one of the things that i think we should pay attention to, socially, about the disney v. desantis thing is that it is really highlighting the importance of remembering nuance.
in a purely neutral sense, if you engage in something problematic, that does not mean you are necessarily agreeing with what makes it problematic. and i am worried that we have become... so afraid of any form of nuance.
disney isn't my friend, they're a corporate monopoly that bastardized copyright laws for their own benefit, ruin the environment, and abuse their workers (... and many other things). this isn't a hypothetical for me - i grew up in florida. i also worked for the actual Walt Disney World; like, in the parks. i am keenly aware of the ways they hurt people, because they hurt me. i fully believe that part of the reason florida is so conservative is because it's been an "open secret" for years now that disney lobbies the government to keep minimum wage down, and i know they worked hard to keep the parks unmasked and open during the worst parts of Covid. they purposefully keep their employees in poverty. they are in part responsible for the way the floridian government works.
desantis is still, by a margin that is frankly daunting, way worse. the alternative here isn't just "republicans win", it's actual fascism.
in a case like this, where the alternative is to allow actual fascism into united states legislation - where, if desantis wins, there are huge and legal ramifications - it's tempting to minimize the harm disney is also doing, because... well, it's not fascism. but disney isn't the good guy, either, which means republicans are having a field day asking activists oh, so you think their treatment of their employees is okay?
we have been trained there is a right answer. you're right! you're in the good group, and you're winning at having an opinion.
except i have the Internet Prophecy that in 2-3 months, even left-wing people will be ripping apart activists for having "taken disney's side". aren't i an anti-capitalist? aren't i pro-union? aren't i one of the good ones? removed from context and nuance (that in this particular situation i am forced to side with disney, until an other option reveals itself), my act of being like "i hope they have goofy rip his throat out onstage, shaking his lifeless body like a dog toy" - how quickly does that seem like i actually do support disney?
and what about you! at home, reading this. are you experiencing the Thought Crime of... actually liking some of the things disney has made? your memories of days at the parks, or of good movies, or of your favorite show growing up. maybe you are also evil, if you ever enjoyed anything, ever, at all.
to some degree, the binary idealization/vilification of individual motive and meaning already exists in the desantis case. i have seen people saying not to go to the disney pride events because they're cash grabs (they are). i've seen people saying you have to go because they're a way to protest. there isn't a lot of internet understanding of nuance. instead it's just "good show of support" or "evil bootlicking."
this binary understanding is how you can become radicalized. when we fear nuance and disorder, we're allowing ourselves the safety of assuming that the world must exist in binary - good or bad, problematic or "not" problematic. and unfortunately, bigots want you to see the world in this binary ideal. they want you to get mad at me because "disney is taking a risk for our community but you won't sing their praises" and they want me to get mad at you for not respecting the legit personal trauma that disney forced me through.
in a grander scheme outside of disney: what happens is a horrific splintering within activist groups. we bicker with each other about minimal-harm minimal-impact ideologies, like which depiction of bisexuality is the most-true. we gratuitously analyze the personal lives of activists for any sign they might be "problematic". we get spooked because someone was in a dog collar at pride. we wring our hands about setting an empty shopping mall on fire. we tell each other what words we may identify ourselves by. we get fuckin steven universe disk horse when in reality it is a waste of our collective time.
the bigots want you to spend all your time focusing on how pristine and pretty you and your interests are. they want us at each other's throats instead of hand in hand. they want to say see? nothing is ever fucking good enough for these people.
and they want their followers to think in binary as well - a binary that's much easier to follow. see, in our spaces, we attack each other over "proper" behavior. but in bigoted groups? they attack outwards. they have someone they hate, and it is us. they hate you, specifically, and you are why they have problems - not the other people in their group. and that's a part of how they fucking keep winning.
some of the things that are beloved to you have a backbone in something terrible. the music industry is a wasteland. the publishing industry is a bastion of white supremacy. video games run off of unpaid labor and abuse.
the point of activism was always to bring to light that abuse and try to stop it from happening, not to condemn those who engage in the content that comes from those industries. "there is no ethical consumption under late capitalism" also applies to media. your childhood (and maybe current!) love of the little mermaid isn't something you should now flinch from, worried you'll be a "disney adult". wanting the music industry to change for the better does not require that you reject all popular music until that change occurs. you can acknowledge the harm something might cause - and celebrate the love that it has brought into your life.
we must detach an acknowledgment of nuance from a sense of shame and disgust. we must. punishing individual people for their harmless passions is not doing good work. encouraging more thoughtful, empathetic consumption does not mean people should feel ashamed of their basic human capacities and desires. it should never have even been about the individual when the corporation is so obviously the actual evil. this sense that we must live in shame and dread of our personal nuances - it just makes people bitter and hopeless. do you have any idea how scared i am to post this? to just acknowledge the idea of nuance? that i might like something nuanced, and engage in it joyfully? and, at the same time, that i'm brutally aware of the harm that they're doing?
