#esp. for Moral Reasons or whatever

[iamanartichoke]

I think part of what really makes me twitchy about "coming back" to tumblr and seeing the same old takes and discourse over and over again is that nobody is saying anything new or profound? Like at the height of my fandom activity, I wrote and read literal thousands of words of meta about all the complex layers of Loki and his universe, as well as the real life implications about some of these in-universe issues, but after the series when the takes started to be *really* divisive (the Ragnarok wank was child's play, tbh, imho), it just seemed more and more pointless to try to participate bc some takes were just so extreme.

So then I come back and I see posts about this or that being problematic, or that x factor reinforces y stereotype, or otherwise promotes or underlines this that or the other Problematic thing, it's like -

- bro, I've analyzed and criticized to hell and back, and at this point, I'm over it. I don't have anything particularly new to say and clearly neither does anyone else, so can we just, like, go back to enjoying the actual material? Yknow?

But idk, maybe I'm on this island alone. I'm also not really expressing myself well, but what can I say - I've lost a lot of braincells over the past year or so; this is the best I've got at the moment.

[br1ghtestlight]

people who complain about bob's burgers becoming more family friendly and therefore "worse" really do not mean anything to me bcuz they've fully stated their reasons for why it became more kid-friendly after season three and i think thats completely understandable and they're allowed to do whatever they want with THEIR SHOW!!!! and honestly the quality hasn't gotten any worse they just swear slightly less than before and make less references to sex but like they go to strip clubs and get drunk etc so its not a fuckign nickelodeon show or anything.... idk object shows are kinda the same where they had more cursing and violence earlier on but now they try to keep most shows kid-friendly (generally speaking in the osc) not because they HAVE to but because its an active choice that they're making. maybe if you literally only like adult cartoons for the raunchy humor yeah you're not gonna like the later seasons as much but quality-wise they're still entertaining so?? maybe go watch family guy or something idk

[aq2003]

my skip opinions are all controversial and so correct but probably only to me. for instance i dont mind the symbiosis concept coming up only at the end because in universe i think there's a degree of crunchiness to how the gang only worries about brain slugs taking over people when they're making them do horrible things (as opposed to skip who's an outlier amongst his people) and they can't extend a worry abt autonomy towards norman bc skip HAS been such a meaningful addition to the crew + played a huge part in helping them retake their own lives. you regain your autonomy, helped by a being possessing your abusive boss. it's a bit selfish and messy and i think it fits well in the setting and would serve as a great point of discussion in the season 2 we know is going to happen. my second is that i haaaaaaaaaate norman/skip as a ship because i fundamentally, 1000% believe skip is aroace and i think the venom movies have just poisoned your minds

[controlaltdelete-my-existence]

ah the parallels

[homophyte]

watched the new john mulaney special and honestly it made me very happy. a lot of it is like deeply worrying shit ofc but i think its rlly clear that hes comfortable by how ridiculous it was and glad to be in a better place so thats nice. very much the same comedy and im glad for it bc hes earnestly rlly funny and i still enjoy it. i think society would improve more if we stopped paying attention to twitter,

[clandestinegardenias]

I just taught a sociology class on masculinities this past semester and I had my students do a media analysis of masculine representation in a movie or show of their choosing and—

Now I’m constantly thinking about The Terror.

And of course there’s SO MUCH THERE, I could do a fucking thesis, probably, but

I’m so interested in James Fitzjames and his relationship to masculinity, particularly as a performance. He’s so incredibly image-conscious, and has HAD to be in order to hide the realities of his birth. He buys into the social norms and goals of his time, HARD. He also has, as is slowly revealed in the show, a variety of more feminine longings and traits that are probably part and parcel of his insecurities.

So he adopts this sort of…overperformed masculinity, but a very specific upper-socioeconomic British Navy type. It also makes him very bragadocious (the China story) in an attempt to cover over those insecurities, and I think this is part of why Francis dislikes him at first.

Because Francis also has a variety of reasons to be insecure in his masculinity, potentially, as an Irish man. He’s denied the upper eschelons of male privilege (marrying Sophia, having command of an expedition) despite performing well on all expected metrics.

Yet he takes a very different approach from James. Once he realizes he’ll never be allowed to meet the hegemonic ideal, he kind of just…stops trying. He rejects the performance, the ideal, all of it (and also is uhhh super depressed and reliant on alcohol). And I think he sneers at James because James is doggedly doing the very performance Francis is fed up with.

Then. Later. He learns how much of it WAS a performance to cover up for those self same “failings” of being an outsider that plagued Francis himself. And that bonds them. Besides the fact that Francis APPRECIATES femininity, respects it, in a way that a lot of the other men don’t (see his relationships with both Sophia and Silna) and probably appreciates whatever feminine aspects of himself James chooses to reveal.

