#but i think ace discourse is the one thing that has given me anything close to internalised xyz-phobia that shit was bad

[englishflagcumrag]

is it not fucking bonkers to anyone else that for a while on this website asexuality was like a silly cringe punchline even to people who were ostensibly cool about aspec people as a whole. like even though i think we've abandoned it for the most part, i don't know that the dust has really ever settled. the idea of calling this tendency aphobia even in retrospect feels frivolous and childish to me because that's how talking about aphobia was seen for a very long time even though that is DEFINITIONALLY what that is.

[musashi]

honestly though if you want a really good technique for avoiding annoying people in fandom, get attached to a widely hated character! or, if you can't make yourself do that? just pretend you are. pick the WORST character. the nastiest, most despicable, most vile character. or the most overhated and misunderstood one, who might not have even done anything wrong. what matters isn't the content of their character, just that they generate discourse. i'm talking your vriskas. find the vriska. pretend they are your favourite if they're not.

then, early on in any given interaction with a new fandom person, mention that they are your favourite. and watch how the person reacts.

i have two characters i do this with. the first is fi from the legend of zelda. her heinous crime that swaths upon swaths of gamerboys decided to froth with rage over for years is that she makes them feel emasculated because she likes to infodump. she is handholdy, she is helpful, and she is blunt and robotic and lacks any semblance of charisma or sex appeal. therefore she is nothing. and she is my favourite video game character of all time. i mention this early on and study the reaction of my conversational partner.

fi weeds out the kind of people i want to avoid in that fandom: misogynists. smug gamerbro types who make you spew novels of lore before they respect your opinion. no one like that is going to like fi, they have nothing to gain from her and everything to hate about her.

the second one is manfred von karma. he orphaned a child and then framed that child for murder 15 years later just, like, for fun. just 'cause he was having a hot girl moment. aforementioned orphan is the traumatized autistic darling of the fandom who all the twitter girlies love to project onto and hate to see any form of nuance in. mvk is cartoonishly evil and has no redeeming qualities. he is unpleasant to be around. he is controlling and cruel. and he's an old disabled man so basically no one besides faggots with good taste find him hot. when talking with ace attorney fans i bring it up as soon as possible that he's like my blorbo of all time. my silly rabbit. i talk about him like he's the fucking sun in my sky and i call him 'papa' because my cringey fictionkin ass does what they want and i watch people squirm and writhe and unperson me for it.

like fi, mvk very specifically roots out a very specific subset of this fandom i dislike: fanon-poisoned twitterbrained AA fans who "play the games" through fanfiction and incorrectquotes. they all think mvk is a child abuser (because evil, evil mean abuse kids, cannot be complex, all evil do a child abuse) and so they point their fingers and call me an abuse apologist because that's activism to them or whatever. they can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, of course, but they're annoying and i want them to leave me alone. and because i love this monster they've created, they do.

the throughline here is: anyone who gets this fucking worked up over made-up pretend people is probably severely online, and uses fandom discourse as a personality replacement. what ever flavour of severely online it is, it's generally best not to associate with people like that because 9/10 times they are fucking deranged and are just waiting on you to cross them in some meaningless way so they can unperson you.

so, my advice to you: find the vriska. find the vriska, love the vriska, do it as early as possible. it will save you SO much time. weed out the people who respond with screeching and wriggling. keep close the people who say things like "haha whaaat? alright, explain that for me!"

[likearecordbb]

about your post on the recent discourse...

it's honestly so confusing to me because like,, you say that ppl pointing out how members of this fandom will make neil very stereotypically 'feminine' is reinforcing the idea of 'masculinity' as one thing and 'femininity' as another.... and i get that we should get rid of these labels. but at the same time... the content itself that ppl are criticising (the ones that 'feminize' neil) are already doing just that. that's why they're criticising it.

i can't point out how ppl are reinforcing the idea that a relationship should have a 'man' and a 'woman', without... saying that that's what they're doing. the writer themselves already sees relationships this way and 'masculinity' and 'femininity' as two different distinct things. that's exactly *why* they're writing neil this way while keeping andrew close to canon.

there's nothing wrong with neil being stereotypically 'feminine' of course. but to act like it's somehow misogynistic for me to go to these ppl and be like 'hey, u shouldn't view mlm relationships through the lens of a hetero one! it can be very harmful' is weird to me... *especially* considering these stereotypes that ppl are pushing onto neil come from misogyny themselves. (ppl making neil much much more emotional than he is in canon while keeping andrew very stoic)

idk, like... ur simultaneously saying that we shouldn't view relationships as needing a 'man' and a 'woman'... while defending people who are doing just that and creating content which reinforces just that.

it's one thing to say 'we shouldn't view masculinity and femininity as two distinct and different things!'/'we should get rid of these labels all together cause they're meaningless'... but if i look at the content that u make/consume and it's practically, if not entirely, all andreil conforming to heternormative stereotypes... then i can't help but feel like ur not as detached from the idea of 'masculinity' and 'femininity' as u would like to believe... i trust the ppl who say these ideas are meaningless while not changing the canon characters because they seem to be sticking to their words.

people will just say that they prefer writing andreil is this heternormative way... they'll just say it what they like or what they're most comfortable writing without ever questioning *why* they prefer it this way.

and if they're projecting.. well then, *why* this couple? why pick an mlm couple to project what is often the experience of a cis woman in a relationship? why pick this mlm couple when there are others that do fit the stereotypical heternormative dynamic? idk. like,, u can do this ofc, but ppl can also call u out on ur shit.

there's an undeniable reason that neil is exclusively the one that ppl pick to make more stereotypically 'feminine'. and there's a reason this type of content is also so popular. and it's certainly not wrong to point this out.

You know, I can see all of these points that you're making. For me, the overall issue of this is very complicated. I am also super uncomfortable with the imposition of heteronormative roles onto...well, onto any relationship, regardless of the identities of the people who constitute it. I was raised smack dab in the middle of the gay community by lesbian moms (together 38 years now, jfc, can you imagine??), so that "man/woman" thing was never something that I grew up internalizing or normalizing. I can recognize that this may give me a bit too much of a sense of objectivity.

However, I'm also like...I've been ruined by grad school. The "feminizing" word makes me really uncomfortable because it starts to stray for me into gender essentialism territory. It also seems to foundationally differentiate between "masculine" behaviors and "feminine" behaviors and I just really hate that? Lesbian moms, trans daughter, bi (and late-in-life trying to see where on the ace spectrum I might fall) self, I've just met so many people with so many expressions of gender and sexuality and I just... Idk, I automatically resist anything that feels like it's upholding "masculinity" and "femininity" as real (as in, not constructed) things. And then I also am like, well, I've known SO MANY gay men who behaved in the ways that the discourse constructs as "feminized" and then I start to feel like, what about these men? Are they less 'men' because of it? How would it feel for that man to read these things saying his identity expression was a problem or a bad stereotype? Do I read *Neil Josten* within that context... no, not really. I think Neil has a 'not enough emotional expression' problem way before he has a 'too much emotional expression' problem.

I'll say here what I often say to my students in complex discussions: I don't have answers. I don't think I'm right and anyone else is wrong. I just have complicated thoughts and feelings and concerns about some of the things that sometimes seem to be left uninterrogated.

So, I do 100% get the need to be vigilant about the imposition of a "man" (dominant, emotionally constipated, sexually driven, stoic) role and "woman" (emotional, needy, teary, dependent) role onto relationships with two (or more!) men or women. I would also argue that we need to get rid of that idea in hetero relationships, too, because it's super damaging. I just wish we could find a way to talk about that that didn't feel like it was accepting this idea of femininity as a given? And I definitely agree that it's problematic when the 'bottom' in a relationship is depicted as the one who's soft and silly and weepy. (Have you read TJ Klune's Tales from Verania series? A VERY fun world that does that not at all and it's great). I'm not saying these things are not worth confronting--I'm just really uncomfortable with the way the conversations are often framed around a concept of femininity/feminizing. It feels like shrapnel, I guess? Like, 'ugh stop feminizing Neil he's not weepy and uwu he's a badass' feels inherently to me like it's making femininity and badassery mutually exclusive? Maybe I'm just looking for a caveat or footnote in the argument that acknowledges that that is constructed *for women too*? And is a part of, like, a larger heteronormative patriarchal structure? And not something that we can just all obviously agree is the way the ladies (should?) behave?

One other question I've been dying to ask, though, is: where are these fics? I don't think I've ever read something where Neil is crying over Jack being mean to him or anything. Maybe if I start to see hints of that characterization, I just close the tab and never end up getting to the 'worst' of it?

Although, if what you said earlier about the "content that u make/consume and it's practically, if not entirely, all andreil conforming to heternormative stereotypes..." was referring to me, then... idk what to say to that. I don't think that's what I do. The heteronormative relationship that you're describing isn't one that I enjoy, desire for myself (or anyone else), or have any interest in reproducing.

Does this clarify what I'm trying to say? I guess it's a really long way of saying, in the old insufferable grad school tradition: well, first we have to define our terms. Because I'm not sure we're all coming up with the same thing when we use the word "feminizing" and that probably has a lot to do with why we keep having this exact same conversation over and over and over again.

If I missed any specific point you'd like to pick at in more detail, please let me know--my very sad platonic life partner (who had to put her beloved 15-year-old poodle to sleep yesterday) and her mom are waiting for me to drive them to the stores for a distraction, so I'm feeling a little time pressure.

[thedreadvampy]

Like idk what you want from me here. If you want to engage me in a specific question about ace/aro identities, as I've said several times and nobody has ever actually done, then ask me the specific question. Don't fuck around with vague gestures at Points of Discourse and then get cross with me because I haven't answered the Exact Question you Didn't Ask But Expected Me To Intuit.

Preface: If you don't want to answer any of these because you are allo/allo and don't have a say because its not your place, say that. In fact, I'm asking these because you seem to do have opinions on things you shouldn't based off things you have said in the past.

I also want to state that I agree fully with your points about Martin- minus the blatant aphobia. Not just acephobia, arophobia as well.

1. Do you think qprs are problematic? I believe you once made a post saying roughly that qprs are just normal friendships, or something like that, that has since been deleted. What is your current opinion?

2. Are het aros lgbt?

3. Are het aces lgbt?

4. Cis aro/aces lgbt?

5. Cishet aro/aces?

6. Do the spectrums and micro identities exist? You've implied in the past they don't, in the post about how they were supposedly created from sex positivity

7. Can aros be in or desire romantic relationships?

8. Can aces have or desire sex?

9. Does the split attraction model exist and does it benefit people?

10. Can teenagers identify as aro/ace or do you think they're too young?

11. Can you be, say, an aroace lesbian, or an aroace gay, aroace bi, etc. Idk how to phrase this one but like can you be aroace and still id with another orientation?

I could send another anon detailing the aphobia in the post, because I at least am certainly not upset about Martin being sexual, rather it was the very blatant aphobia. It could have stemmed from ignorance, and if that's the case I don't mind explaining it.

Ok this is a lot of questions, some with quite involved answers, so I'm gonna answer them chunk by chunk so it's a bit more manageable, and then I might come back to some of the surrounding message. This isn't gonna be an immediate bang bang bang, but I'll try and work through them over the next couple of days.

Question 1

1. No, I don't think qprs are problematic. I don't necessarily understand them but I don't need to understand them to understand and respect that they're a thing that's important to a lot of people. I don't know what post you're referring to, but I'm surprised that you say it was deleted, because I very rarely delete posts except, occasionally, reblogs where people have flagged up misinformation or dogwhistles or which I reblogged by accident. tbh I'm the messiest online presence I'm way too lazy to delete past posts or block people even when I probably should bc I don't like to feel like I'm ~hiding evidence~. So I'm not saying you're wrong, you're probably totally right, but I'm surprised.

I'm thinking about what posts I've made that you could be thinking of, and obviously I don't remember everything I say on here bc I say A Lot and I actively post to get things out of my head so 🤷‍♀️ but I do remember making a post a while ago where I said that it was a normal expectation of friendship to have some friends close enough that you'll live with them, raise kids with them, etc, and I'm wondering if that was the post you're thinking of? I did have qprs in mind while writing that to a degree, but only because I think 'you wouldn't do this with your friends' is a very common argument people put forward about qprs and I think it's a weak argument, because many people have different definitions of friendship, and the only argument I think is needed for any sort of I Have X Emotional Relationship To This Thing is...I Have X Emotional Relationship To This Thing. Like you can't offer a universal materialist definition of the differences between romantic, queerplatonic, sexual and platonic relationships, because the boundaries are very personal and it's really an emotional and experiential difference. so if that is the post you're thinking of, I wasn't criticising The Concept Of QPRs as much as saying that I thought trying to put hard lines around What Friends Do Vs What QPPs Do was a) counterproductive when arguing with someone who thinks QPR is Just Normal Friendships bc. if they do those things with their friends then saying NO THIS IS A QPR THING just reinforces their existing belief that you're talking about the same thing as they mean by friendships and b) to me seems to set a painful expectation to young people that you can only get these kinds of close friendships occasionally and in the form of a QPR and it will be stigmatised and misunderstood (and depending on how people talk about it, is only accessible to aspec people and allo people should only expect it to come through romantic/sexual relationships), when in fact most people of most ages I know have friends with whom they can share things like housing, deep feelings, futures, finances, who they miss if they don't see for a few days, who are mutually supportive and vital to their wellbeing. I don't think that's mutually exclusive with the existence of QPRs though - like I personally don't know what the difference is between a QPR and a close friendship, but I also don't know what the difference is between a romantic relationship and a close friendship but I know there is one and I know it's not a question of What You Do but a question of How You Feel And Interact, and that's pretty hard to define in unambiguous terms.

Like generally I don't Not Think QPRs exist, and I think it's a dick move to try and tell people they're wrong about how they experience and define their relationships because???? how are you meant to know that better than the person whose relationship it is??? but I do think the way people talk about QPRs (both from the perspective of defending them and from the perspective of attacking them) is pretty rife with problems and I don't think it's invalidating the reality of QPRs to talk about where the arguments and language around them potentially falls down or has unexpected consequences.

