#as if that absolves them of their shitty beliefs

[wartakes]

The Issue of “Negative American Exceptionalism” (OLD ESSAY)

This essay was originally posted on October 13th, 2021.

In this essay, I dig into the issue of how many other folks on the Left's foreign policy can best be summed up as "America bad" and absolutely nothing else and how that can be a problem in denying agency to other people and groups around the world who are trying to fight for better lives for themselves as well.

(Full essay below the cut).

I like to think I’ve been pretty consistent in drilling down my core beliefs in these essays since I started posting them almost a year ago. One of those central points I return to often is that war – while terrible – is sometimes unavoidable or even necessary. While I think I’ve had some modest success in convincing people of this, I am reminded daily that there is still a long way to go.

One of the common threads I encounter in the pushback to this principle is the sentiment that the United States is the root cause of essentially every military conflict, diplomatic crisis, or other negative event in international affairs – or can only make such conflicts and crises worse by its involvement. A common way you see this manifest is blaming every revolution or uprising against a government you like (or at least isn’t closely aligned to the United States) as being a CIA-backed coup, or writing off aggressive or violent acts by shitty regimes as long as they are anti-Western or anti-US and claiming that the only reason that problems are occurring is because of the United States. There are many other flavors of and spins on these types of opinions, but these two seem to be the two big ones that I run into a lot as I dredge through the morass of social media.

Now, I should say up front as always, that my goal here is not to absolve the United States of its many obvious failings and crimes throughout history. My country has indisputably done some awful, terrible shit in the past, is still doing it now, and will continue to do it into the future until we as Americans finally decide that “enough is enough” and do something to change that. My goal here is instead to show you that, while the United States obviously plays a central role in the world and its many issues – all of which are intertwined with one another – it is not the sole “protagonist of reality” when it comes to international affairs and war – rather, not the sole “antagonist of reality” in this case I suppose. Not everything begins and ends with the United States. Other countries, groups, leaders, and etc. have their own agency and exercise it upon one another and themselves, regardless of what the United States does or says. They have their own goals and interests, both for good and for ill, and will do their best to fulfill them.

I want to talk about this because the “everything is the United States’ fault” sentiments bother me for several reasons. For one, I just hate people putting out takes that are disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst. But the primary reason I want to talk about them is because I think they are outright dangerous. To the extent that we are able to try and change things now, and with the hope we may be able to change things further in the future, trying to further these ideas could cause immeasurable harm down the line in multiple ways by way of our own misguided actions – or inaction. If one day we actually are able to change the system for the better, but instead choose to go down a road where we support the worst kind of regimes or simply choose to do nothing in terms of how we deal with the world, it could be a tragedy on a horrific scale. Specifically, as American leftists, we need to stop assuming attitudes that are essentially Negative American Exceptionalism, reducing every conflict in the world to something that is directly America’s fault with the solution being one that involves us either acting in a directly harmful way or not acting at all. While grappling with our country’s global legacy is no small task, it’s something we need to do thoughtfully and critically and not simply act in a knee jerk manner. Otherwise, to put it bluntly, many people will suffer or die.

You do not, in fact, have to hand it to the People’s Republic of China

A good contemporary example to use here for some context would be the current tensions that exist between the United States and its allies and partners and the People’s Republic of China. Depending on who you ask, the USA and the PRC are either in danger of falling into a new Cold War or are already in a new Cold War (I tend to believe the latter is already the case). This heightened state of geopolitical competition among great powers has made itself known in multiple areas (be they diplomatic, military, economic, legal, or what have you), and have risen over various different flashpoints and interests in Asia and beyond.

I think it’s safe to say that most regular people are not happy or excited about the prospect of a new Cold War – though I certainly know some people in my field that are seemingly drooling at the thought of it. It should be no surprise to most people that I’m in the “not excited” category. While I am no fan of the PRC and its policies towards its citizens and other countries and I also think we and others should be prepared to counter it should it act in a hostile way against its neighbors, I don’t think that stance necessitates the confrontational Cold War posture that has been assumed by the United States towards China.

But, with all that in mind, while I don’t think the United States is handling this properly, this does not mean I’m letting China off the hook for its own aggressive, hegemonic aspirations. However, other folks on the Left seem to be willing to do so, either out of a weird tankie fetishization of China, or a simple anti-imperialist “anything that owns the United States and the West is good” attitude. Too often, I see the sentiment that the reason this new Cold War has begun is entirely the fault of the United States – with no responsibility falling on China for its outbreak – and that if the United States were simply to leave Asia and let the PRC do whatever it wanted, then the region would be a freer and more peaceful place (I apologize for not really having any good sources to link back to here, but I feel like if you spend even just a little time wading your way through certain corners of Left Twitter you know what I’m talking about).

There are a lot of ways I could point out how this assumption is reductive and just plain wrong, and I struggle on where to start. So, I guess I’ll start with a good old-fashioned hypothetical. Let’s assume that tomorrow the United States pulled every last one of its troops out of the Western Pacific, closing all of its bases and ending all of its security agreements throughout the region. Following the logic of some people I see discussing this on the Left, then that would solve most if not all of the security issues that are going on in that part of the world. That the PRC would no longer have a reason to act aggressive (though some would characterize that more as an attitude of “self-defense”) and would become a benevolent, peaceful actor.

That would be great if that was the case, but I find all of that very hard to believe. The United States withdrawing from the region and writing it off wouldn’t change any of the PRC’s fundamental interests and goals, whether it be forcefully incorporating Taiwan, expanding control over most of the South China Sea, economically pressuring countries in the region and beyond, and more. The PRC would almost certainly still want to do all these things if the United States left the region. If anything, China’s leadership would likely feel that they’d have a freer hand to double down and seek these objectives with more gusto. I don’t want to go as far as to say the United States is the only thing keeping them from carrying out a lot of their plans – that would just be defaulting back to classic American Exceptionalism rather than the Negative form.

Again, I have to stress that my point here isn’t to go “see, things are better off when the United States is in charge or swooping in to be the world’s policeman” or anything along those lines because that’s just flat out wrong as well. The United States’ history in Asia is “colorful” to say the very least and we have many acts we’ll need to atone for there going into the future. My point here is to illustrate that the United States alone is not the source of all the region’s problems in this particular case. Hell, China isn’t even the source of all the region’s problems in this case (though between it and the United States they do make up a healthy percentage of them). Just based on discussions with people from the region, I’m guessing they’d prefer it if there was no hegemon at all imposing its will on the region writ large – and it is these points of view we need to be more cognizant of – which I’ll foot stomp towards the end of this essay. The main point here is that even if the United States were not involved and took a hands-off attitude, conflicts and crises would still exist independent of it. All security issues do not begin and end with the United States and its foreign policy. The world chugged along with its various problems before us, and if our country ceases to exist, it will continue to chug on without it.

Getting over and moving on

I find myself reaching the “so what”/”what can we do” section of this essay faster than I have in the last few essays (the point was fairly simple this time around I guess). So, how do we deal with this?

I feel like the answer is both very simple and also very difficult – simple in that the overall action is very straightforward, difficult in that the exact, best way to carry it out is less clear and easy.

The solution is that we – we specifically being American Leftists- need to get over ourselves and our country.

