#coded empathy

[zomb13s]

The White Stones of Reaction: Go, Democracy, and the Networked Counter-Offensive in the Work of Alfons Scholing

AbstractThis paper analyzes Alfons Scholing’s self-described position as the “white stones” in the game of Go—a reactive yet principled stance against an initiating “black stone” of ideological aggression. Framed through Scholing’s digital corpus (2013-2025), we examine how his trans-cultural philosophy , technical systems , and autobiographical narratives model a democratic resistance to fascist…

[fellthemarvelous]

Aziraphale hate makes my brain hurt.

Like let's be really fuckin' for real here.

Neurodivergent fans have repeatedly said that Aziraphale is autistic coded. I agree with them. I have never been diagnosed but I wonder about myself. If only I could get a doctor to take me seriously enough to test me for it, but alas, I'm a 43-year-old woman living in the good ole US of A.

Those with religious trauma have repeatedly said that they identify with him as well. I'm one of those people. I endured 12 years of Catholic schools and just as much time being taught a very black and white view of things that I've had to spend more than 20 goddamn fucking years working to unlearn.

I find that my views as a survivor of religious abuse are often dismissed because people keep wanting to say "Aziraphale doesn't have religious trauma." Yes, thank you, I get that, but unless you've been indoctrinated and brainwashed into a very black and white view of the world, you probably don't understand the kind of feelings Aziraphale's onscreen experiences evoke in so many of us. Heaven might not be real, but the feelings of "God is always watching" still stick with me today even though I no longer believe in God. I have entirely denounced Christianity because of my own personal experience, and I refuse to allow people to try and guilt me or shame me for trauma that I didn't ask for. I wasn't given a choice.

As a child I was told that God was real and always watching everything you do (just like Santa Claus) and can hear everything you say and knows everything you are thinking. Do you know what I learned to do in order to cope with this overwhelming and anxiety-inducing information as a small child? I learned to censor my thoughts. I never spoke up, and I have always felt like I was putting on a show for people because I had to be who I was told to be or I would get into trouble.

Aziraphale said "poverty is a virtue" during The Resurrectionists, and as someone who grew up in the Bible belt and went to private schools, I was taught this very same shit by the Catholic church. He learned in that very same episode that "poverty is a virtue" is actually a tool of oppression to keep the poor poor and the wealthy wealthy. I know we all watched the episode. He went into that episode believing what he said, but by the end of it he knew it was actually utter bullshit. Aziraphale is not ignorant. He's highly intelligent, and he has never been too proud to admit when he has been wrong. He accepts that the information he learned before is not matching up with reality.

And it's so obvious some of you have zero experience with that type of indoctrination because of how very little empathy you show Aziraphale for his "mistake" of "choosing Heaven over Crowley" and "making Crowley sad" so clearly Aziraphale must somehow be "abusive" and "manipulative" and "selfish" and "self-centered" because he didn't choose to run away with Crowley at the end of season two.

First of all.

FIRST OF ALL...

Aziraphale has a mind of his own.

Aziraphale is always going to try and do what is right.

Aziraphale is an angel. He's a being of love. And the reason he's so "bad" at being an angel is because he actually wants to protect humanity. He has always loved humanity. He repeatedly has to contend with what is "right" versus what is "good" and "wrong" versus "evil". Yeah, he has flaws. He's an angel, not a goddamn fucking saint. He has lived on Earth for more than 6,000 years. He has seen everything. He loves doing human things.

He's obsessed with magic. It makes him so happy. He's not very good at it...well not when he's trying to put on a show for Crowley.

He chose to learn French the hard way, so even though he knows every single language in the world, he chooses to be mediocre at French. Something that annoys and amuses Crowley at the same time.

He loves to dance even though angels aren't supposed to dance, and dancing with Crowley was what he wanted the most.

