weeb-cheese · 1 year ago
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I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about how harmful and self destructive the “anti” philosophy is. And it’s actually really interesting in a morbid curiosity and fandom history kind of way. I’ve even seen people doing like full on academic research about it.
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anemoiashifts · 3 months ago
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how tiktok failed the shifting community
& how shiftok keeps you stuck idk what to call this. 🫶🏻
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to make this clear, i do not hate tiktok. i dont hate people on tiktok who want to shift. i dont have a problem with people on tiktok talking about shifting.
this post is not about anyone specific. ive sold a shifting journal on amazon. which may seem hypocritical though ive never made a promise that it will make you shift & its not supposed to.
!! this post isn’t an excuse to push all the communities problems on shiftok. much like the animal crossing community pre-new horizons, as communities grow bigger, its expected to bring some toxicity with it. problems exist in all corners of the internet & in certain groups.
however, there is a specific issue within the shifting community that involves tiktok & that is the integration of money & profit being made off of people’s desperation.
shifting was / can be presented as this alternative “safe place” & escape for people with serious mental illness that consist of not wanting to be living this life anymore. & that’s fine on its own. everything we do is a form of escapism like readings or watching tv. as long as it’s healthy, it’s harmless. ive touched on permashifting & sv!c!d4l ideation before but id like to piggyback off of that point.
to clarify for everyone new: i am not against perma-shifting. i am against some of the langue that is used around it. you don’t need to k!ll yourself to shift. this is what im speaking about.
when you have an audience that is deteriorating & only going through the motions of life, when your only desire is to get out of the situation you are in, is it extremely easy to profit off of vulnerable people. this fact paired with tiktok — where you get paid & your income is dependent on engagement — it becomes overwhelmingly clear why pushing out content that keeps their audience within arms reach of actually shifting. it’s more profitable if you have an audience of people who can’t shift & want to as opposed to an audience of people who can shift & don’t need validation from exterior sources. it becomes easy to ignore people’s struggles if that’s what you’re making money off of. there is a lack of a healthy viewpoint & balance within some parts of the community.
calling back to 2020 when shiftok was in its infancy, there was a lot of “pov” & storytime style content. there is nothing wrong with wanting to share your experiences but making “entertainment” is arguably much, much easier & profitable. keeping that in mind, why i believe the practice of shifting is so seemingly popular amongst a younger demographic is because it brings fandom spaces together. it’s one thing to watch a show & obsess over fictional characters & read fan fiction but to live alongside your favorite character & be equal with those you idolize, it can sound very appealing. keeping shifting as entertainment style content, it makes it no different then fanfiction & oc’s. again !! i have no problem with people speaking about their experiences / wants for when they shift but the issue is when people only focus on that & it becomes a numbers game.
i hold no issue with people selling their labor in any community but when you sell something with the promise to “make you shift” is when it becomes problematic. when you sell false promises & empty hope, you are also banking that your audience is desperate enough to cling to anything that reminds them of what they want. it speaks to how the creator views their audience to an extent & id argue is aware of the dozens of (mostly) children expressing their negative worldview that displays an unhealthy mentality.
this is why i don’t do general readings as frequently & personal readings at all anymore. quite honestly, it’s easy engagement. while not my intention, people often change their perspective & “make” things fit their situation. i hate hate hate to say this but in desperation, you can make a sign out of anything. this is not me trying to take away the feeling of internal knowing. to give this thought weight, i remember a while ago i posted a reading that was & has been channeled from a person in my desired reality. the comments were flooded by “i know who this is from” & “this is from this person in my dr”. i clarified in the video — the very first slide — that this was from a specific person & everyone completely ignored that fact to fit their beliefs. if you find meaning in something that’s great but when something is explicitly stated as one thing don’t manipulate it to fit yourself if it’s not truly meant for you. not every reading is supposed to resonate. by forcing it to it removes the intimate aspects of what is truly just for you. if everything has meaning, nothing has meaning.
circling back to my idea before, readings & “this message was meant for you content” does open the floodgates to tell their audience what they want to hear for the sake of growth, profit, engagement. yes, there are some readings that don’t pander to a specific group of views but those “stop scrolling this was meant for you, he’s thinking about you, if you see this letter or number it’s a sign & you should be expecting a phone call or someone to reach out to you soon” readings that come up on your fyp are eight times out of ten for engagement purposes & to tell you what you want to hear by using generic langue to make profit. no, not all readings are set up this way and not everyone thinks like this. there are plenty of people who don’t do it for money or attention. even if people did it for money, some people hold issue with that while others don’t. the like it or not, just make sure you’re doing it in a way that’s not making peoples mental situation worse & giving others false hope.
while not reading based, this sounds familiar when we acknowledge “shifting symptoms”. early on, people seemed to take them as being close to shifting & literally feeling the process of you becoming apart of your desired reality. now we know, all those tingles & twitched are only your body checking to see if you’re asleep. the name becomes very mis-leading when you take into that content.
the tldr of this post was when you intertwine spirituality & profit in spaces where people are desperate for something that feels larger then them, people’s actions can put bad tastes in people’s mouths. looking at tiktok, views = money. when numbers are given to people who have shifted & deemed influencers (because that’s how tiktok was pretty much designed) it becomes easy to see why some idolize to be like these people’s — “they shifted & i didn’t, they seem to have everything figured out, they must be better at it then i am, they must be special & not like the rest of us.” it creates a cycle of self doubt, unfortunately, while keeping you in the same “i can’t shift” mindset while these same people are selling a piece of them that you seemingly “lack”.
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springtrappd · 2 years ago
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You said in one post that the author of Solar Lunacy is ableist. Could you explain how they're being problematic? I know almost nothing about them or the story itself, so I wouldn't know if they've said or done anything sus. Also, thank you for actually criticizing the Daycare Attendant stans, almost nobody in this site does that.
thank you for asking! it's rare to see, you're right, but it's also rare that people are willing to actually engage with that critical posting, so -- again, thank you! as for your question: oh boy, can i!
first: the basics. dissociation is a psychological response to overwhelming stress wherein the brain... disassociates from itself, placing a barrier between itself and the harsh reality. the most famous dissociative disorder is dissociative identity disorder (DID), known formerly as multiple personality disorder (MPD) or split personality. did occurs when someone without a fully-formed identity (read: a child) undergoes such severe stress that the 'brain' dissociates from its identity itself, creating alternate identities (personalities) to deal with the things they can't. these alternate identities work together to form a system. it's way more complicated than that and you can read more on it here and here but that's the bare minimum for the ignorant in the audience. we all caught up? good! moving on.
now, the question of whether or not the daycare attendant is a system is a touchy one. i've seen multiple different stances on the matter, seen a lot of arguments, and typed (and deleted) several hundreds of words about it, and the answer that i've come to is that, for the sake of this argument, whether the dca is a system in canon doesn't matter. what matters is how bamsara treats them. how do they handle the characters, how do they frame the switches in personality, the confusion, all the parallels to real-world symptoms -- how do they expect the viewer to feel, what do they pull from the cultural lexicon, yadda yadda. does bamsara -- regardless of their intentions -- depict the dca as a system, and if so, how do they handle it?
the answer is that they depict the dca as experiencing altered identity states, switching (and even blurring) between identities, and even repeatedly acknowledges them as a plural entity.
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and it is these behaviours, specifically, that are used to make the dca scary. bamsara's daycare attendant is scary because they experience altered identity states. because they blur identities. because they are a plural entity. because they display the textbook symptoms and behaviours of a disorder most commonly caused by childhood sexual abuse. and it is the fear that this is inspires that makes them (but especially moon & eclipse) sexy.
