>wakes up

>someone is preaching about race to latinoamericans again

What's funny about this is, when talking on the US context, most of us are aware of race issues in the US, at least in the basics. We are raised with US media and news, and in this context in particular in tumblr, many of us are in 'fandoms' of US media too. So even if we haven't experienced it ourselves, we understand how racism presents itself in the US and we also understand it's a very diverse country. When we see a Hollywood movie with a cast of people of many different backgrounds, it makes sense to us. The US is big and diverse.

Which is also why it's so incredibly annoying when people from the US or elsewhere have such an ignorance about Latin America, or to be fair, any other place. We wouldn't think of calling the US a "white-only" country, or to judge the ancestry someone of the US by their skin tone. They feel perfectly comfortable and willing to do that to us, though. They feel perfectly comfortable to judge entire countries by their own narrow views on race (reinforcing racism itself, by the way). The fact that Latinos have different experiences and issues with race, ancestry, nationality and identity is seemingly arcane knowledge to them. I've seen people outright deny to me the existence of black or indigenous Argentines (a tactic used by our own white supremacists, so congratulations, you two are friends now!), being completely baffled at the existence of asian or arab latinos, and pulling skin tone charts and calipers on anyone who doesn't fit the racial boxes they think apply everywhere in the world.

It's very, very hard for me to wrap my head around this. How one can be so insistent that their own country is diverse and has complex nuances with regards to race relations, and then going the other way and judging whole countries or complete strangers without any attempt at understanding them. My only suggestion is that they perhaps should stop thinking that their experiences are universal.

let's talk aot.

woo, yay, it's ren's yearly rant about aot! clearly, this is the riveting content you guys & the six million porn bots in my notifs are here for. but this is MY echo chamber and that means i get to say what i want. mwahaha, etc. etc.

anyways. aot. the manga's over and the anime is...on its way to being over (though i wouldn't be surprised if mappa extended it for another 0.5 cour), but discourse never really dies. james somerton, a fairly well-established youtube essayist, covered the series in a youtube video titled attack on titan and media literacy in august 2022, though it was just recently reuploaded, due to somerton needing to correct a citation error. by no means am i attacking somerton - he remains one of my favorite video essayists on youtube to date, and he covers queer media with a keen eye and sharp wit - and i think he makes a lot of prescient points in regards to the dearth of media literacy surrounding attack on titan.

but i think there's a rather euro-centric tilt to his analysis. i think there's a euro-centric eye cast over a lot of attack on titan, from its ideals to its messy message and the content isayama created. you can take the message to be that in war there are no good people, only people making hard choices - but that's not quite right, is it? when we make that argument we tend to cast people like the nazis, the japanese, the mussolini italians, under almost pitying lights. "they were just following orders" is a phrase you'll hear a lot, in that regard. but we also know that can't be the excuse. just "following orders" doesn't excuse anyone's actions. you are capable of thought and courage and action. being unable to distinguish right from wrong, or being able to and being too afraid to make that right choice - that's cowardice, plain and simple. and i don't think it's wrong to say that we can blame the cowards.

but i digress. the point i want to make is that, when i look at attack on titan, i can't separate it from the culture that birthed it - japan. japan is a heavily revisionist nation; what japanese schoolkids today learn about wwii is so radically different from the truth of it, that even now, we continue to hear about how japanese people may never learn the truth about japan's involvement in ww2 until they leave the nation. for more on this, see the national interest's 2015 feature: the us should be appalled by japan's historical revisionism. time and time again, japan's leadership has shown that they have no intention of owning up to the extent of the crimes committed against other asian territories and other nations in general during the second world war. this quote in particular just about sums up, in my opinion, the viewpoint japan has taken regard other asian and SEA nations:

This revisionist narrative is laid out in detail at the Yushukan museum in Tokyo next to the Yasukuni war shrine. The logic is as follows: Imperial Japan waged the Great East Asia War (Daitowa Senso) in an effort to liberate the Asian peoples from the yoke of Western Imperialism. The “selfless goal” was to bring the enlightened modernization of Meiji Japan to hopelessly backward Asian brothers and sisters.This revisionist narrative is laid out in detail at the Yushukan museum in Tokyo next to the Yasukuni war shrine. The logic is as follows: Imperial Japan waged the Great East Asia War (Daitowa Senso) in an effort to liberate the Asian peoples from the yoke of Western Imperialism. The “selfless goal” was to bring the enlightened modernization of Meiji Japan to hopelessly backward Asian brothers and sisters.