On the other hand, I don't know if that actually is the post you're referring to - the reason I'm calling back to that is that that and a few resultant asks are the only time I remember talking about QPRs on here in the last year or so. So like, several of these questions reference past posts, which is very fair, but I do need it to be clear that, since I don't really tag anything and I don't have a great memory, I can only really speak to What I Think Now In This Context, not to what I posted in the past and what I was thinking when I posted it. Like, this isn't too deny responsibility - I reckon I'm responsible for what I post even if I don't still agree with it, which is why I don't tend to delete my own posts on purpose - but just to deny capacity, I guess? I don't really KNOW what I've posted so if you talk about it in vague terms (and I do understand that if it's been deleted there's not a lot you can do but that) I may not necessarily be responding to the part of it that's worried you, so if I'm not speaking to something specific I've said or done, it's not because I Don't Want To, I just don't necessarily know to.

I'm waffling about this because looking through your messages there's a lot of "you said X" and like. given that the intended message of the post that's kicked this off was very different to the message people have taken from it, it feels important to me to know whether if I looked at the posts you're referencing I'd be like "ah yeah I did believe that but now I believe X" or if it's more a situation of "oh right I can see how you took X from that but my thinking was more Y".

(also sometimes when people say "you made a post" they mean "you reblogged a post" and I am a compulsive discourse scroller so sometimes I reblog a random post to bookmark my place on someone's discourse blog or I accidentally longpress the reblog button while scrolling - I try to delete reblogs that I don't agree with but sometimes I miss some, all of which to say if there's a post on my blog that doesn't seem to reflect what I say in my original posts then it doesn't necessarily mean I'm a crypto-whatever so much as I'm very lazy and messy with my blog. Doesn't mean I shouldn't be held accountable for reblogs but it's useful to know if we're talking original content or reblogs bc I'm unlikely to fully accidentally make a post. but I quite often accidentally reblog stuff. I doubt this is the case with this sitch just bc of your phrasing but I want to cover my bases)

anyway tl;dr: no I don't believe that QPRs themselves are inherently problematic, nor do I think I have at any point believed that, but I do think that a lot of the language and ideas used to talk about them are based in miscommunication or absolutist ideas about relationships and can have damaging knock on effects.

[littlemisssquiggles]

...So about the ORNJ_JNPR T-shirt thing...

daggerpawstudios asked

“Okay I am the only confused by all the hate that Oscar is getting right now because they dropped some new merch at the RT Store. I am not sure if you heard that Team JNPR got called Team ORNJ on the new shirt. I feel like this is kind of a mistake on the marketing team's part and not really CRWBY. But now a lot of people are attacking RG shippers and Oscar fans and I don't really understand because it seems more like fragile egos”

Squiggles Answers:

@daggerpawstudios​

Hey there Dagger. Well to be honest with you fam, this squiggle meister has sort of been out of the RWBY loop for the past few months. Got a work project so I haven’t been as active as I normally would be in my squiggle shire here on Tumblr.

Nevertheless, I did sort of know about the shirt thing. I first heard the news from a tweet from RWBY Youtuber Calxiyn it over on Twitter. I then saw RWBY Youtuber ThatKaitoDan mention Oscar replacing Jaune as leader of Team JNPR in his own tweet post as well but I didn’t know the full context of what he meant by that until you brought this to my attention.

I didn’t know that RT had actually listed the shirt as Team ORNJ which in their case is…well…a big OOF on their part. Personally, I don’t think this is something that folks in the FNDM should be making a big hullabaloo about. I think it’s an obvious PR mistake on the marketing department who run the RT store releases since no offense to RT and whoever is in charge of promotion on their online store but…their record of “getting things right” their store especially with the FNDM hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean in the past.

Besides, another obvious giveaway to me as to why I think it’s more likely to be a minor error is the very fact that Jaune’s silhouette is still first in line.

Think about it. If Oscar had really usurped Jaune as leader of the team then why isn’t his silhouette first in the line up? 

Isn’t it not a golden rule of thumb that the leaders of each huntsmen team always appear first in the team line-up whenever they do the silhouette thing as we’ve seen previously with teams like RWBY and even the Ace Ops? 

Anyone with decent vision can clearly see that that’s Jaune’s silhouette at the front of the line. Not Oscar. If Oscar was truly the new leader of the team then why is he the third silhouette? 

If thing had really turned ORNJ, then the order should be Oscar, Ren, Nora and finally Jaune. But as you can clearly see, the order is Jaune, Ren, Oscar and Nora.----THE SAME ORDER THAT WAS FEATURED IN THE VOLUME 7 OPENING! Or did folks…y’know…forget that? 

I know V7 ended earlier in the year but have folks forgotten the season already with its opening sequence? After Team RWBY, we got the JNPR 2.0 gang and the order in which JNR and Oscar appear matches the T-shirt with Jaune being first, then Ren, then Oscar and finally Nora. So there you go. 

So I wouldn't worry too much about that Dagger. I agree with you in thinking that it was a simple error made by the RT store. However, that being said, the other part about people stirring discourse over this and worst yet attacking the Pinehead and Rosegarden community over this…do I even need to say how silly that sounds.

Much like with the ridiculous discourse that arose after the small Rosegarden moment in V7CH9, this is yet another classic example of certain-certain folks literally scraping the bottom of the barrel and using any excuse they could find to harp on something they don't like while unfairly accosting the people who do.

I feel really bad for my fellow Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads who were victims of this time of foolishness. Because that's what this all sounds like to my ears. Foolish fools acting foolish yet again.

Seriously, what does Oscar as a character or even Rosegarden as a ship have to do with something that was posted by the RT store and is clearly an error made by the people who run it?

Are certain-certain folks truly that desperate to stir up drama and conflict that they would honestly seep so low as to use a T-shirt design as fuel for an easy argument?

The Pinehead, Rosegarden and Rosegardening Pinehead communities get enough flak as it is but this is just...beyond silly!

I'm not implying that the hate brigade should train their anger on RT but how silly can you be to take something as a T-shirt design to that level of seriousness? Especially when the design more or less outs its own error. Am I missing something here? Is there another unknown part to this where the CRWBY Writers came out and confirmed that this is legit? Because otherwise, this is just…so…LIKE SERIOUSLY DUDE?!

I like RWBY a lot and in spite of my own personal gripes and nit-picks with the direction of the show at times in terms of its writing and treatment of the characters and their respective relationships and arcs---in spite of all that, I still actively enjoy the show and I’m still invested in seeing where the CRWBY Writers take it to the very end. However I’d be lying if all the constant discourse from the more “toxic” side of FNDM isn’t slowly starting to chip away at my excitement for the series. I can live with RWBY having flaws but what I don’t need are folks constantly going out of their way to use any excuse they could to express their own personal gripes with show; going as far as to abuse others in the process. That kind of stuff isn’t cool and it’s not good to witness through the eyes of someone who wants to enjoy the show or is at least trying to...y’know what I mean?

When I first heard the news of the JNPR shirts, I was excited. Not only is this the first merch we’ve gotten of JNPR in some time but it’s also the second merch to feature Oscar.

In case folks don’t realize, Oscar doesn’t have a lot of his own merchandise sold by RT which sucks for us Pineheads.

At least the OG JNPR/JNR have a couple of merchandise (albeit not as popular or abundant as Team RWBY’s but still there). 

But Oscar…not so much and the same can be said for Ozpin too.  It took RT six whole seasons to release ONE T-SHIRT DESIGN with Oscar and Oz on the front and even that was sort of short-lived since I don’t see that shirt advertising in the store anymore. It’s always the same ole Team RWBY stuff.

So with that in mind, this shirt was a first and a given. It’s so great to see Oscar together with JNR on a shirt because in a way, it makes it more official that he is a member of their group especially for those of us who were rooting for this to happen since V5.

I still don’t think it means that he is the leader because as I’ll say again, look at the order on the shirt design. Oscar is third. Right where Pyrhha used to be. How can he be leader and be third in the line-up? Oscar is meant to replace Pyrhha, not Jaune. 

In the case of this whole ORNJ JNPR T-shirt scandal, I don’t understand how on Earth a clear marketing typo could reach as far as to spark discourse for a fictional character of a series, his fans and the fans of one of his ships? AGAIN!

What does Team JNPR (or whatever they will be called) being miswritten as Team ORNJ has to do with us Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads? How are we as a fan community responsible for an error made by RT?

Even if there are Pineheads who think this should be official--NOT speaking for myself here but I have seen other Pineheads express their desire to see Oscar lead JNPR for their own reasons---still, this is no excuse to harp on someone for liking it just because you don’t.

You’re right Dagger; this doesn’t make sense to me either.

All I can say is that it is what is it. Another example of certain-certain folks using any excuse to harp on something they don’t like while trying to drag others down with them and/or ruin their good vibes. 

Seriously these types of folks are honestly scraping at the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised they’re still able to see after sinking so low with their foolishness. If that sounds a bit too harsh then sorry; not sorry. 

Ever since the whole discourse over the minor Rosegarden moment for V7CH9, I have lost all patience with these types of fans. I honestly find them to be as dumb as their behaviour and it exhausts me just hearing about them and their nonsense. 

Losing their marbles and attacking my people over a bloody T-shirt error that ain’t got nothing to do with us.

SO...DAMN...SILLY!

I hope RT clears this up at some point. And even if they don’t, I really don’t see why people should believe this means anything. I certainly don’t.

Not like I want that to happen either. In my opinion, I was never in favour of ORNJ---at least, not right now when Oscar is still a teenager growing into his duties and responsibilities as a huntsman. To me, I only like the idea of Team ORNJ from the perspective of Jaune retiring/stepping down from his role as leader of a huntsman team; instead choosing to pass the torch onto Oscar after the former farm boy had matured into a fine huntsman under his team’s guidance and after proving himself in the eyes of his teammates, especially Jaune. 

Y’know that kind of idea. 

This is why I always referred to JNR and Oscar as JNPR 2.0. I want JNR to become Oscar’s team and surrogate brothers and sister in arms. I want Oscar and Jaune to have a close big brother-little brother type of dynamic where Oscar admires Jaune’s strength and leadership and looks up to him alot as both a close confidant (much like Ruby) and teammate while Jaune himself admires Oscar’s tenacity after everything he’s been through while making it his role to look out for him along with Nora and Ren.  

This doesn’t mean I want Oscar to replace Jaune as team leader nor do I think he should.

I’ve heard some folks rationalize that Oscar should lead JNR since he is Ozpin’s successor. Nothing against the folks who like this concept but if I were to add my $2.50 to this, I don’t think Oscar being Oz’s successor should automatically qualify him to take over JNR; y’know what I mean?

Jaune earned his place as leader of JNPR after proving his talent for leadership back in V1. 

The only time that Jaune took a step back was when Ruby led the group as RNJR between V4 and V5 since at the time, the trio were aiding Ruby with her objective to get to Mistral, as Ren said. But even then, Jaune was still a leader and  backed up Ruby’s calls with his own strategies. 

Not to mention that folks seem to be forgetting that Ozpin was the one who chose Jaune to lead JNPR.

Though we never got a scene of Jaune confronting Oz on his decision to make him team leader like we did with Ruby Rose in “The Badge and the Burden” episode (I think that was the title. Correct me if I’m wrong), much like Ruby, Oz picked Jaune and was of sound mind when he did. Oz picked Jaune to lead since despite his past hiccups and shortcomings, he saw that Jaune also had the makings of a great leader as shown during JNPR’s first fight against the Deathstalker.

So the whole notion of Oscar getting to be leader of JNR  JUST BECAUSE he’s Oz’s successor EVEN THOUGH it was Oz’s decision to choose Jaune to be leader of JNPR in the first place---yeah that doesn’t sit right with me. 

Jaune is meant to be a leader and JNPR is his team to lead; even with Oscar joining it. Sorry ORNJ-fans. But that’s where I stand on that. 

Anyways, that’s all I have to say on this subject. I hope I answered you Dagger.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[mrmallard]

Earlier today I reblogged a post about ace discourse, the downfall of the ace community on Tumblr and general frustration at aphobia. In the wake of this reblog, I spent 2 hours typing up a filibuster-length post reiterating my support for ace people and going over my entire history in regards to biphobia and its turn into aphobia.

I must have hit some unspoken Tumblr character limit, because the post failed to upload. Even when given the chance to try and upload it again, it would fail every time.

The failure of that post isn't as close to me as it was a couple of hours ago - so I'm just going to reiterate some basic points.

My blog is intended to be a safe space for all LGBTQIA+ community members - with the understanding that the A in that acronym includes asexual people, alongside allies if that's the interpretation of the A that you carry.

I don't buy into TERF ideology or anything that's -phobic between different communities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. I don't think an expression of one's sexuality - from being gay, to pan, to bi, to ace, or anything in between - is an active, pointed attempt to attack the lives of others, although individual people and subgroups within different communities do have the capacity for bigotry against other communities and against different races.

In regards to bigotry between different communities, I promote vigilance on a personal level. I don't think it's ethical to trash an entire community over one shithead who everyone else disavows, especially if the community cancelling them has a very spotty history with -phobic remarks themselves. LGBTQIA+ communities aren't ideologically pure by themselves, and bigotry can manifest among members of any community - which is why I promote vigilance on an individual level, and in regards to each individual community and its subgroups.

I've seen maybe one ace post that was in poor taste about anything, and that was very recently via a bot that reposts stuff from Reddit. The ace community on here has always been pleasant and supportive of each other from my experience, with the only instances of outward hostility coming in response to other communities trying to erase and invalidate their experiences, and claim that their very existence is harmful and -phobic to any number of communities.

I've seen the discourse around asexual people for years, and every time I've seen it happening, the dynamic is one group under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella attacking the ace community and aces defending themselves. I've seen no reason to attack or disavow the ace community as a whole, and I refuse to sell them down the river when the majority of people I've seen attacking aces have also attacked trans and bi communities for similar reasons they're going after the ace community.

I want my blog to be as casual and safe for as many members of the wider LGBTQIA+ community as it can be. But I want to make it clear - I care about the asexual community, and I support them. They are the A in the acronym, sharing it with "ally" if that's your thing, and I think that the issues they talk about are valid in the wider spectrum of sexualities that are "othered" from traditional heterosexuality.

Gay people are valid. Bi people are valid. Trans people are valid. Intersex people are valid. Pansexual people are valid. Genderfluid people are valid. Genderless people are valid. Bigendered people are valid. Questioning/uncertain people are valid. Any community under the wider LGBTQIA+ umbrella is valid. And on top of that, in the mix with everyone else - asexual, aromantic, demisexual and demiromantic people, as well as anyone in between, are valid.