As I alluded to earlier, it feels like there’s a not insignificant amount of people on the Left in this country and elsewhere who have traded one American Exceptionalism for another. Instead of holding the traditional (flawed) view that the United States the greatest country in the world, capable of doing no wrong and essential to all things that are good and pure in the world, they believe the exact opposite (also flawed) view: that the United States is the source of all things that are awful and terrible and that the only way there can be peace and justice in the world is for us to cut ourselves off from it and/or destroy our country. These are of course, rough paraphrases and there is more nuance involved in some cases, but these are the overall sentiments as I see them (when I don’t have my head in my hands in dismay that is). I also recognize that these people are not the majority on the left and definitely not the majority in general, but they do have the potential to hold outsized influence in informing people’s opinions when it comes to foreign policy and international relations – especially if no one else is pushing back on it (hence why I think it was important enough to write about here).

Again, it is undeniable that the United States plays a central role in how the world functions – and the problems it faces. But if we’re ever going to have a constructive attitude towards the rest of the world, we need to recognize that whatever role our country plays, it is still only one part of a highly interconnected global system of various different actors. We absolutely should be critical of ourselves and definitely be critical of our government and actions overseas, but we cannot become so single minded as to think that is the only factor at play. We cannot let the attitude of American Exceptionalism that has been drilled into us since we were young simply be morphed into a new and twisted form that is just as harmful as the old – if not potentially worse. We need to assume a true spirit of internationalism and global solidarity that isn’t ethnocentric and egotistical – even if those attitudes are unintentional on our part. And this is all coming from the guy who, despite everything, holds out hope that maybe one day the United States can be a force for some kind of positive change in the world. If that day does come (and I sure hope it does and am going to try and make it happen), I don’t think that kind of change is possible unless we can act not as the exceptional, indispensable hegemon, but as one of many entities that is party of an international collaboration to better the world for its people.

And therein lies another key takeaway: the fact that we need to listen to and center the voices of people outside the United States or members of an affected diaspora when it comes to crises and conflicts throughout the world before we attempt to make a comment, pass judgement, or otherwise act upon a given situation. When talking about an issue such as the new Cold War, its easy for some to write it off by blaming the United States – or for others to put the blame entirely on China – but I only occasionally see people paying any attention to the voices of those who are caught in-between in places like Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the nations of Southeast Asia, and more. When people look at protests and uprisings in places like Venezuela, Cuba, and elsewhere, I see a lot of ranting about how its all a CIA backed op, but little investigation of what actual people in or from these places (aside from talking heads with agendas) think or what systemic factors at play that may push people to protest, riot, and rise up.

Something I am thankful as I’ve discovered myself more politically is being put into closer contact with folks overseas who bring their own perspectives to the issues that I study every day. Even when I don’t agree with them 100%, I’m thankful for the experience to help bring me out of my bubble and remember that the world does not begin and end with the United States and whoever its beefing with at any given moment. There are real people in real places caught in between in the new landscape of “great power competition” who face far greater stakes should things go pear shaped. More than anything, we need to remember that we should be striving to enable people across the world to have control over their own lives and the path that their countries and communities should take. In addition to recognizing that other states have agency and may have malicious intent separate from US actions, we need to remember the agency of nations and people who don’t wish to be subject to the exploitation and harm from any state or group – whether it be the United States, China, or whatever else.

Really, at the core of these issues, we need to recognize that the world is complicated and needs to be dealt with as such. That may be something of a cliché’, but just because something is a cliché’ does not mean its untrue (yes, that in itself is a cliché; bite me). As a country and a people, America has never been that great dealing with nuance. This is something we also need to finally get over – in addition to getting over ourselves. When I speak of this, I absolutely don’t mean seeing the world as being “complicated” in terms of who is “good” and “bad” or looking the other way when shitty things happen in the name of national interest because “the world isn’t black and white its shades of gray hurr hurr.” That’s fucking stupid; we should know bad shit when we see it. What I do mean is that when something happens in the world, we should be able to formulate a response to it that isn’t knee jerk or a binary choice between complete inaction or mounting a full-scale war. Those two options may in fact be options in some (rare) cases, but our ability to understand and response to things occurring in the world around us should not be limited to those and those alone. The answers to global issues – whether they be security related or otherwise – are rarely simple and we need to be able to work through those challenges and not reduce issues to the point they have no real meaning.

As someone who was raised in the United States and live and work here, I still sometimes fall in the trap of thinking that my home country – and by extension, myself – is the sole protagonist (or antagonist) of reality. But however key a component the United States is of the global system we live under today, as Americans we have to be able to push back on that assumption that has been instilled in us as we view the rest of the world and the events occurring in it. We need to remember that other states and nations and peoples have plans and goals – both positive and negative. As we grapple with the flaws and crimes that our country has committed and respond to what’s going on in the world around us, we need to make sure we reckon with our past in a way that isn’t harmful to the rest of the world through simplistic, reductive actions as a result of rigid ideological dogma. With how much damage one form of American Exceptionalism has already done to the world, it cannot afford to experience another.

[the-eldritch-it-gay]

@thedragonagelesbian replied to your post “Concept. I've said that if Majexatli was a...”:

SCREAMING. (i'm sososososo curious about Him but the detail that majexatli won't let themself think his name is.....................................) also i love getting more insight into how the beliefs of majexatli's circle impacted their exile and their falling out of faith with Silvanus; calling their attack a 'disrespect of nature' is so horrendous and cruel but feels consistent with a worldview that prioritizes 'balance' above all else?

​Yes! I think I said once somewhere that Majexatli's circles views/interpretation of Silvanus' teachings very much was some sort of passive & detached centrism and almost stumbling a bit near the shitty like "people are poison and their existence is destroying the enviorment" colonialst nonsense. And Silvanus is about wild nature, how things exist in a balance, and if you think all things exist in a balance that needs to be upkept, are you just maintaining status quo?

I also I think kinda wanted them to be reminiscent of Moralism in Disco Elysium.

Moralists don't really have beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded. Centrism isn't change -- not even incremental change. It is control. Over yourself and the world. Exercise it. Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth.

When I was reading about Silvanus something stuck out to me with this line on the wiki "...he was emotionally distant in regards to its [the balance's] necessity. This led some to view him as heartless, though in reality he valued all life." So that also I think played a part in how I wanted to set up Majexatli's circe's beliefs.

Also, I think while He believes in the circle's teachings, he also perhaps on some level is trying to leverage that in a that covers his tracks and involvement (because while Majexatli has said he isn't the cause of their scars, thats not entirely true, but its not a lie either). I think the circle fostered an environment where he could very easily be absolved of his actions.