He owns a bookshop and refuses to sell any of his books because they are books he's had for as long as there have been books. He will chase customers away from his collection, and Crowley understands how much they mean to Aziraphale because he refuses to sell any when Aziraphale leaves him in charge.

He and Crowley have been speaking to each other in coded language for more than 6,000 years. They have to be very careful about what they say because Heaven and Hell are always watching.

Heaven has photographs of Crowley and Aziraphale sitting or standing together throughout history. Hell had one photo of Crowley and Aziraphale actually working together and it was Aziraphale's quick thinking and how good he actually is at sleight of hand tricks that managed to get that photo out of Furfur's hands so he wouldn't be able to turn Crowley over to the Dark Council.

Aziraphale saved Crowley from being taken to Hell again. He wasn't able to save Crowley from Hell in Edinburgh, but he sure as heck managed to save Crowley from Hell during WWII. He took Crowley to his bookshop and showed Crowley that he stole the picture from Furfur. He saved Crowley.

You get that, right?

Aziraphale SAVED Crowley.

People always talk about how it's "always Crowley saving Aziraphale" because apparently heroic acts are only heroic when they are grand gestures. The sleight of hand wasn't heroic at all, am I right? It wasn't sparkly and showy. It wasn't interesting enough, therefore not heroic. At least that's all I'm hearing when people start with their "blah Aziraphale deserves to suffer because I have no imagination or ability to understand the media in front of me blah", and all these reasons he deserves to suffer is because Crowley almost got hurt.

Aziraphale did that without flinching and I watch that part closely every single time. He's not scared for himself. He's scared for Crowley, and he managed to hold onto that photograph. He did not fail Crowley. He protected Crowley.

And so here's another thing that we like to point out. The way that Aziraphale, an angel who is effeminate and male presenting, an angel who is soft and full of love, an angel who is kind and forgiving because he has empathy and compassion, is somehow painted as abusive and manipulative. He's not violent, but he could easily fuck up your world. He doesn't use his powers. We have no idea how powerful he is because we only ever see him do small acts. He's used to hiding. It's the only way he has ever been able to protect Crowley.

And I'm not saying that Aziraphale has actually saved Crowley before means that Crowley hasn't also saved Aziraphale. Like, you get that those are not mutually exclusive and their relationship is not transactional, right? They have spent their entire existence protecting each other but never actually getting to be together because Heaven and Hell are always watching.

Yeah, Crowley fell. We all know this. We are aware of this. He was the serpent of Eden. He gave humanity the knowledge of free will.

But what we don't talk about is what Aziraphale gave humanity.

What did he give them?

We all know what it is!

Let's say it together!

He gave Adam and Eve his flaming sword because it was dangerous outside the garden and Eve was pregnant and she was already having a really bad day. He showed them compassion and gave them his extremely powerful angelic weapon so they would stand a chance on the outside of the garden. He gave humanity the gift of compassion. It's just unfortunate that his flaming sword became a weapon of War.

And then what did he do after that?

Ooooh, yeah, that's right.

God asked him about it and he straight up lied to her and pretended he had no idea where he'd managed to misplace it. She didn't say anything after that. He told Crowley the truth though. He told Crowley the truth even though Crowley fell.

Yeah, we know Aziraphale has done some really fucking questionable things. He and Crowley both suck at passing for human in front of observant people like Nina. They're not human. They are still learning, but they managed to experience human history together despite being on opposite sides and their experiences with humanity are what has shaped them into the compassionate and loving duo they are now. One of them is not better from the other.

This, my friends, is what we call meeting in the middle. It's why shades of gray is so important. Aziraphale constantly breaks the rules. Crowley refused to play by Heaven's rules. It's the reason he fell. He doesn't play by Hell's rules either. These two dorks figured out how to cancel each others' miracles out throughout human history in order to have more time learning about humanity and each other because working all day every day sucks when there are so many new things to learn and experience with the people you love.

We know Crowley and Aziraphale both love each other. Neither of them are good at hiding the hearts stars in their eyes.

