#I can’t imagine what’s it’s going to be like for the poc in my country

[ozzgin]

I can't get your yakuza headcanons out of my mind, Daitou's got me in a chokehold and I'm not complaining, like--

in regards to that doodle you made to show height difference between reader and the boys [I love your art btw (●♡∀♡)] - I can't picture myself in reader's style, I'm currently going through my goth phase in my 20s lmao; picture a big bitch with tattoos and messy hair who's listening to nothing but 2000s hits and screamo bands - so I'd like to request a headcanon of how Daitou would react to a gender-neutral reader like this :D I also like to incorporate the idea of them once being in a famous band that he's a fan of! (sorry if this seems like a lot, I have a huge imagination hehe)

but if he's more into the cute and helpless type, I'll just walk my ass out the door and yeehaw my way into another yandere's arms ✌😔

That's on me for not drawing the reader inserts as cartoonish cinder blocks :') In truth I'm a little bit embarrassed seeing how many likes that doodle has gotten, it was something I put together in a hurry and the clothing was meant to be baggy, shapeless, with not too many folds for the sake of simplicity. I myself am more of a pilgrim goth, just to emphasize the randomness of the choice.

Drawing reader inserts always leaves me a little anxious. If I use a light shade of gray, will people think I'm excluding poc? Will plus sized readers feel like they've been disregarded? What about masculine readers? As someone who's demiromantic I always struggle taking appearance or gender into consideration, because to me it has no influence whatsoever. Which is hard to express when you want to offer blank slate visuals as an extra to the story.

What I'm trying to say is that all of my characters would like you for who you are. Sure, they find your looks cute, but it's not the defining reason. Maybe you have similar traits to them, maybe you're the complete opposite and they find it intriguing. You could be a buff man and Daitou would be just as grateful to have someone who isn't afraid of him. I usually stick to a female reader for bigger stories to avoid messing it up long term, but in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference. I always imagine reader to be a shapeless blob that provides the dialogue I need for the story mood. There's no concrete preference or type for any of my OCs. I mean, ideally you'd like them back and not hang them upside down above a BBQ pit but I feel these are sensible requirements (?).

And now for the actual headcanons since my ramble is over.

First encounter is comically awkward but for reasons you’re unaware of yet. You’re obviously used to people staring at you (more so in a country like Japan), so you were expecting the curious glance every now and then. On the other hand, being under scrutiny, from a man even more unusual looking than you at that, is odd. Mildly uncomfortable. You’re shifting yourself from one leg to another, hoping to be done with the introductions soon.

On his end, Daitou is anxiously fidgeting and trying his best to focus. He’s seen this face before and he can’t shake off the familiar feeling. Where the hell…He obviously can’t downright gawk at you, and he isn’t sure how to politely formulate a question. After several sheepish peeks, it finally dawns on him: weren’t you part of that band he really likes? No, what would the chances be? Then again, how many people out there would look exactly like you? Is it rude to ask? He has no idea. He resumes his mumbled description of the apartment and hands you the papers to be signed.

Back at his place, he finally digs through his merch and sprawls out the available clues. “I didn’t know you were into this kind of music”, Kazuya comments as he looks over the man’s shoulder. He’d come over to ask about the new tenant. “I’m pretty sure it’s them.” He concludes, confidently placing his index over a CD cover. “Huh? Who? The tenant?” Kazuya holds back his chuckle. “Why would a celebrity show up for a shady apartment offer? You’re tripping, man.”

“I’m sorry, this is getting ridiculous.” You finally exclaim, annoyed by the persistent stares of the now two men facing you. You’re standing in front of the apartment building, arms crossed, huffing at the tall scarred man and his blonde friend. “No, I’m sure of it. Even the tattoo is the same.” Daitou turns to whisper to Kazuya, oblivious to your complaints. In turn, Kazuya lightly elbows him, mouthing something about being rude. “Just ask them, man.” He adds, this time louder. “Ask me what??” You groan. “W-were you…um…in this band by any chance?” Daitou manages to blurt out, searching his pocket for the CD case and ceremoniously laying it under your eyes.

Ah. It finally clicks and you exhale, relieved. You confirm their suspicions and show them some backstage photos to solidify your claim. You ask Daitou if he wants an autograph or something, then swiftly scribble your signature on a piece of paper and hand it out to him. He holds it with a wide, childish grin. “You’re a weird one, you know? You could’ve just asked. I guess I didn’t expect to find a fan in the wild, especially here.” Daitou carefully folds the souvenir, eyes lidded with nostalgia. “Oh yes, it’s great. Drowns out the screams.”

[aizenat]

That Maya girl is the dumbest most egotistical fake activist I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Like I have to wonder if she was a long time psyop operative because how can she be this stupid?

I feel so bad for Palestinians suffering in Gaza because while they’re suffering, she’s on tik tok pissing black people off in their names and calling it activism.

Also, it is clear to me that Muslims in America do NOT speak for Palestinians at all. I think some are trying to use the situation in Gaza to advocate against Islamophobia as a whole and it’s like bruh a time and a place. Palestinians in Gaza want Kamala in office but YALL are telling us to not vote for Kamala to “punish” (their direct words) her and democrats? And that’s helping Palestinians how? And every time you ask that, how not voting helps them, they talk about sending messages and Palestinians don’t need messages being sent to politicians, they need someone who can pressure Netanyahu into a ceasefire! And guess who is already doing that while their opponent said they wanted to give Netanyahu the means to “finish the job”?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Like, I can’t understand the ego of these people. I can’t imagine claiming to be advocating for people experiencing a genocide in real time and telling people in one of the countries with SOME power to help to NOT vote for the side that would pressure and support a peaceful resolution! Especially when people IN Palestine want that side! Do you think you in your western nation where you go to school and get to wear nice comfy clothes made by slave wage workers and get to make tik toks on a phone with materials mined by enslaved children should be speaking over Palestinians? Do you think you know better than they do what they need? Why do you think we should be listening to YOU over THEM???????

That is what really gets me. It’s like when ppl create all these useless programs claiming it’s to help black people but it doesn’t do shit and when we tell ppl that they just pat our heads like we’re silly niggers who don’t know what we need and just let the white (and non black poc) tell us what we need. Like hello I’m living this life and I know the EXACT help I need! You offering me shit I don’t need isn’t helping!

It’s the same thing! Palestinians are like “hi, can you make sure Trump doesn’t win so we can continue these negotiations and get food out here and maybe we can return to our homes to rebuild?” And yall said “silly Palestinians in Gaza, I know what you need: FOR US TO NOT VOTE FOR KAMALA AND LET TRUMP WIN TO STICK IT TO THE DEMOCRATS FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH!”

Like what is WRONG with you ppl?????

