, who is 11 years old and identifies as white, views Trump in a similar “kinda racist” way as Ava. His reaction to Trump winning the election was, “I didn’t care.” When asked if he thinks Trump is racist, Jason replies, “Trump is kind-of racist, kind-of not. He kind-of is building a wall so other people won’t come in.” I ask him what he would say to Trump if he had the opportunity.

“I would make a joke like, ‘Hurry up and build that wall!’” Jason goes on to say that during recess, kids made other “jokes” about immigrants. To Jason, even if Trump’s wall is “kind-of racist,” he does not see a problem with making jokes about it, or replicating the racism in his own conversations or playful interactions with his peers.

The views of children like Ellie, James, Ava, Jason, and others are in direct opposition to those of children who are fearful of or outraged by the Trump administration. Even when this group of kids identifies racism in the words and actions of the president and his administration — even when they agree that Trump is doing something racist — they do not really seem to care. Although they are aware of racism, they would prefer to not think about it.

Indeed, racial apathy is not new, and I found signs of it among the many children I spoke with during the Obama era. But, in my previous work, kids who expressed this apathy embraced a “colorblind” racial logic — they believed that because a black man was president, American society didn’t have to worry about racism anymore. This is different from the apathy I observed in many of these white children today. Based on this new research, it seems that some kids are learning not to care about racism or racial inequality in any way, even when it is explicitly present. The narrative seems to be shifting: “I don’t see racism, so I don’t care” is becoming, “I see racism, and I still don’t care.”

Social science research makes it abundantly clear that, across the board, children today are growing up in a country with increasing economic inequality and “deep differences of opportunity” (Kids Count, 2017). Race and wealth disparities between children are well documented in a wide variety of realms like education, health, the criminal justice system, the child welfare system, the labor market, housing, wealth holdings, and so on. American children are growing up in this context, among tremendous race and class inequality and deep powerful political divides. Based on my new research, however, it seems that there is another type of division separating today’s younger generations: how they respond to explicit forms of racism.

Why is this division important? As psychologist Derald Wing Sue puts it, rather than expressing a “conscious desire to hurt,” racial apathy conveys a “failure to help.” That failure is twofold: it is not just a failure of action, it’s a failure of empathy — it’s the failure to even care about the persistence and consequences of racism in the United States. This “failure to help” — this failure to concern oneself with the suffering and humanity of others — is a powerful tool, used to reproduce and perpetuate existing racial oppression. As Forman and Lewis ask:

If, in the face of entrenched, systemic, and institutionalized racial inequality, most whites say that they have no negative feelings toward racial minorities but feel no responsibility to do anything about enduring racial and ethnic inequalities and in fact object to any programmatic solutions to addressing those inequalities, is that progress, or is it rather a new form of prejudice in its passive support for an unequal racial status quo?

White peoples’ disinterest in racism — or the more active refusal of interest in human suffering — dramatically increases the stakes for racially marginalized people. Every child of color I interviewed not only articulated disgust and outrage with the president’s racist language and actions but also described feeling scared, angry, anxious, upset, and worried because of Trump’s presidency and specifically what his racist actions might mean for themselves or the people they love. They told me about their nightmares and about drawing violent images. They talked to me about feeling fearful and not being able to relax when out in public or around authority figures. As one 11-year-old told me, “When Trump got elected, I was actually kind of nervous. My dad isn’t a citizen. If [Trump] sends him back, he’s not going to be able to come back and I won’t be able to see him. … Like, like [one time recently] we were just driving and the police were behind us and I got scared because if he were to get pulled over, they would arrest him and they’ll send him back. I am scared.” She was on the verge of tears.

Empathy alone will not solve racism and racial injustice in America. But, in the Trump era, when children are confronted with the stark reality of the legacy and persistence of racism in the United States, it appears that they respond in different ways. For black, brown, and other marginalized children, this reality seems to be connected to feelings of stress, fear, anger, and anxiety. For some of the white children I spoke with, this reality seems to be connected to empathy, anger, and a sense of concern for their peers. But, for other white children, this reality simply does not matter, even though they know and can acknowledge that it exists. If children cannot develop empathetic perspectives, if they cannot learn to care about the suffering or humanity of their peers, what does that suggest for our future? Collectively, we must identify, acknowledge, and resist the power of racial apathy — and recognize the destruction it brings to our democratic society, to our political efforts, and to the children growing up in this world.

Margaret A. Hagerman is an assistant professor of Sociology at Mississippi State University. She is the author of White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America (NYU Press.)

Source: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/care-dont-children-racism-trump-era/

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bzalma · 3 years

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Convicted Insurance Fraudster Appeals Finding She Breached Probation

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Barry Zalma

Fraud Perpetrators Have Unmitigated Gall

Kristi Heffington appealed from the revocation of her probation. She argued on appeal that the revocation court’s decision was error even though it was proved that she had sent text messages to herself claiming it came from her past employer dentist who fired her for stealing from his practice and defrauding insurers. In Kristi Heffington v. State Of Maryland, No. 1899, Court Of Special Appeals Of Maryland (July 1, 2021) the appellate court wasted much time dealing with her spurious allegations in an attempt to avoid jail.

FACTS

In 2018, Kristi Heffington pleaded guilty to identity fraud, insurance fraud, and conspiracy for using electronic communications to steal thousands of dollars from her employer, Dr. Ron Moser’s Maryland-based dental practice. In Moser v. Heffington, 465 Md. 381, 388-89 (2019) The circuit court sentenced her to ten years’ incarceration (with all but nine months suspended) and five years’ probation. The conditions of Heffington’s probation included paying restitution and following a “no contact” condition, which required Heffington to “[h]ave no contact with Anne Moser [or Dr.] Ron Moser … including no harassing contact or through third parties.”

Four months later, Heffington filed a motion to terminate her restitution obligation. Her motion alleged that the victims of her crimes, Dr. Ron Moser and his wife, Anne, were harassing her in several ways, most notably by sending an anonymous text message to Heffington’s husband that read “YOUR WIFE WILL DIE IN PRISON.” Attached to Heffington’s motion was a copy of the message, which had been sent through a messaging service called SENDaTEXT. The circuit court denied Heffington’s motion to terminate restitution.

The State thereafter filed a petition to revoke Heffington’s probation. The petition alleged, among other things, that Heffington had violated the conditions of her probation by sending the threatening text message herself and then framing the Mosers for having sent the message. Heffington made it appear that the victims were harassing her and to hide her actions. Heffington also posted numerous items on social media that appeared to come from family members and friends, but were, in fact, generated by Heffington with the intent of threatening and harassing the victims, who remain in fear.