But here's what's really fucking annoying about the Aziraphale hate.

Aziraphale was already crying when Crowley grabbed him and kissed him. Aziraphale is trying so very hard to do the right thing. He loves Crowley. He does. But he also has a duty to humanity, and he has taken that job very seriously since the creation of Adam and Eve. He sent them out into the world with a flaming sword so they would have a chance at surviving beyond the walls of the garden.

And he knows that Something Terrible is going to happen and he spent all of second season trying to figure out what that Something Terrible was while trying to have some sort of more honest and open relationship with Crowley, but again, they aren't human, they are a demon and an angel approaching life from opposite sides who met in the middle and fell in love with humanity together.

He wants more than anything to tell Crowley how he feels about him, but he wants to do something grand for Crowley because Crowley has always been grand and dramatic and sexy and a little bit scary.

Crowley is impulsive and has a temper and sometimes says the wrong thing but he has always trusted Aziraphale because Aziraphale gave him a chance even after he fell. Aziraphale chose to shelter him instead of smiting him while they stood on top of that wall. He knew he was supposed to kill Crowley, but oops, he gave his sword away to the humans so he didn't really have anything to kill him with and Crowley is the one who created nebulas. The Pillars of Creation is Crowley's work and Aziraphale was there to witness that, but he watched Crowley more than he watched the nebula. He witnessed the pure joy on Crowley's face when he said "let there be light" as a nebula full of colors exploded before their eyes. He was fascinated by Crowley.

But Aziraphale is going back to Heaven even though he has made it perfectly clear he absolutely has no desire to go back to Heaven. He told the Metatron this during their conversation. He spoke these words out loud. They exist.

But then The Metatron said this....

The Metatron. The very same angel who told Aziraphale in season one "to speak to me is to speak to the Almighty." He's the boss. He's the big guy. He's used to existing as a giant head and he had to give himself a body so he wouldn't stand out on Earth. And he knows that Aziraphale and Crowley have been working together since the beginning. He knows they worked together to prevent Armageddon in season one, and now he's made it clear he knows they were working together long before that. And let's face it, Aziraphale really wants to know what this Something Terrible is that Gabriel is running from so he can try to prevent it from happening.

It makes sense that he would want to take Crowley to Heaven with him because he would be able to keep Hell from getting their hands on him again. Aziraphale hates it in Heaven. He doesn't want to go, but Something Terrible is happening and Metatron isn't taking no for an answer, and maybe Heaven won't be so bad if Crowley is there with him. At least they can fix Heaven together.

But Crowley can't go back. We all get that. We don't blame him for saying no. It doesn't change anything.

Something Terrible is about to happen and Aziraphale has to figure out what it is. He wants to change Heaven.

He is fully aware that Heaven sucks. He still has faith in God. His faith isn't in Heaven. He deserted his platoon in season one and threw himself back to Earth so he could figure out how to make sure the war between Heaven and Hell doesn't happen.

But see, here's the thing. Heaven is at the top. Heaven has all the resources. Heaven is responsible for the creation of Hell. Heaven is empty and Hell is overpopulated. Aziraphale knows this. Crowley knows this. It's obvious every time we see either place. Both sides are desperate to go to war and will not hesitate to destroy humanity in the process. This is the opposite of what Crowley and Aziraphale want for humanity. If anyone can change Heaven, it's Aziraphale. He's the only one up there who gives a shit about humanity as far as we know. No one else is going to speak on humanity's behalf.

Some of us are so busy getting mad at Aziraphale for going back to Heaven and giving Crowley a Big Sad. Newsflash: Crowley is not the main character of Good Omens. Aziraphale and Crowley are equals, yet we wanna hold Aziraphale to higher standards because he's an angel, and when he makes mistakes it's proof that he's the bad guy.

