#indigenous targeted racism

[neechees]

Negative & racist depictions, tropes, and Stereotypes regarding Native Americans in Road to El Dorado.

Mayaincatec: The film homogenizes multiple Indigenous cultures cultures into one, specifically and mainly Maya and Nahua cultures, with the story being based on a mythical place set in Colombia.

Mighty Whitey: the basis of the film comes from the Spanish lie and myth that the Indigenous Aztec population worshipped them as gods, with the city of El Dorado doing the same with Miguel and Tulio, who use this to trick Native people to steal gold from them.

Oversexualized Native Woman: Chel’s character has overemphasis on her sex appeal and sexuality, with her character design being very revealing and exageratted on her chest, hips, and thighs. There is little to no exploration of her character outside of her sexuality and servitude towards the White characters. She does not pass the Aila Test and is a near opposite. Chel is a perfect example of how many Native female characters are sexualized

Evil Shaman: The Native religious leader Tzekel-Kan is demonized as evil & plays a heavier role as the main antagonist instead of the famed genocidal colonizer Hernan Cortez. Tzekel-Kan being enslaved by Cortez at the end is depicted as a “good ending”.

Demonized Spiritualiity: connected to the above, all scenes depicting traditional Mesoamerican spirituality/religion or practices are shown as evil, barbaric, savage, scary, and associated with the main antagonist.

White Saviors: El Dorado is saved by the main White protagonists, the idea to destroy the gates to the city is Tulio’s idea, the warriors of El Dorado are portrayed as helpless and no match for the Spanish conquistadors despite Indigenous Mexican warriors going toe to toe with them, and winning against them in various battles in real life.

Whitewashed Colonialism: Cortez, despite being one of the worst colonizers in history, serves as a minor, secondary antagonist & his evilness is only vaguely implied, and never explained why it (his actions) is bad. Cortez has the same goal as Miguel and Tulio (to steal gold from Indigenous people), but the protagonists aren’t shown as bad for doing it. Colonization is essentially excused (& is never explicitly named as harmful) as long as the colonizers are “nice” about it.

There’s likely some other stuff I’m missing but these are some of the big ones that are shown in this film, & its depictions of Indigenous Peoples are extremely harmful. I also don’t wanna see anybody trying to defend any of these with somehow implying “Well it’s not ACTUALLY racist or harmful because-” etc etc save it for a vague post and take our inability to see criticism of racism within a movie you like elsewhere.

[gynecologistmsfrizzle]

Hmm I believe I remember learning a few years ago that when one is asked to acknowledge that they’re impacted subconsciously by systemic racism/sexism/homophobia etc, or is told that they’re behaving in a way that’s bigoted/harmful, “no I’m not” is the wrong answer. So I think some of you should get less excited about saying that when Jewish people tell you you’re being antisemitic.

[erela-tsisdu]

Not even gonna respond directly to that antitheist that RBed one of my posts (because I know they just want attention) but I find it very telling that they put "Jews are committing actual genocide against Palestinians but sure, some edgy antitheists online trying to get a rise out of people are the REAL problem lmao" on a post I made about a white antitheist calling for cultural genocide because "some cultures are inherently evil" after a Black trans Muslim told them First Nations beliefs have been persecuted at the hands of settlers.

On top of the blood libel on a post that did not mention Jews nor Palestinians anywhere, they completely glossed over the anti-Indigenous racism I was highlighting from an antitheist.

VERY telling they decided to come onto an Indigenous person's post about anti-Indigenous racism & make it about "Teh Evil J00z Are Murderers".

[rhysintherain]

humans can only clothe themselves with animal organs! dogs are only socially fulfilled by humans! im very smart!

You don't appear to be, but I guess everyone's entitled to their (idiot) opinions...

Anyway, this gives me a good excuse to summarise why I have a problem with animal rights movements, namely the fact that they have absolutely no respect for humans.

You clowns feel like it's morally correct to troll people on the internet because we disagree with you (you obviously know it's not, otherwise why hide your username?) You think bullying, marginalising, and threatening violence against people is okay if it means you prove your point, even in the face of mountains of evidence that demonstrates how wrong you are.

The people who advocate for an end to all forms of animal 'exploitation', by and large, aren't people who interact with animals on a daily basis. They're not people who are directly involved in the care of farm animals, the protection of wildlife, or the training and breeding of pets. They're not people who have ever hunted grouse, butchered a pig, or tanned a moose hide. That level of removal from interspecies relationships leads to a lot of unrealistic and absolutely false beliefs about animals and how we engage with them.