[teamoliv-archive]

I don’t have much for unpopular opinions, but I’ll try this instead: what’s your take on the whole situation regarding RWBY and their recent decisions in the latest season? (Frcstbxte)

send me controversial or unpopular opinions and I’ll tell you if I agree or disagree 🐸 ☕️

Hoo boy. People are going to unfollow me for this one guaranteed due to how may super strong opinions people have about this. This one’s getting a cut to avoid drama.

I do want to stress that I don’t want to devalue or invalidate anyone’s complaints regarding the show. Enjoyment is a highly personal thing and if you’re frustrated, upset, disappointed, or otherwise had negative feelings don’t let this convince you that you’re not allowed to feel the way you do about the volume.. My gripes are more on the mechanical and storytelling aspects of things and with the arguments used to criticize the volume. I only hope I can make my case on why the commonly complained about parts of the show don’t warrant the vitriol in my opinion. I likely won’t convince too many people, but I’d like to make my case here anyway.

I honestly believe a lot of the complaints about the latest season from a writing standpoint are short-sighted, lack scope, and/or just miss the point of what we’re looking at. From an overall storytelling perspective this was definitely the most well put together season the show has had so far and a lot of the complaints only address individual concerns that some fans had regarding things not happening the way they wanted to without a regard for the overall plot. This is why I think a lot of the complaints don’t measure up and where my actual gripes with the part lie.

1. Theme

You cannot consider yourself to have analyzed a work without first looking at its overall theme. RWBY’s structure doubles up on this as not only does the show as a whole have its overarching themes and plot, but each individual volume has their own to deal with as well. Here the theme is trust, as directly stated in the opening lyrics and it’s a common source of problems and solutions throughout the the show. 

From an overarching standpoint, we have Salem doing her darnedest to break apart any alliances that could be formed against her. I do not believe this is because she fears humanity in terms of tactical numbers. This simply isn’t that kind of show. The writers have said in interviews that they take most of their story and theme cues from the magical girl genre. You know, the same “love and friendship conquers all” magical girl genre that all those shows not named Madoka Magicka use as the basis for their protagonists. The silver eye power seems fueled by that exact sentiment and I think that’s going to be a huge factor close to the end. This is not a setting where pragmatism and strategic thinking will carry the day- keep that in mind.

2. RWBY vs. Ironwood

This is the part everyone’s been talking about and I think a lot of the hard-line side-taking in either direction is missing the point entirely. This conflict was always going to happen and both sides have fault to bear.

The two sides can be seen as having their own character arcs on a macro scale. Individual character motivations weren’t nearly as important as they were in previous volumes and it helps to see them mostly through the lens of Ruby and Ironwood. The basic core of the problem throughout the series is this, Team RWBY has decided to go along with Ironwood’s plan for lack of one themselves, but don’t trust him with the whole truth until they know how he’ll react to it. This is a man with an army and a paranoid streak after all. This, of course, is a decision that winds up instrumental in triggering Ironwood’s paranoid shitstorm later in the volume.

That said, I don’t believe the problem is Ruby’s decision making- It’s the narrative. The whole reason this comes across as weird and contrived is that we are never told the reason Ruby and co. don’t trust Ironwood with the information from the lamp. By all accounts up until this point there was no visible reason for them to do so and we’re simply never told WHY. Answering this simple question would have made the entire rest of the narrative make a lot more sense were she just given a believable reason to hold the info back, let alone any reason at all.

Now let’s bounce back to Ironwood. I’m going to just go out and say I grew tired of the “Ironwood did no wrong.” discourse pretty quickly because, again, people are missing the point. For this one, we have to look back into the theme- trust. When Ironwood has his breakdown, he not only turns his back on Ruby and her team for lying to him, but he goes right into his martial law plan also betraying the trust of the council, Robyn, and the people of Mantle who are now going to be sacrificed for the sake of salvaging his original plan. Despite Ruby and co’s actions making the situation worse, we aren’t meant to see Ironwood’s new solution as a better alternative purely on the moral cost of what he’s doing. This is what is called in screenwriting the “Moral Line” defined as a vision of right and wrong as told through the protagonists. We’re meant to sympathize with Ruby owning up to lying to Ironwood and trying to move forward despite the setbacks, not cheer for Ironwood calling them out and forcing out a more pragmatic path.

To me, I think this stems from a common sentiment shared in a lot of popular media and deconstruction of tropes that idealism is a naive and childish flaw and that proper strategic logic is what solves problems. Again, I predict that due to the genre inspirations of this story, this won’t be the case at all. Ironwood is going to fail because he turned his back on moral idealism, trust, and friendship in favor of planning and decisive action no matter the cost, not despite it. Harriet summarized the entire philosophy well during her fight with Ruby:

“It’s not excessive if it’s necessary!”

This line feels, to me, like a reflection of everything that Team RWBY is now fighting against and we should be able to understand as an audience from a moral standpoint why this is the way it is.

As a small aside, let’s cap this off with the RWBY vs. ACE-Ops fight. A lot of people called foul because the ACE-Ops lost and I just don’t understand why. The moment the fight started, I knew what the outcome was going to be purely because the story as it was set up simply couldn’t progress otherwise. Much like Mercury and Emerald in volume 5, RWBY matching and defeating the ACE-Ops shows the progression of the main characters. Them choosing to fight also shows RWBY the final stakes moving forward and symbolically shows them that the might of the entire Atlas army is now their enemy moving forward. 

With this in mind, I want to go back to Ironwood’s martial law plan and defend some aspects of his character that should be. Up until the point of Ironwood’s breakdown it was seriously and soberly treated as a last resort option with a clear understanding by Ironwood, Winter, and the ACE-Ops that they knew exactly what was it was going to imply. This does not make them evil and it’s important to understand that. However the Tin Man needs a heart and this brings us to Ironwood’s fatal flaw. The real bad decision was that the martial law plan was enacted despite already having the unity of the people of Mantle behind them. He lost far more than the stands to gain with his decision, thinking only from a tactical and strategic standpoint regardless of what he has to sacrifice to get there. Those sacrifices have already all but left him facing Salem alone. If he survives next volume, I’ll be surprised.

3. Qrow and Clover

For a few moments, I do want to discuss Clover and Qrow’s dynamic because it’s very important to Qrow’s story throughout the part. Regardless of how you choose to interpret their exchanges, the important takeaway here is that for the first time in possibly decades Qrow had a friend he can talk to as an equal and not have Ozpin’s plans or a generational gap in the way. 

Ever since we were introduced to Qrow, he’s shown himself to be a dysfunctional loner who is only just recently trying to seriously pick himself back up off his feet. I believe the fact that he was finally shown that he can actually have friends is a huge factor in this. His life has always been dominated by his feelings and doomsaying. He spends every interaction waiting for the other shoe to drop and uses his own semblance as an excuse to perpetuate that worldview.

And this is why I think Qrow’s fight with Clover makes total sense to have happened. He’s one of Oz’s main team and also has a fatal flaw.

The cowardly lion needed courage and he died for his cowardice.

The tin man needs a heart and lost all his allies in the pursuit of his goals.

The scarecrow needs a brain and his emotional decision-making cost him his friend’s life.

This is a genuine tragedy, literary-speaking in fact. Qrow’s awful situation was one of his own making and he knows it, but I can’t imagine him doing anything else. One thing that I’ve seen throughout the show about Qrow is that he’s never given up trying to stop Salem- he’s an idealist like Ruby and in my opinion has been subverting the mentor archetype beautifully. However, every time he’s made a major decision in the series, he’s done it on an emotional or practical level. No real thinking ever goes into what he does. When Clover calmly announces to Qrow what was just ordered and Robyn summarily attacks him, his first instinct is to try and stop the fight.

I’m going to break here to discuss Robyn’s actions at this moment- another common complaint. Would we really expect someone like her to have done anything different with the news that the city she’s worked so hard to work with all those years was just cast aside? This would have been seen to anyone in her position as nothing less than a double-cross given how just a few hours ago everything for the evacuation was moving apace. From a characters standpoint, I don’t get why anyone would fault Robyn for being furious at this aside from “It’s not the smart thing to do right now.” No, it’s not, but I’m also very tired of seeing people complain about characters making non-optimal decisions. Not everyone things with perfect logic, strategy, or sense at every given moment. This is a perfectly human response to finding out your loved ones were just given a death sentence. She lashed out at Clover over lack of Ironwood face to punch.

With this in mind, Qrow’s decision to fight Clover is a bit more personal. He’s treating it more or less the same way that he treated Raven joining with Cinder a few parts ago. Qrow is clearly very much against the idea of leaving what’s left of Mantle to die and now has a lot of aggression to take out seeing how calmly and without complaint Clover takes the order. The only friend Qrow’s had in a long time chose his duty over him and he doesn’t know how to take that- so they fight. It’s safe to assume that Qrow is likely in a highly emotional state and, as we’ve established before, not thinking about what he’s doing. Robyn is passed out in the wreckage, Tyrian is left unattended, and they’re miles away from any real contact from anyone. Bluntly, he screwed up, he screwed up big time, but his character leads me to believe he wouldn’t really have done anything else.

Then we see Qrow in engage in a little something we in the literary community call “seriously fucking up.” In the heat of the moment, he decides to trust Tyrian at his word and it ends about as well as to be expected. Qrow made a mistake, one of the biggest mistakes in the entire series and one that looks plainly obvious and avoidable to the audience, but only when you consider it through the lens of someone who’s making calm and rational decisions. Yes, Qrow fucked up, I’m not defending his decision making; I’m defending the scene and why that faulty decision making was the only thing that could really happen. 

4. Winter and Penny

The biggest complaint regarding these two is Penny leaving Winter behind at the end of the part. Frankly, for this one I’ve got nothing so I’m not going to pretend I have an answer to the complaints. Much like Ruby early on, the show just outright refuses to give us the reason she left. Winter getting the maiden powers might have been part of the plan, but I don’t think Ironwood would be so inflexible as to not settle for Penny getting it instead. The only thing I can imagine that could be going through her head is that she still wants to try and save Mantle and live up to her title, trusting Winter can handle herself. However, again like with Ruby, I don’t believe that the character is to blame here, but the narrative just refusing to give us an explanation and leaving us to sit there in frustrated confusion. We might get it next part, but I don’t like that...

5. Can I Talk About Watts Now?

With that out of the way, I do have one really bizarre complaint regarding the part that no one else seems to talk talk about.

I am very disappointed with Watts. This is mostly just be griping about lost potential so bear with a small rant.

There was a lot of setup regarding Watts as a threat and when he got the codes. We’re told that given time he could control literally all of Atlas (because apparently two-factor authentication and dead man’s switches don’t exist but that’s a logical gripe for another day). My question is why this wasn’t capitalized on. I wanted a repeat of the mechanical soldiers turning on the Vale citizens. We could have had automated vehicles wreaking havoc, fights between people and robots, and all sorts of fun stuff. You can argue that Watts was distracted by Ironwood’s trap and didn’t have the time to really cut loose and I’ll accept that, but I just wish we could have seen more. Any Watts RPers out there who want some ideas, you’re free to steal this one.

[aro-culture-is]

So... I think I'm coming to a conclusion about my aro ace/allo/acespec/demi community thing. I haven't gotten a ton of replies, and my sincere thanks to those who have as you've given me plenty of food for thought. I think I'm deciding to drop the SAM. It served me well for quite a while, and while I think I'll still maintain connections to the ace community, I find it just isn't a welcoming place for me anymore.

As a result, this perpetually confused enby has something to say:

To the ace community, especially the aroace community,

You have been my solace for a great many years. You've been with me as I began my exploration as someone who's been every letter of the acronym and probably dozens more. I learned that I did not seem to like those who I was expected to like, and I fell face first into the gay community. I learned that that term usually means that you felt differently (and goodness was that a shock) to the "same sex". After spending perhaps a month blustering through that, I thanked the community for their support in my quiet, silent way, and I moved on.

Next, I realized that I felt rather similarly to anyone out there. Per my experience, I thought and spoke with two friends, and I tried on bisexuality and pansexuality. But, the labels fit very oddly and after two short weeks of that, I realized no term I'd applied to myself worked.

And then, I found asexuality. Or, perhaps, asexuality found me. I had seen the term, could define it, but I hadn't applied it to myself or even considered it. Maybe that was a sign of things to come, or, more likely, that thought was a sign of an English class too many. I thought it was kinda weird at first. Not the lack of attraction, mind you, but the fact that I was applying it as a term to describe myself. I suppose, looking back, there have been enough blurry moments of maybe sexual attraction that I've analyzed and recategorized so often as to have forgotten the feeling itself. But I digress. I finally had a home base. I hadn't had a conventional crush yet, and that seemed to be an easy way to identify oneself as asexual.

But at some point, I also found the aromantic community. I don't remember it. It warranted a fair amount of attention though, and I recall knowing unlike anything before that this was a term that would be mine. I would quickly establish that I always felt more aro than ace, but the aro community was small and the ace community large, so I stayed.

The asexual community at the time was large, entertwined with the aromantics I knew or knew of. I felt welcome. I don't know that I can still say the same. My disconnect began early freshman year of high school, with the appearance of the discourse.

So much was lost. I thank my unhealthy interest in Myers Briggs typology as a middle schooler for bringing me to Tumblr before the steady loss of my communities hit. Discussion was rich and frequent, diversity and openness to all was the main goal (it was, of course, not perfect). Even if you felt attraction, we welcomed the travelers who thought our label might help them. You could label yourself however you wished and I remember that it would, at worst, start discussion. Over a few short, stressful months... everything began to vanish. First went some blogs I didn't know, then went any semblance of others even pretending to really care what we as asexuals called non asexuals, and lastly, our culture of discussion that did not center on our inclusion slipped away.

You were my community. I was afraid. I bolstered myself with the statement that these opinions were only online until the fateful day in my life where they weren't. My life shifted and changed as a fellow queer leader camp attendee interrupted my teaching about the definition of QPRs with others who had asked for an aromantic opinion. "What, a friendship? God, stop making up terms" he snapped. The other campers watched. I defended the term, on high alert and the defense, experience from the online discourse pushing me to tread with caution.

