#Tw: genocide

[imperiuswrecked]

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian babies that were left to starve to death then rot in their beds by the IOF.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian doctors surrounded by bodies of dead children begging the world to stop the slaughter.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian children who held a press conference in English to beg the world to stop murdering them because they want to live.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian Priest who said "We will not accept your apology after the genocide" to the world.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian Imam who used the speakers of the Mosque, not to call people to prayer but to call out to God while the world around them was burning from American supplied Israeli bombs.

I'm never forgetting the grandfather who held his dead grandchild in his arms. Or the father carrying the remains of his two children in plastic shopping bags. Or the mother holding her dead child in a shroud. Or the father sitting among the rubble after he lost his whole family. Or the girl trapped under a broken building begging for people to save her family first. Or the boy who cried when he saw his brother alive. Or the girl who asked if she was still alive after being pulled from the rubble. Or the boy who carried the remains of his brother in his backpack. Or the old man the IOF used for a photoshoot before they shot him dead after getting pictures. Or the little boy wearing plastic gloves to pick up the remains of his family. Or the graves desecrated. Or the body of that small baby girl left alone in a tent because no one knew who she was or if her family was alive, small and alone and not one person who knew her name to bury her. Or the young boy who was shot in the street while his sister watched from the window. Or the men and boys who were stripped naked in winter. Or those tortured. Or those made to stand in open graves. Or the people who were raped by IOF soldiers. Or Palestinian workers kidnapped by the IOF and then labeled with wristbands, each one reduced to a number, then made to walk back to Gaza to be killed in the world's largest open air concentration camp. Or the people of Gaza starving because Israeli Zionists are blocking aid trucks. Or the Israelis dancing and celebrating the death of Palestinians. Or the lies spread by Zionists and their supporters. Or the people profiting off the oppression and deaths of Palestinians. Or the people of the West Bank being killed or kidnapped by the IOF. Or old woman who was older than the creation of the terror state of "Israel" who was shot by snipers for saying that. Or the Israelis dressed up as Palestinians to enter a hospital and kill three Palestinians in their beds. Or every single Palestinian currently kept in an Israeli prison. Or the journalists, doctors, poets, men, women, children, and the unborn all massacred. Or the fact that WCNSF exists now. Or the woman who refused to wash the blood from her hands. Or the dead, unburied and unmourned.

I'm never forgetting those who chose silence in the face of a genocide.

I may not know all their names but I will not forget the over 30,000 Palestinians dead. Or the over 60, 000 people hurt. Or the unknown number of people missing, still lost under the rubble. Or the 12,000 children slaughtered. An entire generation crippled or murdered.

I will never forget these things when Palestine is free.

[suguru-getos]

And also what I find hilarious is Terrorists coming in to Indian borders, attacking tourists, fucking civilian tourists (Hindus), telling them to recite Kalma or whatever that is to prove they’re Muslim, checking their Penis to see if they’re circumsised, and then killing 27 people. India attacking the same terrorist camps is such a problem? Go die 💀

[betty-fran]

Long post about the impact of traumatic experiences on Jim Kirk's behavior, and how the difference in these experiences makes TOS and AOS so not similar

This is a rather subjective topic, but I've thought a lot about it because of my work in art therapy for traumatic experiences, and after reading these two great TOS analyses about Jim is a victim of SA here and here by @sad-trekkie-life I decided to compile my thoughts about this in one place.

(this is a subjective opinion, not a scientific article, and you are absolutely free to disagree with this)

tw: mentions of dv, genocide, sa/csa, please be careful

I first encountered how Kirk's character is read through experience as a victim of SA in... AOS fanfictions, and before I started watching TOS, I actually thought it was some kind of only AOS fandom thing, which was strange to me because there were no direct hints of it in the movies. Still, it could be explained considering the time and environment in which AOS was released. People write things influenced by their own life experiences, and what proportion of people experience SA in their lives in modern society? How many experience DV? Especially as children? And how many of them get help? When the first AOS movie came out in 2009, I was 13 and had my own experience of domestic violence in the house where I lived. And I lived in a family of educated middle-class people. Domestic violence is actually something that happens not only in poor neighborhoods, often it can be things that are not as easy to classify as real "violence", and which are not taken seriously when you seek help. I'm sure that the situation with DV in America is even worse than in Europe, and if we are talking about the 21st century, this is undoubtedly part of it.

