#especially coming from NON AMERICANS

[tr4ggot]

i have many thoughts/opinions/critiques about the origins of the national parks and overall how land has been acquired throughout the history of the united states, but the people who are like 'well the national parks are a tool of colonialism so why should i give a shit about whats happening to them' seem to have done that thing where they become so woke that they become conservative again

[mccleans]

i'm not american but the condescending reaction everyone in the rest of the world has to shit like this has got to be so exhausting to endure

[breakingmyreverie]

love how you're reblogging both the original post and the addition, we're sitting together nodding solemnly. anyway I think we should bully white people more

you're 100% right. we need to take white people down a peg

[jellogram]

Every time someone assumes California is an extreme liberal paradise I'm gonna post this screenshot

[pynkhues]

Anon from earlier about Sam's family. Thanks for letting me know that tribe was an offensive term for the Aboriginal people. I'm not Australian and didn't know. I apologize. And yes, people were using that term on twitter when talking about it. It's all in very bad faith.

(x)

You're very welcome, anon, and I appreciate the acknowledgement. I figured it was probably the terminology being used, and you just didn't know, but it's really kind of you to own it, apologise and be open to learning.

I'm kind of a bit lucky in this sense, because I have a few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander friends from across different Nations, and I work with a lot of First Nations people in different capacities (actors, writers and artists at the theatre company, of course, but one of my areas of specialisation as a freelance writer is in people-related safety, so I have a - - mm, I don't want to say expertise, because I think this is a space you're always learning in, but perhaps an area of qualification (?) in writing about child safety, gender-based safety in the workplace, and racial and cultural safety, particularly with First Nations people, in which I usually work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to develop documents on what helps them to feel safe in different contexts. I've written these sorts of things for schools, health services and arts venues, so I have a lot of conversations with people in different capacities too. I'm also on the theatre I work at's Reconciliation Action Working Group, so yes! Having a lot of robust conversations every day, haha).

But yeah. It's quite telling to me that someone would stress a level of 'care' over what happened to those First Nations people while using a term that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would consider a slur. To do that level of research into a family Sam could possibly be related to, and then to weaponise a community while calling that community something they'd find derogatory just makes it beyond obvious what the intentions behind it are. It would take two minutes to look up any of the many, many guides that exist about this, but those communities aren't who they actually care about. They're just grist for the mill.

[aemiron-main]

like how do people not realize that doug ford was canadian trump before trump was trump. before 2016. doug’s ALWAYS been a slippery two faced lying POS who’s willing to sell out canada for one corn chip. why are canadians forgetting this. you guys get ONE drop of “canadian patriotism” in your brains and throw logic out the window. your stupid generalized “we’re smarter and better than them/all americans are stupid,” superiority complex over all americans is sending you RIGHT DOWN THE SAME PATH THAT AMERICANS ARE GOING DOWN and you cant even see it!!!

[clhampir]

one of my least favorite themes about the internet lately is non-american people complaining that americans are talking about american-centric issues on the internet and being like "nOt EvErYtHiNg ReVoLvEs ArOuNd YoU iDiOtS" and it's like. yeah buddy. that's why we didn't apply it to anywhere else in the world. we're talking about the specific issues we are facing as americans living in the states. the reading comprehension is atrocious

[transgaysex]

god remember jake marshall. from rfta

[lilhawkeye3]

A Crash Course to Kendrick's Super Bowl Performance, from a Black Woman

Note: this does NOT go in depth into all of the song's lyrics. I don't have time to recount two decades of his discography. This is just a summary of the performance itself.

Let's start with the first visual we get:

UNCLE SAM - most notably recognized from WWII American wartime propaganda, Uncle Sam is the personification of American patriotism and freedom. The term "uncle" is also evocative of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom's Cabin, an abolitionist book that aided in inciting the Civil War. Uncle is also a very common term (both endearment and derogatory) towards Black men (eg. "unc"). Samuel L Jackson was fantastic. (Edit: and please look up his history of civil rights activism, he was on the FBI watchlist and even a pallbearer at MLKJr’s funeral.)

Uncle Sam also resembles a circus ringleader, notable for my next point:

THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME - no, not Super Bowl. The GAG is us the people being pitted against each other: through late-stage capitalism, through the culture war, through class warfare, through being built of the backs of slaves. We are all players in the GAG because none of us on this site were the oligarchs seated at the inauguration.

