#culling discourse

[beforus-for-real-justice]

[] This sh[]uld start a discussi[]n! What ab[]ut culling? If y[]u were t[] write the system's laws, what w[]uld y[]u decide, as the best way t[] handle it? []

[alternian-cringe-collector]

⎈ Misconceptions about culling ⎈

⎈ So, now that I've settled back in, I see that (Beforus) culling is once again a hot-button topic around here. ⎈

⎈ As I've seen some less than savory claims from non-cullers - and some rather despicable displays of incompetence from certain cullers as well - I'll be attempting to debunk some common misconceptions about culling. ⎈

Your cullee would survive on their own just fine!

⎈ Incorrect. While not all trolls in the system require constant supervision, attention, assistance, and resources, the culling system is built to assist cullees like mine. Disabilities come in all shapes and sizes, from being physically maimed, mentally ill, or emotionally unstable. A cullee may have a disorder such as schizophrenia, which cannot exactly be 'timed' to match a mediculller visit, or 'cured' through any means. In such a situation, a culler will be the best option for them. They can rely on someone being there to help ground them, take care of them, and clean up after their episodes. Without a culler, they would be completely on their own and possibly could hurt themself. ⎈

2. Culling is just keeping a pet!

⎈ Wrong and disturbing. Genuinely rather gross to imply. Cullees are not pets. First of all, they are capable of speech, which pets are not. Cullees are able to negotiate, vocalize, and communicate, and furthermore, they have considerably more rights than a pet does. If you consider culling to be in any way similar to keeping a pet, not only do I strongly suggest you never even consider speaking to a cullee, but also consider not keeping a pet. ⎈

3. Cullers just keep cullees to get into quadrants with!

⎈ Sigh. While the act of culling may dredge up many pale feelings for a culler and cullee duo, they are not mandatory, nor would any good culler go into that system in order to get a quadrant ticked off. What a repulsive notion! In other words, no. A culler and cullee may end up leaning more towards pale, due to the amount of care and affection which goes into culling, but that does not mean all are, nor does it mean anyone goes into this sort of situation with that kind of expectation. It would be ridiculous to assume that, and further ridiculous to apply a label of quadrants to any culler and cullee unless otherwise stated. It isn't uncommon, though, for an ablebodied troll to cull their disabled quadrantmate as a means of protecting them. Perhaps you're thinking of pre-established relationships as newly established ones. In my three sweeps of being a culler, I have only met two cullers who were in a quadrant with their cullee, both starting before the culling itself took place. ⎈

4. Cullees are all being abused!

⎈ While I don't doubt that there are some cullers who are less than savory, and perhaps treating their cullees rather horrifically, that does not shame the entire system. In fact, I have helped a cullee file to be removed from a culler before, so I'm well aware that this is an instance where the system typically fails to properly address concerns. There are several reasons for a cullee to take issue with their culler - perhaps due to neglect, verbal abuse, overly strict rules, etc. - and none apply to all cullers. As a caretaker, of course it is possible for a culler to leverage an unfair and toxic power dynamic, but that is possible in any interpersonal relationship. ⎈

5. Cullers only take on a cullee to avoid being culled themselves!

⎈ I have genuinely no idea why this strange idea exists. Nobody I know of has ever done this, and moreover, no record of someone doing this has ever been brought to my personal attention. But that isn't how it works, regardless. ⎈

⎈ In short, while there are many fair criticisms one can take up with culling, these five in particular are nothing more than nasty rumors, spread based off of misinformation, if I had to guess. Of course there are many qualms one can take with the system, but not all are applicable to every culler and their cullee, and to assume they are is rather ridiculous at best and vile attempts to poison the well at worst. I hope this clears some things up. ⎈

[culleerightsnow]

grumblr learn nuance challenge

(culling can both be life-saving and also opens up more types of abuse due to the power imbalance and cullers can limit outside contact with theirtheirtheir cullees, at the same time!!!)

