#TMS does NYC

[comickergirl]

Second time's the charm let's GOOOOOO. XD

[handlewithcharacter]

I'm in my "say fuck it, quit everything, pack a single bag, and go move to a small seaside town in New England" feels again

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

Is it being discriminatory or offensive to think that being mtf is always going to be harder than being ftm? (I am enby afab)

Lee says:

Your question touches on a complex and sensitive topic within the trans community, and it's important to approach this with an understanding that every individual's experience with gender identity and transition is unique, and there are various factors that can influence the challenges they face.

The concept of intersectionality is crucial here. People experience discrimination differently based on intersecting aspects of their identity like race, class, age, disability, and their socioeconomic status, access to healthcare, etc.

And even beyond that, each person's journey is shaped by a multitude of factors including their family dynamics, social environment, cultural context. These factors can make the experience of being trans vastly different for each individual.

You can't compare two people based on a single identity and say "ah this person must have had it worse because they are [X identity]!" because people aren't just one single identity, they're whole people.

Certain things can affect one part of the trans community more than another, like hypervisibility vs invisibility/erasure for example, or the rhetoric supporting laws that prevent trans people from competing on teams that match their identified gender. It's true that trans woman are often dehumanized and seen as either sexual predators, as sexual objects, or as a joke, and as a result are often the targets of a lot of transphobic rhetoric.

Minority stress is real, and it can affect people's physical and mental health even if they are not personally facing a current physical threat to their safety.

While trans people who were AMAB may be more affected by some of that stress, that doesn't mean it exclusively affects them-- often the whole community ends up feeling the effects.

Even if trans women are often targeted in bathroom bills, for example, the end result is no trans person can use the bathroom that aligns with their gender. And being discriminated against for being transgender and seeing others face discrimination for a shared identity can create distress and that should be acknowledged.

Comparing the struggles between segments of the trans community can inadvertently create a hierarchy of suffering, which is not constructive. It's more helpful to acknowledge that while experiences can be different, each individual's challenges are valid and deserving of support and understanding.

We get variations on this discourse pretty frequently and I used to answer this question when it was asked. But recently I started to wonder what good my answer will do-- If I tell you "x group is Most Oppressed tm" how does that change anyone's lives for the better?

If you're interested in this type of thing from an academic perspective then you can study the issue more, and make up all the "What if" scenarios you want. A trans woman who grows up in a supportive white liberal NYC family, starts puberty blockers at age 12, starts estrogen and legally changes her name and gender marker at age 15, has bottom surgery at 18 and goes off to college having been "passing" as female since childhood is going to have a vastly different experience than a Black transmasculine person who grew up in poverty in the South, doesn't have a supportive family, came out at 16 and was kicked out and then never finished high school, manages to start testosterone at 23 but isn't able to afford top surgery until they 34 and is often misgendered as a result of not being able to bind in their physical job. They will have completely different backgrounds, experiences, and privileges even if they both started to transition before middle age. And of course "passing privilege" is another can of worms that I'm not going to open here.

Instead of focusing on which group has it harder, it's beneficial to recognize that yes, there are some differences in our experiences, when viewed on average, but that should be used as motivation to help people who genuinely need it instead of just being divisive.

When you notice someone using transphobic arguments or targeting any trans people, you should obviously speak up and fight back on their behalf if you're comfortable-- we have to support each other, but we're all part of the same community and everyone's safety is important. Don't put yourself in danger.

So yeah, I'm tired of rehashing the Discourse and won't be answering questions about that type of topic. Good vibes only lol. In general, we all need to work to foster a sense of solidarity and support within the trans community and be open to listening to the experiences of all trans individuals. Understanding the diverse perspectives within the transgender community can lead to greater empathy and support, and mutual support can be a powerful tool in navigating the challenges of living in a transphobic culture.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I did not check other people's tumblrs for like a week and just caught up on all the Princess Bee stuff! Sorry for the anon shyness, but I have a couple of things:

1. You mind if I draw these suckers and send em to you? Cuz now I really wanna draw the next gen kids, Chester Fester, and timeskip designs for everybody.

2. Holy shit, this is a fun premise! I especially love that Chloe is a lawyer! Like, she'd be so good at it, especially with the way you write her (which is the default Chloe in my brain, tbh). You already have her run the merch department. Her dad is the freaking mayor, even if he is a bad one. She's already really good at knowing which authority can override what and when, she's good at working the system and knowing when it's screwed up, and she's got a helluva sense of justice after all the shit she's been through.

2. Some stuff with Lila: I know it was decided that she was gonna do a grand scheme where she got her petty revenge on Ladybug, but then Ladybug didn't show up after the first few akumas cuz the wish said so, and so she kinda just fucked off for a bit to do lowkey cons using the butterfly. When she sees the new EmmaBug, it brings up unaddressed trauma and she zooms back to Paris and starts being a Problem TM. But, like, what is actually her plan? She's going after the miraculous, but what does she want to do with them? What'll her wish be? I know she doesn't really care about the shit that went down with the Miracuclass anymore (she did get exposed). But she is still real bothered by Ladybug, but we also kinda established that she doesn't really know what she wants. So what are Lila's plans?

3. Thoughts on establishing a rogues gallery:

You said you wanted the main focus to be akuma, so why not have a handful of regularly occurring akumas instead of a new one every time? We've already got Chester as Lila's right-hand man, even if he is gonna be a bit of an inneffectual, comedic, Mr. Pigeon-esque akuma. Why not have Lila amass several other allies to regularly akumatize who want in on whatever she's up to. Lila can be very charming and has been doing on and off cons for like 20+ years. Odds are, she's met some pissed of people willing to do some shady shit to get what they want. Lila was also very much willing to use Chloe for her bullshit back in the day, so she could also maybe manipulate some people into helping her out, especially if you want more kid akumas.

I also think it would be cool if you had a handful of other "rogues" who are unrelated to Lila and aren't actively villainous so much as they are assholes that cause issues. Like, Chloe's enemies from lawyering, some of Jess and Zoe's problems from NYC, the creepy boy who was uncomfortably hitting on Emma and ended out getting Dawn landed in the principal's office in the first place, the previously discussed Chief of Police. Etc.

4. I really like the idea of the kids all being roughly the same age, but a couple years apart. It allows for shenanigans like Hugo and the other younger kids having an awkward gang of middle school pals who know nothing about this shit, shipping the heroes, writing fanfics, giving unsolicited bad advice, etc. And it lets some of the kids be older, more mature, more experienced, and act as mentors to their middle child leader. Kinda how Luka worked for the OGs, but you have more of them with different personalities. Kinda like how digimon adventure had the kids mostly the same age but a little spread out across a few grades.