[helsex-moved]

Thinking about how the firm belief that everyone is born sinful, that even infants are selfish sinners is just a way for Christian parents to absolve themselves of any feeling of guilt and responsibility when their children are shitty because it's not their fault for raising them poorly with fear and physical abuse it's the kids fault because they're sinners

[demiaroacejadeharley]

Tarot Account: @babybatwitchxxx

Pride Icon Account: @radinclusnicorobin

⭐️About Me⭐️

💚Call me Jade (not giving out my irl name for privacy reasons)

💚She/They

💚Cis Woman (Although I've been questioning if I'm Nonbinary or not. Still figuring it out)

💚25

💚Demi AroAce

💚Autistic + Anxiety

💚Radical Inclusionist/Anti Exclusionist

💚Antishipper/Anti Proship, Anti Comship, and Anti Darkship

💚Leftist

💚Intersectional Feminist

💚Ex Catholic

💚Beginner Satanic Pagan Witch

💚Beginner Tarot Reader

💚Abuse and SA victim

💚Fat

⭐️My Beliefs⭐️

💚Anti Proship Neutral (as in against anyone who claims they're proship "neutral". Anyone who claims are neutral are lowkey proship)

💚Fiction can affect reality

💚Pro Choice and Pro Bodily Autonomy

💚Pro MOGAI

💚Pro Microlables

💚Pro It/Its Pronouns and Neopronouns

💚Against anyone who believes that Its/Its Pronouns and Neopronouns are transphobic (it's also ableist to be against these pronouns as they're created by Neurodivergent and disabled Trans people)

💚Pro Xenogenders

💚Anti Amber Heard/Anti Amber Heard Supporters (Supporting Amber after she admitted to abusing Johnny Depp is TERF rhetoric. TERFs believe that abusive and terrible women should he absolved of their actions because they're women. I'm not a Johnny Depp fan, but using his shitty actions as a way to erase his status as a domestic violence victim is victim shaming. You can acknowledge that Johnny is a terrible person and an abuse victim at the same time.)

💚Men can be victims and suffer under the patriarchy

💚Women can be abusers and benefit from the patriarchy

💚Anti "Kill All Men" (Wishing death to all men and wishing to commit male genocide is eugenics as marginalized men exist.)

💚Against anyone who compares being Trans to blackface (These two things should not be compared to all. It's racist and transphobic to compare the two since Trans people of color exist.)

💚Cancel Culture doesn't exist (it was made up by people who don't want to hold themselves accountable for their shitty actions. There's a difference between calling someone out of their bullshit and going after someone for something so small.)

💚Pro Sex Work

💚Pro Porn/Anti Porn Industry

💚Anti Christianity/Catholicism (and against all denominations of Christianity)

💚Anti TERF/Radfem/MERF/TEHM/SWERF (or any fascists who appropriates feminism with their bigotry)

💚Pro Kink

💚Queer is a political term and identity. Not a slur.

💚The R slur will never be a reclaimable slur

💚Against anyone who calls Autism "Asperger's Syndrome" (it's named after an Austrian doctor who was affiliated with the Nazis and killed Autistic children that didn't fit his standards)

💚Anti Veganism (Veganism is ableist and classist)

💚Anti Antitheism (Antitheism is deeply rooted in white supremacy and is harmful to people in marginalized religions.)

💚Anti Yandere Simulator/Anti Yandere Dev/Against anyone who still plays the game after Yandere Dev got exposed as a groomer

💚Anti Yandere archetype (it's based on harmful stereotypes of people with Borderline Personality Disorder)

💚Anyone who says that women shouldn't wear makeup, shouldn't wear revealing clothing, shouldn't get plastic surgery, and shouldn't become a sex worker (by choice) is anti bodily autonomy

💚Against people who are anti children (people who are against children and say stuff like "fuck them kids" or "I hate kids" probably have some deep-rooted trauma and should consider seeing a therapist. Adults should not be projecting their trauma onto kids. Also, saying you want to hurt any random child you see will end up with you being charged for child endangerment)

💚Against anyone who believes that hitting their children is a form of punishment (hitting your kids for whatever reason is abuse. And this is coming from someone whose been hit by both parents.)

💚Pro Self Shipping (self shipping is okay as long as you're shipping yourself with a character that's close to your age)

💚Against adult self shippers who ship themselves with underage characters

💚Against any fanart/fanfiction that sexualizes underage characters/against any fanart and fanfics that "ages up" underage characters just to sexualize them (sexualizing fictional minors is just as bad as sexualizing real minors. Pedophilia is still the same regardless of whether the minor in question is fictional or not.)

💚Against anyone who ships real life people

💚Anti Real People Fanfiction (making fanfics of real life people is so fucking weird. Stop treating real people like fictional characters.)

💚Against any Autistic person who refers to their Autism as Asperger's Syndrome/Anti Aspie Supremacy (Aspie Supremacists are low support needs Autistic people who believe that they're more superior than high support needs Autistic people and other high support needs disabled people. It's also rooted in white supremacy as well.)

💚Against anyone who still uses terms like "high/low functioning", "special needs", and "mentally challenged".

💚Anti White Supermacy/Neo Nazism

💚Anti Republican/Apolitical/Libertarian/Centrist

💚Anti Autism Speaks and against anyone who supports it

💚Anti Harry Potter/Anti Fantastic Beasts/Anti JK Rowling/Against anyone who still consumes JK's work after she outed herself as a TERF (buying secondhand and fanmade merchandise and reading/producing fanfics is just as bad as you're continuing to give her work relevance and keeping it mainstream even though she's not profiting from anything secondhand and fanmade. This includes any book she wrote under the name Robert Galbraith, who was an Anti LGBTQIA+ conversion therapist.)

💚Hazbin Hotel Critical/Anti Helluva Boss/Vivziepop Critical

💚Pro Mspec labels (I don't fully understand those labels, but I'm not going to use it as an excuse to exclude them from the community.)

💚Against non-Lesbians who think Trans men can't be Lesbians (as a cis non-Lesbian, it's none of my business if a Trans man identified as a Lesbian as long as they're not hurting anyone)

💚Against anyone who ships canon Lesbian characters with male characters

💚Against anyone who ships Gay male characters with female characters

💚Against anyone who ships canon Ace/Aro characters with Allo characters

💚Against anyone who believes that blashwashing is real (blackwashing was created by anti black racists as a way to silence people of color when talking about representation in media)

💚Anti Transmed/Anti Truscum/Anti Gender Critical

💚Pro Self Diagnosis/Anti Fake Claiming

💚Anyone who mocks Joe Biden for his stutter and accuses him of having dementia are ableist (Biden has a speech disorder, which causes his stuttering. I'm not a Biden supporter, but as a disabled person, you're saying that disabled people that they can't hold high positions of power by making fun of the way he speaks.)

💚Anti Harassment

💚Anti Suicide Baiting

💚Anti Fatphobia/Anti Fat Shaming

💚Anti Radqueer

💚Pro Palestine

💚Anti Israel/Anti Zionism

💚Anti Enemies to Lovers trope (and against other toxic relationships tropes)

⭐️Fandoms⭐️

(This will be filled out at one point. I'm just too lazy to do so 🙃)

⭐️Rules⭐️

💚Reblogs have been turned off on my posts to prevent people whom I don't want to interact with. This includes restricting comments on my posts, too, for the same reason. I suffer from anxiety, and it's just easier for me to filter out who I do want or do not want to interact with.

💚Any asks and DMs from people I don't want to interact with will be deleted. If anyone continues to do so, will be blocked.

💚Anyone who I don't want to interact with will be instantly blocked if they tag me in any posts. I'm not gonna waste my time and read your stupid ass post. Also, it will open me up to any form or harassment.

💚Any asks and DMs complaining about my beliefs list will be deleted. I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna argue with people my beliefs. It's not worth my time and mental health.