But BACK TO JAMES, I gotta talk about the dress scene.

It hurts so much. Because James BUYS INTO Carnivale, and it allows him to express his more feminine creative side in a way that is socially acceptable—it’s for the morale of the men, and maybe finally James’ true self can be a BOON to his role as leader instead of a drawback. He has the opportunity to combine those masculine and feminine parts of himself and have that combination be CELEBRATED and lauded as good leadership.

And then. The blood at his hairline. And reality comes crashing back down. And he doesn’t wear the dress.

Anyway, this is just some preliminary ramblings. Obviously a lot more going on here, esp re: intersectionality and race and class.

[the-modern-typewriter]

hhhhhhhh your work is just absolutely amazing and I cannot get enough of it… so much that I miiiight have just rebooted the last like two years of your blog… so uh sorry about ur notifs

And some of it had me thinking about how I tend to see like worldbuilding and/or scenarios that revolve around like sex as a necessity- such as like sexpollen or idk fuckordie scenarios - and I always wonder about how another asexual person would react to those, esp if they were more sex repulsed. There just doesn’t seem like space for us to exist in those worlds lol. And maybe it would be clinical or just like wet and awkward. Or they just can’t do it, regardless of the consequences. Your piece with the ace protag who described kissing as just like wet really resonated with me ig. Sorry about the word dump here oop. So if you want, I’d love to see your take on the situation.

I actually think there's a lot of space for asexual or aromantic experiences in these scenarios! Perhaps not the stereotypical take, but the consent/power/attraction dynamics inherent to these scenarios can form an interesting comment for parts of the ace experience.

To be honest, I've always viewed these scenarios on the horror spectrum and I would probably write them as such. Though I also don't think they have to be.

I might write something fully at some point, but:

Fuck or die/sex pollen is simply an extreme version of the already existing societal pressure to have sex/engage 'normally' with the culture we live in. It would be very easy to use that to make these scenarios an ace horror story.

When you add aceness to the mixture, or any sexuality that conflicts with the specific pairing in mind, is that irrelevant to the larger forces at work in the story (e.g. the plant, or the people forcing the fuck/die scenario or whatever) or is the point? E.g. is there a version of the story where someone ace is dosed with sex-pollen because it's considered an in-world cure for asexuality given it manufactures sexual attraction? How does that change attitudes to asexuality within that universe?

Is there a version where someone ace and their partner mutually and consentually try out sex-pollen so the ace person can see what sexual attraction is like? What does that say?

Are ace people immune to sex pollen for whatever reason? What in-world consequences does that have? Do you end up with ace people incentivized to take on jobs in areas where this would be a danger to other explorers? What commentary does that create within the world of these universes?

How does it change the character dynamics? If one person is so utterly against doing anything, even if it ensures both of their survival, what does that do to the other person? Because it's technically a necessity in these stories, but there are still actually two choices and for obvious reasons perhaps these stories rarely lean into the 'or die' part of the scenario. What does the other person decide in this situation?

Then there's the version where it is pure necessity. Not a big deal. No worse than any other chore. There's still consent, but honestly not all consent when you're ace is enthusiastic. In which case, the ace person who may already be geared more towards considering sex as a means to something else might actually be far less traumatized by this scenario than someone non-ace who might view sex with higher stakes/as more sacred/whatever.

Does an asexual alien view fuck or die/sex pollen scenarios with the same morality as an asexual human does? Quite possibly not! E.g. does one not consider it bad in anyway because that's just what humans do and they're not even aware of the consent/power issues going on. What does the dialogue between those two characters look like?

I don't know. I just think there's a lot people could do with the premise + asexuality! Ace people don't live in a world where sex and prevalent attitudes towards sex/sexuality have no bearing, and asexuality is in itself a broad and nuanced spectrum of attitudes.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Had to mo I've always loved orcas and they remain my favorite animal but I've been finding myself having to avoid the comments on anything with orcas and esp natural behavior. Because for whatever reason there's always comments on how orcas are "bullies" or the a-holes of the sea simply for being apex predators.

It's odd though if it's a captive orca people are all out ready to release it back into the ocean. But if it's wild that's a different story although there's always a comment or two saying how the orca "deserves" to be in captivity anyway because again they're bullies for being predators.

Like is there a reason orcas seem to be getting this unfair label for what they're doing to survive? I actually don't really see these same comments on wolves or lions or even sharks. There's even more sharks aren't monsters for being apex predators so why are they doing the opposite for orcas?