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now, one can argue that this is simply in line with existing horror media, and they would be correct: most pop culture depictions of dissociative disorders are extremely ableist, and have real-world consequences! but what makes it really, really shitty is that... i don't want to think about this stuff. i don't come to fandom to be reminded that people are terrified of what they don't understand, and that that very very often includes the mentally ill. i don't want to be reminded that there are people who don't believe dissociative disorders exist at all. i don't want to reminded that they -- the sick, the survivors, the unlucky 140 million -- are spoken of in the same way as monsters. i don't come here for harsh realities. but solar lunacy is the most kudos'd fnaf fic on ao3, and we all have to live with that.
if you liked solar lunacy or bamsara's content or... whatever, i don't particularly care. i'm not mad about people thinking evil alters are sexy, or engaging with horror content that says shitty things about systems -- it's your life, live it how you please (and i've got a vanny icon so who am i to judge lmao). sometimes the things that make us happy are kinda shitty, and that's okay! our views are shaped by the society we live in, and there is no society on earth that is kind to the mentally ill -- there's no way to undo that, to stop that from influencing you in some capacity. but... all i ask is for you to think about this stuff, and try to educate yourself on the topic. there's nothing wrong with making a mistake, or having flaws -- but there's something wrong with making a space that feels unsafe, that reflects some of the more uncomfortable aspects of our society, that unintentionally hurts people. it's just up to you if that something is something you care about.
i hope that answers your question, anon (and anyone else who's curious). take care, mate!
(edit 13/01/2023: due to some technical difficulties on tumblr's end, the notes aren't quite showing up properly, so here's the link to bamsara's reblog chain if you can't find it.)
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bitter-sweet-coffee · 2 months ago
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Sounds so much clearer when you put it like that. It's not overly sappy,but it's also not a problematic ship! Good to know
hi anon thank you but please never ever use the word “problematic” again. please. i am not being aggressive or condescending, and i don’t just mean this just in terms of my posts. rant incoming, don’t take it personally i promise i’m not mad at you.
please, everyone reading this, STOP using “problematic” to unironically describe pieces art. there are better words.
if a ship is abusive, as in, depicts an actual form of abuse that you can match to the real legal and psychological definitions of abuse, call it an ABUSIVE ship. not problematic.
if a ship is something that a lot of people write poorly, in a way that glorifies abusive behaviour, call it a POORLY WRITTEN abusive ship.
if a ship contains something like an imbalanced power dynamic or significant age gap that is intended to be negative, call it a PREDATORY ship.
ultimately, when people use the word “problematic” they are reducing an entire conversation about form, content, and immersion, to an inappropriate bastardization of what it means to engage with art. you are LITERALLY fucking with the integral structure of the art-artist-audience relationship which transcends all mediums.
if a ship at its core is flawed, then say that.
if a ship is portrayed in an intentionally unhealthy way, as this is part of the message an artist wants to convey, then SAY THAT AND DON’T EQUATE THE ARTIST TO THE CONTENTS OF THEIR WORK! rather, engage in a discussion about how this can develop characters or tie into larger themes. alternatively, you can discuss the approach the artist used, how you view their methods, and state your opinion on how effective you find the outcome to be.
and most importantly, if a ship is written poorly because the author unintentionally glorifies morally grey or even immoral behaviour… this is still not problematic. it is inevitable, because everything that exists is capable of being misinterpreted or misrepresented. do not attack a person for what they do not know, instead, use this as an opportunity for an educative dialogue. or just block them idgaf
the moral of this response: please, if you find yourself using the word problematic, stop. think about what you actually mean to say. do not generalize, because that’s how you get art which depicts and endorses immorality equated to “someone’s au that i saw on twitter made sonic an alcoholic which promotes underage drinking, and i want them to leave the internet before they poison the innocent minds of children and trigger a bunch of recovering addicts” when these are not NEARLY the same thing.
shadow and infinite are morally flawed, as everyone is. you can write them being abusive. you can write them being so abusive that it borders on snuff. you can also woobify them and ruin their characters in the process. or, you can do what i do and throw in a bit of everything with a splash of insane lore and references to other media. BECAUSE THIS IS HOW FICTION WORKS!
fiction is a sandbox. you can build a castle, draw a dick in it, flood it with water, eat the sand, craft it into glass, shit on it, or leave without contributing anything. but regardless of what you do, it is a sandbox. don’t reduce it to just what one person did with it.
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dreadfuldevotee · 2 months ago
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Thank you for this last post. The discourse on this fandom can often be so annoying. I hate it when people are like "this is a Gothic horror, let them be toxic and problematic!!!!11!!!1" because it's not take they think it is? At the end of the day, they still want us to root for these characters and relationships, right? So how can we do that if they're stereotyped vampires, who is dark, cold, just hurt each other and don't have an ounce of growth, development, empathy and humanity? And this is such a dismissive opinion of the show and even the books, because their conflict with humanity and vampirism is a central aspect of the plot. That said, if you reduce them to the abuse alone, you're also missing the point of the story? I mean, you can totally have your opinion, you can see them as unforgivable even on this fictional universe, you can hate and root against them... But this show isn't about punitivism, it is about them navigating immortality. There are consequences for their actions, as there should be, but the goal is for them to find a way to make this work. You don't need to agree (idgaf about the British monarchy and still watched a few episodes of The Crown for the acting, for example), but if you expect otherwise, you're just playing yourself? But this fandom seems to have a problem with finding a good balance. Not to mention the hypocrisy of never forgiving certain characters and reducing them to their problematic actions, but treating their faves very different lol. And I'm like, okay, you don't need to love everyone, it's okay to have a favorite, but at least don't be contradictory? Your fave does the exact same thing or worse? Anyways. Thanks again for putting it so well. It's refreshing to see posts like that here.
Thank you! I'm glad that other people get anything out of my ranting and raving, as I am a chronic yapper and really only talk for my own health LOL.
But yeah, there is a lot of selective hearing in any fandom, really; but it pisses me off a lot here because of all the "Gothic Horror" handwaving going on. Interacting with the fandom, reading the books and seeing clips & bits of personal writings from Anne Rice, the image it paints for me is a profound unwillingness to engage with contents of the story if they're not fun and sexy. Shit, even my own odyssey into the books is spurred on in one part, to be able to form my own opinion and critique on the writing and secondly, realizing that book readers were straight up lying at times about how things went down.
And there is this persistent idea I've seen on here and twitter of "If you have issue with XYZ then this series isn't for you" and like, okay if you don't wanna see gay people who have everything-but-the-bagel of mental illnesses then, yeah, sure. But when someone goes "Hey there is like,,, a ton of casual pedophilia and CSA in these stories that is framed as cute n' casual and/or deeply romantic, I wonder what that's all about" and then people crawl out the woodwork trying to convince you its not weird or that you're weird or weak for think its kinda fucked up- then at that point, I think maybe there is actually a different issue occurring here, you know?
Anyway, I think where I'm going with this is- TVC is a cultural phenomenon and has a tangible impact on Vampire and Gothic Horror canon and that's good and fun. But if we can recognize something like H.P Lovecraft's racism/classism/general fear of change having a profound effect on his writing and the spark of the entire Cosmic Horror Genre, then I think we can interrogate how AR as a Rich White Woman who grew up in mid-21st century New Orleans has an effect on the kind of stories she writes and how she does it.
