#christian poc dont count

[news4dzhozhar]

I guess the so-called Christians in the US don't really give a damn about this because these Christians aren't white. Or they are just so desperate for their delusional "rapture" that they are fine with turning a blind eye. It is their permanent position after all.

[rebellum]

The whole transandrophobia discussion thing is weird bc it feels like it's a bunch of poc and jewish trans people being like "here are my experiences of how specifically being MASCULINE had affected me, and the discrimination and violence I experienced based on that. And here is how that relates to me being a racial/ethnic minority"

And then a few loud white trans people going "ohhh you wanna be oppressed so bad you *slur*. This is why there aren't any poc in your movement it's because REAL poc understand intersectionality"

[i-may-be-an-emu]

TWs: Discussing Christianity and the words g*nocide and k*ll.

Just saw a post about how someone hates Christians and wants to commit anti-christian genocide... ah, idk what to say to that.. I know people might say I shouldn't say anything but i feel i have to, and if you don't like it then don't read this, block me, I dont care.

I hate that the church has hurt people, so, so much. I know people are traumatised and that some people use Christianity as an excuse to be bad people, but the whole things not bad. Yes, lots of Christian people belive lots of messed up stuff, but there's also a lot of good Christians out there who support the people who usually hate the church because they've been hurt by the church. I know Christians who absaloutly not only accept but support lgbtqia+ people, love disabled people, advocate for POC and women's rights, and Christians who respect other's religions. I am one of these Christians. It makes me terrified to think that being a Christian means i may not be safe around people, and people threatening to kill anyone who is a Christian is super confronting on top of being trans and disabled and ace and pan. I know that the church has hurt people and I hate it but I recognise it has happened and I apologise on behalf of the church. Stuff will continue to happen, I can't control that. but I can try to make people see that being Christian doesn't equal bigotry and hate. My church has a gender-nuteral bathroom and welcomes literally everyone no matter their race or age or anything. We have spaces for wheelchairs and people with mobility aids, elevators, the whole lot. I cant count the amounts of times disabled people have been baptised at my church. I know all these things shouldn't be a big deal, they should be standard and regular because they are necessary and people shouldn't need to use them as a reason that people aren't crap. But what im trying to say is; not all Christians are bad and I love you. I'm so sorry if you have been hurt by the church, and I will try to make sure that less people will be by getting at least one of the "bad Christians" to see this and be better. God loves all His children, no matter what.

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

The Grey Wolves Series: Prince of Wolves

A review

I would like to preface this review with the fact that when I first read this series in highschool, I hyperfixated on it for several months. I was 15. I still believed myself to be cishet. Quite a bit has changed since then.......and now that I think about that was 9 years ago. Fucking hell.

This series is. Not good. I dont know much about Quinn Loftis' life (tho she did follow me on Twitter when I still had twitter) but from what I could gather is that shes a stay at home mom and very Christian. Not so Christian that she was anti Harry Potter. Im likely going to keep a twilight and Harry Potter reference counter as I reread this series.

This review will likely be a bit disjointed. I have never written a second draft for anything in my life and I dont plan to start now. This is mostly for fun and I likely have adhd and struggle to articulate my thoughts so. Fuck it.

From what I remember of this series there is. A lot going on. The first couple of books follow Jacquelyn and Fane. The next couple focus on one of Jacquelyn's best friends, Jen, and her love interest, Decebel. The next two on their third friend Sally and her love interest Colin. I'm actually pretty interested to see how much I actually remember of these books. All 3 girls are very much the stereotypical YA novel protagonist.

Unfortunately this series frequently uses the word g*psy for one of its supernatural types. As I wouldnt class these characters as Romani, I will be referring to them as "healers" after their initial introduction as I dont want to have to constantly type out g*psy and they ARE healers. (As far as I can remember, Sally is not Romani (and yes, spoiler alert, Sally is a healer), tho she IS one of the few, if not the only POC in this series. So....not great, Quinn).

I'll likely only review the first 6 or 7 books (I don't remember how many of them I got through exactly but definitely the first 6), tho according to Google there are now EIGHTEEN books in this series. I know she also had a spin off series about healers (I think I read part of the first book of that series). But holy shit. 18. Thats a lot of fuckin books for there being almost no fandom when the series was still at 10 books. She may not be a great writer but shes got passion and drive I'll give her that. And that's not even counting the spin off series. Of which there are 5 books. Or the 4 unrelated series she did before Grey Wolves. Goddamn shes been busy.