If I had to speculate, I think it’s because of the extreme lengths to which orcas have been anthropomorphized. Pre-2000s SeaWorld Shamu shows characterized the whales as basically big cuddly pets, and even into the 2000s and 2010s they still presented them as almost-mystical apex predators with a magical bond with humans. And for a long time, that was the (western) public’s main introduction to killer whales. It was hard to imagine them ever being anything but friendly.

Nowadays, a lot of folks—even some scientists—have popularized the idea that orcas are basically people, equal to or even superior to humans in intelligence and the capacity to feel emotions. So when they do something that humans find distasteful (punt around harbor porpoises, hunt fellow cetaceans, commit infanticide), it’s a lot more tempting to assume they’re doing it out of cruelty or malice than if it were a “simple animal” like a shark. I see that sort of comment a lot with animals assumed to be more “human-like” (orcas, chimps, elephants) or who live closely with people (hence the “cats are evil jerks” misnomer).

So yeah, in short, serious anthropomorphism. Orcas hunt because they’re predators, not psychotic murderers (*stares down Blackfish*). And while we’re at it—dolphins use sexual coercion because that’s the reproductive strategy they developed, not because they’re evil rapists (I’m really sick of seeing that “fact” shared around).

No animal is evil, because evil is a human concept. We cannot ascribe our sense of morality to them, no matter how intelligent they are, because they are not humans.

Anyway, pitting dolphins against sharks is stupid. Just like when people pit cats against dogs. Why not both?

[beemers-hell]

you did doc hcs....and tricky hcs...how about Jeb (not biased)

this is perfect actually bc like a week or so ago I was asked by Another particular Jeb enjoyer to spill my hcs about him (hi walnut lmao)

anyway:

Jeb HCs!

Around 65~70ish

Trans Man, doesn't care enough about relationship stuff to pick a specific orientation label

Around ~7'04"

South West Asian

Autistic As Fuck, generally very anti social and self isolating but people can get into his good graces and he'll try to show a bit more for them

Due to the fact his body has literally fuckin blown up + he's been in possession of the keystone fragment for so long (and I imagine wielding the KF is gonna fuck you up in the long run) he deals with a whole host of body aches and pains and afflictions, and also arthritis bc that dudes pushing 70 ofc lol

His savior complex thing is a direct result of him having the "I have to fight tooth n nail for what I think is right" brand of autism, compounded with just the insanity of everything in Nevada of course. His initial plan to end Project Nexus was gonna be it for him for his "I need to do whats right" mission, but the keystone fragment kinda drove him fucking nuts, so the "i must purge Nevada of all sinners Period" thing happened as a result

Yeah him n hofnarr had a thing going on, he was a bit too closed off to be fully open n honest about it at the time and now that hofnarr is tricky and he's the way that he is, he regrets how shut in he was. he's too stubborn to give up on tricky entirely which is why I have them still working together to do shit in general, esp in dad au stuff cause boxxy right, but he's not tryna like, figure out how to revert tricky back to hofnarr, he's just tryna maintain a connection with him in general despite the insanely different routes they went down

Jeb is incredibly selfish and Will do whatever the hell he wants if he thinks it serves his mission to do good by Nevada, however he isn't an evil morally bankrupt mf, like doc he's just an asshole, and he's tunnel visioning his way through his crusade. You won't catch him harming people for no reason, and this esp applies to like, kids n shit, but he's not above putting a mf through hell if it means his goals are accomplished

could argue everyone loves guns n shit but Jeb LOVES loves his guns, lil weirdo autistic special interest in firearms (and religion in general but this is about weapons lol)

masks like 24/7 this dude is not comfortable at ALL being ND. He's reserved for the most part but when he speaks oh boy is he bringing out that fuckin thesaurus!

he tries his best to look kept together bc "Savior of Nevada" and all that but dude struggles fuckin bad with executive dysfunction, like his hair is greasy as hell </3

[sharpth1ng]

do u think randy and billy would actually be friends and like each other if billy wasn’t a murdering misogynistic sociopathic all of the above

I mean honestly no? Randy hates Billy before he knows all of that stuff so I don’t think it would make much of a difference. From what we see in the movie Randy mostly hates Billy because he’s dating Sidney.

Billy barely expresses any aggression towards Randy until the videostore scene, and in that instance Randy has literally just accused him of murder. Like to be fair if I was Billy in that moment and I was innocent I’d be pretty fucking pissed at Randy too, esp if I had just spent the night in jail.

Most of what we see in the interactions between Billy and Randy it’s Randy starting shit tbh, and I’m not saying Billy is blameless, he’s obviously an asshole but from what we see in the movie this isn’t a situation where he’s bullying Randy. He mostly seems to ignore him.