This is also seen as Kendrick's stage was a Play Station controller. Not only did it remind of circus rings visually, but it was a game battle stage. The Great American Game is a battle royale of the commoners for the amusement of the rich whites.

Remember the foods / Them color was tin and brown / But now they 100 and blue - For this I'll just say, look what the last election said about lowering the price of eggs... and look at the prices now.

The revolution about to be televised / You picked the right time / But the wrong guy - Election 2024 once more. *Edit to add, the first part of this lyric is in reference to the Black Liberation Song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. Thanks to everyone who mentioned that.

THE FLAG DANCERS - yes, the dancers formed the US flag... off of the backs of Black people. Not a single white person in sight, and that's true of the cotton pickers in the fields. Plantations are part of how the US came to economic prominence after being a "backwater" colony. Remember tobacco? Cotton? Our bloodlines do. *Edit to add: they also all piled out of a clown car. The US flag in a clown car? Brilliant.

The red and blue dancers are also notable for representing the Crips and Bloods, two infamous street gangs. The dance in Not Like Us is the Crip Walk. I recommend researching more on your own time about them, but just know they are a large part of the stereotype of Black people being "ghetto."

TOO LOUD, TOO RECKLESS, TOO GHETTO. Do you really know how to play the game? - This is exactly what Black people, especially Black men, get told all the time. It's why we change our names on resumes if they sound "too Black." It's why we codeswitch in non-Black company. This is especially rich considering how non-Black people love our culture and love to make money off of us, as the latter part of the quote points to. And it's even more profound during the Super Bowl-- the NFL is majority Black players.

STREET LIGHT A CAPELLA -- "thug" stereotype dancers to counteract the a capella connotations, with Uncle Sam then saying that Kendrick figured out "bringing other street guys around being a culture cheat code." Yes, this is a direct hit at Drake (listen to "Not Like Us") but also politically. Look up "model minority". Notably I would point to Candace Owens, or the Miami Venezuelan political group that's been in the news recently, especially as this directly led to Kendrick being surrounded by...

DANCERS IN WHITE -- it's white America. That's... that's the allegory.

NOT LIKE US TEASER -- Kendrick says "Not Like Us" is "their favorite song." -> he means white people specifically here. It comes after he's surrounded by all white dancers, the women around him who are his call and response are also in white (my opinion, they represent the industry). He's saying "Not Like Us" is the favorite of yts because it is about BLACK MEN FIGHTING. This again is reflected in the video game stage and ringleader Uncle Sam.

SZA -- instead of giving what they want, we see SZA. She's one of Drake's exes and Kendrick has always supported her.

ALL THE STARS -- This was in the first Black Panther movie, which I recommend you watch. Rest in Power Chadwick. Notably, this movie was incredibly mainstream as a major Marvel movie, and then we have Uncle Sam say...

"THAT'S WHAT AMERICA WANTS: NICE AND CALM. DON'T MESS THIS UP" -- translation: Marvel (the industry, America, etc.) wanted a safe, semi-pop song because white American likes safe pop songs, not Kendrick's usual heavy rap style about his life as a Black man! Don't mess up what you've got going mainstream for having this "Black rap feud" with Drake, who is an R&B model minority to white people because he's safe.

So what does Kendrick say?

IT'S A CULTURAL DIVIDE / IMMA GET IT ON THE FLOOR -- He was warned not to be political or apologetically Black for this Super Bowl performance, but he is using this big stage opportunity to speak out.

40 ACRES AND A MULE / THIS IS BIGGER THAN THE MUSIC -- 40 acres and a mule are what the freed slaves were promised. Instead, this land went to white sharecroppers. Research Jim Crow laws.

THEY TRIED TO RIG THE GAME / BUT YOU CAN'T FAKE INFLUENCE -- rig the election, rig the industry like with model minority Drake, rig the Great American Game with culture war to distract from active class warfare.

NOT LIKE US -- the only thing I'll mention because it made me holler is Serena Williams crip walking on Drake's metaphorical grave. She's another one of his exes (read: Drake harassed the hell out of her). *Edit: she was also fined at the 2012 Olympics for crip walking in celebration at Wimbledon.