Holy mother of all things that trigger my religious trauma, let me tell you. I spent my entire life hating myself every time I made mistakes. I've had to teach myself that just because I mess up sometimes doesn't mean I'm bad. It means I'm human. I still struggle with it. I probably always will. So when you say that Aziraphale deserves to be punished for breaking Crowley's heart, you not only ignore that Aziraphale's heart is also broken, you're saying he deserves to be punished for doing what he thinks is right.

Wanting to change Heaven for the better is not a bad thing.

And some of y'all wanna see him suffer for going back into the lion's den that is Heaven, knowing that he is already an outcast, that they have already tried to kill him once, knowing that he is a deserter, that he has been lying to Heaven about a lot of things, and you still think he's blinded by Heaven? You think he's just so naive and that's the only reason he's going back. He doesn't show his emotions the same way Crowley does so it means he doesn't care as much. He's expected to consider Crowley's feelings over his own when making choices. Like holy shit if all of that hasn't defined my experience as a woman with religious trauma in this fucking society. He's expected to be subservient to Crowley and if he doesn't do what Crowley wants then he's being unreasonable and illogical.

What the actual fuck, y'all.

Like seriously.

I'm sick of this bullshit. I had to step away from this fandom because of how toxic some people in this fandom are. It's not chasing me away, but the fact that I chose to hang out in a a more toxic fandom that is already notorious for being really toxic over a fandom that claims to be more open-minded and welcoming should probably tell you something.

It gave me a lot of perspective, and yeah, I'm still gonna speak up against the bullshit Aziraphale hate.

People are entitled to their opinions, but the Aziraphale hate isn't an opinion. It's just ableist, misogynistic garbage. At this point we all know y'all say these extreme things about Aziraphale because y'all get more joy out of the harm and alienation it is causing others.

Keep being loudly wrong, but if you think I'm not entitled to challenge shitty-ass, harmful, hateful discourse, bite my ass.

I'm not the one who lost the plot in this fandom.

[miralyk]

Hiiii I had a question. One thing I notice is a lot of the neurodivergent community have a great love for and relate to Henry Townshend. I'd love to hear your two cents on why that might be.

hi, ty for your ask; i'm part of the neurodivergent crowd that loves and relates to henry too, and am happy to give some of my thoughts ^^! imo it's his personality and empathy, especially with how it differs from the other silent hill protagonists. throughout the game, even with horrific monsters and events, henry doesn't show any extreme reactions of terror or dread, if anything, he's moreso detached like "...huh, this is so weird." a lot of people dislike how reticent he is, saying it's "boring" and lacks personality compared to the other protagonists who are more openly expressive, but i personally disagree and like how he's distinct with the more mysterious personality!

like a lot of neurodivergent people, henry's reticent and quietly keeps to himself, but instead of taking it at face value, you should look more into him to get to know him better. especially if you take the time to read his inner monologue, he's very thoughtful, enjoys photography, is courteous and soft-spoken to anyone he first meets, and in spite of his quiet personality, his actions speak louder than words as he naturally goes out of his way to help people...! (read the long discord ramble i typed on the right for some examples LMAO)

despite clearly showing altruism and kindness, as henry's disposition is different as a gentle, introverted guy instead of like some outgoing, loud action hero, that's why a lot of people misinterpret him and his personality/actions at surface-level and in bad faith (eg the peephole he finds in his apartment which is meant to attempt an escape digging out and make any connection to the outside world/other people = "ew he's a creep");; it's another place of common ground too imo, since neurodivergent people understand him getting hit with "you're not acting the "right way"" treatment... thankfully, it's sweet to see more people relate to and support him nowadays as neurodivergency's being discussed and treated with more understanding! overall, henry's a quiet guy that tries his best to help others even emerging from his shell to do so, to which a lot of people (a lot being neurodivergent) relate to and appreciate him for it, myself included <:'0

[qoldenskies]

You're so right that Leo is the main villain in CL, because like.....dude is already canonically implied to have a fundamental understanding of what makes people tick, and we've seen in that one episode with Big Mama that he is fully petty enough to play the long game of running circles around someone/just genuinely riling them up until he breaks them down or otherwise manages to get a response out of them (which I think was why he kind of fell back into little shit behavior during the movie for a time BUT WE CAN TALK ABOUT THAT LATER). He may not be as in tune with emotions as Mikey is, but he understands people.