💚Any asks and DMs about the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp situation will be deleted. I don't support either person as they're both terrible people. Also, the situation has been over for more than a year now, and it's basically beating a dead horse. I was simply trying to make a point that you can be a victim of something and be a shitty person at the same time, as well as that person's shitty actions should not be used as a way to erase their victim status. I was trying to make a point that men can be victims, and women can be abusers. Abuse has no gender.

[allycat75]

Some thought on choices and decisions...

There has been talk on some blogs about what choice a certain Boston Dumb Fuck had when it came to the current shitty situation he has found himself in, so I wanted to dig a bit deeper and discuss how we are all often put in between a rock and a hard place. And I apologize, it got a bit long.

(Before I begin speaking in hypotheticals, it will be helpful to clarify, if it isn't already know, that my deduction is, after looking at the facts presented in front of me, that this is 100% PR and that there is not one ounce of chemistry or love in this kinda "married" couple).

Ok, Hollywood is a soul-sucking shithole that swallows dreams for fuel and there may be a point in an actor's career where the only options presented to them are a Turd Sandwich and a Giant Douche (thanks, South Park). I could make the argument that one does not just find themselves all of a sudden backed into this corner, that this was probably the culmination of multiple bad decisions or just plain carelessness and shushing of anxiety producing thoughts and instincts, but that is up for debate and at this point is only supposition on my part.

However, that does not absolve the decision maker from the consequences of their choices. Intent vs. impact are two very different things- teachers could lose their jobs; entire fandoms could be called crazy, stupid or jealous for pointing out truths we all see clear as day; being told one thing, then seeing the exact opposite in action, leading to an irreparabe erosion of trust; introducing a new invasive arrogant, lazy, immature, racist, fatshamming, antisemetic, clout chasing species into an environment, when a more talented, hard-working and kind-spirted actress would have been more deserving of the opportunity (wow, that metaphor got a little away from me).

In also flaunts privlege, especially by saying the actor will be fine, if not better, after this chaos. Again, this is an affront to those not afforded their shade of skin, their male gender or their connections a middle to upper middle class can offer. And getting brownie points for doing the bare minimum by, say "running" a useless political website at a time when democracy in burning to the ground, all the while ignoring the strong ties to the very beliefs that are tearing us apart. Married or divorced, the connection to that "invasive species" provides a normalization and tacit approval to racist, antisemtic and body shaming beliefs. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

We can only change our behavior if we learn from our mistakes and make amends to those we have hurt. But if there is no acknowledgment of a mistake in the first place, where does that leave us? Especially when we receive perceived rewards from these endeavors. But don't doubt karma is always watching.

I like seeing people succeed. I especially like seeing them succeed when they have worked hard and deserve the fruits of their labor. But I am particularly satisfied when people are in control of their lives and know who they are and what they want and don't want from life. There is absolutely no joy in watching a soulless creature wander through life, programmed to say and do what others want them to do when, where and with whom. Everyone loses in the end with that sort of inauthentic existence.

You are welcomed to agree or disagree, think I am too naive or sensitive or taking this way too seriously. But wanted to put this perspective out there.

PS- oh, and I will never give grace to that little fish mouth Nazi wifey.

[shai-manahan]

Of course! Btw I didn’t mean anything brutal haha. Sorry if it sounded that way 😭 I don’t want anyone getting hurt. More on the lines of exposing them, ruining their career, absolving the MC in the eyes of others so everyone knows the truth.

It really bothers how the MC is treated. Like that N character at the police station. The MC is exposing corrupt people and they are hating them for it? Get off your moral high ground you would protect bad people. Apologize to the MC right now haha. I really don’t like her can’t wait to bicker with her more

No worries! I didn't get that impression at all! It's more of a general reminder since I did receive a lot of overly brutal asks with regards to Alonzo and Wesley last year, and refusing to answer them kinda made some folks feel that I was trying too hard to defend the two lmao.

I cannot say yet what may happen between the MC and Wesley, but taking a revenge on Wesley is kind of a long run thing 👀. That's all I can share for now.

I do agree that they're treated very badly. And the thing is, if Alex wasn't there in the story, making powerful connections left and right, the MC would be in a much worse state. Currently, Nailah is a little passive about it and holds the belief that the MC could have easily turned their situation around if they wished so, though she's not as cruel with it compared to the other cops (not saying what she's doing isn't shitty or anything--but I can say her character arc will be... interesting). Bertrand, on the other hand.... well, the way Bertrand talks to the MC is a representation of how most of their colleagues treat them.

(And yes I haven't explained why the MC gets to use that office and no one else; I think you'd hate them all a lot more once you discover the reason.)

[vvatchword]

So about a week ago i managed to enrage somebody about BioShock Infinite. Now, this was fair, seeing as i approached the subject in a smarmy way, but what struck me immediately was the performative fear of the person i angered, and how my own performative fear was woken. I started double-checking myself, asking myself if i hadn't asked enough difficult questions of the source material and so on, and in the process, I started getting flashbacks to early Tumblr.

Which is why I wanna talk shit about what makes well-meaning people get so fucking uptight about difficult elements in fiction (involving race, gender, sexuality, who gives a fuck).

Hint: it's because they're wildly terrified of being -ist/-phobic themselves. There's no easy way to signify lack of prejudice to others so it must be broadcast. Coincidentally, when I was a Christian fundamentalist, i noticed from an early age that we felt we had to be morally performative, since there's no easy way to signify you're "right with God." If there are no outward signs, how are you supposed to know what's good or bad?

Haha there's no fucking way at all because there are rarely people or organizations or media that fall fully on one side or the other. And that includes you and me and everybody on Earth.

You will fuck up. You will accidentally be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, nationalist. You will discover that what you thought was a harmless belief actually comes packaged with baggage of the nastiest vein. You will discover that no viewpoint is without sin (no, not one).

At some level, you've got to be gracious to yourself--and to others. You've got to understand what makes people shitty. You've got to look your own sins straight in the face, even as they burn you.

Performative morality will not save you.

Performative morality will not absolve you of your sins.

Performative morality is the doorway to puritanism.

Puritans are far more hung up about looking good than they are about doing good. They believe in a black-and-white world. If the answer isn't easy, 1/0, T/F, Y/N, they won't entertain it. They don't love people; they love being right. They don't discuss to learn, they fight to win. In the absence of devils, they'll invent them. They desperately need to fight because how else can you prove you're on the right side? It's so difficult to live a life of maintenance, it's so slow and unsexy and unclear, it hurts so much, it's awful discovering ways in which you have been the monster, but if you don't acknowledge your inherent monstrous capabilities, you will end up committing them. Attempting to force your environment into moral acceptability will do nothing but hurt other people--and people are the only things that matter.

There's a fear of vulnerability in Puritanism--the terror of admitting you don't have it all together, that you might never have it all together. You know the Puritans will not hesitate to destroy you in the same way that they have destroyed countless others; you long to belong; you long to do the right things in the right ways. But Puritans will save no one. Only vulnerability is what produces real change and real love.

I'm sorry it can't be easy. I'm sorry the answers are complicated, multifaceted, and endless. I'm sorry it's not easy to make snap judgements. But they aren't going to start being so just because you insist.

Welcome to the fucked-up universe. Leave your false dichotomies at the Sunday-School door.