5. Give Hugo or Louis the horse. That would be a really obvious one to take out for a joyride, and they'd get attached to Kaalki.

That's all for now, ngl, this might be my favorite non HC/LL for Miraculous that you've done (followed up by the double trouble one because sonic jokes).

Welcome back! Okay so

1.) Go for it! Just yeet me a link because I'm bad at remembering to check if I've been tagged in things!

2.) Chloé as a lawyer is honestly my favorite post-canon job for her. That and/or running the hotel. Just put her whole skillset into being used for good

2.5) So Lila! I'm being sympathetic to her instead of making her full evil. Like she's still going to be causing Akumas and also a con artist so morally gray, but not like. Season 4-5 Gabe.

Which has resulted in her motivation being a touch nebulous. In that... Ya girl has been rolling with a lot of depression that she doesn't realize is 'depression' because fuck man what does she have to be 'depressed' about? So she just feels like nothing is 'enough' to make her happy and must find something out there that can 'fix' her.

Seeing the 'Ladybug Returns' both kinda gets in her head of as much she acknowledges her grudge with LB was petty teen stuff, it is unresolved business. And that may make her feel better. However, barring that, the Wish would do whatever she wants. It could 'fix' her. Give her whatever she needs to not feel this hollow emptiness in her chest 24/7.

3.) Honestly having all sorts of nonsense to be problems is GREAT.

4.) Yeah I haven't established much on their ages other than Emma and Louis are twins while Hugo is roughly a year and a half younger (so a grade down). I doubt I'd have everyone in the same class, but the whole group are still friends due to knowing each other for years.

5.) Ha! I'm thinking Louis with the Horse now.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Tamakis' "Roaming"

Tomorrow (September 12) at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. On September 14, I'm hosting the EFF Awards in San Francisco.

Cousins Mariko Tamaki and #JillianTamaki are a graphic storytelling powerhouse, and their latest title, Roaming (from Drawn and Quarterly) is a stunner:

https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/roaming/

Roaming is the story of three young Canadian women meeting up for a getaway to New York City. Zoe and Dani are high-school best friends who haven't seen each other since they graduated and decamped for universities in different cities. Fiona is Dani's art-school classmate, a glamorous and cantankerous artist with an affected air of sophistication.

The three young women check into a youth hostel for a hotly anticipated long weekend, which turns into a complicated and moody marathon of debauchery, bonding, feuding, flirting, resentments and wonders.

The Tamakis' specialty is capturing the charged sexuality, subtle friendship power-moves, and intense but brittle friendship between young women. They're very good at it, which is why they won a Governor General's prize for their 2014 blockbuster This One Summer:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/05/06/review-this-one-summer/

With Roaming we get a dizzying, beautifully wrought three-body problem as the three protagonists struggle with resentments and love, sex and insecurity. The relationships between Zoe, Dani and Fiona careen wildly from scene to scene and even panel to panel, propelled by sly graphic cues and fantastically understated dialog.

Meanwhile, NYC looms large as it only could in a story about young Canadians in the City. It's hard to overstate the glamour with which New York looms in the imagination of (many) young Canadians. Hence the old joke: "How many Canadians does it take to change a lightbulb? Two: one to change the bulb and one to go to New York and make sure lightbulbs are still cool." Or: "Toronto is New York run by the Swiss; the city that never sleeps…in."

I was one of those Canadian adolescents drunk on New York, on several occasions, and even today the City can just floor me. The Tamakis nailed this, from the facial expressions to the body-language of their characters, the push-pull of wanting to go to all the tourist traps and not wanting to be the kind of rube who goes to all the tourist traps.

All my female friends have stories of growing up in intense, three-way friendships that were forever turning into two-on-one fights, with allegiances shifting from moment to moment. Roaming tells the story of one such triangle, forming and shattering and re-forming in a sorefooted, exhilarating weekend in the greatest city in the world (TM). It's a love story about friendship and the transition from adolescence to adulthood, perfectly precise in its depiction of very specific people in a very specific time and place, and yet absolutely universal in the truths it reveals.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/11/as-canadian-as/#possible-under-the-circumstances

[1863-project]

Hi Steph, I went to London last weekend, and I found it quite overwhelming! Especially the tube, its so loud and crowded. I was thinking as you are an enthusiastic New York resident who uses the underground there often, as well as the great Autistic Matriarch, how do you find getting about the city? Is there anything you do to make it easier or do you not find it that bad?

Hi!

Ah, the Tube is a fantastic system! I loved using it when I was in London in 2004! I was impressed by some of the stations having platform doors, which they're only just starting to experiment with here in NYC now.

RE: being a New Yorker and autistic, I don't leave home without my noise-canceling headphones, which make things significantly more accessible for me. That said, I'll still have bad days where people's noise overrides my headphones, especially people who think they're entitled to play music loudly and publicly (often on public transit or in other enclosed spaces).

The public transit part is the easiest, since I'm a Train Autistic (TM) and navigating the subway comes to me as naturally as breathing does. But I do try to avoid peak hours because I don't like being smushed into strangers (who does?) and there's more noise during those times. If there's, say, someone playing music too loudly, people having a noisy conversation, or a baby crying, I can't switch cars until the next station, so minimizing the chances of that is crucial!

[longeyelashedtragedy]

lampard life update

just got the sweetest message from a Very Experienced Social worker i worked with. censoring things that identify the specific place i worked, and my name bc i fucking HATE my name and would rather pretend it didn't exist:

basically this is the kind of feedback i've been getting for the past almost 24 hours--my phone's been blowing up between coworkers and people who work for the City Government (TM). i talked shit on the phone with said Dana this morning (who is...amazing and this very passionate jewish lady who totally plays into my Mommy Issues and she wants to meet me for coffee) and she said she'd act as a reference and gave me some interesting job tips. mind you, i've only known these people since october.

-as i said to protect daniel james i've applied to more jobs in the past 12 hours than frank lampard has applied to in the past 7 months! people are like "you should rest and relax" and like yeah, but i'm not young enough to be on my parents' health insurance anymore and as marieke said, being unemployed in america is scary. being close to broke in nyc is terrifying! i'm stressed as fuck but also never have to enter that trauma pit with the Evil Boss again?

-i was crying last night not even because of me but because of thinking of all the people i work with and support who i didn't get to say goodbye to and i don't know what they will do without my support cause i have no idea who tf will replace me. and whoever does, isn't going to know the context of how to help these people. i literally called some people of my own volition today--i still have access to the city databases that i use--and will have some more calls monday. i cared. i fucking loved my job in terms of the actual duties and responsibilities, and i was GOOD at it when i wasn't being traumatized by, as my New Job Work Bestie said on the phone last night, "a stupid evil cunt." if the shoe fits lol. like literally there are people whose timesheets i sign on fridays and i have no idea who the fuck else can sign them and how will they get paid!!!!! i was frantically texting them at like 11 last night because fuck! that's not fucking right if people don't get paid bc of this evil woman!