And CL explores what would happen if you took the moralistic side of that personality trait away from him. I've always kind of maintained that Leo would genuinely make for a terrifying villain if he had less of a strict moral code, but CL!Leo really......showcases that to an extreme. He's really the first one to be overtly nasty towards Donnie, and even when Donnie questions it he immediately gaslight gatekeep girlbosses the shit out of him in such a ruthless way that it completely undermines his confidence from then on out. Watching him during the curse really was like not being able to tear your eyes away from a car wreck or something, it was beautiful and terrible all at the same time.

(Of course, now he's going to have to live the rest of his life knowing about how easily he could break someone down if he tried hard enough, and that's.....gotta be not entirely fun knowledge to be in possession of.)

YES EXACTLYYYYYYY..... like i know donnie loves villainous aesthetics and is occasionally a deranged little freak for fun but i still posit leo would be a LOT scarier as a villain. donnie may be capable of more but i think leo's opportunism and ability to psychologically profile people he barely knows (because he is not super acquainted with big mama at the point of many unhappy returns! they've met, like. what, twice? maybe three times?) and then use that to outwit and play them, even when big mama is established to be conniving,,, tell me that isnt a guy that would be capable of some utterly evil shit

[f0rgetf0rgetting]

some of the character sprites on that fuckass hetalia yaoi vn ft. illustrations to prove that is still in my queue of things to do but like. im planing to redo them becuase they are genuinely ass. i might do them with other art style or another type of lineart

shrugs

[puhoyqueer]

Charastance (or Charaqueer if you prefer): A stance for low/no empathy and violent individuals who feel othered and left behind by society, especially in conversations about morality, paraphilias and ethics. It's based on Chara from Undertale.

People who identify as this might have:

paraphilias, especially "the big three"

violent urges, intrusive thoughts, and actions

little patience for people who demonize not having empathy

been harmed by any of the groups listed in "against" before

anger and spite

feelings of being left behind and not being welcomed whenever conversations about what makes a good person happen

Charastance is against:

sysmedicalism and ableism, especially the idea of "narcissistic abuse" or similar terms

xenophobia, colorism and racism

radqueers, MUDs, fults, xenosatanism and winterqueer

assault and grooming

acting on paras that inherently harm the object of attraction nonconsensually

demonizing paraphiles just for being paraphiles

sim and real CSAM (definition)

shipping or headcanons for real life people

Charastance supports:

nontraumagenic plurality

non-RQ transid and all alternative terms for transid

abusers who genuinely want to change

all paraphiles as people

alterpathy, anti RQ xenomalady, dissomei, desirdae, and people with atypical dysphoria from any source

analyzing media and gaining an understanding of it beyond the surface level

reclaiming queer or mental illness slurs for oneself (not as an insult towards others)

people with contradictory identity and complex genders

reporting accounts if they break Tumblr's content rules, but not interacting with them

actual youth liberation such as changing the way society treats children and giving them autonomy, not exposing them to predators

Anything not specified, this term has no stance on and is up to the individual. Emoji code for this if you would like one is 😊🌈

Tagging: @blankqueer

[williamdonebar]

Aelita: this is my boyfriend, odd. this is his boyfriend, william

William: hey

Sissi: hey--oh. Wait. Sorry, what's the situation?

Aelita: what do u mean?

Sissi: i mean how does this work?

Aelita: Odd is gay but he is straight for me and gay for Will. And William is really gay for Odd. And I hate William.