TURN THE TV OFF -- exactly like he said! The TV is a distraction, the Super Bowl is a distraction, the mainstream news is often a distraction. Turn it off and get with your people!

GAME OVER — could not see this on my stream but at the end of the performance, the lights in the stadium spelled this out. The world is watching, America…

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar is a visionary and thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[vriska-for-president]

@dreamlit-wanderer you're never going to guess what gimmick 8log I made this one time.

vriska get behind me

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Jeremy Brett (My Fair Lady)—"...he was beautiful. A strange adjective to use in describing a man. I use it not to suggest effeminacy or a kind of male prettiness, but in the same way I would use it to describe a throughbred stallion, Michelangelo's David or Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. There was with Jeremy Huggins [Brett's non- stage name] a perfection and sublime symmetry in his features that was beautiful." [quote from "Bending the Willow" by David Stuart Davies]

Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, The Pirate)—It’s hard to know where to start with Gene Kelly because he did so, so much, of such a high quality, from the ballet scenes in “An American in Paris” to the classy suave movie star act of “Singin’ in the Rain” to the incredibly camp, sexy “The Pirate”. He just never stopped finding cool ways to do things and he’s just brilliant to watch, especially when he’s dancing, but even when he’s doing drama or being silly! He’s one of those guys who could genuinely do it all and just radiates charisma through the screen, literally an #icon in every sense of the word.

This is round 4 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Jeremy Brett propaganda:

"according to critic Kenneth Tynan a 'too beautiful' Hamlet."

“Please take my humble offering of propaganda for bisexual icon ✨️Jeremy Brett✨️ and his early career!"

"he’s such a himbo sunshine boy in my fair lady"

“not technically propaganda because it won’t let me save the images but just found out my bi king jeremy brett played patroclus https://www.jeremy-brett.fr/crbst_183.html and also apparently dorian gray in the 60s and basil hallward in the 70s?? range.”

"...as a dashing D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (1966/67) (Duelling is no problem! XD)”

“dropping to sleep - Jeremy is far too handsome to play d'art and also too tall, lol”

Gene Kelly propaganda:

"he was genuinely kind and supportive to judy garland when she was going through a rough time. she was having heavy trauma/addiction responses in 'Summer Stock' which led to her being late all the time and being too scared to come on set, and he actually faked twisting his ankle to distract everyone from her and give her some time off! so yeah, maybe he was a hardass, but when his friend needed him he was 100% there for her, and I think that's worth noting."

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

i watched conclave and now I really want to know more about all the drama with cardinals, how do you find out about that kind of stuff?

Ohhhh boy. Where to even begin?

Well, to start with, a lot of the cardinals in Conclave are based on real people! Bellini is obviously Carlo Maria Martini (right down to having a surname that's a mixed drink), especially in the book, where he's apparently Italian rather than Italian-American (I love that, unlike with Lawrence, who's also Italian in the book,* they didn't change his name; Stanley Tucci is eminently capable of playing an ItAm guy named Aldo Bellini <3). Martini was a "liberal" Archbishop of Milan who for much of the 90s was widely expected to succeed Pope John Paul II but ended up stalling out at the 2005 conclave.** Tedesco has a lot in common with Raymond Burke, an archconservative cardinal who's still alive and very vocal in the media, although Burke, conversely, is American rather than Italian. (America unfortunately has a very conservative local Catholic Church in general these days.) Tedesco and Burke even look similar, right down to the campy, "muffled sounds of 'Good Luck, Babe!' playing in the distance" fashion sense and body language. Tremblay has a similar career trajectory to Marc Ouellet, who, like Tremblay, was widely respected and seen as pretty middle-of-the-road until serious scandals started coming out. Adeyemi doesn't seem to be based on or inspired by any one real person, but the virulent homophobe who isn't that reactionary otherwise is a very common type of sub-Saharan African cardinal, perhaps most prominently represented currently by Fridolin Ambongo Besungu. Like with Adeyemi, I can see Ambongo picking up steam but then imploding over the course of the next IRL conclave, although it would be uncharitable to Ambongo to assume it would be for the same reasons. And so on.

(Benitez is an ideal, rather than someone inspired by a real person or ideological type, but there are cardinals who've had similarly high-stress and altruistic career and life trajectories, like Marco Zenari, Pierbattista Pizzaballa (which is seriously his name),*** and, in fairness to him, also Ambongo, who is Congolese and is regularly physically threatened by political and paramilitary forces within the DRC.)