-people are advising me to lawyer up and lawyer parents are looking into it. they messed with the wrong bitch! the reason why i am possibly pursuing this is because at the time of my termination~ i had already opened the process of an ADA (americans with disabilities act) accommodation request, feat. a letter from my psychiatrist discussing my PTSD, which is not like. A fun thing to discuss multiple times with multiple people at work, and yet i did. Because i wanted to try to make it work, and all i fucking asked for was to be moved to another job location. My job has around 50 locations. In no universe is that a difficult request, plus, i was asking for a like secondary thing instead which was--fucking staff the vacant position at my job so i was no longer one person doing a two person job.and WEIRDLY, on wednesday i was just told that i WAS getting another person--on monday! she's someone i vaguely know, and we had an amazing zoom talk yesterday afternoon--so like. wtf? the famous dana (see above) said that at the least we could bully them into a better severance package if they were afraid i would sue. The place i worked at is Very Behated in new york and the media thrives on the place getting negative attention.

-another option that occured to me is that i was fired by Evil Boss because she thought i was going to rat her out about things she is doing that are unethical and probably illegal. (i know this sounds dramatic but i won't go into job details in public for various reasons--i already revealed too much in the screenshot!) i was not going to do that, but also i wasn't DEFENDING her and saying what she was doing was okay, and that came to her attention yesterday and she went the fuck off on me. she told me i had to tell the famous dana NOT to inform people that their rights were being violated, and i'm like---I cannot tell someone what to say and not to say, and that would be a REALLY SHADY THING TO SAY? so this bitch probably got spooked. Who even knows what happened but this is clearly one of the most unjust sackings in history 😂 maybe they will hire mourinho to take over my position

-how did i make such a positive impact on 7914433 people while having the most horrific trauma episode since before i started taking meds? damn. i guess i put my whole longeyelashedtragedussy into making connections and truly enjoying them

[virtualbunny]

How would the boys TM deal with an insecure s/o?

Hi bestie! tbh I don't know what TM means and I tried to google it but couldn't get anything up so i'll pretend it's a spelling mistake unless someone corrects me 😅 Anyways i'll do this in a headcon version for so long heh.

Miller's squad: having an insecure s/o

John Miller:

If you're looking yourself in the mirror and crying he'll come up to you from behind and kiss your shoulders

Will tell you over and over again that you're beautiful/handsome or whatever

Mike Horvath:

Doesn't get why you think so about yourself

Knows he get simply change how you feel about yourself that much but tries to make you forget about it

Daniel Jackson:

In his eyes you're the most beautiful creature to ever exist

Writes at least a 100 hand written notes about all the things he finds ethereal about you

If you're crying about yourself he'll kiss away all your tears

Definitely is heartbroken that you feel that way about yourself

Richard Reiben

As your #1 fan his soul would disintegrate everytime you say something bad about yourself

Seriously, he'll hold you in his arms and tell you over and over that you're gorgeous and he won't let go until you you're happy or biting him... concidering that he's literally holding on to you for dear life

Irwin Wade:

Also a bit heartbroken that you feel that way about yourself

Writes does little sticky notes about all the things he loves about you and puts them on every mirror he can find

Will do everything and anything to make you love yourself

Stanley Mellish:

Probably gets a bit angry

Not towards you but towards himself for not making you love yourself enough

Writes songs about all the things he loves about you

Timothy Upham

Everytime you degrade yourself in anyway he'll tear up

As someone who's a good writer (probably better than Jackson ops) he'll write notes and poems about you and why he loves you and everything in between

Adrian Caparzo:

You... insecure? laughs

to him you're the most celestial being

But honestly, is upset at himself for not making it clare to you that you are

As that one guy in nyc one's said: accept yourself, love yourself

[my-excellent-bicycle]

6, 10, 19 20?

6. What task would you want to attempt yourself?

My instinctual answer is always the train yard task from S8, where you sneak up on Alex. I'd definitely recreate this with friends, if only I had any spare railroads nearby that doesn't involve trespassing to access. Also, not sure why but the impress the mayor task from S2, but specifically that same mayor. Oh, and the shopping cart task from S14 seems like a childhood fantasy fulfilled.

10. If you could pick any 5 old contestants to come back for a special, who would they be?

I answered this in a previous ask, but this is an opportunity to give another, more unique answer. Just give me the Five Friends from Taskmaster NZ S2 and I'll be happy. 10 episodes wasn't nearly enough time.

19. When did you discover the show?

Summer 2020 during lockdown. I had already loved James Acaster's standup specials (and saw him live when did a very early version of Cold Lasagne in NYC), but I was still unfamiliar with the wider world of British panel shows. I randomly decided to give S7 a go, and the rest is history.

20. Tell me about a TM moment that lives in your head rent-free.

I sat here thinking about this too hard when the answer was staring right at me in the face!

Greg: I'm not sure if you know all the BMX terms.

Joe Thomas: I know all the terms... wheel?

Greg: What does BMX stand for, Joe?

Joe Thomas: It stands for bicycle, my excellent bicycle.

[lookwhatilost]

Ages ago, I'd started writing a draft effortpost about the damage that I think leftist control of trans issues does to trans issues. It was half rant – as probably most trans people in my reader base here can attest to, leftist culture and leftist norms dominate trans rights spaces, and being out of line with them will lead to you being made an example of in some vicious, nasty ways. It's not just damaging when you're a target. It's damaging even when you're part of the in group, because it fucks with your head in an invisible way when you swallow some of the insane social norms and practices. You get all your opinions from social pressure. And like everyone who escapes from a seemingly all-pervasive in group with such totalizing, black and white, social pressure, like I have been for a long time now, you're desperate to see your escape from that social pressure validated, or to try to hit back and go hard to reclaim your sanity. You first start with tentatively questioning things with a lot of caveats, when deep down, you feel insane that you're having to add caveats to things that seem to make perfect sense, while also feeling insane because "why does nobody else realize this?".

But as the public dialogue got just that little bit worse on trans issues, I shelved it indefinitely. It's the sort of thing that'd probably be fine to post somewhere when there's less macro question of attitude to trans issues, but at a time when "DAE anti-woke?" posting is at an all time high, it didn't seem appropriate.

But I started that post by pointing out that one of the first trans athletes in American olympic history said, on her facebook, was that her dream was to win an American gold medal, so she could burn the American flag on the podium.

Holy fuck.