Take the people who claim you grind up bees to get honey, or who believe shearing a sheep and skinning a sheep are the same thing (with wasn't a fringe idea, that was put forward by PETA). It's easy to prove these extreme examples false, but lots of people still believe them. How many other things do you not understand about animals because you've never been close enough to them to learn? How many more lies is your cause selling you to gain support, that you don't know better than to believe?

And what's the best way to drum up unquestioning support from people who don't know better? You make them angry.

That unjustified rage, fuelled by pictures of cute baby animals and graphic gore, is usually directed at people who are already marginalised.

I've heard animal rights extremists suggest that independent farmers (my family included) should be sentenced to life in prison for owning and managing livestock.

I've read articles flippantly suggesting that Inuit communities above the arctic circle, living below the poverty line, should be forced to ship vegetables thousands of kilometers (using fossil fuels) at great expense, because their health and ability to afford basic necessities is less important than the lives of a few sustainably hunted seals.

I've watched protesters screaming slurs hold signs that called for Indigenous people to be hunted for sport over a legal, humanely undertaken, and culturally vital whale hunt. That hunt was postponed several times, because extremists (who claimed they were there to preserve life) tried to capsize sea canoes full of people.

It takes almost nothing to push the animal rights movement to violent racism, class warfare, and abuses of human rights. Where does that hatred come from? How can you care about any kind of life when you meet the concerns of human beings who tell you you're hurting them with dehumanising mental gymnastics and vicious attacks?

So why should I indulge this bullshit? Why would I trust the opinions of people who who have no experience with animals over my own lived experience? Why would I care what your lot think, when you'd happily let people I care about die to uphold your faulty belief that humans are somehow better than nature and can opt out of our relationships with other species on a whim?

If anyone wants sources they can ask for them off anon. Otherwise google it like a big kid. It takes literally 30 seconds to verify that animal rights extremists do more harm (to people and animals) than good.

[pizzaboyfromhell]

I obviously know that I don’t exhibit signs of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia in the first place is a thing which needs to be investigated thoroughly. Every medical doctor in the country needs to be held accountable for severe gaslighting bullying creating homelessness to create the circumstances for schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia. It’s an inside medical joke at this point false news. What is it that he says fake news? Yeah well.

Why the hell did Zellers get misspelled?

Because Jeffrey Zellers doesn’t want everybody to know that he fucks his daughter? You guys look suspicious, narcissistic, lower class trash, pretending to be Welsh or something like that.

Edge that you guys don’t have

[mylight-png]

The Political Racialization of Jews

I think we have all seen the people calling Zionism "white supremacy" and Jews "white colonizers" in order to politically justify hating us.

But, what about the Pittsburgh Tree of Life shooting? Were we white then, when that white supremacist barged in and killed our people?

But, what about the worst killing of Jews ever, the Holocaust? Were we white when Hitler systemically slaughtered us in order to preserve his white Aryan race?

But, what about our time in Europe (where we, in fact, do not originate from)? Were we white when we were made to live separately from the actual "white Europeans"? Were we white when we were routinely and systemically attacked in pogroms? Were we white when laws were passed, prohibiting us from buying and selling certain things (ask me where bagels come from)?

But, what about America, where "no dogs and no Jews allowed" was written on businesses. Were we white when Leo Frank was falsely accused of murder, then taken out of his prison cell and lynched when his sentence was reduced? And the university/employment quotas against us? Were we white then?

Were we white any of the times we were hated and discriminated against for being "other" and different from those who were white?

In those days, we were racially categorized as being not white, because being white was seen as "moral" and desirable.

But now, what is the easiest way to strip someone of any right to consider themselves a minority or marginalized group? What is the easiest way to encourage people to disregard one's experiences of hate and oppression? What is the group society considers most privileged, and thus least qualified to define morals and ethics?

White.

We are called white, because the same people who call us white say that anti-white racism doesn't exist. So, how can hate against Jews exist, if we are white?

We are called white, because the same people who call us white view being white as a form of moral taint.

We are called white, because calling us white makes them believe that it is justifiable to strip us of our heritage and deny the fact that we are indigenous to the land they claim we are colonizing.

We are called white, even though according to FBI data, Jews are the most targeted minority group per capita in the US.