JJ Abrams is not a director of poetic or philosophical cinema (no one doubts this) and while AOS clearly lacks the depth, subtlety, and sensitivity of the original series, it's very much a product of its time (and for its time, it has well-preserved this “We change. We have to. Or we spend the rest of our lives fighting the same battles” idea of ​​Star Trek about becoming better, kinder, and learning to empathize). Yes, Pines' Kirk is no Shatner's Kirk, but where the hell would you find someone like the original Jim Kirk in all this capitalist cynicism, millennialism, narcissism, self-centeredness, and dystopian sentiment after 9/11? AOS Kirk was very adaptable to the environment in which he was created, and this is the main reason why I think the headcanon of AOS Kirk's childhood/teenage SA experiences isn't that far off the mark.

We are shown a boy growing up without a father on a godforsaken farm in a small town somewhere in the middle of Iowa and having noticeable self-destructive tendencies and a lack of fear of his own death; his mother is not mentioned (except at the very beginning, which makes you wonder if she even figures in his life), but a certain Frank is mentioned, who is apparently the only adult male figure in his surrounding (read: a person who has power), and with whom he has a clearly strained relationship; in one of the cut scenes, we are also shown that his older brother, ran away from their home when he was a teenager and left Jim, who was still a child, alone with the problems he was running away from. These are all just blatant red flags of domestic abuse and emotional neglect, which I consider canon for AOS Kirk. It doesn't confirm, but it doesn't deny, the possibility of SA being a part of this experience. Especially if we add that in adulthood Kirk demonstrates all possible mechanisms for not overcoming traumatic experiences - avoiding responsibility for his own life and thoughts about the future; self-destructive tendencies - alcoholism, aimless fights, promiscuous sexual contacts; lack of trust in people and outright disrespect for authority; and, the most important, lack of any shock at violence against himself as if it's deserved and expected.

Like TOS Kirk, he have a quick reaction in dangerous situations, high stress tolerance and efficiency under pressure, and like TOS Kirk, he easily uses his body to survive, protect others, or achieve what he wants, both in situations where this means flirting and sexual contact, and in situations where it means taking on pain or sacrificing his life; he easily distances himself from his own body, and like TOS Kirk, his survival reaction is instinctive, unconscious, sewn deep under the skin by constant repetition.

But for me, that's where they're perceived so differently: TOS Kirk survival reaction is the result of the Tarsus IV genocide, AOS Kirk survival reaction is the result of domestic violence. This is, of course, my headcanon, but I think that Tarsus was never mentioned in AOS not only because Abrams forgot? didn't know? it, but also because in 2009 it wasn't the kind of experience you could associate yourself with, unlike the 60s. And in fact, the only topic that the AOS really raises, and which is an echo of the early 21st century, is terrorism. Nero, Khan, Edison in AOS were terrorists. Even the Vulcan genocide is perceived precisely as a terrorist act - a quick, uncompromising, instantaneous one, and not the slow psychological and physical torment that Tarsus was. This shift in the focus of the experience of mass tragedy from Kirk to Spock in AOS is undoubtedly intentional, because AOS is constantly playing in reverse, and it further confirms for me the theory that the traumatic experience in AOS Kirk's life is primarily domestic.

TOS Kirk's traumatic experience is that of a survivor of a mass tragedy, one of a thousand, where his own trauma is depersonalized, if not devalued, in the face of such unmitigated grief. AOS Kirk's traumatic experience, on the other hand, is isolated in its individualism, and although domestic violence affects almost one in three people, it's a very personal trauma, something that remains behind closed doors between you and your abuser. Traumatic experiences are not measured in percentages, and while their impact on a person can vary, it's impossible to say which is actually worse: being a victim of war, or your own caregiver; being isolated in an entire city that is slowly dying from hunger and bullets, or in the house where you live that has turned into a house of horrors. These are all experiences that should not be. Something that cannot be endured without losing something in oneself.

