#I'm American but from the wrong part of the country though I have been to the west multiple times with my family

[artemismatchalatte]

My favorite genre of country music: YEE HAW, YOU FUCKING CHEATER!!!

bonus if it's sung by an angry woman!

[eowyntheavenger]

Hi! I saw your post on telling Americans to vote, and I was wondering what you think of posts from people from other parts of the world who are calling Americans evil for voting for Biden because of his support for Israel. I've seen a few already. They seem to be completely convinced that Americans deliberately voted for Biden specifically to side against Palestine and no other reason, and spread the general (pretty ignorant and hateful) message of "Americans are evil because of the actions of their government and because they collectively refuse to vote for a president who is good and not simply 'the lesser of two evils'". It frustrates me because they seem to think they're experts on US politics, culture, and society and have all the answers, but it also makes me concerned because it reminds me of the whole Russian bot thing from last time. Like, I'm 99% sure the people reblogging these posts aren't Russian bots (don't know about the OPs though), and they unquestioningly believe this. What do you think of this and how would you go about addressing this issue? Do you think it's possible to get them to understand how little they actually know about the US and how they're actually promoting a message that makes things worse for everyone? I've also seen less scathing posts that are just disheartened and don't seem to believe the democrats are truly better to vote for than the republicans and so it's just two sides of the same coin. To be fair, I think that sort of feeling is only further encouraged because there didn't really seem to be much if any progress made with Biden, not even back to square one after Trump moved the country so far backwards. I think most Americans really wish the elections actually had good candidates and they could pick the best of two goods, but are frustrated and stuck with the current system and don't know how to actually get to the point where there are good candidates. (Though personally I think voting for the one who isn't actively trying to make themselves a king with unlimited terms is a decent start. I can understand the frustration though.)

Hi! Thanks for the ask. This stuff worries me too. I've gotten comments on my posts like that too, telling me/other Americans that we're evil for voting for Biden.

But I've seen a much larger number of comments and posts from people outside the United States BEGGING us to vote for Biden. I literally get tags like that on my posts EVERY DAY urging Americans to vote blue. So I think that's valuable context, even if it doesn't solve the problem of the "I hate everybody who votes for Biden" crowd.

And yes, it's definitely a shitty argument on their part to claim that people voting for Biden are specifically siding against Palestine. Literally every single person I know in real life and online who plans to vote for Biden has been criticizing and protesting his policies on Palestine.

In terms of convincing the anti-voters that they're wrong, honestly, I don't know. They don't listen to reason and they seem intent on spreading despair. Some of Biden's policies have been terrible (Willow oil-drilling project), some of them have been downright evil (military aid to Israel), but I'm a rational person and I know that Trump is worse in every respect.

I've tried debating them. It's been pointless every time. They genuinely don't know how the government works, which scares me. Common takes include: 1) a genuine lack of awareness of how pro-Israel Trump and the right wing are, combined with magical thinking that a virtually unknown third party candidate can win the presidential election, 2) truly impressive mental gymnastics blaming Biden for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and 3) continuing the mental gymnastics to blame Biden and the Democrats for anti-trans policies...

I guess my advice is to either ignore them and move on, or debunk things when you have time/energy? It's easier said than done, I know. There's nothing more annoying than someone being stupid on the internet, especially when they accuse you of stuff that just isn't true, and especially when they're spreading dangerous misinformation or voter-suppression rhetoric.

Like you, I'm highly suspicious of anyone who advocates AGAINST voting, or against voting blue. And I agree, many of these people are not bots, like you said, but I call them useful idiots, because they're doing the bots' work for them.

The one thing you said that I'm going to push back on is "there didn't really seem to be much if any progress made with Biden." Biden's actually made lots of progress on a variety of issues, and reversed some of Trump’s damage, it just doesn't get a lot of fanfare and it’s unfortunately happening at the same time as Republican gains in state legislatures and while they control the Supreme Court. But Biden and his administration have:

• invested billions in green architecture and clean energy, including making sure federal investments benefit low-income communities

• introduced new fines for companies' methane emissions

• introduced a plan to cut the federal government's greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 (that includes the military, which is a huge emitter)

• passed a huge bill for improving the country's infrastructure, including bridges, roads, broadband and more

• introduced first-ever national strategy on gender equality and equity and pushed Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment

• fought for women's reproductive rights after the overturn of Roe v. Wade

• put more women, people of color, and women of color on the federal bench than any of his predecessors combined

• nominated Kentaji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court

• boosted funding to historically Black colleges

• ordered the DOJ to end the use of private prisons by the federal government

• pardoned thousands of people convicted on federal marijuana charges

• created a White House office of gun violence prevention

• passed the Respect for Marriage Act, guaranteeing federal rights and benefits for same-sex couples

• rolled out a series of actions to protect the rights and safety of the LGBTQ+ community, including protecting queer and trans foster youth, improving access to mental health services, and addressing the rise in hate crimes

• challenged discriminatory state bans against gender-affirming care and trans athletes

• called to support trans youth in State of the Union address and restored the White House tradition of recognizing Pride Month

• changed passport rules so that people can obtain a passport with no gender marker

• examined efforts by each federal agency to advance LGBTQ+ rights around the world

• reversed Trump's transgender military ban

• protected the rights of incarcerated trans people

• forgave billions in student debt, repeatedly, and introduced penalties for college programs that trap students in debt

• slashed bank overdraft fees

• expanded guaranteed overtime pay for millions of people

• made union-busting harder

• prevented discriminatory mortgage lending

• made efforts to expand the child tax credit, which could lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty

• cracked down on agriculture monopolies to support farmers and small businesses

• made it so the government is going to start taking drug companies' patents away if they don't make affordable drugs

• made over-the-counter birth control pills available for the first time

• lowered the cost of hearing aids and expanded access to them

• spent millions of dollars on students' mental health

• reversed discriminatory healthcare rules

• reinvigorated cancer research

• announced plans to replace all leaded pipes in the next ten years as well as combatting lead exposure abroad

• changed rules for how people can get aid after disasters so they can get more protection and immediate payments more easily

• introduced new data privacy rules protecting people from tech companies

• pushed the federal government to monitor AI risks

• maintained steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression

• maintained steadfast support for Taiwan in the face of Chinese intimidation

• strengthened ties with allies in Asia and the Pacific Islands

• pledged climate change assistance to low-lying Pacific Island countries

• literally IMMEDIATELY after being elected, Biden fortified DACA, rejoined the Paris Agreement, and ended Trump's discriminatory "Muslim ban", ended the Keystone XL Pipeline and fossil duel development in wildlife monuments, (same as last link) rejoined the WHO, strengthened COVID-19 response measures on a variety of fronts, re-included non-citizens in the U.S. census, and passed executives orders on racial equity in the federal government

And I'm sure there's more I left out.

There are also things Biden does that literally don’t make the news, but matter a lot, like funding the Postal Service, and continuing to have a State Department so we can conduct overseas diplomacy (Trump tried to defund the USPS and wants to purge the State Department and fill it with loyalists).

[qqueenofhades]

Do you think part of what makes people feel like voting isn’t worth it because things don’t get better under democrats is because we can’t see what would have happened? Like I see a lot of people saying “well biden hasn’t made america much better so there’s no point” but it’s like they don’t understand that under a republican they would actively do everything they could to cause more harm. It’s like they don’t understand that 1. The president can’t do much, and 2. IT WOULD BE WORSE. like they don’t understand the possibilities. Idk people just frustrate me

I'm sorry, as I know you're just relaying what these people think and not claiming so yourself, but the whole "things don't get better under Biden/Democrats" line to which we are subjected so very, miserably often is a lie!!! It is demonstrably a lie! It is peddled by people who deliberately live in their echo-chamber leftist misinformation bubbles and either don't read the news, don't accept anything less than the Magical Socialist Revolution Now, and don't think partial or incremental progress (aka the only kind of progress that exists) is valid. "Biden hasn't single-handedly fixed everything wrong with America and the world after the most damaging presidency ever to exist and 250+ years of flaws, while other countries actually are their own actors with agency making complex choices, so we shouldn't vote for him" is a bullshit lie and I'm tired of it!!!