And honestly, one of my pet peeves in this is the way Randy’s misogyny is ignored. He’s honestly got some real incel vibes to me- I know it’s a slasher trope but he’s the mouthpiece for tropes in this movie and he literally says ‘sex equals death’.

He’s also equally insensitive as Billy and Stu after Casey and Steve die. He knows Sid is scared and he still says the “slice and dice” shit and the stuff about the liver in the mailbox. That liver belonged to his now dead female classmate and he’s grinning when he talks about it.

But it’s the stuff he says about Sidney that’s the worst to me: “now that Billy tried to mutilate her do you think Sid would go out with me?” This doesn’t feel like he’s seeing her as her own person with her own agency, he’s not even centering her trauma like he cares about her. 

A good friend would be focused on making sure she’s ok if her boyfriend “just tried to mutilate her”, dating her would not be the priority, but Randy skips over whatever she might be experiencing because he’s more interested in the possibility of getting with her.

The other moment that bothers me most is when he sees Sidney going upstairs with Billy and says “there goes my chance with Sid” as if he only wanted her when she was a virgin, like she’s somehow less desirable if she has sex with Billy.

I think all of this stuff is pretty par-for the course in 1995, like this is Randy being a pretty typical 90s man here. But it’s still misogyny. I still think Randy is an interesting and well written character, but it does feel like his “nice guy” archetype gets taken at face value and there’s not a lot of discussion of the real flaws that he has.

You can still like him btw this is not a callout post, and I think he’s a very entertaining character. I write stuilly, I’m not judging anyone for an attachment to morally questionable characters and I don’t think a character needs to be a good person for you to like them. That said I think it’s also important to recognize the flaws a character does have.

All this is to say that I don’t think Billy is the reason that Billy and Randy don’t get along. If Billy wasn’t a mysoginistic murderer (I’m not going to call him a sociopath as that term usually refers to anti-social personality disorder) but he was still dating Sidney I think Randy would still hate him.

[starrylayle]

"Don't get me started on jegulus" actually please get started I'd like to hear your thoughts on it because your take on wolfstar and the oc-ification of some characters is so refreshing to see (tbh my first reaction to jegulus was just confusion on how it started and how quickly it got popular lmao)

ahh this makes so happy to hear that my post resonated with some people!! Was worried i was in the minority lol.

Anyways, abt jegulus -- i acc had a reaaally long post about how much i hated the dynamic (in canon compliant ish works -- Jegulus in aus is fine ig) but i deleted it lol.

I think the core reason why i dislike the pairing so much is that I feel like it the ship goes against everything James stands for. We don't know a lot about James' character in canon, but what we do know is that he had a strong sense of justice, and fierce loyalty to his friends and his cause, which ultimately led to his doom. I just can't imagine that James would associate with someone even a little bit bigoted. This is not to say i think James is a saint, i think he could be an ass sometimes (snapes worst memory lol) but i think he'd draw the line at someone who was associated with 'evil'. James had a very black and white view of good and bad and i just don't think it would make sense for James to date reg, esp as he is becoming a death eater. James may be a dick but he is also the biggest ally to ever ally !!

The only jegulus fics I have read are 'Just Lovers' and 'Choices'. Just lovers is a non-voldy au so i don't really have a problem with their dynamic there but choices on the other hand,, oh boy.

Spoilers for 'Choices' by MesserMoon btw (TW for talk of SA):

Regulus' friends rape Mary. And instead of feeling disgusted on the victim’s behalf, (who has been his friend for 5 years) James instead feels upset because it tarnishes the ‘good’ image he has of reg in his head. Thing is when a similar situation happened (The Prank ™), James was upset that Sirius would do such a thing but he also felt disgusted on behalf of Remus. Where was that energy here, huh?? I’ve even seen comments villianising Mary (the rape victim).

The thing I also hate about their dynamic is that it is basically an ally of the oppressor and ally of the oppressed. The problem with that is that when you are allied with the oppressor, you become an oppressor yourself (and reg does; he does terrible things) and that subsequently makes the so-called ally of the oppressed in cahoots with the oppressor as well. This brings so many parallels to real life where people say that they are an “ally” but become friends with/date a racist/rapist. “Oh but they’re nice to me”. its just a little ew.

And in other jegulus canon-compliant-ish fics, sometimes instead of James' character being watered down its Regulus' character. Like, he's not as morally grey, not as complex etc so it makes sense that James would agree to date him. I feel like jegulus as a ship ruins the core of what made their characters so interesting in the first place.

