#is siding with their oppressors'

[vicsuragi]

.

[die-tenebris]

don't wanna derail the post I saw this discussion on- it was all in the notes anyway, so it certainly isn't op's problem. I'm gonna say this with so much love:

Calling somebody a 'theyfab' is not punching up. If someone's being transmisogynistic, say that, or call them a bigot. Naming the tangible harm done to you will always be the most effective thing to do.

The cis people who created that term made it with the explicit intent to mock and insult people's identities. No matter what you mean when you say it, this is its origin and to most people, its only meaning. It describes nothing about the discrimination you face.

People afab are marginalized, especially if they're queer. You cannot "punch up" on a fellow oppressed group. I understand the specific vitriol that they inflict on you hurts.

You don't need a word to call somebody, you need and deserve adequate justice for the tangible harm done to you; and my heart aches that nobody queer- especially trans women- ever seems to receive that.

I'm aware I can't make anybody do anything, so I'm not gonna try to tell you not to use that word. I just want to say it can't ever address, undo, or heal any harm done to you. It can only redirect it.

[ganondoodle]

im 27 now

[justaz]

growing up and radicalizing urself then going back to watch ur old favorite pieces of media and realizing you were siding with the true villains the whole time is wild

[dreamspring]

i've seen a lot of people make a point about how it's strange gwen doesn't question arthur continuing his father's magic ban once he becomes king considering her negative past experiences with it (her being arrested and almost executed for sorcery in 1.03; her father's death in 1.12) and while i do agree with this for the most part i think it's worth pointing out that she has had equally negative experiences with magic/sorcerers and has every reason to distrust it. those experiences happen in season 1, under uther's reign; objectively, each of those instances was him seeing magic in places it wasn't and wrongfully persecuting people over it. it makes sense that gwen would chalk it up to uther being a paranoid tyrant rather than concluding that magic should be unbanned.

i think it's important to bear in mind that we, the audience, are told that 'magic isn't evil' and that it's not something you actively 'choose' constantly; but crucially the characters do not know this. i heard someone say that the show really shot itself in the foot by making essentially every single villain magical (in order to make sure that merlin could be the only one to defeat it) and... yeah so true. like. the characters in the show, including merlin, basically never come across a benevolent or non-evil sorcerer. it's hardly surprising that no one would have their lifelong beliefs (which i'm sure were ubiqitously shared by everyone around them) shaken or changed under those circumstances.

like... gwen has experienced sorcerers trying to hurt her and her friends/family with magic over and over again. it's been used to control, hurt and traumatise her and her loved ones. when has she ever had a positive experience with a sorcerer? to me, it does make sense that to some degree she would conclude that while uther's paranoia and tyranny were wrong, magic IS dangerous and should continue to be banned and that as long as arthur doesn't start persecuting people unfairly it's not an issue.

overall i am just frustrated that we never get to see her talk about her opinions on magic or how she feels (especially after she becomes queen) since it feels like a huge miss. like...... we get every other main character's perspective on it except hers. and it kind of sucks. i honestly think they avoided the issue bc a) bad writing and character stagnation slay! and b) they didn't want gwen to question arthur because it would possibly stimulate his...... character development.... (their biggest fear). anyway

[goldiipond]

go on, praise me like a god!

[hangryyeena]

SquidgeWorld refusing to even talk about Palestine and other genocides happening because "this a fandom space" is wild and severely disappointing

[astrarche-x]

thinking about how we never have an actual flashback from the Ouyang clan execution and how that adds to the unreliability of Ouyang's narrative about his life and death. [sorry, long rant incoming bc i have feels]

Especially in regards to the scene when Ouyang is tasked with execution of Zhang Jr.: he thinks that he willingly chose to avenge his father and to bear the suffering of his fate when he was 10. But did he?

''He was giving him a chance for his death to have meaning. He should be grateful", he thinks in regard to Zhang Jr. So did he himself just stay alive for his death to have meaning? Or - what I suspect - did he just invent all this a posteriori to justify his will to live?

Apart from the fact that the scene with Ouyang killing Zhang Jr. is one of the most memorable in HWDTW for me for the layers that it has, it highlights one of the most fascinating facets of Ouyang: his will to live vs. his deathwish.

Obviously as his whole arc is about falling downhill, we as readers don't see much of the former, while the latter is in abundance especially in HWDTW. But nevertheless this tension is very much there.

As I said, we don't see - even through Ouyang's eyes - what went down that fateful day of the massacre; did he really beg for his life to avenge his family or just for the sake of it. But personally - I'm betting for the latter. Like, come on, he was 10 AND - more importantly - he DIDN'T know that Chaghan would have him castrated as he begged for mercy. He had no idea what the consequences would be. He might have thought about revenge; it's evident that even at 10 yo, the masculine ideals were already drilled into him. But he DIDN'T choose that with full awareness; it's something he told himself over the years to justify his will to live.

And I think this is the deepest root of his shame: that he so desperately wanted to live he could do anything. Him being an eunuch was shameful too, but not so much as the fact that he PREFERS it to being dead. This is what Chaghan calls him out on and this is why the scolding is such a turning point (something I didn't catch at first): Ouyang realizes that if he wants to live free of shame and justify his existence, he must have his revenge. But to do that - ironically - he must destroy himself.

The excuse he came up with over the years to make up for his will to live is that he is a tool of revenge; he is allowed to exist as long as he is this tool. Where the tragedy lies is that he never allowed himself to imagine that he could exist after his revenge is complete. Which is, I think, part of the reason why it took him so long to start plotting it: he wanted to live. He wanted to be with Esen. (The passage "He felt a surge of hatred towards the monk. [...] Without him, how much longer might Ouyang have had with Esen?" is one of the most heartbreaking in SWBTS imo). And I think that deep down he didn't even think his revenge was actually doable.