The revocation court held a hearing on the State’s petition. The State presented evidence that Heffington fabricated the threatening text message by remotely logging into the computer of a Colorado dental practice, Relaxation Dental Specialties (“Relaxation”), and using Relaxation’s computer to send the threatening text message through SENDaTEXT. The State established this through the testimony of Relaxation’s business manager, Jessie Brown.

The revocation court admitted the SENDaTEXT email chain into evidence over Heffington’s objection. The revocation court ultimately found that Heffington had fabricated the threatening text message and used it to harass the Mosers in violation of the “no contact” condition of Heffington’s probation.

The revocation court rescinded Heffington’s probation; resentenced her to a term of 10 years’ imprisonment, with all suspended but 18 months and time served credit for 9 months; and imposed a new condition on Heffington’s probation, that she was to make no social media post directed at or involving the victims.

DISCUSSION

The first page of the State’s “Petition to Revoke Probation” alleges that Heffington harassed the Mosers in violation of the conditions of her probation by fabricating a threatening text message and claiming it had been sent by the Mosers. Heffington, by harassing the Mosers in the way she did, engaged in contact with them — contact that violated the “no contact” condition of her probation. It was clear from the petition’s first page that the State was alleging that Heffington violated the “no contact” condition by harassing the Mosers.

Heffington is correct that the State did not explicitly allege that the threatening text message violated the “no contact” condition in the first substantive allegation of the petition to revoke, but the standard for reviewing the petition is not whether Heffington was given perfect notice, but rather whether she was given “focused formal notification” of the allegations against her. A reasonable person reading the petition would have understood that the allegation of harassment in the “Summary” was an allegation of violating the “no contact” condition.

Heffington challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the revocation court’s finding that she violated a condition of her probation.

Hearsay evidence can be admitted under the business record exception. In short, otherwise inadmissible hearsay evidence can be admitted under the business record exception when the document was made by someone at the business with knowledge of the document’s subject, and when the business normally produces such a document as part of its normal business.

In fact, the email chain meets the requirements to be admitted under the standard application of the business record exception. The SENDaTEXT email chain identified Relaxation’s computer’s IP address. Immediately prior to moving to admit the email chain, however, the State had established through witness testimony the same IP address as being the one from which the threatening text message had been sent. Thus, the essential content of the SENDaTEXT email chain—the IP address—was already admitted into evidence and we would not reverse the revocation court even if it had erred in admitting the email chain.

The revocation court had sufficient evidence from which to find that Heffington sent the threatening text message. Competent material evidence existed in support of the revocation court’s factual finding. As a result, it was not clear error for the revocation court to find that Heffington violated her probation.

The State’s petition put Heffington on notice of her alleged violation of probation, and that the revocation court had sufficient evidence to find that Heffington violated her probation.

ZALMA OPINION

I am always amazed at the unmitigated gall, the “chutzpah,” of those convicted of insurance fraud, who use the courts to spend more time and money than the fraudster stole. Ms. Heffington pleaded guilty to the crime. She was lucky, she only had to serve 9 months of a ten year sentence and leave the dentist she stole from alone. She couldn’t resist. She harassed the dentist and tried to get the court, with false evidence, to remove her obligation to make restitution. She got caught and was sentenced to spend another 9 months and she appealed that. She should have been sentenced to serve the full 10 years. Punishment needs to be real if it is to deter future wrongful actions.

Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He also serves as an arbitrator or mediator for insurance related disputes. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 52 years in the insurance business.

He is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected]. Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE Legend Award. Over the last 53 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance, insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created the following library of books and other materials to make it possible for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims professionals.

Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/ Read posts from Barry Zalma at https://parler.com/profile/Zalma/posts; and the last two issues of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/ podcast now available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zalma-on-insurance/id1509583809?uo=4

#insurance #fraud #insurance fraud #claims #insurance claims #gall

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gayestshakespearecouples · 6 years

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Hamlet by Truro School & cube theatre

Last night I saw a Hamlet production at my old school which was made in collaboration with the excellent cube theatre company (lowercase is intentional) and directed by one of my former classmates. It was incredible - VERY modern, very derivative from the original play in all the BEST ways. Now I'm going to ramble about the whole thing, mostly for myself to keep as a record of it. TL;DR this production's Hamlet was a very mentally ill lesbian who actually had a loving relationship with Ophelia until Polonius interfered. And I loved her.

Here's the main Interesting Things:

The generational divide was made VERY clear in the production because, while most of the cast was 15-18 year old students, Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius and the ghost of King Hamlet were played by drama teachers and cube theatre members. I'm really big on Hamlet being a play about the misunderstandings etc between generations, so I loved that element.

It was a modern setting version, not just the half-assed modern costumes I've seen before in Shakespeare, but making use of technology.

For example, when Polonius was questioning Ophelia about Hamlet near the beginning, he casually took her phone and apparently scrolled through her text conversations with Hamlet (he later read out Hamlet's poems to Ophelia to Claudius from this phone.)

They also used projected footage onto the set, including LIVE footage of the play from a different angle at the very start, very end, and Ophelia's funeral - making these into publicity events with Claudius speaking to the camera. Definitely suited the play in a modern take on it; Claudius fits the role of hypocritical politician very well.

At other points the projected footage was pre-filmed in other locations, including using it to show Ophelia drowning herself, having Gertrude watch childhood videos of Hamlet before the scene where Hamlet meets her in her bedroom, and Polonius watched Hamlet and Ophelia on security camera screens a few times.

The entire ghost sighting was replaced with Hamlet, alone, seeing her father speaking to her in projected footage (presumably representing a TV screen). Honestly, I've always WANTED to be able to interpret the ghost as Hamlet's hallucination, but Horatio and the guardsmen seeing the ghost contradicted me - but not in this adaptation! The part where Hamlet explains he’s going to act mad to deceive his uncle (???) was also completely cut, so I’m certain the director intended Hamlet to be clearly mentally ill.

(I say ‘the director’ as if she’s someone I’ve never met, instead of my friend, who I could just message right now to ask her what she intended! But I don’t even need to ask for clarification on that point)

Hamlet was a young woman (and so were Horatio and Guildernstern.) I’d heard of this being done before, but never seen it myself, and I found it utterly fascinating in the way it changed the story and how I reacted to it.

At the beginning, Claudius and Gertrude’s insistence that Hamlet “get over it” and stop grieving for her father came off not as “man up!” like it usually does, but instead, as them dismissing Hamlet for being a ‘dramatic teenage girl’ - perhaps the usual fate of Ophelia as well?

When from the mouth of an actress, Hamlet’s extremely misogynistic lines seem much more like general misanthropy and despair at the state of the world.