[reasonsilovemywife]

Today is coming out day.  You probably know that. As a Cis, White, Hetero, Male, I’ve learned a lot in the last nearly 50 years of life.  I used to have a very narrow world view.  Born and raised in the deep south, everyone looked like me.  Talked like me. The people I saw on TV looked like me.  The first POC I met was Nate when I was in first grade.  Nate had Down Syndrome and was the most fun person in the class.   My father was raised by a to-the-core racist asshole.  My father fought hard against that.  He didn’t believe in spanking, either.  I only got spanked twice by him.  Once - I spun the cat around by the tail like I was fucking Thor and the cat was Mjolnir. The second time in Second grade when I told him a new word I learned in school.  The “N” word.   Then over time I learned about people who weren’t just like me.  I went to college. I travelled the country for work. I travelled with my family for vacation.  I listened.  I learned. I know I still have a lot to learn but I’m trying to use my advantaged position as a Cis, White, Hetero, Male to provide support and keep learning. So I say that to say this:   To those of you who are already out and proud.  I see you. My wife sees you. We’re so proud of you.   To those of you who are not out.  We see you, and we’re proud of you, too.  You do not need to come out.  We love you either way and you are valid. If you’re only out on social media and not in your “real” life - guess what.  We see you and we’re proud of you.  I can’t imagine how hard it is to come out at all, and just the fact that you’ve done it online is inspiring to many.   If you’re still fighting with your sexuality and gender - we’re proud of you.  I’m sure it’s scary and just thinking about it and trying to discover who you really are is amazing.   No one needs to come  out today.  You can wait until you feel safe(safer) or you can just not come out at all.  You are valid either way and we love you.  Please do not rush it.  Take your time.  YOU are the one who gets to decide  how and when it’s going to be. Again - this is a safe space.  My messages are always open.  (Sometimes I don’t get notifications so please don’t be mad at me if I don’t respond quick) If you’d rather message my wife, I’ll hand her the PC or Phone and you can chat with her.  Heck, I’ll let our granddaughter chat, too, if you want to just talk to an (almost) 10 year old.  LOL (That chat will be monitored, though, I’m sure you understand why) (consensual) Hugs to Everyone. <3

[dickensianstreeturchin]

Didn’t you hear, there can’t possibly be anything good in the American Midwest, no one could ever enjoy living there at all when it’s just some backwater with no culture at all, the snobbish disregard for a place that he loves definitely couldn’t have made Ted feel alienated from London and Londoners! Definitely nothing terrible about London, it’s not like Sam got hate crimes a mere few episodes before the finale!Also, as a Desi person, I have had better Indian food in the American Midwest than I have in London, and if Trent Crimm is such an idiot as to think “I can’t imagine there’s good Indian food” there, he can’t possibly have been a good journalist.

I'm hoping that you sent this as commiseration, and not that something I said made it seem like I thought there's nothing redeemable about the American Midwest! I'm going to assume the former hehe ^_^

Being a southerner, and having a partner from the Midwest, I am very familiar with casual derogatory comments toward the middle of the U.S. and the southern part as completely useless places (and worse things) and it never stops being utterly frustrating! And heartbreaking, honestly. I'm not even sure how it begins to translate overseas to Britain, where I'm sure people might be even more unaware of the diversity of these areas of the U.S.

And I 100% believe what you said about Indian restaurants in the Midwest. I haven't spent too much time in that area of the country, so I haven't tried Indian food there, but as for the south, Memphis has some great Indian food, especially around the suburb of Collierville, where there is a significant Indian population! There's an indiafest they hold in that area yearly, and the food is just phenomenal. That's only one example, and yet I hear people talk about the south like it's a monolith of whiteness, like sorry the gerrymandered maps managed to make u forget about all the poc 🙄

To bring it back to Ted, I 100% think that him missing home was a big part of him deciding to go back. He went to that American restaurant, and despite the absolute silliness of the atmosphere there, it was like suddenly being back home (if he squinted and ignored that the waiter didn't know that Chicago = Windy City). When I visited China, my friend and I found an American burger restaurant. I don't even like burgers but sitting in there and eating a burger, seeing Tabasco sauce from my home state of Louisiana, it was enough to get me a bit homesick. and I knew I was going home in a couple of weeks! Imagine Ted, who at that point hadn't decided to go home, missing it so keenly in that moment.

I know people wanted Ted to stay in London. High-key i wanted Ted to stay in London. I wish Henry had moved to London and Ted had stayed with all the friends he had made. But I do see people taking out their anger/sadness about him going home by dumping on the Midwest saying oh gross the midwest why would he ever want to live there? Like the real-life Midwest has no redeemable qualities. And that kind of mindset is not only ignorant and rude, it also does absolutely no one any good at all.

[saetoru]

Then he shouldn't have cheated

I don't agree with you, I think they deserve all the bad things they get, honestly good for them for ruining their lives. What about the emotional damage and pain that person went throught? If his parents worked so much then maybe they should have raised their son to not be an asshole and cheat.

Most people that cheat get no karma so 🤷

u can very much teach a cheater a lesson and damage them back like they deserve without dragging their parents sacrifices into it. that med school example is just one hypothetical one, but we’ll stick with it for this debate—that last statement of urs about the parents reeks to me of privilege. i’m sorry but in my culture, quite literally if my mother divorced my dad for cheating on her, she’d likely be the one ppl call disgraceful for not sacrificing for her family’s sake. is that right ?? absolutely not but that’s generations worth of cultural norms that have been passed down and generations worth of trauma that can’t easily be undone. that and as someone who has literally seen my immigrant parents build everything they have from the ground up to provide my siblings and i what we have, in a country that CHEWS immigrant poc up and spits them out, i could not imagine ruining someone’s chances of med school if i knew their parents put the same blood sweat and tears into raising and providing for them the way mine have. bc i understand my parents pain and therefore i can imagine their parents pain too. if someone cheats on me that definitely speaks on their character and i would definitely put them in their place before parting ways but the lengths id go to in order to teach them a lesson, and the people in the process that i’m willing to drag with him, that speaks on my character and i 100% am not willing to ruin my character for a cheater of all ppl

[themoonnmagnolias]

Kiwi Farms and Blogger Hate

The Internet can be a scary place for people who put themselves out there in a big way, but it’s been made even more dangerous by websites like Kiwi Farms, a destination for haters who take to its forums to slam people they encounter online. This website has been digitally bashing people on the Internet for years.

But why do websites like this exist? Why do people feel compelled to read about people they hate then write about how much they hate them online? A lot of their forums read like a rabbit hole of anger, bitterness and jealousy. Their members seem to feel they have some sort of vigilante responsibility to police the Internet for things they deem irritating then pick at those scabs until they become enormous gaping wounds in the lives of very real people.

So what is Kiwi Farms?

Kiwi Farms is an immensely creepy stalking forum run by incel manchild Joshua Connor Moon. The people being stalked are referred to as “lolcows“. The “lolcows” who end up on the website are stalked, harassed and doxed by having their full name, location, social media accounts, workplaces, etc… posted online for all to see. Several people have committed suicide after being posted about and taunted by their users.

In March of 2019, Kiwi Farms published both the livestream and manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. Kiwi Farms owner Joshua Moon denied a request by New Zealand Police to voluntarily hand over all data on posts relating to the shooting, calling New Zealand a “shithole country” and stated that he did not “give a single solitary fuck what section 50 of your faggot law says about sharing your email.”

Kiwi Farms appears to be entirely populated by miserable right-wing white supremacist losers who prefer to attack women, members of the LGBTQ community, POC, and people with mental health issues. Unfortunately if you stumble upon this website while googling someone, you might not know any better and you might see their comments and take them as gospel.

Recently I came across a post about myself on Kiwi Farms. Users “Southern Belle” and “ZombiePop” had some horrible and untrue things to say about me. They also posted my husband’s name, our business address and old photos for random strangers to point and laugh at. Jenn from Kiss My Kitty was posted about as well, where strangers laughed at her son for having autism, her becoming addicted to drugs after having surgery, and eventually becoming homeless. Man, laughing at someone’s misfortune sure is cool.

What I’ve come to realize is that all of these people clearly want to be heard, but they don’t want anyone to know who they are. Call me old fashioned but I think if you’re going to attack someone, the least you can do is make your identity known. Maybe I’m just not a coward, but I can’t imagine anonymously bullying tons of people online and still thinking I have a shred of integrity.