As to how one learns more about this, you could start by setting news alerts for some of these people's names--Matteo Zuppi, Luis Antonio Tagle, Pietro Parolin, Peter Erdo, and Victor Manuel Fernandez are other names to potentially watch--or reading some books that have been written recently about the current politics of the Church, the Curia, and the Francis papacy. There's one called In the Closet of the Vatican that is incredibly scurrilous, as its title would suggest, but a rip-roaring read if you're not too concerned about forming possibly-unfair negative opinions of some of these guys. There are also writers like Austen Ivereigh and (gag) Edward Pentin who've made whole careers of being Vatican Inside Baseball Understanders, especially since Pope Francis was elected in 2013.****

In general I'd say Conclave is a very good representation of the way these people think and act, especially the constant tension between venal ambition and genuine belief that they are participating in a divine agency in the world. The tendency in non-Catholic and even some Catholic circles is to assume that only the former is present, but people are complicated.

I hope some of this helps, anon!

*I looked it up and in the book he's called Jacopo Lomeli. I've never seen this surname before, but apparently some real people do have it.

**The Catholic Church has its own ideological spectrum and there are ways in which liberal, progressive, conservative, etc. are not very useful terms, but for broad purposes they work here.

***Patriarch of Jerusalem, the only Palestinian cardinal (cardinals are counted as "from" the countries that they lived in when they became cardinals, not necessarily the countries they're from originally; in his case his country of origin is, unsurprisingly, Italy). As you might imagine, he's been in religious news a lot lately.

****Francis, or Jorge Mario Bergoglio as he was then, is widely believed to have been the runner-up at the above-mentioned 2005 conclave, which produced Pope Benedict XVI.

[larkandkatydid]

Any thoughts about people like the menswear guy saying that the violent LA protesters are setting back progress and that they should look to the example of MLK and his nonviolent methods?

I thought the menswear dude’s tweet was imperfect but innocuous and mostly seemed, to me at least, to be coming from a place of concern for people’s safety in a terrifying unfolding situation and coming from someone who is himself an immigrant. If we were personal buddies and he’d asked me for feedback, I’d have cut out a few phrases but I’m not going to nitpick well-meaning people.

Overall this has been a brave, non-violent but confrontational and disrespectful outpouring that started pretty close to spontaneously in response to armed (and masked!) government agents attacking people’s hardworking neighbors in a fucking Home Depot parking lot. I am so moved by the discipline and courage shown by Californians.

I’ll also share this thread from another (in)famous Poster which I agree with, especially this last post

That said, and to be a little more judgmental than is perhaps needed, I have been very frustrated by some of the mockery and finger-pointing I’ve seen on here. The military is in the process of invading an American city, parents are being ripped away from their children by masked thugs. It is callous and shameful to spend one’s time getting smug that some Mexican-American teenager getting her lungs torn up was waving the wrong flag. When you die, will you stand before God and Walter Reuther and say that when the SEIU president was dragged off under nonsense charges, when armed goons are shooting tear gas into traffic, when hardworking people at their fucking jobs are dragged off to gulags, you sat in your own home mocking those ignorant lefties who don’t understand optics and reposting right wing commentators? Will you be proud of that? Is that the best use of your time?

There’s going to be protests everywhere all weekend. I’m sure people will be annoying and have stupid signs and you can complain about them when you get home and that will at least be more honorable.

[divana-aa]

Hoodoo Ain’t for Everybody — And That’s Okay

As someone who walks the path of Hoodoo—not because I found it online, but because it lives in my blood, my bones, my people—I feel it’s time to speak plainly.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a shift. I’m not the only one. More and more folks in the Hoodoo community, especially Black folks who’ve inherited this work through our families or come to it through ancestral callings, are speaking up about something that’s been sitting heavy on our hearts: Hoodoo is being treated like it’s open to everybody. And that’s a problem.

Let me be real clear: Hoodoo is Black American folk magic. It was born out of slavery, survival, resistance, and deep spiritual knowledge carried from Africa and blended with what our ancestors could find and use in a world built to crush them. It’s not a trend. It’s not “just magic.” It’s not interchangeable with witchcraft or Wicca or whatever new aesthetic is popular this week.