The next day my camp would hold "sexuality caucuses" in which we separated into groups based on our orientations to discuss our experiences with those like us. Myself and three other aroaces were delighted to meet others like us, and immediately challenged the adult in charge when he called for the "asexuals" to go to our room. We declared ourselves the aspec caucus and pointed out that anyone with an overlapping identity was welcome. We then spent a singular, happy hour discussing anything we wished with no discourses around to distract us. We left to our assigned peer groups excited and glowing.

Here, they rejoined their groups and I mine. Here, I excitedly babbled to my peer leader of how wonderful it was to be in a group where discourse was not killing our discussion, were we could simply exist. Here, she crushed me. Here, she told me that she didn't think we belonged in the community. Here, she said this in front of my group and I deflated like a popped balloon. Here, I affirmed that this label that had never felt quite right felt more and more like a rock I would stand on, alone, adrift. After the meeting ended, I left to cry alone. My adult mentor would appear minutes later, apologize for having missed what had happened, and admit to not knowing the term asexual. I explained it and felt the burden of trying so hard only to fall so hard.

My group would self-advocate. In response to this incident, I arranged a voluntary meeting for breakfast the next morning about aspec topics. Many were incredibly interested and willing to ask us deep questions. The peer mentors as a whole did not show. They had partied that night and slept through it. My peer leader apologized that she did not come. I smiled and left.

I would struggle for nearly two more years before I accepted, over the last year, that I wasn't asexual. I wouldn't admit it until January. I wouldn't know where else to turn but the community with which I had spent so long in, knew the pain of, fought for and educated as, struggled and learned and laughed together as one with. This occurred as the aroallo and aroace community split suddenly became a prominent part of my dashboard.

I don't know where I'd land. Demi was a label I settled on. But... I'm done playing that game. I'm done settling. My experience as ace was painful. My experience with the aro community was my breaking free, my "so invisible they almost don't hurt us", and in the ages of insecurity, I took that. Invisibility is not a privilege. It was, however, a place in which I rested. As the asexual community began to rebuild, it wasn't a place for me anymore. There's such a large culture of aces not having sex, aces being "able to love", aces 'being able to have good marriages", and aces who are aro and run blogs with aroace in the title who almost never talk about aromanticism. The aromantic community of today is more of the type of group I remember and loved, though a little more salty and closed off. I understand. I feel the same. I don't know quite how dropping the SAM will turn out for me, but I think it's well past time.

I hope this description of my struggles in self identification will resonate with others. I hope that people will know and understand, or read and wonder. But ultimately, I want for people to realize: a label that you settle for does not have to be yours. You are not obligated to identify with every label that could fit you, that you've called yourself, or even a label you've spent years searching for. Self acceptance is one thing. Labels are another.

[arotechno]

The Origins of Aspec Discourse: History and Reflection

Disclaimer: If you’re an exclusionist, just block me. Don’t reblog this post or come into my inbox with your unwarranted opinion, because I will just block you instantly. This is an intracommunity post so aspecs can know our own history, and it is not about you or what you have to say about aspec people. We are beyond the point of civil discussion.

Disclaimer 2: I’m an aro blog but my asexuality is really going to come through on this post more than anything. I don’t have much info here about aros specifically. Given the amount of aro erasure that exists, this should not be a surprise.

On the Arocalypse server, we’ve been having a lot of discussions lately about the discourse, its origins, and its implications. As someone who found the aspec community before the discourse started and watched it tear my community--and myself--apart over the last few years, I feel the need to put all of these puzzle pieces together so that we, as a community, can know where we’ve been, and hopefully determine where it is we’re headed.

History and Origins of the Discourse

Because of the way tumblr’s search function works or has worked in the past, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the discourse. The earliest usage of the tag that tumblr will show me comes from 2014, and the post in question (which I will not link as I do not have the OP’s permission; you can find it yourself if you’re that curious) alludes to intracommunity discussion, nothing about the discourse as it is referred to today. The earliest instance of that comes from 2015, which lines up pretty precisely with my own personal recollection of when things really went to shit.

But it didn’t start then, not even close.

Courtesy of unofficial aspec historian @aphobephobe, here are a few accounts of the history of ace discourse, so I don’t have to restate it all myself (this should go without saying, but warning for aphobia throughout the links below):

(1) How the ace discourse stemmed from and evolved alongside other types of LGBTQ+/queer discourse

(2) A rough timeline/how the discourse escalated on both sides

(3) A history of the terms used to refer to non-aspec people

All of this is speculation, but the spark that truly ignited the first wave of ace discourse as we know it today may have been The Trevor Project’s addition of asexuality to its training materials and the firestorm that erupted from there. Aphobes and TERFs like galesofnovember were outraged that the Project would create suicide hotlines for ace people, and tried to convince them not to. Rightfully, aces and aros were horrified, and that is likely what ignited tensions beyond the existing invalidation and arguing.

Interestingly, I don’t remember seeing any of this in 2013 when I joined tumblr, or in 2014 when I first discovered asexuality and aromanticism. Most of the people who were involved in 2010-2012 era discourse aren’t involved anymore, often due to burnout. The second wave, the one we’re living in right now, is the one I remember kicking off in 2015. This wave was likely sparked by the #GiveItBack campaign. After GLAAD insinuated that the A in the LGBTQ+ acronym stood for ally, aspecs pushed back against this and campaigned for GLAAD to correct its mistake. The organization listened, and this may have been the catalyst for renewed hostility between aspecs and non-aspecs. The rest is history (detailed recollections of how anti-aspec arguments evolved can be found in link 1 above).

Reflection

Over the last four years, I have watched ye olde discourse come back with a vengeance seemingly out of nowhere and take what I knew to be a welcoming community on the rise and eat it for breakfast. We talk about the Aro Renaissance and us coming back from the dead, but the truth is there’s been a target on our backs from the beginning. The arguments have just devolved, worsened in hostility, become circular. While 2010-2012 era discourse reads to me as less organized and less widespread, 2015-present era discourse comes across as the same systematic, formulaic discourse that tumblr is famous for; there is no nuance, and everyone involved is left feeling emptier than they did going in.

That’s not to discount its profound impact, especially on young or questioning aspecs; on the contrary, the discourse seems to have actually worsened over the years. I don’t know when dealing with this became an everyday struggle for aspecs, but no matter how hard we try to pretend we’re pushing through it, it always seems to come back down on us, harder.

The arguments involved in the ace discourse have devolved so much and become so repetitive that all potential for reasonable discussion was thrown out the window ages ago. I don’t mean to imply that the discourse was ever well-intentioned, but in the beginning there could have been some kind of mutual understanding. But those days are long behind us now.

Over time, the discourse has spread beyond tumblr. It isn’t just about tumblr drama anymore, and even the language we use to describe the discourse has changed over time to reflect that. In fact, if tumblr’s search function is to be believed, the earliest usage of #ace discourse wasn’t until 2014-2015. Tumblr has a tendency to wrap these kinds of conflicts up into neat and tidy bows, where someone could ask you for your opinions on x, y, and z discourse and you could be expected to have an answer. In 2015-2016 or so, no one even used the terms exclusionist or inclusionist, at least not as widely as they’re used now. We called people who were arguing against aspecs “ace discoursers”. Now, the exclusionist/inclusionist dichotomy, to me, suggests several things.

(1) The argument has devolved into a never-ending debate over whether or not aspecs, by virtue of being aspec, are part of the LGBTQ+ community. When you ask somebody about ace discourse, that is what they’re going to think of. But that angle destroys all of the nuance and ignores the seven or eight years of baggage that this “debate” carries with it. The discourse has never been just about who’s LGBTQ+ and who’s not. It has roots in prejudices that go so much deeper than that. It’s based in arguments that go so much deeper and get so much nastier than that.

(2) It turns the ace discourse into a piece of identity politics that you can be expected to have a stance on, regardless of your involvement. A lot of aspecs don’t want to come anywhere near the discourse or call ourselves inclusionists because it reduces our struggle to just exist in peace without being mocked, scrutinized, erased, and harassed at every possible moment to an opinion that can be changed if you debate with us enough.

(3) It makes it easier to treat the two sides of the discourse as equal. Most people involved in the discourse now weren’t involved in 2010-2012. Exclusionists are able to assert their cause as a noble one by presenting us as being on equal footing and claiming their goal is to protect the LGBTQ+ community while ignoring both the community’s history and the history of the complex and long-running discourse that they have stumbled into, one based explicitly in TERF rhetoric. Going back to my first two points, this isn’t a simple cut-and-dry “debate” between two equal sides. There is a history here that the exclusionist/inclusionist dichotomy sweeps under the rug in order to package it as something either more trivial (so aspecs are easier to mock) or as something more digestible for the uninitiated (so the discourse continues to spread beyond tumblr).

Sometimes I wonder how much of our collective aspec history got lost in the mix. I wonder if we became so focused on defending ourselves that we forgot how to make ourselves better. Sometimes I fear that somewhere along the way we lost some aspect of our radical and unapologetic origins in order to seem unimposing. There are a lot of discussions that get started now that would have been resolved years ago had none of this happened and put our community development on hold. Imagine where we could have been by now. I can only hope that, with the knowledge of how we got to this point, we can make it to wherever it was we were going.

I was reluctant to make this post, as staying quiet has always felt safer than speaking my mind. But I have been silent for four years, and I could not watch this go on anymore without saying something. Perhaps I needed the closure.

Making a change takes courage and it takes solidarity, and I think that might be what the aspec community needs most of all right now.

If anyone else has further documentation to contribute to the cause, especially if you were around 2010-2012, I’d really appreciate that. For now, I’m going to retreat back into the shadows and go back to not touching the discourse with a 10-foot pole.

[otdderamin]

Analysis: Caduceus and Caleb build their relationship – CR C2 Ep47 2:40:07

REVISED: The original article was written before Talks Machina 2019-01-15 where Taliesin clarified that Caduceus' feeling for Caleb are platonic. This article was written on that assumption anyway. It's been lightly revised to include that certainty and include the Talks Machina Transcript.

The two flattering exchanges between Caduceus and Caleb caught my ear as much as anyone. There's clearly some stronger, closer relationship forming there. Maybe it will come to something else one day, but on review, I was not reading it as romantic overtures so much as two socially awkward people trying to communicate kindness, which Taliesin confirmed on Talks Machina 2019-01-15 (0:39:18). Taliesin: "I will say he doesn't feel that way [about Caleb], though, but yeah. Yeah, he don't- he doesn't have a thing going on in that direction, but he's definitely like, 'Yeah, you're cool.'" I really like the idea of an ace/aro Caduceus who basically doesn't understand the concept of flirting. He just thinks you should be kind and supportive to all living things and ease their insecurities, but other people reserve that for ulterior motives.

Caduceus' comment that Caleb smells nice (3:23:42) came directly after Jester was projecting all her insecurities & making Cad feel insecure himself before she tried to correct (3:22:56). Caduceus could see that the joke about Caleb being stinky was really bothering & hurting Caleb in the same way. So, Caduceus was partly trying to reassure Caleb that wasn't the case and passive-aggressively put an end to the joke with the others. And doing that with his disarmingly frank honesty and supportive personality. Taliesin said on Talks, "I think that it's more the teasing that he smells bad." (0:38:03)

Caduceus is flattering to plants and animals he wants to reassure and persuade to be kind to them in exactly the same tone. And Caleb was irritated enough to be withholding magic from them until they apologized (3:23:46), so there's a similar motive here.

Also, this is Taliesin. He tried to flatter sentient grass with Percy and it came off as flirting (CRC1 Ep060 2:21:56). He's expressed before (on Gather Your Party, I think) that he sees flirting as a way of making people feel good about themselves without necessarily expecting it to be reciprocated.

Caleb offering Caduceus the book I've a harder time reading, as did Caduceus. He's clearly stumbling his way through trying to build a positive relationship of some kind. Caleb's been socially isolating himself for such a long time that any attempt to peak out of his shell is a bit startling. Caleb saw Caduceus being very kind to him when his best friend was being an asshole, and he had something he could offer in return. He was trying to practice returning kindness that wasn't so transactional, which he is very, very rusty at and unsure about.

Caleb was also unsure what value it would have to Caduceus. Caduceus is as backwoods as you can get, and clearly not that bright. Caleb was probably unsure if books were something that would ever interest him or be of any use to him. Remember that Molly was barely literate, so I can see why he wouldn't want to make assumptions. Also, this is Caleb making himself even more vulnerable by trying to share his dearest passion with someone else he feared would reject it.

There's clearly some form of attraction there from both of them, but let's look at a multi-layered attraction model view of it. It could be romantic or sexual from Caleb, but those seem to be tied up in a lot of old baggage. Taliesin explicitly said Caduceus isn't sexually or romantically attracted to Caleb (0:39:18), and Caduceus has frankly never expressed having either attraction at all.

We're clearly seeing emotional attraction, the desire to get to know someone better as a result of their personality. Both Caleb & Caduceus have been isolated and struggle expressing this in general. Caleb by withdrawing and not getting close, Caduceus by being overly friendly.

Caleb seems to have been testing intellectual attraction by offering the book. Caduceus is wise in ways Caleb is not; Caleb is smart in ways Caduceus is not. They complement each other. Intellectual attraction is the desire to explore how someone thinks and know them that way.

Caduceus obviously shows high sensual attraction to everyone. The desire to tactilely interact with people in a non-sexual way like hugging and cuddling (frankly, this is also just Taliesin). Caleb shies away from a lot of physical contact with people.

The UNC-Chapel Hill LGBT Center has a great article on multilayered attraction called "Asexuality, Attraction, and Romantic Orientation." It's linked on the Critical Role Campaign 2 Index, but Tumblr punishes external links. It's something developed in ace/aro discourse that applies to everyone and everyone should be aware of to better understand themselves and others. People can be attracted to certain genders more than others in any of these ways, and they might not line up. Gay ace and aro people exist and are just as valid, even if there's strict limits on the sort of relationship or physicality they want.

In examining character interrelationships, I think it's important to examine the context they've already given for their preferences. I've written an analysis of Caduceus already. He not only expressed no interest (or experience) in sex, he's tried to firmly avoid the subject every time it comes up and seems completely mystified that anyone thinks he should engage that way. Even in this conversation with Jester, he's lost for how to respond when she asks, "So, like, if you think something dirty, [Melora] knows?" (3:22:56)

Given that he's been clear, be it celibacy or asexuality, it makes me extremely uncomfortable when other people decide he should want sex (even as a joke) because that's a microaggression against ace and celibate people that happens CONSTANTLY. It's rape culture and gross.