That being said,,, i do love me some canon-compliant unrequited jegulus. Regulus goes to hogwarts, gets so mad at Sirius for ditching him or whatever, but falls in love with the very guy that stole sirius away. He also has internalised homophobia because he's a Black brother so imagine the angst. James potter goes against everything he stands for,, sirius betrayed him,, but perhaps they're right abt smth?? Perhaps he needs to do smth. alone.

sorry for rambling but these are my thoughts on jegulus !! Anyways I feel like I should reiterate that this is a personal preference!! I think it ruins core of these characters, i prefer jily and i love me some unrequited gay pining for the boy who you're brother replaced u with. But this is just a personal preference !

oh and just a side note if it ever led to a decision where james had to choose between sirius and regulus -- no matter how much he 'allegedly' loved regulus, he would choose sirius, no questions asked.

[horizon-verizon]

One question, why Dany fans are against her and Euron being together? People say he is a misogynist and evil but it's not like the ones they ship her with are champions of good morals, same goes for the people around her. He is a king chosen by his people ,has a large fleet and a potential dragon rider . He even captured the warlocks who were after her. Not to mention he is handsome and totally her type personality wise (Daario but more dangerous). Who are the other candidates? Faegon the pretender, Sweet Robin the sickly and somehow one BASTARD when it doesn't make any sense even if her brother was his sperm donor.

Short Answer -> Because Euron Greyjoy is the antithesis of Dany in every way and will try to depower or debase her in any way he can. And that's not Dany's arc nor is it logical, narratively, with the direction Dany's arc has gone. This would never be a happy or constructive union.

He would never be satisfied with a a spouse--and female spouse, as if there would be any other kind in his hypothetical case--having the power of a true monarch or leader that he has enjoyed his entire life. A spouse that the armies, subjects, etc. are paying the obeisances that they would to Jaehaerys, Viserys, Aegon I, etc. One who is not merely a consort but has the authority, power, higher status, etc. of a Queen regnant and an ordinary king. While Dany is raised to goddess-like status among some of her people not because she thinks herself in that vein and thinks it her due to be their queen, Euron plainly is in the process of thinking himself as godlike and deserving of higher and the highest as possible seats of power no matter how he will get to that but in underhanded and sinister ways of persuading people that he'd be in some type of service to them or really that he'd be their way to gain power for themselves, esp how he frames himself as the way for the ironborn to conquer Westeros by invoking their heritage. And he ends up being the one to become their king. That's really his only aim--how to use people and persuade them to give him power so that he may rise to that position. that's why his never taking anything in those raids he has with his crew is also sinister--it works to inspire more loyalty from them.

Dany constantly interrogates whether or not she is doing what is best for those under her care, she feels a sense of responsibility to her people and those she observes she can protect. Power is not a luxury or a right in of itself to her; it is an inevitable tool for any possible happiness or peace.

In the leaked Winds of Winter "The Forsaken" chapter, we see that he ties a tongueless, naked, pregnant Falia Flowers--his "bedmate" from when he took the Hewetts' castle (A Feast for Crows)--to his ship. The same girl in the TWoW chapter says to Aeron that Daenerys will be Euron's "rock wife" (the ironborn's terms for their main consort) and she'll be his "salt wife" (a sort of concubine, slave wife). Daenerys is not be anyone's consort of any kind for her to be safe and able to actually exercise the power that she needs to enact great social and magical change, as Fire and Blood has shown us time and time again. We didn't even really need F&B (if we were thinking persons) to know this because Drogo would have never allowed Dany to do the stuff she'd currently doing or be at her side while she makes decisions for those she takes on as her people...they'd and she'd be "his". But F&B is great to introduce us to other characters and to reemphasize Dany's importance AND understand histiography, misogyny, and propaganda.

Back to Euron, those people that he captures, he's not doing that with the intention of being her consort, but just to bring her to feeling of comfort so she'd be open to having him later own and get him into that space where he'd do whatever he thinks of doing. Just as he's doing with Aeron and the ironborn and Falia Flowers and his own crew.

And there is reason to believe that he SA'd his brother, Aeron (Damphair) when they were children [the 3rd quote down]. Aeron is deathly afraid of Euron and most people who aren't in his crew dislike, are wary of, or are also afraid of him for good reason.

Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray. (A Feast for Crows, The Iron Captain.) We are the ironborn, and once we were conquerors. Our writ ran everywhere the sound of the waves was heard. My brother would have you be content with the cold and dismal north, my niece with even less ... but I shall give you Lannisport. Highgarden. The Arbor. Oldtown. The riverlands and the Reach, the kingswood and the rainwood, Dorne and the marches, the Mountains of the Moon and the Vale of Arryn, Tarth and the Stepstones. I say we take it all! I say, we take Westeros. (A Feast for Crows, The Drowned Man.) That man is dead. Aeron had drowned and been reborn from the sea, the god's own prophet. No mortal man could frighten him, no more than the darkness could . . . nor memories, the bones of the soul. The sound of a door opening, the scream of a rusted iron hinge. Euron has come again. It did not matter. He was the Damphair priest, beloved of the god. (A Feast for Crows, The Prophet) Kneel, brother. I am your king. I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest. (The Winds of Winter [not released yet, leaked], The Forsaken)

Gods don't answer to "mere" men, much less women. As her consort, Euron would have to "answer" to her.