(Again. Sorry. This is not directed at you. This is just my frustration with this entire ridiculous situation speaking.)

We have had multiple elections now where people voted for Democrats, which resulted in abortion protections, protections for LGBTQ people, the biggest climate legislation ever to pass Congress/be signed into law (the Inflation Reduction Act), vast improvements in the job market, executive actions both large and small, improvements in labor and the economy, a general democratic system, a defense of the rule of law, a warning against fascism, and everything else that Trump trampled on in 4 years and will finish the job of doing if this godforsaken country is either right-wing-zealot or left-wing-zealot enough to put him back into office. (Like, people. Google is free. You're welcome to look up the improvements Biden has actually made, but that would harm your Narrative.) So much of this misinformation is also peddled by people who are proud that they don't have a clue how the American government works and/or deliberately lie about it: see all the claims that it was Biden's fault for not magically stopping a Trump-stacked SCOTUS, selected for the express purpose of overturning Roe, from overturning Roe. Because the president could just unilaterally overturn the Supreme Court with no problems at all if He Really Wanted To, I guess. Even if that is literally not the way it has ever functioned in history.

All the noxious Republicans in state legislatures passing anti-trans/anti-abortion/anti-voting laws ARE NOT SOMETHING BIDEN CAN STOP. If you're going to criticize him for not doing something, for God's sake at least make it for something he can do (like not calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, though I would argue he's already taking a more nuanced approach than the entirety of the American establishment during the War on Terror). And then vote for him when/if he follows it up, not just throw your hands in the air and scream about how you Can't Possibly Sully Yourself (especially when there is some very selective support going on here and a deliberate white-washing of how many orders of magnitude worse absolutely everything else in America and the world would be under Trump. So.)

I'm tired of it. I'm really, really tired of it. I've been trying to cut back on my politics posting because my mental health is bad right now and I often feel like a broken record screaming into the void. But. Yeah. Anyway. Whoof.

[utilitycaster]

I'm glad to see you mentioning how disconnected the PCs are from Marquet! I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen more discussion of this in the fandom at large (although maybe I'm looking in the wrong places), since it was a point of discussion at the very beginning of the campaign in a couple of private PoC tabletop/LARP groups I was in. The consensus in the aforementioned groups at the time was that maybe the cast didn't feel comfortable representing characters coming from cultures that were explicitly based on real world PoC cultures (but the decision to have almost everyone be an "outsider" in a PoC-coded culture had unfortunate Orientalist overtones). This was very, very early campaign (like e10 maybe), though, before we really knew the trajectory of the plot (or that they'd spend so little time in Marquet).

It definitely came up a lot early on and I think a lot of the people who felt this either left Campaign 3 quite early and said "this isn't working for me" or else said, as I did, that it is what it is.

I think my issue here is that like...Imogen and Dorian are the only Marquet-born characters and while I have complicated feelings about how people see Imogen (see my previous comments about the bizarre bordering on creepy glorification of a very white-coded Southern culture that have spread into like...white anglophone but not United States portions of the fandom) she and Dorian are both very much coded to North American cultures (Imogen, accent aside, honestly fits any rural agrarian portion of the country and honestly reads closer to the great plains than the south, and Dorian is influenced by Native American culture). I actually do think that Taliesin did a good job making Ashton feel like they were part of Bassuras (and they aren't from there originally, but did grow up there culturally), but the fact is I've seen multiple people ignore that "Bassuras" is specifically taken from Tagalog (and that Makenzie de Armas was one of the Marquet designers) and hc it as Central American rather than Filipino despite Matt explicitly saying it's the latter.

I do think that the answer, if the cast was not comfortable playing Marquesian characters (and I am not a POC so take this with that grain of salt, but I also think, with some effort and some sensitivity work, they could have done so, particularly since Marquet is inspired by but not one to one), the answer should have been to either be clearer this wouldn't be centered in Marquet and would simply start there which would have lowered those expectations and to perhaps plan an EXU in Marquet that does primarily star actors who are from north Africa, or western, southern, or southeast Asia; or just set the campaign in Issylra or something. I get that Marquet is more central and cosmopolitan than Issylra by far, but we're now in an awkward position where we might have a campaign set mostly in Fake North America; a campaign set virtually entirely in Fake Europe/debatably central/northeast Asia; and a campaign that was ostensibly set in Fake SWANA/SEAsia but really was mostly about the moon. Like, the cast doing a thoughtful but perhaps imperfect go at Marquesian characters would have, at least in my opinion, been preferable.

If it helps I think the way Matt and the worldbuilders describe Marquet it doesn't feel (to me) overly orientalist and the fandom has definitely had way more "do you see this shit Edward Said" moments than the cast, despite the fact that only half the characters had spent significant time in Marquet. Really, the narrative issue is "the characters don't feel tied to this place or invested in the same way in this plot because the plot isn't tied to this place", and the unfortunate overtones come from the fact that it was the Ostensible Marquet Campaign that got the plot that's not really about Marquet.

(as someone running Netherdeep - I will say that helps. The bulk of that story is in a lovingly and sensitively reworked Ank'Harel. I'm hoping TLOVM also does a better job than C1 with Ank'Harel.)

[controlvariable]

Zero's medal, New Mecca's origins, and near-fatal head trauma

Spoilers for all of Katana ZERO ahead. if you haven't played it already, do that now, I'm dead serious when I say it's one of the greatest games of all time.

When I first decided I'd post meta about this game, honestly, this isn't the one I expected to start with. Hey, sometimes inspiration hits, and...

I'm joking. That's a different rant entirely. (yoshiP voice) please look forward to it. I think the best place to start with this one is New Mecca itself, and what that name entails. It's no secret that KZ takes large inspiration from both Judaism and Islam, the latter of which is more relevant today.

The implications of a literal new Mecca are both fascinating and out of my wheelhouse. I encourage any Muslims, who certainly know more about it than me, to elaborate. As it stands, I'm going to leave it at these few screenshots.

The Psychiatrist:

Leon von Alvensleben:

And of course, Headhunter:

This really isn't the main point of this rant, but it's related enough that I feel justified in mentioning it. Now, let's see Zero's service medal.

Thanks to the nature of KZ as a pixel-art game, we don't have much to work with here. It's gold with a purple ribbon, that's the most we're gonna get.

During the scene at the bar, we have an NPC put a name to it, and this name is what kickstarted the entire post.

A Distinguished Service Crescent. This, to my knowledge, is not a real medal in any country. That makes sense, considering, to my knowledge... New Mecca isn't real. (If it was, we'd have bigger problems on our hands.) This name did remind me of the real-life medal known as the Distinguished Service Cross, which has three meanings and appearances between countries.

To the left, the USA's medal, which is the second highest military decoration just behind their Medal of Honor. The center, Australia's medal, the highest of their Distinguished Service awards. The right, the United Kingdom's medal, which is only awarded for service at sea.

But none of these look like Zero's medal, do they? Let's take a look at Distinguished Service Medals instead, same order as above.

No dice. At this point what I'm about to say is going to surprise absolutely nobody, but the only real-life lookalike I can think of is the USA's Purple Heart.

Now, this sounds absolutely nothing like the Distinguished Service Crescent the NPC mentions, but let's account for 1. artistic liberty, 2. multiple inspirations, and 3. the fact that he might've been wrong. (It's not as if KZ has the most reliable narrators in the first place.)