We are called white, even though our experiences are vastly different from white non-Jews.

Throughout history, we have been forced into racial categories that made oppressing and hating us easier.

And so that is why, as a Jew, I refuse to align myself with any racial category. Because I know that, depending on which way the political wind blows, no category will be safe or accurate. And because I know that those categories have been used, and will continue to be used, as an excuse to hate me.

[froody]

It burns me up that they perpetually build roads, lakes, housing developments etc. over historical Black cemeteries in the American south. It really does. The thin excuse of “urban development and progress” doesn’t change the fact that is 9/10 times you hear about a cemetery being relocated or otherwise desecrated, it was a cemetery for POC. It is an act of willful, disgusting racism and targeted disrespect towards their lives and their loved ones and descendants.

In Roanoke, I-581 is built over Big Lick Cemetery, a historical Black cemetery dating back to the 1890s containing the graves of more than 700 Black men, women and children, most of whom moved to Roanoke during The Great Migration when it was a developing railroad town. These are the graves of the people who built the city. These are the graves of people who came to make a better life for themselves and their children. The graves of the formerly enslaved, their children, their children’s children. The cemetery contains a disproportionate amount of children, even for a cemetery dating from a time when childhood mortality was high. Stillborn babies, children who died of marasmus (malnutrition) or diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid due to inhumane and cramped living conditions.

There is a road built on top of them, babies, boys, girls, men and women and no acknowledgment of their lives. Remaining undisturbed graves are visible from the road, it’s surrounded by a chain link fence and marked from the road only by a wooden sign bolted to the fence. Driving by you could not fathom the size of the cemetery or its significance or the stories of the people interred there. It’s notoriously badly kept, grown up, covered in litter, graves that are less than a century old already obscured by plant growth.

Please be mindful of the Black and Indigenous cemeteries in your area, protect historical cemeteries, protest their destruction, volunteer with cleanup and survey efforts and always be conscious that plans to develop over them are not innocuous, not an unfortunate but necessary sacrifice so your town can have a new Sheetz and a 4 lane highway. It is an act of racism.

The next time you drive through Roanoke, think of them.

[chuplayswithfire]

ngl i have always found it fascinating where people draw the line with violence. i've seen multiple people now object to the implied sexual violence of the 'human puppet' game Lucius talks about, because sexual violence is somehow uniquely dark and taboo... but the show has always dealt in comedy related to violence, even violence targeted at specific groups - antiblack slurs, references to the genocide of indigenous communities, and the presence of racism in general, and often mixed in with the comedy. those topics are just as serious as sexual violence, and just as dark. why wouldn't the show be willing to delve into the one, if they're willing to go to the others?

[simplepotatofarmer]

about indigenous languages and racism

because of what happened on the qsmp with fitmc, i think it's important to talk about why it's racist and deeply harmful to mock indigenous languages.

language in indigenous culture is very important. it's how we connect to our history and stories and it's always been targeted by colonizers as something to stamp out. indigenous languages were considered 'primitive' and gibberish. they were mocked with nonsense words, much like fitmc did. they were considered less than.

residential schools forced native kids to learn english (or french) and gave them english names. they weren't allowed to speak their language or they would be punished. i need to be very clear that children died in these schools. this isn't something minor. teaching children in indigenous languages was outlawed in canada until 1996. it was outlawed in the usa until 1990. it was literally illegal to speak and teach indigenous languages.

and it wasn't just in the us or canada either. it was also against the law to speak indigenous languages in colonized parts of africa. it wasn't legal to teach afrikaans until 1920 though disparity and apartheid hindered this.

fitmc speaking gibberish meant to mock native languages to a racist caricature of indigenous people is racist, whether he meant it to be or not, and excusing it with 'it was a cartoon reference' with no actual apology isn't okay.

i would deeply appreciate people reblogging this. miigwech.

[opencommunion]

"Everywhere around the world, the broad masses of the people, from the heart of the Global South to the center of the imperial core, are expressing a clear and thorough rejection of the ongoing genocide that has quickly accelerated to a firm revulsion to the Zionist ideology and Zionist project as a whole and to solidarity with and inspiration by the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance in all forms, particularly the armed resistance. The 'red triangle' over targets featured in the resistance videos of Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya al-Quds and other resistance forces has become an online shorthand for the triumph of the people, their determination, their love for their land and their community over the automated, technologized forces of death and destruction represented by the Merkava tanks and military bases of the US/Israeli war machine.