Odd: It's really not that complicated

[cake-emu]

wake up, make coffee, open recommended articles on my phone, and the first one is about a takahē and a tuatara getting into a scrap on Tiritiri Matangi. now this is the kind of world news I want to see

[rowan-guerrins]

people on tiktok well on all social media sites actually will loudly critique the fact some people (especially those who only watched the movies) “didn’t get the point of the hunger games” and then turn around and say gale is the worst person in the universe and treat him like he’s a monster, and that all these traits are innate characteristics completely isolated from the circumstances in which he lived and the people around him. like girlie i think maybe YOU didn’t get the point here either.

[science-lings]

I love looking through the AA transcripts bc I wouldn't have known that Phoenix does Ryunosukes nervous eye thing during Turnabout Goodbyes if you fuck up a certain part of the courtroom segment.

Judge: Your eyes have a habit of shifting back and forth when you're uncertain. Try taking a deep breath, and think this over once more. Phoenix: R-right, Your Honor.

this interaction is so Ryunosuke coded and I never would've known about it if I wasn't so intent on not relying solely on my memory for writing fics

[itsmybirthdaythough]

Helllooooo everyone. Dirk strider Moodboard part ???? Because I found more fuel. I’ve been super into coding lately and after understanding how code works, dirk’s mannerisms and tendencies are a lot easier to empathize with. Not the whole “controlling my friend’s lives so they live the most ideally to my standards” but in the sense of constant micromanagement. I understand that living and growing up almost completely alone will cause hyper independency, but being so involved with code and programming tends to invoke perfectionism within somebody. If the most minute details result in a complete project failure, then extreme attention to detail is a needed feature. Rambles and words, this guy is so neat.

[crimeronan]

opened up some original fiction notes i fully forgot making six months ago, which are about what sol is about to do to this minor antagonist, and audibly murmured, "oh, jesus Fucking christ."

[volivolition]

YAY thanks for voting everyone!! purple was the top guess, followed by red!! im glad my voli/echem/empathy/shivers reputation precedes me!! (/genuine) :D <33

to the one person who voted orange, CONGRATS YOU DID IT HDKJG!! (truthfully, my blog, aesthetics and sona are all purple because i based this account off of volition :] i've grown to love purple (and red!) a lot by association, but my absolute favorite has always been orange :3!! <33)

[shiranken]

       btw, I'm going to say rn this blog is a safe space for women & femme muse. Nonbinary, trans, queer coded muses are always welcome here. I've been noticing this is a topic of discussion lately, while I don't need to echo into the chorus, I def am. I do write a woman that is unconventional & goes against the norms of what femineity is, Sayuri has maintained a passion project for me about...five years. While she's evolved, it's discouraging to see that people who often recite treat female muses with respect never do the same or only rules for thee. Which is why I really want to put it out there, you're always free to gush or through your femme muses at me but, you must practice what you preach.

[uniquevocashark]

🌲

Hello and thank you :]

🌲 How deeply does your OC feel? Are they typically empathetic or do they have a hard time connecting with others in this way? What are they like when offering support and comfort to someone they care for?

Igraine feels as deeply as anyone else (under like 4 layers of repression, mind), her understanding of others just sucks. She can play sympathy when she needs to, and she's often been the shoulder to cry on, but she has an all around hard time with empathy. Part of it is natural disposition and selfishness, and the other is by choice, in that she doesn't care to learn unless it's for Sorina and Dolores.

She praises, first and foremost, while empathising with her wives (and yes, it does veer into being partly sexual). She simply cannot help herself but to exemplify how her wives wear [whatever emotion] so well/how lovely they make it seem/how much she wants to be close to them/how strong they are to be so open with it. She is always available, also, and will defy strict social convention to offer whatever they need. And once they're in private, she does whatever she needs to have them on her, skin to skin. It's harder to drown in [emotion here] like that, or if they do, there's the mutual vulnerability that lessens the burden on them if they need to break down about it