Part of the reason it might be named as such in game is to draw the direct comparison to our real world medals, named after the cross. Why has it been replaced with a crescent, though? Recall the name of New Mecca, and how the crescent has long been a symbol of of Islam.

Most Americans know what a Purple Heart is given for: being wounded or killed by an enemy combatant in the line of duty. Given that Zero is still alive to receive it, only the former is important. Things are starting to come together.

During the final scene with the Psychiatrist, he entirely ignores you if you ask if the medal is real. At first, I assumed this could be Zero coming to doubt everything he's been told, which is reasonable. Then, once I realized the medal is based off of a Purple Heart, I thought it was real after all.

Finally, I realized just how much the Psychiatrist had Zero's life under control. Zero knows what this medal means, what it implies, and the whole course of the game is discovering how much of what he believed to be innate is caused by his medicine.

Chronos, the drug that he's been forbidden from learning about at every turn, that he's been given non-answers about this whole time, that gives him the power of a god. It's not so unreasonable to assume the medal was used to attribute Zero's memory loss to a head injury, as opposed to the truth of it being yet another side effect.

It's worth noting which parts of the screenshots provided are rendered in purple, and the fact that NULL itself is written in the same color. More on the color usage of KZ later.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading the deranged ramblings of a madman. Lord knows I'm not done talking about this game.

Thanks to @chemicalbrew for encouraging my madness, Muffins (no tumblr) for cooking this up with me, @dynal for listening, and everyone in The Apartment, Nepenthe, and Paradox of Lucidity for cheering me on.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/750157841851203584/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic749685852364?source=share

i'm sorry i slipped up on the pronouns, i've been having trouble following this, but given that others also slipped up in replies like, does it make my points moot?

i also think people are missing the point about "being descended from an aristocrat who lost their head" i'm well aware that many other people in france lost their lives in the reign of terror, that it cut a broad swathe of society and included a lot of non-aristocrats and people who were in favor of the initial revolution as its victims, including, eventually, ringleader robespierre himself.

i don't know what exactly happened and if they're stanning robespierre that shows a poor undestanding of the revolution regardless. but it's not "because the people who are calling them out are french" that is the issue. it's "because the people who are calling them out know their history and xjz is being offensively wrong about it" that's the issue. like, if xjz WERE french, would their robespierre fandom somehow be ok?

i just think we need to think more critically about why certain historical events are considered to "belong" to particular countries over others, or why being part of a culture is considered a form of expertise on a historical event sometimes and not other times. an event that is out of living memory, though, and where there's no documented psychological history of generational trauma (which generally only happens with a genocide that wiped out the majority of a particular population, or a centuries/generations-spanning event - which apply to the holocaust and american slavery respectively, which have evidence of generational trauma, but neither of which apply to the french revolution. also the holocaust remains within living memory, and at the very least people who personally directly knew holocaust victims will continue to be alive for some time, but that is not true of the french revolution)

and i mean, even referring to these previous events.... i've seen jewish people say obviously wrong things about the holocaust and black people say obviously wrong things about US slavery and seen people who weren't those groups correct them, and (on tumblr, of course) had the first people try to claim they can't be wrong because of X identity group. don't we agree that's kind of goofy?

at the end of the day, while certian events are more sensitive to some groups than others, you're right about history because you KNOW HISTORY and not because of your ethnicity or nationality. and i'm going to reiterate: french people in 2024 have no particular personal connection to the french revolution, at hte very least that wouldn't apply to lots of people in other countries who are also descended from or related to its victims lol. but you know maybe after a certain point, just being related to someone who was persecuted there doesn't give you some special magic blood connection. maybe it's meaningful if that was a big part of your personal family history, but that's a case by case basis and can't be "decided" just by knowing some fact about it. i have a friend who is related to marie antoinette and she found this out by searching her family name on wikipedia and finding out they were aristocrats in her country of origin and one of the married into the hapsburg family. i don't think that is a particularly meaningful connection.

and i also just think we need to be more critical as progressives whenever people get overly touchy on blood/nationality/ethnicity as the ultimate marker of anything, for reasons that hopefully should be obvious

--

[numbknee]

Why do you think Kyman gets so much hate? I can understand some things about what people don’t like about it but some of the things they say, the harassment is so out of pocket. Especially on Tik Tok! It is like a battle ground out there and they all will shoot you down immediately if you SAY anything. I just wanna love Kyman without it seeming like a punishment 😭😭

Dude I totally feel you. It's so much easier to live and let live so I don't understand how these ppl have the energy to be so aggressively hurtful all the time. This has been said before ad nauseum but for god's sake, it's JUST a fucking tv show. I'm too old for this shit.

(longer explanation under the cut! like... extremely long lol I'm so sorry my thoughts about this have been building up for a while 😅)

I think the extremely aggressive kyman hate is a symptom of growing poor media literacy and the larger "purity culture" trend that's been present online for a while now. It's very reminiscent of American Evangelicalism or Puritanism, where members of the church have to follow a very specific set of rules for behaving and thinking and if you deviate from those rules in the slightest, you're shot down immediately by the community and shamed for being sinful and blasphemous, all to keep you on the "righteous path" and avoid burning in hell for eternity. This is why so many puritanical christians in the US hate themselves for doing what most of the world sees as normal behavior, and simultaneously force that self-hating worldview onto others to "save" them. (For example see this video by FD Signifier on youtube explaining how hardcore religious ppl/conservatives are doomed to be bad in bed because they see sex as "evil" when in reality it's a normal part of human behavior 😬 It's long but very good).

Though, it's important to note that ppl who think this way may not even be christian themselves, but the behavior is so pervasive in american culture that you absorb it even if you're not a puritanical christian. (for example, to quote Ian Danskin, athiests may think "I don't believe in god, but the god I don't believe in is Jehovah). Tons of the first generation of white USAmericans were exiled British puritans who were kicked out of their home country for essentially being self-righteous assholes and trying to force their shit worldview on everyone else lmao. And I think because so many online spaces are so USAmerican-centric, people from all over the world have started adopting that purity culture as well.

Now, South Park is extremely popular (duh). It's been around for decades so it has a ton of fans both old and new. Unfortunately a lot of new fans, especially young people, follow the show for very different reasons than the average normie/not-terminally-online viewer does. They take the characters out of their original context, use them like dolls to make their own stories and fan content, and ignore all the other blatantly controversial shit that's been going on in the show since day 1 (which is why so many exclusively make blasé creek fanworks imo). They want to keep their thoughts "pure" and only engage with content that's approved by the puritanical online community

It's extremely fitting but also sad that Cartman is the scapegoat for everything wrong with South Park, both in the show and in the real world. Either ppl don't want to acknowledge he exists, or ppl latch onto him and project all of that puritanical hatred toward him or anyone that likes his character. Hell, even I'M guilty of this kind of thinking before I watched the show and understood Cartman's character better.

Kyman in particular is a target BECAUSE it involves Cartman, but also because people boil it down to shipping a nazi with a jew which, at the surface level, seems horrible! But if you've ever actually WATCHED the goddamn show, you know that is an extremely reductive and inaccurate interpretation of their characters. It's horribly poor media literacy. These ppl CANNOT seem to comprehend that you can enjoy watching a character who's a "bad person" without condoning their actions, and that enjoying the shipping dynamic of such characters DOES NOT make you a bad person by proxy.

A huge role of fiction as media is to explore ideas that may be harmful in the real world in a safe way because... *gasp* it's imaginary!! It makes you think and experience emotions you may not have the opportunity for otherwise! However, in the eyes of puritans, the fact you're even thinking about something like that makes you a sinner. It's a thought crime, which is why they consider us mentally "sick" for shipping kyman. So, they send hate at the drop of a hat and publicly vilify kyman shippers to reinforce that behavior with each other, all to say "Hey look at me!!! I'm a Good Person! see how much of a Good Person I am??? I'm gonna go to HEAVEN, and YOU'RE going to HELL". Like I said before, it's not that they necessarily believe in heaven or hell, but that's the general root of the behavior. It's performative puritan dog-piling. Also, because they haven't even fucking watched the whole show, they conveniently ignore all the other horrible shit the show portrays because random kyman shippers online are easy targets while Matt & Trey are gajillionaires who are essentially un-cancellable for things they do on the show at this point because, to quote Trey: For anyone to go up and go "Did you see this thing on South Park? That was really offensive" someone's gonna be like "Dude shut up 😒 that's just South Park".