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devildevotee · 7 months ago
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hello! we hope this is ok to ask, it's totally fine if you don't answer- but we've recently become interested in satanism and demon work, but we know exactly nothing about it or where to start. we did some basic research with academic sources like wikipedia but have no idea where to go from there. we're hesitant to just dive in on our own because we know there are a lot of bad sources and groups to avoid but don't actually know what those things are.
anyways, we trust your opinion and recommendations so we wanted to ask if you had any suggestions on how to go about researching and learning about theistic satanism for an absolute beginner! recommended books or articles, groups to avoid, red flags, anything like that would be very appreciated 💚 thank you so much!
okay so, this may be a controversial opinion but in my opinion (KEY WORD OPINION) you actually shouldn't only stick to unproblematic and valid uwu authors, because i'll be honest (in terms of satanism and demonolatry), there ARE no pure and good authors out there. every author out there, especially if you're reading a text from a long time ago, is going to have something you disagree with. you need to practice some form of critical engagement, additionally, because engaging with a text critically and understanding why it is wrong is way more important than just shutting out the information altogether. you will not learn anything if you pretend that problematic texts do not exist. i'm not saying this to be harsh, but there is a reason we research a variety of texts and perspectives in high school english class. you need to continue that kind of method when researching anything.
now that is covered, i'll tell you what i have read personally. taking the above into consideration, there are no authors here that don't have something deeply wrong about their texts. i did read their works, and i came to my own conclusions on whether i'm going to dub them an authority on satanism, and i suggest you do the same. satanism is about knowledge and drawing your own, unique conclusions. just make sure what you do adopt doesn't throw any groups of people under the bus, because we're not here to read books and thoughtlessly believe whatever the book says, especially when the book can have misinformation, or offensive content. this is very common in satanism; as much as people love to treat it like it's revolutionary and all-accepting, it can be just as, or even more, discriminatory or outright hateful as christianity, especially in the texts.
the most easy-to-find material:
ars goetia > pretty basic info, but very handy and simple to read
the infernal gospel > probably my favourite book on this list
the complete book of demonolatry > i don't agree with the author, but i got this one in my early days before i knew anything about said author. it's got some useful information, but there's a lot of misinfo
book of the fallen > useful rituals if i remember correctly, i sold this book so i can't recheck
at satan's altar > also an interesting book
the goetia devils > has a lot of what i assume is upg... seems to conflict with what i've seen from other practitioners
the goetic hymns > second favourite book
the satanic philosopher > i found this one hard to read personally
esoterica > youtube channel with amazing information on demonolatry and its history, i suggest getting into this before doing anything else.
all of these websites.
and lastly, i also got like 50+ older texts i got as a bundle off etsy that i can't remember the names of. i wish i could give them to you, but i genuinely have lost every single text i got in the bundle due to me changing computers. i suggest looking on etsy for similar bundles on satanism and demonolatry if you want to get into the historical meat of things.
that being said, my actual last thing i want to say is not to get too entrenched into the theory. the texts are handy, sure! but the one thing i have found the most useful is by engaging with the community. most of my wealth of knowledge did NOT come from texts or media, it came from those around me talking about their experiences. if you want to learn, and i mean REALLY learn about demons and satan, get into the community hardcore and you will learn something new every day. talk to people, make friends, don't do this alone.
edit: okay one more thing. this does go against what i was saying to some degree but i do have a limit to that logic. avoid joy of satan. they're n/eonazis and come on this website regularly. avoid them, avoid them, avoid them.
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justenjoythegossip · 8 months ago
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THE MIDDLE VOICE OR ANOTHER KIND OF PAID PLANTS/TROLLS
It has been widely discussed how trolls/plants are used in a PR strategy to drive certain narratives. Social platforms such as Tumblr, LSA and so forth are the perfect place to reach a core fandom, which is why they are infiltrated by so many noisy agitators who take as many shapes or forms to cover every profile that could be needed to manipulate fans. 
As for Chris and the PR strategy used, it has been pretty apparent that such tactics have been and are still being used to this day. And sidenote , let’s not forget that Chris’ appearance at the Con in NY a few months ago was sponsored by… none other than Tumblr.
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The middle voice: their positioning, role, sneakier tactics and more pernicious strategy
In such PR tactics, you do need shippers and haters that are well represented by Team Real & Team PR blogs, there to instigate anger and division and to keep people engaged and drive traffic. They are the loud over-the-top extremist voices. But you do need a voice in the middle, people who are way more measured and that tend to represent a more reasonable voice and opinion. 
They are the most difficult ones to spot but they are the most important because they are the ones that are driving people to the place that the PR strategy is trying to reach by the end.
The strategy they use is far more interesting that the one used by their counterparts from “Team” Blogs because it is far more complex, insidious and subtle as they tend to navigate much murkier waters. 
They also tend to go back and forth, confusing people as to where they stand on this relationship. 
Their end goal and the tools they use
What they are trying to do is to get people excited for all of Chris’ new projects (films, voice work) or any types of old/new content (content you should be grateful for, I should add) while mitigating the very problematic stuff, trivializing it, turning it into a joke, which (I suspect) is supposed to make the fans come to terms with who Abba is, what she stands for and to slowly accept Chris and Abba’s kinda “union”. They are basically clearing the way for people to accept this very disheartening situation. Once it becomes normalized, it is more likely to be accepted by his fandom. Time which is such an essential aspect in a PR strategy works in their favor. 
One of the most important tool they use to that effect is try to make Chris look more accessible and relatable. And to that effect, they will discuss profusely the kind of bland food he loves, what he likes to wear , what kind of music he loves, his super minty breath, or fan favorite Dodger… Of course, it is not abnormal for fans/mods to discuss such topics. What is suspicious however is the amount of it in such a very short time period. The timing just before the con is also probably not coincidental. Since it doesn’t look very organic and it’s a little over-the-top, it is very likely staged and manufactured. And as we know, his team has been desperate in their advertising his Con in Seattle. We even have a couple of Medium articles to show for it.
Another topic they bring up constantly in a very inorganic way is how hot Chris is. His looks during the Gray Man premiere were brought up a lot recently and certain mods were so keen on pointing out the fact that he was not wearing any underwear. Isn’t he sexy? Are you still thirsting after him? Are you distracted? What a nice and silly diversion, isn’t? Does it make it make you want to turn a blind eye on the fact that Chris compromised himself irreparably by kinda “marrying” a fat-shaming, racist, antisemitic, white supremacist, Nazi sympathizing troll and by doing so has agreed to clean her image? Chris has aligned himself with the same type of people he used to criticize so vehemently on Twitter, a social platform on which he used to be so vocal and where he no longer has an account. Because, you know hypocrisy and performative political activism!
I want to make it quite clear that I am not criticizing anyone for still thirsting after him. People have a right to want to hold on to their fantasies. Or to their dreams. It’s not only not harming anyone, but also it is quite healthy. And we all need that. And it is really great to see fans be genuinely excited to see and meet Chris at the Con. He is lucky to be able to bring happiness to people, it’s gift that I hope he feels grateful for. What I am trying to denounce here is the underhanded, disingenuous tactics of using people’s fantasy to sweep the very problematic stuff under the rug. 
The “middle voice”: Profile and their more varied tones 
Some of those mods share the same kind of profile. They are allegedly insiders and work in the industry or are industry-adjacent. Talking about all kinds of stuff happening in the movie industry is a nice distraction indeed and more importantly it provides them with some much needed credibility. Also, it enables them to breadcrumb and troll about Chris’ upcoming projects.  