japan has a long and storied history with facism, nationalism, xenophobia, and racism. it, of course, bears mentioning that no asian nation is necessarily exempt from xenophobia and racism - south korea, where my family is from, is certainly not exempt - but japan is perhaps one of the worst offenders, once we step back and look at their sweeping history of involvement in global conflicts. supremacy is the name of the game for japan - and i cannot deny that the current conservative state of the nation, which is a carry over from that mindset that dominated japan in ww2, is what makes me most wary of a narrative like attack on titan.

it's no secret that isayama admires several japanese war generals. dot pixis, one of the generals in attack on titan is notoriously based off of japanese general akiyama yoshifuru, who is a war criminal, responsible for the colonization of korea and who commanded japanese troops in korea when korea was occupied by japan.

for more on this, see this blog post: the possible disturbing dissonance between hajime isayama's beliefs and attack on titan's themes.

isayama, attack on titan's creator, is 36 currently - but he was 19 when he first began writing attack on titan. i don't think it would be wrong to also say that isayama likely grew up during a time when japan began leaning heavily back into conservative, neo-facist, nationalistic ideals, thanks to the economic crash that occured during isayama's youth/likely during when he was in middle/high school. i want to also say that i say all of this ALLEGEDLY. the truth is, that the account which we attribute a lot of isayama's pro-japan quotes to (migiteorerno on twitter) has never been officially attributed to isayama, though the blog post i linked above does point out a lot of the coincidences and clues that have led people (like myself) to believe that it may be isayama's private account.

but, of course, i can hear the questions about "death of the author." separate the art from the artist. i hear it all. and in general, i understand that school of thought. but i don't think we can apply it to attack on titan.

if i were to explain it, i think the best thing to say would be that i don't believe that death of the author applies to a work, when the authorial opinions in question are intrinsically tied up in authorial intent and the story being told. to elaborate, let me give this example:

say an author believes that climate change isn't real. but, they've written a story about two lonely people meeting online, and slowly falling in love with one another before they both must decide to gather their courage and take the leap into a real life meeting. in this case, i would think death of the author applies. this hypothetical author's climate change beliefs have no real bearing on the story they're telling - and ultimately, they have no real way of skewing whatever story this author has told. so in this case, i would say we put the art before the artist.

but say this author also writes a novel about the environment, and eco-terrorism, or some natural apocalypse. all these ideas have, in some way, to do with the climate or climate change - so i would find myself wary of the contents. the authors ideals, in this way, would shape and warp the messaging of the story - because they are intrinsic to the type of story this author would tell about the environment and environmental destruction.

isayama's purported beliefs - and yes, him being japanese and japan's role in ww2 and the clear ww2 influences aot has - intrinsically shape the message attack on titan is telling. the two are intertwined - attack on titan talks about nationalism, facism, and nation that separates itself from all other nations and thus believes itself to be some great enlightener; all of these are ideals we can so clearly see reflected in japanese nationalism.

it's for these very reasons that i can't begin to see a way to idolize and audulate attack on titan's narrative. i've said it once, and i'll say it again: i'm korean american. my family came to the US from korea barely a generation after ww2. my oldest great uncle, a judge, died during the japanese occupation of korea. i have relatives alive who remember what the occupation was like. who have lived through it.

when i look at attack on titan from that perspective, i can't see anything but the looming shadow of japanese nationalism, and japan's continued perspective on other asian nations - especially korea - taints this work for me. i can't see it as an anti-war narrative. i can't see it as making any deft anti-war commentary. in part because i look at it and see the historical hand of japan's actions, still very much present and puppeteering this narrative - but also because in attack on titan's world, there is never a way to get past this without war.

and maybe that's the crux of it. how can you trust a narrative to be anti-war, when all signs point to it being otherwise? how can i look at attack on titan, knowing what i know about japan's history with the very ideals present within the work, and not be wary? the truth is, that i don't think we can trust that isayama has in any way, set out to tell this story with the intent of critiquing japan's actions or the culture that led to their involvement in world war 2.

you can call me a cynic. but i'd rather be cynical than trust attack on titan not to be facist.