Then there is the dragon horn he says he got from Valyrian ruins. Mind you, dragon horns--"hellhorns" as the Valyrians called them--are thought to have been used by the Valyrians alongside spells to control dragons by "binding" them to a person. Daenerys is the one who supplies us--in the main series, in A Dance with Dragons--with this information.

The text shows that Euron is one of the worst possible candidates as a consort for Daenerys or any female monarch--much a less a dragonriding woman who hasn't reawakened dragons and magic into the world. Every thing shows that this man will use magic horrendously and oppressively to not just those close to him but wide swaths of people. unlike Daario, he actually presents a some sort of threat to her ideologically and numbers wise. He, of most men aside from maybe Jon, has a stronger narrative relationship and familiarity with magic and has magical secrets that may contend with Dany's. It's all so ominous and foreshadowy.

As for other candidates, people have brought up Aurane Waters, some in her khalasar, Jon Snow--if he/they manage to have his influence over others undermined or he announces/swears himself to Daenerys, so people do not look at him as a viable monarch over her. Euron, again, would never allow himself to be a mere consort. And Dany can never be a consort to anyone for her story to make sense. A story of a woman, not a man, being the "messiah" figure by crushing gender roles and tropes or subverting them under her pretty little feet.

Euron is a classic case of the a smart and devious "psychopath" always looking for power and charming people to think him less of a threat than he actually is.

[olderthannetfic]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/720791837582983168/tbh-im-quite-shocked-by-all-the-anons-here?source=share

The thing about the OTW publicly suspecting an ex-volunteer is that a) the ex-volunteer was the one who had theorised in a public post that she might have been a suspect first. And she identified herself by username in it. And speculated that she'd been unjustly suspended after that email attack she was the suspect of. So b) the OTW was responding org-internally to current-volunteers' questions brought on by the ex-volunteer's post and they c) did not name her, so only the current volunteers who knew about the ex's post would've been able to identify her as that ex-volunteer. You can't cry defamation if you self-defame, first, and defamation requires that the other person is lying about the reasoning for their suspicion.

As for the CSEM ticket handling and the treatment of the PAC members, esp that ex-vol who worked CSEM tickets, I'm of the opinion that if you take on that work, it's your job to make a call whether or not the material in front of you contains an actual minor. Yes, 99% of it is going to be tickets about cartoon porn or GOT fanfic or whatever, but live-action porn is very much something that you might have to evaluate, too, and she straight-up said she wasn't able to tell with certainty, and so wanted to ban the content (which was fan*fiction* + the ambiguous porn gif) based on it being tagged Underage just to be safe. And it's fine that she said she couldn't tell, but she doesn't get to complain that she was forced to evaluate and eventually dismiss (due to the person in it not being clearly identifiable as a minor) that content, when by her own words, she wasn't forced. She'd also stated that she was working these tickets by choice so the other members wouldn't have to, but now people spin it as if she was chained to her desk and given nothing but CSEM reports. That's unjust framing.

Neither is it ok to want to suspend a user for tags that from context clearly pertain to a *fictional* work. She says she was told she couldn't ban it despite wanting to because "Legal says gifs are transformative fanworks and Disney had recently implied it wanted to crack down on gifs", which, to me, carries the implication that Legal said to ignore CSEM if it comes in the form of gifs or other transformative works. When what that actually is, is the obscenity exception about visual sexual content in which no real kid appears to have actually participated (if the pics are not of a child, but meant to be about underage sex, they need to be obscene under the Miller test to be illegal, and transformative works have artistic value). Which is stuff that she, as the former go-to CSEM ticket girl of the OTW, should actually know. Granted, the one bit I don't doubt at all is that unpaid volunteers don't give or receive enough training, but personally, when questions of legality and attached morality (is this ruling fair, or harmful?) haunt me, I look shit up. And I don't believe for a moment that Legal did not look that shit up despite specialising in IP-law, or had misunderstood CSEM laws to such a degree that they'd actually say it's not CSEM if it's a gif.

I've seen people now - that ex-volunteer among them - demand a mental healthcare budget, at least for post-emergency-use, and call failure to provide that neglectful. The lack of mental health support in a unpaid-volunteer run org for the people who do this kind of important work is unfortunate, and was even more so in the aftermath of the email attack, but the OTW can't just magic that money for 900 people's healthcare up. Them continuing not to pay (cause that's what it is) their volunteers after a crisis is not abuse or neglectful.