Therefore, I tend to think that AOS Kirk doesn't so much crave captaincy (and the sense of control it gives) as the sense of belonging and acceptance that the ship and close people give. That's why he tries to leave the captaincy in Beyond, because in reality he continues to feel this inner emptiness even on the ship, a disconnection from the people around him; because it's not the role of captain that gives meaning to his life, but the connection with people, the opportunity to change the situation through his own actions (which noticeably distinguishes him from TOS Kirk, for whom captaincy and responsibility, on the contrary, are what really ground him). In this regard, I consider Leave No Soul Behind (in which Jim gives up the captaincy, remaining in the role of a point in the thick of things, and finding his sense of belonging) not just the best reading of the AOS dynamic, but better than it has even been done in the films. AOS Kirk's traumatic experience is easier to read; he can't really hide it, he's not very subtle about it, it lies closer to the surface, visible through his sharp angles and actions. It's the personal nature of his traumatic experience that makes it so obvious, it's like a broken bone that long ago healed incorrectly and can't be fixed, and it's immediately apparent when you get closer, and he knows it because it's personal, and he carries this scar without pride, just doesn't know what the hell to do with it.

It's more difficult with TOS Kirk, because he's much more subtle and adept at concealment. He's a really well-written, multi-layered character, and his traumatic experiences are built on the experiences of people who went through WW2 and who saw things that we would have had a hard time imagining in the real world before the events of recent years. When I started watching TOS, I didn't really associate him with any traumatic experiences at all. Part of this was influenced by how often in AOS fanfiction he is referred to as a happier, luckier version of Jim who had everything that AOS Kirk didn't have, which I now find to be just a blatant misunderstanding of his character (and what can I say, if even in SNW he's read through this lens). And he really gives that impression. But if you look at him through everything we know about his experience, his trauma is much deeper and more complex. But it's less personal, and therefore not as noticeable at first glance. From TOS we know that he survived Tarsus IV as not just a child, but a child at the beginning of his transitional age, when you already understand very well what is happening to you, and this experience is already conscious. A genocide where thousands of people were executed, where there was hunger and disease, and the fear of being killed, where he was isolated, alone, and had to quickly learn to do everything to survive. In his 20s, he witnessed half the crew of the starship he served on, along with the captain, being killed, and he had to live with the constant feeling that it was his fault because he couldn't stop the killer in time, even though logically he understood that he couldn't have done it, that it would've been impossible for anyone.

TOS Kirk is a good actor, as is repeated over and over again throughout the series, and his flippant demeanor is more often a game than a real comfort. This becomes especially noticeable over time as you begin to better read Shatner's acting, which is built on undertones and eye contact. And as a boy-from-a-good-family-with-a-happy-childhood, he slips into survival mode all too easily and does it unconsciously, naturally, practically domestic, which indicates an experience deeper than the experience of a command track. Many things speak to the influence of Tarsus IV on his behavior. His well-known belief in the impossibility of a no-win scenario stems from his fear of not being able to influence the situation, because as long as he can do something, there is always a chance. His behavior often reflects the trauma of a survivor, in how demanding he is of himself, in his obsessive sense of guilt towards the people he failed to protect. The inability to truly build a stable relationship, not so much because it's really impossible for him as a starship captain (because despite certain difficulties, it's obviously possible), but because he denies himself this, because what he really seeks in love, this complete acceptance, the merging of two essences (which he says in S2EP9 “Metamorphosis” - "You haven't the slightest knowledge of love, the total union of two people") is almost impossible to find, and no other relationship will be sufficient for him, won't give him the feeling of finally being seen, of being heard. This isn't allowed by his inner loneliness, which he is terribly afraid of and wants to stop feeling, but which is such an integral part of him, part of his survival, that letting it go for him means remaining defenseless before another, believing that this other person won't abandon, won't leave him alone, which he cannot afford to believe, because it means returning to his deepest fears.