Geez man this got super fucking long lmao. But my advice is to please take care of yourself because, and this super cliché to say, but FUCK the haters dude 🖕🖕🖕 You're engaging with media that brings you joy and exploring interesting ideas with a community of awesome artists/writers/meta-analysts and more. This is supposed to be FUN!! Anyone who tries to take that away from you or shame you into stopping is a fucking immature, holier-than-thou asshole who needs to get a fucking life. The block button is your friend, so use it early and often. You have the power to curate your own online space, and you shouldn't subject yourself to dealing with these dickheads (this is a big reason why I don't have a tiktok lol)

Good luck dude, and keep on shipping kyman 😎🤘❤️💚

[velandvithestarlightgullwings]

A conversation needs to be had regarding the democratic party

I've been particularly harsh when it comes to clout chasers regarding Palestine and the instant gratification the world seems to want without putting in the work.

But I want to talk to the Pro-palestinian supporters as well as the online leftist and liberal groups as a whole.

Now, up until Trump's first strike in july, I always thought they MAGA was deeply unified. It didn't matter how awful their leaders treated them, it didn't matter how much disdain their leaders showed them, they always fell in line to vote for Trump and lowkey, I respected it as they, for every single fault they have, loyalty was not lacking on their side.

Meanwhile, I was growing furious with my side of the fence because there was always fighting. I just wanted us all, for a single moment in time, when so much was at risk, to stop the infighting, unite against s common enemy, and defeat the dictator wanna-be once and for all.

Because I know that while MAGA have the cult-like ability to become a homogeneous being, we on the left are basically a bunch of ideologies mushed together under the blue umbrella.

Yesterday, I wrote a blog about how empathy was lacking and it's true. Palestine supporters are willing to throw America under the bus, where marginalized people like trans, minorities, disabled and elderly people will be the first to be hit if Trump wins, followed by white women.

But empathy is a two way street and a lot of people on the left are forgetting that Palestinian lives are being lost every day. The BIDEN administration is acting like an abused housewife to Netanyahu by refusing to even look him in the eye and pull support and while Harris believes in a ceasefire and a two-state solution, she still believes in the ally ship between Israel and America and believes they have a right to defend themselves.

And if we are real, America is the big sister to Israel. We basically taught them everything they needed to know in terms of being colonizers and unabashed murderers.

And keep in mind, im not talking about all Israeli people. I know plenty who are standing with Palestinians both in the states and outside of it.

I'm talking about the Zionist settlers that relish in Palestinian deaths, like Netanyahu, while also crying the victim because of what happened on October 7th (even though he was warned of Hamas attacking several times and still did nothing but that's a conversation for later)

As Americans and those on the left, we need to have a deep conversation with ourselves and ask two things.

Why are part of the left willing to overlook genocide?

And why the other part doesn't care about their own people and their plight?

Neither of these questions are easy to answer but I'm willing to give it a shot.

The first question is a simple one.

2016.

The year where everything went wrong. Hillary Clinton decided to run for president. The dems wanted this and they did everything they could to support it. They threw Bernie Sanders under the bus, this infuriating the youth, they propped Trump up to give her an easy win, and they were arrogant enough to ignore the blue wall. All of this, and the baggage she had from decades of slander, Russia's interference, and Comey's Benghazi investigation literally a week before the election took a flawless victory to a stunning defeat.

After that. Four years of fuckery that left the entire country shaken, where every day seemed like a new low. But what made it worse was the laws that were gutted, one of which made Covid so much worse, the 2 surpreme court judges being pushed by Turtle McConnell, leading to Roe V Wade being slain. among many other things.

It took a near decade but many people on the left are battered and fearful of another Trump win, especially now with Agenda 47/P2025 on the horizon.

Because of this fear, and the guilt that many feel by not holding their nose and voting for Hillary in the first place is causing an overwhelming overreaction by doing "blue no matter who." People claim that "Blue Maga" is real, and they are right. But it's not because of the same reasons as MAGA.

MAGA exists for people to be their worse selves. They can be ignorant, belligerent, racist. Sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic because Trump has allowed those bigots to come out of the shadows and be legitimized in the political world.

"Blue Maga" is created by fear, guilt and understanding of what is at risk by Trump winning again and further making things worse for all.

Because of the Israel-Palestine conflict getting mainstream, some people feel that they need to focus on their own situation before anyone else's, some people (sad to say) really don't care about something that isn't effecting them, some also have Zionist viewsx and a small amount can't forgive them for celebrating 9/11 the day it happened. Whatever the case, they want to stop Trump and MAGA by any means necessary, no matter who gets in their way.

Now, the second issue is also a combination of a lot of things. A lot of the protesters (correctly) feel like genocide is absolutely something that should be fought against, especially as its using our tax dollars to fund said genocide. It also doesn't help that thanks to the internet, a lot of them are scarred from the images and news reports they were bombarded with on various social media sites regarding Palestine.

Something like death and human sorrow is never easy to forget. I was a little girl living in Chicago. I've already saw a lot of death. And then after moving to Vegas, 9/11 happened and seeing/hearing the bodies splatter on the ground, the screams, the...everything was harrowing.

I don't blame anyone being emotionally disturbed by it all.

And as I've railed about many times, many social media people have hopped from supporting Ukraine to supporting Palestine for the social justice moral purity points to make themselves look good.

Also, you have the sleeper agents that are using Palestine as a way to help MAGA and Russia win the elections along with Pro-Hamas supporters (not Palestinian supporters. They get conflated often so I have to make the difference) using this to reveal their antisemitism.

But for a lot of young people, this is their first really big social movement so they are throwing everything into it because they are at the stage that they believe that they can make a movement that will sweep the world ala the civil rights movement, conveniently ignoring how much strategic planning, pragmatism, peaceful riots, and patience it took.

However, much like "Blue Maga" they've decided that Palestine is the end all be all and damn anyone or anything that gets in their way.

This leaves them blind of the suffering of their own communities. They don't rage over homelessness, the cost of living, the stagnant wages, the rampant discrimination, disenfranchisement and disinformation that is going on. And they sure don't see how women are being made second class citizens right in front of their eyes.

They either don't see it, believe that all these things are "first world problems," outright think they another Trump presidency wouldn't be so bad and that people were exaggerating, even though it took until the 20s to see how Trump's presidency really tore apart this country, they think its karma, or the worse case is that they don't care about what Trump will do because they think they are in a privileged position to not be hit with the worse that can happen.

So this is where we stand.

Now we have to ask what to do about it?

Truth is, what can be done?

The democratic party is in a state of flux. Many conservatives have come out to support Harris in an "the enemy of my enemy is my temporary friend" deal including resident devil Dick Cheney, Biden continues to bow to Israel due to the alliance they have, and third party candidates have been revealed to be MAGA in disguise.

One side believes that teaming with a demon to slay a devil is a necessary evil while the other side fears this is the proof that Democrats are going further right.

But if half of the democratic party refuses to vote due to Palestine, the people who are fearful of what they can lose will go to desperate measures to survive.

My verdict? We really need ranked voting.

[good--merits-accumulated]

More Dead Poets headcanons: historical (Belle Époque) edition

Is this just fully self-indulgence now? Yes. (Insert Starship Troopers gif: "I'M DOING MY PART!")