"so what do i do?" ... well, often there isn't a right answer. i mean in this case, i hope mickey chops off ron's head and then does a little giggle. but truth be told, often our opinions on nuanced subjects will differ. you might be able to engage in things that i can't because the nuance doesn't sit right with me. i might think taylor swift is a great performer and a lot of fun, and you might be like "raquel, the jet fuel emissions". we are both correct; neither of us have any actual sway in this. and i think it's important to remember that - the actual scope of individual responsibility. like, i also love going to the parks. Thunder Mountain is so fun. you (just a person) are not responsible for the harm that Disney (the billion dollar corporation) caused me. i don't know. i think it's possible to both enjoy your memories and interrogate the current state of their employment policies.
there is no right way to interrogate or engage with nuance - i just hope you embrace it readily.
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ok also another thing:
i hear “they were stuck on the subway for 7 years alone, what would you expect? of course they fell in love”
can you just do me a favor and try to wrap your head around the fact that writers can literally make whatever they want to happen, happen.
if they want a goddamn pirate ship to crash into the sun and cause another apocalypse they could. would it be stupid? yes. but they could do it.
if they want a giant pterodactyl to bite reginald’s head off and then cause the economy to crash because all of reginald’s money and businesses go under, they could. would it be stupid? yes. but again, they could absolutely do it.
if they want an old man in the body of his nineteen year-old self to get stuck on a subway with his brother’s wife (who he cares about but also sort of hates because she understands him and he’s not used to people understanding him) and fall in love with her after 7 years of hopeless searching, they could.
would it be fucking moronic? you bet. but once again. they could absolutely fucking do it.
and guess what they did!!!!!
could we try our very best to consider that the writers could’ve had five fall in love with literally anyone? that they could’ve brought delores to life (i’m biased, but alas)? that they could’ve introduced literally any other character for him to have a romance with? or that they could’ve remembered that the entire first 3 seasons were familial love stories of five’s caring for his siblings?
could we try our VERY best to remember that both lila AND five were stripped of every one of their character traits to fit into the cookie cutter shapes that would allow them to fall in love?
you say five and lila were perfect for each other, but what you did was you watched two strangers fall in love. that wasn’t five and lila. they were strangers with masks of our favorite characters that netflix deemed acceptable enough to cheap out on.
i don’t think i’ll ever stop being angry about this. fuck
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All Ears
Pairing: König x Reader
Word Count: 1.1k
Summary: You are one of the best soldiers around, but it seems you aren't seen even off the battlefield. König makes sure you know that you're seen.
Content Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Being Left Out, Hateful Thoughts, Self Hate (it's okay, könig comforts you)
A/N: My 'd' button isn't working that well. Have had to go back and make sure it was pressed. Little drabble for y'all, just to give you something to eat up. I will continue Maple Syrup on Friday/Saturday, and the taglist is always being updated! I should really just make a masterlist atp, I’ve got enough posts. As always, content under the cut and my asks are open <3 I PASTED THE ENTIRE FIC INTO THE TAGS GOD HELP ME
"It's really funny, though," you started and listened to everyone talk over you. Gaz making little quips as Soap gave a story, Price and Ghost having listened intently. Even König and Horangi weren't listening to you, from what you could tell.
You glanced down briefly, waiting for a pause before you tried to jump in again. And again, you were interrupted, though by Price this time. Taking a little sip of the drink you had in front of you, which was extremely watered down by now, you glanced at the people around you.
It was odd. You worked your ass off to get to this point, working with some of the best of the best but still seeming to be too small to really exist with them. When everyone paused, taking drinks, you opened your mouth to speak when Soap tugged Gaz off to play darts, calling for you all to watch him.
A little, almost grimace of a smile came on your face as you played with the coaster intended for your drink. You could feel you heart sinking, swallowing thickly around the tears beginning to form.
You were one of the best soldiers in the world, and yet you had never felt so small. Whether it was intentional or not, you had no idea. You watched everyone talk and exist with one another while you sat on the side, like a bystander. Someone who wasn't supposed to be there, but you found yourself stuck.
"I am all ears, Maus," König spoke to you, leaning in close and looking at you through the mask. You gave him a grim smile, shaking your head and shrugging slightly.
"'s nothing, don't even remember what I was going to say," you told him. He blinked slowly at you, glancing own at your drink that your hands were connected to. He looked at the others, breathing deeply from the deep rise and fall of his shoulders.
Glancing back at you, he held his arm out. "I can buy you a better drink," he said, gesturing further towards you with the arm. "Come," he said.
You grabbed the arm he offered and let him help you from the chair, watching as he cut through the crowd with his height and mass. König's bicep flexed around your arm, seemingly holding you tighter as the crowd flexed and pulsed around your hold.
As you came upon the bar, König leaned against it, calling over the bartender. You stood beside him, waiting until the man could come and take your order. Until them, he had his eyes set on you, not allowing his focus to waver.
"Tell me," he started. "What was it you were going to say before you were interrupted?" You looked away, swallowing thickly. In your mind, it had completely fallen to the side. Becoming nothing, almost as you did when everyone was together.