But the trolling doesn’t stop there and extend to all sorts of topics. The ring was heavily discussed last night and I already wrote my thoughts on the subject if people want to check it out… https://www.tumblr.com/justenjoythegossip/743785475697967104/reposting-because-of-course-he-was-wearing-his?source=share
Why would you post an alleged anon ask saying he doesn’t wear the ring without any proof? Isn’t the purpose to get people to tune in and get all excited? (It’s very similar to the trolling they did with the sight of Chris’ doppelganger by the way.)
Why would you find it hilarious (😂emojis anyone?) that he is seen wearing the ring at the Con after Chris, Abba and their team breadcrumbed a possible separation? If you are truly a fan of his, you shouldn’t make light of this unseemly union. The optics are absolutely atrocious on EVERY front. 
When it comes to their tone, it’s much more varied than the one used by their Team Blog counterparts. It can be similar in the sense that they can be arrogant as they talk down as they answer anon asks. They sometimes lecture them, criticize them for not being able to let go of the Nazism (which is actually quite healthy in my opinion) or gaslight them. But sometimes, their tone can be quite sweet. Or overly sweet, I should say.  
Those mods also work as a Team and tend to mostly interact with one another, which can be quite helpful in spotting and recognizing them. And sometimes they will be attacked or pick a fight with someone from their counterparts from Team PR blogs. When Majorscammer attacks you and questions your credibility (Public releases anyone?), it either means that you are speaking words or truth, which poses a threat to their little shenanigans and you need to be discredited or it means… that you are a colleague there to feed the discourse. 
Between the noisy and the quieter agitators, the fandom is as toxic as ever and it is closely mirroring this shitshow: a chaotic mess!
The very suspicious discrediting of classic PR tactics
Another aspect that is quite interesting, a mod who works in PR tried to discredit the nasty tactics used in a PR strategy by saying it doesn’t exist or is very rarely used, which seems kind of odd when you are working in that field. (I am paraphrasing but…) They insisted that their work mostly consisted in writing statements and that mods who were coming up with those convoluted theories had quite the vivid imagination.
And yet, haters, shippers and so forth are frequently used on SM in a PR strategy and there is quite a lot of literature on the subject. The mind games and cheap tricks are not only very real but quite nasty. So why try to discredit what we all know exists? Isn’t it gaslighting at its finest?  
Funny sidenote regarding Team PR blogs, their silence and usual distractions…
Team PR blogs have been rather silent after Chris’ appearance at the Con with his ring. Sure they still talk about the precious and about the staged and badly manufactured Lisbon pics from last week as the usual distraction. Repetitive much? It seems like we are stuck in Groundhog Day. But they obviously have to take the loss, or appear like they do since they sold the lie that Chris and Abba were close to be over, that Abba was the one who photoshopped the pics and leaked them to troll, that Chris was mad about it and is this innocent victim in their latest silly stunt. They lied. But more importantly they knew they were lying. But no worries, they will be back at it tomorrow and self-congratulate themselves for being so perspicacious. 
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tired-fandom-ndn · 3 months ago
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Hi Error! I'm curious: is there any kind of ~proship content (a trope or kink or even specific phrasing or art style) that gets used a lot but that you aren't personally into, to the point where it ruins the stuff you do like? This is me with age gaps. So many wonderful kinks and fucked-up scenarios out there, but my libido just disappears if there's a huge age difference 😔. It's inconvenient! I'm just curious about others experiencing the same - do you try to read the stuff anyway? Do you do a lot of strategic filtering? Also, do you have any tips for gracefully saying "I am not into that, in fact it's a squick and I prefer not to talk about it, BUT I AM NOT MORALLY JUDGING YOU and I support your many ships that I cannot enjoy" to a new acquaintance? I swear this stuff was simpler 15 years ago.
PS: on consideration, my previous question - about proship stuff you dislike - might come across as being all TELL US YOUR TRIGGERS NOW, which is really not my intention. I'm just curious about how you deal with that kind of mismatch! Apologies if it came across weird; again, I think this fandom climate makes conversations super awkward.
No worries, I understand what you mean completely!
There's actually quite a few "proship"/problematic things that squick me out badly enough that I avoid them even when the rest of the work is completely up my alley. Most of them are even listed out on this blog (my pinned post links to a list of "hard limits") but the biggest one I can think of is any form of ageplay; age regression, diapers, CGL, etc. I absolutely will not engage with it at all no matter what and I use a lot of filtering (and sometimes the mute and block buttons) to avoid it.
There's other things I don't like and that may even turn my stomach a bit, but that I'll try (or skip over lmao) when the rest of the fic/game/etc is appealing enough for me. It just really comes down to how prominent it is and how rare the other kinks/tropes are; if it's something hard to find that I really love, I can tolerate most things lmao. I'll deal with tentacles if it comes with some good whump and mommy kink is tolerable if I like the ship enough, y'know?
In my experience, "that's not my particular cup of tea but I'm glad everyone is having fun" is usually a good way to say that you're not into something without offending someone. Though sometimes I still get people complaining in my inbox about me saying I don't like stuff, so I guess there's no pleasing everybody. It IS super awkward though; it feels like everyone is on edge and expecting an attack, so any indication of not liking a kink/ship/etc is interpreted as hate no matter how nice or polite it is.
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stellae-de-baphometis · 2 years ago
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🖤 ~ About Me ~ 🖤
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+ Introduction +
Hey there! My name is Korvella Starlight, but you can also call me Kody or Korv. I'm in my 20's and I use both he/him and they/them pronouns interchangeably (I'm a non-binary trans guy).
This is a blog dedicated to Progressive Daemonolatry, Theistic Satanism / Luciferianism, Daemonism, and Paganism. I first got into Paganism when I was 14 years old. Throughout the years, I further expanded my beliefs and eventually got into Theistic Satanism. From there, I later got into Daemonolatry. Nowadays, I consider myself a Progressive Daemonolatrist/Daemonist (a form of Daemonolatry that respects closed practices and doesn't engage in cultural appropriation), Daemonologist, Polytheist, Panentheist, and Eclectic Pagan.
Please keep in mind that I am neurodivergent and mentally ill, and this severely affects my ability to function. I may take frequent breaks in between posts and I won't exactly be consistently active here all the time. I try to post as much as I can though!
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+ Why I Made This Blog +
I made this blog so I could provide a safe space for people seeking resources and information on the Infernal/Daemonic Divine. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
There's a lot of appropriation and antisemitism in some "demonolatry" spaces nowadays, and I had the unfortunate displeasure of being brainwashed and indoctrinated into thinking that cultural appropriation was completely fine at the beginning of my Daemonolatry path in 2022, because of an echo-chamber subreddit I was a part of. When a friend of mine explained to me how harmful it was, I vowed to change my perspective and I educated myself, changing for the better.
I wanted to try and counteract some of the appropriation and make up for my past mistakes, as well as help prevent others from falling down the same pipeline I did, by blogging about my personal experiences and providing info and resources that don't appropriate closed practises.