Caduceus has also not particularly expressed any romantic attraction to anyone past or present, and he doesn't feel that way for Caleb. He was perfectly content on his own. He seems to just want friends. He hasn't expressed being against the idea, so this is uncertain.

Caleb, I don't have a clear read on, but he shows many signs of feeling too damaged for relationships at the moment. He has his hands full with friendships he's still scared of. It's possible he doesn't know what he's feeling at this point.

So, this is not to step on anyone's ship, but there are other equally interesting motivations & desires that could be at play here, which frankly line up with more evidence, & which have MUCH less representation. It'd be nice to not see those possibilities drowned out, especially given that we have a canonical answer.

The character growth here is significant, whatever the subtext. Caduceus reached out to comfort Caleb when everyone else was giving him a hard time. Caleb reached out as the very first person to offer Caduceus help on the quest he left home for. No one else has cared.

Some stronger bond was formed here between them. Some greater trust. Caduceus is getting through like Beau has, and it's built on a base of greater comfort, healing, and respect for goals. However it plays out will be fascinating.

3:38:57 Caleb: "I'm glad you are traveling with us." Caduceus: "Me too, I'm... I've never felt so helpful." It's brief, but Caleb actually warmly smiles.

Transcripts

Scenes run:

1. CR C2 Ep47 Jester asks what Melora knows, Caleb smells nice:  3:22:50 to 3:24:16

2. CR C2 Ep47 Caleb gives Caduceus to book: 3:38:12 to 3:39:09

3. TM 2019-01-15 How Caleb smells to Caduceus and attraction: 0:38:09 to 0:39:57

1. CR C2 Ep47 Jester asks what Melora knows, Caleb smells nice

3:22:50 Jester to Caduceus: "Do you think the Wildmother can hear your thoughts?"

Caduceus: "Well, I know the Wildmother can- knows everything."

3:22:56 Jester: "So, like, if you think something dirty, she knows?"

GIF: Caduceus looks confused.

Jester: "What if, like, you're thinking like, 'Oh mom, I've really got to poop?'"

Caduceus: "That's- I don't- I mean… Sure?"

Jester: "What if you're thinking, 'Oh man, you know, I think I smell a little bit today,"

Caduceus: "I've never really thought that."

Jester: "but what-I've got a booger in my nose…"

Caduceus, more anxiously: "Now I'm thinking about that. Oh man, I've got a booger in my nose." He curls in to one side rubbing the side of his nose."

Jester: "What if you think like, 'Ah, does my breath smell bad?' Do you think she thinks-"

Caduceus, alarmed: "No, does it?"

Jester: "Do you think- No, your breath smells fine, but I'm just won-"

Caduceus: "You're sure?"

Jester: "No, you smell pretty good."

Caduceus: "Oh, that's nice." He rubs the bridge of his nose again. "Ah, think about this."

3:23:31 Nott: "Speaking of stinky, Caleb, what'd we get? What's our stuff?"

3:23:37 Caleb, incredulous and perplexed: "I have been in the ocean for days, and days, and days, and days."

Travis: "He's the most sterile he's ever been."

3:23:42 Caduceus: "I think he smells great."

Jester, excitedly: "What did we get; what did we get; what did we get!"

3:23:46 Caleb: "Well, first I want you to admit that I have been washed from top to bottom for a month."

3:23:51 Caduceus, firmly: "I think you smell fantastic."

Jester: "Yeah, if anything you smell briny now."

Caleb, pointedly to Caduceus: "Well you're- You are a nice fellow."

3:23:57 Caduceus: "Thank you. But no, really, I do actually think you smell very nice."

3:24:03 Caleb, satisfied: "You see?"

Jester: "Yeah. I didn't say you were stinky. Nott said you were stinky, Caleb. I think you smell like salt and fresh air."

Nott: "Like a douche."

Caleb: "Revved up."

3:24:16

2. CR C2 Ep47 Caleb gives Caduceus to book

3:38:12 Taliesin: "I'm going to gather some of my stuff and go to the crow's nest."

Matt: "Okay."

Taliesin: "Big everybody good-"

Caleb: "Oh, uh…"

Caduceus: "Yeah?"

Caleb: "You're going up?"

Caduceus: "Yeah."

3:38:21 Caleb: "Do you like a good book?"

3:38:23 Caduceus: "I- I'm not going to be reading up there, but…"

3:38:25 Caleb: "I don't mean for tonight, in general."

3:38:27 Caduceus: "I- I'll admit I'm not the best reader, but… I've read a couple books."

3:38:33 Caleb: "But you have? Um… One of the books that we found in that… ball-o-fun is about the corruption of plants."

3:38:45 Caduceus: "I would be curious."

3:38:47 Caleb: "I thought you might be."

3:38:49 Caduceus: "I'll… If you could leave it in my- my quarters, that would be most agreeable."

3:38:54 Caleb: "Surely."

3:38:56 Caduceus: "Thank you."

3:38:57 Caleb: "Mmhm. I'm glad you are traveling with us."

3:39:00 Caduceus: "Me too. I'm uh… I've uh… never felt so helpful." He gives a half bow.

3:39:09

3. TM 2019-01-15 How Caleb smells to Caduceus and attraction

0:38:09 Brian: "[@asahi_azumane] Caduceus has mentioned in a couple of episodes that he likes how Caleb smells, is this just to refute the teasing from the others or does he find something comforting in Caleb's smell like Nila […] with her smell bag?"

0:38:36 Taliesin: "I'll actually, I've often just assumed that Caleb smells a little bit like peat moss."

Brian: "Oh, really?"

Taliesin: "Or just peaty and dirty…"

Travis: "Oh! Not manure, or fertilizer but…"

Taliesin: "Not manure…"

Brian: "No no, Pete Moss, the tennis player."

Taliesin: "but like peat moss, earthy. Just from, from… Yeah, Pete Moss."

Travis: "Yean he has the soil in his hands, and…"

0:38:03 Taliesin: "Yeah, well, 'cause he's got a pocket full of weird things that he uses and they're all kind of like interest- I don't- I think that it's more the teasing that he smells bad, I don't think he actually does."

Travis: "It's not a sandalwood fragrance?"

0:39:03 Taliesin: "I wish. That would be amazing! But, like, I actually think it's legitimately from a, 'No, I think he smells pretty good. I dunno.'"

Travis: "Yeah, earthy fellow. Alright."

Dani: "I appreciate Liam hitting his breaking point with that last episode, and be like, 'You HAVE to admit that I smell fine now!'"

0:39:18 Taliesin: "Yeah, no and, like, I think Clay is always… And it's not like a sexy thing, like, 'Woo, hey!' But like, you know, 'No, you smell great.'"

Travis: "You can compliment I fellow on his…"

0:39:27 Taliesin, firmly: "I will say he doesn't feel that way, though, but yeah. Yeah, he don't- he doesn't have a thing going on in that direction, but he's definitely like, 'Yeah, you're cool.'"

Travis: "Try telling Tumblr that."

Taliesin: "Tumblr is welcome to their own opinion, and I'm not going to disagree with them."

Travis: "Boy, I tell you."

Taliesin: "I am not going to stop anybody from having a good time with their…"

Dani: "Everyone can ship whatever they want to ship."

Taliesin: "Yep. Nope."

Brian: "Except female presenting nipples."

Dani: "Yep. No, Tumblr has a really bad problem…"

Travis: "Or lithium batteries. Most couriers have a problem with."

Brian: "They cracked down on that."

0:39:57

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[stimmyvillainarchive]

WHY does the android app gotta suck so much, when i click the faq link it just like refreshes the page,,,, this happens with all links in bios on the andoird app :[

NNNN lovin this broke ass app.

I’mma go ahead and paste the FAQ just under the cut, hopefully you should be able to read it now :’))

(FAQ is written by Mod Joker)

“Are requests open?”

We get this ask a lot. And while I don’t mind answering, it does get a lilll annoying sometimes since we’re essentially repeating ourselves constantly. Before you ask, please check our ask box! It will ALWAYS give our request status!

From now on if we receive requests when they’re closed, we’re going to delete the message entirely. You’re free to ask again when they’re open, but we need breaks!

“Can allistic/neurotypical people follow?”

Yes! So long as you’re respectful of stimming and understand it’s not an aesthetic or something to make fun of.

“It says there’s two mods, but I only really see Mod Joker post.”

There is! But Mod Boo is rather, well, shy. We both are, tbh. I’ve just gotten used to talking a lot on this blog. And to tell ya the truth I invited her to mod this with me because she considered making a blog but wasn’t sure how she’d do it, and was worried she’d be too awkward/quiet. But she actually tends to see your messages a lot! She just tends to let me handle things. But if you ever wanna talk to her, just say the message is specifically for her and I’m sure she’ll get back to you. She’s very friendly and tbh one of the best people to talk to!!

“How do you make gifs?”

I use the same method stimmybby uses! His tutorial’s right here!

“How do you make banners?”

I use photoshop and for backgrounds (depending on what type of background), I use paint tool SAI. I made a tutorial on how I do it here!

“Can we use your banners for posts that aren’t stim related?”

Absolutely! So long as credit is given and you’re not in our dni, then use it as you like! Discourse posts, art, vent posts, promo posts, whatever floats your boat!

“Can I use your gif/s?”

As long as there’s credit to us for the gif/s and you don’t apply to our dni, you’re free to!

“How can I credit you?”

There’s a few ways! Such as

- Including the credit in the post and/or under the cut (this is the best way people can access the original post and see the credit!

- Include the credit in the post’s captions

- Include the credit in the tags

- Include a link in the post to another post that has the credits in it

- Saying you got the gif/s from us in the post

“What are bad/wrong ways to ”“credit”“ you?”

- Saying “I don’t own these gifs”

- Saying “credit to the original owner(s)/gifmaker(s)

- Straight up not saying you took these gifs from people/including in no credits

- Claiming the gif/s are yours/you made them

If I see any of these I WILL publicly call you out on it and you WILL be blocked immediately thereafter. That block will not be lifted.

“What does REG mean?”

Reactionary Exclusionary Gatekeeper. Meaning people who try to exclude certain queer people from queer spaces. Such a biphobes, transphobes, aphobes, panphobes, and so on.

“What does TERF mean?”

Trans/Transgender Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Meaning radfems who are transphobic and are violent towards trans people (especially trans women).

“What does SWERF mean?”

Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminist. They’re radfems who try to exclude sex worker from their feminism and often treat women attracted to men as less worthy.

“What’s the ADT community?”

ADT stands for “Actually Dysphoric Trans/Transgender” and was created by transmedicalists/truscum to break off from the trans community. It’s an insult to the trans community, an insult to the creator of the transgender pride flag (it’s removed the white that was there for people who ID as non-binary/outside the gender binary), and is there purely to start drama and create rifts in a community that’s already got enough enemies for simply existing in a transphobic world

“He/Him lesbians don’t exist/they’re transphobic towards trans men”

As a trans man who doesn’t think the world revolves around me and who understands that what lesbians decide to do it literally none of my goddamn business: get the fuck over yourself you whiny pissbaby

“What do you mean by people in the true crime community?”

People who sexualize, romanticize, excuse, and/or support serial killers and their actions/crimes. This doesn’t include people who are INTERESTED in the topic of crimes, serial killers, etc but acknowledging how these people are disgusting and their actions are unforgivable.

“Why are you anti-cgl?”

Cause we hate pedophiles and are decent human beings.

“You’re bigoted to kinksters just like homophobes are bigoted to gay people!”

I hate to break it to ya bud but I’m proudly kinkphobic and you’re a giant homophobe!!

“I’m a SFW cgl(re)/littlespace blog so I’m following/interacting uwu”

No the fuck you aren’t!! You’re a kink blog, there’s no such thing as a “sfw kink” even if you’re remaining two braincells are too busy fighting over the last pacifier to tell you some fuckin common sense. Your ass is getting blocked and I’ll also be using your blog to take a look at the people you interact and block them too just for safe measure! Eat a cactus, fuck nugget

“You hate lesbians if you hate TERFs”

You owe every lesbian an apology for assuming they’re all mysogynistic, LGBT+phobic pieces of horseshit like you are. Eat a dick.

“aces/aros aren’t LGBT uwu”

Wow… that’s so wrong Alexa play Fuck You by Lily Allen

“Me/Someone I know/(insert user/s) has been blocked. Why?”

There can be a number of reasons why you’re blocked, and I’m not afraid to block people as I want this place comfortable and safe for the mods and followers. So there’s several reasons as to why.

- You apply to our DNI (see BYF)

- You’re a (insert harmless children’s cartoon) critical blog (I tend to block those due to them saying LGBT+phobic things)

- You get into kin drama

- You’re an ace discourse, pan discourse, bi discourse, and/or overall REG discourse blog (this does not mean I block inherently block discourse blogs! I block the shitty ones)

- You’re a spam/porn/etc bot (if I’ve gotten this wrong, lemme know! I tend to block shady and empty blogs for this reason unless their desc/url/etc says it’s empty/weird for a reason)

- You’re a blog that frequently posts/centers around one or more of my triggers

- You’re an aesthetic blog (though I tend to soft block for them. But this is NOT an aesthetic blog and stimmy is NOT an aesthetic)

- You’re an “anyone can interact” stim blog

- You’re a stim blog that steals/doesn’t credit the gifs they use

- I feel you and I are going to argue and I’m just saving us the trouble of future unpleasant encounter/s

- You’ve been shitty to my friends or just been shitty to people in general and I’ve noticed it

HOWEVER I’ve made slip ups in the past! If you feel you don’t apply to any of these, you can contact me through my main and ask why. Sometimes I don’t always remember why I blocked somebody (sadly there’s a lot of shitheads on this site I’ve needed to block) or I’ve confused one blog for another person’s blog. Or maybe the person was more chill than I thought. Please contact me yourself rather than ask somebody else to do it though so I can get all the details! Even if I don’t lift the block, I won’t report you for block evading or anything.

“You used to be kidheart friendly and now you’re not, why’s that?”