He really easily uses his own body to survive, protect others, and achieve what he needs, often doing so (again) unconsciously, as if without thinking about alternative options. And he easily distances himself in these moments, which is really indicative of the SA victim's experience. Tarsus IV leaves room for this, given that it was a famine stretched over time in constant fear, surviving in something like that meant using pretty much everything you could, especially if Jim was responsible for someone besides him. There are many uncomfortable scenes in TOS where Kirk has no control over his own body, and which are really taken as scenes of violence towards him, and we always see how hard it is for him. While he flirts easily with both women and men, and often manipulates another person's affection for him, he's not a manslut and he doesn't get pleasure from it. From what we are shown more than once, he really understands women and sympathizes with them. He really understands what it means when you say no and mean no, and the other person thinks you mean yes. But truly, I think surviving genocide and famine is already enough to learn to adapt to any inconvenience and distance yourself from your feelings, to simply survive the moment, because that's how the self-defense mechanism works during a traumatic experience. All of these things also make me wonder what the situation is with TOS Kirk's parents, considering they are NOT mentioned in the original series, and taking it as canon alone, I have no positive theories for that.

Whatever TOS Kirk experienced on Tarsus IV, it had a strong impact on his later life and on his moral views. But it doesn't define him. It has an impact, it causes damage, it determines many patterns of behavior, but the trauma doesn't define him (and it doesn't define you). I think what defines every Jim Kirk is his capacity for compassion, his humanity, his empathy, his belief in people, and that there are no situations that are impossible to overcome. And his traumatic experiences didn't take that away from him. On the contrary, the harder it is for him, the stronger he holds on to his belief in a better world. That's why we love him so much.

[starleska]

about that scene with the Doctor...(spoilers for The Interstellar Song Contest)

i agree with everyone that the Eurovision allegory was dreadfully handled, and the character of Kid was done a tremendous disservice. the messaging of making your genocide-survivor character hell-bent on murdering countless others to make a point is dreadful, especially in the context of the Israeli-Palestininian conflict. what we end up with is a weak, gross message that one should comply with their persecutors in order to deliver 'acceptable' protest (e.g., Cora with her Hellian song). of all the messaging in these recent episodes of Doctor Who, this has been the nastiest, whether intentional or otherwise. however: i don't think the Doctor snapped because his morals suddenly went out the window and he decided to torture a genocide survivor. he snapped because he saw himself reflected in Kid.

Kid was about to murder three trillion people. by the skin of his teeth, the Doctor managed to stop Kid from murdering the thousands on board that space station, and he still thought they were casualties because he had no idea to get them back. to him, not only was Belinda dead, but every memory of Earth was also dead, all in an instant, with another atrocity coming. i think the poorly-communicated message of this episode which attempted to flesh out the Fifteenth Doctor's character is to do with the cycle of trauma and violence. i think we can all agree that the Doctor's reaction was horrific, and it's clear we are supposed to be horrified by his actions. we've seen in previous incarnations (Seven, Ten, etc.) that the Doctor is capable of a tremendous amount of cruelty in response to horrendous acts. for the past two seasons the Doctor, a war veteran who has witnessed unimaginable horrors across countless lifetimes, has been on the edge of a complete nervous breakdown, and we've been seeing signs of that since Boom and Joy to the World. in Kid, the Doctor saw reflected back a version of himself he despises: a person willing to harm others to exact vengeance and make up for heinous acts. and he lost. his. mind. the gigantic misstep in this episode was making Kid the villain. the writers attempted to fix this by having the Fifteenth Doctor assess Kid as having a "cold, filthy heart" that "just likes to kill", and because the episode has such awful, muddled messaging, we can't even begin to untangle whether or not that's true. either way it doesn't look good: the most generous interpretation is that Kid was just a "bad egg" who wanted to hurt people in the first place, but what kind of awful writing is that? we end up with Kid being the bad one for lashing out, and Cora being the good one for complying, and that...ugh. that puts a sour taste in my mouth. this episode was not the right time or place for the Doctor to have his Time Lord Victorious moment. it is important to note that this episode aired directly before the actual Eurovision Song Contest, on the BBC. i'm honestly astonished that they let this air at all, as even a confusing, politically murky reference to the ESC being funded by Israel could've easily been tanked. the episode makes an attempt at a pro-Palestinian allegory, but it drowns itself in its own contradictions and ends up making our main character torture someone who is both a Palestinian stand-in and a would-be mass murderer. my confusing feelings on the episode are:

i understand what the writers were trying to do, and i think they missed the mark enormously

i appreciate that they were trying to make an episode which addresses the controversy around the Eurovision Song Contest, but it came off as offensive and honestly a bit horrifying

i was glad to see the Doctor finally have an episode of sincere, uncontrolled rage, but unnerved by who that rage was directed at (even if it makes sense given the Doctor's history)

it's impossible to divorce this episode from its real-life context, and that makes examining the Doctor's actions very difficult.

does Kid's attempted mass-murder justify the Doctor torturing him? of course not. does Kid's status as a genocide survivor preclude him from committing horrendous acts? no, but that particular messaging with this context feels deeply gross. did both Kid and the Doctor act in horrendous ways partly due to the trauma they've both experienced, as well as their own propensity for violence and harm? yes, i think that was the idea, even if it was handled very, very poorly. tldr; writers tried to do something clever and flesh out Fifteen's capacity for anger and harm, but did it in a way which demonises a suffering group of people. i don't think deliberate harm was intended, but there's a reason why myself and so many others watched this episode and came away feeling disturbed. the episode is ostensibly critical of Israel's funding of Eurovision, but the allegory falls flat in the face of the Doctor's rage.

[aleksanderscult]

Leigh Bardugo should become universally criticized just for the fact that she presented a victim of persecution and his actions as worse and more important to deal with than the genocide that takes place in that world.

She really said: "It's not the genocide we should worry about. It's that man and his efforts to stop it".

And people applaud her for it instead. Wow. You're all seriously fucked up.

[problematic-maleslash-polls]

Do you ship it?

Problematic Reasons: Tried to kill each other. Suzaku helped Lelouch's father kidnap his sister and erase his memory. Lelouch murdered the princess Suzaku was in charge of protecting and possibly in love with, and also forced her to perform genocide on Suzaku's people.

Propaganda: They are, despite it all, despite also being each others' enemies, also each others' best friends. Somehow. They understand each other in a way that nobody else does. They commit the most horrendous, inexcusable acts of violence and tragedy, and somehow find each other back at each others' side. Nobody has their back like the other does.

[brunossan]

So the solution to a Genocide-Related Problem is... Genocide?

Like, Literal Glorified Genocide?

I know People suffered in the past, but Genocide is never the solution. Nothing excuse destroying entire cultures and civilizations, specially revenge.

Look at what USA did in Middle East in name of Revenge. Or the racist groups did by the same excuse.

Genocide is NEVER OK, and never should be Glorified, and Revenge and Call for Justice shall never be excuses on Genociding Civilizations you dislike.

Damn, that was a New low even for her.

[whump-since-2010]

The Massacre - Butterfly Whumpee

Tw: Blood, Violence

Mal collapsed against a wall, lightheaded and dizzy. Something warm trickled from his nose, dripping over his upper lip, and he shakily reached up to brush it away, his vision only focusing to see his hand come away covered in blood. Chaos reigned around him, people running, screaming, bullets flying, fires crackling, and rubble, making the earth shake beneath him. Pain throbbed through his whole body, bruised and battered, unable to focus on anything. The sky was black, two moons peeked through the clouds, one crescent, the other full, lighting the massacre in silver. There were no stars.

He only remembered misplacing his bad leg in his mad dash for the entrance and cracking his head against the ground. How had that hole gotten there? Why had he fallen? Right... he couldn't run. Why couldn't he run?

Just then, somebody darted past him, and shouts echoed behind him. His eyes drew to the running man just as a bullet cracked into the back of his skull, splitting his face. Pink matter and blood sprayed in front of him, fragments of bone, skin, and hair splattering across the stone as he dropped like a rock. Instantly, the young noble went into fight or flight. Though he couldn't think straight and the world seemed to spin faster every second, he dragged himself into a crawl and tried to scramble away from the voices and the wild, neverending gunshots.