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+ DO NOT INTERACT +
✧ Exclusionists of any kind. ✧ T3RFs, SW3RFs, m1s0gyn1sts, s3x1sts/ tr4nsm3ds, etc. ✧ Anything anti-LGBTQIA+. I'm a non-binary trans guy and a demi-grey-pansexual. As a queer person, I won't tolerate any bigotry or hate directed towards my community. ✧ Anything involving H3lluva B0ss and H4zb1n H0tel. I highly dislike the series as it portrays daemons (beings I have a lot of respect for) in a very poor light. No disrespect or anything, I just personally don't want anything to do with it. ✧ Appropriators of any kind. This especially goes for gentiles who appropriate Lilith from Judaism. She's not a "Mesopotamian Pagan Goddess" and she's not the same as Lamashtu. Stop making excuses for stealing shit from closed practices. ✧ Racists, antisemites, islamophobes, n4z1s and neo-n4z1s, xenophobes, anti-BLM, anti-ACAB, white supremacists, etc. ✧ M4Ps, p3d0ph1l3s, z00ph1l3s, b3ast1al1ty, etc. ✧ Right-Wingers, Conservatives, etc. ✧ P0rn0gr4ph1c and/or NSFW content that fetishises or objectifies Satanism, Luciferianism, Daemonolatry, and the Infernal/Daemonic Divine. ✧ Religious extremists/radicalists. If you're a regular old religious person and progressive, that's completely fine and I have no problem with you. It's just the extremists that I want absolutely nothing to do with; For example, those Christian radicalists that try to shove their beliefs down everyone's throats, or the ones who try to justify bigotry in the name of God. ✧ Ableism of any kind. This includes ableism towards mental illness, neurodiversity, and all personality disorders. ✧ New Agers. That shit contributed to my Schizotypal psychotic-like experiences and mental illness when it leaked into my spiritual practices as a teenager. Plus it's just highly problematic in general. I want nothing to do with it whatsoever.
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+ IMPORTANT NOTICE +
If you see any old posts of mine (specifically posts made prior to November/December of 2022) spouting antisemitic rhetoric regarding demons and/or the occult, please understand that it's not who I am anymore and that I have changed and educated myself since then. I sincerely and deeply apologise to the Jewish community for my blatant ignorance and antisemitic takes.
I used to be part of an antisemitic "Demonolatry" group back then (r/DemonolatryPractices, a terribly cultish space that I advise everyone avoid), and was brainwashed and severely misinformed on the amount of cultural appropriation and antisemitism that exists within the occult community. However, it is no excuse, and I am deeply sorry for the things I said and did in the past.
If you feel uncomfortable interacting with me and my content because of my past, that is 100% valid and completely okay. You are in no way obligated to forgive me if you are Jewish and/or were negatively affected by my previous content.
I have deleted my old posts, however some of them may still exist in the form of reblogs and reposts across Tumblr, hence why I've written this disclaimer to set things straight. I just want it to be abundantly clear that I am not like that anymore and I have changed. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and once again, I am sincerely sorry. 💙
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Hope you like what I post here! I wish you well on your spiritual path, and may whoever you honour/venerate bless your soul. 🖤
❀༻ Ave Satanas ༺❀
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+ Decor Credit + . . . Bat Divider . . . Blood Moon Divider V1 . . . Blood Moon Divider V2 . . . Ram Skull & Horns Divider . . . Baphomet Image . . .
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entesi-selfship · 5 months ago
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New Pinned Post
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Noven/Dragon/Entesi | He/they | Adult | Plural (soulbond system) | Disabled, autistic and EDS | Married to my soulbond spouse Vandarian | Reality shifter and soulbonder | Antis, anti endos, dog posts DNI | Digital artist and character designer working on a webcomic and video game | Dragonkin
Carrd (F/O list, about me, DNI)
Divider credit: StephDragonness on DeviantART
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Welcome to my blog! I am Entesi, a dragon self shipper from Australia who loves to share posts about my self ships. I have a wide range of interests and F/Os, and a lot of my F/Os are also soulbonds, so I am happy to chat about soulbond stuff too! I love posting self ship content, I love making ask games and writing prompts and I love interacting with the self ship community. If you ever have a request for a prompt or ask game, please feel free to send them my way! I am always open for chatting about your F/Os, so long as they aren’t on my list of non-sharing F/Os or a trigger of mine. I love hearing about your F/Os, even the ones with ‘problematic’ themes! I don’t judge so long as it’s in fiction or completely consensual with any real-life people or soulbonds involved. Your love is so valid! You should share it!
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Please make me aware at any point if I accidentally violate your DNI. I follow from @Entesi ! Let me know if you guys need anything!
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A bit about me, I am a Gold Dragon from Australia, though I original hail from a planet called Molendo which I rule over. I have been in the self ship community for a long time, but a soulbonder and general self shipper for most of my life before I even knew what it was and what the terms are. I am married to my soulbond spouse Vandarian, I am engaged to my soulbond fiance Max, and have three beautiful soulbond boyfriends Ben, Kevin and Razer. All of my other romantic interests I either am not in a relationship with or are only in a relationship in fiction, but this may change one day. I do still interact with some soulbonds romantically, but it takes a lot for me to get the confidence to date them. I love talking about my F/Os and if you ever want to talk about them too, especially if they’re from a shared source of yours that you like, I’m happy to chat!
A ramble under the cut, but to be short; this blog does not welcome antis, anti endos, or harassment in general.
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This blog is not anti or anti endo friendly. I am a ship-and-let-ship believer and believe that fiction should be allowed to be explored however you want, so long as it’s tagged properly and kept completely fictional. If you’re incapable of differentiating between fiction and reality, and use your hatred of fiction as an excuse to abuse real people, such as people who like dark fiction and want to hurt them, you’re in the wrong buddy, not them. Fiction is a beautiful harmless way of exploring ideas without harming anyone real, like playing with Barbie dolls. Of course, fiction can affect some people, but not at the harm of the author, but if a person can’t differentiate, someone or they themselves need to find help. I try to stay neutral on the discourse, but if I see any antis try to hurt me or anyone I care about, you’re getting blocked buddy. I don’t support harassment in any form. I will not be starting discourse on this blog, and any anonymous asks pretending to be me to send harassment is not me because I do not support harassment towards anyone. Pardon the ramble, I just needed to get that out there. Thank you for reading this!
I also do not support anti endos as I am an endogenic system. Any endo hate will get you blocked!
If you need anything please feel free to message me! I love making friends so I’m always happy to chat
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fancy--that · 1 year ago
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Rules for thee and not for me, classic hypocrite anti response. You have no idea what you're talking about or what any of the words you're using mean. You get to write what you want because you're only doing it in the good Christian God-fearing Way but no one else can. You're a joke and very uneducated. Proshippers who created Ao3 and fight for anti-censorship regulations paved the way so you can write and share your stories, and you're shitting all over their hard work.
Ao3 is a proship website. Proship is the default anti-censorship stance. You cannot and will never be able to tell what is going on in someone's mind when they read or write, nor are thought crimes real. Your dead dove fiction is not any more or less moral than anyone else's, you're not special, you're not the messiah. And you definitely don't have the right to pass judgment on anyone else. Your self righteousness is truly disgusting.
wow. First of all thank god i'm not religious in any way shape or form but i'm sorry that someone talking with some sense made you think that theres no way an actual human being with morals and opinions could write this no they must be religious theres just no way a non religious person wouldn't condone rape, pedophilia and incest!!! get real
Also i never said i'm the only one who could write that kind of content, many people have and i've read my fair share of dead dove fics that touch on those dark topics, the point a lot of you seem to be missing is the CONTEXT portion. its part of a broader story, it isn't romanticized, it isn't normalized it isn't treated as something cute or funny or romantic. It's just written with mindfulness and within the right context. It's treated as the traumatic, disgusting, depraved thing that it is.
also like i'm not telling people to not write it in the first place at all? Yes ao3 was made by pro-shippers but also like you have to be mindful of what you're consuming out there on the internet. I would never read a pro-ship fic that deals with these topics but also i'm not going to go bashing it in the comments or anything, i just keep scrolling however i find it very telling of your character that all i did was make a post saying that i don't agree with pro-shipping and therefore won't write these certain requests given to me by pro-shippers and suddenly i'm the bad guy for having an opinion. "What do you mean you won't write my father x son fic? You stupid anti you're such a hypocrite" i mean get real.