The play actually felt very much like a lesbian love story that goes horribly, horribly wrong due to the interference of ‘adults’ (the older generation). Because not only was Hamlet and Ophelia’s love story a lesbian one in this production, but it was also portrayed as much more of - well, a love story, than I’m used to seeing in Hamlet. Right near the beginning it was briefly shown that Hamlet went to Ophelia for comfort after the whole ‘cast thy nighted colour off’ scene.

Fascinatingly, the "to be or not to be" speech was actually flipped so that Hamlet saw Ophelia first, and then delivered the speech while sitting right next to her. Totally changed the speech AND the dynamic between them, by having it be an act of confession, a moment of extreme emotional intimacy between the couple.

It also made the "get thee to a nunnery" scene that immediately follows even more heartbreaking; strangely, it never really struck me before that it’s a breakup scene, possibly because Hamlet and Ophelia never seemed to have much of a relationship to break up from. (One of the uses of projected footage was also to show the two girls together and clearly in love, on a beach, during that scene. There was sad music playing. It made me cry a little bit.)

And of course, Polonius’ instruction to Ophelia that she must reject Hamlet’s advances just comes off as very thinly veiled homophobia when Hamlet is a woman. I really hated Polonius in this one; he was a malicious and manipulative character, rather than a busybody old fool as he often comes off.

As a mentally ill, uh... sort-of wlw (I might be agender but the fact I’m AFAB means that my attraction to girls ‘feels gay’, and thus I identify myself quite closely with the idea of being lesbian/sapphic) who is OBSESSED with Hamlet, seeing Hamlet as a mentally ill wlw, and also the same age as me (in fact the actress was one year younger), was just... So special. A really amazing experience. But even my mother really loved this production, too!

As an aside, it also showed Claudius as explicitly abusive towards Gertrude, which I haven’t seen before either. I somewhat guessed it was the case during the first half of the play - the way that Gertrude was portrayed made it seem like she was trapped in the marriage with Claudius, and she was very sympathetic to Hamlet; then, later on, Claudius actually slapped her.

Oh and I think it was pretty cool that the stupid thing about Hamlet being kidnapped by pirates on the way to England (seriously, Shakespeare?) was replaced with Claudius sending hitmen after Hamlet, who then somehow accidentally ended up grabbing Guildenstern instead. (Didn’t quite follow what happened there, but it was a neat way of modernising it and making it less ridiculous nonetheless...)

#actually i could say quite a lot more about how r &g were portrayed and how that hitman thing played out but eh #not enough motivation to #hamlet #lars speaks #reviews

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ritahanson · 7 years

Note

Did you see that Barrett herself confirmed Rita doesn't love Phil?

OUT OF STICKY BUNS :: I mean… No, she didn’t. At all.

I know that this was sent to me in response to these posts and I wanted to reply to it sooner but life got in the way - in fact, it’s taken me so long to reply to this that the original reply isn’t there any more, but that link leads to some screenshots of it. This is long, so for courtesy’s sake I’ll put it under a read more.

To paraphrase the tweets that started this, as @thejestershrugs said, what Barrett said at stagedoor roughly amounts to this: during conversations about the characters during rehearsals, it was determined that Phil is in love with Rita by the time the show ends, but she’s not quite there yet. That does not mean, as some people seem to have taken it, that she will never love him the way that he loves her. What it means is that she hasn’t known Phil long enough to have fallen in love with him yet, which is a completely different thing.

It has been mentioned a lot now (including by me in response to an earlier anon!) that we see the moment Phil realises he’s in love with her during the tilt-a-whirl scene. I’ll agree that Phil’s feelings are much more explicitly shown - to a point, at least. One of the things I love about this show is that, while everything is predominantly led by Phil and his perception of events (that’s kind of the point of the show, after all), once he’s stopped trying to manipulate things in his favour and has developed genuine feelings for Rita, she is the one who initiates everything. At the end, she is the one who bids for the dance with him, who kisses him, who wants them to spend February 3rd together. She’s clearly developing feelings for him, but of course she isn’t in love with him yet - as far as Rita is concerned, they’ve only known each other for two days (if you include the flood story they first worked on together).

You can ship them or not ship them, I really don’t mind, but please don’t come at those of us who do - especially not when they’re the ‘alpha couple’ in a romantic comedy, especially not when Word of God backs up the fact that the intention is for them to be shipped with one another. And by Word of God I mean actual, reference-able interviews, not interpreted hearsay from stagedoor (I’m a history graduate, sorry - references are my thing).

From 18 minutes onwards in this video, when asked where they think the characters would be 20 years after the events of the musical, Andy gives an answer about Phil and Rita moving to Punxsutawney together and running their own talk show (which Barrett also mentions at x minutes here!). While obviously jocular in tone, that doesn’t negate the fact that the implication here is that Andy and Barrett both see them as being together in twenty years. In that same interview though, Matthew Warchus then goes on to give a very detailed response to the same question:

‘Ithink that life is not easy – for anybody, in different ways […] It’s achallenging thing to get right, we all just make mistakes all the time. Asparents we do, or as partners we do, and as colleagues and things. And it takesa lot of forgiveness to coexist. But I think in Rita and Phil, you’ve got avery, very smart woman who’s just naturally got an instinct for making life thebest it can be, and you’ve got a guy who’s had the most perfect, extraordinarytraining course that anyone can ever have, so their chances are exceptionallyhigh of getting through all of the bumps and difficulties that life can throwat them. I’m very optimistic about their future.’

Their director - the very same person with whom Barrett apparently had the conversation that prompted you to send me this message in the first place - believes that they will be together (and he says that with Barrett and Andy sitting right next to him, along with Danny Rubin, who wrote the damn thing and doesn’t disagree with him).

Another, more Barrett-centric interview that springs to mind is this one. At around 18 minutes 20 seconds, she’s asked about recreating Seeing You every night, and this is her response:

‘That’sa really moving point in the show and even though for me I’m experiencing thatfor – that ‘day’, if you will, for the first time… I mean who can’t identifywith the sort of experience of this person really having the moment - I thinkthe very true moment - of hearingsomeone you’re falling for say: I see you, and I feel the same way. That’svery… I mean, it’s amazing.’

She explicitly describes them as falling for each other and acknowledging that what they’re feeling in that moment is the same - and for me personally, that’s confirmation enough that she ships them, that she believes that even though Rita isn’t in love with Phil yet, she is going to fall for him.

As @thejestershrugs said, we don’t leave Phil and Rita at the end of their relationship - at their ‘happy ending’. When we leave them on that bench, watching the sun rise on February 3rd, we leave them with their lives stretching out ahead of them - we leave them at their beginning, together. And that moment is absolutely beautiful.