- Todd is the second son of a couturier who prefers writing fairytales about the dresses instead of doing business with them. He often slips away to go play in string quarters in little riverside bistros and sit in on writers' salons. Strictly speaking he doesn't need to sneak as nobody outside his family really knows who he is, but he does it anyway

- Neil is the contrastingly very high-profile son of a government minister who has seen Todd looking uncomfortable at various balls and recognises him one evening playing violin in the corner of a dingy little cafe, because HE'S also been sneaking out

- Charlie is a dilettante and hangs about with artists (to the dismay of his parents) and keeps the gossip rags well stocked. Neil became friends with him at fourteen out of spite for his parents then discovered that they got on extremely well and that was, as they say, that

- Meeks is a student at the newly-formed University of Paris, unfortunately dating these headcanons exactly to 1896. He spends his time working feverishly on investigating radio waves + using them in communication, a discovery he is unfortunately eventually beaten to by Guglielmo Marconi (yeah, the real guy). Meeks keeps up a significant correspondence both with scientific luminaries (on a first name basis with Max Planck somehow???) and the large amount of siblings he's left behind in a village near Drôme, spending all his allowance on ink and foolscap. (Yes, he speaks fluent Provençal!) Pitts is an American classmate (courtesy of his father working in the embassy), and does mysterious things with aniline dyes after classes in the shed at the bottom of his garden. They prudently don't ask

- Chris is one of Todd's father's clients who befriends him after he very succinctly tells her exactly what's wrong with the fabric and colour and silhouette of the dress her fiance ordered for her. Said fiance is Knox, who Chris is marrying not particularly out of anything more than a very lukewarm platonic affection, but more out of a desire to get out, now, and to decide on something, Now. Knox knows this but he's still convinced it will work out (?????). Ginny is Chris' best friend very explicitly disapproving about it the whole time, and half in love with her as well

- Cameron meanwhile is a pencil-pusher at the American embassy (he's French, though, not American) and befriends Knox and then Charlie and then everyone else through strange twists of fate. Secretly reads a lot of dime novels on the sly. Insists he doesn't

- For at least one glorious summer they all get out and go free. Meeks takes them all down to see his family and Neil goes careening down country back lanes on his (new, very handsome) bicycle, with Todd sitting precariously on the handlebars and laughing the whole way. Knox gets a barge ("Where from?" "Well, I came across it tethered, abandoned, just... over there." "Over THERE?" "Yes. What's the problem?" [DISTANT, EXTREMELY HEATED SHOUTING] "Ah, Christ.") and they all end up in the river one way or another. When they get back to Paris the quiet of the countryside has sharpened everything to even harsher brilliance and Charlie pulls them all to visit his artist acquaintances and they go to the bars out of the way where men can be seen with men and the air is thick with smoke enough that nobody can really see each other's faces, and Neil pulls Todd into a clumsy waltz and thinks, this is how it should always have been from the moment that I was born.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Choose Your Own Bea's Adventure 3

(Previous Part Here)

Looking back down at the trail once more, you weigh your options -briefly considering just ignoring the damage or simply turning back- before coming to the most logical conclusion...

You're going to have to call Mountain about this.

Although you've been in the country for two years now, you're not wholly acquainted with the wildlife here, and looking at the size of the impression in the soil, this has to be from something big.

Your brain provides you with a mostly unhelpful list of possibilities as you dig through your pockets for your phone.

Bear?

No.

Moose?

Also no.

A boat?

Too narrow.

Scrolling through your contacts, you find Mountain's number easily; It's the only contact saved into your phone without a name... and the only number marked as one of your favorites.

For as much of a thorn in your side as he tends to be, he is your co-worker, and, furthermore, he's more experienced with... basically everything than you are, though you're loathed to admit it.

Hovering over his number for a moment, you debate handling, once more, simply heading back to the cabin or pressing on and ignoring damage.

Instead, the sounds of an owl hooting causes you to fumble your phone and fate takes matters into its own hands and by the time you manage to catch the damned thing, it's already calling Mountain.

As you wait for him to pick up, you turn your attention back to the lake's edge, bringing your flashlight over the water.

The surface is still, but something about the deep, murkiness of the lake leaves you feeling...

"Hello?"

You jump slightly when Mountain's voice comes through the phone and have to fight the impulse to shout.

You cough to cover up the sudden nervous pitch to your voice.

"...Have you been by the lake recently?" you ask, "Just out of curiosity."

You hear a bit of shifting and a dull squeak in the background on Mountain's end.

"No, I haven't." he says, "Is something wrong?"

You glance between the water and the woods.

"Hypothetically speaking... If I were to say I was walking over to the abbey to get dinner, and I saw, like, a long, dragged out trail from the lake's edge that goes, I dunno, I can't really tell how far into the woods... that's, like, two foot wide... Would you know what caused that? And if so, should I be concerned?"

There's a short pause, and you can hear as the man inhales sharply before letting out a long sigh.

You brace yourself for the lecture you're about to receive, but it doesn't come, not yet anyway.

"...How far away from the cabin are you?" he asks, voice low, "Which side of the lake are you on?"

You look back in the direction of the cabin, you can just barely see the glow of the porchlight.

"Um, like, a football field? American football? That far." you reply, "I'm on the left hand side, right side if you're coming from the abbey."

You hear a "tsk" sound leave his lips.

"I need you to listen very carefully and-"

*boop*

You move your phone away from your ear, tapping at the screen frantically.

...God fucking dammit.

[magnetiix]

Thoughts on Culture and the RPC

((Happy Munday. I've been stewing on some thoughts for quite a while, and I feel like they have impacted me enough that this is something that needs to be said. This is probably going to get long, but I don't want to put it under a readmore because I don't want this to be a thing people skip over. I'll give a warning in advance that this will get personal, and parts of this topic are heavy and uncomfortable. But this is not a criticism toward anyone in particular; it is simply an assessment and expression of my experiences growing up and how they relate to an attitude I unfortunately find a lot in the RPC.

I make no secret of my heritage, but what some people may not be aware of is that I am a first generation American to two immigrants from very different cultures. And one of the first things I learned growing up is that I, or perhaps it's better to say my ethnic background, am very much unordinary in the demographic of the United States of America.

I find this to be doubly the case in the western Mega Man fandom.

((I am one of two people that I know openly to be of Chinese descent in the western part of the fandom, out of the 60+ people I have met and interacted with over the course of my experiences both within the fandom and, more specifically, within the RPC.

I'm not going to beat around the bush here. The attitude of western Mega Man fans towards Chinese culture is incredibly disappointing. It's not just Mega Man fans, though, and it's not just Chinese culture. It's the outlook that is present in the western world towards cultures that are beyond the scope of what they're familiar with, and that's not necessarily their fault either; this is an issue that stems from education or a severe lack thereof. It's a systemic issue.

What I do have a problem with is more specifically an attitude towards learning about other cultures. Too many times I personally have been told things along the lines of "I'm too afraid to be wrong or looking stupid," and this is why no research has been done into a culture of interest. Or, I'll be told things like "I don't know how to respond or engage in a way that's respectful."

Both of these things lead to people simply not asking questions or not engaging with a culture in a way that feels fruitful or constructive. And the more I've grown up and learned about my identity and how to embrace it, the more I've found this to be the case.

It's natural for people to generally avoid things that they know nothing about. That's human.

But in a country as culturally diverse as the United States, where the impact and significance of Chinese Americans in our history gets erased in our textbooks and shoved into footnotes, it's also a problem.

Another problem is how romanticized certain, select aspects of other cultures have become in American media. I'm talking folklore, myths and legends that get bastardized and popularized through media consumption. I'm talking about Japanese culture through the lens of anime. I'm talking creatures of Native American oral traditions that have become popularized as "cryptids". I can't speak on that much further as I am not of Native American descent myself, but I have seen and read enough about the general opinion of this to know that it is not well looked upon by the people these entities have been taken from.