This is our tradition. It was built in the shadows of plantations and backwoods kitchens. It was whispered between grandmothers and aunties, handed down in prayers, in oils, in roots, in the way we survived when nothing was left to hold onto but God and grit.

And now, it’s all over the internet.

Non-Black folks are selling jar spell kits labeled “Hoodoo.”

People with no connection to the culture or history are making content, writing books, and calling themselves rootworkers.

Things that used to be sacred are now trending hashtags.

It don’t sit right. It shouldn’t sit right.

The truth is, more of us are starting to say: we want Hoodoo to be a closed practice again.

Not because we’re trying to gatekeep out of spite—but because we are tired. We are tired of seeing the sacred used carelessly. We are tired of seeing folks profit off our culture while ignoring our history. And we are tired of having to constantly explain that you don’t get to choose to practice Hoodoo the way you choose a new hobby.

This work comes with ancestors. It comes with accountability. It comes with pain and power that can’t be separated from Blackness.

And yes, we’re protective. We have every right to be.

So here’s what I’m asking, if you’re reading this and you’re not part of the Black community but you’re drawn to Hoodoo:

Sit with why.

Is it because you want power without responsibility?

Is it because it looks cool on social media?

Or is it because you’re longing for connection—and maybe you need to find it in your own roots, your own ancestors, your own folk traditions?

Because Hoodoo ain’t for everybody. And that’s not hate—it’s protection.

We protect this work because it protects us.

Because our grandmamas didn’t fight to keep it alive just to see it turned into a gimmick.

Because our spirits, our roots, our ancestors deserve better than exploitation.

If you care about Hoodoo, respect it enough to leave it to the people it belongs to.

If you’re a practitioner, speak up. Set boundaries. Keep the sacred sacred.

We don’t need permission to reclaim what’s ours. And we don’t owe anyone access to our medicine.

[bforblitz]

do the pro-imperialist aspects of tes generally come from oblivion? i've only played morrowind where theyre an antagonistic colonizing force, and skyrim where they're an incompetent bureaucracy, so i was surprised to see your "pro imperialist" take in that one post😭 totally agree about the racism though

okay not to go on full autism mode but. this is highkey my special interest so this is going to be a long post. this does get kind of serious, so i want to preface that this is all just fiction, but it's important to analyze how writers' internal biases can affect the worlds they build. and like I don’t think the Bethesda writers are like “graaa!!! kill all minorities!!” in a way that’s different from the average liberal American imperialist brainrot.

TL;DR tes is pro-imperialist because the empire is constantly portrayed as either good or not as bad as the other options + characterizes racial minorities in a super "they deserve to get colonized" way.

Pretty much every tes game has aspects of pro-imperialism (the only exception I can think of is Redguard). Oblivion is 100% the most pro-imperialist, but Skyrim and Morrowind are steeped in pro-imperialist rhetoric as well, it’s just a little more subtle than “DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS: THE VIDEO GAME”.

OBLIVION

I don’t think I need to explain too much on why Oblivion is pro-imperialist outside of the concept of “the Emperor is divinely chosen so only he and by extension the Empire can save the world”. The only way to stop the Oblivion Crisis is to relight the Dragon Fires, which only the Emperor can do because of a covenant with Akatosh that says he’ll protect Mundus so long as Alessia’s heirs (aka dragonborns) sit on the throne, and thus the Empire’s claim to dominance is legitimized because they are literally divinely chosen as the protector of Nirn. There’s also how Pelinal is portrayed as a noble hero that the player actually “becomes” when he committed genocide against the Ayleids so extensively that even his allies were disgusted (bit awkward if the player is an elf).

Now I COULD go into how Mankar Camoran’s writings can be interpreted as anti-imperialist, but that’s a huge can of worms that I don’t feel equipped to talk about because there is like. genuinely theological analysis there and I’m a filthy non-believer.

MORROWIND

Morrowind’s pro-imperialism is actually quite interesting. It’s definitely critical of the Empire, painting it as bloated and corrupt, but any attempt at anti-imperialism is stifled by other factors.

The Nerevarine is an imperialist agent. Like not “you work for the Empire”, but ACTIVELY furthering imperialism and making it easier for the Empire to colonize Morrowind. I can expand on this on a different post, but the Empire uses the Nerevarine to politically destabilize Morrowind .