[girlvinland]

i just wanted to say i am completely unnormal about your pardoner oc Samson

stares at please please please please loredump please 🙏!! i love ds so eheh

Hi! I didn't forget about this ask, I've just been super busy and now I finally have a moment to answer it! Thank you so much for asking, I'll put my thoughts under a readmore bc it got long bc I kind of derailed talking about Carim in general LOL.

Since Samson is a bit of a new character, I'm still going to be working on developing him for a while, but I can tell what I do know!

I have a very big penchant for all things Carim- the land and people really fascinate me, and I like thinking about how it changed over the course of the series. I tend to believe that by DS3, the kind of pardoners we knew before aren't very common anymore (although Idk if they'd be completely gone either - we know that worship of Velka kind of seems to have fallen by the wayside, but I think there would still be people out there devoted to her, maybe some of them still even having ties to the church).

My HC is that the Church of Morne eventually became the major religious and political player in Carim once Thorolund kind of got absorbed by Carim (obv more my personal HC than canon but I think it's not so unpopular an idea), and worship of Caitha (who we know is likely to be Velka) is prominent. I think whether or not the people who worship Caitha know or believe in the Velka thing is up for debate and maybe even depends on proximity to the church or personal belief systems.

That being said, my pardoner is definitely doing his thing during the time DS3 would have been going on, because he's in a hidden relationship with another OC I have who is a Morne knight. I imagine they met during (the knight) Percival's training period, and that Morne knights overall are very much expected to keep their lives wrapped up with the Church (since you have to have a certain dedication to the faith to even become a Morne knight at all). I also HC that Carim has pretty traditional societal standards, judging from their views on knight- and maidenhood and chivalry. I don't think they'd be too fond of anything that goes outside of their brand of conservative thinking, so I doubt any sort of homosexual relationship would really fly, especially for people who's lives revolve around the Church. Hence Samson and Perci keeping their relationship secret.

I HC Samson to be really interested in and fascinated by Velka, I haven't quite considered all of what his beliefs about her being Caitha are but that's something I very much want to uncover and work on bc it's something I like to explore with all my Carim OCs (I have a problem). Outside of all that, he's a pretty private, quiet, reflective person. He would rather listen than talk, which makes him very suited to listen to confessions and help absolve people of their sins. I could go into his ideas on sin and his more personal "relationship" with Velka but maybe another time lol. Unfortunately, his story is kind of fucked up and sad, bc Idk, that's just how I like it.

During the time that he and Perci have grown close, Samson has suffered an illness that would eventually be fatal, though he's held it off through the use of healing miracles only for it to come back with a vengeance each time. In the end, before Perci is set to leave Carim with his maiden, Samson confesses this to him because he's been keeping it a secret in order to not worry Perci. He eventually decides he'd rather simply die than have to live that way and especially without Perci, so he does pass away before Perci heads out. Perci is already a sort of cynical person, but this really shatters his spirit. I won't get too much into Perci's own thing, but he and his maiden have a pretty shitty relationship initially and she's quite cruel to him even though they reconcile and part later.

I'm sorry for rambling a lot :x but I really appreciate this ask and getting to talk a bit about some of this stuff! Thank you again!!

[enbychu]

people who still bend over backwards to justify why h*rry pooper still means something to them after everything that has happened are so deeply pathetic. you think saying “fuck terfs” absolves you of anything? joanne has proven herself time and time again to be more shitty than just some terf and the shitty new game simply serves as a vessel to amplify every *other* shitty belief she had that was in the book series itself. fans just dont want to acknowledge that maybe the funny book series had Issues that they didnt notice because they were too young to realize it, but that excuse doesnt work any more. fuck you. grow a goddamn spine and use it to stand for something other than your own nostalgia

[aterabyte]

This godforsaken website pushes such a culture of conformity and guilt that it’s no wonder cults keep popping up. Like, yes, it’s important to listen to marginalized people, but the thing is that no demographic is a monolith. What do you do when you see--to use one of my own identities--two autistic people disagreeing with each other? Especially if it’s about an autism-related issue?

Like maybe in some cases it’s going to be obvious that one of them has views that fit your basic belief system and the other doesn’t (which is in and of itself making a judgment for yourself; it's just less recognized as such) but what about if that’s not the case? What if these two people clearly share the same fundamental values and objectives as you and as each other, but vehemently disagree about how to accomplish those goals? Do you just like. parrot the opinion of whoever got the last word in?

The maxim of “shut up and listen to [marginalized group]” does have its place, especially in conversations entirely about that group, but even in those cases, even if other people do need to shut up and listen instead of running their mouths on a matter they know nothing about, they ultimately have to make their own decisions on who to listen to--and if someone goes after them for the crime of listening to the Wrong One, they have every right and reason to defend themself, even if they had no place in the original conversation.

And then of course there’s situations where an issue does involve multiple groups, but members of one insist that it’s entirely about them, in order to take control of the conversation. This is something you see a whole lot in the realms of disability and queer issues.

Ultimately, like, it is important to make sure that people who are often talked over, shut up, and ignored even regarding their own issues are given center stage and control over the conversations about them, and it is important that people listen when those conversations happen and don’t just seek out members of that demographic who validate their existing views--but there’s still no way to absolve yourself of the responsibility to form your own conclusions.

It sucks, I know, that there’s no perfect solution, no way to avoid fucking up and being wrong at times, but just parroting the things people say (especially on an anonymous blogging platform where they can fucking lie about who they are) with no critical thought accomplishes nothing except creating an environment ripe for abuse, where shitty people can use their identity as a bludgeon to attack anyone they disagree with, even others with the same identity.

And please, ask yourself who exactly benefits from their followers and "friends" agreeing without thought, and how exactly this is supposed to ease anyone's oppression.

[nikkoliferous]

Sorry, you've probably answered this before, but uh.. why do you hate Frigga? I'm asking because I never really paid her much attention so, being indifferent towards her, I just wanted to know why you dislike her.

Hoo boy. How much time do you have? I will attempt to be somewhat concise here, but... well, I have a lot of feelings about Frigga and 98% of them are negative. 

Frigga is extremely manipulative and it’s actually her intervention in family affairs far more than Odin’s that enables his abusive tendencies, especially when it comes to Loki. Odin is more outwardly abusive; Frigga is sent in to pacify Loki’s anger, to convince him he’s overreacting and bring him back into the fold whenever he threatens to break away. Here is a shortlist of the shitty things we’ve seen Frigga do in the first two Thor movies:

She not only goes along with lying to Loki his entire life but perpetuates the “Jötnar are monsters” narrative, knowing fully well that Loki is one of them. To top it off, when the truth comes out, she at no point tells him there’s nothing wrong with being what he is. She merely brushes it aside as if it doesn’t even matter and emphasizes that he was raised by her and Odin. In other words, he’s not like all those other icky frost giants. He’s the exception.

When the truth comes out, her first priority is to absolve herself of any responsibility for going along with the lie. “I told him to be honest with you from the beginning.” Ok, but you weren’t honest either. Exercise some personal autonomy, Frigga. Maybe there’s some limited merit in the idea that Asgard is patriarchal and she had to go along with whatever Odin decided, but the “she was afraid of Odin” defense quickly falls apart when you realise that she’s throwing Odin under the bus right in front of him. He may not be conscious right now, but according to her, he can hear everything that’s going on around him.