And what I find from this phenomenon is an inherent disrespect for cultures and folktales that are still very much alive in the modern world, like treating such heroes and creatures of legend as something to treat more like a character of an anime to fangirl over or some cool, weird monster to make games out of, rather than an entity of great significance to a group of people. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable, and it's a thing I wish I'd talked about much sooner. I wish I hadn't swallowed my discomfort and said "it's okay".

These things can easily be solved. All it takes is mindfulness and an awareness of etiquette when interacting with cultures that aren't your own. Be proactive in learning. Show engagement. Ask questions when you're unsure of things. If you say you don't want to get things wrong, but you're not putting in the research or asking questions, that's more offensive to me than you having done research and getting something wrong by mistake.

((But on that note as well, it also shouldn't be my fucking job to have to push for and advocate this kind of thing so hard. I have a serious issue with how it has fallen to the hands of POC to edcucate others on their culture, and I have friends who are POC who share the same sentiment. Throughout history it has been shown that people don't listen to minorities. Why do you think these problems have arisen in the first place? It's very much not a case of "not trying hard enough" or "not putting one's ideas out there enough".

This is a call to be more proactive and mindful when engaging with other cultures, or of people sharing their cultures. Please, please do your own research. I am more than willing to share and educate about my culture; I make no secret of that, and those who know me a bit more intimately know I hold immense pride in my culture.

But I am also very, very tired. Several recent back to back experiences relating to how people interact with my culture or interact with me speaking about my culture have worn me down to the point of raw, genuine, nonstop fury over the weekend. I don't want to be silent on this.

If you're someone who simply doesn't have the time to commit to diligent research, rest assured this is not about you. I understand not everyone has the ability to put effort into research, and that's okay. But it is about those who are not proactive about learning about other cultures. Of course, I'm not exempt from this myself. As I type this I am reminding myself to be more engaged as well, and to put in the effort to connect to people about their cultures.

If you've reached the end and if you read all of this, thank you. It means a lot. And if any of this resonates with you or makes you uncomfortable, I ask that you reflect on how you've interacted with folktales and the like from cultures that aren't your own and take this message to heart.

As a reminder, I am always open to people asking me things, and I'm more than happy to share about my culture and such. As always, I am also open to hearing opinions from other POC in the fandom, and if they feel the same way. I just ask that you be more proactive about culture. Let me and others from different cultures know you're interested and want to engage, because otherwise it feels like screaming at a brick wall. Don't make us have to speak up first and express our frustration for you to say you want to learn. Because at the moment, I'm at the point where that feels like too little, too late.))

[themarginalthinker]

Tlb question for you! How do you think the boys met/turned into vampires? 👀

Oh boy, this is gonna get a little Long, lmao.

So, a preface: when we talk about the Boys in pretty much any of our works relating to the canon, we're using these basic 'universe rules' - ie, this is going to be their backstory for anything we write, unless specifically stated otherwise, the rules of the worldbuilding of our universe is what we're assuming.

Also, sorry if I don't include details or it seems like I'm missing things? I hope I'm getting this across. All their backstories are complicated, and some things make more sense in the story, but if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Alright, that aside:

Also - realized that this. Never sent?? Sorry about that too. Here you go!

David Williams: Appearance: 19, Year of death: 1879.

David was the son of farmers and those settlers pushing into the northern Great Plains just after the American Civil War. David was living in what would become Colorado (which was then literally just the Colorado Territory) when his parents both pass, leaving him and his sister Rebecca, only a year younger than him, on their own. David, being no one from no where, with few skills other than how to farm, ranch, and train horses, as well as having fairly disruptive dyslexia, cannot provide for the two of them much. Rebecca gets married to a wealthier man looking for a wife and leaves, David and her promising they'll see each other by next Christmas, when David has some money saved. That is the last time David ever sees her.

Not long after the separation, David does indeed try to get the money...and gets desperate, losing most everything in the process, turning more and more to petty crime to get by, until he messes with the wrong gang and it comes to a head. They chase him, shoot at him (our David's left hand is actually quite fucked up from being shot through just before his turning.) David ducks into an alley to hide, and something decides that this human will do.

Max has been in America for a little bit, and despite it being touted as 'the great frontier', he's found it actually rather full of other vampires already. Max wants a brood, for his own future plans, and well, no time like the present, no place like the here and now. David was simply...convenient. Nothing special. Just a checkmark on Max's to-do list.

But he becomes so much more as the years go on, and David suffers for all his sire's 'love.' For some of what that looks like, read the drabble 'Whiteout'.

Dwayne: Appearance: 20, Year of death: 1900.

Dwayne, as you may have seen, has no last name. This is because Dwayne doesn't use the English surname that was forced upon him, and only used the English first name because he quite literally cannot remember his birth name. Dwayne was born to the Haida people of the island groups off the coast of what is now British Columbia Canada. He was taken from his family and sent to a residential school. Dwayne doesn't speak much of any part of this time of his life, though the scars, both physical and mental, remain to this day.

Dwayne too was somewhat on the lam when he was turned. Dwayne at the time was running people and goods places, usually outside of the law, across country borders, or with few questions asked. They paid him, and that's what mattered. He was then paid, one night, by a young man with strawberry blond hair and the palest eyes Dwayne thinks he's ever seen, to run him away from here. As far as Dwayne and the dollars he pays are willing to take him.

Dwayne does, because he never asks questions, and he tries to take the boy, whose name he learns is David, wherever he wants.

Long story short, because we ARE trying to save a little for the story lol, Dwayne is intercepted by Max, looking for his runaway Childe, and the rest is sorta unfortunately history. Dwayne to Max is...a punishment for David, ie 'look at how you cursed this one with your bad decisions' and also now something to hold over David's head. 'I gave you someone to keep you company, a friend, a brother, a broodmate, and I can take him away just as easily.'

Dwayne will always think that letting him live was Max's greatest mistake.

Jasper Kelly, ie, Thorn: Appearance: 19, Year of death: 1935.

This one gets a little fun, because we get to play around with a character who was only in the scripts, but we do turn into an incarnation of a movie character - Max's dog.

Jasper, ie Thorn as he prefers to call himself, is the son of people living in a Hoovertown in the Great Depression - which is to say, a fantastic hunting ground for vampires. Slight problem with this however: Thorn isn't a human.

Nope! See, here's where the fun worldbuilding stuff comes in. Berd and I decided that if vampires exist in this world, well, so too must other creatures, it's only fair. So - werewolves. I'll spare you our version of them, but long-story short, they can change at will, into full wolf shape, but Thorn can't. Thorn, as it turns out, is hit with like, the most recessive of recessive genes whammy, and he cannot shift! On top of that, he's an orphan, so all throughout his childhood, he kept getting shuffled from house to house, whoever would take him.

Thorn believes his ability to turn into a big blond-white 'dog', is just his special vampire power, and in a way he's right. But it's actually from the fact he was a non-shifting werewolf.

Paul Harris: Appearance: 19, Year of death: 1957.

Paul is a preacher's son, born in Massachusetts and having spent all 19 years of his living life there. Paul was raised a good son. An obedient son. A dutiful servant of God and his father. Paul is the oldest child and only boy out of six other children. (Paul sometimes, when he's drunk and in his caustic moods, comments that 'if his mother hadn't nearly died pushing out the last one, the old man would never have climbed off her...')

For all that though, Paul's life was one of undiagnosed (it was the 50s) emotional and learning problems, and while he remains so, we headcanon it's likely Bipolor, or adhd with extreme mood swings, which wasn't helped with the Protestant upbringing and homelife.