The 'Dahiyeh doctrine' of mass destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure failed in Lebanon in 2006 because the people were a popular cradle, a source of nourishment, growth and sustenance, of the resistance, because the resistance was of, by and for the masses; today, it is failing once again in its full genocidal furor in Gaza for the same reason. This Resistance emerges from the very camps of refugees, denied their right to return home for the past 75 years, that the Zionists seek to destroy and drive into a new displacement today. Globalizing the intifada today means developing the international popular cradle of the resistance – the growing recognition that the Resistance of the Palestinian people, joined by their comrades, brothers and sisters in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and beyond, today represent the hope of humanity on our collective front lines.

Like the great popular Intifada of 1987, today’s Palestinian, Arab and international globalized intifada is an anti-imperialist cause. It is a movement against colonialism, imperialism, racism and oppression everywhere. The Palestinian flag is not only a symbol of Palestinian national liberation, but of a commitment to anti-colonial principles, to Indigenous sovereignty, to the fight against exploitation, to the fight to end the extraction of wealth, labour and resources by the United States and its imperialist cohort in Europe.

The anti-imperialist nature of the Palestinian cause has perhaps never been more clear than in the present day, where every imperialist power has clearly aligned itself with the Zionist regime with unparalleled fervor, sending billions of dollars in weaponry for genocidal aerial bombing of the Palestinian people in Gaza; banning demonstrations and Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations, including Samidoun in Germany; arresting and prosecuting demonstrators and organizers in France, the United States, Canada and elsewhere; setting up new parliamentary and congressional bodies meant to silence and suppress the growing movement and releasing a torrent of deceptive propaganda; and unleashing a wave of social terror in the academy. It is clear that the imperialist powers are doing this because they see the events of October 7 and the rising regional and global resistance as a threat to their continued domination and extraction of wealth from the region and view the Zionist regime as their mechanism to hold on to such power through genocidal violence.

The imperialist powers, led by the United States, have always viewed Zionism as a mechanism to extract wealth from the people of the region while denying the Arab nation sovereignty over its land, wealth and resources. From the Zionist colonization of Palestine, directed by Britain, through the Nakba, the 1967 occupation, the Intifada to the Zionist genocide today, the imperialist powers have always been the central enemy of the Palestinian people, and every rock, every bullet and every strike that confronts 'Israel' also confronts imperialism.

Today’s international popular cradle of the resistance, this globalized intifada, stretches from Gaza, Sanaa, Beirut, Baghdad and Damascus to the streets of Havana, Caracas, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg to the heart of the imperial core, raising a collective voice and developing an international struggle against imperialism and its murderous wars, sanctions and siege, with Palestine at the center.

Also like the great Intifada of 1987, we are in a clear era of unity of the Palestinian cause despite the lingering near-afterlife of the collaborationist Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine and everywhere in exile and diaspora are united to bring an end to the genocide, unified behind the Resistance, forming a global resistance front that also embraces popular mobilization, arts, culture, political engagement and grassroots organizing as central to the liberation struggle. On this 36th anniversary, we recall that the siege of the camps in Lebanon was finally broken by the eruption of the Intifada inside occupied Palestine in 1987. Today, we look forward to breaking the siege on Gaza, not only through the strength and resilience of the Palestinian people in Gaza, but through the uprising elsewhere and everywhere.

... From members of U.S. Congress, to university officials, to German security services, to British police, to the French interior ministry, imperialist forces are attempting to criminalize, suppress and silence clear speech for Palestine. They seek to turn reality inside out, whereby 'intifada' – the term reflecting resistance to genocide and oppression – is redefined as itself 'genocidal.' These propaganda campaigns aim to empty the term 'genocide' of meaning and legal weight and to attempt to reclaim control over the discussion of the Palestinian cause, a control that has been swept away by decades of struggle, and has been rendered unrecoverable after October 7. They also seek to target the growing role and organization of Palestinians in exile and diaspora, reclaiming their role in their national liberation movement stripped from them through the years of the Oslo liquidation process.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Long live the Intifada. Victory to the Palestinian Resistance. Stand with the Palestinian armed struggle. Zionism is racism. Imperialism will be defeated. These slogans are ringing out everywhere around the world, and now is the time to declare them, more loudly and clearly than ever. There are no slogans or statements that will satisfy Zionism and imperialism – on the contrary, they wish to strip our movement of our most effective advocacy and our most unifying vision, the vision and promise that enables people to continue to fight, to resist, and to move toward victory in the most extreme conditions of genocide and deprivation."