Rural China is so beautiful and peaceful ♥️

(that bridge was built in 1788 btw)

(休宁，黄山，安徽省）

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

Really glad people are now calling out James Somerton's weird xenophobia and racism against East asians

Something that I fear will get lost in all this that I cannot in good conscience let people ignore is that James Somerton is also just incredibly racist?

Between his willingness to rip off the works of asian writers, his total *unwillingness* to fact-check any of his own claims about laws and customs in asian countries (specifically China, I'll note), his enthusiastic citing of information from right-wing cracks who openly conspiracy theorize about China, and his gleeful theory crafting of whole new conspiracy bullshit about China in his attempt to frame all media discussions through his overly clouded lens, I think it's fair to say James Somerton is just racist. There's no sugarcoating it just because he doesn't espouse direct hate or use slurs. The passive liberal brand racism is still racism. Like, someone doesn't invent fake claims about Chinese box office coverups and help spread myths about censorship laws in Japanese television code out of nowhere. These are not the ideas of a man who has healthy or well adjusted views about Asia, these are pure and simple orientalism.

I literally never want to hear americans talk about Chinese or North Korean people being "brainwashed" after seeing how easily manipulated they were into supporting Israel

"China has no right to personal expression" you people are *so* close to saying/believing Asians in the Bad Countries are just a mindless NPC horde with no inferiority you might as well just come out and say it

"China has no right to personal expression" you people are *so* close to saying/believing Asians in the Bad Countries are just a mindless NPC horde with no inferiority you might as well just come out and say it

ok so let me preface this by saying that i am chinese and am not trying to argue china bad, but i guess like, why is tibetan independence considered Balkan-zing china? Like this isn't some case of like old ass territory that was conquored by china a long time ago and now they've integrated with the rest of china, The PRC literally annexed Tibet in 1951. Shouldn't it be considered a good thing for Tibet to get independence? I'm not trying to gotcha you or anything i just don't understand why

Before Tibet was liberated by the PRC Tibet was a feudal theocracy run by monk kings and manor lords who would chop the hands of their tenants for owing debt. Almost all Tibetans in the Tibetan Autonomous Region speak their own language, go to classes taught in their language, continue their distinct cultural practices as one of the officially recognized ethnic groups of China, and have been lifted out of extreme poverty by the PRC's socialist development. The Dalai Lama is literally a hereditary feudal ruler (and p*do) who once owned child slaves whose entire purpose is to be a CIA-supported mascot for the supposed "peaceful, tranquil" independent Tibet that most credulous Westerners who are not familiar with the region's history have in their minds. The only reason you'd want Tibet to be "independent" is if you've casually swallowed State Dept. narratives about "China oppressing Tibet" your whole life, which I don't mean as an insult since that's the situation most people in the West (including me until a few years ago) find themselves in. And the reason why the US and its allies want Tibet to become "independent" along with Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan is precisely to weaken China and separate it into smaller states it can dominate through neocolonialism. In terms of comparing it to Palestine, you may notice the difference in that China hasn't built a giant wall around Tibet that it keeps Tibetans locked inside.

"nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them" Assata Shakur

FREE PALESTINE.

if you support israel right now, you're supporting the extermination of the palestinian people.

it really is that simple.

this isn't a 'complicated conflict,' it isn't a situation that 'requires nuance,' it's not a 'geopolitical event' that requires us to condemn the 'bad actors' on 'both sides.'

it's a genocide.

there is no 'nuance' to be had here. it's a genocide, committed by the israeli state against the palestinian people, and it's happening right now as we speak. you don't have to infer anything: israel has openly, with next to no pushback from so-called liberal democracies, cut off gaza's access to water, food and electricity. that's more than two million palestinians denied even the basic necessities for life. a million of them, children.

what is that, if not a genocide?