Sadly, Raven (the creator of Kidhearts) has proven to be a bully sympathizer and feels it’s okay to compare agere to kinks/cgl and sides with regressionuncensored. She condones bullying/harassment/the sexualization of minors and I am not nor will ever be okay with that.

“But Raven sai-”

I don’t care what she says. She made it abundantly clear that she supports regressionuncensored and I don’t care that it came back to bite her in the ass. Bullies deserve no support, no sympathy, no nothing. And if you side with her than don’t come near this blog. This is agere safe and I will not allow people who support sexualizing it to interact. Kidhearts WILL be blocked on the spot, no questions asked.

“I’ve left a community on the dni list, can I follow/interact?”

Yes!

“Why are you anti-(insert thing on blacklist here)?”

Camp Camp: It’s racist + antisemitic

Dragon Maid: It’s pedophilic

Killing Stalking: It’s homophobic, ableist, sexist, perpetuates rape culture, and fetishizes abuse

Your Lie in April: It romanticizes child abuse and it literally starts off with a gross pedo joke when we meet the love interest in episode one

Split: It’s ableist

Hetalia: It’s antisemitic

Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling’s works: Actually there’s nothing inherently bad about the story. I just don’t like it. HOWEVER: I can’t stand J.K. Rowling as she’s a TERF/overall LGBT+phobe, and racist. So none of her creations will be featured here.

Sonic Boom: Nothing inherently problematic. I just can’t stand the show because it just fuckin sucks

13 Reasons Why: It romanticizes suicide and the creators refused to listen to actual mental health experts and have made the show potentially dangerous to anyone who even slightly deals with suicidal thoughts/urges

Detroit Become Human: It’s racist + antisemitic

Voltron: Legendary Defender: It queerbaits/it’s LGBT+phobic

“REG is a transphobic term”

I, Mod Joker, am trans. Try again.

“A-specs aren’t LG-”

*buzzer sound* wrong. So sad for you

“You’re not LGBT+ because you DARED disagree with me because you actually acknowledged that tumblr didn’t credit the community sweaty uwu”

We get this shit because a lot of you assume I’m ace or at the very least a-spec. And… Ya couldn’t be far from it. I’m a pan, genderfluid trans man. Even with all your gatekeeper (sorry, BULLSHIT) logic; I’d still be attracted to multiple genders and not be cis. I’m p queer. So no matter which way you slice it, I’m part of LGBT+. Die mad about it.

“You’re comparing aphobes to TERFs and SWERFs you fucking transphobe!”

Wow I didn’t realize setting boundaries meant that I viewed y'all in the EXACT same light. I’m so glad I have the lovely aphobes that have told my friends that they should kill themselves to set me straight.

Asking people not to interact doesn’t inherently mean I think they’re the EXACT same thing.

“Mod Joker is a gif-thief and reposts people’s content without properly crediting them!”

I have made this entire post explaining that’s wrong. Idrc if the post is too lengthy for you. Don’t talk shit if you don’t even have all the details.

Additionally, if you send me somethin about this in a negative light I’m IP blocking you. One strike and you’re out. If you want to believe people with false info and false accusations then that’s your baggage. Not mine.

HOWEVER if I’ve accidentally mis-credited, forgot to/messed up on crediting a person for their gif/video, or so on let me know! I’ll make mistakes, but I never do it intentionally.

[miseriathome]

I have some complicated thoughts about aro discourse I saw today and I think that some people with good intentions still need to work on respectability politics and amatonormative biases.

Lowkey bad discourse shit:

One of those “aro folks can enjoy romance-related things!” posts. Somebody included this whole thing about how preferring one night stands doesn’t inherently make somebody aro, and in fact demonstrates a dislike for commitment over anything related to romantic attraction. They even included the phrase “serial sexual partners” which is basically crime-coding sexual freedom. And it seems like such a double standard to me that the same person can support platonic non-romantic sex practices but scorn non-platonic non-romantic sex......... so really, their support of aro-spec folks is contingent upon whether or not their sexuality is rooted in some form of deep interpersonal relationship (as deemed by the observer). Which I’m sure not only paints aplatonic sex-favorable aros in a bad light, but also splashes negatively onto folks who desire both deep interpersonal relationships and also sex, but without overlap. And given that I, myself, am an aspec who greatly enjoys the one night stand life but is understandably limited to a potential pool consisting almost entirely of some type of allo folks... I can think of tons of reasons why a hypothetical aro person might not want to entangle any sort of long-term emotional relationships with their sexual doings (for example: I have been stalked before by partners who grew feelings). So at the end of the day, this person’s whole thing about one night stands and commitment just perpetuates the “arohet frat boy Chad” image except Chad isn’t explicitly aro; it’s swerf shit wrapped up in respectability politics, where throwing undesirables under the bus makes the aro identity easier for the public to swallow.

Also:

Another “aro folks can enjoy romance-related things!” post. This time, it’s about how an alloromantic (or otherwise romantic attraction-experiencing person) can date an aro/spec person, and the latter--despite not reciprocating the attraction--can engage in the relationship in a way that still satisfies their partner. However the poster included a bit along the lines of “as long as everybody in the relationship is aware and consents, it’s okay.” Which I feel like is pushing the whole “you have to tell your partner you’re aspec” agenda that aphobes have, through the implication that not informing the attraction-having partner is manipulative or otherwise abusive. Moreover, that puts me and quite a few other (questioning or label-fucked or attraction-experiencing arospec or closeted) folks in a difficult boat by placing an onus of responsibility onto us, even though we may not realize or be sure ourselves what’s going on with regards to attraction. After all, romantic attraction is a subjective social construct, and thus incredibly difficult to pinpoint, define, or identify for some people. So not only is it not my responsibility to announce if I’m questioning my attraction at any point, or if I’m unsure what kind of attraction it may be, but it’s also not the responsibility of any other queer person to out themselves or their questioning status before they’re ready, and expecting aros to do so sets a really bad precedent in that regard. In my opinion, “we both enjoy the dynamic we have, even though we might interpret what’s going on a little differently because we haven’t discussed every last nuance” is good enough, even though it might seem dubious to others. Like I honestly don’t think “withholding” a potentially arospec identity is any more abusive than “withholding” information about being mspec or trans (read as: none of the above are information that partners inherently have a right to). And so to that degree, this is another double standard that aro folks are being held to.

I’m sorry if the posters of these things see this as an unwelcome vagueblog; they’re pretty old posts and I don’t want to dredge them up--especially since I don’t follow either person and would have no idea what kinds of character development they might have undergone since then. I’ve also found that people tend to be incredibly unfriendly to anything that even resembles confrontation, even if it’s prefaced by “I agree with literally everything else you stand for” (true story), so honestly I’m just vagueblogging for my own sanity.

Writing that second recap, it occurs to me that “allo is not useful terminology” might have some merit as an argument, if only in the (rarely-explored) sense that it cannot be used synonymously with “attraction-experiencing” without sanitizing all respective aspec identities into “pure” ace/aro-ness, spectrum and nuance be damned. Allonormativity is absolutely a useful concept, but any use of allo to refer to a group or identity has to allow for the vagueness of proximity, much in the same way that perisex doesn’t exactly mean “not intersex” but “close enough to meeting the social criteria of normative biology that intersexuality cannot be reasonably suspected” (or rather, this is how I understand the distinction between perisex and dyadic). So rather than being “attraction-experiencing” or “not ace/aro,” it should be “experiencing normative attraction to such a degree that adopting an aspec identity provides no benefit” or something which acknowledges the existence of “almost indistinguishable from allo, but still aspec in some way” identities.

[littlemisssquiggles]

So, Squiggles :) What do you think of the newest episode?

Hey Mizu. I’m not sure if you’re asking me for an overall review of theepisode or one that’s more in depth which potentially goes into more spoiler territory. Just to be safe, I’m going to do it both ways. I’ll give my generalspoiler-free thoughts on the episode before I go into the specifics of somethings I liked and didn’t like about the episode. But undercut for obvious spoilers.Cool?

Overall, chapter 3 was another solid episode. Similar to how V6 started off, CRWBY Writers really aren’t giving any room for downtime with these episodes as we’re immediately chucked into the meat of the episode— the mission with the Aces. I figured we would have at least gotten to seeing our heroes settling into Atlas and adjusting to their new surroundings before the big mission but…NOPE! Mission time! So I’ll at least give you that bit about the episode since it was highlighted in the synopsis for this episode.

Overall, I enjoyed CH3. It was cool and it showed everyone in action. However there were some specific things that stood out to me that I wanted to give my opinion undercut.

[Spoilers Ahead! Nuff Said!]

Rosebuds: 

First off, the brief conversation between Ruby and Oscar. With theway how the episode chucked us straight into the mission, ya girl was worriedthat Oscar wasn’t even going to be in this episode since his absence from themission has been highlighted since as early as the V7 Trailer. But thankfully,the little barn prince shared one scene with Ruby.

Turns out we were all right about Oscar confronting Ruby about her stunt in Ironwood’s office. It was a little shorter than I expected but… then again, it wasn’t the key focus of the episode so I gave it a pass.Still it is noteworthy that Ruby entrusted the Relic of Knowledge back to Oscar. This is interesting to me since it brings to light a point of concern I made in my very last theory post from this week. With Oscar now having the Relic back in his possession, I wonder if history will repeat itself with the roles reversed. 

Could this moment from the episode be a possible foreshadow to Oscar using the Relic to out Ruby in a similar fashion to how she used the Relic on Oz last season?

Could Oscar simply just threaten Ruby with the Relic leading to the two having a big fight or…could Oscar potentially end up using Jinn to show Ironwood the truth behind Ruby’s back? 

All of these are possibilities now to add to the table of events brought to you by this small exchange. It’s quite fascinating really. I don’t want Oscar to come tothis point. But for now, it’s definitely a probability with the Relic in his hands.

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Aces: 

The Ace Ops were all very, very cool in this episode. I loved their comradery with each other. I especially wanted to point out Vine and Elm’s dynamic. While I’m still unsure if they’re a legit couple, I did like how the chapter paired them off to work with JNR while Bunny Bites—Harriet and Marrow—worked with RWBY. 

Clover was also placed to work with Qrow and might I say this—I’m strangely fighting the urge to ship Qrow and Clover now. 

There is a moment in this episode where Qrow explains his semblance to Clover only for Clover to confirm what us RWBY theorists predicted. His semblance is good fortune which is excellent. 

Clover complements Qrow in a good way. Not to mention that look Qrow gives Clover after he told him his semblance while the camera literally lingers on him for a couple of frames made me wonder.

I couldn’t help but feel as it this moment sparked Qrow potentially being infatuated with Clover or…it could just simply be a respectable man-crush. Y’know a bromance. Nothing really gay about. Not that there’s anything wrong with Qrow being gay (technically bisexual). For all we know, Qrow just loves Clover…in the very heterosexual way. If you caught the reference then y’know what I’m talking about.

Anyways as I was saying about Elm and Vine, this episode definitely highlighted their strong teamwork. These two complement each other so well and the way they bounce off of one another really shines in their pair dynamic. Love it and love these two. This is, however, the least I can say for our favourite little Flower Power pair. This unfortunately which brings to light one of the things I didn’t like so much about the episode.

———————————————————————————————————————

Wilted Flower Power: 

Ren’s sudden change in attitude with Nora—what the f***?  I mean he isn’tbeing cold or rude to her. He just feels oddly closed off from her this episodewhich leaves me, as the viewer, asking the obvious question: Where is this coming from?

Sure we caught a glimpse of it in the first episode when Ren suddenly took off in battle while Nora sulked in the background. And while I was correct in this development in their rapport returning in a later episode; regardless, where isRen’s sudden mood change with Nora coming from?

It’s not to say that it’s been built up since V6? I mean I got the feeling that the Writers might introduce some tension between Ren and Nora given that we’re supposed to be learning more about her. But this still doesn’t give any rationale to this behaviour. If the Writers plan to have Ren and Nora break up temporarily due to Ren acting differently with Nora only to have them learn a lesson through observing Elm and Vine and come back stronger than ever as both a couple and a team partnership then…. that’s fine. Ijust wished they had done a better job at introducing this ‘issue’ inthe Flower Power teamwork if you know what I mean. Cause it feels very out of the blue; at least in my opinion.

I just didn’t enjoy seeing Nora being her usual self with Ren only for him to reply in a way that feels so uncharacteristic for him. Yes, Ren has shown exasperation at times with Nora but it’s never been to a level where he comes off annoyed with her. In spite of Nora’s big animated personality, that might tire some people, Ren has always been very patient with Nora often finding her behaviour amusing which was a big reason why I fell in love with shipping Renora. 

In spite of their different personalities, the two have always complimented each other and worked well together. Having Ren be like this with her…I’m sorry. If this is how the Writers are going to do things with Renora then I’m already disliking the execution of it. It’s not terrible. Just seems a little forced to me.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Dem Bees: 

Another thing that occurred for this episode that I sadly did not care for was the moment between Yang and Blake in this episode where Yang complimented Blake’s new hairstyle.

Some context for the scene: Blake notices Yang staring at her from afar. Yang reacts awkwardly and says, “Sorry. Not used to the new hair yet.”

Blake then asks, while blushing, “Is it bad?” only for Yang to respond many times “No” while fumbling over her words.

This moment. Y’see this moment right here, folks. Do you know what this immediately reminded me of?

It’s like the Legend of Korra Book 4, after Korra reunited with Mako and Asami. In that series, Asami and Korra shared a moment where Asami noticed that Korra had cut her hair and our Avatar blushed at this acknowledgement.

It is literally the same energy. While admittedly an adorable exchange, as I said, I didn’t care for it. As a matter of fact, this moment confirmed my biggest concern for the development of the Bumblebee pair going forward. I was hoping the Writers would’ve taken the time to show these two’s friendship growing a bit more before introducing the potential of romance. Some fans complained about the blatant pandering in favour of actually showing Yang and Blake bettering their friendship last season and it seems like the Writers are adamant on continuing this trend.

Who would’ve expected the CRWBY Writers to take a page from Bryke—the two creative minds who practically created the first most shoehorned LGBT couple I’ve ever seen in an animated series while having the chops to puppet it around as ‘good representation’. While Bryke was praised for what they did with Korrasami since Korrasami was said to be the first LGBT couple in an animated series targeted at children, I didn’t buy into it and didn’t think Bryke deserved their praise at all since Korrasami, in my opinion, was weakly written from the start.  