Could you imagine what that would've fucking done? Trans issues can already seem, to many people, like the fringe, radical, weird "obviously some stuff goes too far" invalid social issue because of its association with leftists, cancel culture, "twitter Wokes(TM)", and so forth. How much worse when you dig that association in with concrete headlines like "First trans olympic medalist burns the American flag on podium"? How many normie moderates would this push over the line, or how many of the few remaining "live and let live" conservatives would radicalize in response to this as right wing and other Facebook media jumped up to say "You see? Trans people really are these radical extremists!"

And the worst part is that we know that a significant number of other trans women, in their continued attempts to burn their hard won, minuscule social capital to the ground, would immediately start celebrating it, and making this very, very, aggressively clear to everyone online, just to make sure the discourse is as bad as possible, and just to also make sure there's extra fuel for anyone who wants to link being trans to being a leftist antifa extremist anarchist who hates America. They'll make sure to tell everyone "Yes! You're right! That's what it means! We are unironically in favor of this!".

So I think it's pretty intuitive to say, leftists are probably hurting liberal social causes.

This isn't an online issue. Leftist activists take over boards of things like NYC pride because of leftist culture online, and remaining part of the in group, is very important to the types of young people who get that involved. That's why NYC Pride banned cops from attending, despite this being opposed by the actual members of NYC pride, because the board overruled them. All those twitter threads about how if you support cops you're being homophobic, or endorsing violence to anyone who's LGBT, and so much else, is kind of undermined by that fact that the rank and file NY pride people couldn't even support that measure, and had to have it ruled over them.

That means liberals should try to take those social causes back.

I think a lot of people's first instinct is "That's not possible, they own the issues now, there's nothing we can do about it". I'm gonna address that in a moment. Because first, it's not really enough to go on our intuitions, we should also probably get some evidence that a certain breed of leftist activism hurts liberal social causes.

One way to do that is go into the evidence that a certain brand of leftist behavior around social issues probably damages the social issues. In terms of tweets online, here's a December 2022 study that shows evidence that leftist posts about race are rated as less informative, more objectionable, generate more backlash from conservatives, and fail to persuade "racial moderates". While meanwhile, "moderately progressive" posts generated more persuasion. That's pretty good evidence!

Also worth considering are backlash effects from corporate diversity training, which given how much of a shift there is in these spaces to be informed by people like Tema Okun, well... I think that supports the premise as well.

That's not much evidence to support the intuition that leftist activism is harmful and liberal activism would be more effective, I grant – but I figure the intuition is strong enough that you just saw some links while I confirmed your priors and went "Damn! Based and Evidence-pilled again!"

But I think frankly, even if there wasn't evidence of it harming the cause in terms of public opinion, the evidence that it harms the causes via the effects it has on the people it's supposed to advocate for are frankly reason enough to care. I genuinely, legitimately don't think there will be one trans user who will read this post and go "Actually, leftist dominance of trans spaces has never negatively effected me".

Some people would say "But that's just online, not real life" – again, remember NY pride. Gay leftists are the ones who overruled the normal people, taking over positions of power in important organizations, and probably the types of important organizations that say, media people consult with to learn what the appropriate, sensitive language is, or what kind of things are correct to say about trans people. In a real way, it provides really strong control over the narrative!

Leftists also believe in intersectionality – that is, that all these causes and issues are inseparable, and that this should be emphasized as much as possible. The practical result is that the issue will never be separated, in public, from other causes, and so whatever cause is being represented by leftists will be associated with every other leftist cause as they grow more power over activist organizations.

It's very easy to sound like you're exaggerating, alarmist, and insane over this stuff, but huge swathes of leftist culture are basically dangerous to liberalism! It's bad mentally to be in, and it basically outright encourages thinking not based on the facts, or reason – which can be hostilely dismissed as debate bro culture or whatever the fuck – but on basically just pure social influence. I have posted about this before, but opinions in leftist spaces get washed through a complex process of authority, social proof, and rationalization, while also creating immense social and moral pressure to make adopting whatever the Right Opinion is mandatory. If you're someone who touches grass, and doesn't get involved in these sorts of things, this might seem like an insane, alarmist description of it. But it's why opinions spread in leftist spaces the way they do, and it's one more reason why it's important that we try to ensure that liberal perspectives can win out for liberal causes.

I have a really simply solution to this: Liberals should become activists, or interested in supporting activists.

But as people would generally recognize, social causes are very hard, and doing social causes to attempt to replace leftist influence is an extremely steep mountain to climb for the amount of liberals who can be bothered to do something at all. All of that's true, but it's not an argument against doing activism. A marginal positive effect is a marginal positive effect. Why shouldn't we pursue that? If you pursue marginal positive effects over time, then they add up. I'm fully aware that there's not going to be some massive liberal activist org over night that can engage in Evidence Based Activism or fund and support mass deep canvassing efforts, since I don't even know if the HRC can afford that sort of thing.

But a beginning investment in the kind of infrastructure, knowledge, framework, experience, support, or spaces in general for liberal approaches to social causes, particularly anything that emphasizes an evidence based approach, could have a lot of potential for success. Even if they're small successes, over time creating these networks of liberal social activists, even if they don't do much other than assist in research for effective ways of reducing prejudice, or create and promote liberal perspectives on the issues with like meme instagram pages, or whatever, can build up over time. That's the value of organizing.

It's definitely not much. But we don't need to leave marginal positive utility on the table while the cost per unit is low enough to make it profitable!

[cidthecoatrack-blog]

This is a place where I can post anything with basically zero (0) concern of the "wrong" someone seeing it, so here we go:

I was let go from my company beginning of June, so I have been on the job hunt. I work in tech, and it's common for recruiters to match candidates to employers (they get a commission based on the candidate's salary if the employer hires them). I have worked with many recruiters, some better than others. Almost every job I have had in my career has been through a recruiter. Nothing against recruiters, in fact I like working with them because they handle negotiations for me (I am wildly non-confrontational). So all in all, no complaints.

TODAY, however, there are Complaints (TM).

Recruiter emails me asking to schedule a time for a call, say they have opportunities that would be a good match for me. This is not abnormal. However, this woman is AGGRESSIVE. I am talking 5 emails in as many minutes. And this is after 4:30 PM. Flag #1.

I sent her my resume and basic compensation expectations. She immediately responds asking for the best number to reach me.

Folks, the number is literally at the top of the resume I just sent her. Flag #2.

She asks when would work best. I say before 1 the next day, because I have other obligations later that day. She schedules a 30 min call at 12:30. Cutting it close, but that's fine.