The majority of their (the ex-vol's and allied vols) points seem either ignorant or deliberately framing themselves as the victims of some horribly abusive organisation who made them look at and shelter CSAM and is now bullying them after they blew the whistle on it. I don't really see anything worth getting the whistle out for, here, so yes, I think it's a smear campaign.

--

[woodlandscab1n]

I'm honestly so fucking tired of the sh/p discourse and this anti-pr/ship and pr/ship shit. It's all fucking nonsense, both sides do nothing but harm people and have zero fuckin' brain.

None of them can understand Basic Media Comprehension. None of them can genuinely understand nuance. None of them genuinely want what's the healthiest or the best for people.

Plus, what even is a pr/ship and an anti anymore, there's ten million versions for every corner of the internet and every fandom. For some, antis are the ones that show porn and sexually harass children and others who don't agree with them as a way of retribution, when for me it's been proships who've done that.

It's insane and none of it really makes sense anymore. Here's my stance if anyone wants to know it:

Sexualizing kids in media is bad. But awareness around how kids sexualize themselves and how adults sexualize them isn't bad, learn to differenciate them.

Inc/st is inherently abusive, esp between parents/kids and siblings.

Ag/ g/ps are about the experience and knowledge gap, not the numbers. Which is why saying "it's only 2 years!" is weird af. No you fuckin creep. A 10 year old and a 12 year old are in completely different worlds. A 16 year old and a 18 year old are also in different worlds. Be for fucking real.

Representing dark topics, talking about them and putting them on your stories doesn't make you support them. Read the actual fucking text and see what the author is trying to say about them, you dumbass.

Murder and rape aren't on the same level due to how society views them. Murder is not normalized outside of fiction on the world at large, there's only desensitization which is not the same as normalization.

Everything affects everything. Fiction is a reflection of reality, that doesn't mean it's a direct reflection of it. If you make an evil character it doesn't mean that you want to do those evil actions necessarily, and if the creators does, question why they put it into this character. What was the author saying about those actions in the subtext and/or in the text?

Always ask why, how, when, what and who. Esp why and how, everything else is secondary but equally as important.

Stop basing your morals on what makes you feel icky.

Pr/shippers are nothing but a pathetic, disgusting, horrific bag of people and antis are brainless zombies w/o an ounce of media literacy that harm people bc they made them feel icky.

Stop fuckin harassin people period. Callout posts are only under dire circumstances, not some random guy on the internet liking a disgusting ship.

Is it really that fucking hard not to ship children and adults. You will survive.

Shipping implies you want to enjoy romantic and platonic relationship between them for whatever reason.

Shipping abusive relationships between adults is nuanced and you Need to look at the text or the reasons behind it before you make your dumb little callout.

Censorship is bad. Wanting to censor everything you think is icky is bad.

Thats all for now goo bye

[muzzleroars]

Me remembering a random russian proverb and going like "oh. that reminds me of gabe actually"

The proverb in question is "Перед смертью не надышишься" (Pered smert'yu ne nadyshish'sya), literally "Can’t breath enough before death"

It can mean:

"Putting it off won't make it any easier"

"At the last moment, you can not manage to do what you had to do beforehand"

"You can't make up for lost time"

"It's too late for that now"

And it's also sometimes interpreted as like,, "well it's too late for that now, so no point in trying anyway"

And this made me think of AUs/HCs where Gabe actually Dies™️ (and I've pretty much accepted that it's the most likely thing to happen in canon too. who knows for sure tho, maybe not)

Like. He has so much stuff to do, so many topics to think of, so many emotions to go through (esp if he has Feelings™️ for V1, or anyone else for that matter), but whelp! too late for that loverboy!

And him either desperately trying to do at least something with the little time he has left, OR just. Giving up. Shutting down and waiting for everything to end

And about the "putting it off" part, makes me think that Gabriel must've had at least some trauma/issues related to the Council (about the time when they took the light from him, if nothing else), so it could've been hard for him to go back here, and actually deal with it, face it head on, but he did it anyway because it's not gonna get any easier if he waits

me rotating gabe in my head like in a microwave rn

as much as i obviously enjoy exploring gabriel as a fallen angel, i 100% agree that he's going to die in canon as ultrakill sees the world at the end of its lifespan and that goes for just about everything in it. and on a character level for gabriel, i think it makes sense for the exact reasons this proverb brings up: gabriel has had an end of life epiphany and, like everything else, it is too late now. his world has crashed down around him in his death throes, and all he can do is what is most important in the precious few hours he has left while the rest, all of the personal trauma he must harbor, will now remain forever untouched. but we've already seen whatever gabriel will do with that time remaining will be worthy of it.