He scuttled through the ruins of one of the Saltoris homes like a rat, burning and falling, Soldiers swarming over its grounds like hungry cats. He hauled his protesting body over the shattered rocks on his hands and knees, slicing his palms on the shattered glass, faint pain pulsing in his bad leg. When it became too much to bear, he army-crawled his way toward the entrance, arms turning only shades darker than his fiery hair now stained brown with dirt and dried blood. Searing flames crackled just over the hole he'd scurried into, heating his hiding place like a tiny oven.

The ground grew sticky with blood the more Mal drew close to the courtyards. People shouted, gunshots crackled. He was pretty sure he even heard a grenade somewhere. Worries and grief for his family swarmed for attention in his mind, but his need for survival won out as he crawled into the place where the tea room had once been. His knuckles bled, and he could hardly tell body parts from rocks anymore. His hands stuck to the wet carpet, ash and blood stung his nose, and the dizziness became too much to bear.

Mal found himself retching into a corner, clothes ripped and covered in various filth and hair. Shouts echoed around him, and the air thickened, people crowded, the fires grew higher, gunshots more rapid. He played dead amongst the corpses. They'd been laughing over tea one moment. With only one gunshot, his mother's blood turned the tea red. He'd hidden in a closet until they drew too close, and he had to move. Footsteps thundered around him, and his head throbbed. Blood streamed from his wounds, his leg ached, he couldn't think straight, and he wanted to cry.

But as the voices grew louder and more bodies piled on top of him and the others, Mal's ears rang louder, and he only heard snippets of the orders. "Make sure the house is cleared out! No Saltoris left alive! Iscalus' orders. From Lord Aeveda himself!"

The voices grew fainter, and Mal couldn't tell if they'd left or he was just losing his grip on reality. All he knew was that name. Aeveda. Aeva. That fucking bastard.

And he drifted away from reality, unconscious amongst the bodies of his brothers, uncles, and cousins. Surrounded by the smell of rotting flesh, empty bullet casings, and the maggots that awaited his surrender.

If you liked it, please leave a comment, I love reading them!(and perhaps a reblog to support my series?) Thank you!

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[officialscpfoundation]

We the foundation have decided to speak about many horrors going on in this world, as most of these are causing anomalies to breach and spread

We believe that Palestine should be free and we support it wholeheartedly

Secure Contain Protect

Anyway ooc don't support genocide what the fuck is up with people wanting it, free Palestine (yeah I know controversial opinion) ((it's not)) (((but people find it controversial)))

[imperiuswrecked]

Sarah Silverman posting this take: If only the terrorists didn't spend all their money on terrorism then they could have built water plants so that the Palestinians could have water and not rely on Israel for free water ):

Hamas creation: 1987

Israeli Military Order created in 1967:

Order No. 158 (1967): "Order Amending the Water Supervision Law" ordained that all wells, springs and water projects are under the full direct command of the Israeli Military Commander. Every installation or resource built without a permit will be confiscated.

But sure let's blame the Palestinians for not building water plants as they slowly die from dehydration because Israel cut off their water after denying them the right to build for decades because why not. We've blamed them for everything else bad that's happening to them too. /extreme anger and sarcasm

[padawan-historian]

An important resource for discussions and direction action initiatives.

**You do not have march to make good trouble and activate your activism. Find email templates to push and pressure your local leaders and representatives to advocate a ceasefire! (https://www.humantiproject.org/)

**Find your US Representative | Find your UK MPs (and fill up their inbox)

**Follow: HumantiProject

[estellaestella]

they're both bad options.

i'd like to say he chooses the one that liberates Arrakis for certain but I think its the timeline where he gets to spend more time with Chani i dunno.