When it comes to reading about myself on Kiwi Farms and elsewhere, I’ve learned that I’ll just drain my energy trying to explain myself to people who are determined to misunderstand me. And I love myself enough to not even try. If you find yourself being posted about on there, just click the x on your browser and don’t pay it any mind. These people are nobodies and their opinions are not important.

–K

[c4rr10n]

been thinking for a few years on this and i think that after i get my funeral service education degree i’m gonna go back to school. for um. well for law. probably not to get a full degree but just to pass the bar. i had an epiphanic moment a couple days ago and i think that it would be incredibly useful for not just me but others for me to become well-versed in law. 

like imagine if you saw a flier at a bar offering to write the wills for queer and poc for affordable rates. or what if the flier offered free legal advice from one of your own? what if it offered both? would you call? imagine you call and go to that person and you want to know what your or your partner(s)’s burial rights are, because you are worried their family will try to sue you or take over the funeral and prevent them from being buried as they would want to be? Imagine that the person at the desk could just answer all those questions for you. What if they could write up a contract for your partner and a witness to sign so that even if the family tried to disrupt the funerary process, they wouldn’t be legally able to? and so even if they tried to take it to court, due to the bilateral express contract, it would be open and closed - the judge would just call summary judgment and they would lose the case because they can’t interfere with the contract. 

imagine you don’t know your rights, or maybe not to a necessary or useful extent, and the person who can bury you the way you want to be buried - with your best interest and heart in mind - is offering donation based classes to learn your rights, to what extent the function, how the legal system works, and how YOU can work it - how to play their game in their own language so you can use it to your advantage. Imagine income-based burial services because not having to outsource any of these resources when it comes to your own death. AND! In a facility that is religiously unaffiliated and offers green burial. People would be coming across the country - people who can afford to pay the appropriate cost for the goods and services they receive. 

Additionally, it would give me the ability to write grants to help offer the community these services at accessible rates. I could even offer classes to parents of lgbtqia (and mentally ill, and/or both) in regards to suicide rates. Suicide rates in the queer community are still VERY high. And when you factor in additional mental (or physical) health issues, it only gets worse. Which is a tough subject - but unfortunately it is a harsh reality which needs to be not only prevented but prepared for. That kind of event is the very thing that lead me to where I am now, and I really feel that if anyone were to offer such services to to the community, I would make an apt candidate. To offer education, emotional and legal support to my community and other minorities - to create a sense of solidarity and be able to say “I will still do this and care for you when you’re dead.” Imagine the kind of solidarity and trust that could curate in the lgbtqiabipoc community. Not to mention safety! Like if you are worried about your rights as a queer or poc, I will have your back in ways that almost no one else is capable of. After everything I’ve been through, all that I’ve learned and seen - like... why would I not do this? Like, yeah, it’s kind of insane - or that’s what my friend said haha - but what would I be if I weren’t? It’s kind of my thing. and i think this is the best way to offer myself to the world. 

[weareoutofmaplesyrupdave]

THOSE IMPERIALISTIC NAZI FASCIST ASS DICTATOR ASS TYRANNICAL MICRO MANAGING CONTROL FREAK BITCHES WHO ARE OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE SEEN MY GREATx40 GRANDMOTHER BE BORN, WHO LICK THE FEET OF THE RICH AND SPIT IT BACK ON EVERYONE ELSE, ARE SITTING THERE PRUNE LOOKING ASSES ON SOME RICKETY ASS CHAIRS IN A BUILDING MADE OF SHITTY ASS MARBLE THEY BUILT ON THE STOLEN LAND THEY OCCUPIED WHILE THEY MURDERED AND ENSLAVED MILLIONS ARE STEALING EVERYONES HUMAN FUCKING RIGHTS AGAIN WITH THEIR SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION RELIGIOUS BRAINWASHING AND OVER BUDGETED MILITARY/ POLICE AND THEIR CENSORSHIP JUST SO THEY CAN KEEP THE SHITTY AND BROKEN SYSTEM THEY MADE AND FUCKED UP ON RUNNING SO THEY CAN CONTINUE TO HAVE THEIR WEALTH AND POWER AND HAVE A FULL SUMMERS RECESS AND GO GOLFING AND NEVER KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO TRULY SUFFER OR BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK

[dreamsuvivor]

I can’t believe I’m seeing some Max fans saying Mercedes and Lewis fans are sore losers or trying to console us with how Lewis will be back and better next year... What Fia done today was just unacceptable, how can you justify that? They broke several of their own rules, they changed the rules of the game in the middle of it and somehow got away with it. Imagine if this happened in any other sport, imagine that a football team is winning 7-0 and you tell them that the next goal is going to decide who wins, what kind of dystopian bullshit is that, I don’t think even Hunger games would get away with that.

You say that Max deserved the title... well so did Lewis. Coming to this last weekend they were level on point - they were both equally as deserving of the title before this race. But Lewis was better in this race, he started better he was in the lead for 57.5 laps and before the safety car he was leading by 12 seconds.This was his victory and they robbed him. So you know what I hope Mercedes takes this to the court and I hope they win. Because I’m tired of this injustice, I’m tired of special behaviour towards certian people and nations. And of being told to suck it up and move on. I’m not a person of colour (and there is no way I want to pretend that I know what it feels like to be the victim of racism or compare the experiencies of my people to that of poc). But I’m from a small post-comunist eastern european country and we often have to fight twice as hard just to prove our worth and I don’t think you comprehend the pain you feel when you don’t have to fight not only your rivals, but also the system itself.

Lastly I’m done, I’m so done with this narrative of “better luck next time”. As designer Kerby Jean-Raymond said in his ig story: “Life is short. Tomorrow isn’t promised and more time is not guaranteed for any of us. We shouldn’t console him with ‘next year’.” What counts is here and now. And the fact is that the Fia robbed him of his 8th title, so yeah we have every right to be angry and Merc has every right to protest this shit show of wrong doings. After all let’s not pretend that if the roles were reversed Redbull wouldn’t do the same, I’m pretty sure Chistian Horner would actually throw a fit in the middle of the award ceremony.

[whoneedssubtitles]

hobby

summary: deku needs a break from being a pro hero. this is his life a month into his hiatus. deku masterlist

deku x gn + poc friendly reader. established relationship (platonic or romantic). not proofread.

a/n: this entire piece was a deku kinnie moment for me

Heroes get tired too. That’s what happened to Deku-turned-Izuku.

“We’ll really miss you, Deku. Japan will feel your absence.” The smile on the talk show host’s face was bittersweet. A sorrowful smile that the entire country felt as well.

“Izuku,” he corrected. The hero looked around at the studio audience, soaking in the smiles and tears. Never in a million years did he imagine people would grow to care about him this much. He looked into the camera, caring more about those watching than the host in front of him. “You’ll hardly notice I’m gone, I promise.”

“Everyone’s wondering… Izuku, what’re you gonna do now?”

Streaks of sunshine crept in through the cracks of the blinds on the window. Izuku brought a hand up to shield his squinting eyes from it. The sound of your feet shuffling and your morning podcast carried throughout the home. You’ve always loved waking up with the sun.

Izuku released a deep breath, the molecules escaping his lungs carrying something a little more than water and carbon dioxide. Worries, stress, late nights. That didn’t make the first few days any easier. It wasn’t unusual for him to spring out of bed, rushing to zip up his hero costume while checking his schedule for the day only to remember he wasn’t a hero anymore. Not a professional one at least. He’d try clearing his mind by going on a morning run, but was always bombarded with the same questions. Why’d you do it? Why’d you go? How long until your return? Do you regret your decision? Do you feel guilty? Are you going to teach at UA?