My dear friends, at 12:26, she abruptly rescheduled it for 4:30 PM that same day. Which, notably, is not in a time frame I said I would be available. Also, this was not asked. No "hey can we reschedule". She just changed the calendar invite without checking. Flag #3

As it turned out, I could make it work. She calls at 4:30. Folks, we have barely gotten through introductions when she IMMEDIATELY launches into a rant about my strong preference for remote work. Like, at least 5 minute rant, if not closer to 10. Saying absolutely no one will hire remote. All employers want in office. Oh, how she WISHED it would be remote, makes her job so much easier, and she "totally understood" why I am not willing to spend my time and money to be less productive, but kept repeating how it was a non-starter for every employer.

Let me tell you something, my dear readers. I have applied to well over a hundred jobs over the past few weeks, the vast majority of which were remote-only. I am deep in the interview process with several companies, all of whom are very aware that I want remote. And who are more than happy to grant it. Even prefer it. For context, one of these companies is Electronic Arts (the video game company). The other is Hewlett Packard. These are not small players. So I know this is complete bullshit she is spewing. Flag #4

I had mentioned when I sent the resume that I was interviewing with several companies, so new opportunities would have to move quickly. I had not mentioned the names of said companies. However, she briefly interrupts her tirade about my unreasonable demands to ask what the companies were. I mention them, notably HP. She then says, "Well, a lot of companies say remote, but then the offer is hybrid, or it's remote and then they switch to in office after a few months. Here, let me google the HP work from home policy. Hmm, this seems to say you have to be in office 3 days a week, and they have a tracker so they know your location, definitely not remote." Lord knows what she was reading. But this was where it dawned on me that she was Negging me. Flag #WTF

Also, for what it was worth, even IF a company wanted to pull the nonsense she described, one of the other companies I am DEEP in the interview process with is based on the west coast, hires all over the country, and wants ONLY remote. So she can stuff it with "no one hires remote" bullshit.

I explain that when I did go into the city (I live outside NYC) for my previous job, it was 2 hours. Each way. She brushes it off. "Oh, I don't live far from where you are, it's more manageable than that." Like, does she think I don't know how fucking TIME works? That somehow when I left the house at 9, I DIDN'T get to the office at 11:15? Still, she starts to look at other places, ones that are a 30 minute drive each way from my house. "These would be 3 days a week in office. And you definitely can't ask for more money. And they won't negotiate on anything." Pardon, but, My Dear Bitch, IT'S YOUR WHOLE DAMN JOB TO NEGOTIATE. Thanks for advertising you are terrible at this. "But you know, these FinTech companies always have lots of good perks and stuff." Huh, notably, you don't mention what any of those perks might be. Is it because you don't understand them, or that you are just making shit up to compensate for your inability to do your job, to negotiate a better salary for me?

Hah, that reminds me: she claimed to "specialize" in FinTech companies. FinTech = Finance Tech. These are your hedge funds, your tech start ups. These things are RIFE with cash, and if you have the skills they want, they will throw a Scrooge McDuck comical amount of money at you. And yet, she was adamant that because of my stated minimum salary requirements, that I would be at the upper end of their salary ranges, and I definitely couldn't get more money. I am a software developer with over 10 years of experience. I have done literally everything under the sun and will pick up new things at the drop of a hat. My minimum salary requirements are me taking a full DECADE to realize how much I am actually worth, and asserting myself that I will not be taken advantage of anymore. And you have the GALL to tell me that a hedge fund owned by whoever it is that owns the Mets (she made a point about that, but she did know his name, I have since forgotten and will not be bothered to google it) can't afford to pay more? And while being "young" and "hip", still subscribe to the ancient practice of Butts In Seats, and not Just Get the Shit Done From Wherever? Flag #What absurd Shakespearean tragedy is this

Oh, did I mention she was cursing left and right? Dropped multiple F bombs casually. Personally, I couldn't give a fuck about language, but it was a certain flavor of Icing on an Unprofessionalism Cake. Kept trying to excuse it as "oh I am old school, I am a dinosaur, I won't sugar coat things. These YOUNGER recruiters will blow smoke up your ass and tell you anything you want, but I deal with reality. I put a lot of people off, they leave to work with someone else, and 3 months later they call me and say I was right all along." Tell me you're a Boomer without telling me you're a Boomer.

Oh, and let us not omit the strange ageism either. "Yeah, so this company sounds up you're alley. Their Finance, young and hip, sounds like you." What, other than Not Sounding Like a Dinosaur, told you I am "young" and "hip"? I am a 33 year old father. I am neither young nor hip. And honestly, in the tech world, I am myself the dinosaur for the most part. But perhaps compared to you, I do possess such youth and vigor.

Strangest and most unpleasant phone call I have ever had.

[cagesings]

For the 'send a hc' meme:

1.) for their modern verse when they get to the US I'm fairly certain Johanna is the first to kind of call out that New York Sucks(TM) noted, the west side is no longer there so the area of NYC that Riff lives in is probably on the lower east side in one of the last areas that is very much public housing. also the nature of gangs is different so I'm fairly certain Riff is a drug dealer in this verse. That being said i think they make a plan to not stay in new york just in case the judge's arm is very long and both agree to go back to the state that Anthony is from because lbr Anthony would have only said good things about it. Anthony's family was stationed in new york for a very long time i feel, since it had to be enough time for riff to be very good friends with him since he replaces Tony in our verses.

2.) in their Victorian verse i still think they eat most meals with the rest of the farm even after getting their own house until Johanna can cook better and baby number 2 comes along. They got pressured into a house warming dinner party before they even had a stove or dining room table, but it ended up being a lot of fun.

i have sinday thoughts too since that trauma is a lot for them to process and grow together through, but atm i don't have any deep hcs, just fluffy and positional ones. not sure how appropriate that is to send through the inbox XD sorry!

ugly mobile post because this can’t wait. 1. oh, absolutely. i think that this is when johanna realizes that she just doesn’t like living in big cities either. there’s too many people and she doesn’t feel safe. she’s going to move them to a little middle-of-nowhere town where it’s big enough for them not to know everyone because she’s still paranoid but small enough to not get overwhelmed. since communication is a lot easier, she stays in touch with anthony’s family ( she didn’t get to meet all of them but they’re what’s left of him ). johanna had started schooling by the time turpin found out about anthony and their plans to elope so she wants to finish her schooling and get a job. once she finds out what riff does for a living, she wants him to stop because what if he gets arrested? also she just doesn’t like it. once turpin is dead, she inherits his money so while they can get by on what she makes and that money for awhile, she will help him find a new job. 

i image that anthony was born in an east coast state (i’m thinking massachusetts? lowkey going off of vibes but), lived here until he was five or six which for him is enough time to fall in love with a place - even if he was just a kid, his family moved to new york on his dad’s new assignment and grew up there alongside riff until they moved to london. 