She either ignores or completely misses the fact that Loki is in an extremely precarious mental state and forces upon him the additional burden of ruling a realm that’s suddenly at war—with the very peoples he’s just learned he belongs to, no less. And she does so without providing him with a lick of support or guidance. Whether she thought this was a nice thing to do for him by giving him a chance to prove himself or was prioritizing her own belief that Loki was better suited to the throne is unclear, but either way, it’s at best an idiotic move and at worst an utterly cruel one. Bonus points for the verbal command to “make [his] father proud”. Ugh.

She never asks him, at least so far as we can tell, about what happened to him or why he showed up on Earth acting so completely out of character. Her vision of him (see the prelude comic for The Dark World) appears to even include Thanos and The Other, and yet she never mentions any of this. Neither to him, nor to Thor, nor to Odin.

When he attempts to distract himself with illusions after being imprisoned for the rest of his life, she doesn’t address the substance of his fantasies by assuring him that he doesn’t need to be Thor in order to be worthy of love or adoration. Instead, she criticizes him for trying to escape his present reality, despite the fact that there’s nothing he can do to change it.

She gaslights him with that “a true king admits his faults” crap while hypocritically defending a man who has never admitted to being wrong about anything in his entire life. Loki’s responses to being mistreated by his so-called family are always out of line, even when they’re 100% rational. He does not have the right to grieve or feel betrayed, even though he has been. It is forever on him to forgive and forget, or more accurately to minimize and deny that any wrong was done to begin with.

She attempts to emotionally blackmail him into accepting Odin as his father again by basically insinuating that he can have either both or neither of them as his parents, and then has the audacity to act hurt when he rejects her manipulation.

And these are all just what we see happen onscreen, let alone whatever chicanery she must have gotten up to behind the scenes over the previous millennium. At the end of the day, Frigga had a superficially positive relationship with Loki (she spent more time with him, she taught him magic, she was not outwardly hostile towards him), but that only served to make the ways in which she mistreated him that much more damaging—because he was closest with her, he trusted her, and that trust was taken advantage of and used against him at every turn. Exacerbating my hatred is the fact that 90% of the fandom, at least in my experience, either overlooks or fails to recognise any of this and talks about her as if she’s the greatest mom to ever live. She was not even really a force for good in Loki’s life when you step back and look at the bigger picture—let alone the wise, selfless, adoring mother most people portray her as.

[itsclydebitches]

V7 e2 ironwood: "the people will hate you" "thats a price im willing to pay" V8 e14 ironwood: "Why doesnt anyone appreciate meeeee" (RT: We can’t have him accept hatred for his actions guys, we have to make sure every aspect of his character is irredeemable so anyone who even remotely defends his characters will be shat on!)

You know, as much as I despise that line - especially coming off of a bomb threat - I can't blame Ironwood for it if we read "anyone" as his former allies. Ironwood, despite what Volume 8 would like us to believe, is not some automaton. His desire to instill pride and reap support from his allies read loud and clear throughout Volume 7 (as well as since his introduction), everything from his excitement over potentially seeing Ozpin again to him outright acknowledging that he couldn't do any of this without Winter's help. Back in Volume 7, Ironwood was willing to shoulder the hatred of the people because they were entirely ignorant to the context of his choices. He understood that their hatred stemmed from not understanding why he did these things - to create long-term protection from Salem - and the crucial difference between the nameless people of Mantle and the rest of our cast, his allies, is that the latter DO understand his motivations. They, unlike the people, are fully informed. What happened when Ruby and co. learned why Ironwood was taking resources? They supported him. Doesn't matter if they complained about everything not coming up roses, they actively assisted Ironwood in continuing this plan. What happened when Robyn learned why he was taking resources? She joined him, seeming to agree about the Amity idea and standing with Ironwood before all of Mantle. What happened when things got even more dicey and Winter learned that they were being recalled before evacuations were complete? She supported him because she understood why he was making this incredibly tough call. Time and again Ironwood was surrounded by people who had that context, knew that there were only hard choices available, and stood by him, even when they hated that there was no better solution. Even when some did step away (the group) at least others remained. There was, in the background, constant appreciation for his hard choices from at least some of his allies all the way through to Winter's betrayal, simply by virtue of those allies agreeing to continue helping him. Every time Ironwood looked up, there it was, someone who actually understood the situation overtly or silently saying, "This is indeed what we have to do, no matter how hard it is. I support you in this decision." And with that approval comes a certain amount of relief. Someone else gets it.

But, because of Volume 8's insistence on making Ironwood 110% irredeemable, that support was slowly stripped away. First Blake and Yang betray him. Then Ruby sides against him. Penny leaves. They tell the whole world he can't be trusted. Then Marrow goes. Then Winter. Then finally the rest of the Ace Ops. This revolving door of allies leaving might have been poignant if their departure was actually timed with Ironwood's horrific acts - Ruby leaves because he shot Oscar, not because he's trying to save people by leaving; Winter leaves because he murdered the councilman, not sticking around for two days after that because killing is fine, I guess, etc. - but instead it just reads like no one ever cared. We disagree with Ironwood? No sense trying to talk that out. Nobody cares enough to put forth the effort (Oscar being an incredibly rare exception). So yeah, by the time everyone has left, and they've left for reasons that feel ridiculous and petty, and then they're actively twisting these events to absolve themselves of any responsibility... I can see why Ironwood in that moment would go, 'Omfg I can't believe that none of you appreciate this.' Because you understood what was happening. You are a part of the morally gray war that demands only awful choices of us. You lied, and hid, and betrayed, and did all these questionable things right along with me. Out of everyone in Remnant, you were the only ones who could appreciate why I made the hard calls when I did. You alone were in a position to understand and, for a while, you did.

Obviously I'm not talking about stuff like the bomb threat... but then, neither was Winter. Her grievance was "squeezing Mantle" so, yeeeeah, she and the other heroes should appreciate what he did there. They don't have to like the overall shittiness of the situation (who would?) but because they went along with it, because they understood his motivations, because it was all in service of helping the world, and because they knew Ironwood has been shouldering the consequences of that sacrifice since the Fall of Beacon... they are indeed the ones who should have at least the teensiest bit of appreciation for his attempts, even if those attempts didn't turn out well. In the same way that, I expect, Ruby would want appreciation for saving the Kingdom of Atlas... even though she destroyed it. Yang and Blake would want appreciation for gaining an ally in Robyn... even though they betrayed all of them to do it. Jaune would want appreciation for keeping the Maiden powers safe... even though he killed Penny. This cast is made up of characters doing horrific, incredibly questionable things in the name of serving a greater good and all of them approach those choices with the belief that those in the know - their allies, friends, and family - will understand why they had to make those choices and will appreciate the various sacrifices they went through in order to do what they thought was right. Ironwood is no different in that regard.

[kallypsowrites]

Can we talk about what a bad mother Baghra was? I'm not saying that absolved all of Aleks' choices. Or that she didn't love him. Contrary to popular belief, many bad parents actually love their kids, but are too unstable to raise them right. I read a meta that compared Baghra's parenting style to that of wild animals with cubs. She used her own PTSD to guide her and it fucked him up. Let's also not forget her abandoning Ulla (maybe because she was part mermaid) and never speaking of her...😞😞😨

Baghra and Aleks’ relationship is the definition of intergenerational trauma. She suffered a lot in life and so she did everything to give Aleks the tools so that he would be stronger, but as a result, she robbed him of a lot of crucial childhood development. He never felt safe as a child. Saw strength and power as the end goal and the only way to protect one’s self.