Paul meets David, Dwayne, and Thorn when they roll into town under Max, who is there for his own business. David takes a shining to Paul not so unlike how he will in the future with Michael, the pair falling pretty damn fast and pretty damn hard. David can see Paul as something that wants to break out, knows the glorious creature that he could unleash, and Paul is desperate to break his own choking lead. 'The Taste of Butter' drabble here should give you a fair idea of what that looked like ;) Paul is murdered-but-it-didn't-stick by his own father, and kills the man for his first kill.

Paul is, however, not Max's Childe. He's David's. His first one, and the tension between David and Max is starting to pull..rather taught.

Marko Bianchi: Appearance: 18, Year of death: 1980

I know the fandom is split down the middle with Marko being the baby of the pack, and Marko being David's second in command and second oldest, but aaaa we chose this! Marko is a child of the 70s and 80s, and queerer than a 3 dollar bill to boot. His father died when he was younger, and his mother remained single and raised him through his teen years very well, though not without Trouble. As the child of first-generation immigrants, and again, deciding to be fairly open about his orientation, Marko was...targeted for a lot of stuff. He learned to bite before a strike, so to speak.

It comes to a head, however, when Marko discovers that as many unfortunate people in the Community did, he caught the virus. And it terrified him like nothing else in this world.

Cue the blonde stranger - Paul. Now, Paul at this point for Story Reasons, is on his own in San Jose, a town close to Santa Carla, and set his sights on Marko. He's drawn to him, and Paul goes with the whims of fate. Marko doesn't know who Paul is, or why he doesn't leave when Marko tells him what's up, or why he keep encouraging all of the worst tendencies in Marko, but he does.

A bad night, a bad fight some idiots picked with the pair (though trust me, there's a lot more to it than that), and Marko becomes Paul's Childe.

A little drabble associated with this is this one, where Marko is. Contemplating things.

Anyway,,,, sorry it's so long! As I said before, Berd and I are writing our Lost Boys masterfic YCCM, and these backstories will all be fully filled in with time, and likely make a bit more sense. Thank you for the ask, and if you have any more questions, just ask!

[gryphis-eyes]

I wanted to ask your opinion on this because you're French and know a lot about your country's folklore.

I am an American witch who has never been to France, though I'm going to change that someday. However, I am a francophile who has been studying French history, culture, language and folklore for years now. The only reason I ended up believing in magic was because of that sense of awe I got when I looked at pictures of French forests and read French history and folklore.

So I wanted to know, would it be wrong if I took inspiration from French folklore for my magic practice? I own a huge stack of books written in France, I'm learning the language and the history of the individual regions that the folklore comes from and I'm adding to my collection all the time. And if it's alright for me to do it, is there anything in particular I should know or keep in mind on my journey?

Merci beaucoup de votre attention.

Bonjour~

There is absolutely nothing wrong in wanting to take inspiration from our folklore and I would even say that you can as well call upon the fairies/witch and other "named entities"

Think of Melusine or La Vieille (an equivalent of Cailleach) nothing stop you from calling onto them

By named entities I'm not talking about fairy folk in general but more of the specific ones, like La Velue or Graoully. I'm part of the people who believe that the spirits are bound to their lands but nothing stops you from calling onto specific ones.

As for the extra advices I'd say that you can also check the folklore from Belgium since we share a lot (it's mostly centered around witches, one of the most famous is Quintine), the England one share a lot of similarities as well I'd highly recommend Gemma Gary for the practice.

I don't remember if I told you about him but Claude Lecouteux made a lot of books on the folklore and I think a lot of his books have been translated in english!

For that last advice I don't think I have to say it because it's kinda obvious lol but stories from Bretagne will be your best friends !

Bon courage 🌹

[taylortruther]

This isn't about gender politics but it's somewhat about politics (?) you can absolutely ignore this if you want btw. I'm not from the US but this whole Brittany thing made me wonder, do people in the US actually cut their friends off if they don't align with their views on politics or is this just like an internet thing? Don't get me wrong I know all about Trump and wouldn't support him either, but we got our own share of awful politicians in my country (way worse I'm afraid) and unless someone's a full on bigot or just a complete asshole about it, we don't really cut people off. If they can have an objective and calm conversation with me about it then we're good. Obviously my closest friends have similar political views as me, but I don't think I've ever cut someone off because they showed their support through an instagram like (?). I don't know anything about Brittany though so this isn't about her specifically, she could be the devil I just wouldn't know, but it's not like she's out there with a maga hat campaigning with him (which is where I would definitely draw a line). I'm asking just in general. The whole discourse made it seem like agree to disagree just isn't on the table which like fair but it made me curious.

i'd say the vast majority of people don't cut out family or very close loved ones, and it's a very typical american experience to avoid talking about politics at the dinner table, or at work, or whatever, so you can maintain relationships. but i will say trump has been an extremely polarizing figure - trump and vaccines have been huge issues that have really affected A LOT of people's personal relationships over time. like it's become way way way more common to hear stories about couples divorcing or breaking up, or people limiting contact with parents, specifically because of political differences or vaccine differences.

i feel really lucky that my parents are democrats and understand the political climate, because i haven't had to make the choice to cut them off or limit my interactions with them. and for issues we agree on, we don't fight, we can discuss and i can usually change their minds lmao.

personally, i wouldn't want to be publicly associated with a trump supporter, but it's not super unusual that taylor has republicans in her circle. i think most people do unless they are ardent liberals or leftists. i have the ability to pick those people out of my life, for the most part! i think the closest situation i'm in is a friend whose bf/soon to be fiance is a republican, but he's at least anti-trump. she's my most centrist/apolitical friend, so it's not entirely unsurprising.

[mangodestroyer]

I know I've only been in one relationship, and I've been single for a while now, but I just can't stop thinking about how my ex kept telling me that I deserve to be beaten up. Like, it's actually seriously disturbing me lately.

Ig I didn't think much of it at the time. I thought that maybe she was right and that I was saying stupid and unintentionally offensive things to deserve it (I'm neurodivergent). One time in particular stands out as strange to me, though, because all I'd said was that French and Italian are romance languages, and therefore have similarities. I only pointed it out because I did learn a little bit of French long ago, and we were discussing at least visiting Europe, so learning some of the languages there probably wouldn't be a bad idea. I said that I thought French would at least make me more familiar with how romance languages work.

She then went on a rant, "Italian and French aren't the same! I dare you to say that us Italians! You're going to get beaten up!" (She's American, just with lots of Italian ancestry). I stressed that I said they shared SIMILARITIES. They both evolved from Latin. Both countries are near one another. That they definitely aren't the SAME, but that, naturally, the languages and the countries themselves would have more in common with each other than they would with Japan. It... was just something I was taught in school. Even recently, while taking a course in German, the instructor constantly compared it to English and talked about cultural similarities/how German culture is present in certain parts of the U.S. She just kept accusing me of saying both countries were the same and that I would get beaten up over it. I just dropped it by that point. Decided I was wrong and that maybe this really was a horrible and sensitive thing to talk about.

It wasn't even the only thing that happened that day. I just remember the discussion being exhausting and wanting to be done with it. We were also, yet again, talking about where we should move. Discussions where all my input would be seriously debated, rejected, or forgotten about. At one point, she suggested we move to Italy. I was just like, "Sure." Not really caring or taking it seriously because I knew we'd just be discussing some other place next week because everything was always over-discussed and forgotten about. All I got in response was, "Really? I thought you hated hot places." Which I do. I genuinely don't handle heat well. There was no compromising and meeting in the middle though. I tried recommending places with milder weather where we'd both be happy and didn't want to live in a red state because we're both queer and liberal. She'd ALWAYS suggest stupid hot and humid states that were super conservative.

And that was that. It just felt like we were somehow always getting into arguments. If I wanted anything, I was being horrible and selfish. And she was now telling me, pretty regularly, that I deserve to be beat up. Thankfully, I woke up at some point and left very soon when the last one started happening.