2. it’s probably going to take awhile for johanna to become better at cooking because no matter what, she isn’t going to be good at it. a lot of trial and error. she still burns a lot of it. she still undercooks things. it’s probably good that they keep eating at the house for that reason and while she doesn’t like eating in front of a lot of people, they distract her enough to get her through it. she’ll be upset about the surprise housewarming party at first because shouldn’t they be giving them a housewarming party? they’re the ones trying to move into a house with a three year old and they expect them to throw the party in the midst of all the chaos? but johanna likes that she gets to do something that she’s never been able to do before. also if baby number two is a girl, she is going to insist her name is sophie because if he has a family name they can use, why not use it? it helps that it’s pretty. 

[themusicsweetly]

Outlander Season 5 NYC Premiere @ 92Y

Outlander Panel

The panel was after the episode was shown, so there are definite spoilery things that I won’t be sharing. But overall it was a GREAT panel! Caitriona + Sam were their effervescent selves, aided even more by some whisky (and I think by some pre-gaming as well xD). 

I posted a whole bunch of videos on my Twitter feed HERE. I’ll post a select few on here too!

I also livetweeted during the event (when either Diana or R*k was talking... Sorry not at all sorry) so you can find that on my timeline as well, but here are the highlights:

- Caitriona + Sam talked a lot about being producers. Caitriona said they’ve always, in some way, had input and ideas for the season / episodes, but now their seat at the table is official. Sam says it’s a fitting role for them because they are “the consistency”. Sam says of Caitriona as a producer: “I think your influence will be felt.”

- Sam said he feels the writing is better than in the previous season, especially the overall arc of the season. Caitriona mentioned that it brought back the feel of Season 1.

- Diana needs a filter. Full stop.

- Caitriona talks about Claire having a “balance” this season, even though she and Sam both agree “it doesn’t last”. She talks about Claire’s medical passion and alluded to the various penicillin storylines!

- Sam: “In relation to Claire, she’s leading him and he’s learning a lot from her.”

- Caitriona says Sam’s work in the ep where he wears a red coat is some of his best work.

- Caitriona + Sam talking about the kid on set was HILARIOUS.

- “He’s still my toy boy.” — Caitriona Balfe about Jamie

- Tobias was busy with The Crown so there will be NO Fr*nk cameo HALLELUJAH.

- Cheer!SamCait is the SamCait everyone never knew the needed

- I will never tire of hearing how much Caitriona + Sam giggle together on set. Never. Ever.

Outlander Screening

I'll start off by saying this: overall, this premiere has left me feeling positive about the rest of the season. There were things that I didn't like and thought we could have definitely done without. But there were also bits that, for this particular episode, I expected and also expect it to have a different vibe going forward. Overall there was a lot of what I wanted to see, a lot of what I wanted to hear, and felt like the concerns of Season 4 were... definitely not fixed with this one ep, but on the way to seeing that those concerns were heard.

Below is my attempt a spoiler free review of the Season 5 premiere! But just in case...

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR OUTLANDER 5x01 BELOW~~~ ~~~SERIOUSLY, DON’T COMPLAIN I DIDN’T WARN YOU~~~

Outlander 5x01 - “The Fiery Cross”

First off, all those early reviews so far saying Sam killed it in this episode? Spot on. Anything I say about the remarkable scene he was in at the end would be very spoilery, but safe to say he really was fantastic and this definitely was his episode.

This ep started off really surprising me simply because there were a TON of small humorous moments, which I feel is a new vibe for Outlander. And not just in the first 5 minutes that has already been released, but throughout the episode. Jamie especially had some interesting bits of dry humor.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Brianna and R*ger get married in the premiere considering it's been in every single promo to date lol. There was a moment before the ceremony, though, where Claire and Brianna are having a moment alone that I thought was a really, really wonderful culmination of their relationship thus far. And of Claire's journey from the very start of the series to now. The barely constrained emotions from Claire really hit all of that home for me. Jamie and Brianna also have a quiet moment alone together. While this was a very touching scene, there were some parts of it that seemed forced. One line in particular I felt was unearned thus far. I think over the course of this season, we can still earn moments like that and have them feel genuine, but this one felt like it could have waited.

There was a particular line from the book that made an appearance in this episode, that was used in a VERY different context than intended. I think that it made for a nice small moment, especially considering who was in that particular shot, but it also took me by surprise. And makes me wonder about the condensing of TFC.

I think all the side characters had really great opportunities this episode to shine in their own way. Fergus x Marsali were fantastic and this just confirmed that I would LOVE to see more of them. Even Wee Germain stole some scenes without even trying! I can see why Caitriona called Robbie, the boy who plays Germain, the "MVP" of the season xD And of course, Jocasta and Murtagh... I'll leave it at that for them...

I feel like in this ep — even when she was not front-and-center — Claire was the backbone of a lot of the emotional moments. I always love seeing Caitriona's emotional range, which I think she did well here bouncing from funny to tender to serious concern. That said, I sincerely hope that we get bigger moments with and for her in the coming episodes.

Jamie x Claire. What can I say, I loved every single moment with them. I mean, obviously ALL of their scenes make an ep for me, but there was one that was SO impactful, needing zero words and just their emotions splashed across their faces. This scene got a HUGE cheer from the audience. It's always moments like these that really showcase the depth of their chemistry, when they're able to relay a lifetime of meaning in one single look.

Other Jamie x Claire things I loved: Grandda + Granny Frasers! Amorous Frasers! Fun and flirty, Frasers! Quiet, worried Frasers! Nostalgic Frasers! And YES: Seckay Times Frasers! They had some really great beats, despite this episode centering around another couple's wedding. I'd say that there were even times that Jamie x Claire were PURPOSEFULLY pushed to the forefront as if to say, "These two. These two are why we're here in the first place." There was even a moment I felt that the moment would have been expected to focus on MacBree, but we saw classic Jamie x Claire instead. While there was a moment of intermixing of the two couples' moments that did feel a bit... strange... I think for the most part I enjoyed the play off of each other.

Other moments that I really loved: - Jamie x Fergus moment. I could use more of these moments, please and thank you! And give us so many Claire x Fergus moments, too!!! I need those Milord x Milady x Fergus moments like WHOA. - Sassy mouthed children. 'Nuff said. - Soldier!JAMMF - Protective Da!Jamie - Claire in her surgery!!! - Jamie commenting on Claire in her surgery and a moment of SCIENCE talk! - THE MUSIC!! There were some great call back pieces of music. Very noticeable ones from Season 2 and Season 4 which I thought worked brilliantly. And hearing the new theme song played in surround sound like that? CHILLS. - Caitriona + Sam’s names look SO good up there alongside their “Producer” title 💜💜💜

There were also things I could have done without. One in particular that I feel most strongly about is a scene that appears in the recap and then again in more detail in a flashback. One or the other would have been far more than enough, and even then I don't think it was completely necessary. It does make me worried about upcoming storylines and graphicness, but I'm hoping our newest Producers will have helped shape that to a great extent.