Samidoun Network, Globalize the Intifada: Regional resistance, international struggle and Palestinian liberation on the 36th anniversary of the great Intifada

[fromgoy2joy]

It makes me feral to see the rise of antisemitism being sighed at by hyper-vigilant activist types, who shake their heads and tell each other-

“So sad the Jews now have to deal with this hate thing because of the Israeli government.”

That has never been how antisemitism functioned. Read about the Dreyfus Affair, Kristallnacht, anything- I beg of you. There has always been a convenient excuse, a clause for “however, this time, targeting them is okay.”

Instead of real solidarity, learning, or doing, you peddle meaningless words skillfully in a way only a person more concerned with words than action can.

“Collective liberation,” you say as you post an infographic about a worldwide intifada against “Zionist entities”, uncaring of what that entails.

“Anti- Racism!” you check your nails while someone explains the “white supremacy” and the supposedly polish indigenous roots of one of the most documented “foreign” peoples on this planet.

“Anti-zionism, not antisemitism,” You yawn, as you nod along to a friend explaining who really is in charge of society.

If this describes you, you are promoting material leading to the next pogrom. And if- If- it does happen, I know you will do the same and shake your heads.

“I can’t believe the Israeli government.”

[larkandkatydid]

There's this thing that white women talking about sexual violence often do that is well-meaning, but fundamentally self-centered, where they start by highlighting the cultural narratives of helpless white women preyed upon by men of color and how those narratives are wrong, and don't actually address the causes of sexual violence. What they don't do, is then emphasize way that violence against women of color is ignored....they just continue to ignore it. For two examples from Erica Berry's Wolfish, about wolves and wolves as a metaphor for fear: First, Berry makes a statement that the narrative of sexual violence happens between white men, white women, and black men, on whom sexual fears are projected. A three-way relationship, where black women are nowhere to be found, even though sexual violence against black women is central to white supremacy! In another chapter, Berry reproaches herself for being fearful while walking home in a wealthy neighborhood around a college campus, comparing her fake fear to the real danger experienced by an Indigenous woman who had been murdered in that same town and the dangers faced by Indigenous women in general. But that's all. She doesn't talk this particular murdered woman, or about the epidemic of violence facing Idigineous women beyond using it as a way to downplay the relative danger that a middle-class white woman experience. Wolfish has a lot of other aspects to it, so I'm not targetting Berry in particular, but both of those felt like really illustrative examples. And also, of course, I empathize with navigating this!

And other, course, the grim, real-world example from that Jezebel piece: "Bedera also told Jezebel that in her research, she found women of color were decisively a minority at the university she observed but comprised more than half of the reporting parties. Of the Title IX office staffers Bedera spoke with, some identified as “liberals” and “feminists” who feared how “false accusations” could harm men of color; she said their “shallow understanding of racism” overlooking the harm inflicted on victims of color."

[serpentandthreads]

Since somebody decided to come into my ask box whining that I'm using a "much more important issue as leverage to demand people care about other bullshit", allow me to give y'all some educational content regarding Indigenous women/two-spirited folk, the history of taking their children away and forced sterilization of Indigenous women/two-spirited folk.

Residential schools were set up by both the Canadian and American governments, and administered by churches. They were used to take Indigenous children from their families to be raised by white Christians as a means to "kill the Indian and save the man". In other words: they wanted Indigenous children dead or abiding by white, Christian standards. If these children did anything "too native", they were punished harshly. They weren't even allowed to speak their native languages without being punished.

The parents of these children had no choice but to give up their children, because they could face prison time or death if they resisted. Many Indigenous children never made it back home, or died trying to find their way back home. The last residential school closed in 1996. Just to give ya an idea on exactly how long ago that is: it is the same year Pokemon debuted.

The Canadian residential school sites are being searched for unmarked graves of Indigenous children, and thousands of these deceased children have been found. Here is a link to a 45 minute long documentary in which a woman talks with her auntie about her experiences living at a residential school.

That wasn't enough, though, because Indigenous women/two-spirited folk were forcibly sterilized for decades without prior knowledge or consent. The reasoning behind these forced sterilizations were based around eugenics and racism. This continued the genocide that has been going on for centuries.