#groundhog day #groundhog day the musical #rita hanson #phil connors #phil x rita #❄ ( ANSWERED ASK :: anything you need ; just ask ! ) ❄#❄ ( ANSWERED OOC :: and i would be a lot more zen ) ❄#❄ ( ANONYMOUS ASK :: not quite my type ) ❄#❄ ( OOC :: out of sticky buns ) ❄#❄ ( QUEUE :: seeing queue for the first time ) ❄#ghddiscourse

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mavispls-blog · 7 years

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╰ ° 「 TAYLOR MARIE HILL / 20 / DEMIGIRL / SHE&THEY 」HAVE YOU SEEN MAVIS LANGLEY AROUND CAMPUS ?? THEY ARE A SERAPH & ARE MAJORING IN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. SOME SAY THAT THEY ARE ENIGMATIC & ADVENTUROUS, BUT CAN BE APATHETIC & CLOSED OFF !! WHO KNOWS THOUGH ?? MAYBE WE’LL SEE THEM AT THE NEXT PARTY ??

henlo !! saffron (aka utah’s mun) here, back at it again with your local manic pixie dream girl & overall escapist princess mavis!! she responds to both she & they pronouns so feel free to use whichever when interacting with them, but !! i’ll write a lil bit about her down under the cut & maybe even some possible plots or connections so you know give this a little HEART if youre down for plotting (with her!! or utah!! or both of them honestly)!! cheers, angels. ♥

so mavis was lowki based off of holly golightly or clarisse from fahrenheit 451 in that,,

theyre very enigmatic & kind of escapist, in a way? theyre always looking for new things & new adventures, drifting in & out of classes & hallways; its a wonder theyre still in hexlore, tbh, bc god only knows how many classes shes already missed?? yikes

there are stories about where she came from & very few people have gotten close enough to know the real story: the rumors go either

a) she & her family have always been sort of nomadic; traveling here & there & everywhere & never having a concrete place to call home which is why she wanders around so damn much now; or

b) they were too concrete that they never got to see the world, so now that they finally get to they damn sure will

in truth its the latter that rings with more accuracy, but its not in the way that most would think

see, mavis never really had her parents around because they passed away in a tragic car accident, so she lived with her grandfather

but she loved her grandfather more than anything, really, & was more than content staying in with him because the two would make all these plans that they were going to travel the world together one day

except when she was 18 her grandfather passed away :( & she was left actually alone for the first time in her life

but he left her with?? this ginormous inheritance & told her to use it for all of the adventures they were meant to have together

so of course,, she uses it!! & never really had the time to process her grief & the feeling of being alone fully because she had left before she even had the chance

so even upon going to college she never really lost tht part of her & is just very nomadic & mysterious & all that jazz

personality wise mavis is very sweet, like ,, shes your typical seraph in the sense that shes very angelic & sweet,, if she allows you to get to know her, that is; because she knows shes a dumbass romantic at heart she often dips out of things before they can get too close

shes very much against feeling things for people too strongly. but she has so much love for vinyl records & sweaters & driving around at night while listening to old timey songs

shes a drifter which is why she may come off as a bitch but ! best believe she does mean well, even if she can be god awful at showing it

because of how enigmatic she is i imagine shes p popular but just?? doesnt care for it, its never rly been important to her oaisjaoi

has all of these adventures & probably eats at all of these hole-in-the-wall joints youve never heard of; doesnt drink or do drugs but smokes like a factory & she tries to quit it occasionally but old habits die hard

mavis is a demigirl; meaning, she doesnt fully identify as female (she doesnt fully identify as anything, really), but she does lean toward her more feminine qualities!!

shes also a panromantic demisexual, so while shes a romantic at heart, really, it takes an awful lot of trust &/ time before she can get sexually involved with someone

as a seraph shes very much fond of her light manipulation powers & tries to develop it a lot?? like of all her powers this is what she finds most helpful &/ useful, so she does try her best to maximize it!!

is still sad inside,,,, save her from herself oasijaoijs

OKAY WANTED CONNECTIONS!! that was long wasnt it, yikes

the ride or die – someone mavis is more than willing to bring along on her crazy adventures; someone they actually trust with their whole life & wouldnt doubt for a minute, theyre probably number one on mavis’ speed dial & one of, if not the most important person in their life at the moment, trufacc.

the case crackers – the people who want to figure her out?? what makes her tick? why she is the way she is? this can be done in the form of fake friends who jus want to weasel information out of her or ppl who just explicitly over-ask for details about her life without meaning to, but yes

the ex-girlfriend – one of the few people mavis has bared her soul in front of,, they couldve ended awfully (mavis dipping on them, them arguing, etc) or on good, healthy terms, but definitely mavis can never look at them the same way again

the first time – because shes demisexual thered be no friends with benefits plot BUT i would love to see someone being mavis’ first time?? like imagine just,, having gotten close enough to her for her to actually trust u with it aoijaoi . whatever happened after can be up for plotting but !!! giVe me this

crush – unrequited or mutual or whatever .

someone she dipped on – be it a friendship, a relationship, or an almost something, mavis escaped before she could feel trapped enough & its been a mess trying to pick up the pieces from that since

the unlikely friend – probably a succubus or a siren or a hellcat or vampire; someone with a personality so different it’d seem almost impossible for them to get along, but they do!!

#sapphic.intro #( no angel : ooc. )#aoisjaoisj

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nebris · 7 years

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Did You Catch This Hidden Theme in 'The Handmaid's Tale'?

At the heart of Margaret Atwood's book lies a biblical story that provided blueprints for a patriarchal dystopia.

By Valerie Tarico May 5, 2017

If The Handmaid’s Tale offers any sign, Margaret Atwood has read more of her Bible than many Christians. Superficially, Atwood’s dystopian novel is littered with biblical names and phrases: Gilead, Mary and Martha, Jezebel, Milk and Honey, All Flesh, Loaves and Fishes, Lilies of the Field, the Eye of the Lord, Behemoth, and many more.

At a deeper level, Atwood grounds her plot in gender scripts that pervade Abrahamic scriptures. One story in particular brings the pieces together: a tale of two sisters named Rachel and Leah, who marry the same man (Genesis 29-31).

As the story begins, their husband-to-be, Jacob, falls in love with the young Rachel but gets tricked by their father (also his own uncle) Laban into marrying the elder Leah. Jacob isn’t thrilled when he discovers he has consummated his wedding night with the wrong sister because, as the writer puts it, “Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face.” Laban promises Jacob his second daughter in exchange for seven years of labor, and a second round of nuptials ensues. It’s a recipe for resentment, but Leah redeems herself in the most potent way possible for an Iron Age female born into the nomadic herding cultures of the ancient near-east: She pumps out four sons.

Rachel, though better loved, remains barren.

“Now!” Leah thinks, “Now my husband will become attached to me.” Rachel, bitter and jealous, is thinking the same thing. She demands of their husband, “Give me children, or else I die!” Because of her infertility, she offers him a proxy, Bilhah, her female slave or “handmaid.” Bilhah gets pregnant and produces a son, Rachel’s son by the rules governing their lives. After Bilhah bears a second baby—as you may have guessed, also a son—Rachel crows, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed!”

