#i can reclaim the f word don't cancel me

[normal-thoughts-official]

so here's my personal theory on how the mal shit is gonna go:

i think mal's been corrupted by shadow, and i think he either doesn't know about it or did it because he felt it was the only way to protect his friends. similar to how he sees money - the more power he has, the more able he is to guarantee that he'll never be in a vulnerable situation (losing those he loves and being unable to do anything) again

either way i think the corruption is more manipulating him than anything. from the way tyril talked this chapter, it sounds like mal has been making a habit of making harsh, risky decisions. we've even kind of seen this when he jumped in front of Valax' glaive. when i saw that i assumed that it was your main LI who does this, but no, it's always mal. i think this is, in part, supposed to show that mal is acting way more reckless than he usually would

the other part is that, obviously, the real reason the shadow didn't hurt him was that he was already shadow corrupted anyway

im not entirely sure what the endgame is yet, but i think that it's the watcher who's responsible for the corruption. i simply don't trust a man who makes his first appearance in Certified Choices Evil Robes, and besides, today's lore tablet pretty much proved that he's taking us in the wrong direction

aerin is going to play a pivotal role in helping mal get rid of the corruption. he's the one person in the world who knows the most about it, and, from his comments about shadow corruption being more complicated than you think, possibly the only one who believes saving mal is possible anyway. also, i mean, he did go through that process

the process to save mal will likely be extremely painful, if aerin's unwillingness to talk about it is any indication

our relationship with aerin will likely influence the outcome, since he will be the key to helping mal. especially since mal has probably been his #1 hater, the main reason aerin would have to care about mal is his attachment to mc. if you don't have a good enough relationship with aerin, maybe the outcome will be different

it will be through this process that we will learn that The Watcher Is Evil, Actually and possibly foil his plans?

it will be so fucking angsty it's unreal and we'll be fed everything we didn't get in the reunion and more, THIS IS HOW MALMANCERS CAN STILL WIN

the haircut is here to stay 😔

[turnways]

Dnntrb

I don't understand the argument that queer isn't a slur because "it has been reclaimed since 19xx" or most takes on how it's wrong to categorize it as such because

1. It's not like we live in a hive mind or collectively decided it wasn't a slur all together. People have also reclaimed the D, F, and T slur for about as long as "queer" but clearly not everyone applies those terms to themselves.

2. That doesn't stop homophobes/transphobes from weaponizing it. (And no reclaiming slurs doesn't make them less harmful when used by spiteful bigots please miss me with that "if we use it, it will lose it's power to harm" shit. Black people have been reclaiming the n slur for an insanely long time and it's still harmful when used by outsiders)

3. A word can have multiple meanings and contexts. Queer being a slur doesn't/shouldn't cancel out it's use as an identity.

4. There are plenty of elders who dont/didn't reclaim queer so the idea that saying it's a slur is somehow disrespectful because people "fought for their right to reclaim it" (????) You're just homogenizing an insanely diverse group of people.

Like obviously it's rude to hop into someone's inbox and go "ummm you can't use queer because it's a slur" but responding with accusing anyone of recognizing it's past and present applications as a slur of "not knowing their history" or being a t/rf is ridiculous.

Also t/rfs or r/dfems dislike queer because it implies an ambiguity that would allow for tr*ns people to be included. Not because they actually care about how slurs are weaponized.