Eventually he just stopped running all together, spending his mornings trailing behind you.

His hands gripped the bathroom counter behind him as he leaned back on it, gaze following the movements of your hands as you went through your morning routine before work.

“‘Zuku, you need a hobby,” you said as you rubbed your moisturizer into your cheeks, not needing to look away from the mirror to know that he was staring at you.

“I have plenty of hobbies,” he said with a shrug, “Watching you is just my favorite one.”

Your eyes flickered over to him at that, smiling a little before rolling your eyes. “I’m being serious.”

He moved to stand behind you, resting his chin on your shoulder as his hands snaked around your waist. His response was barely above a mumble. “So am I.” He pressed a kiss to your shoulder.

“What’re you gonna do when I’m out at dinner with my coworkers, hm?”

He lifted his gaze to meet yours in the mirror. “I can’t come?”

You wordlessly shook your head as you started to mess with your hair. “Get a hobby, baby.”

Izuku took your advice to heart. With the extra time, he put effort into rekindling his childhood hobbies, namely pro heroes. In his years of being one, he forgot how much he loved being a fan. Theorizing about quirks, attending fan conventions and panels, watching interviews. That’s what he loved to do, even more than being a hero himself.

“That doesn’t count.”

“What? Why?” Izuku furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the growing collection of his high school friends’ merch and action figures. Surely this was a hobby.

“Because you are, or were, a hero yourself. The whole point of this is to give yourself a break from that. Understand?”

Izuku sighed as he made his Dynamight action figure nod. Back to the drawing board.

He tried a lot of things. Baking, crochet, gardening, even gaming—but you confiscated his switch after you caught him playing a pro hero fighting game. Your home was littered with evidence of Izuku’s trial and error process: a yarn bag here, a paint-by-number kit there… it seemed like nothing was sticking.

Except for movies. It started with watching the movie marathons playing on tv while you were at work. Sometimes if he really liked one, he’d rent it so the two of you could watch it once you got home from work. He’d make some buttered popcorn and cuddle up with you on the couch. It seemed normal until he started scheduling movie nights for specific series… but even then, maybe he just wanted to stay organized.

“I can appreciate the choreography of the fight, but that’s not even realistic!”

“Izuku, it’s a fantasy movie.”

“But it’d make more sense if it was punch, punch, jump, duck, then swing, but that’s only if you want to keep the jump.” He tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth. “Based on his weapon choice, he really shouldn’t be putting himself in close combat to begin with.”

You let out a laugh as you unpaused the movie, actually wanting to finish it before 2am this time. You asked for this. And even if it was a little childish or inconvenient on weekdays, you were happy for Izuku, happy that he was giving himself permission to do something purely for his own enjoyment.

thanks sm for reading! likes and reblogs are always appreciated :)

[daggryet]

okay since i was very overwhelmed last night because of eriksen and what happened, i didn’t really have the clarity to think clearly, so i’m putting my own thoughts under the cut, just to get them out

What's been grating on me since I watched the stream and the Twitter drama erupted, is how people were talking about how Tommy "clearly wanted to avoid minority issues, accountability, education" when that's, especially after rewatching, the complete opposite of what he's saying? He's saying he fucks up and that he's sorry, he says multiple times throughout the stream that now he said the wrong thing again and that he's sorry, that he doesn't know how to correctly say things (he's not an activist, how would he have learned the proper way to phrase these things - and he especially doesn't know when he's tired and stressed), and that he wants to learn, he wants the community to be a better and open space for everyone - and AGAIN, he says he wants to be better. Wilbur also very clearly intends to help him realise the nuances of the situation (yes, the minorities finding the joke hurtful are valid; yes, tommy feeling stressed about being tweeted at negatively by thousands to the point of you trending in several countries is valid), and Tommy clearly wants to learn. And that's, to me as a Jew, what's so important about most younger CCs today: that they want to learn. And in this situation: Tommy wants to learn, he doesn't want to fuck up, he doesn't want to be ignorant, he wants to know what to say - he doesn't want to be an activist, but he wants to learn more, so he doesn't offend people accidentally. That attitude should be encouraged, not shunned. That's not how you motivate people to care about issues.

Personally, I don't like Schlatt. I don't like his persona he portrays in videos, and to my knowledge he has complete control over that persona - so I don't like him. However, I also realise that Tommy, Wilbur, Tubbo, and everyone else who's friends with him from the SMP (especially, since it's their fanbase this video is talking about) know the Schlatt that isn't for cameras but the "real" him. I realise the jokes that Tommy has made about Twitter can come off as mocking people disliking Schlatt for actually valid reasons, and I personally have never found them funny and just sighed whenever he’d make them, but I do think it's a case of intent not being equal to the impact. Tommy's intentions were probably to poke fun at those people he sees in his QRT's all the time, telling him to get away from his friends who also do this whenever anyone interacts with Schlatt. However, the impact of the tweet was that minorities felt hurt, and they did deserve an apology which is what he tried to do last night, though he was too tired and stressed to keep it coherent. Because the most of the discussion about his stream happened on Twitter, it was bound to get derailed. Where a lot of poc and other minorities affected by schlatt tweeted actually well worded and educational tweets where they just wanted an apology for his jokes and for him to understand why they were hurtful, they were buried amongst all the thousands of tweets of absolute dog shit and straight up hate. they (twitter) ended up trending "Tommy neg" in the US on the day he did the joke - and then yesterday, in both the US and the UK. That's fucking stressful to a degree I can't even imagine, seeing your name trend internationally; that's not going to teach anyone anything. And that's honestly something the Twitter community needs to be better at realising; like Bad said in his stream, one tweet is a pebble but all the thousands of tweets being posted equal to thousands throwing rocks at a person at once, and that’s not going to educate anyone. When CCs criticise Twitter they're not going after the people trying to educate them, especially not Tommy who repeatedly says - he wants to be better and make his fanspace safer, they're criticising the toxic people and unfortunately there's a Lot of toxic people on Twitter. And even though on Twitter there are Good people, when something goes wrong and tags start trending - they're unfortunately not the only ones speaking.

I'm glad he's taking time off of Twitter because while Twitter is a place where a lot of its userbase wants to bring attention to social issues and important events, it's also a place where the algorithm promotes sensationality and "breaking news" over information, where character limit limits room for discussion and grey areas, and also where a lot of people take one or two quotes and 30 seconds clips out of context and then run with it. Twitter can bring awareness and introduce you to social issues, but you need to do research yourself, look for credible sources, find ressources to properly understand stuff, listen to educated people and activists who actually know what they're talking about. That's how you learn, privately, in a calm setting, where the point is to learn not to get attacked. I'm sure he's gonna have a lot of good conversations with Wilbur, his mum as he's said previously she's very involved with social issues, and hopefully he'll reach out to people with actual knowledge about these social issues and look up ressources. He doesn’t want to nor does he need to become the next activist, but being introduced to ways to look information up and understand why what you said was wrong - that’s going to be very helpful to him, to anyone really. Researching the world you live in, the issues going on right now, it’s always important and it’s always gonna be time well spent.

And lastly, I hope he'll also be able to get better with his anxiety now that he isn’t going on Twitter because while there Are good people, there’s also a lot of shit that he shouldn’t see about himself. I hope this break does him well

[starrynite7114]

Attention fandom:

Seems we have another racist in our midst, and this time, is much worst. Can you imagine watching a show, and referring to the people this show is based on as ILLEGALS. AS RAPIST MURDERERS? That you’re okay with the LEGALS, and the ones who WORK, but the RAPIST AND MURDERER ILLEGALS, is where you draw the line, which by the way, there is such people in every race. But my problem with this is how she decided that due to her SOUTHERN HERITAGE, she could display such ignorance. Now, I’m not from the south, but I’m sure fans from the southern states of America can argue that they’re not as ignorant as this lovely lady. Also, let’s not forget that she’s totally cool with babies being placed in cages and that they LIKED being placed in cages because they are here illegally. So if you would like to block her, here is her username.