Also my original post wasn't particularly mean in any way i just said i didn't like pro-shippers and wouldn't write that content, additionally i also gave personal reasons on why i wouldn't write that type of content. Again am i supposed to ignore my own reasons for why i won't engage in it just cause the pro-shippers might get mad at me? I don't think so.
Proshippers made ao3.....thanks proshippers i owe you my....life ig? idrk what i'm supposed to say? should i bow or something??? "hey so we like problematic ships and problematic and often dark undertones in our fics but we romanticize it and we made this website to share those stories and then we're gonna get mad when people mention that these ships are problematic"
You're right i don't know whats going on in someone's mind when they write. What I do know is I have personally seen a lot of adult pro-shippers writing and drawing content of minors and adults who still interact with minors on their platform. I know that if someone were to tell me "read this fic i wrote" and it was romanticizing incest and abuse i'd be uneasy that they were so proud of it. And i know as someone who again has a partner who age regresses, who has a community of people whose ages i don't know, someone who regularly interacts with children for work and likely pre-teens and teens online because ofc people who aren't 18+ are going to look gor this content, i couldn't write it. Not with all of those factors. My own personal reasons for not liking proshipping and refusing to write proship content is not less important than your need to justify why shipping things with rape, incest and pedophilia is okay.
also i would never want anyone to treat me like some savior here to bless the internet. I used my own story as an example of writing these heavy topics in the right context, i never said i was the only one whos ever done it right or whatever, im explaining how i know someone will say "well you've written it before look at this story!" that isn't proshipping so your argument is invalid.
also i can judge as i please its called being a human and if you romanticize rape, incest and pedophilia i will not consume your content, i will not make new content for you and yes i will judge you.
best regards
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ruthlesslistener · 1 year ago
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Did you know that "fujoshi" is actually considered a slur in Japan when used as an insult? It was created by homophobic incels on 2chan to refer to any woman who likes or supports gay male content because it makes women "unfit for marriage" if they support gay people in any capacity, including in fiction. It has been reclaimed by many women, but using "fujoshi" as an insult just plays right into the hands of homophobic misogynist asshats and reenforces its use as a slur, not to mention that it was NEVER meant as "women who fetishize gay men" because that's not what a fujoshi is
Still using and labeling the Fujoshies as bad still spreads misinformation about the term. Even if you call them fujoshits. Also... pls don't think all Japanese fans are into terrible shit. That's a generalisation and a racist one too. Fujoshi is just a person, a lady, who likes BL. They don't deserve to have that term watered down just because of American woman, who are also allowed to enjoy BL because BL us just a term for Boys Love. It's not dirty. It's just a way to refer to stories/Angus where the two male characters fall in love.
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Japanese people don't deserve to have their label get watered down and hated just because you see westerners like "bad" BL stuff. You are just helping keep the label muddied when it's time we stop generalising. You refusing to stop just helps those western fujoshis in the end keep the term for themselves. And stop generalising Japanese anime fans, not all of them like those weird shots. But so many see "japanese" and think "bad/problematic/etc" at this point. It's a racist idea I know and I'm praying you just don't realise it. You have Japanese fans too...
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Hey man. A white person disagreeing to stop using the term fujoshi in a bad way, a term made and used by Japanese people that have unfortunately been taken over by weird westerners and rancid Japanese people - looks really bad. I look up to you and seeing it... Man. Not all Japanese people are like that. Please stop generalising them, they already got a lot going on.
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Fujoshi is just a term though. It's like a "genre" way of describing the LGBTQ gay fiction in Japan. It doesn't mean "people who like horrible rape incest stuff". Heartstopper is considered BL in japan lmaoooo.
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Just because you are Iranian, doesn't mean you can dunk on other Asians just because you wanna get a "gotcha" at the white people. Fujoshi is a Japanese term that belongs to them, that has even taken and mangled by West fans yes. But it doesn't belong to them. It doesn't belong to the rancid Japanese fans too who are into those kind of stuff. It just means "fan who likes BL".
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I thiiink that most of you didn't read what I said in my original post said, which is that I hate fujoshis in western fandom because my experiences with them have literally all been extremely negative, while I have zero beef with those in eastern fandom. I thought I made it pretty clear that I was talking only about said experiences in western fandom, but oh well. Here we go.
1.) In my post on it I explicitly said that I have no issue against Japanese people using the term because for them it's just...a term. It's not a red flag. But when someone who is not Japanese is using it- and I know for a goddamn fact that a good chunk of the self-identified fujoshis I've had bad experiences with weren't Japanese- then THAT is when it becomes a red flag. That's why I said 'white men calling themselves 'otaku' is a warning sign while Japanese people just using their native language is not' in my original post- because that's been my experience with western fujoshis as well
2.) I didn't use the term as an insult nor ever would, I was insulting western non-Japanese fans who call themselves fujoshis because they have been disproportionately awful people who have sent my friends death threats and have engaged in other forms of harrassment in the past.
3.) I never said that fujoshi = 'person who likes rape/incest/etc', I just mentioned that in my personal experience, western fans- especially western fans that call themselves fujoshis- tend to be awful people, while on the eastern side it's civil. Idk how to tell you this but there tends to be a schism in fandom between east/west, and east is always more civil than west. That's why I kept clarifying 'western fandom' over and over and over again. Because Japanese fans don't do that shit and I admire them for it.
4.) Me talking negatively about a group that has harassed me and people I care about- to the point of death threats and forcing some, including me, to leave the fandom or stop going on the internet- is not me sucking up to white people. It's me holding a grudge against actual white people who are appropriating a term not used for them and have the personalities that match that kind of person.
Anyways all the luck to Japanese women and eastern fans who are trying to cleanse the terms from the awful shit that others have done, but that still doesn't reduce my negative experiences with non-Japanese western fans that made me hate it in the first place. I'll make sure to clarify that it wasn't Japanese fans in the future.
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marauderswolf22 · 2 years ago
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Hi! I'm doing some research on the marauders fandom, and I saw that you've posted some content for it! I'd love it if you could take this anonymous form, about your opinions and experiences in the marauders fandom! (If you wanna be extra lovely, would you be willing to share it with your followers, too?) Thank you so so much :) Here's the link: forms. gle/MggR6iFc7mk7KxD9A
I feel so honored!!! Thank you <3 all complete, so i wanted to share my answers :) (i don't know how to write it, but hell yeah i want to) +i skipped the part about myself (age, country...) and i also make them shorter, but with the same meaning (hope you're not mad!) and i also wrote here so much of them lol
At what age did you read the Harry Potter books? ⬤ 8-10 years old
Have you ever read Harry Potter fanfiction? ⬤ yes
If so, what year did you start? ⬤ i think it was 2021
Do you consider yourself in the hp fandom, the marauders, both, or neither? ⬤ the marauders fandom
Which platforms do you use to consume marauders content? ⬤ Tumblr ⬤ ao3 ⬤ Wattpad ⬤ Fanfiction. net
What do you like to consume within the marauders fandom? ⬤ Fan art ⬤ Fanfiction ⬤ Fan edits (with movie clips)
When did you first engage in marauders fandom? ⬤ in the beggining of 2022
Did you participate the marauders fandom in late 2020 (atyd era) ⬤ No
Have you read atyd? ⬤ no, but im in the fandom anyway
(Here i missed some questions, sorry)
Have you read crimsom rivers? ⬤ I want to!