Im writing all of this BEFORE rereading the first book. But some reviews give a first impression which i cannot do as I read these books for the first time almost a decade ago. Also I kinda wanna see if I can summarize the books before I read them to see how much I remember, cuz again, this is for fun and testing my memory has always been fun for me (I used to be able to recite the entire plot of the 39 clues series from memory and I would do so often).

SO

Book One. Prince of Wolves.

Jacquelyn *last name redacted as I cant remember it* is a 17 (almost 18) year old girl about to go into her senior year of highschool. She lives in a small town in Texas with her single mom. Her dad walked out before she was born (or slightly after) and she doesn't know much about him. Her mom is *quirky*. She has two best friends named Jen and Sally. Jen is loud and vulgar and sarcastic while Sally is quiet and shy.

The neighbors across the street from Jacque are going to be hosting a foreign exchange student from romania this year. Jacque finds herself instantly drawn to this tall foreign boy with dark hair and "piercing blue eyes" and after making eye contact with him, begins to hear a voice in her head that she is SURE is his voice despite having never heard him talk before. Spoiler alert: she is correct!

The begin communicating through this psychic connection frequently. He teaches her how to shut him out so he's not hearing her every thought. He informs her that she is a werewolf!!! Or at the very least, half werewolf!!! They are True Mates™️, which is why they are able to communicate telepathically!!!

She goes into her yard to sun bathe and Fane gets Big Mad™️ as her True Mate™️ markings are on display which is a Big No No for werewolves. She doesn't know what the fuck hes talking about. She goes inside to discover what appears to be a tattoo on her (....side? I think? Perhaps on her back).

Jacque has MANY sleepovers at her house with jen and Sally to talk to them about all of these developments.

She eventually tells her mom and discovers!!! Her dad is a werewolf!!! But her mom is not so she and him couldn't have been True Mates™️ and its slightly hinted that he left because he found his True Mate™️ so even though he loved her, he could not stay away from his mate.

Jacque starts having dead animals left outside her house. At first she thinks its Fane doing a weird wolfy courting thing and gets understandably upset by this. Fane confirms that while it IS a wolfy courting thing, HE is not the culprit!

Apparently there is a pack in the area!!! And one of the wolves in this pack is interested in Jacquelyn!!! And Fane is intruding on their territory!!! And the alpha of the pack (a man in his mid to late 20s) is challenging Fane for his mate!!! The challenge is to the death!!! But don't worry!!! Fane is calling in his parents and their pack to help him handle this situation and keep Jacquelyn safe if he loses!!!

At this point they inform the family that fane is living with about what is going on. They are surprisingly chill about the whole thing. Even with having several of Fane's pack members stay with them. Theyre Very Cool People.

We meet Fane's parents. Vasile and Mina (I actually did look up Vasile's name as I kept wanting to call him Vlad and I knew THAT wasn't right)

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Im also greek okay i dont mind race bending going past that what pisses me off is when thy draw the gods in clothing of other cultures!! Like the last hades and persephone where persephone had on her face traditional african drawings!! No!! Its not okay for both cultures

Hey! Personally, I don’t think I have the right to change the race of any Hindu, African, Norse or Indian god so I don’t understand why only when it comes to Greek culture people suddenly see the Greek gods as whatever race they want. 

Unfortunatelly, we have people on Tumblr basing the appearance of Greeks to the darker appearance of the Greek gods as drawn on Tumblr. (Just one of the many examples: I have spoken with a Nigerian man who thought half of us are Black, because he of the art he had seen on the media by foreigners). And then people they are surprised to learn we have light skin OR they say to our face that we are too light to be Greek (when we have the average Greek skintone). Others draw the gods as poc because they think Greece is a multiethnic, brown country where half of us are people of color. That’s inaccurate as well. I cannot count how many times Americans have told me that Greeks are supposed to be Brown with black curly hair....... Others say that Greeks are white but the Greek gods can be whatever they want, seperating us, the white evil Greeks, from the virtuous Greek gods they want to worship or make art of (despite the Gods being created into the Greek culture). 

I have seen all those things and I think they affect Greeks negatively and gives foreigners another reason to silence us when we speak about Greek things. 

I believe allowing racebending* (by this I mean the distortion of the ancient iconography) gives more leeway to people who make art of the gods to change other things, too. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. It’s clear that a lot of foreigners don’t see the gods as Greek but rather as spirits (this notion is inspired by Christianity) who transcend countries and cultures. (While ancient Greeks believed that the gods had bodies and that each place had its own gods and represented the values of a place). 