But what the fuck? Why would you even want to continue dating someone you think deserves to be beaten up? Why would you even want to associate with them? Like, say I truly am this horrible, thoughtless individual. And I truly do inspire justified rage in others. Why would you even be attracted to me at that point? Why would you pressure me to move in with you if I'm such a problem? If someone has pissed me off that badly, I would do everything to just avoid them!

And what would have happened if I moved in with them? They were already so critical of me when we weren't living together, and suggesting that I deserve physical harm for speaking. In fact, she was starting to get annoyed with me doing just that. At all. Even if it was innocent. She'd also started telling me that certain hobbies would just not be acceptable. Got mad at me for not liking everything she liked. We were already watching everything she wanted to watch (if I had suggestions, they were shot down, and I just shrugged and said, "Okay.") I pretty much had to beg her to take me to this place she'd promised to take me to for MONTHS. So many excuses for why we couldn't, and why we should have or do something else that I really wasn't that interested in (a typical spaghetti dinner at home, with her dad who was also super critical of me, instead of the assume Chinese restaurant she kept going on about)... until she begrudgingly just did it finally.

Look, I guess I just didn't think it could ever be me. I thought I would have known better than to pick such a partner since I had a bad childhood. I thought I was better at sniffing out toxic individuals and knew what to look out for. After doing loads of research after the fact, I now realize how wrong I was. Now, I really DO know better, but I also now know I'm not immune. There is no foolproof way of completely avoiding an abusive partner. Most of them hide it in the beginning. Some can hide it for YEARS. My ex didn't even have a single pink flag until about two months after talking to her. I never thought I'd have a partner who could possibly be capable of physically abusing me (it could have easily gotten to that point). I didn't realize how common it truly is. And I never imagined in a thousand years that I could so easily become battered and scared because of a relationship. And also, I'm very free-spirited and liberal. How did I forget who I was as a person and start accepting a more traditional and submissive role?

Meanwhile, I am now living on my own. Sharing a suite with some roommates. No one threatens to hurt me or tells me I deserve to be hurt. In fact, no one seems to mind that I exist near them. I can read or watch what I want and it isn't an issue. Same with life plans. I can do what I want with those too.

I still can't imagine getting into another relationship. I was likely threatened with physical harm while in one, and that is now enough to turn me off from the idea. I'll admit, I did sometimes crave one after breaking up. I've since seen some people who seem happy with partners they've known for so long. But I've also known of so many horribly abusive relationships.

Now all I imagine in a relationship is sacrificing my own happiness for someone else. Being pushed to do things I don't want to do. Letting go of my goals and ambitions because they're "getting in the way." Having a partner who doesn't actually love me, just settled for me. Being financially abused. BEING HIT! No fuck that. Fuck all of that!

I'd much rather be alone. Even if being on my own can sometimes be scary. Even if it means I have to take risks to make it all work out (because let's face it, having a partner would make things easier financially, if they're reasonable). Sure, I'll likely take on more debt living on my own and have to work harder. I could also easily take on debt with a financially abusive partner. But at least now I'd be taking on debt for things I see value in. Such as undergraduate and/or graduate degree, which will increase the odds of a good-paying job. And who's going to tell me I can't have at least a Master's? Tell me I'm taking too long with my Bachelor's?

I'll take it over the supposedly superior path of having a partner.

[america-is-my-muse]

America's Family Explained [Countryhumans]

Fitting that I start off what I hope will be a little series with headcanons about my favorite countryhuman. As biased as I may be, I also just know the most about US history, so it seemed like the place to start. I've tried to combine actual history with sensical storytelling, because the most by-the-book interpretation doesn't always line up with what makes sense for a character backstory and I've taken some liberties in those cases. I will also be explaining the reason behind my headcanons in case people want to know how I got from A to B, not just dropping them and running

Also, disclaimer that this is MY PERSONAL headcanon/AU. You are free to agree with it or not, but don't leave hate telling me why I'm wrong, just move on because there's no established cannon in this fandom and we can all do whatever we want provided it's not wildly offensive.

Part I: Birthday

Establishing America's birthday seems like a silly thing to do, both because most people are going to immediately assume it's July 4th, 1776 and because it seems such a trivial thing to headcanon unless you're specifically setting out to write a fic celebrating his birthday.

Establishing his birthday, however, is actually really important to everything else I'm going to talk about. First of all, 1776 can't be America's birth year because that would mean that a) he just popped into existence fully formed b) he would miss all of the influential American Revolution events that took place before that and c) it doesn't make sense with the allegory of teenage America rebelling against his overbearing father Britain that I like so much. Instead, I picked the year 1607, because it is the year Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in the Americas, was established. Technically, his birthday should be May 13th, but I like having it on July 4th better, so his birthday is July 4th, 1607.

Part II: Parents

America's parents are Kingdom of France and Britain (The modern UK). This is a debated topic within the fandom from what I've seen, because the common idea that America's parents are France and Britain just doesn't really make historical sense, and frankly I agree.

As for France, modern France is technically the fifth Republic, which didn't come into existence until 1981, but even if you wanted to group all the iterations of French democracy together into a single personification (I don't, but theoretically), that still puts her 18th birthday in 1791 (countries turn 18 when they become independent), meaning it's really unlikely she would have been around and of any reasonable age to bear children in 1607 without any good reason to, therefor I have made Kingdom of France (her grandmother) the mother of America and his full siblings.

The reason this doesn't apply to Britain is because I'm considering the 1535 union of England and Whales as the beginning of British rule rather than the 1707 union of England and Scotland, which is when the name Great Britain formally began to be used. This means he is around to father America in 1607.

Obviously, France and Britain were at odds during this period, but they had entered into an arranged marriage when they were younger and were obligated to have children out of it, thus America and his sibs exist without breaking the universe and having this version of France and Britain actually like each other.

Obviously, there are a couple other candidates for America's parents that I could have used. Technically, Spain makes a lot of sense, but the Spanish Empire is male and married to Kingdom of Portugal in my AU, and Britain as the father is non-negotiable to me, so this isn't an option. I know some people headcanon Native America as his mother, but I feel like combining the entire scope of native culture/language/etc. into a single personification doesn't really make much sense and Kingdom of France works better story/wise (though for what it's worth the different Native American tribes/nations/confederations do have personifications).

Part III: Family

America has a lot of half-siblings between all the British and French colonies, so I'll only be focusing on his full siblings. Canada and Australia are the other two full sovereign nations in this group, Canada for obvious reasons, and Australia because Dutch Empire (the other European candidate for his parent) is also male in my AU, so they needed a mom and Kingdom of France makes the most sense due to being Britain's wife, even though there's no real French colonial history there. I don't have an aboriginal tribe as their mom for the same reason I don't have Native America as America's mom. New Zealand was also raised alongside the four of them, though her mom is actually Maori.

Besides that, America also has two twins--Confederate and Virginia (who was born Jamestown Colony)-- and the other 12 original colonies + the states they would eventually split into are his younger siblings.

The states are obviously America's children, but they're a mix of biological and adopted, and a couple more are at least partial siblings (Louisiana and Washington, for example) by blood, but they all view him as a father figure so I'm going to avoid the minutia in this post.

Ending thoughts

I think I'm going to work my way through the British/French family next for this little headcanon series, but I'll probably keep going until I stop having fun or don't have anything else to say. I'll eventually probably talk about character arcs & histories, but I'm trying to ease into this and not promise too much because I have a bad track record for putting a lot of pressure on myself over a fandom project and then quitting it entirely.

With that being said, feel free to drop and ask if you want to know my HCs about a specific country or some more elaboration on something I mentioned here. I have a pretty developed AU in my head/in google docs so there's a good chance I'll have something to say. No promises if you ask about something I don't really know anything about. I'm absolutely in favor of talking about niche subjects and less popular countries within this fandom, but that does mean I would have to do the research, and I can't promise to have the time or energy for that.