But things aren’t over yet. Not to be outdone, Leah sends in her own handmaid, Zilpah, who also bears two sons. The competition continues until Jacob has 12 sons—a number that has magical significance probably tracing roots back to the 12 signs of the Zodiac—and one daughter. And they all live happily ever after. Or not.

So, let’s unpack some of the elements of this story, because they reflect broader biblical views on women and reproduction that will be familiar to anyone who has read Atwood’s novel or derivative media.

1. Men properly hold the highest positions of authority in society and the family. Laban and then Jacob are patriarchs, each ruling the kin unit that consists of his own household, including women, children, slaves and livestock. From Chapter 2 of Genesis onward, the Bible teaches that man was made in the image of God while woman was created to be his helper (Genesis 2:18). Conservative Christians call this idea male headship, and it is embedded throughout the Old Testament, and down through Christian history [3]. The New Testament writer of 1 Corinthians spells it out: “The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor 11:3). As in Islam, female head covering provides an outward marker of submission: “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man” (1 Corinthians 11:2-10). Violation of this hierarchy may be experienced as a threat to the whole social order [4].

2. Women are assets that belong to men. Laban gives his daughters to his nephew in exchange for Jacob’s labor as a shepherd. In like manner, women throughout the Bible are owned by their fathers until they are “given in marriage” (typically in exchange for goods or services or political alliance) to another man. The ownership status of women is visible in the Exodus chapter 20 version of the 10 Commandments [5], which says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17).

3. Slavery, including sexual slavery, is morally acceptable, regulated and sometimes commanded. Through both stories and laws, the Bible provides a strong endorsement of slavery [6]. One sign of King Solomon’s status is the 700 wives and 300 concubines (i.e., sex slaves) in his harem (1 Kings 11:3). In the Rachel and Leah tale, the handmaids are gifted to the daughters by Laban. In tales of conquest, young virgins are counted as war booty, and God’s commander provides explicit instructions [7] on how to ritually purify a virgin war captive before “knowing” her. Rules for buying and selling slaves vary based on whether the person is a Hebrew or a foreigner, male or female. “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do” (Exodus 21:7).

4. The primary identity and value of women lies in their reproductive capacity. With few exceptions, named female characters in the Bible are individually identified because they are the mothers of famous sons. This includes, of course, the most famous woman of them all, Mary. One New Testament writer points to childbearing as the woman’s path to spiritual salvation, the way to redeem Eve’s original sin. “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty" (1 Timothy 2:14-15).

5. Sons are more valuable than daughters. Throughout the Bible, God rewards his chosen ones with male offspring, even, for example, when Lot’s daughters get their father drunk in order to have sex with him and generate heirs who will be the fathers of great nations (Genesis 19:32-38 [8]). In the Hebrew law, a woman is spiritually unclean for twice as long after giving birth to a girl baby as a boy (Leviticus 12:1-8). It goes without saying that God himself is depicted as male, as are his chosen patriarchs and prophets, as is his incarnation, Jesus, who—in the canonical gospels—chooses 12 male disciples.

6. When it comes to breeding, paternity is what matters. In the story of Jacob and his wives, we see that the writer is fairly indifferent to which woman produced a child, as long as Jacob was the father and the child a son. Similarly, in the New Testament gospels, Jesus is a God and the son of God despite the fact that his mother is fully human. By contrast, because paternity is so important in this cultural context, anything that might call into question the paternity of a woman’s offspring is harshly penalized. A raped woman, as damaged goods, can be sold to her rapist who is obliged to keep her (Deuteronomy 22:28-29), and a woman who has reduced her value by having sex voluntarily can be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:20-21). If a married man suspects that his wife may be pregnant by someone else, he can take her to the priest who will give her a magical abortion potion [9] that will work only if the pregnancy isn’t his (Numbers 5:11-31).

7. Infertility is a female issue. Since the role of women is childbearing, infertility is typically treated like a female issue in the Bible as it is in Atwood’s Republic of Gilead. Toward the end of Rachel and Leah’s story, God finally comforts Rachel by allowing her to bear a son from her own body, who will go on to be favored above his brothers by both his father and God himself (Genesis 29:31). This trope repeats itself, and infertile women throughout the Bible often, in the end, give birth to significant characters: the patriarchs Isaac, Esau and Jacob; the supernaturally strong warrior Samson; the prophet Samuel; and John the Baptist, who will baptize Jesus.

8. Female consent is not a thing. The texts gathered in the Christian Bible were written over the course of several centuries, and in them we find a cultural trajectory away from polygamy and outright sexual slavery. Nonetheless, the concept of human chattel is never explicitly eschewed, even in the New Testament, nor are older practices condemned. Slaves are advised to submit to their masters. Nowhere is there any indication that female consent is needed or even desired before sex. Consider even the pregnancy that produces Jesus [10]. In a situation of extreme power imbalance, Mary is told that she will be impregnated by God and she responds with words that assent to her role as a handmaid. “Behold the bond-slave of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Behold The Handmaid’s Tale.

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Wisdom Commons [11]. She is the author of "Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light" and "Deas and Other Imaginings." Her articles can be found at valerietarico.com [12].

@evaannapaula @catcomaprada @sissyhiyah @edenazucarar

#The Sisterhood

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eddycurrents · 5 years

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For the week of 12 August 2019

Quick Bits:

Absolute Carnage: Scream #1 begins a three-issue tie-in to the larger “Absolute Carnage” event, from Cullen Bunn, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit. It spotlights a trio of former symbiote hosts, including the titular Scream herself, who was dead. It’s interesting to see the length that Carnage’s influence can have as he tries to prepare the world for Knull.

| Published by Marvel

Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1 is a one-shot dealing with the other four symbiotes that resulted from the same experiment as Scream from Clay McLeod Chapman, Brian Level, Jordan Boyd, and Travis Lanham. Regardless of whether or not you’re reading the broader event, or know anything about the symbiotes’ history, this is a damn good horror story. It focuses on a family going through the nightmares of a separation and what happens when another horror is brought in from outside. The artwork from Level and Boyd is perfect and terrifying.

| Published by Marvel

Age of Conan: Valeria #1 begins the next Age of Conan mini-series focusing on the wider world of characters in Conan’s canon, from Meredith Finch, Aneke, Andy Troy, and Travis Lanham. This one expands on Valeria, from the Howard novella “Red Nails”, giving her a backstory and quest in finding her brother’s murderer.