@creepers-baby-girl

Would hate for any of you to experience what we did. You can’t watch a show about POC, and insult their people, spit on their people and think it’s okay. We were called snowflakes for having differing opinions. Differing opinions on television shows, music, movies or books, that’s okay, we have our own interpretation, gray area as some would say.

But human rights? Racism? We draw the line there ladies. She’s going to spout that we don’t support veterans, that we spat on the faces of people who protect our country. False, we don’t, it’s a consensus in America that we appreciate the sacrifices veterans have made, but their lives are being sacrificed to fulfill political means. That’s your pride? Sacrificing your own people?

She states that the resources being used for the “cages” should be used for veterans and you know what I agree, because at no place and time should they have been in cages, should they have been separated from their parents. So yes ma’am, the government should use their resources to help THEIR people. BUT. Don’t you fucking say that America is great, cause it ain’t. What was once a beacon for opportunity, to better ones life? AINT the reality anymore.

You can’t even walk in their SHOES. The hardship they went through, risking it all to come to a country who call them rapist, murderers. POC don’t all categorize all of you as Neo-Nazi’s so I guess we shouldn’t generalized people should we now. There’s a better term for your so called ILLEGALS, non-citizens.

Also, she states it’s disrespectful to kneel for the flag. Now, kneeling is usually a sign of respect and I’m almost certain Kaepernick spoke to a veteran who stated that if anything, kneeling was more respectful. As a white woman, it is absolutely ridiculous for you to CHOOSE not to see that he’s not disrespecting veterans, he’s choosing to kneel due to police brutality, how black people are being killed, people of colored are being killed for not being white.

Regardless, she’s showed her true colors. Don’t support a POC show when you yourself spit on their faces and call people snowflakes.

By all means, I’m not telling you all who you can and cannot follow, but you have the facts.

NEXT.

[zelzenik]

a huge informal essay on being biracial and shipping zutara

ok genuinely i’m so tired of this. so, so tired of this. obviously not all biracial people are the same, and we have our own experiences/histories based on our own racial identities, but a lot of the biracial ZK friends that i’ve made via tumblr/ao3 have the same or similar opinions that i do, and we are TIRED. that being said, i’m not speaking for all biracial people, but i’m speaking from a place of personal experience.

those who headcanon Fire Lady Katara are not inherently in the wrong. those who do not headcanon Fire Lady Katara are ALSO not inherently in the wrong either. there are racist/sexist ways to execute this headcanon, the same way there are with literally every other headcanon. those who attack this trope, though, need to evaluate themselves because the reasons they give are often sexist and racist (ironically lol).

i’m literally half Asian (from a country that was heavily colonized by other Asian countries). did my Asian parent have to give up their Asian culture in order to be with my non-Asian parent? NO. did my Asian parent have to give up their Asian identity in order to be with my non-Asian parent? NO. did the presence of my non-Asian parent completely erase all the harmful racism my Asian parent experienced growing up? OF COURSE NOT.

i’ve read a LOT of ZK fic over the past few months, and i can say that i’ve read most, if not all, of the major Fire Lady Katara fics that exist within the fandom, and i cannot name a single one where Katara is forced to give up her culture in favor of Zuko’s. even in various ZK art pieces that feature Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara, Katara often has Water Tribe furs and symbols incorporated with her regalia, and sometimes ZUKO does too. my non-Asian parent wears the traditional dress of my Asian parent’s culture when the situation calls for it, and my Asian parent does the same. (and that’s just an example with clothing - there are tons more applicable situations). interracial relationships are (under most circumstances) a blending of all the cultures present, and often, incorporating the other’s culture into daily life is an act of love. my non-Asian parent LOVES my Asian parent’s culture and does everything in their power to respect it, cherish it, and help my Asian parent to pass it down to their children (like me, lol). i can’t imagine Zuko not doing the same for Katara. 

similarly with the above point, i can’t recall any Fire Lady Katara fic where Katara’s racial identity gets erased in favor of Zuko’s. just because those fics tend to occur in the Fire Nation doesn’t mean that she’s... not Water Tribe anymore. just because my Asian parent does not live in an Asian country doesn’t make them any less Asian. i’m not spending much time on this point because it literally doesn’t make sense.

i do think that it’s important to mention, though, that Zuko’s presence in Katara’s life does not erase the way the Fire Nation hurt her. that hurt will likely always exist because those types of wounds go deep. but at the end of the day, they’re both two PEOPLE. they’re Katara and Zuko. the same way that Indians marry British people or Koreans marry Japanese people, people from the Water Tribe can marry those in the Fire Nation. to imply that a marriage couldn’t occur between someone from the Fire Nation and someone else from the Water Tribe is stupid because it happens all the time in the real world.

i honestly think it’s really stupid that some SJWs act as though they’re doing non-white or biracial or multiracial people a favor by attacking a headcanon that was created and has been largely supported by those who are oppressed in the real world bc of their race. obviously the Fire Lady Katara trope isn’t for everyone, but to imply that it’s racist and sexist while tearing down the POCs who headcanon it? really? don’t get me wrong, i LOVE Katara (i would do anything for her, no lie), but how is attacking real POCs better than defending imaginary ones? sorry not sorry, but that’s stupid.

the Fire Lady Katara trope has the potential to grant Katara with tons of agency, not only within her relationship with her significant other, but also with the country that HURT her (so she can prove any of the prejudiced Fire Nation people the hell wrong and provide protection for the Water Tribe in a post-war world). 

and going a step further, personally, i identify heavily with Zutara Steambabies (as i know a bunch of my other biracial ZK friends do) because of the intricacy behind their racial identities. a Fire Nation and Water Tribe union WOULD be complicated due to the countries’ histories together, but that doesn’t make it impossible. love CAN be born despite broken histories and deep-set prejudices. that’s part of what makes Zutara so beautiful, in my opinion. 

finally, i don’t know what people are on when they attack mostly only Zutara for these sort of headcanons. don’t y’all realize that 85% of all the canon/fanon ships within the ATLA-verse are interracial?? K*taang is interracial. Sukka is interracial. Taang is interracial. Z*kka is interracial. Jetko is interracial. Azutara is interracial. Jue is interracial. Tokka is interracial. Jetara is interracial. Ty Lokka is interracial. Jinko is interracial. (I COULD GO ON). y’all are straight CLOWNING if you only come for Zutara shippers on the grounds that we’re being racist and sexist for having a headcanon like Fire Lady Katara. don’t be a hypocrite.

additionally, just because you’re poc or biracial or multiracial does not mean that you can’t be racist. so many of the people who attack this headcanon pull the “i’m biracial!” or “i’m a poc!” card. I’M NOT HAVING IT. it’s okay if the trope isn’t for you! you’re free to headcanon whatever you want. to be blatantly racist to other poc or biracial or multiracial ppl who headcanon, though, it is wrong. we already catch enough flack irl for being what we are without people attacking us in our fandom spaces too.

that being said, i love Zutara deeply. for me, as a biracial person, it’s a comfort ship. a bunch of kids posting and mistagging salt regarding our headcanons isn’t gonna change that, lol.