The only reason Morrowind is not a fully incorporated province is because of the Tribunal. Tiber Septim understandably did not want to fight three living gods, so he instead made a deal with Vivec that allowed Morrowind to be semi-autonomous. The current Empire probably also doesn’t want to wrestle with the Tribunal, plus they’ve got Dagoth Ur and Corprus to deal with as well. The Tribunal are also generally seen positively because they’ve done so much to improve the lives of the average Dunmer.

So it’s very, very convenient for them that there’s a local prophecy about an outlander hero (who can be born within the Empire) that is destined to defeat Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal. This is best seen in the Tribunal DLC, in which Helseth (my cringe problematic failson) literally says that now that the Temple is weakened after Almalexia’s disappearance, he can better implement his policies (which are intrinsically in the Empire’s interest). The Empire basically highjacks a sacred prophecy from an indigenous people (the Ashlanders) so they can colonize better.

The Empire is definitely painted as kind of scummy for this, especially since they blackmail you and likely Caius, but only in their methods. Yes, there’s criticism of the Empire, but it’s often coming from people we aren’t supposed to agree with. The idea of the Empire taking over Morrowind is only questioned by locals who are painted as xenophobic bigots and the strangely large amount of tax evaders. Or straight up bio-terrorist cult leader Dagoth Ur. The Empire certainly isn’t perfect, but seeing as how Morrowind is a place of constant strife and danger, they’re the best choice for “stabilizing” the region and making it “safer”.

Going into a more doylist analysis, Morrowind is extremely orientalist. Like by the gods, it is SO orientalist. Let’s start with the fact that Morrowind is explicitly referred to as “the East” while the Empire is “the West”. The Dunmer are analogous to several Asian + MENA cultures, it’s stated by the writers they were inspired by the Japanese and Egyptians. Dunmeri culture is seen as backwards (slavery), violent (solve problems by killing people), mystical (elven magic), conniving (bureaucratic corruption and murder plots), and highly xenophobic. Most of the people on the player’s side are either not from Morrowind or sympathetic to the Empire’s cause (whether they know it or not). We’re clearly getting set up for a Western civilization vs. Eastern barbarism dynamic.

This is best seen in the issue of slavery. In-game, the Dunmer view slavery as part of their tradition and culture. The Empire views slavery as a backward and evil institution that must be abolished. Slavery is undoubtedly evil, and the average tes player is probably going to agree with that. At the baseline, the player is already more supportive of the Empire on this issue because their position reflects our irl values. The primary pro-slavery House is Telvanni, who are arrogant, “crazy” xenophobes. Telvanni is also extremely anti-Empire, and there are many instances where violence is literally just the only answer to problems. The primary anti-slavery House is Hlaalu, who are hypocritical, conniving opportunists. Hlaalu is pro-Empire, but only for their own economical reasons, so they don’t come out of this looking very good either. The writing on the wall is “this culture is so inherently violent and primitive that those who are against this great civilizing force hate us because of we’re bringing progress and those who are with us are doing so because they have no loyalty and are willing to betray their own kind”. Textbook orientalism.

This isn’t even talking about how in Bloodmoon you literally can found a colony, or how the Dunmer traditionally worship the “demonic” Daedra, or how living in an inhospitable place and being violent partly because of that is literally how people talk about MENA people. There is so much that could be said about how Morrowind is pro-imperialist, but I don’t want to ramble for too long.

SKYRIM

Skyrim is, in my opinion, the writers’ attempt at writing something anti-imperial that just ends up being imperialist because they don’t understand how anti-imperialism works. There is, again, a lot to talk about that I can make a separate post on, but I’ll be going over what I think is the most notable examples.

Let’s start with the Empire. Again, the Empire is NOT painted in a good light. But it is kind of telling that most people agree that they're the better of the two options because at least they aren't ethnonationalists, they're only oppressive imperialists. Kinda racist, but at least not as racist?

In my opinion, the Stormcloaks are more interesting when it comes to analyzing Skyrim as pro-imperialism.

First off, we can’t ignore the fact the Stormcloaks are white. Like THE whitest race in tes, PASTY white. They also have that christianized version of the Viking aesthetic going on (@trickstarbrave has a great post about this). They’re literally called the STORMcloaks. They’re based in Racism, the City. They are literally ethnonationalist white supremacists, and I think it’s kind of fucked up that their ideology is treated as a valid way to rule a country.