Have you read art heist, baby? ⬤ No
Do you ship Jilly? ⬤ yes, also with other characters
If you ship them with other people, who are they? ⬤ james with regulus, sometimes lily with mary
Do you ship jegulus? ⬤ Yes (i fucked up here lol)
If you ship them with other people, who are they? ⬤ James with lily &lt;3
Do you ship wolfstar? ⬤ yes (hell yeah)
Do you ship jeguilly? ⬤ No
Do you ship rosekiller? ⬤ i really don't know!!!
Is there a very popular ship i haven't mention? ⬤ Dorlene? And marylily i think
Have you had any experiences with sexism in the marauders fandom? ⬤ don't remember but possible that yes
Have you had any experiences with racism in the marauders fandom? ⬤ yes
If yes, explain here: ⬤ i saw a fanart one time where james had a darker skin (he was latino) and someone commented that it doesn't suit him (i meant that they said that it doesn't suit his personality)
Have you had any experiences with fat-phobia in the marauders fandom? ⬤ again, possible bit don't exactly remember anything
Have you even been harassed while engaging in the marauders fandom? ⬤ no
How do you see james potter ⬤ i don't have a preference! (Everything is interesting!)
Do you think you are the minority within the fandom? ⬤ i think most fans view this character the way i do
How do you see Sirius and Regulus? ⬤ i dom't have a preference!
Do you think you are the minority within the fandom? ⬤ i think most fans DO NOT view this character the way i do
Do you think that Peter is plus-size? ⬤ yes, but it's not that important to me
Do you think you are the minority within the fandom? ⬤ i think most fans view this character the way i do
Do you think that Lily is plus-size? ⬤ i don't have a preference!
Do you think you are the minority within the fandom? ⬤ i think most fans view this character the way i do
Do you think it's problematic to ship characters who, within canon, are death eaters and DO get a redemptiom arc? ⬤ i don' think so, everyone have theur own canon and for some it can be problematic, but for some not (my english had a break here)
Do you think that it's problematic to ship characters who, within canon, are death eaters and DON'T get a redemptiom arc? ⬤ i don't ship them but only because im not really deep into their stories (yet?) but again, not for everyone and every canon (my english understanding was sleeping, god)
GUYS DO THIS, IT'S SO COOL and you must put a lot of effort in this, good job! Have a good day lovies <3
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lumi-waxes-poetic · 1 year ago
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"We'll always have Hogwarts": Regarding Shelving Problematic Favorites
As someone who has made the decision to shelve my Harry Potter fandom, and is still struggling to do the same with Twilight, I feel I should write this.
These are books and franchises that define a period of time for quite a few of us on Tumblr, it's safe to say, but their authors have unfortunately garnered a problematic reputation through implications in their worldbuilding and text, comments said and inferred, and company regularly kept. But this post is actually not about that. This is about dealing with this in as sane a way as can probably be managed, because if you're like me, you're already feeling like there's a big hole in your life.
Being a good ally does NOT require you to burn your already purchased merchandise, books, and blu-rays and what have you, or seek to actively poison good memories from important years of your life. That's not what allyship asks. It's asking how you choose to consider your interactions going forward -- we can't change the past, so don't burn it needlessly.
I grew up with Harry Potter, and Twilight has been a long time guilty pleasure. A lot of great times were had with great people as a result of these franchises. And I will always have that. YOU will always have that. There are always those who would demand that nothing less than absolute purity is required, and that you should totally and completely carve these things neatly from your life, as though with a precision scalpel. That is, of course, your choice to make, not anyone else's.
But really, what matters is that now that you know how minorities find and show these things as harmful to them, how you choose to interact going forward, and the most basic and essential fundamental request being made is that you try not to contribute money to that thing or creator in the future.
I will always have my Glittery R.Pats movies, and my beloved Harry Potter Collector's Edition Blu Ray set. And I will definitely still enjoy them from time to time -- a bit of nostalgia, as a treat.
But I won't partake in the Hogwarts Legacy video game. I won't interact with the long form revival shows for Harry Potter or Twilight. I chose allyship, and that means being willing to end one chapter and start another, but really, that's just how any half decent story goes too. We progress, and we outgrow things, but just because we aren't in that moment in time anymore doesn't mean we can't look back fondly on the good moments.
Or, to put it another way, I may not be 7 years old anymore, but I can still go back and watch old Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers stuff even if I'm not engaging with the franchise going forward as an adult. And no, it does not matter that I disengaged from it for different reasons, because the underlying principle is still the same: for one reason or another, we outgrow things and cease to largely interact with it going forward, but we still revisit that era, that moment, when it was still "ours".
The added bonus of choosing allyship here is it's also helping do your part in shaking the lazy Hollywood establishment out of its directionless ennui, wherein it is simply content to produce remake after reboot after terrible cash grab adaptation.
So, you benefit two causes, and it's as simple to do as making a conscious decision to find new things that you can love going forward while cherishing what you've already had. It's okay to miss things, but remember that "we'll always have Paris Hogwarts."
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thebreakfastgenie · 2 years ago
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None of this is all or nothing, of course. I want to clarify that before going on. For example -- your standalone post about rainbow marketing is a prime example. I would prefer to live in a world with rainbow marketing than a world where it is so objectionable to be queer that it cannot be spoken about publicly; and with modern capitalism being what it is, I don't object to the queer community being a part of that. And sometimes, being marketed to is fun. Sometimes I like to buy rainbows. However, remember when Disney used a queer TV show to advertise Disney Plus, and then relegated that TV show to Hulu because it wasn't "family friendly"? (I know this was a couple years ago, but it's the best example I could think of on the fly - given time to think I am sure I could come up with a more recent example.) That's the kind of thing that makes me at best roll my eyes out of my head and at worst kind of mad and I'm not even particularly invested in that particular TV show and personally probably would not have watched it.
As far as it goes, some of the same things apply to the discussions about slurs. I know you said you do not assume a stranger's identity unless there's very clear contextual details that you should - which is generally good advice, but also has nuance. Like, for example, if someone is making a post about their blorbo being a [slur] there's no way to tell if the OP is part of that community themselves, but if the post is more along the lines of '[slurs] like us' I think it's fair to assume that OP is part of the community, and there's middle ground between those two things.
This is an extremely, extremely niche example but I play a tabletop roleplaying game that was written in the late 90s/early 2000s and has some "edgy" content including a character known as "The [Slur]". I remember discussing this with a friend (both he and I a part of that community) and saying that even though I knew it was "problematic" I have a lot of affection for this character. (But would generally not say so publicly, because I know not everyone would agree). His response really clarified a few things for me about why I felt that way, which was "If I could get a group of people to call me The [Slur] I probably would. THE? You bet your ass I am!"
To address one of your other points; I have personally experienced both d*ke and f*ggot as homophobic slurs and do not see that big a gap between them. However, for full context, I also grew up in a place and time where the three letter short form for the f slur was a general part of common parlance as a slang term for a different thing, and though also occasionally used as a gay slur, there was another gay slur to refer to queer men that was more commonly in use.