| Published by Marvel

Analog #7 somehow manages to up the level of intrigue further as seemingly everyone alive that knows Jack tries to kill him, while Sam and Oona try to get more information on Oppenheimer. Great action scenes with the usual amount of black humour here from Gerry Duggan, David O’Sullivan, Mike Spicer, and Joe Sabino.

| Published by Image

Batman: Universe #2 continues reprinting the previously Walmart-exclusive story by Brian Michael Bendis, Nick Derington, Dave Stewart, and Josh Reed. It’s great. The humour is a wonderful touch amid a bevy of so many dark and grim Batman stories out there right now and the art from Derington and Stewart is amazing.

| Published by DC Comics

Batman & The Outsiders #4 is mostly a tale of preparation as both sides gather themselves and get ready for confrontation. It’s somewhat disturbing as to how easily and quickly Sofia has fallen under Ra’s al Ghul’s influence. Great art from Dexter Soy and Veronica Gandini.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Hammer/Justice League: Hammer of Justice #2 continues this wonderful crossover from Jeff Lemire, Michael Walsh, and Nate Piekos. There’s something very compelling about a Bruce Wayne who can’t stop being Batman even in a world where there’s seemingly no crime and disturbingly hilarious when Gail flirts with Aquaman.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Captain Marvel #9 broadens the mystery in part two of “Falling Star” as Carol tries to track down Dr. Minerva and find out what’s going wrong with her powers. The conspiracy and secrets that Kelly Thompson is seeding into the story are wonderful.

| Published by Marvel

Catwoman #14 begins “Hermosa Heat” from Ram V, Mirka Andolfo, Arif Prianto, and Saida Temofonte. It sets up a heist that pegs Catwoman as a number one target for assassination from a united group of crime families and it’s a great start. Nice use of a number of DC’s villains and gorgeous artwork from Andolfo and Prianto.

| Published by DC Comics

Collapser #2 continues the brilliant madness from Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland. This issue tries to explain away Liam’s problems as schizophrenic hallucinations to disastrous results.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Critical Role: Vox Machina - Origins Series II #2 continues the quest to rescue Grog as Pike joins the party. The artwork from Olivia Samson and Msassyk is gorgeous. Especially the undead action scenes. Jody Houser again captures a lot of the humour and fun of the voice actors’ characters here.

| Published by Dark Horse

Detective Comics #1009 kicks off a pretty interesting predicament for Bruce in this airplane crash tale from Peter J. Tomasi, Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero, and Rob Leigh. It’s good to see Deadshot again and you’ve got to wonder who he was targeting among these businessmen.

| Published by DC Comics

Elephantmen 2261: The Pentalion Job #4 concludes this series in a rather interesting way. Definitely not what you’d expect. Wonderful art from Alex Medellin.

| Published by Comicraft

Event Leviathan #3 spends its time telling us why the Red Hood isn’t Leviathan while expertly evading the assembled detectives. Interesting that he outsmarts Batman and Robin here, let alone the rest of them. You’d think that this rather measured, slow pace of unveiling the mystery and telling the story would possibly be frustrating or boring, but it’s not. It doesn’t feel like a point extended and belaboured in usual decompressed stories, but rather natural elimination of suspects and events. It also helps that Alex Maleev's art is phenomenal and there are some genuinely hilarious zingers from Brian Michael Bendis.

| Published by DC Comics

Fantastic Four #13 concludes the Hulk vs. Thing fight. The artwork from Sean Izaakse and Marcio Menyz is phenomenal. Beautiful layouts, incredible action, and stunning colour work.

| Published by Marvel

The Flash #76 gives us part one of “The Death of the Speed Force” as it picks up on the previous threads of the new forces and attempts to start putting the family back together. Great art from Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, and Tomeu Morey.

| Published by DC Comics

Ghosted in LA #2 is a bit of a weird one. The banter with the ghosts is wonderful, the art from Siobhan Keenan and Cathy Le is perfect, but how the story deals with a negging asshole is very odd. Especially as Daphne is then later castigated for bringing a guy back home, effectively breaking one of the terms of her staying at the house true, but he was prepared to rape her. It’s just...odd. Seems to be blaming the victim, framing them as her bad decisions in reacting to her ex seeing someone else, rather than anything else.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Gideon Falls #16 takes a huge step with Norton, as he arrives in the farm town reality of Gideon Falls, and is essentially identified as Clara’s missing brother, Danny. It’s a very emotional issue from Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart, and Steve Wands, even as it gets even more disturbing.

| Published by Image

Gwenpool Strikes Back #1 is the very entertaining, funny debut of this new mini from Leah Williams, David Baldeón, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna. It’s basically memes and shitposts as Gwen tries to figure out how to get a superpower in order to stay relevant in the 616. It’s hilarious.

| Published by Marvel

Hawkman #15 continues Carter’s problems with the Shadow Thief as he seeks help from the Shade. I love revisiting anything from James Robinson’s tenure on Starman, so it’s good to see Shade. The art from Pat Olliffe and Tom Palmer is a bit scratchier and looser than usual, but it fits the darker, shadowy aspect of the story.

| Published by DC Comics

Invaders #8 continues “Dead in the Water” from Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, Dono Sánchez-Almara, and Travis Lanham. This one explicitly lays out what’s wrong with Namor and it’s fairly tragic.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #12 is the culmination of Darkseid’s plans from Dan Abnett, Will Conrad, Rain Beredo, and AndWorld Design. It’s bleak as it sets up Darkseid’s new Apokolis of Sepulkore, drastically changing some characters in the process. I don’t know how or if they’re going to get out of this.

| Published by DC Comics

The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #6 is an interesting “now here’s what really happened” ending for this series from Joshua Dysart, CAFU, Doug Braithwaite, Andrew Dalhouse, Diego Rodriguez, and Dave Sharpe. It’s interesting to see how Harada survived and his mindscape confrontation with the kinds of creatures that currently possess Angela.

| Published by Valiant

Loki #2 is even better than the first issue, building out a very interesting quandary as Loki tries to figure out who he is now beyond ruler of Jotunheim and “Thor’s brother”, as he contemplates a status as “god of nothing”. Daniel Kibblesmith, Oscar Bazaldua, David Curiel, and Clayton Cowles lead us on a rather humorous journey with a very interesting cliffhanger.

