#native exploitation

[alwaysbewoke]

[mamawasatesttube]

can't sleep so im thinking about sb94 again, as one does. sometimes i see fans talk about reworking tana into a completely different and wholly inoffensive character in response to the fact that kesel [somehow, inadvertently?] made the only woc in the main cast a sexual predator to a white boy [because he seemingly didn't think women could prey on boys, i guess? but that's another post entirely] and i have to say... like, as a poc in fandom i understand the urge, but as a stickler for characterization i really don't care for those concepts, personally.

one of tana's core character traits is ambition. even if you cut out the entire romance plot (which, imo, changing this changes a lot about kon's early character arc), one of her most consistent traits is that she is focused on her career. when faced with the moral dilemma of knowing vinnie edge hired the stinger to attack kon for publicity, but also knowing that whistleblowing would cost her her job, she chose to keep silent. while this is an understandable choice in that she was 23 and new at her job and therefore not in a good position to negotiate while being essentially blackmailed about it, the fact that this plot gets dropped after rots makes it read like despite leaving wgbs, she chooses to never come forward about it. add that to the way she consistently uses kon as an easy source of stories she gets first access to, and that she justifies this to herself a lot, and, well, i think that makes for a much more interesting character beat than a more sanitized version of her. i think it's very possible to have a character who is selfish and ambitious and wants to protect herself first and foremost, while also wanting to believe she is a good person, and struggling with her denial and her ability to talk herself into things she thinks she might regret, who does genuinely bad things, without making her into an offensive stereotype, and i find that much more faithful to her existing characterization than rewriting her from the ground up to become someone who does nothing wrong. (i also don't think it's that easy to say tana fits the predatory woc stereotype as all, but that's also another post.)

the issue with her being the singular woc on the cast and also being a predator does exist, though, and my thought process is more like... okay. a woman of color can do anything a white man can do. that includes massively sucking as a person sometimes. i think that, re: tana, there's two things to say on that front:

1) fandom and the internet in general have a tendency to jump on the idea that someone who does something wrong and hurts someone else is a bad person forever and forever marred by it. i do not believe that this view coheres with ideas of restorative justice, which i personally feel strongly about. this includes crimes people find distasteful to think about, such as grooming: i think it is completely possible to have tana be a character who, by convincing herself that kon wants this relationship, and it's good for her career, so really she isn't doing anything wrong, ends up really hurting kon, AND at the same time to have her be a well-rounded individual who is capable of growing up a bit more, realizing she made mistakes and hurt someone she did genuinely care about, and grappling with what that means now. like, her being fridged prevented any story dealing with the ramifications of her and kon's relationship, but to me, the idea of her having to deal with her actions is something far more interesting to think about than if she never did them. whether or not she actually grows as a person and admits fault, or if she doubles down on denial, etc, could all be interesting character choices, and are also very human responses to guilt. a lot of people just have this kneejerk response to dehumanize any character (particularly woc) associated with sexual crimes, grooming, etc, but i think that really is dodging the uncomfortable truth that a) no crime, no matter how heinous, merits the dehumanization of the perpetrator, and also that b) in stories, a character can commit uncomfortable and horrifying acts and still have nuance and depth as a character.

which brings me to point 2): that the solution to offensive stereotypes is not to insist that no one of x demographic can ever do y thing; it's to provide more characters of x demographic, so that the onus of representing an entire group isn't just on one character. tana being an indigenous hawaiian woman who grooms a white boy wouldn't be nearly so offensive if there were other significant indigenous hawaiian women in the narrative, not doing any of that. if hillary got more of a role, for example, or if (and hear me out, because this is my magnum opus of niche-ass superboy 1994 opinions:) silver sword got brought on as a mentor figure to kon and also was a trans woman. frankly, the handling of silver sword's story was egregious and if anything deserves a good, less racist rewrite, imo, it's his whole arc. kon getting an indigenous mentor to actually teach him about hawaii and the issues with colonialism and tourism and their impact on everything could've been really good actually, and silver sword would've been perfect if they didn't write him off like that. ... or, should i say, write her off like that?

listen i just think silver sword could've been an awesome native hawaiian transfem professor and a recurring part of the kon squad in hawaii. do you see the vision

[rootlessneopolitan]

wait also let me use this time to vent my frustrations about jewish education. if we were taught medieval jewish history instead of skipping right to the american revolution/the holocaust we might learn that antisemitism is an invention of christianity in order to explain its own existence and not like. a naturally occurring fact of society that we have to build an ethnostate to get away from

[tlgtw]

Dandadan is not *more* misogynistic than One Piece. And, since I have been dealing with fucking One Piece, I know I can deal with this...

[divorceblogger]

love how dune was like paul is following in his mother’s footsteps (achieving revenge by exploiting an entire people and subjecting the rest of the universe to unimaginable violence from grief) and chani is following in her mother’s footsteps (fighting for her people and the ecological health of her planet) and you know they’re so fucking doomed from the very beginning.

[hoarder-of-rats]

I got curious and so was doing some research on the etimology of the names of states and biomes in Brazil, and apparently most of it is named after words in the languages of the native peoples! Examples:

Caatinga comes from Tupi-Guarani: Ka'a (vegetation) + Tinga (white, clear)

Roraima comes from Ianomâmi: roro or rora (green) + ímã (mountain).

Acre comes from Apurinãs word aquiri, which means River of Alligators.

Pará comes from Tupi-Guarani pa'ra, which means Sea River, because the river was so wide it looked like the sea.