At the same time they don’t do this for any other god in other cultures. Just go tell them “Kali is not a Hindu goddess! She can be a goddess of any culture!” and see them go apeshit. Their hypocrisy is showing but they have so much cognitive dissonance they don’t understand it. I always say that my culture is not a coloring book, or a canvas, or a customisable coffee at Starbucks. But at this point they don’t see it as a culture, but as a fandom. 

And by giving foreigners the right to change the gods however they see fit, you give them the false sense that they have the power to change Greek mythology and Greek culture. We, Greeks, cannot even change Greek mythology but a Katheryne from Kansas thinks she can because love and peace and UWU. Recently a user here compared the creator of Lore Olympus to Homer! Just see how far the delusion goes. They need to understand they cannot go to another culture and treat it as their property. There are certain rules in place. We are not a pop culture show *sigh*

And ooooh man... That’s not the first time I see Persephone with tribal tattoos. It’s because people think she is a goddess of the Earth and earth is brown so she must be Brown or Black and wild (wild = african tribal tattoos on their mind). Χέσε μέσα, που λένε και στο χωριό μου :P

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*(I should also put a diclaimer that my problem with racebending would exist even if we were Brown or Black or whatever else)

[merlyns-corner]

Words cannot describe the simmering rage I feel being a woman in America right now. I have a friend who is 100% against people having abortions and I have no idea how to feel. She and I have talked about it in the past, but is was something that she was firm with her opinion and I mine. For a little more context she is very conservative (didn't nessacarily like Trump but felt that his "business perspective" was helping America) and also heavily Christian. Her church was "more tolenant to not turn away people who were LGBTQ+ but wouldn't openly talk about it. However, since then a lot has changed like the fact that Roe and Casey got overturned.

I am so unbelievably angry that some stacked Court who I didn't even have a choice in electing got to decide my rights as a woman. The US Government is flawed and only has become worse with the election of Trump (which the first time in 2016 was only electoral and not popular). Which, by the way, is a smart way to count for votes and send them in back before we had accurate voting machines. Not to mention the disgraceful use of gerrymandering (restructuring voting districts to retain voters in your area to keep you in power). Most people elected into office don't care about their constituents but only about winning some messed up game.

If they really cared about you, they'd be voting for helping to end the baby formula shortage. If they really cared about you, they'd vote to help underprivileged communities. If they really cared about you, they'd vote for human rights. If they really cared about you, they'd vote yes on gun control. If they really cared about you, they'd vote for parental and Healthcare. If they really cared about you, they'd try to be putting an end to global warming/climate change. This list goes on and serves as a reminder to research your candidates, don't vote based on party.

The US political system is broken. That is not false anymore, it is a fact! The two party system is flawed. The Constitution written by white men going on 300 years ago does not work. There is a reason why other countries have to update their own Constitutions. The 2nd Amendment was created in a time when their were only muskets for shooting where, if you were lucky, could get 6 shots a minute and not very accurate. We have moved so far past that point. We have moved so far forward only to be falling into the abyss of the past.

Women are, once again, becoming second class citizens in their own country. Don't think that the Supreme Court and Congress is going to stop there: Next they will be going after LGBTQ+ rights to marriage and to be in relationships, voting rights (which States have been since the 2020 election), POC rights, immigration rights, and so much more. They are going to "Make America Great Again" by stifling everyone who's not a Christian, White Male. It is the capitalist nature of this country who is also contributing based on how it was in the past. Most of this is based on looking back in time to inform us about the future. There is a reason I'm double majoring in History and Sociology, at first it was because I enjoyed it but now it has a purpose: to make fairly accurate conclusions for the future by looking at societal patterns and the history that informed them.

This is also something more about me, I grew up in a Catholic family. My extended family is both Democrat and Republican. It's hard to see when one half of your family won't even see the other because of the "Trump issue", as I would call it. However, I also know that if I were to talk more about my beliefs (more Wiccan/Pagan leaning) and the fact that I am Bisexual (I dont come out and say it but i dont hide my feelings anymore) half of my family would view me differently. Then again, I'm okay passing some of them off because I don't particularly like them anyway because I just feel off around them. Hell, my grandma is still convinced that me not being Catholic is "just a phase". At this point, I don't even care if I'm put on some list because the American systems in place are flawed and we need a reboot immediately!

I know that I wrote a lot but I had a lot to say because I needed to vent, Tumblr seemed like a good outlet. If you read this all, thank you, if not I completely understand. Be safe out there because the world is falling apart around us.