And I love Baghra as a character. She’s very interesting and she clearly cared about Aleks and he cared about her. But they don’t have a healthy bond in the slightest and she set him on this path from the very beginning. And also abandoned Ulla (Who I didn’t know about until recently and I was like whaaa???).

Aleks is now an adult that can make his own choices and all that, so a shitty childhood doesn’t absolve him. But it explains a lot about why he operates the way he does.

[tenebriscollective]

A Response

First, before we do this, we’re going to take the liberty of posting your entire response to our review that we left. However, I do hope you are aware that we could absolutely tell that you didn’t bother reading through the whole thing. As a lot of what you say in this response is already denied in the review you were responding to. For the sake of those who don’t like long posts, however, we will be putting everything beyond this point under a read more.

The link to the site, so that you can read our original review: https://disboard.org/server/213915266554396672

This is The Megane System’s response, in full. Which we will be taking parts of to go through for our response piece by piece. One can’t say we cut context when we provide the full response and the link back to the server page to show the original review, hm?

The response: 

Posting words here instead of talking to me directly like an adult is why I'm not the dangerous one. Really don't care or want anything to do with any of you who value publicly airing dirty laundry as opposed to just talking to me so you can feed your ego feeling like a 'good person'. Sprinkling it with words that sound like understanding mean nothing when you shut down normal communication methods. This kind of cancel culture is emotionally manipulative, predatory and has endangered lives. Life isn't clean and squeaky, neither are you and neither am I. If you can't get your head out your ass long enough to realise this then enjoy your delusions of purity but I assure you everyone you have ever met and ever will meet has had dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery and vile emotions. It's part of life, denying that is denying life. I've never 'defended someone sexualising a little alter in the server' and I'm still baffled where the hell that came from?? Everything else was scraped out of personal DMs and my personal spaces I used to manage my BPD away from public spaces and only where people I thought I could trust could see (obviously I couldn't lol) but that I have zero recollection of I think you guys are just having fun giving me horns and trying to deny me any consideration of changing or improving. Because that's what this thinking does. It labels people permanently as 'BAD PEOPLE', and they can't ever grow beyond that. It makes their lives feel worthless, and they themselves beyond saving, and so they end up repeating the same mistakes, because no one expects anything more from them. I know this because I've always tried to break this in how I run my server. With the belief that anyone can become something better, that anyone who believes anything, holds any views can be helped to grow and function better among others. That's why I allow people with 'bad views' around me. That's why I talk to them, that's why I actually spend time treating people as people and not punching bags like you do. You do not help the problems in the world, you merely cement them, so I will never run my server how you want me to, because it is wrong and I won't cave to a bunch of bullies.

We are going to start off to state first addressing the very start of this. But put simply, Megane System (we will be referring to you collectively, since we have a system member who is also called Reiji, and don’t want people to get mixed up), we were never under any obligation to contact you directly. Framing it as if we’re the dangerous one because we didn’t do that is quite manipulative, and honestly quite ironic. Given you never gave us even a seconds moment to communicate before evicting us out of the server when we were still a staff member. We were trying to communicate, but were simply being ignored. The fact that you try now to weaponize this lack of communication as a method to somehow disprove and dismiss our review is honestly hilarious.

Really don't care or want anything to do with any of you who value publicly airing dirty laundry as opposed to just talking to me so you can feed your ego feeling like a 'good person'.

Airing dirty laundry implies that the accusations we outlined in that review weren’t the degree of seriousness that they were. This is honestly also the worst attempt at downplaying what we said we’ve ever seen, but it does show that you clearly didn’t read our review in its entirety, despite there being parts at the end specifically addressed to you and Alec.

Sprinkling it with words that sound like understanding mean nothing when you shut down normal communication methods. This kind of cancel culture is emotionally manipulative, predatory and has endangered lives.

Again, we were under no obligation to use normal communication methods, especially when normal communication methods in the staff room were completely shut down while you maligned everyone in the staff because we didn’t like that you had returned so suddenly and without warning, and knew that the sudden return would not mean good things for those you hurt, who were, at the time, on the server. And honestly, I think it’s emotionally manipulative that you continuously deflected questions while we were in the server about your drama and tried to frame it as something incredibly small, inconsequential, and petty. 

Life isn't clean and squeaky, neither are you and neither am I.

We and anyone who has ever called you out never claimed to be. You made this assumption because we called out your behavior which crossed lines that should never have been crossed in the first place.

If you can't get your head out your ass long enough to realise this then enjoy your delusions of purity but I assure you everyone you have ever met and ever will meet has had dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery and vile emotions. It's part of life, denying that is denying life.

We are well aware and do not have our head in our ass. But I have never met anyone but you and other awful people who would not only have, but vocalize in detail those thoughts to other people, whether those people were the target of those thoughts or not. I’ve met plenty who write journals irl to get it out, who draw to get it out, or write whump and angst fanfics in order to vent it out in a manner that doesn’t emotionally hurt anyone or suddenly shove those thoughts onto individuals who may not be mentally or emotionally prepared to hear it, even if they have them too or have similarly aligned ones. Again, there was no context that you could ever assign to the screenshot being talked about in this part that would make what you said in anyway ever acceptable, even to those who have intrusive or dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery, or vile emotions.

I've never 'defended someone sexualising a little alter in the server' and I'm still baffled where the hell that came from??

We have screenshots and logs that prove the opposite, and I’m sure the person we received them from would not be all that fussed if we asked for them a second time and gave them to either of the blogs that currently have callouts circulating about you. Because you did do this, you may not have recollection of it, but the non-little alters of that system and the one who tried to step in and were stopped by you certainly do.

Everything else was scraped out of personal DMs and my personal spaces I used to manage my BPD away from public spaces and only where people I thought I could trust could see (obviously I couldn't lol) but that I have zero recollection of

And as we stated in our original review, your BPD, your (suspected, but not formally diagnosed) autism, or any other mental illness diagnoses or disorder you may have does not absolve you of the fact that many of the things you did were not okay. Your continued use of “but I have [x mental illness/disability] and was managing it” or “it was personal” will not change our minds on that. We are formally and professionally diagnosed as Autistic, we know  you have attempted to excuse your behavior before by saying you might be autistic yourself. Thereby you were attempting to excuse your shitty behavior with being possibly autistic, and excuse your shitty behavior because you have BPD does not fly. Many of the people with callouts against you or who don’t like you either know someone with, or also have BPD/Autism or whatever other mental illness or disability you’re going to try excusing it with next time.

I think you guys are just having fun giving me horns and trying to deny me any consideration of changing or improving.

Another sign you did not fully read our review, or just plain didn’t believe us due to your own assumptions. As we state in the last part that is specifically addressed to you that we hope you are able to change and improve, that you are able to recognize what you did hurt people and was wrong, and that you rectify and show through your actions that you do that. But downplaying all of this as you are as just drama, or just a facet of “cancel culture”, or whatever other thing that makes it sound less significant does not prove that. And so, as of right now, as we respond to this and surely as you continue with your server and trying to twist things to fit your narrative, you have not shown that you have changed or improved.