Watching this episode and hearing the passionate way Caitriona + Sam talked about it and the season as a whole (as well as shading Season 4 in their own way) really makes me excited to see the rest of this season. I think we'll have really strong stories, greatly drawn characters, and two amazing actors leading the way. Cannot wait for you all to experience it as well!

[antiloreolympus]

9 Anti LO Asks

1. i know this is a more obscure reference but lo hades looks like a bad knock off of thrawn from the stars wars extended universe (who is legit one of the best written villains ever). like their coloring and clothing is almost exactly the same minus hades being prematurely graying 💀

2. i also dont get how this flashback to how hermes and persephone met makes much sense bc like?? shes so smug and kinda egoistical in it which i would like if it weren't for the fact that completely contradicts her actual personality in story? like the first ep with her (ep 2) persephone is worried she'll be seen as a dumb village girl, but in this flashback shes confident and demanding respect, so which one is it?? also its a shame it seems all her confidence left when she met hades tbh :/

3. OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO BRING THIS UP IN MY LAST CRITIQUE BUT— Is it just me or does it feel like Maia was only depicted with that body type just for Zeus’s pervy boob comment??? That’s the first thing I thought when I read the chapter for the first time!!

4. I’m sorry but MAIA is not some powerless no name. She was literally worshipped and had temples, where is Rachel getting the idea she’s a nobody? Even if Maia is a minor goddess she’s still a goddess. Stop depowering and undervaluing all the women to prop Persephone up, who also gets depowered and devalued for Hades! 

5. everytime i look at your profile and banner picture it gets funnier i love that little lady

6. also in terms of how american LO is .... "america" as we know it now did NOT exist in the timeline LO is apparently on, so there's not post 1950s america to be drawn from. what was actually there was the many native tribes and their own pantheons, so it just makes no sense? the setting and aesthetics dont add anything to the series either, so i really dont see why it was implemented when it doesnt make it seem unique at all, it just seems like another generic story set in NYC.

7. Kinda wild how the original concept art for LO was basically Rachel being a weeaboo and now the actual product is her being an ameriaboo. girl its greek maybe stick to that than thinking america is the peak of power and glamour, and i say that as an american. it sucks here.

8. i still do not get the logic at all of having apollo and hades be damn near carbon copies to each other. youd think the actual move would to make sure hades is the exact opposite of him (you know, so itd be clear why persephone wants him) but instead apollo and hades is exactly the same, the only difference is one assaulted her just to make the other one look better in comparison, which is an awful way to go about making hades look actually decent.

9. Hello,

Do you know about clementine productions TM she i think Was the first to critizise LO and RS (and let's play and true beauty but nobody really critizises them anymore)

What is your opinion of her?

Lots of love

From OP: I watched her video the first month it came out so I don’t remember it well but I remember enjoying that video (along with the other ones she made). Apparently, she was someone’s abuser and ended up deleting all her socials sometime after that twitter thread came out I believe. So, I don’t have an opinion of her.

(About the video: I’ve done all I could to look for that LO/True Beauty/Let’s Play video and its transcript but it couldn’t be found.)

[pointnumbersixteen]

Imagine if captain saw Captain America: The First Avenger as most of it is set during ww2

I think Cap would love the first part of Captain America: the First Avenger. First, there's the 40's aesthetic, the music, all the handsome men.

And, I mean, you can easily interpret that there's some sort of romantic relationship between Bucky and Steve (who will be known as Steve through this writing, because the Captain is Cap for me and things could easily get confusing). I mean, just look at the way they look at each other. Just look at the way they talk to each other. Steve has no interest dancing with those two girls Bucky picked up. This is a longstanding disagreement between them. Bucky thinks it would be best if they both had beards (by which I mean young women to go through the motions of dating, to prevent people from guessing they're gay) and Steve really isn't interested in doing that.

And then it gets better: Steve, who really wants to be in the military, but who has basically none of the qualities desirable to the military besides a willingness to jump on bombs and a very occasional clever thought, gets picked anyway, to be The-Best-Soldier-Ever-TM. And the Captain, who really was in the military and devoted to it, but who had basically none of the qualities desirable to the military besides a willingness to jump on bombs and a very occasional clever thought, likes this idea.

And then it gets better: Steve goes into the super-soldier machine and comes out with pecs and abs you could just lick. I absolutely believe the Captain would have this thought. (Well, I certainly did anyway.) This just gets better and better, doesn't it?

Except it doesn't. First, it sort of stalls. Cap's in the rear when we see him in the wartime flashbacks in Redding Weddy, but I think, at least, that he would have much rather been at the front. Steve could probably quite easily go to the front after taking the serum if he wanted to, but instead he agrees to stay in the rear... and join a chorus line show? The chorus line show does speak to the Captain's inner theater gay, but he doesn't necessarily understand or approve of this choice. I mean, Bucky's out there. Go join him, dude.

Then it gets worse: part of the movie's going to be set in wartime Britain... but most of the British people we see are extra shitty, to help prove how great the Americans are in comparison. And really, the British took the harder blow from Germany in WWII, but in this movie, as in life, America gets all of the glory and a lot of the credit.

Then it gets worse: instead of this actually being a movie about WWII, but with a very hot super soldier, a premise that Cap would probably very much enjoy... we use the fight against Hitler and fascism as a backdrop for a bizarre film about a madman who melted his own face off to gain superpowers then used ancient Norse magic-ish to make pew-pew vaporizing guns, but pew-pew vaporizing guns none of the bad guys can apparently use to any effect, because they never seem to hit any of the good guys with them, which we see when Steve the super-soldier-hero raids the weapons research facilities various times, plowing his way through scores of scientists and security guards who can't shoot (and super soldier against weakling untrained scientists and bottom-of-the-barrel soldiers who can't shoot really isn't much of a fight, is it?).

Then it gets worse: there's a hope spot where Steve rescues his boyfriend Bucky from a POW camp housed in one of these research bases and it looks like this could be turned into a lovely gay hurt-comfort plot. But no. No. No. Bucky is killed off shortly thereafter instead, plunged off a mountain utterly senselessly, after one of those Cliffhanger failed give-me-your-hand moments instead. It looks like it's a bury-your-gays sort of day.