| Published by Marvel

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #9 may be the strongest issue to date, which is saying a bit since this series has been solid since day one, as Miles’ dad and uncle stage a plan to rescue him. Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit deliver an emotionally rewarding tale, with some very impressive layouts and action, particularly as the rescue kicks off.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #18 continues the confrontation with the Faceless Men. It’s less than positive. It’s interesting how this has gone south faster than expected, developing the previously unseen rivals on Oblivion fairly quickly and in rather surprising ways. Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Annalisa Leoni, and Rus Wooton continue to regularly upend the status quo with each issue.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Once & Future #1 is a thoroughly excellent debut from Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, and Ed Dukeshire, blending offbeat characters, humour, and British folklore.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Outer Darkness #9 is another highly entertaining issue as the crew comes across a science station whose staff have been driven to murder one another. I’m still loving how John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau are playing with mixing different conventions of horror, sci-fi, and episodic storytelling to build this narrative.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Punisher Kill Krew #1 is another spin-off from War of the Realms, cleaning up loose ends from Malekith’s forces’ spree on Earth from Gerry Duggan, Juan Ferreyra, and Cory Petit. It’s bizarre and hilarious to see Frank Castle continuing on against monsters, but very entertaining. Also, Ferreyra’s art is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Punk Mambo #5 concludes this series with a confrontation between Punk Mambo and Azaire. The artwork from Adam Gorham and José Villarrubia is gorgeous, with very impressive attention to the different loa.

| Published by Valiant

Reaver #2 expands upon the party, allowing them to bond a bit and develop the characters a bit more. Some things definitely don’t seem to be as they seem. More low magic fantasy fun from Justin Jordan, Rebekah Isaacs, Alex Guimarães, and Clayton Cowles.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Red Sonja #7 continues on from the shift in the Lord of Fools one-shot, with Bob Q providing line art, as Sonja tries to outthink and outmanoeuvre Dragan’s forces. It’s interesting to see the tactics involved here, especially as Dragan seems to be losing more and more sanity.

| Published by Dynamite

Road of Bones #4 is the disturbing end to what has been a brutal horror story from Rich Douek, Alex Cormack, and Justin Birch. It definitely makes you think about how far someone will go for survival and possibly even what lies they tell themselves in order to carry on.

| Published by IDW

Rumble #15 concludes the “Last Knight” arc in a very interesting way. Interesting bits about sacrifice and family, even as the void begins consuming all. Gorgeous artwork from David Rubín and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Second Coming #2 continues to be an interesting mix of dark humour and social commentary as Sunstar continues to go horribly, horribly awry in try to teach Jesus how to be a superhero. Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen are telling a very interesting story here.

| Published by Ahoy

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #5 brings this second story to an end as Luna finds out what actually happened to the pilot. It’s actually surprisingly normal given all of the oddity that has taken place in these series. Great work from Christopher Cantwell, Martín Morazzo, Miroslav Mrva, and Clem Robins.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Silver Surfer: Black #3 gets a little bit trippier as Silver Surfer tries to help Ego with a little infection problem. The art from Tradd Moore and Dave Stewart is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Sonata #3 reveals more of the planet’s secrets and the peoples’ various mythologies about it. It’s interesting to see two different groups of people lay claim to an individual place and incorporate it into their religion in a sci-fi/fantasy story. It’s somewhat similar to how divergent faiths lay claim to Jerusalem. Beautiful artwork from Brian Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Usagi Yojimbo #3 concludes the first arc published by IDW, “Bunraku”, and it’s damn good. It’s taken me a bit to get used to the series in colour, though Tom Luth is doing a great job, but the story and art from Stan Sakai have remained fantastic regardless.

| Published by IDW

The White Trees #1 is a very haunting, moody fantasy tale from Chip Zdarsky, Kris Anka, Matt Wilson, and Aditya Bidikar. The artwork is astoundingly beautiful as three parents, legends from a past war that seemingly fractured their friendship, search for their kidnapped children.

| Published by Image

Wonder Woman #76 sees a fair amount of reunions as Themyscira and Earth are bridged again allowing for passage. Very nice art from Lee Garbett and Romulo Fajardo Jr. Also, one killer of an ending.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man #27, Conan the Barbarian: Exodus #1, Doctor Strange #17, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #11, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #10, Go Go Power Rangers #22, Gogor #4, Hit-Girl: Season 2 #7, House of Whispers #12, Infinity 8 #14, Immortal Hulk: Director’s Cut #1, Ironheart #9, James Bond: Origin #12, Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #4, Orphan Age #5, Powers of X #2, Sharkey: The Bounty Hunter #5, Silver Surfer: Prodigal Sun #1, Star Trek: Year Five #4, Star Wars: Target Vader #2, Star Wars Adventures Annual 2019, Sword Master #2, Symbiote Spider-Man #5, Titans: Burning Rage #1, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #47, Unearth #2, Unnatural #12, The Warning #10, Xena: Warrior Princess #5

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man: Hunted, Archie by Nick Spencer - Volume 1, Asgardians of the Galaxy - Volume 2: War of the Realms, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark - Volume 1, Guardians of the Galaxy - Volume 1: The Final Gauntlet, Lightstep, Mr. & Mrs. X - Volume 2: Gambit and Rogue Forever, Ninja-K Deluxe Edition, Sideways - Volume 2: Rifts & Revelations, Sparrowhawk, TMNT: Urban Legends - Volume 2, Vampirella vs. Reanimator, War of the Realms, Xena - Volume 2: Mind Games

d. emerson eddy might be a vampire hunter.

#This Week in Comics

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meetpositivesblog · 6 years

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African American Gays At Highest Risk Of HIV

African American Gays At Highest Risk Of HIV is courtesy of: https://www.blog.meetpositives.com/

African American Men Are At The Highest Risk For HIV

Gay and bisexual men are more severely affected by HIV than any other group in the United States especially those who are younger. The HIV infections increased by 20% from 2008 to 2010 among young black/African American gay and bisexual men.

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) of all races and ethnicities remain the population most profoundly affected by HIV.

HIV Among African American Gay and Bisexual Men

In the United States, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with mena are disproportionately affected by HIV. Among gay and bisexual men, black/African Americanb men, especially those who are younger, are the group most disproportionately affected by HIV. If current diagnosis rates continue, about 1 in 2 African American gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime—in comparison to 1 in 4 Hispanic/Latinoc gay and bisexual men, 1 in 11 white gay and bisexual men, and 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men overall. But these rates are not inevitable. We have more tools to prevent HIV than ever before.

The Numbers

HIV and AIDS Diagnoses

Among all gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV in the United States in 2014, African Americans accounted for the highest number (estimated 11,201; 38%), followed by whites (estimated 9,008; 31%) and Hispanics/Latinos (estimated 7,552; 26%).

In 2014, an estimated 39% (4,321) of African American gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV were aged 13-24. An estimated 36% (3,995) were aged 25-34; 13% (1,413) were aged 35-44; 9% (989) were aged 45-54; and 4% (486) were aged 55 or older.

While the number of HIV diagnoses declined for African Americans as a whole from 2005 to 2014, diagnoses among African American gay and bisexual men increased 22% in that period. But diagnoses stabilized in recent years, increasing less than 1% between 2010 and 2014.