[alternian-cringe-collector]

this is pretty sad but true... most culled/disabled characters arent played by actors of similar culling status and or disability... its probably the stigma of the industry unfortunately

You know..... bn bbzzt watchingg amovie right n oww and tbh i t think igf dizzzab,led and culled characterzz zzzx zzzt dont start being pla yed by more dizz aabled and culled actorzzzz Izzhould become an actor myzzelf and play every role

[crosswire]

I have a suspicion that there are a lot of people out there (on tiktok especially) pretending to like Perverts for the sake of shitting on fans who didn't like it, attempting to clout themselves up and be in with the "cool" daughters, and it's created this cesspool of cainiac/cainiac-adjacent discourse that really means nothing except that you care more about being popular than appreciating art.

[jjk-confessions]

To the last Anon asking about HI and Yuji

As a Yuji fan it's definitely frustrating the level of neglect the studio seems to pay him and basically every other character now outside of HI because why on earth should a character like Haibara be having more merch pumped out than the actual main characters in the series? Even Toji from the same arc who is more popular doesn't get as much noise these days as Haibara.

It's definitely annoying because people want to act like just because Gojo is the most popular character in the series that means we don't like other characters, most especially Yuji. Like he's so loved. I refuse to be gaslighted into believing he's not. Especially in the East at least. Western fans love a good ol tragic story so the HI glaze was bound to happen especially with people constantly fixating on it like no other arc exists.

I try to console myself and say "well we still have season 3 coming." But truthfully I have no faith in them giving him the attention he deserves because the next season doesn't just focus on him but a lot of other characters too and I doubt they'd put in as much love and care into it as they are doing for this movie adaptation.

If you told me years ago when I first read the HI arc if it would get this big I would not believe you because the arc was good but it wasn't that good for the level of craze over it.

I wish I didn't love Yuji as much as I did maybe I'd be able to truly enjoy all the new crumbs as much as everyone else but I feel like anyone who's a fan of a character should be able to empathise at the frustration because I don't even hate the arc or characters, it just seems like blatant favouritism that's soured me a bit from it.

.

[alternian-cringe-collector]

culling discourse is the worst discourse yeah and it's fucking inescapable

I'm bored. Poll time be(auzze why not!

[chiarrara]

okay....am I crazy or-- Kirara's a trans girl, right? She's a girl. And for some reason gege (or the translators idk) are just intentionally misgendering her in the narrative?? Like I'm looking, I'm seeing her, and she's a girl. I'm not the crazy one here right? They're gaslighting me. Right?

[parvatisshallow]

I feel like some Yellowjackets fans don’t get that they’re watching a horror show and horrific things are going to happen

[beforus-cringe-collector]

¤ Hello. ¤ Professional cullee therapist, Cullee Protection Services associate, and culler here. ¤

¤ As I have a mutantblooded troll currently in my care, I can state firmly that they are, frankly, rather independent. ¤ I can imagine that if there was a lusus of their color, or at least one accepting of said color, they wouldn't really need to be culled at all. ¤ Perhaps if they had a lusus - which, to my knowledge, they never have - being culled would be wholly uncalled for, but that's merely speculation. ¤ It's not possible to know that for certain. ¤ What we do know is that being culled specifically for blood color often results in, psychologically speaking, cullees with higher levels of stress, and lower levels of overall satisfaction. ¤ Check "Byoris and Hyuyel" for more information on that, it's a lovely academic paper written by a dear colleague of mine on a study done by our mutual associate. ¤

¤ However, that aside, as cusps, brights, dulls, pigment shifts, and other color related mutations result in a rejection from most lusii, it would be quite difficult to spread those more well tempered lusii among them all. ¤

¤ Though I am curious about the prospect of breeding lusii to be more accepting of potential wards, I can't quite imagine that being very near in our future, based on current reports. ¤

iii've been thiiinking about mutant blood lately!!! iii'm not sure iii thiiink all trolls wiiith blood mutatiiions should be culled!!! but iii get why iiit happens!!! theres not lusiiiiii for them!!!

but at what poiiint do we cull mutants!!! should any mutatiiion be a cullable thiiing!!! do we try to force a lusus to adopt a troll iiit doesn't want!!! what do you thiiink sjws!!!

[oakpear]

You think you have it bad?? I asked my one teacher (who's actually currently successful in my industry and who's opinion I hugely respect) for career advice and (among other things) he told me to rejoin TWITTER. My brother in christ I like just got free of that place I shan't go back

[myfandomrealitea]

I really feel like people forget that fandom is a fun hobby and not some sort of like, activist group.