Then it gets worse: because suddenly Steve is very straight? And very in love? With a woman? Whom he's only spent a matter of probably a few hours with, at least that we can see? Almost always in company, and almost always bickering when not? And he is madly in love with her? And she is the love of his life?

Then it gets worse: because the big-baddie suddenly decides to deal with the problem of Captain America destroying most of his facilities by... blowing up all the major cities in America? Like, I feel like there are a host of solutions that would make more sense. And then he touches the magic-shiny-box and gets sucked off to magic-shiny-box land.

Then it gets worse: because Captain America deals with this whole plane issue by... plunging himself to near certain doom into the freezing ocean. Like, I feel like there are a host of solutions that would make more sense than that, too.

But wait! There's a twist ending: but it's kind of meh. Steve's actually alive, frozen, rescued, and dethawed in modern day New York City! Except... while for us, that's a pretty cool ending, in a look-the-WWII-super-soldier-is-in-our-time-now way, for the Captain, modern day New York City is as meaningless to him as it was to Steve. More so, even, because he at least is from NYC and future Times Square is probably recognizable as future Times Square to him. Future (Modern) Times Square means nothing to Cap. And maybe he thinks the idea is a bit cool... like, what would it be like if he was suddenly alive in modern times? But of course, Steve's major regret at the end of the movie is that he missed his heterosexual dancing date, so the whole thing ends on a low note.

Overall, I do not think the Captain would come out a big fan of the Captain America movies, first or otherwise. But he might sit through the first part of it again, if someone else wanted to watch... because damn those abs you could lick... and that chorus line bit with Hitler really isn't bad stuff.

[gunshou]

This is probably a bad idea, but...

So @luna-rainbow has been posting quite a bit about the portrayal of racism in TFATWS and how it's difficult for non-Americans to understand why Sam didn't want the shield and why he didn't just explain his thinking to Bucky. I replied that I wanted to try and tackle that question, so here we go.

BIG DISCLAIMER: I am a white, middle-aged, cis woman living in the northeastern USA, so I am really in no way the proper spokesperson for this topic. I'm not going to put forth my views as truth, but instead try to explain why I think Sam was so ambivalent and why Bucky just didn't get it (and probably still doesn't even if the writers gave him a small epiphany in the penultimate episode).

Everyone knows that the US was built on the bleeding backs of Black slaves. There is no rational way to dispute this disgusting fact, but the white people who have been in power in this country since forever have done such a good job of normalizing and minimizing the ramifications of that fact that many Americans just go through their lives and never, ever, consider it. Schools teach history, but it's often sanitized and presented in a very "Oops, our bad, sorry y'all" manner that makes young students feel like it was Very Very Long Ago and Over Now. I'm a high school teacher (of literature, not history, but they're intertwined) in a school where I know my colleagues in the Hx Dept are teaching racism as a living, breathing, hideously present concept, and I still have kids tell me every day that "America isn't like that now" as if examples of racial bias and systemic oppression aren't all around them.

In my mostly white district, the few Black kids don't speak up in these discussions, and lord, I do not blame them one bit. For one, they are tired. Tired of being oppressed, tired of talking about it, tired of trying to make other people see their lives and their struggles. Second, no one wants to be the Poster Child and have to bear the ignorance and intrusive interest of their peers. I imagine Sam feels similarly, and that's why he just never gets into it with Bucky. Sam is an optimistic and positive-thinking guy, and probably wants to talk about a million other topics before he wants to educate a 106-year-old white dude about the Black American Experience, and that's his damn right, good for him.

Said 106-year-old, by the way, has literally no concept of what being Black in America means. Luna-rainbow likened him to an immigrant in his own country, and there's some merit to that, especially considering the bulk of his conditioning as the Winter Soldier was at the hands of our Cold War enemies who were invested in making Bucky see America as an enemy. But mostly, the problem is that Bucky was asleep or absent from normal life during one of the most racially tumultuous times of our history. Now, the man lived in NYC, one of the most diverse cities in the USA, and seems relatively chill for having grown up in Ye Olden Times. But he likely hasn't studied the Civil Rights Movement, and how the Whites In Charge panic-reacted to the idea of other people having basic human rights with a coordinated and systemic effort to stop that shit in its tracks while appearing to bow to the social zeitgeist. Jim Crow, Confederate statutes, voter oppression, gerrymandering, redlining -- all the things that the United States Government did (and still does) to keep those BIPOC in their proper place and whites in power -- are often big news to modern people, so of course Bucky wouldn't get it.

He wouldn't intrinsically understand that The Shield represents a government that did its GD best to keep Black people poor, ignorant, and powerless while at the same time pretending to advance them and congratulating itself on how well it tied justice into knots and r*ped that blindfolded bitch holding the scales. He wouldn't know that Sam struggles with how to best embody his hope for the country he loves while also acknowledging that his country doesn't really love him all that much. How conflicted he must be as a veteran who fights for freedom while knowing he's not free to be treated with the dignity and respect everyone deserves. That Shield is government property, Sam is told many times, and to take it up means being the face and mouthpiece of a government that does not look, act, or experience life the way he does. A government that doesn't want him to gain power and will do basically anything to keep him down while all the while denying that they're doing any such thing. Captain America may visibly punch out Nazis, but is he punching out Karens? Or racist cops? Or racist teachers? "A complicated legacy," indeed.

So yeah, there's no way Bucky could know why Sam refused the shield and Bucky took it personally, as a rejection of Steve Rogers himself. And maybe to explain that would have forced Bucky to confront that while he is still Steve's Best Sidekick(TM), Steve abandoned him to this crazy future of alien invasions and divisive politics and tiger selfies and Bucky really just cannot deal. So he just gets pissy about it.

And Sam, for his part, was not going to unpack 70 years of American history and racism because that shit is tiring, especially when he's literally living in it right the f now. So he gets rightfully pissy about Bucky's inability to let it go.

And TFATWS writers go traipsing into the sunset congratulating themselves on the buddy cop story they pounded out that has all the buzzwords and the right tone for our post(?)-BLM times without ever once delving as deep into the story as the topic deserves. And people are confused and disappointed and don't really know why. But the truth is that 200+ years of history and oppression are not easily condensed into a 6-hour superhero TV show, and maybe the writers should have given some damn thought to how much they could realistically convey with sophistication and sensitivity instead of trying to have it all. Because we deserved better, not just as fans, but as critical viewers. (On the other hand, hooray for some people having these discussions instead of just saying BuT it'S JuST FiCTioN LiGhTen UP. Because it is never "just fiction," it is a reflection of our lives and has weight as such.)

Thanks for coming to my long-winded TED Talk, please don't send me hate mail. I'm already having a panic attack at having posted this.