Because that's what this thinking does. It labels people permanently as 'BAD PEOPLE', and they can't ever grow beyond that. It makes their lives feel worthless, and they themselves beyond saving, and so they end up repeating the same mistakes, because no one expects anything more from them. I know this because I've always tried to break this in how I run my server. With the belief that anyone can become something better, that anyone who believes anything, holds any views can be helped to grow and function better among others. That's why I allow people with 'bad views' around me. That's why I talk to them, that's why I actually spend time treating people as people and not punching bags like you do.

We don’t treat people like punching bags, no matter their views. We treat people as people, even if we disagree, but if those people do not treat us as people in return, it’s harder to feel empathy when they have consequences slap them in the face. I know you’re referring to our rewritten rules here, and I’m sure you’ve trashed them to make your own again, and stopped cracking down so hard on all the usage of slurs in the server once again. And if cracking down on that and keeping to our word about not allowing those on the server is what you see as treating people not as people, then I don’t know what to tell you. Slurs come inherently from bigotry, no amount of “opposing views” erases that those words come from that. Let alone that there are some views that are simply bigotry dressed up in a political hat.

We did talk to those people, we had debates, and we stepped in when people were getting too heated between each other to be considered a debate. Anyone can become better and improve, anyone can make a change to do so. But you can only do that if you put in the effort, and so far, you haven’t done that. You’re all talk, but you haven’t actually walked the walk.

You do not help the problems in the world, you merely cement them, so I will never run my server how you want me to, because it is wrong and I won't cave to a bunch of bullies.

You mean how we want you to run the server in a way that makes sure it’s not a place that lacks solace and allows bigotry to fester under the guise of different views? Or how we want you to make sure that any system littles currently in that server, if they haven’t left already, are protected so that they aren’t sexualized and that you don’t defend the people sexualizing those littles? Because from how we see it, none of those things particularly make us “bullies” like you claim, they just make us considered a decent person who has proper boundaries on what they will and won’t allow, and someone who’s willing to actually enforce them so that members don’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Anyway, as before, we doubt you’ll read all of this, but if you do, here’s a big notice, right in big big italicized letters:

We won’t be responding again, flail all you want, make a fuss, throw a tantrum that we aren’t going to give you the time of day. Because we honestly don’t care. Because we don’t and never have owed you any of our time.

[steponmepinkjun]

just found out that a lot of the creators of the arcana are really shitty people and i’m not sure how to feel about it all. why do awful people create some of the best characters and storylines? i guess now this means i can claim it for a second and from here out say that the asra doesn’t pay rent joke never happened and it doesn’t exist.

All creators of media are human, and humans are never perfect. All of us humans are bound to do shitty things, some of us more than others. I am of the belief that intent matters—hurting someone purposely is different from unintentionally offending someone. I can't speak to the intent of the devs. All I will say is this: two things I believe need to be more thoroughly understood between people are 1) the difference between consuming media and endorsing the actions of the people who made it, and 2) the difference between a reason (why someone does something shitty) and an excuse (thinking the reason absolves them of responsibility).

[aijee]

To Trust or Not to Trust, That is the Question

TW: themes of abuse, bullying

So many mixed feelings surrounding The Situation with MG right now. It’s so difficult to trust allegations made against idols/celebrities because of the frankly vicious Internet culture in Korea (netizens have too much god damn power) and an ingrained sociocultural competitiveness that breeds the desire to tear people down. This much is evident in many cases of celebrities being wrongly accused yet still facing serious consequences. But there ARE obviously cases in which K-celebrities have and probably still do legitimately and legally shitty things, and pass them under the rug because of fame and money. Considering how “trendy” it’s been to put idols in scandals these last few days, too, makes me very skeptical. There will always people who have it so out for celebrities because they present the most public and, therefore, accessible form of success.

As an American with mixed cultural values, I hate having mixed feelings about this. I have long been on the side of the victims because (a) it takes so much damn courage to speak up, (b) abuse of power is disgusting, and (c) I am a victim of abuse and people who aren’t do not understand how hard it can be to talk about, especially if you thought your experiences were “normal” for so long. Having very close friends who grew up in Korea, I am further well aware that the social side of school life there can be fucking brutal. International fans don’t understand that some of the shit that goes down cannot be frivolously passed off as “It was just high/middle school!!” It can be so dehumanizing sometimes. Where is your sense of humanity and empathy for those who could have been traumatized and are dealing with the repurcussions? Imagine being abused to the nines and seeing fans of your abuser forgive them that easily? Abuse also doesn’t just mean the most extreme things we know of (sexual, physical)—just saying mean things, verbal abuse, is indeed abuse. Yes, we are naive as kids and adolescents and are fully capable of learning to be better. But age and immaturity don’t absolve the effects having done shitty things. It’s only part of the explanation.

With all this said, however, there are just so many things that muddy up the water that make having judgments so difficult. I rarely take neutral sides in these types of accusations for the reasons above. But the unique nature of Korean entertainment, and the culture it’s entrenched in, pushes me towards neutrality. While the reality of Korean society is very harsh, that harshness has been equally unfairly used as fabrications of reality against celebrities. I am fully aware that this string of scandals could be throwing dirt on a clean resume (and that really sucks because it harms the legitimacy of REAL accusations). It’s important to not be definitive about anything until things are resolved, which I hope to the gods these companies can grant their artists at the very least.

I am of the firm belief that we don’t really know our idols. If you do, you need a reality check. The nature of idol culture is to breed that sense of familiarity for profit, and it is all well and good to indulge in healthily, which is to say in moderation and self-awareness. A similar principle goes for really admiring or having great affection for people in your life whom you haven’t really gotten to know: like people in your workplace or other students/teachers you only talk to in specific social environments; individuals on the internet who you constantly talk to or interact with but don’t know in real life.

I also think it’s admirable that we try to see the best parts in people, but the fact of the matter is that human beings make mistakes and do shitty things. All of us. What we have to do is own up to and grow from them. It’s fucking scary to have as wide-reaching of a public platform and voice as idols/celebs, and the risk of losing an entire career or audience sounds paralyzing, especially given the trajectory of so many idols wronged by false accusations (e.g. Wonho, B.I.). Following a voice for so long and trusting in the light they provide you makes questioning that light source even harder and more painful. I get it, god I do.

But never forget your roots as a human being. You are a person first, fan second. As a victim, it’s so painful to see blind, unwavering trust of fans in those who do so much wrong and get away with it. It’s not just about MG or K-pop idols, it’s about a far bigger picture of power, abuse, social hierarchies, justice, truth, empathy, self-awareness, and reality. I’m not saying that we aren’t allowed to continue loving and appreciating MG, or seeing him as a fundamentally good person who can grow. In fact, I fucking hate cancel culture like you wouldn’t believe, especially for singular or rare fiascos (with exception, of course, on a case-by-case basis; VIPs who still support Seungri are beyond reality at this point imo...) But god knows fans in K-Pop can be so wrapped up in their love for their faves that the idea of them being imperfect in more serious ways is absurd. And the fact that we think it’s also our business is an entirely different can of worms.

Take care of yourself in these times. Step away from the Internet (especially Twitter, good lord) if you must. Stay vigilant, critical, and never forget your roots. We love and respect Seventeen and K-Pop in this household, but we should also love and respect human beings in general.