As you can probably tell, this squiggle meister didn’t buy into the Korrasami romance. Not because it was LBGT (as I’ve said before—I have no issue with that at all) but purely because the showrunners didn’t develop the relationship between these two lead girls in a way that felt natural. 

Rather than watching a beautiful friendship that grew into a sweet romance over the course of the series runtime, culminating in the birth of a great couple by the show’s finale, instead I watched two characters who were barely friends for two full seasons since they were involved in a ridiculous love triangle only to suddenly become quick besties in the third season. Fast  forward 5 years for the show’s final season and now these two girls are in love with each other with their love not being apparent until the final shot of the very last episode. Good shit, right?

Korrasami felt so forced to me in the end which was made even more apparent by the finale. It seems like Bumblebee will be heading in the same direction as Korrasami. 

I’m probably digging my own grave here by even talking about the Bees since it’s practically blasphemy now given all the discourse still surrounding this pair and I can only imagine how it is now after today’s episode. But still wanted to give my views on that moment given what it reminded me of.

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 Marrow’s Semblance: 

Getting back on track with things I liked from this episode—Marrow’s semblance man. As I said on Twitter, I really loved the take on Marrow’s unique skill. It’s perfect. He’s a wolf Faunus with a semblance that causes others to listen to his every command. A trained dog treating his opponents to be subservient to him. That is freaking neat as hell. Forget all the other Ace Ops, Marrow’s semblance is the most interesting to me.

What I’m curious about is what the extent of Marrow’s powers are? Does it only work on the Creatures of Grimm since they’re technically mindless monsters acting mostly on instinct or…can it work on people too?

Can Marrow use his semblance to get make another person obey his command? That’s what I want to know. I’m guessing that there is a limit to Marrow’s powers since, we see him using his semblance on the Sentinels earlier in the episode who were probably young Grimm given how easily the group took them down.

However I’m surprised Marrow didn’t use his power on the Geist Grimm. Clover did mention that the Geist they were targeting was an older Grimm. So I figured Marrow’s power wouldn’t work on it even if he tried.

Either way, this episode just made Marrow ten times cooler to me now. The Good Boy continues to impress and he’s definitely the one that stood out to me the most from the Aces.

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No Run Forrest, Run: 

Whelp, if you saw the episode, y’know what this point means. Forrest, the dreadlocked Robyn supporter we met last episode died by the end of this episode. He was killed off by Tyrian so…RIP Forrest. 

I feel so sorry for MurderofBirds since in his last Livestream Discussion on YouTube, he said he was hoping to see more of Forrest.

But in spite of his short time in the story, Forrest’s murder did help me to realize something about Tyrian’s tactics. Since last episode, it was shown by the end that Tyrian has been killing certain people in Mantle. However I couldn’t quite put my finger on a possible pattern in Tyrian’s targets. Now I think I have an idea. I think Tyrian might be targeting Robyn Hill supporters specifically.

On orders from Watts, I think the Scorpion Fauns might be singling out those folks from Mantle who were known to be heavily involved in rallying support for Robyn as another means of turning votes away fromher. 

After all, if the supporters of Robyn are suddenly being found murdered thenit could force the People of Mantle from rallying behind Robyn and tank her chances of winning against Jacques. 

Now this is just a theory for now. Either way, it’s very, very interesting how the audience receives more and more pieces to the plot with Watts and Tyrian as the episodes go back and it’s only been three chapters.

Very interesting indeed and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next episode drops.

------------------------------------------------------

And yeah, those my thoughts on the episode. I hope I answered you well enough Mizu. Thank you for your question.

And as an added point, I pray that my honest thoughts on the Bumblebee scene from this episode didn’t upset or worst offend anyone. My opinion is NOT meant to insult the RWBY ship or anyone who likes it. It’s just my opinion. 

If you love the Bees and you were absolutely over the moon with that little scene from this episode, then that’s perfectly fine, fam. Just don’t mind me with where I stand on this pairing  and how the show continues to portray the development of their ‘potential romance’.

And please refrain from leaving any disrespectful comments in my post just for sharing my opinion. As I’ll say again, I mean no disrespect and will not tolerate any thrown at me.  With that said, that’s all folks! 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[sonychristmas-blog]

Funny Happy Birthday Wishes

Sisters dependably hold an extraordinary spot in your heart, and they have such a significant number of aspects to them. They can be part mother and part companion. It doesn't make a difference the part since they all make them thing in like manner: they generally adore you. Furthermore, that is the reason it's critical to locate the correct method to state happy birthday sister. It very well may be a test to discover only the correct method to pass on how much your sister intends to you however. In this way, regardless of whether your sister is cool, certain, cheeky, irritating, or absolute lovable here are some birthday wishes that will ideally rouse you for her birthday.

Happy Birthday Sister Wishes List

Happy birthday to somebody who has just brought euphoria and love into my life: my sister. I trust your extraordinary day brings you all that you would ever want since you merit that thus substantially more throughout everyday life.

Companions may go back and forth for an incredible duration, yet family is until the end of time. I am grateful to the point that I have a sister as brilliant as you close by. There is nobody I would prefer to have as a sister than you.

Sister you are one of a kind snowflake okay. Exceptionally irritating, interestingly bossy, and, all the more critically, extraordinarily adorable. I'm happy I have a sister as amazing as you in my life.

Sister, you are one extraordinary snowflake okay: remarkably irritating, particularly bossy, and, all the more significantly, interestingly adorable. I'm happy I have a sister as amazing as you in my life.

Growing up I generally admired you, and as we develop more established, despite everything I do. A debt of gratitude is in order for continually demonstrating to me how it's finished with style. Happy birthday to my good example!

Sister, nobody sparkles as brilliantly as you do. You accomplish more than captivate everyone; you stun individuals with your graciousness and liberality. Much obliged for continually bringing the radiance into my life.

I trust your birthday contains just warm, fluffy, and lovely recollections. May it signal the start of a year filled distinctly with expectation and guarantee. Happy birthday sister!

You are an astounding sister. Not exclusively do you generally give me cherish, however you adore me for my identity. Much obliged to you for never judging and just adoring me. I am so thankful.

When I glance back at our youth, I have just happy recollections of our occasions together. It makes me feel great inside to realize that we have such a large number of more years to appreciate together. Happy birthday sister!

Much obliged to you for continually being my emotionally supportive network throughout everyday life. You have dependably been so steady and urging to me, and I incredibly value all that you have accomplished for me throughout the years.

When I consider you, I am overpowered by all the adoration I have for you. You have been such a solace to me for an amazing duration, and I wish you just the absolute best in all that you do.

Here's to greater, better, and more brilliant years ahead. May your each desire work out this year, and may you just experience satisfaction and love. Happy birthday sister!

Sister, you are all that I endeavor to be: solid, wonderful, and valiant. There is no more prominent compliment that I can offer than to state you remind me from numerous points of view of our mom.

It's an uncommon blessing to have a sister as wonderful as you. You are the sort of individual who envelopes individuals in your glow, and I am so fortunate to be your sister.

You are a decent individual, a great companion, and an astounding sister. The world is a superior spot since you are in it. Happy birthday to my dearest sister who dependably brings euphoria and chuckling into my life.

At whatever point I am lost or apprehensive I realize that I can generally call you, and you will grasp my hand and demonstrate to me the way. Happy birthday to my sister who never disappoints me and just lifts me up.

I trust your birthday is stuffed with minutes that fill your heart with harmony and love. You are an incredible sister, and I wish you each satisfaction on your exceptional day. Happy birthday!

You are so fortunate to have such a venerating, excellent, and vivacious sister like me. That is to say, you're truly marvelous as well. I simply don't prefer to tell you it! Happy birthday to my awesomesauce sister.

I realize that I am screwed over thanks to you forever, yet regardless of whether I had the option to pick another sister, I would in any case pick you. You are such a superb sister, and I am blessed to the point that we are family.

You are all that I would ever need in a sister: dear, giving, and cherishing. Much thanks to you for filling my existence with giggling as well as adoration too. Happy birthday!

There is no adoration like that between sisters; it's the sort of affection that delivers sweet recollections and fluffy sentiments. Sisters are companions forever that dependably have your back.

Sister, you are much the same as a rainbow: entirely, vivid, and you make my life progressively lively. Much obliged to you for continually showing up after my blustery periods throughout everyday life. Happy birthday sister!

I am grateful to the point that you are my sister. I can't fathom how my life would have turned out without you. You have acquired me unbelievable satisfaction life.

The majority of my preferred cherished recollections make them thing in like manner: they all incorporate you. You made my youth all the better, however it's my future I most anticipate imparting to you.

I used to think you were simply brought into the world bossy, however then I understood you got it from me! Great job gaining from the ace, little sister. Happy birthday to my irritating however dearest sister!

You never question that I can do anything, and this is on the grounds that you generally push me forward that I have progressed toward becoming my identity today. Much obliged to you for continually being my motivation just as my educator throughout everyday life.

Happy birthday to somebody who has improved my life from various perspectives to check: my astonishing sister. I am glad to the point that I have a sister who dependably fills my days with snapshots of cheer.

Your birthday conveys numerous things to mind: love, bliss, and nice sentiments. My most loved would be the sentiment of unadulterated bliss I feel in realizing that you will dependably be more established than me. Happy birthday from your more youthful sister!

Despite the fact that we didn't grow up with much, I generally recollect my adolescence as being abundant. That is on the grounds that it was brimming with invaluable minutes gone through with you.

You have given me such a great amount throughout everyday life: backing, care, and reverence are only a couple. The most significant would be the genuine love that you generally give me. Much obliged to you for continually having faith in me.

Sister, you are forever my stone throughout everyday life. You have an internal quality that I appreciate so much, and I trust that you understand the amount I adore and regard you. Happy birthday!

I trust your birthday is loaded up with just the best things life can offer: cake, sweets, and a cherishing sister. I have that cherishing sister part down, so I'm leaving the cake and treat parts up to you!

For your birthday I wish you incredible satisfaction and interminable joy. In the event that anybody has the right to be dealt with like a princess on her birthday it's you. Happy birthday sister!

For your birthday I wish you unfathomable delight and unending bliss. On the off chance that anybody has the right to be dealt with like a princess on her birthday, it's you. Happy birthday, sister!

Sister, you have an extremely uncommon capacity throughout everyday life, despite the fact that you can make me so frantic, you generally make me grin by the day's end. I am glad to the point that I have a sister as stupendous as you.

You are the best sister on the planet. Different sisters should take classes on the most proficient method to be magnificent from you since you are that great! Happy birthday to my ideal sister.

The bond we share is as esteemed as it is essential. I am grateful to the point that I have such an insightful sister in my life. I trust your birthday is loaded up with bunches of miracle, euphoria, and joy.

I truly do love the recollections of our occasions together, in light of the fact that my life is such a great amount of better because of your cherishing nearness. Happy birthday to my really venerated and cherished sister!

Sister, no other individual would ever measure up to you, since you are excessively hot! Happy birthday to my more seasoned, dazzling, and feisty sister.

As sisters, we share such huge numbers of things: disappointments, victories, and marvelous recollections together. Much obliged for continually loaning me a comfort in times of dire need in my critical crossroads and a clench hand to knock in my seasons of triumph!

Sister, you're much the same as a bit of chocolate: sweet, debauched, addictive, and you thoroughly raise my state of mind when I am cantankerous! Much obliged to you for continually adding sweetness and love to my life.

Regardless of what occurs throughout everyday life, you can generally depend on me to be there for you. That is the thing that older siblings are for. I'm there for you downpour, sparkle, or anything in the middle of, however I trust your birthday is brimming with just clear skies.

When we were kids we battled, when we were adolescents we contended, and as grown-ups, we have warmed discourses. Hello, because of current circumstances when we're old we'll have no flame left! Simply joking. There's nothing I cherish more than the energy you bring into my life.

Having a sister resembles being honored with two of everything. Two storerooms, two arrangements of cosmetics, and two hearts that are constantly associated. Much obliged for continually imparting your things to me notwithstanding when you would not like to.

Very few individuals can manage my dimension of insane, however you generally do! I am so fortunate to have a sister who adores me regardless of my blemishes. It most likely doesn't hurt that you're slightly insane as well (in the most ideal way imaginable).

An astonishing sister like you ought to have a dumbfounding day on your birthday! I trust it proclaims the beginning of another year loaded up with great occasions and extraordinary companions. May you get everything your heart wants this year. Happy birthday!

Sister, throughout the years I have watched you develop into a totally marvelous lady, and I couldn't be progressively glad to consider you my family. I trust your birthday is half as splendid as you seem to be.

You're solid, dazzling, mindful, and adoring; essentially, you are flawlessness. As your child sister, I need you to realize that I detest you only a tad, yet I cherish you significantly more so! Happy birthday to the best sister on the planet.

At the point when my days are dim, you are my light, and when I am lost, you control me home. Much obliged to you for continually bringing daylight and confidence into my life. It doesn't go unnoticed or undervalued.

It makes me so miserable when I feel that there are individuals out there who aren

[richmegavideo]

De La Soul Are Fighting To Own The Music They Created (Video)

In the last two weeks, the three members of De La Soul have been at the center of a discussion surrounding ownership of catalog and the fairness of record label contracts. That discourse stems from the trio of Dave, Maseo, and Posdnuos notifying fans on social media that they are unhappy with former label, Tommy Boy Music. The home of De La Soul from the late 1980s into the early 2000s planned to release the trio's first six albums digitally, for the first time.

That celebratory news was marred with dissatisfaction from the group. The artists alleged that they were told that they would receive 10% of the royalties from streams and digital sales. Several <a href="https://ift.tt/2HtRW86" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media posts</a>, along with <a href="https://ift.tt/2HcAfuk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a revealing <em>Sway In The Morning</em> interview</a> rallied peers and fans. JAY-Z, Nas, Questlove, Jarobi White, and Masta Ace are just some of the artists who called for action against the nearly 40-year-old label. <a href="https://ift.tt/2HyT7D4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tidal responded by declining to host the six albums</a> until a satisfying contract was in place. Subsequently, <a href="https://ift.tt/2HyT7D4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tommy Boy responded by postponing its plans, in hopes to reach such an agreement</a>.