the majority of the day he has left has likely already been spent, but he has used it fully to contemplate his long existence and then hearken to newfound autonomy - after which, he swiftly dispatches the entirety of the council to liberate heaven from their rule (the way he chooses to slay the final councilor has interesting parallels now to his execution of sisyphus, and i'm sure that figures into gabriel wishing to right wrongs he can't take back). we know after this he will depart forever from heaven, and his only destination can be hell to meet once again with v1 as he promised. gabriel has so much he could do, so much it could be argued he needs to do, but with his death impending and the very world around him crumbling with it, there is actually very little left for him to do realistically. gabriel is leaving a life full of regret that he will never remotely understand because he has no time for it, but he's ensuring that whatever can be tangibly, immediately addressed is. his life will never be put into context for him, but his death will be.

because gabriel leaves behind a cruel, bloody life that he once thought to be one of supreme order but is, instead, a mess. his time spent serving god had wronged so many, it had likely constantly gone against his own internal morals (that he no doubt punished himself over and over for, torturing himself over sins he now understands were compassion) - yet those feelings don't matter because ultimately he upheld god's will, he carried his banner of violence against humanity, and now there is no one to confront or repay with god and humans all dead. and under the rule of the council, he became a dog he must be disgusted with - they were not god, they never held that ultimate authority that at least he may have been able to shift the blame onto somewhat. they were angels just like him, perhaps higher in rank but not his ruler and certainly not his maker, yet he conformed to their every order, he furthered their political gains again at the expense of his morals. secretly he cared for those in limbo. secretly he cared for the ferrymen. secretly, perhaps, he was some kind of friend to hell. but then the council came and he obeyed them as unconditionally as he had god, reining terror on the citizens of hell and becoming their blight after ripping minos's crown from him as judge of hell. these are the festering regrets he will never account for, will never make reparations for - they are all dead, and he is dying.

so what can gabriel do except address his death and what brought him to it - a poor substitute for making sense of an entire life now left undone, but he seems to working within what he has instead of giving into panic or despair. and all he has left, all he has time for and all he knows he can manage in the hours remaining, is going to see v1 one last time. i'm sure with this, gabriel has a definite goal in mind: i think foremost is fully immersing himself in his feelings for v1 and just what this machine did for him. ultrakill, despite all appearances, is a love story in many ways, and i strongly believe gabriel's feelings toward v1 will be woven into that theme. he wants to feel his love as fully himself and now that he has realized it, to wrap himself in it after the revelation has occurred and allow it to flow through him with acceptance. it happens through a fight, of course, but what i don't know is what gabriel's ultimate goal for that fight will be - does he want his last act to be stopping v1, to have them die together in a sense, or does he desire to be killed by v1 rather than letting that loss of light take him? maybe gabriel would be content with either, but i think of him as a character with now well-defined ideas of what he wants, so i believe he's more likely to want something concrete.

[sluttywonwoo]

Hey, I just wanted to point out that you’re the only carat (or person in general) that I’ve seen– between twitter, instagram and here on tumblr– talk about the fact that kenzo is not in compliance with the boycott.

I always see people hyping Vernon up on instagram when he posts about/with Kenzo products while I’m on the side like WTH guys??

Anyways this isn’t hate towards Vern, but as someone else said, South Korea is well aware of the fact of israel slaughtering people, so it just hurts my heart to see someone who’s supposed to be an advocate for youth not really doing anything. (There’s a much better way to word that, I’m so sorry, I’m still dead tired as I type this).

Thank you for bringing attention to it.

A good chunk of those fans sadly but unsurprisingly do not care about who is a Zionist. They’re not mad about that, they’re mad that idols (especially Vernon) chose to do whatever they want and aren’t driven to do stuff they don’t wanna just because “fans” dragged them on twitter. They’re controlling with no morals ☠️

answering these together for organization/consolidation purposes: that’s really surprising that i’m the only person you’ve seen talk about it but i’m happy to be able to spread the word! and it is super disappointing to see ppl we look up to stay silent/complicit about humanitarian crises— regardless of contractual obligations or otherwise— and it’s hard to process.

also just a reminder that it isn’t hateful to be critical of your favs! esp when it comes to global concerns and causes that you care about. i actually think this kind of criticism shows just how much you care about an artist and their art (as long as it is delivered with grace and at an appropriate time)! you want them to speak up because you respect them and their opinions and you know other people do too. anyway let me get off my soapbox…

i hope those who were simply upset about the lack of variety in his wardrobe will educate themselves about the true reason to disapprove and respect his autonomy going forward