Like, one of my hobbies is wildlife photography. If I follow a bunch of wildlife photography accounts and it's the only thing I see on my dash, am I in an echo chamber? No, I'm just engaging with my hobby.

It's really not that deep lmao is that person okay

Honestly the growing trend of forcing accountability, activism, virtue signalling and moral hunting in every single space is exhausting and crippling and it will eventually succeed in a massive cull of fandom spaces and creators. It already has, even, we've seen 'purges' of creators and content in certain fandoms and from a majority of websites and in revised policies.

That said, per your example, your internet space is allowed to be curated any way that you want it to. This blog, for example, is vastly different to my other account, where you will not find even a speck of political content. Not even a whiff of discourse. Its all cat pictures and the occasional shameless thirst over a man's thighs and probably an unhealthy amount of astronomy. They are both my spaces, they have just simply been curated very, very differently, and with two different intents.

"Isolated" (by content) spaces are not bad. Even in regards to some "negative" aspects. Some people are very, very set in their ways, and cannot or will not change. In such cases, its simply best to allow them to box themselves into their hate and not have a wider outreach.

[mareastrorum]

C3 discourse really suffers from people seeing the traits of a single member of a group and attributing them to the entire group.

Bell’s Hells are not punk. Ashton is punk. Ashton is one member only. If you can explain to me how Orym is punk in a way that doesn’t butcher his character, I might believe you, but good luck with that.

The gods did not smite Aeor. The Arch Heart did. Several gods planned to destroy the city, several more opposed the city’s destruction, and one single god made the decision in a split second when the other option was to let an unidentified god die. The gods (plural) did not destroy the city. That was the myth we saw debunked in Downfall.

No one group can be blamed for the Schism because we don’t actually know what triggered it. All we know is that the Primordials (who had assisted in creating mortals) decided they now wanted to kill mortals, and the gods split into two factions based on how much they wanted to participate. It very well could have been a Betrayer that lashed out, or maybe a Primordial did, or maybe a Prime intervened at the start of the culling. We don’t know who started it, only what sides each entity landed on.

The gods did not start the Calamity. At least two Betrayers launched plans that relied entirely on mortals cooperating to help them break out, and guess what, so many mortals were willing to do it that several Betrayers broke out on the exact same day. Some Betrayers (at least Asmodeus and Gruumsh) and mortals started it, not gods as a complete and solely responsible group.

The Hells did not save the world. They saved some of the gods from being eaten by Predathos, and we don’t even know which ones, because assuming otherwise requires us to accept that there was no world in which any of them could have simply fled in different directions and at least a few escaped. Not everyone went to the Prometheus School of Running Away From Things. Matt also decided that the rest of the world actually would have been fine, so unless you was to say the world is the same thing as the gods (and therefore the Hells threatened the world at gunpoint to agree with them), you’re out of luck.

The Hells didn’t save Reilorans or other Ruidus-based species from genocide. The Mighty Nein and Vox Machina fought the Weave Mind and the Imperium, and Evoroa pleaded for her people to the congregation of national leaders at Vasselheim. Taking part in an already-planned scouting/sabotage mission doesn’t elevate them to saving an entire group of people, especially when they skipped out on the assassination part. (This also goes back to the saving the world thing about the Hells because they didn’t stop any explicitly labeled colonizers from doing anything.)

Nuance is a thing guys. It’s okay to be nuanced. Stop making blanket statements and then using it to argue that your Blorbo is Good Actually.

[beforus-cringe-collector]

¤ Hm. ¤ I don't agree with that. ¤ Culling takes a certain amount of specialized skills, more focused on emotional assistance and general physical care. ¤ Anyone is capable of culling if they have the means. ¤ A truly motivated culler will make it work. ¤

¤ Just my opinion, as someone who works with Cullee Protection Services, the majority of our abuse cases are acts committed by a highblood. ¤ The statistics are well available online, but the general consensus is that around 73% of CPS cases involve a highblood culler and a lowblood cullee. ¤

¤ Food for thought. ¤ Of course I'm open to honest and good faith discussion, I'd never want to wave my credentials as a way of silencing others. ¤

¤ By the by, you do have quite a few cullees. ¤ I hope you have time for all of them! ¤

why *do* you have so many cullees?

o Lack Of Self Control o

o Joking Joking!! I Would Never Take In A Cullee On Impulse. o

o As A Purpleblood Matesprited With A Tealblood, Our Hive Has Plenty To Share, In Terms Of Space, Food, And Comfort. I Never Want To See It Go To Waste. o

[lxmelle]

It’s worth noting that the draft & final version of the KFC breakup scene tie to the same scene where Riko is being carried by Gojo. The message is similar. One was a draft after all.