"[...] the monk had triggered the start of his journey towards his purpose. He couldn’t find it in himself to be grateful. It felt like a violation. A theft of something he hadn’t been ready to give up. Not innocence, exactly, but the limbo in which he could still fool himself that other futures were possible."

I think that these ''other futures'' were futures in which the opportunity for revenge never came; not so much as in ''his enemies were dead by other means'', but as in "Ouyang kept waiting but he just didn't get to meet the Khan" etc. And I think that in his mind, it would have been the best possible option - he could keep on living, waiting for the opportunity that somehow never came, but hey, his excuse of being a tool for revenge was still valid, right?? nobody could tell him that he didn't want it or forgot! he just didn't have the opportunity! oh, such bad luck, sorry not sorry. (And one day he would have died on the battlefield, possibly in Esen's arms, and it would be the best life he could have imagined).

But Zhu gives him the opportunity and he feels he must act on it, which means that his excuse for existing will soon be no longer valid, and it makes him so angry. I still don't get why he couldn't imagine a life after revenge; possibly because despite everything he LIKED this life - or, at least, liked it more than the alternative. Revenge meant destroying everything he enjoyed: his life as a general of the Yuan, and - more importantly - Esen. He probably didn't imagine a life for himself after revenge not only because he thought himself a tool to be discarded, but also because he didn't see in there anything worth living for. And this is when his deathwish comes in. It practically appears as soon as Esen is dead; and the rest is history, with Ouyang's ''I have to live because I must have my revenge and I sacrificed too much for it to walk away now!". But still, it strikes me how at the beginning of SWBTS he's clinging to life as he knows it despite it not being ideal, and how in HWDTW he is awaiting death eagerly.

And - circling back to Zhang Jr. - this is why Ouyang kills the boy: for Zhu it might have been tying up loose ends, but Ouyang at this point sees that staying alive wasn't worth it. He does what is better for the boy in his opinion; he even lets him die with honour, something he himself wants. He wishes he had chosen death all these years ago.

[obsxdiannn]

While I’ve loved the story and characters of Good Omens for years now, I can’t say I feel comfortable supporting its production now that I’ve learned about Gaiman’s beliefs regarding Israel. So, if there’s anyone who follows me for the GO content I reblog, sorry if hearing this disappoints you but from now on I won’t be posting or reblogging that piece of media, or anything linked with Gaiman for that matter.

Support Palestine.

[dicksoka]

Nvm add Rick riordan to the list of people who have eventually disappointed me. Free Palestine, end the occupation and don’t watch Percy Jackson on Disney plus, stream it elsewhere. No money for Zionism

[usswnt]

A fan shouts "Free Palestine" following a moment of silence during the USWNT vs Colombia match on 10/27/2023 (x)

[starlooove]

Guys I understand the gatekeepers now like y’all didnt even know who spiderpunk was let alone his name till a few months ago STAY AWAY FROM HIM

[foremyth]

kuzan joining the revolutionaries au >>>>

[takaraphoenix]

Stanning a villain and/or a villain/hero ship is honestly so funny because every now and again you will see a post by someone who has nothing better to do with their time than post about the things they hate, hoping that the villain will commit more atrocities so their fans will, I don’t know, see the light and stop loving them and stop shipping them.

Just, fundamentally showing that they really-really have no idea what loving a villain is about?

The atrocities are sexy. The atrocities are part of the appeal. We like the atrocities in this house.

Kind of the point of loving a villain is loving that they are a villain. Which, ya know, includes the atrocities. 😂 😂 😂

[inquisitor-apologist]

WAIT guys au where the New Jedi Order doesn’t die offscreen and Reva gets to train Finn

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

not to get into discourse mode on here but the recent shit w/ ao3 being once again called out for being run by racists/genocide supporters and seeing so many fucking Absolute Gormless Shitheads blindly defend OTW and going " dOn'T bRiNg FiCtIoNaL PoLiTicS iNtO tHis!!!111!1 " as if they are not immune to propaganda is wild . my siblings in sin , ao3 is literally The Racism Fetish Fanfiction site , and propaganda via fictional work is exactly how racism perpetuates. ao3 and the otw are a part of the problem whether you choose to acknowledge it or not because they contribute to the cycle of violence , fetishisation and colonisation of marginalised groups via complacency (and sometimes even blatant PASSIVE ENCOURAGEMENT) , and then they cover it up by using soft cutesy buzzwords like " anti-censorship " and " free speech " and their dumb ass complex tagging system to appeal to white people , so when Actual Minorities and people affected by the shit they put on there speak up about it they're met with all kinds of bullcrap about "jUsT bLoCk ThE tAg If It'S a PrObLem1111!111" or "YoU'rE jUsT bEiNg a fAnDoM cOp!11!!"

You're a part of the problem if you support ao3 and actively continue to use it & donate to them , especially in the wake of the OTW being actively chockful of zionists who will , ironically , silence those who speak up and rally with Palestine for liberation . And If you decide to take this as me being hostile towards you or trying to " bring fiction into real world issues " , remember that at Any point in time you can go on ao3 for yourself and find thousands and thousands of raceplay fics and other various works that glorify and condone racism , and that the otw and their large userbase (primarily composed of white people!) has a track record of trying to shut up POC when this issue is brought to light .

Idgaf if ao3 is for " anti-censorship " , because there's a difference between anti-censorship and HIDING BEHIND the concept of free speech and the 1st amendment to do and say awful , horrendous things and believe you're above critique , punishment or consequences for it .

tl;dr: fuck ao3, fuck the otw, free palestine, and most importantly: you are NOT and will NEVER be immune to propaganda if you choose to ignore it because it benefits you.