Moving on to what is happening today, the ICWA or Indian Child Welfare Act was established to protect Indigenous children from being displaced from their tribes. It helps ensure that if Indigenous children cannot stay with their parents or extended family, they will be placed in a qualified home and stay connected to their tribe. ICWA is now being targeted by the government, because they think they should have more say in what happens to Indigenous children. This is just continuing the cultural genocide of Indigenous people. Here is a petition for protecting the ICWA. Here is a linktree that has various links on the ICWA and what is currently happening.

Yes, this situation is just as important as roe v wade. I stand by my statement that if you were outraged by the overturning of roe v wade, then you should be equally as outraged by this. Because while Indigenous and other POC were telling us that the overturning of roe v wade was very possible and that we needed to pay attention, many (white) people were twiddling their thumbs thinking "oh, they're overreacting, roe v wade has been established for so long, they would never overturn it". Well, it happened, and now the government is going after Indigenous children for the some of the same reasons they went after roe v wade.

[catshinji]

jeez. for those unaware, here in australia there was a zionist whatsapp group chat with over 600 members, consisting of very well-connected individuals that ranged from institute directors, curators, lawyers, journalists, artists & writers, etc. this group chat coordinated targeted campaigns to remove palestinians and their allies from job opportunities, sponsorships and collaborations.

in the last two days, the whole group chat was leaked, exposing the deep rot of racism that exists in artistic institutes. these places put up a progressive veneer whilst silencing palestinians behind the scenes. some of the members have spoken publicly about anti-colonialism, but then secretly target people who refer to israel as a colonial project. this chat also shows them trying to find first nations people to use as props - almost certainly a response to the fierce solidarity between indigenous communities and the palestinian resistance.

fortressofoppression on instagram has two highlights showing specific individuals in the zionist groupchat. they also have posts with the direct link to the leaked conversations.

[celluloidbroomcloset]

all other criticism of taika aside, the one where people get mad he's "egotistical" always just makes me hysterical like ??? he's JOKING. he is a deeply unserious person and while i do believe he has an immense amount of pride for his work and does mean what he's saying he's hamming it up to be silly because the joke he's telling is "no one cares this much about the work of some jewish indigenous guy", he LIVES by fake it til you make it and he just so happens to live Up to the hype by being a brilliant filmmaker so people can't process it in their twitter-fried brains.

he's ironically one of the least egotistical people i've ever seen, without being parasocial he seems to be actually very anxious and reserved and has said himself he hates events and talking to people and gets nervous, and he likes to ham up the personality for laughs. like his entire reaction oh the daily show when leslie asked him if he knew he was fine and he did preen a little but every other word after was 100% a joke 😭 people loved his irreverent kiwi humour until he proved he uses it consistently himself and then they're like oh... he's an egomaniac hollywood a lister who has threesomes and cheats on his pregnant wife!!!!! all this is one hundred percent true my source is (checks hand) an anonymous gossip instagram account that anyone can submit to. like that joke he made about the bible everyone on twitter got mad about more recently.

Yeah, from what I've observed of his interviews and general sense of humor, that seems to be true (it is interesting that David Jenkins has talked about Rhys making Taika feel safer to be vulnerable, so one does wonder how much both of them use humor to protect themselves - again, though, I don't want to get into analyzing the psychology of performers or making generalizations about people I do not know).

I think you have to have a pretty strong ego to be an artist at all, especially one in an industry so heavily run on ego, where getting a film or show made in the first place is a supreme effort. My point generally is that we often celebrate white male directors and artists for their egos - "well, he's egotistical, but he's a GENIUS!" - and don't extend that to...everyone else. Everyone else needs to be humble and have humility and be grateful - and if they're not, they're difficult and self-centered and they have to be brought down a peg.

Taika is a PoC (not just that - an indigenous, Jewish) man who has been very successful and he talks a lot and often without thinking, so he's been targeted by a lot of people that seem to have a problem with him from the outset (wonder why?), who then scrutinize every statement he makes to determine if he's being a proper example of what they believe a man like him should be.

Generally, we refuse to let artists be human beings with human emotions and opinions. We especially refuse the right of humanity to anyone who isn't straight and white and cisgender and male. The number of times I've seen critics and commentators and fans explain away the absolute worst things done by white male artists and not extend even a modicum of understanding to anyone else.