I’m not & don’t wish to be involved in discourse over ships, but the bottomline is that Gojo could’ve ended Geto’s life at any time. I’m sure Geto knew that. He was waiting for Gojo to intervene; hence, the “you’re late Satoru”.

Just demonstrating how the dialogue in both the draft & the final version tie back into the same scene.

オマエは悪くない - used in this context, Gojo responded to Geto’s words saying that it didn’t matter if he was ok, since Riko lost her life, and it carried the meaning “it’s not your fault”.

「君に殺られるのなら悪くない」is the drafted version meaning, “to be killed by you, wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

The use of 悪くない can be don’t mind/OK.

But, if it is meant to draw a parallel w/ the scene in HI, then it implies that Geto is giving Gojo permission/will not fault him. He then moves onto say that Gojo should “be careful” not to kill anyone else but him, as he disappears.

Moving into the final version…. In HI Geto implies it’d be meaningless 意味がない to cull the civilians as they’re just followers

And that meaning is very important as a sorcerer.

Thus the one that made the final scene is Geto imploring Gojo to decide himself & it’s reminiscent of their exchange. Just as Gojo signs to stop him, he says: Kill if you want to kill, there would be meaning/意味がある

So Gojo is left to think about their exchange in either version.

It should have achieved the same thing from Gojo’s perspective either way.

If we think back to the first exchange, Geto stops Gojo from harming the innocents; he wants Gojo to stay true to it. The message is still “I won’t blame you if you kill me”. Whenever that is.

It’s interesting that Geto goes onto do what he preached: he kills Sonoda and Sonoda alone shortly after.

And just in case we need a reminder of who Sonoda is:

He, too, acted out what his message to Gojo was. I think he knew he deserved death & that Gojo should believe that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he did.

Gojo’s first “human” life (not curse) he took was Toji’s. We dunno why he went after him when he said he didn’t want revenge. Was it to test his powers? Finish the battle? Regardless, Riko & Kuroi were avenged w/ Toji & Sonoda dead. They each avenged her death.

He also knew Gojo had the capacity in him to kill humans. Hence, phrases like “you could do it, Satoru” & “if I could be you” & “unlike you I’m soft/kind” & “there would be no meaning” have all been said by Geto to Gojo. So in my mind, he clearly wanted Gojo to kill him. It could’ve been appropriate for Gege to use the drafted version as a way for Geto to reiterate his message to Gojo all along - don’t kill humans. You stay on your path and fight for humans and I’ll descend as the monster because I can’t be a sorcerer.

He left the method & moment to kill him entirely up for Gojo to decide.

So if that is Gege’s intention for Geto to communicate to Gojo… The final version of their exchange may have been better because Geto didn’t dictate that Gojo should be careful not to kill anyone. And it wouldn’t sound like a threat / taunt where he’s warning Gojo not to open fire then & there. At most, I can imagine he wished to see Gojo respect him as a friend. But realistically, Geto had already accepted his death. And if he cared that much about his ideology and his ideology alone, he would’ve asked Gojo to “kill me now!” And be happy that humans died. “Or come with me!” And whoopee, his ideals could be realised. But he didn’t.

So it leads me to believe he wanted to let Gojo’s hand go like on the Ao no sumika cover. And not drag him down. And Gojo honoured that love Geto had for him although it was hard on them both. Gojo understood.

And honestly I don’t believe Geto necessarily harmed humans indiscriminately either. He seemed to embody the belief that only those who deserve to die should die, even if he said he wanted to force evolution and tried his best to self-affirm that he hated humans. He believed Gojo should do the same especially on his own path as a sorcerer, not curse user. Thus the advice of “be careful not to kill anyone other than me” was not misplaced.