and that's only the latest escalation. we could go all day, listing the atrocities the palestinian people have been subjected to. the killings, the beatings, the children sexually abused in detention center, all the hospitals and ambulances being blown up, videos of palestinians being heckled by settlers as they're driven from their homes, israelis gathering on hilltops to cheer as their military drops bombs on gaza...

but all westerns want to talk about, is hamas.

because the murder of palestinians by the IDF is status quo; it doesn't affect them. what's one more dead palestinian but a statistic? but if hamas has killed a handful of israelis — if they've go as far as to even kill babies — then that justifies the extermination of two million palestinians, children and infants included.

westerns will even say that the palestinians brought it on themselves; that they should have know that a drop of israeli blood requires a river in return.

and just so we're clear, you don't have to like hamas. but when you equate hamas with the IDF, when you derail every conversation by demanding a condemnation of 'both sides,' or when you, god forbid, agree that israel is justified in dismantling hamas — which, as israel themselves have outlined, will involve the complete destruction of gaza and the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians — then either wake up, or own up to the fact that you're a participant in the extermination of the palestinian people.

do you think i'm being harsh? then imagine how it's like living under constant aerial bombardment. with no food, no water, no electricity. constant air-raid sirens. a bomb, dropping every minute. never knowing a moment a peace, always wondering if today is going to be your last day, if you and your family are still going to be here tomorrow.

could you stomach living in gaza, for even a day? i doubt it.

and still, now, on the eve of what might be the ground invasion of gaza — with one million palestinians being told to flee, with nowhere to go — i'm getting messages from people who demand my sympathy... for israel.

well, you're not getting it.

i'm not even humoring your hand-wringing.

if you live in israel, and you're one of the ones who've turned a blind-eye to the suffering of the palestinian people, if you've fought for the IDF or tacitly supported them, if you've callously called upon the memory of the holocaust thinking the death and suffering of your ancestors would wash the blood of your own hands....

then yeah, i think you deserve every single hamas rocked lobbed at you and so much more.

If there was a way to run SUPER MEGA AD BLOCKER on this website I fucking would

this work of fiction is problematic because it was written without an understanding of the immortal science of marxism-leninism

Hollywood is 100% going to try and recreate Barbieheimer again especially since the SAG strike is going to deprive them of their usual press tour marketing and when they do try it it is your moral duty to help make sure it flops so fucking hard they never try it again

I think a lot of people don't realize that when they are reblogging or making posts about how "evil" China is, they are helping to manufacture consent for the US to go to war with China.

many people already have sinophobic beliefs that they didn't have 5-10 years ago, because here in the US (and the west in general) we are constantly inundated with propaganda about how china is aggressing the US and other countries, how they're spying on us, how oppressive the Chinese gov is. Every single western newspaper, news channel, many of our books and movies are sinophobic. And it's not just conservatives that believe this, it is also leftists and liberals.

I notice many so called leftists on this website reblogging the most ridiculously sinophobic posts with no sources. I think they justify it because many of these posts are made by diaspora asians-- but that doesn't actually make individual people reliable or neutral sources. It is well known in the Asian american community that many of us are very conservative, hold anti-communist and anti-Black beliefs because we too are surrounded by white supremacy. Many diaspora Asians in america came here because their families were wealthy or collaborated with Japanese, American or British colonizers. I'm not saying that every asian person who posts negative things about China is like this-- but obviously, this is a very complicated issue, and the "answers" isn't as simple as finding one asian person or asian organization to explain these issues to you. It's unlearning decades of anti-communist and racist propaganda.

Remember, this pattern has happened before. The US has flooded it's people with propaganda about how evil Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and many other countries are. As US americans, it truly doesn't matter your individual purposes-- when you post negative things about China, you are adding to the thousands of sources telling the west that it is ok to hate an entire country. And the consequences for this are incredibly dire-- just talk to Chinese people who remember the civil war, who remember the west pumping opium into our communities and selling bombs to the ROC to kill its own people. Read books like Assata Shakurs auto-biography, Mobo Gao, Han Suyin, and Frantz Fanon. The US wants you to hate China and Chinese people to justify it's own imperialist project.