[evanescentjasmine]

I’m going to talk about a little pet peeve of mine with regard to portrayal of poc in fic, TMA specifically since that’s what I mostly read and write for. 

I suppose I should first start by saying that, of course, poc are not a monolith, and I’m certain there are other poc who have many different views on this issue. And also this post is in no way meant to demonise, shame, or otherwise discourage people from writing poc in fic if they’re doing something differently. This is just a thing I’ve been noodling on for a while and have had several interesting conversations with friends about, and now that I think I’ve figured out why I have this pet peeve, I figured I’d gather my thoughts into a post.

As a result of the fact we have no canonical racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds for our main TMA cast, we’ve ended up with many diverse headcanons, and it’s absolutely lovely to see. I’m all for more diversity and I’m always delighted to see people’s headcanons. 

However, what often happens is I’ll be reading a fic and plodding along in a character’s PoV and get mention of their skin colour. And nothing else. I find this, personally, extremely jarring. In a short one-shot it makes sense, because you’re usually touching on one scenario and then dipping out. Likewise if the fic is in a different setting, is cracky, or is told from someone else’s PoV, that’s all fine. But if I’m reading a serious long-fic close in the poc’s head and...nothing? That’s just bizarre to me.

Your heritage, culture, religion, and background, all of those affect how you view the world, and how the world views you in return. How people treat you, how you carry yourself, what you’re conscious of, all of that shifts. And the weird thing is that many writers are aware of this when it comes to characters being ace or trans or neurodivergent—and I’m genuinely pleased by that, don’t get me wrong. Nothing has made my ace self happier than the casual aceness in TMA fics that often resonates so well with my experience. But just as gender, orientation, and neurodivergence change how a character interacts with their world, so do race, ethnicity, and religion. 

As a child, I spent a couple of years in England while my mother was getting her degree. Though I started using Arabic less and less, my mother still spoke to me almost exclusively in Arabic at home. We still ate romy cheese and molokhia and the right kind of rice, though we missed out on other things. She managed to get an Egyptian channel on TV somehow, which means I still grew up with different cultural touchstones and make pop-culture references that I can’t share with my non-Arabic-speaking friends. She also became friends with just about every Egyptian in her university, so for those years I had a bevy of unrelated Uncles and Aunties from cities all over Egypt, banding together to go on outings or celebrate our holidays.

As an adult who sometimes travels abroad solo, and as a fair-skinned Arab who’s fluent in English, usually in a Western country the most I’ll get is puzzled people trying to parse my accent and convinced someone in my family came from somewhere. When they hear my name, though, that shifts. I get things like surprise, passive-aggressive digs at my home region, weird questions, insistence I don’t look Egyptian (which, what does that even mean?) or the ever-popular, ever-irritating: Oh, your English is so good!

At airports, with my Egyptian passport, it’s less benign. I am very commonly taken aside for extra security, all of which I expect and am prepared for, and which always confuses foreign friends who insisted beforehand that surely they wouldn’t pull me aside. Unspoken is the fact I, y’know, don’t look like what they imagine a terrorist would. But I’m Arab and that’s how it goes, despite my, er, more “Western” leaning presentation. 

This would be an entirely different story if I were hijabi, or had darker skin, or a more pronounced accent. I am aware I’m absolutely awash with privilege. Likewise, it would be different if I had a non-Arab name and passport. 

So it’s slightly baffling to me as to why a Jon who is Pakistani or Indian or Arab and/or Black British would go through life the exact same way a white British character would. 

Now, I understand that race and ethnicity can be very fraught, and that many writers don’t want to step on toes or get things wrong or feel it isn’t their place to explore these things, and certainly I don’t think it’s a person’s place to explore The Struggles of X Background unless they also share said background. I’m not saying a fic should portray racism and microaggressions either (and if they do, please take care and tag them appropriately), but that past experiences of them would affect a character. A fic doesn’t have to be about the Arab Experience With Racism (™) to mention that, say, an Arab Jon headed to the airport in S3 for his world tour would have been very conscious to be as put together as he could, given the circumstances, and have all his things in order. 

And there’s so much more to us besides. What stories did your character grow up with? What language was spoken at home? Do they also speak it? If not, how do they feel about that? What are their comfort foods? Their family traditions? The things they do without thinking? The obscure pop-culture opinions they can’t even begin to explain? (Ask me about the crossover between Egyptian political comedy and cosmic horror sometime…)

I’m not saying you’ll always get it right. Hell, I’m not saying I always get it right either. I’m sure someone can read one of my fics and be like, “nope, this isn’t true to me!” And that’s okay. The important thing, for me, is trying.

Because here’s the thing. 

I want you to imagine reading a fic where I, a born and raised Egyptian, wrote white characters in, say, a suburb in the US as though they shared my personal experiences. It’s a multi-generational household, people of the same gender greet with a kiss on each cheek, lunch is the main meal, adults only move out when they get married, every older person they meet is Auntie or Uncle, every bathroom has a bidet, there’s a backdrop of Muslim assumptions and views of morality, and the characters discuss their Eid plans because, well, everyone celebrates Eid, obviously.

Weird, right? 

So why is this normal the other way around? 

Have you ever stopped to wonder why white (and often, especially American) experiences are considered the default? The universal inoffensive base on which the rest is built? 

Yes, I understand that writers are trying to be inoffensive and respectful of other backgrounds. But actually, I find the usual method of having the only difference be their skin colour or features pretty reductive. We’re more than just a paint job or a sprinkle of flavour to add on top of the default. Many of us have fundamentally different life experiences and ignoring this contributes to that assumption of your experience being universal. 

Yes, fic is supposed to be for fun and maybe you don’t want to have to think about all this, and I get that completely. I have all the respect in the world for writers who tag their TMA fics as an American AU, or who don’t mention anyone’s races. I get it. But when you have characters without a canonical race and you give them one, you’re making a decision, and I want you to think about it. 

Yes, this is a lot of research, but the internet is full of people talking about themselves and their experiences. Read their articles, read their blogs, read their twitter threads, watch their videos, see what they have to say and use it as a jumping-off point. I’m really fond of the Writing With Color blog, so if you’re not sure where to start I’d recommend giving them a look. 

Because writers outside of the Anglosphere already do this research in order to write in most fandoms. Writers of colour already put themselves in your shoes to write white characters. And frankly, given the amount of care that many white writers put into researching Britishisms, I don’t see why this can’t extend to other cultural differences as well.

[comedicreliefonlyworkswhenfunny]

I am against the "Americanization" of fandoms.

What this applies to

Holding non American characters (and sometimes even fans) to an American moral standard. This includes

Refusing to take into account that, first things first, America is NOT the target audience, so certain tropes that would or would not pass in the west are different in Japan.

Like seriously, quite a few of the jokes are just not going to pass or hit, because they require background information that is not universal.

Assuming all American experience is standard. (This could mean watering down just how much pressure is placed on Japanese youth irl by saying that sort of thing is universal (while it is, to a degree, Japanese suicide rates are pretty fucking high because of how fast paced and work heavy some of their loads tend to be), and it's really annoying and rude when someone is trying to speak out about how heavy and harsh the standards are placed on them to succeed just for some American whose mom occasionally yells at them to do their homework dropping by to say "it's like that everywhere")

Demonizing (or wubbifying) a character using American morals, including and up to harassing fans over their interpretations or gatekeeping whether or not a character "should" get development (while you shouldn't do that fucking period, it's rude and annoying- this is specifically for the people who use American standards without acknowledging the cultural gap between them and, you know, the fucking target audience) ((Like seriously, saying "It's different in Japan" is not the end all be all excusing someone's actions, but sometimes the author didn't immediately think that maybe (insert vaguely universal thing) was that bad or that heavy of a topic before they put it into their media. If you don't want to see things like that? Pick a different series and stop harassing the fans))

Getting mad at or making fun of Japan's attempts to satirize their own culture. (A good example is Ace Attorney! To most of us, it's just a funny laugh can you imagine if courts were actually like that- guess what? Japan's are! (Not that America's are actually that much better, they just look good on paper))

Making America/American issues the center of your fan spaces

(Usually without sharing or bringing light to the issues that other countries are going through)

Your

Experiences

Are

Not

Univseral!