Over time Geto might’ve come to believe that that was one of the reasons why Gojo didn’t fire at him then and there. Which is also why we saw Kenny recollect that scene and cook up that plan to seal Gojo in the box. But he was wrong and that 1% chance of Gojo opening his domain happened - Gojo took a calculated risk against humans “for the better good”.

More blabbing here if you’re interested: https://www.tumblr.com/lxmelle/755427466440491008/just-some-thoughts-about-satosugu-and-how-they

[voxofthevoid]

Would you do a fic without any tags? Like "CNTW" and "caveat lector" - and nothing else?

Destroy the weak, cull the herd, etc.

Y'know, my first, unthinking reaction was "I'm sure fucking tempted sometimes," but upon further consideration—no, I wouldn't. Not because I can't see the appeal of that tactic but because if I'm ever driven to that point, I'm far better off ditching that ship, fandom, or even Ao3 itself. There are always greener pastures; plus, there's a point where the spite starts to hurt me rather than fuel me, and I'm very invested in avoiding that.

I loathe how a vocal subset of Ao3 users wield its tag system as a cudgel against anyone they deem as not conforming to their arbitrary ideas of tagging etiquette, but I love the tag system itself. I love the freedom it offers authors first and foremost, which is why the aforementioned vocal subset pisses me off.

The process of tagging is something I enjoy a lot. Finding the right tags, inventing new ones, arranging them in all in a way I find both accurate and aesthetic—I love all of it. If people piss me off to the point that I decide to ditch the whole thing, what's the point in staying on the website?

This April 01 marked the 11th anniversary of my Ao3 account, and in that time, there have been three major alterations to my tagging behavior, all prompted by outside factors—namely, people being obnoxious.

I stopped tagging who tops and who bottoms. This happened sometime around 2017, when I got active in the Yuri on Ice fandom. I can't remember if I started out tagging top/bottom and later axed those tags or if I'd developed a distaste for it by the time I started posting for YoI at all. Regardless, the reason was hypocrisy: Fans expected one specific dynamic to be the default, while the other was considered a deviation to be warned for. If an untagged fic had top!Victor, no one would bat an eye, but if it was top!Yuuri, people would be up in arms. Noticing that double standard made it impossible to ignore, not just in YoI but across fandoms. Sure enough, it's still very much there—I have more comments than I can count from JJK and especially goyuu readers doing precisely this. Even discourse around it shows how so many people seem fundamentally incapable of grasping their own hypocrisy.

Sometime in the early 2020s, I permanently switched to using Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings. I also went the extra mile and changed the main archive warnings on my old fics to this. There are still a few No Archive Warnings Apply fics on my profile, but I'll mass edit those too one of these days. This was prompted by seeing one too many aggressive dumbasses argue that using CNTW is anti-social and anti-accessibility and other such nonsense. The arguments essentially dismiss CNTW as a valid warning because of its broadness—when that broadness is very much the point. And the more people elaborated on why they think CNTW is a "bad" warning, the clearer it became that it was about entitlement. They don't want to filter out CNTW because it may cost them fics they may like, and they don't want to go to the trouble of manually doing more extensive vetting to see if a CNTW-tagged fic is safe for them to read.

I stopped accepting tagging suggestions, period. There are exceptions, like my backlog clearance where I tell people I have no clue what's in the fic and they can suggest tags if they'd like, but on the whole, whatever I slap on a fic is all that's going to be there. I tag carefully and accurately, but exhaustive tagging isn't something I offer or aspire to. And I've found that being too accommodating will backfire more often that not—been there, done that, no thanks. That said, I don't expect people to read my profile, so it's cool if anyone asks for tags via jokes, idle suggestions, or even polite requests. But the moment it crosses the line to become a demand or an accusation of negligent tagging (my least favorite flavor, especially in relation to top/bottom tagging), I'm biting off a head or three.

These are all already major changes, and none of them were made out of warm and fuzzy feelings. I don't regret them though, especially because these are all aimed at selecting for more responsible readers. Assholes and idiots still pop up, especially in conflict-prone fandoms, but overall, I'm happy with my current tagging practices and their results.

...This got way too long 😂