Similarly, the main negative of the Stormcloaks is the racism. But that really isn’t a negative for people who like them. At best, it’s something they can downplay (not to call anyone out but I’ve seen fics where the author explicitly says their version of the Stormcloaks is “less racist”). At worst, it’s the reason they like them. The portrayal of racism in Skyrim is also cartoonishly hamfisted and inaccurate. The other negative is them not being able to defend Skyrim against the Thalmor, but I'll go into this later.

It's also important to point out that the Stormcloaks' whole thing is that they want to rule Skyrim independent from the Empire because it's their homeland and they don't want the man to tell them what to do. However, in the lore, the Nords stole Skyrim from the Snow Elves, who they proceeded to genocide and enslave (reminder that Windhelm was built by Snow Elf slaves). This is literally the same dynamic as "the white colonists of the U.S. wanted to rule themselves because it's their land, don't ask about the people that have been living here for thousands of years".

The anti-indigenous rhetoric is RAMPANT in Skyrim, and I don't think I need to explain how imperialism begets it. The Snow Elves are said to be dead and gone, which falls into the trope of indigenous people being in the past and not existing in the present. But more importantly, THEY'RE LITERALLY STILL THERE. The Falmer are painted as mindless beasts, but they clearly have culture. They've domesticated Chaurus, they've built their own homes, they have some type of religious structure. They're people that are understandably scared of outsiders who are invading their home, which is why they attack anyone who wanders too close. Again, painting an indigenous group as "mindless savages with no culture who kill innocent people and steal babies" is like THE trick in the anti-indigenous, racist playbook.

The Reachfolk aren't treated any better either. The Forsworn is a group fighting against the people who stole their land, genocided them, and threw them in a labor camp. They are by all rights in the moral good here, but the writers have tacked on very questionable things. They have demonic, Daedric rituals where they transform their own into evil crones and mindless warriors. They wear little to no clothes to represent their "wild" nature. They're bandits who attack innocents and pillage the "civilized". Truly the ONLY quest in Skyrim that isn't about how much we fucking hate indigenous people is the Forsworn Conspiracy, and even then Madanach compromises his own values in collaboration with the Nords. At the end of the day, the Nords are portrayed as the best option for keeping Skyrim at peace. They are in the right for driving the Reachfolk and Falmer off their land.

We have now reached the point where I say probably my most controversial tes lore opinion: I'm pro-Thalmor but for a very specific meta analysis reason. I promise I do NOT like fascism or racism.

The Thalmor being fascistic ethnonationalist who manipulate 4E politics from the shadows is reflective of the writer’s pro-imperialist views and actively deploys anti-semetic + sinophobic tropes. Stripping things of their weird racist tes context: the Thalmor are a political group that rose up against a colonial power that genocided their race. They came to their peoples’ aid during one of the most horrific tragedy when the colonial power could not, and They are actively supporting other colonized peoples to fight against their oppressors (reminder that the writers felt like it was okay to say the Thalmor were behind the Argonian invasion of Morrowind).

How the Thalmor are portrayed in Skyrim is truly fucking terrible. They want to genocide the humans simply because they think they're better than them. They want to get rid of Talos worship because they simply can't accept that a human could ever ascend to godhood. They want to destroy human culture because it is inferior to their own. They are manipulating the scene, they control the Imperial government, which is ineffective and bending to their whims. They're doing evil against humans and the Empire.

I need to stress that the Altmer are in some parts inspired by East Asian cultures (the old Altmer art is literally holding a katana while wearing a shitty recreation of traditional Japanese wear), particularly the Chinese. In fact, ALL of the non-human races are based on BIPOC cultures. Combined with what I said in the previous paragraph, what does that say?

The minorities DO hate us. The minorities WILL form a coalition to destroy us. The minorities DO control everything and want to eradicate us and our culture. The minorities DO want revenge. They are a faceless hoard, a force of brutal and manipulative power that we know nothing about except for the fact that they hate us. They are lying in wait to strike when we are weak. And if we don't get rid of them first, they will do EXACTLY what we did to them.