<a title="Permanent Link to Joe Budden Breaks Down In Tears Discussing De La Soul’s Economic Plight (Video)" href="https://ift.tt/2Hey35B" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Joe Budden Breaks Down In Tears Discussing De La Soul’s Economic Plight (Video)</a>

As of March 9, no settlement has been reached. 1989's <a href="https://ift.tt/2HtRXca" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>3 Feet High And</em> <em>Rising</em></a>, 1991’s <a href="https://ift.tt/2HgIJAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>De La Soul Is Dead</em></a>, 1993’s <a href="https://ift.tt/2Hs4s81" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Buhloone-Mindstate</em></a>, 1996’s <a href="https://ift.tt/2Hg2M2f" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Stakes Is High</em></a>, 2000’s <a href="https://ift.tt/2HyT8a6" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump</em></a>, and 2001’s <a href="https://ift.tt/2HfBB7G" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>AOI: Bionix</em></a> all remain off of digital retailers and streaming platforms.

However, all three members of De La Soul appeared on <em>Drink Champs</em> to discuss the matters with hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN. Notably, N.O.R.E. has firsthand experience with Tommy Boy and its namesake founder, Tom Silverman. In a partnership with Penalty Records, Tommy Boy released Capone-N-Noreaga's seminal debut, 1997's <a href="https://ift.tt/2Hy3ZS1" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The War Report</em></a> as well as the host's solo debut, 1998's <a href="https://ift.tt/2HeCJsn" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>N.O.R.E. </em></a>Both efforts are certified gold. However, N.O.R.E. alleges that he was always told that neither album recouped from its budget. Last month, <a href="https://ift.tt/2HcAfuk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">De La Soul spoke about a "phantom $2 million debt"</a> that their former label has cited. Like De La, N.O.R.E. said that he unsuccessfully tried to buy back his early releases in years past.

<a title="Permanent Link to Tommy Boy Has Agreed To Negotiate Better Terms With De La Soul For Their Music" href="https://ift.tt/2HyT7D4" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Tommy Boy Has Agreed To Negotiate Better Terms With De La Soul For Their Music</a>

In an exclusive segment of De La's <em>Drink Champs</em> episode, the group spoke about where they are right now. Together, two former Tommy Boy acts discuss the renewed focus of ownership in 2019.

"We had a few record exec people reach out behind the scenes," Posdnuos reveals, surrounding the status of De La Soul's Tommy Boy catalog. "Big up to Steve Stoute; he reached out," Maseo adds ahead of the 7:00 mark, referring to <a href="https://ift.tt/2HuDY5O" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a veteran manager and UnitedMasters founder</a> whose career is closely tied to Nas, JAY-Z, and Will Smith.

<a title="Permanent Link to De La Soul Speak In Detail About What Went Wrong With Their Record Company" href="https://ift.tt/2HcAfuk" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">De La Soul Speak In Detail About What Went Wrong With Their Record Company</a>

N.O.R.E. responds, "It's kinda fly now to own your masters. Like back [when we signed our first contracts], we wasn't really thinkin' like that. I'm speaking for myself, not you guys—like I was thinking about an advance, gettin' some jewelry [and other material goods]. Now, it's <em>fly</em> to actually own your material because we want to leave something to [our] children. You ever seen a person that lives in the projects for 30 years? They don't own [the apartment], but it's <em>their house</em>! That's what it feels like!" The group affirms the statement as N.O.R.E. says he has family members who can relate to that declaration. "A good thing for [the housing authority] to do is to say, 'You know what? You <em>should</em> own that.' Tom Silverman, if you're listening—'cause I know <em>you are—</em>this is the best time for you to lead the pack! You lead the way and say, you know what, I'm gonna stop doin' business in this way. You could take this, Tom, and you could flip this whole sh*t, and <em>you </em>could be the winner! You could say, you know what? I'ma give them 50% of their sh*t so everybody [can make money]." N.O.R.E. adds that other former acts from Tommy Boy's legendary run such as Queen Latifah, Naughty By Nature could benefit and celebrate. Maseo responds claiming that he wants to give people the opportunity to "change because we have been given the opportunity to change."

"I think he has an opportunity to lead the way," N.O.R.E. echoes at 27:00. "'Cause there's a lot of people who need these albums—beyond wanting, <em>need</em> these albums. That is a part of Hip-Hop [and this] is a piece missing in Hip-Hop. You can't tell the story of Hip-Hop and then not have that there," the host charges. "There's dual value; The value is in the culture and the history, as well as your pocket. And if you've only got a concept of one [idea], that's where the problem lies," Dave responds.



<a title="Permanent Link to T.I. Joins Roc Nation, Announces Part Ownership In Tidal" href="https://ift.tt/2HfRqLO" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">T.I. Joins Roc Nation, Announces Part Ownership In Tidal</a>

While N.O.R.E. suggests a 50% partnership, the group says, in no uncertain terms, that they seek ownership. The host asks the Native Tongues co-founders, "what is your [desired] end result?" At 11:30, Plug 3 says, "At this point, ownership. Owning my catalog, that would make a world of difference. That'd make it easy to show up for work and do what we need to do." N.O.R.E. embraces the DJ/producer as the live studio audience applauds. The Queens, New York MC-turned-host proclaims, "It's time to make that right. I feel y'all so much." Maseo adds that since 2002, De La Soul has exclusively done partnerships. That includes releases with Sanctuary Urban, Nike, a crowd-sourced album, and <a href="https://ift.tt/2HrBwNv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an upcoming DJ Premier and Pete Rock-produced release</a> in conjunction with Nas' Mass Appeal Records imprint.

Maseo adds that following a Super Bowl Halftime performance, he understands that Missy Elliott sold more than a million downloads of catalog hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjIvu7e6Wq8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Work It."</a> Thus, he feels that following <a href="https://ift.tt/2HhuviV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Obama's 2016 personal request to perform on The White House lawn</a>, De La Soul could have made significant revenue from the now-30-year-old <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-9mY-JACM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Me, Myself & I."</a> However, the song was digitally unavailable. Despite hurdles such as this, <em>3 Feet High...</em> has reached The Library Of Congress archives and achieved other esteemed feats.

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At 13:30, the interview broaches what De La Soul seeks in negotiation. "What can the fans do?" DJ EFN asks the Grammy Award-winning trio. "I would sincerely ask in support of the fans and the culture, yo, don't press play. If [the catalog] actually comes up online, don't press play until <em>we</em> give it a go—'til we actually say, 'Yo, we're happy. Thumbs up, guys. Let's <em>rock</em>. We kissed; we made up.' Until we say [that], do <em>not</em> press play. If anything, you can get <a href="https://ift.tt/2Hg6o4a" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Grind Date</em></a> [as well as] <a href="https://ift.tt/2Cc0E7l" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>and the Anonymous Nobody...</em></a>; you can get those two [albums]." DJ EFN suggests that fans are still hungry to hear the music. "At the end of the day, it's your choice," responds Mase'. "I want [fans] to have it; I really do. But sh*t ain't right. Period. So let's get it right. And if you want to support, don't press play."

N.O.R.E. likens the fans' struggle with the NFL boycott <a href="https://ift.tt/2UyVF8a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surrounding Colin Kaepernick's protests</a>. Maseo, whose son, Tre Mason, was in the NFL for several years, agrees. "Absolutely. Because you're a fan of players out there, you know people out there that's playin', you're connected to the game your whole life, it's America's <em>thing</em>. Just like Hip-Hop. It's America's thing, the world's thing, an international thing. Yeah, and we ain't really still playin' it fair."

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At 26:30, N.O.R.E. reveals that through a third-party, Tom Silverman was invited to participate in the episode discussion. Silverman, who founded his label in the early 1980s, reportedly declined in effort to progress with negotiations. "That's all we're trying to do: We just want to find a happy place with all this, man" Dave notes, after acknowledging that reported decision. Pos' adds that many people have had a constructive dialogue with the group during the last two weeks. He suggests people that know Tom Silverman and the label staff do the same in hopes of reaching an agreement or understanding.

N.O.R.E. speaks about his former employer near the close of the clip. "It's his chance to say, you know what? These are kids that I signed, these are kids that I was part of their career, and now they're grown men. Let me do business with them <em>as such</em>." The group harmonizes the last two words in the statement with the <em>Drink Champs</em> host. "This is your turn to do that, and you can lead the way." DJ EFN adds that such a move would "revamp the way business is done." N.O.R.E. interjects, "You can rectify the situation and say, [let us] be business partners from here on out. '<em>Partners'</em> is the keyword." The host asserts that in addition to De La Soul and Tommy Boy, Hip-Hop is now at the negotiation table.

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The full De La Soul Drink Champs episode premieres on March 28 on Revolt and March 29 digitally.

</div> </div>

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The iPad is a Personal Computer—genuine or false? Since its first appearance in family units, the exact meaning of what.

Prior to the approach of the Microcomputer (of which the Personal Computer is a subset), processing implied getting a cut of time at a shared PC. Hold up in line, join, book your time at the support; modify your pocket defender while holding up. Multiuser was the manage in light of the fact that these machines were so exorbitant to make; processing was basically an institutional marvel, finish with its own institutional guards.

A restricted relationship: in the beginning of figuring, basically everything you could purchase were what might as well be called transports, manufactured and intended for conveying individuals. Just the rich and the insane would have purchased such transports for individual utilize. In this similarity, when the PC went along, it resembled all of a sudden discovering autos available to be purchased on the transport part. Furthermore, they were a small amount of the cost and similarly easy to understand.

The historical backdrop of individualized computing is notable. IBM's PC surprised the world, was adequately figured out, and the x86-based "PC Compatible" moved toward becoming, after a few years, the accepted PC. You can perceive how chaotic this has progressed toward becoming verbally: there is IBM's unique "PC" brand, there's the ascent of "PC Compatible" machines, and the widely inclusive term "PC."

A few people treat "PC" as a sort of nation club, keeping enrollment in the gathering tight and in this way compelling the meaning of a PC. Others would go so far as to state that anything that does genuine figuring, is close to home, and is controlled by a focal preparing unit is a PC. And after that there's a mess of us in the middle. So that conveys us to our survey, and ideally an incredible discourse: is the iPad a PC or not?

Investigate your internal nerd heart and solicit yourself, is the iPad part from the perpetually developing group of "PCs," the first to completely embrace a "tablet" approach? Or, on the other hand is the iPad "not from 'round these here parts!"? (This survey is non-logical, thus I don't feel awful saying that I additionally trust individuals consider late Android tablets in this blend also, for example, the Galaxy Tab. Yes, there are imperative contrasts. On the off chance that they influence your answer, please share your perspectives in the remarks!)

My take: the iPad is a PC

The PC's appearance was epochal: here, incredibly, was a PC whose expenses were with the end goal that it at last wound up noticeably practical to deliver them for use by a solitary individual at any given moment, in a non-institutional condition. The PC was a marriage of another lower-cost, customized figuring engineering with a customized registering programming rationality gone for putting processing power in the hands of non-PC researchers. The customized way of this unrest can't be sufficiently stressed.

I see the PC as a declaration of mechanical improvement displayed after the Microcomputer, not as a strict classification of "PC Compatible design." looking back, I consider the TRS-80 MC-10 and the iMac to be "PCs." Some would contend that the TRS-80 is a microcomputer however not a PC, and the iMac is an Apple microcomputer and not a PC, but rather I would react that a PC is about utilizing incorporated registering power in a noninstitutional situation, with open-finished potential outcomes on account of programming.

I consider the iPad a PC in light of the fact that, in my view, a PC (Personal Computer) is quite recently that: an individualized computing gadget.

In my Big Sky see, the PC is best comprehended as a packaged direction of advancements, of which the iPad is a huge plot point in the improvement of versatile processing. That is to state, I see iPads in an indistinguishable vein from portable workstations, trusting that for 98 percent of the world, the iPad is proportionate to a tablet, as far as expected employments. When we quick forward 15 years, I expect that today's portable workstation will appear to be most outdated to us, having been supplanted by tablet-based encounters. I don't think the home PC will feel so obsolete.

When I take a gander at a Galaxy Tab or an iPad, I see a Personal Computer. All things considered, I see something that conveys the PC's specialized genome at pretty much every level. Within, I see a design that is determinedly that of the PC. And after that there's the product: when the iTunes App Store mirrors Micro Center's product passageway format—Gaming, Business, Reference, and so forth.— I feel like the product is positively PC, as well. For the majority of the discussion of how fundamentally extraordinary the iPad is, it looks and feels like a PC to me.

Yes, tablets have advanced numerous things, for example, virtual consoles, motions, and moment on, to give some examples. The tablets are not the birthplaces of these advances, be that as it may. They can all be found in PC items—some fruitful, yet numerous disappointments—that originate before the iPad.

Still, many individuals can and will contend that tablets are not PCs. A portion of the typical contentions:

Genuine PCs require genuine consoles

Genuine PCs have preemptive multitasking

Genuine PCs can be specifically customized at their own particular consoles

Genuine PCs require an open design and open working conditions.

The initial two are red herrings. The primary PCs didn't multitask by any means, and multitasking can't be a basic piece of the meaning of a PC. What's more, I can't make sense of why a genuine console is by one means or another unique in relation to a virtual console. The last two issues are, be that as it may, all the more fascinating to consider. When we compose the historical backdrop of the PC unrest, will it be constrained to completely client programmable gadgets? Would it be advisable for it to be? Ought to the PC be something just made in a multivendor domain?

At last, I see kin when I sit my iPad by my Sony Vaio. They are both offspring of Father PC, and they both mirror their dad's qualities. Also, at last, one of them will win, and one of them will bite the dust. Or, then again to be more Hegelian, the rationalistic procedure will plainly support the tablet.

At the point when the historical backdrop of this age is composed, overlooked, revamped, battled about, "rediscovered," and after that revised again with the "ace story" subverted, the inquiries and classes utilized will be positively unique and most likely unrecognizable to us today.

Still, we in the Orbiting HQ observed this to be a fun discourse, regardless of the possibility that perspectives on it were captivated and it rapidly turned out to be evident that we wouldn't see eye-to-eye on this issue. Still, in the wake of yesterday's news with respect to Steve Jobs, now is as great a period as any to stop and consider where the tablet-based insurgency he introduced is going and how we by and large comprehend it.