From 2005 to 2014, HIV diagnoses among African American gay and bisexual men aged 13 to 24 increased 87%. But that trend has leveled off, with diagnoses declining 2% between 2010 and 2014.

Among all gay and bisexual men diagnosed with AIDS in the United States in 2014, African Americans accounted for the highest number (estimated 4,343; 39%), followed by whites (estimated 3,564; 32%) and Hispanics/Latinos (estimated 2,665; 24%).

Living With HIV

By the end of 2013, an estimated 493,543 gay and bisexual men were living with diagnosed HIV infection. Of those, 152,303 (31%) were African American, 210,299 (43%) were white, and 104,529 (21%) were Hispanic/Latino.

Dating while HIV positive, click here!

Estimated HIV Diagnoses Among Men Who Have Sex With Men, by Race/Ethnicity and Age at Diagnosis, 2014—United States

Image Credit

So why is this happening? Why does Black/African American are the most seriously affected than other groups in the USA?

First seen on: (http://www.hivplusmag.com/stigma/2016/1/18/5-reasons-why-black-people-are-more-affected-hiv)

Image Credit

Why do black people carry the burden of this disease, especially when it didn't start out that way? It's not that African-Americans engage in riskier behavior; in fact, studies have shown they use condoms more and drugs less than their white counterparts.

There's actually a confluence of factors that make HIV significantly more difficult to face and overcome in black communities. Here are just five of them.

Institutionalized Racism

Black people are equal on paper, but the same can't always be said in practice. Changing laws haven't done enough to undo almost 400 years of oppression that have lead to countless disadvantages that black people have to overcome every day. HIV impacts black populations disproportionately because the majority don’t have adequate access to the tools to prevent and treat the disease. Through policies and procedures, institutionalized racism creates a system that implicitly and sometimes explicitly disadvantages people of color.

Poverty

The 2012 US census reported that 28.1 percent of black people are living in poverty compared to the national average of 15.9 percent.The greater numbers of black people living in poverty are, in part, a result of the limited opportunities for upward mobility afforded to them. Often living in poverty means lack of education, lack of access to healthcare, increased risk of substance use and homelessness, and increased likelihood of engaging in sex work as a source of income. All are factors that can increase the risk of acquiring HIV. For those living in poverty who become HIV-positive, priorities do not change. Their concerns on a day-to-day basis are finding and maintaining income, keeping food on the table, and ensuring a place to sleep at night.

Homophobia in the Church

According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted in 2007, 87 percent of black people are affiliated with a religion. In the face of racial discrimination and hatred, the black church has always provided a sense of togetherness and belonging. However, when a black person comes out as LGBT, many don’t have that same support. Unfortunately black people in the church still make up a large portion of anti-gay America.

Traditionally the black church organizes and rallies when the community is faced with a crisis. However, the response to the HIV epidemic has been slow to non-existent. The reality is black, gay and bisexual men and transgender women are in a state of emergency when it comes to HIV/AIDS, yet they don’t have the full support of the black community.

Limited Sexual Networks

While interracial dating continues to be on the rise in the United States, black people remain the minority group that has relationships outside of their race the least at 19 percent. This means that the majority of black people have sexual partners who are also black. And given the smaller population size, once the black community was exposed to HIV it spread quicker and the negative impact was and continues to be greater. This means that black people who choose other black partners are more likely to come in contact with someone who is HIV-positive than other people who date within their race. This is especially true in LGBT communities as the CDC has reported that more than 1 in 4 black gay and bisexual men and 1 in 2 black transgender women are testing positive for HIV, compared to .06 percent of the general population.

The Exaggeration of the "Down Low" Brother

The "down low" is a concept rooted in homophobia that leads to misguided assumptions about HIV in black communities. Studies have shown that the majority of black men who have sex with men do identify as gay or bisexual, and those who don’t are less likely to be HIV positive, have multiple male sexual partners and have engaged in unprotected anal intercourse in the past 6 months.

The idea of large numbers of black men being on the down low does a disservice to the community as a whole. It implies that being gay or bisexual is something to be ashamed of and it assumes that if you are an HIV-positive man who identifies as heterosexual you must be lying about who your sexual partners are. If you are an HIV-positive woman then you must have had sex with a man who wasn’t honest about his sexual partners, which eliminates the possibility of bisexuality and makes the woman a victim and void of the ability to empower herself and require protection during sex.

If you think you may have been exposed to HIV within the last 3 days through sex, sharing needles and works, or a sexual assault talk to your doctor right away. Start medical care and begin taking medicines if you are an HIV positive.

If you are HIV positive, get back into life by joining a community group like Meet Positives. Sign up today and enjoy sharing your stories to positive singles.

[Are you recently diagnosed?|} Meet Positives is a website for people impacted with a Sexually transmitted infection Start feeling normal again Join: Positives singles

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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5 Huge Celebrity Scandals The Entire Planet Got Wrong

The media has the amazing ability to shed light on terrible situations and stand by victims when no one else will. That or, you know, just point and laugh at them. Usually, the rest of us are too busy laughing along to notice this is happening, but if you look back, it’s painfully obvious. Here are five times the media came across someone who clearly needed help and said, “Yeah, but wouldn’t it be more helpful if we mocked the shit out of them?”

We Were All Obsessed With Diagnosing Charlie Sheen’s Exact Mental Illness (For Some Reason)

Back in 2011, people, websites, and media outlets of all political inclinations united for what seemed like a worthy cause at the time: making fun of Charlie Sheen. It got to the point where some lowly dick joke sites had to specifically ask their writers to avoid “Charlie Sheen is insane” zingers — it was far too easy. It all started when Sheen was canned from Two And A Half Men due to his erratic behavior, which led to a series of high-profile interviews wherein he attempted to explain that he was totally clean and sane. They, uh, didn’t go that way.

Hell, there’s still a weird corner of YouTube solely devoted to “Worst of Charlie Sheen” compilations. This auto-tuned one has over 60 million views:

youtube

One particularly notable line from Sheen’s interview with ABC News’ Andrea Canning (which is also highlighted heavily in the memes and songs) involved his mental state. Canning suggests that perhaps Sheen is bipolar, to which the star of Hot Shots! Part Deux replies that he’s simply “bi-winning.” And that’s where this starts to fall apart.

See, there’s a bad habit in the media to try to get mental health professionals to “diagnose” a famous person they’ve never met, which is very much against that field’s entire code of ethics. In a stunning display of sticking to their guns, psychiatrists are even refusing to diagnose President Trump from afar. So why was the media so hellbent on getting a diagnosis on the guy from some crappy sitcom? Time got specialists to analyze his speech to determine whether he was crazy or merely a drug addict. To this day, Dr. Drew is remarkably hung up on Sheen:

GoogleYou’d think someone with two “Dr”s in his name would know better.