It's World Pride at the moment and there are events with titles including words that are often used as slurs. Some of these (like Queer) because as you note, they also have a significant and storied history in academia; others in reclaiming contexts.
All of this together means it rubs me the wrong way a little bit when you say that you think d*ke is okay but f*ggot is not because you perceive one as more homophobic than the other because of your own personal experiences. That's completely fine in the sense that I am not asking you to personally be comfortable with a slur; however, it feels a little like assuming your experiences are more universal and correct than mine.
This post got very long and because I was touching on a lot of different points it feels a little disjointed when reading back over it so if you are unsure about something I have said I would ask that you please say so and not assume the worst. I am again trying to engage in a good faith discussion so if it feels like I have lost the plot a little bit in trying to get my thoughts across, it is purely because I have a lot to say and a limited character limit for expressing it.
I don't have the time to engage with everything right now, but I wasn't saying dyke is okay and f*ggot isn't because I have personally experienced them differently. I was, again, speaking about context. I don't think a black and white okay/not okay dichotomy is productive or functional. However, my default is "assume it is not okay to use slurs and particularly to call people slurs until proven otherwise."
I'm also not comfortable with "blorbo is a [slur]" in most cases but that is a personal comfort level thing. In my experience it's nearly always based on stereotypes and while I'm not saying jokes about that are never fun, I'm just usually not very comfortable with it, especially on the public internet.
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theanimeview · 6 months ago
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[Commentary] Media Literacy: Dangers Of Romanticizing Other Cultures & Recognizing Soft Power
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By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting
This is a topic that feels a little hypocritical to be writing considering the fact that our content seems to be all about romanticizing stories from other countries as an anime blog, but that is exactly why it is important to discuss. In our “Welcoming 2024” message, I posted on anime going from niche to mainstream, and how fans are involved in that. I stand by my statement that I think it is a really cool development. However, I also recognize that fans might romanticize the culture as a result of only seeing its “better” sides in anime and online. 
No culture, no society, and no group is perfect. Using even minimal media literacy can show that about any culture (your own and others) and today’s post, as much as I loathe to do so, is about this idea. 
Let’s start with the idea of “soft power,” a concept regarding international relations that refers to a country’s ability to influence other countries and achieve its objectives through non-coercive means, such as culture, ideology, and diplomacy. Unlike “hard power,” which relies on military or economic coercion, soft power seeks to attract and persuade other countries to adopt the ideas, values, and interests of the country projecting it, often through entertainment and educational means.
Soft power is often associated with a country’s cultural exports, such as movies, music, and literature, as well as its diplomatic efforts to build alliances and promote cooperation on issues of common interest. By projecting a positive image and promoting values that are attractive to others, a country can increase its influence and achieve its goals without resorting to force or threats.
Japan specializes in “soft power” and they’re proud of it. They should be, as the media is engaging and the methodology—for now—remains somewhat positive.
However, that does not mean that we shouldn’t be aware of it nor combat (through similar means) some of the ideas being perpetuated that conflict with our cultural values because romanticizing another culture can be problematic for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it can create a distorted and oversimplified view of a culture that fails to capture its complexities and nuances. This can lead to stereotyping and misunderstanding, as well as the erasure of important aspects of the culture that do not fit into the romanticized narrative.
Using Japan as a continuing example, the country has a massive issue with sexism and sexual assault. The country also is resistant to immigration, and with a rapidly aging population, and not enough births to replace the aging populace. This resistance to having more children or welcoming immigrants is a detrimental point for their society.
We see this come out in their media, as women are often shown in less diverse ways than their male counterparts on screen (rather it be in animation or live-action). That’s not just fan service, that’s a form of objectification, and, as surprising as it may seem, it can lead to dehumanizing people.
In an anecdotal example, one of my former professors described being forcibly kissed on trains in Hong Kong and Japan when she was younger. Her father moved them frequently as he served in different military bases and the people who made such moves against her were surprised by her “reluctance” and fighting. They had been introduced to foreign media where women were less conservative and wanton so the idea that a foreign girl would dislike being greeted with on-the-mouth kissing or not want to be sexualized was “strange.” They even made defenses that she was being two-faced or “tsundere.” This could stem from how a lot of tsundere characters are coded as European/Caucasian foreigners. 
These concepts overlap the idea of the dangers of a single story.
This is true of America and other countries too. In some parts of the world, the US is seen as an amazing place, and in others, we’re seen as bullies. Not aided by the behavior of some tourists.
Just as we regularly break down Western culture for both enjoyment purposes and educational examinations into cultural insights, so too should we examine Eastern cultures with depth. 
People and traditions of the culture being romanticized can reduce them to mere commodities for consumption or entertainment, perpetuating power imbalances and reinforcing attitudes by presenting the romanticized culture as either above or below when the reality is neither. It is just a different culture from our own.
While our blog is appreciative of Japan and other foreign media, and we try to respect other cultures for what they are, we think that it is crucial to do so in a way that acknowledges and respects their complexities and histories and does not reduce them to a simplistic or idealized fantasy. We hope that those of you reading also take this into consideration.
What we see is not always what it appears to be, and so we encourage media literacy. There are a lot of different definitions for this, but ultimately media literacy is “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.” It is a skill you already use every day because media is all around us: from pictures on a wall, to articles on your phone, to music being heard. Even while reading this post you are experiencing a form of media literacy as you interpret the writing here because media literacy refers to looking at the message of a piece of media (the values and ideas that are promoted by the media or what the creators have intended to message to the audience) and what the media’s effects are (their influences or the results as seen on the audience).
Since all media is coded by the creators’ experiences and understanding, understand too that all messages are decoded by the receivers’ experiences and understanding. Like emojis having different meanings for different age groups or how one person may enjoy an anime while another hates it.
Consider John Bohannon’s “Who’s Afraid of Peer Review?” Article and the surrounding incident to the experiment described. Ten years ago, between January and August 2013, John Bohannon submitted fake scientific papers to over 300 journals owned by as many fee-charging, open-access publishers. Publishers we may generally trust at first glance like The Journal of Natural Pharmaceuticals—a journal that promised all articles were peer-reviewed. Bohannon writes in his article, “Who’s Afraid of Peer Review?” that these fake-study journal submissions “were designed with such grave and obvious scientific flaws that they should have been rejected immediately by editors and peer reviewers[,]” but 60% of the journals accepted them. Going beyond his paper, he decided to show how fake information spreads quickly, and with the help of a German journalist, Peter Onneken, one of Bohannon’s fake articles became a news article (How Chocolate Can Help You Lose Weight!) which soon went viral across the news. Corrections took far longer to spread than the initial information, so as you look into Japanese culture or really any culture, try to remember that just because you can double-check with other sources, doesn’t mean it is correct. A good way to protect yourself is to go to the main source.
We at TAV aim to give you accurate information. We try to speak from our experiences and to share our readings and insights, but we also recognize that to err is human. In general, this post is really a warning to ourselves and those of you reading that while it is fun to enjoy the entertainment we discuss on here (anime, manga, webtoons, games, etc.), you must keep in mind that these are coded pieces of media. Maybe not intentionally politically coded but certainly influenced by the culture that it comes from. So, as much as we enjoy these things, let’s not romanticize them.
With this said, what are your thoughts? Have you thought about this before? Or, can you think of a way you may have been influenced for better or worse by these media? Let us know!
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Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee
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