Seriously, very few things across America, even, are universal. Texas things the hundreds are nothing while Minnesota's like "oh it's only thirty degrees below zero"- so for fucks sake, stop assuming that all other countries work in ways similar to America.

It's good and important to share Ameican issues with your American followers, but guess what? America isn't the only country out there, and it's certainly not the only one going through bullshit. Don't pull shit like "why's no one reblogging this?" or "why should I care about what's happening in (X country)?"

Don't assume everyone lives in America.

Stop assuming everyone lives in America.

America is not and has never been the target audience for anime, and it's certainly not the only country outside of Japan that enjoys it.

Like I said above, sometimes Japan attempts to satirize its own culture. We can't tell what is and isn't meant as satire, because it's not our culture.

Social media activism can be tiring and maybe you don't have the energy to focus on things that are out of your control, but, if someone tells you about the shit they're going through, don't bring American politics up.

For the neurodivergent crowd out there thinking, "But why?" it's because a lot of social media, especially, is very heavily Americanized- sometimes to the point where people assume that everyone is American. Not to mention, it's disheartening. I'm sorry to say, but you're not actually relating to the conversation, you're often diverting the focus away from the topic at hand. Even if you mean well, America is heavily pedestaled and talked about frequently, and people from other countries are tired of America taking precedent over their own issues.

Don't divert non-American issues into American ones. Seriously. It's not your place. Please just support the original issue or move on.

Racist Bullshit

This especially goes for islanders and South Asian characters, as well as poc characters (because, yes, Japan DOES have black people)

Making "funny" racist headcanons. Not fucking cool.

Changing the canon interpretation of an explicit character of color in order to fit racist stereotypes.

Whitewashing or color draining characters. Different artistic skill sets can be hard, yes, but are you seriously going to look at someone and say "I don't feel like accurately portraying you or people that look like you, because it's difficult for me." If someone tries to correct you on your cultural depiction of a character and/or their life style, don't be an ass. (If possible, it would be nice for those that do the corrections to be polite as well, but it does get really frustrating).

Seriously, no offense guys, but, if you want to persue art, you're going to need to learn to depict different body types, skin colors, and/or ethnic features.

On that note, purposefully, willingly, or consistently inaccurately portraying people or characters of color (especially if someone in the fandom has "called you out" or specifically told you that what you're doing comes across as racist and you continue to do it). If you need help or suck at looking things up, there are references for you! Ask your followers if they have tutorials on poc (issue that you're having), whether it be bodily portrayal, facial proportions, or coloring and shading. Art is so much more fun when you can depict a wider variety, and guess what? Before you drew the same skinny, basic, white character over and over, you couldn't even draw that!

Attempting or claiming to DEPECT CULTURAL ACCURACY within a work or meta, while being completely fucking wrong. ESPECIALLY and specifically if someone calls you out, and you refuse to fix, correct, or change anything.

*little side note that the discussion revolving art is a very multilayered conversation, and it has quite a few technical potholes, which I'll bring up again farther into this post.

Fucking history

Stop demonizing or for absolute fucks sake wubbifying Japanese history because UwU Japan ♡0♡ or bringing up shit like "you know they sided with Nazis, right?" It's good to recognize poor past decisions, but literally it's not your country keep your nose out of it. And? A lot of decisions made by countries were not made by their general peoples. Even those that were, often involved heavy propaganda that made them think what they were doing was right.

Seriously, it's not your country, not your history. Unless you have some sort of higher education (but honestly even then a lot of those contain heavy bias), just don't butt in.

^^^ this also goes to all countries that are NOT Japan (specifically when people from non American countries talk about their history while in fandoms and someone wants to Amerisplain to them why "well, actually-"). When we said, "question your sources," we didn't mean "question the people who know better than you, while blindly accepting the (more than likely biased) education you were given in the past."

What this does NOT include:

Fanfiction

FANfiction

FanFICTION

FANFICTION.

Seriously, fanfiction is literally UNPAID WORK from RANDOM FANS- a lot of which who are or have started as kids. ((No, I'm not trying to excuse racist depictions of people just because they're free, please see above where I talk about learning to grow a skill and how it's possible tone bad and get good, on top of the fact that some inaccuracies are not just willful ignorance))

"Looking it up" doesn't work

"Looking it up" almost never works

Please, for fucks sake, you know that most all online search engines are heavily biased, right? Not to mention, not everything is universal across the entirety of Japan. You want to look up how the school system works in Hokkaido? Well it's different from the ones in Osaka!

Most fanfiction is meant to be an idealized version of the world. Homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, and racism are very prevalent and heavy topics that some fan authors would prefer to avoid. (Keep in mind, this is also used by some people in those minorities often because thinking about how relevant those kinds of things are is to them every day).

A lot of shit that happens in writing is purely because it's an ideal setting. I've seen a few arguments recently about how fan authors portray Japanese schools wrong- listen, I can't tell you how many random school systems I have pulled from my ass purely because (I need them to interact at these points, in these ways). Sometimes the only compliment I can think of is 'I like your shirt' or sometimes I need character A to realize that character B likes the same thing as they do, so I might ignore the fact that most all Japanese schools require uniforms, so that I can put my character in a shirt that will get someone else's attention.

Sometimes it's difficult to find information on different types of systems, and sometimes when you DO know those things, they directly rule out a plot point that needs to happen (like back on the topic of schools (from what I've seen/heard/read- which guess what? Despite being from multiple sources, might still be inaccurate!) Japanese schools don't have mandatory elective classes (outside of like gym and most of them usually learn English or another language- I've seen stuff about art classes? But the information across the board varies.), but, if I need my character to walk in and see someone completely in their element, I'm probably not going to try and gun for accuracy or make up a million and two reasons as to why this (non elective) person would possibly need something from (elective teacher) after school of all things.)

Some experiences ARE universal- or at least overlap American and Japanese norms! Like friends going to fast food places after school doesn't /sound Japanese/ or whatever, but it's not like a horrible inaccuracy to say that your characters ate at McDonald's because they were hungry. Especially when you consider that the Japanese idolization of American "culture" is also a thing.

Also I saw someone complaining about how, in December, a lot of (usually westerners) write Christmas fics! Well, not only are quite a few of those often gift fics, with it being the season if giving and all, but Japanese people do celebrate Christmas! Not as "the birth of Christ," but rather as a popularized holiday about gift giving (also pst: America isn't the only place that celebrates Christmas)

But, on that note, sometimes things like Holidays are "willfully ignorant" of what actually happens (I've made this point several times, but (also this does by no means excuse actual racism)), because, again: plot convenience! Hey what IF they celebrated Halloween by Trick or Treating? What if Easter was a thing and they got to watch their kids or younger siblings crawl around on the ground looking for tiny plastic eggs?