[starleska]

honestly done with doctor who after the trainwreck that was the the interstellar song contest. i became a casual fan back when the eleventh doctor had a chokehold on tumblr and even had fun self-shipping with mr. ring-a-ding, but just thinking about how this series tried to "both sides" a GENOCIDE makes me feel physically ill. i can't believe i was indirectly supporting this series by making fanart and fanfiction

anon, gently, i think that your response is...a little overblown, and i'm not sure why you've sent it to me 😅 i'm going to put my reply under the cut, whilst tapping the sign on my blog again, which requests that folks don't try to drag me into discourse. i've shared my thoughts on the episode, and that's all: i'm not interested in validating whether or not people decide to interact with a show.

as i explained in my longer post about The Interstellar Song Contest, i don't believe that the intent of the episode was to "both sides" a genocide. i think that the allegory was poorly handled, and i also think that they made a bold move by daring to make this episode at all, let alone slotting it right before the actual Eurovision Song Contest. after discussion with other fans, it's very possible that earlier versions of the script had a more sympathetic view towards Kid, or even a more obvious condemnation of the Company, but the script needed to be edited because they would never have allowed such an episode to air. i'm getting the sense that you're either on the young side, or very active in fandom discourse. i understand your outrage, but i encourage you not to think in such black-and-white terms. you must understand how silly it is to be getting your hackles raised now, when Doctor Who is a show funded by the BBC (which airs the Eurovision Song Contest), and Disney (where do i even begin?). from my perspective, the show made a clumsy, weird and deeply uncomfortable episode which attempts to create an allegory but wildly misses the mark. do i think that's better than making nothing at all? honestly, i'm not sure: but it has gotten people talking, and i don't think that's a bad thing. you can do what you like, but i have no idea what you ceasing to make fanart/fanfic or watching the show will do except make you feel a little more righteous. poor writing doesn't mean that someone is an advocate of genocide, and frankly i think this is a chronically online stance that discourages people from thinking critically about deeply traumatic, difficult topics. this attitude you have, to immediately discard anything that you perceive as having a 'wrong' view, is detrimental to literacy and to educating people. it's one i strongly encourage you try to get out of. this is an exhausting conversation, and the second the episode was over i knew this kind of discourse was going to pop up. one thing the episode did try (however unsuccessfully) to make clear is that jumping to rage is never the answer, and only serves to perpetuate the cycle of trauma and violence. making it about whether or not you should engage with a television show feels reductive and silly. i would recommend putting this energy towards reading up on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and supporting Palestine where you can.

[aleksanderscult]

Do you have any IRL friends that are pro-darkling? One of my friends is a big fan of the books and though I thought her really critical of literature, she hates the darkling. I had one convo with her about it and decided that we just won’t talk about it cos it’s no use arguing about - we are good friends. Just a few days ago my other friend told me she read the trilogy over the summer and said she’s pro-darkling. I was jumping up and down no joke. Anyway now we can talk about him and criticise the works together. We still have diff opinions on some things but I honestly don’t care. She’s actually one of my closest friends so maybe it was meant to be lol

sorry that was so hefty, lots of love!

It wasn't and I'm sending lots of love back to you! 💕

No, unfortunately I don't. In fact I don't have any friends in real life that have read any book from Bardugo. And I kinda don't wish them to do it. There are so much better books out there to buy.

It's good that you didn't let your opinions about Aleksander ruin your friendship. It would be foolish for something that exists in fantasy to destroy something real. Although I agree that when we talk about sensitive things like genocide and persecution, it can cause disruptions.

[droplct]

● — || @phcenixking gets a starter because this was gonna be too long to be an ask .

● — || She stood on the other side of his jail cell , the smell of damp bricks and rotting souls [ [ f l o o d i n g ] ] her nostrils . The water bag over her shoulder held still like a dead weight -- she only brought it as a safety net . Her hands pulsed in and out of fists by her sides , nails [ [ d r a w i n g ] ] blood with every deep clench of her hands . The man before her , or the SHELL of one , was the reason her home suffered for so damn long -- not just him , his [ [ e n t i r e ] ] family line . He was the sole face remaining behind why she still had NIGHTMARES of the smell of burning flesh as memories of her mother's [ [ s m o l d e r i n g ] ] body lay in the snow . He DESTROYED her family , the lives of so many others just by a wave of his hand , and he felt [ [ n o ] ] remorse . This man -- no , this MONSTER -- was reason Zuko had suffered mental and [ [ p h y s i c a l ] ] abuse within and beyond the palace walls of the Fire Nation . He was responsible for the suffering of MILLIONS , yet . . . Aang showed him mercy . He took his bending , the [ [ n i c e s t ] ] punishment he could have received , in her eyes . There were SO many things that she wanted to say to him , and now that she was here . . . Nothing was going to stop her .