Glancing back at him, he kept his eyes on you. "Gaz was talking about songs he thought would suit him, y'know?" He nodded, waiting patiently for you to continue. "Was gonna suggest that maybe he should choose 'It's Raining Men', considering his little incident with a helicopter," he snorted above you, shaking his head.
"Maus has jokes, hasn't she?" You shook your head, looking away for a few minutes, watching as the 141 continued to be themselves. Without you. Had they really needed you? "Get those thoughts out of your head," he snapped at you and you glance up at him. König was watching the group as well.
"What?"
"I know what you are thinking," he told you. "I know that look. Do not beat yourself with stones not thrown," you couldn't look at him. The fact that he knew, he had known, what you were thinking.
How you felt so alone, ever since you transferred. You weren't close to any of these soldiers, you didn't know them. They didn't know you, and so you were left off to the side, like a toy they didn't want to play with but didn't want anyone else to have.
As useless as a centimeter of thread, disappearing without a trace when not watched. Disappearing because you weren't necessary to the entire picture, because you didn't have a true purpose that wasn't already fulfilled by someone bigger, better than you.
Useless.
"You are not so alone," he said. "Not so different from any soldier, but that doesn't make you useless. It doesn't make you any less important than those men already there," you glanced up at him, watching his eyes dance across the crowd.
König glanced down at you, eyes crinkling slightly with what you could only assume was a smile. A throat cleared behind you and you glanced back, turning fully to see the bartender in front of you. König gave his order and glanced down at you.
"I've had enough to drink, I should probably pull back," you whispered. "Just a water, for me," you told the man. You watched as the drinks were set out, pulling the water close to you and gulping down mouthfuls of it.
Like you hadn't drank in years, even though it had only been minutes. Your mouth felt dry, mind whirling thousands of miles a minute. You could hear little whispers of the people around you, feeling everything pushing in on you all at once. The heat of all of the bodies surrounded you, pushing in on you and you were stuck in your head.
"Schatz?" It pulled you out, a hand touching your bicep and pulling you from everything. You could see a woman trying to sweeten him up, pressing up against his side. "Talk to me, Maus," he whispered. "'m all ears," he told you.
You glanced at the woman and he did too, her toothy smile dropping as soon as he turned away, a little scoff coming from her. Some words that disappeared into the background came from her lips, and you couldn't read her lips to catch it.
"You are important, Maus," he said. A statement, no questions regarding it. "We all care about you, but you need to find yourself. Find who you are outside of a soldier, create your person. They know you as a soldier, not as a person," König cleared his throat. "Give them some time, I am sure Soap and Gaz will pull you in with them," and you looked up at him.
His eyes had followed the woman through the crowd, watching as she struggled her way back to her friends. As much as you didn't realize it, he was watching everything around you. He probably knew just about as much of yourself as you did, just from watching you.
"I have ears for you," König said, eyes glancing down. "Only ears for you,"
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How about something like Homelander at a meeting with the seven and his wife.
"Wait, wait. I thought we were meeting your wife?" The Deep bursts out, gaze flicking between the two men already within the conference room as the rest of The Seven and Ashley file in. Homelander's smile is strained at best, while Butcher?
He's as stone faced as ever. This isn't exactly a spot he ever considered he'd ever be in.
"Bit of an inside joke, ya see." Butcher mutters, stepping up to where Homelander sits to grasp the supe between neck and shoulder. As he tightens his grip, the gold band on his ringer finger catches the light. "Ain't that right, luv?"
Homelander tilts his head up, catching Butcher's eye as he smiles. There's no affection in it, more a predator barring his teeth at a rival. Nothing of the interaction screams that these two are lovers in any sense of the word, let alone a happy couple introducing themselves to The Seven.
An uncomfortable silence follows as everyone else in the room watches the couple. The expressions range from incredulous to utterly baffled. Well, Noir's is blank on account of his mask.
"Homelander- Are you gay?" The Deep sputters out, face pinched in clear confusion as his eyes flick between the two men.
"No, you fucking-" A-Train cuts himself off, then takes a breath. "He's bi, like Maeve was." His attention shifts back to Butcher, "Aren't you trying to kill all of us?"
Butcher inclines his head, white teeth flashing as he smirks but before he can spit out some British wit The Deep cuts in.
"Maeve was bi!?" The Deep's eyebrows jumping up as he turns to stare at A-Train. He leans closer, voice a conspirital whisper. "I thought she was like- A lesbian, ya know?"
Homelander has to take a steading breath, squelching the urge to lean over and casually crush The Deep's windpipe. "Boys, boys- Just, stop." Homelander raises a hand to cut off any further conversation as he sighs. He has to take a moment, eyes closing as he rubs at the bridge of his nose. Butcher's hand on his shoulder seems to be half to restrain him and half to keep the supe anchored. "Just- Uh. Don't worry about the labels and yes, we were enemies but- Let's just say we've worked it out."
"Okay, great. Fantastic!", Ashley chirps out in faux cheerfulness while trying not to love her absolute shit. Her mind is spinning with the sheer PR nightmare of introducing the world to the fact that Homelander, Christian ideal supe that he is happens to be a bisexual man and now married to a pardoned terrorist.
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