Fanfiction authors can put in hours of work for one or two thousand words- let alone ten thousand words, fifty thousand words, a hundred thousand words. And all of these are free. There is absolutely no (legal) way to make money off of their fanworks, but they spent hours, days, weeks, months- sometimes even years- writing. It is so unnecessary to EXPECT or REQUIRE them to spend even more hours looking up shit that, no offense, almost no one is going to notice. No one is going go care that all of my combini prices are accurate or that I wrote a fic with a Japanese map of a train station that I had to backwards search three times to find an English version that I could read.

Not everyone has the attention span or ability to spend hours of research before writing a single word. Neurodivergent people are literally a thing yall. Instead of producing the perfectly pretty accurate version of Japan that people want to happen, what ACTUALLY happens is that the writer reads and reads and reads and either never finds the information they need or they lose the motivation to write.

^^^ (This does NOT apply to indigenous or native peoples, like Pacific Islanders or tribes that exist in real life. Please make sure that you portray tribal minorities accurately. If you can't find the information you need (assuming that the content of the series is not specifically about a tribe), please just make one up (and for fucks sake, recognize that a lot of what you've been taught about tribal practices, such as shit like human sacrifices or godly worship, is actually just propaganda.)

Not to mention, it often puts a wall in front of readers who would then need to pull up their OWN information (that may or may not be biased) just in order to interact with the fic ((okay, this one has a little bit of arguability when it comes to things like measurements and currency, because Americans don't know what a meter is and no one else knows what a foot is- either way, one of yall is going to have to look up measurements if they want to get a better understanding of the fic)). However, a lot of Americans who do write using 'feet, Fahrenheit, dollars,' also write for their American followers or friends (which really could go both ways).

On a less easily arguable side, most fic readers aren't going to open up a new tab just to search everything that the author has written (re the whole deep topics, not everyone wants to read about those sorts of things, either). Not only are you making it more difficult on the writer, but you're also making it more difficult for the reader who's now wondering why you decided to add in Grandma's Katsudon recipe, and whether or not the details you have added are accurate.

Some series, themselves, ignore Japanese norms! Piercings, hair dye, and incorrectly wearing ones uniform are frowns upon in Japanese schools- sometimes up to inflicting punishment on those students because of it. However, some anime characters still have naturally or dyed blond hair some of them still have piercings or wear their uniforms wrong. Some series aren't set specifically in Japan, but rather in a vague based-off-real-life Japan that's just slightly different (like Haikyuu and all of its different prefectures). Sometimes they're based on real places, but real places that have gone through major changes (like the Hero Academia series with its quirks and shit).

Fandom is not a full time job. Please stop treating it like it is one. Most people in fandoms have to engage in other things like school or work that most definitely take precident over frantically Googling the cultural implications of dying your hair pink in Japan.

Art is also meant to be a creative freedom and is almost always a hobby, so there are a few cracks that tend to spark debate. Like I said, it is still a hobby, something that's meant to be fun (on this note!)

If trying new things and expanding your portfolio is genuinely making you upset, it's okay to take a break from it. You're not going to get it right on the first try and please, please to everyone out there critiquing artists' works, please take this into account before you post things.

I'm sorry to say, but, while it gets frustrating to see the same things done wrong over and over again, some people are genuinely trying. If it matters enough for you to point out, please offer solutions or resources that would possibly help the artist do better (honestly this could be said about a lot of online activism). I get that they should "want" to do better (and maybe they don't and your annoyance towards them is completely justified- again, as I said, if this becomes a repeated offense and they don't listen to or care about the people trying to help them, yeah you can be a bitch if it helps you feel better- just please don't assume that everyone is willfully ignorant of how hurtful/upsetting/annoying a certain way of portraying things is), but also WANTING to do better and ACTUALLY doing better are two different things.

Maybe they didn't realize what they were doing was inaccurate. Maybe they didn't have the right tutorials. Maybe they tried to look it up, but that failed them. Either way, to some- especially neurodivergent artists- just being told that their work is bad or racist or awful isn't going to make them want to search for better resources in order to be more accurate, it's just going to make them give up.

Also! In fic and in writing, no one is going to get it right on the first try. Especially at the stage where we creators ARE merely in fan spaces is a great time to "fuck around and find out", before we bring our willfully or accidentally racist shit into monetized media. Absolutely hold your fan creators to higher standards, but literally fan work has so little actual impact on popular media (and this goes for just about every debate about fan spaces), and constructive criticism as well as routine practice can mean worlds for representation in future media. NOT allowing for mistakes in micro spaces like fandoms is how you get genuinely harmful or just... bad... portrayals of minorities in popularized media that DOES have an impact on the greater public. OR you get a bunch of creators who are too afraid to walk out of their own little bubbles, because what if they get it wrong and everyone turns against them. It's better to just "stick with what they know" (hobbies are something that you are meant to get better at, even if that is a slow road- for all of my writers and artists out there, it does take time, but you will get it. To everyone else, please do speak up about things that are wrong, but don't make it all about what's wrong and please don't be rude. It's frustrating on both ends, so, if you can, please try not to escalate the situation more.)

Anyways, I'm tired of everyone holding fictional characters to American Puritanical standards, but I'm also tired of seeing every "stop Americanizing fandom" somehow loop into fanfiction and how all authors who don't make their fics as accurate as possible are actually just racist and perpetuating or enabling America's take over of the world or some shit.

Fan interpretation of published media is different than fan creation of mon monetized media. Americans dominating or monopolizing spaces meant for all fans (especially in a fandom that was never meant for them to begin with) is annoying and can be harmful sometimes. Americans writing out their own personal experience using random fictional characters (more often than not) isn't.

[reasonsilovemywife]

Today Is Coming Out Day

Today is coming out day.  You probably know that. As a Cis, White, Hetero, Male, I’ve learned a lot in the last nearly 50 years of life.  I used to have a very narrow world view.  Born and raised in the deep south, everyone looked like me.  Talked like me. The people I saw on TV looked like me.  The first POC I met was Nate when I was in first grade.  Nate had Down Syndrome and was the most fun person in the class.   My father was raised by a to-the-core racist asshole.  My father fought hard against that.  He didn’t believe in spanking, either.  I only got spanked twice by him.  Once - I spun the cat around by the tail like I was fucking Thor and the cat was Mjolnir. The second time in Second grade when I told him a new word I learned in school.  The “N” word.   Then over time I learned about people who weren’t just like me.  I went to college. I travelled the country for work. I travelled with my family for vacation.  I listened.  I learned. I know I still have a lot to learn but I’m trying to use my advantaged position as a Cis, White, Hetero, Male to provide support and keep learning. So I say that to say this:   To those of you who are already out and proud.  I see you. My wife sees you. We’re so proud of you.   To those of you who are not out.  We see you, and we’re proud of you, too.  You do not need to come out.  We love you either way and you are valid.  If you’re only out on social media and not in your “real” life - guess what.  We see you and we’re proud of you.  I can’t imagine how hard it is to come out at all, and just the fact that you’ve done it online is inspiring to many.   If you’re still fighting with your sexuality and gender - we’re proud of you.  I’m sure it’s scary and just thinking about it and trying to discover who you really are is amazing.   No one needs to come  out today.  You can wait until you feel safe(safer) or you can just not come out at all.  You are valid either way and we love you.  Please do not rush it.  Take your time.  YOU are the one who gets to decide  how and when it’s going to be. Again - this is a safe space.  My messages are always open.  (Sometimes I don’t get notifications so please don’t be mad at me if I don’t respond quick) If you’d rather message my wife, I’ll hand her the PC or Phone and you can chat with her.  Heck, I’ll let our granddaughter chat, too, if you want to just talk to an (almost) 9 year old.  LOL (That chat will be monitored, though, I’m sure you understand why) (consensual) Hugs to Everyone. <3