This, again, is not a defense of any specific thing that Taika, or anyone else, has said or done. There are lots of artists with terrible opinions whose work I like and will continue to like, and there are lots of artists I can no longer enjoy because of what I know their opinions and actions to be. But this whole thing is shaded with racism and vitriol.

[sepublic]

Jokes aside, I’d argue Belos isn't openly homophobic because there's no point to it; There's no point in trying to 'redeem' witches and demons by changing their lifestyles if he's convinced himself they're all going to Hell anyway, so the only thing he needs to do is kill them. "Why bother teaching them anything if you can just wipe them out?"

Belos only changes aspects of witches' lives that are directly necessary to his plans; In this case, applying sigils by justifying the lack of them as 'wild magic', and then keeping magic divided with different covens so they can't easily rebel against the system that's applying sigils, thereby allowing it to keep doing that and marking as many targets as possible for the draining spell. It's really quite simple. That's why he'll refuse to replenish the Palistrom forests but then promote women like Hettie and Terra to coven heads; Because Hettie and Terra will be killed by the draining spell anyway, but Palismen won't be.

And let's be real... He's a Puritan white guy. He absolutely believes that queerness is inherently a threat to society not just on a spiritual level but a biological one, because it discourages people from making babies because they're more focused on partners of the same sex they can't reproduce with. He probably thought Boiling Isles queerness was contributing to an inevitable decline that he merely hastened and that's why he allowed it. And Belos can't be openly bigoted because people wouldn't listen to him that way.

He's also definitely racist. Belos making an 'exception' for Luz is totally meaningless because white racists make exceptions for brown and gay folk all the time, while still clinging to their beliefs. Luz just happened to be the only human around since centuries, and that's better than no humans because the lowliest one is still above the greatest demon. And he still tried to murder Luz when she didn't flatter his white savior complex, and didn't adhere to his idea of what a proper human should be.

Even if Belos didn't try to kill Luz... Genocide isn't just murdering people. It's also erasing a culture, such as when white people assimilated Native American children, forcing them to convert to Christianity and dress like white people and speak only English, under the claim that they were 'civilizing' them. So even if they were alive, it was still genocide and it was still racism in the form of the White Man's Burden.

He was a white boy raised in a colony, everyone would've taught him that the indigenous people were 'savages' and Philip not only devoted his life to exterminating an entire culture he deemed evil and demonic, but actively enjoyed it too. Why would he stop at brown humans, unlike Caleb who already unlearned one major prejudice of his. If he never learned of the Boiling Isles, he'd have gone after women in Gravesfield (which would've been misogynistic in practice regardless of Philip's intentions), and probably Native Americans too because his witch hunting games are no different than Cowboys VS Indians.

Like I dunno man these white racists do have fellow white people they care about, and are willing to make exceptions and humor brown women too. But they're still racist and will refuse to listen to those people when called out over their bigotry, and ultimately choose that. Any argument that Belos wouldn't be guilty of other human prejudices is purely wishful thinking, and fairly contradictory to his characterization and whole narrative.

And we can wax poetic about why Belos doesn't openly disparage Luz for being brown, queer, and/or a girl, but we know the real reason why; It's because Disney censors would throw a conniption over portrayals of bigotry, and the show was already shortened for 'not fitting the brand'. Look at how Texas banned critical race theory. They think discussing racism is inherently racist, kinda like Twitter users. But with the added difference that they know it's a callout of the people running corporations and the government and investors (AKA themselves) and they hate that.

This kinda gets me back to an earlier point I made; I think the fundamental disconnect fans have with the show over Belos is that Belos stans (not necessarily fans) recognize their character's backstory and motives are something gross that can't be romanticized, and that's why they work so hard to reframe the focus towards Philip's dynamic with his brother Caleb, emphasizing codependency, and religious suppression and guilt. Because they can romanticize that, but not the intentionally pathetic core of Belos' character (itself a satire of certain subgroups).

They're seething over the reminder that their sexy aesthetic will always be second-banana to a 4channer complex, and salty that the crew chose to discuss something topical instead of making a sexyman villain, because their complaints can be boiled down to tastes and preferences, not actual objective critique. That's also why they claim the finale 'retconned' Belos and stripped him of nuance, because all the show really did was just frame and acknowledge his desire to be right as cowardly and selfish, instead of flattering him with tortured abandonment angst over a brother he never cared enough for. As if we didn’t have the ghosts in the previous episode for that purpose.