THAT is exactly how fascism frames its victims. They are weak, but they are strong. They hate us, so we must hate them. If we win, we will return to our former glory and rule the world as its rightful kings. And if we lose?

They will exterminate us.

Now, giving them the benefit of the doubt, I don't think the people at Bethesda are like. consciously into killing minorities. I think this is just the product of that particular flavor of imperialist, borderline fascistic brainrot that every American has (source: I'm an American and I absolutely unconsciously held similar views, even as a POC). Then again, that’s like basically the same thing.

It's really hard to watch people just NOT understand that writers' conscious and unconscious biases affect their writing. I ultimately torture myself by deeply loving this series, and I don't expect people to like suddenly start hating it because it's problematic in the way 99% of fantasy and sci-fi media is.

so yeah. that's the condensed version of my opinion.

[liviecurated]

willmack accent deep dive

i am by NO means a linguist, merely someone who took some college classes and thinks willmack are such funny sharks

mack

vancouver -> bay area, ca @ 12 -> minnesota @ 14 -> chicago @ 16 -> boston @ 17 -> bay area, ca

most people say that the vancouverite accent is the same as a pacific northwest/northern california accent, and for the most part i think this holds especially true for macklin (and aiden - they sounds so similar it's crazy!)

while he may be a california boy now, he definitely does have still have some canadians in him still - especially prominent when back in vancouver:

"out" - in all the clips of him, his "out" is always pronounced like a canadian, with an e as in bet + oot as in loot vs the american pronunciation with ow + t. he also seems to do this with "about" and "house"

"the states" - when in vancouver, he explains that his family is going to be doing christmas "down in the states" but also refers to the us as going "down to the states" pretty frequently

"eh" - he for sure does not say this canadianism as much as others, but when with friends and/or chirping someone it does present itself

he's also adopted some weird midwestern americanism's, maybe from his time living at ssm in minnesota and then a year in chicago

one notable thing is his pronunciation of aunt. from my understanding, "aunt" is pronounced as "ant" by vancouverites (same as we do in northern california). yet mack, from what i've heard, pronounces it as "awunts", which according to extensive blog research and minnesota friend consultation, i think is something minnesotans feel strongly correct about.

in summary - mack is a diluted vancouverite, and blends in right at home in northern california

will

lexington, mass -> plymouth, michigan -> boston, mass -> bay area

i'm going to be completely honest - will was incredibly boring (to me) linguistically. i watched hours upon hours of interviews of him talking but nothing stuck out like a sore thumb like some of mack's did.

coming into my research, i expected to pinpoint will's accent as a strong boston accent - his family has lived there since forever, etc, but i was finding it difficult (to my bad, untrained ear).

i think a reason for this could be the decline of the strong boston accent in younger generations, particularly surrounding the horse–hoarse merger (which essentially means that the "traditional" boston accent would pronounce the two separately, whereas now they're pronounced the same). also possible that he just never absorbed the accent because his mom is from chicago and not boston? uncertain

i tried to listen for a couple notable elements of a traditional boston accent

non-rhoticity (or, dropping the "r" at the end of words - think "pahk" for park). will really doesn't do it: when pronouncing "river" you can hear the r at the end, and when pronouncing "car" you can hear the r (although he is impersonating mack here - he has a specific mack voice which is funny!)

cot-caught merger. the "traditional" boston accent will pronounce the two differently, with "coffee" pronounced the same way as caught (think cAW-fee). will however, has merged, and pronounces "coffee" without an 'aw' sound, like toffee.

boston. will actually has quite a "modern boston" accent when pronouncing boston. it's not as notable as traditional (bah-stin) and not as far as "general american" (baw-sten), but is a "modern accent" (baw-stin).

why isn't his accent as strong? it's possible that his family is just too far from being working class (his mom barely has a "non standard" american accent), yet his dad does have larger traces of the traditional accent. in summary - he's a modern boy!

one thing that has been pointed out by even interviewers is how posed and confident will comes across in the media. will attributes this to "st. sebastian's in needham...which helped me off the ice in all aspects". st. sebastian's website lists the following as part of their academic pathway:

so i'm assuming even prior to doing media and getting pr training at the usntdp, will is used to talking to a big group of people - so he's right in his self assessment!

AGAIN, i am a historian and researcher by training NOT a social scientist or linguist --- i could be way off!! if you have thoughts i would love to hear them