❝ You look like the portraits , you know . . . ❞ She started quietly , ocean eyes FULL of cold , emotionless thoughts that passed through her mind . ❝ Every . Single . One that lines the walls of the Fire Nation palace . Only , you look worse -- but I suppose living your life full of hate would do that . ❞

She couldn't bring herself to look at him , not yet . He didn't deserve the eyes of the last living Southern Water Tribe waterbender to look at him . She would get there , but there was a lot more she wanted to say first . ❝ Aang was nice to you . He was [ [ t o o ] ] nice to you . Every Avatar before him spared your family despite EVERYTHING that you have done . Years , upon [ [ y e a r s ] ] of genocide , murder , and so much more were your ENTIRE family's fault . Every Waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe was taken away and murdered because [ [ y o u r ] ] family thought their spirit was too strong -- you thought they needed to be BROKEN . If you knew [ [ a n y t h i n g ] ] about the people of the Southern Water Tribe , you'd know that we're not a bunch of weak , spineless Water Tribe peasants . We're much more than that . ❞

Through the dimly - lit halls of the prison , Katara's deep blue eyes SNAPPED to him , hatred BURNING within them hotter than the sun . ❝ How could you let that happen ?! How could you let YEARS of people screaming for help , their blood spilling into the soil , go unnoticed and uncared for ? Do you not have a heart ? Do you not feel ANYTHING for what you've done ? Not just to the Southern Water Tribe , not just to me - ❞ She'd spare him the knowledge that her mother died because of his family , he didn't deserve it , ❝ - To your own son , too . To your OWN family . ❞

She reigned back in the [ [ h u r r i c a n e ] ] in her heart , controlling her anger by the skin of her teeth . ❝ Your own son , who YOU banished because , what ? He had a voice ? Because he [ [ c a r e d ] ] about people ? Your own son , who stood up to you and spoke from the heart because he didn't want to see ANYONE else get hurt . You not only shunned him , you HURT him ! What kind of parent hurts their own child on purpose to make some sick point ? Did you think that would break him -- that he would do your bidding and stay in your shadow until he was ready to take your place ? . . . If that's the case . . . ❞ Her voice drew into itself like the tide , ❝ . . . You really don't know him at all . ❞

She [ [ r e l i n q u i s h e d ] ] her hands from their fists , letting the anger pour from her fingertips and into the ground beneath her feet . ❝ You think that people who care , people who fight back , people who stand up for what they believe in are weak . . . but you're wrong . Your [ [ h a t r e d ] ] , racism , abuse , and neglect make you weak . You can have all the power in the world , rule on the throne until you can't breathe , but you will always be weak as long as you continue with your ways . ❞

Her fingertips reached up to touch her [ [ o w n ] ] betrothal necklace , letting it guide the next words that she spoke VERY carefully . ❝ You owe Azula and Ursa an apology . You owe the people of the Southern Water Tribe an apology , but I can assure you that we WILL NOT accept it -- I will make sure we don't . We have no reason to accept it . And , you owe [ [ Z u k o ] ] an apology -- not just for what you did to him personally , but because it's because of you , and everyone who came before you , that he will spend the REST of his life begging for forgiveness and taking the fall for crimes he didn't commit . ❞

[random-krab]

It is baffling to see that most Zionist defending Isrhell's action's are some form of Christian because you guys do know that they are also targeting Christian Palestinians too right? And that they bombed one of the oldest churches in the world right? Or are you so Islamophobic to assume EVERYONE with a skin shade darker then medium beige is Muslim?