Like, most of the states whose names aren't actually words in Portuguese (for example, Rio De Janeiro (January River (?)) come from Tupi-Guarani, and I think that's neat

[sweet-milky-tea705]

God i hate this country so much. It genuinely baffles me how a person can be this evil like it makes no sense to me. Absolutely none. Im anxious im angry im depressed and i hate that i have no way out and no way to help this world i really do love.

[alwaysbewoke]

[alieisntdead]

did he forgot to change the logo on this fucking login widget screen lmfaooo

(screenshotted 23/12/06)

alt text: it's a screenshot of a login widget for Twitter that shows up when logging in to your account through another website. Instead of showing the dumb X logo that dipshit elon musk made it shows the old blue twitter bird. the page is also in twitter's old white and blue color scheme, i think x uses black and white. the terms of service at the bottom of the page say Twitter instead of X as well, but I'm not sure if that's unusual bc I think the company that operates X is still called Twitter. maybe? i don't know shit and i have to go to bed but i gasped when i saw that logo lol

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

remmick and the vampires present a false dichotomy

Hogwood (the man who sold the twins the mill) and the KKK are very obviously bad, they are outright malicious bigotry, they use the n-word and plan to lynch the moore's and their community, they are so blatantly racist and hateful it's unavoidably obvious

remmick and the vampires however say that they believe in equality, say that they want to create a community, and yet remmick's goal throught the movie is to both metaphorically and literally steal sammie's ability for his own goal of reconnecting with his irish ancestors, a white man wants to harm a young and upcoming black man and use talents for his own goals without giving any regard to said black man's autonomy or agency

when sammie sings 'I lied to you' in the juke joint and calls forth the spirits from the past and future, it's a blend of cultures; west african, east asian, native american, and african american song and dance blend together across time and space to tell the stories of blues; where it takes its inspiration from, the music genres it then inspired, the complex history of black american culture and its intersections with other peoples of colour in the USA

when remmick and the vampires kill and turn the people in the juke joint, and then perform rocky road to dublin, only remmick's irish culture is on display, there is no influence from the black and asian people he has forcibly assimilated into his song, it's juxtaposition with the earlier scene is blatant, remmick is more than happy to assimilate people of colour into his 'community' of 'equals', and yet its only whiteness that is celebrated, that is normative

remmick claims that he's doing people a favour by turning them immortal, conviently ignoring that he literally has to suck the life out of them to do so, trapping their spirits on earth, he claims that he's the good guy, that the KKK were gonna come and lynch everyone at the joint in the morning anyways, conviently ignoring that he's doing the exact same thing; a white man leading a mob to kill a bunch of black people

in the final confrontation with sammie remmick repeatedly dunks him into the river, a forceful baptism. both the celtic irish and enslaved west africans had their religions suppressed and destroyed by colonialsm, had christianity forced upon them by the british empire, and in that scene we see remmick repeating that cycle, using christianity to inflict harm, and sammie reclaiming christianity, despite all the complex emotions he has arround it, as many colonised peoples have and still do, when he recites the lord's prayer

remmick and the vampires are no less racist than hogwood and the KKK, are no less predatory or evil, they're just less blantant about their bigotry, they represent the system, the normalised white supremacy that is seeped into the very foundation of culture in america, the point isnt that remmick would call any of the black characters in the movie the n-word, i dont think he would, the point is that his exploitation and desacration and inserting-himself-into-when-he-wasn't-invited of the juke joint is a microcosm of what white people have done to black american arts and culture since ever since there have been black and white people in america, and even before that

theres a reason vultures are shown early on in this movie

[elbiotipo]

When South Africa dismantled apartheid, it did not end with the expulsion of all white South Africans. They became part of the new South Africa, just without the criminal discriminatory oligarchic powers the apartheid goverment had. When Bolivia recognized its indigenous heritage and became a plurinational state, it did not mean that people of European descent were expelled in masse. It meant the recognition of the previously discriminated indigenous and mestizo people of Bolivia and the beginning of a path of integration and revalidation.

What I mean is that it's ridiculous to think that decolonization inherently means mass suffering and relocation, that's what colonization does. Decolonization is recognizing the crimes of colonization, but more importantly, material, political and social steps to give power and self-determination to the exploited native people who were victims of colonialism and imperialism.

In multicultural societies, you don't go like in that Peter Griffin meme with a skin tone chart and saying 'well, you go back to Europe, you go back to Africa, you stay here'. You build a new society on the paradigm of dignity for exploited people and equality under the law. People are acting like this is some sort of fantastic utopia instead of real initiatives that were done in living memory, with successes and failures, as all such initiatives have. One must ask why are some so insistent that multicultural societies can't thrive, especially when for most of history, societies were indeed like that. Consider why you think like that.

[thisismycorneroftheinternet]

Weird to see a white american with a farm with several animals, that he takes care of not for food but for fun, shaming artists for selling stickers and plushies to pay their bills, and calling them petit burgeoise. Yes we can discuss about how the companies that manufacture the products you're selling can be exploitative and all, but uhhhh first, claiming that if you're not personally printing those stickers or sewing the plushies one by one means you don't create shit is weird af, and second, what a wack distortion of what's the small burgeoise, considering artists a lot of times are barely scraping by their basic necessities, and third, calling the things artists create superfluous and things that shouldn't be sold because it's "morally bad" just sounds like a poorly disguised version of the very conservative ideas of "useful vs useless" degrees that bases their entire discussion gutting the studies of anything that creates dissenting ideology from their hogwash brainwash. Idk, sometimes I feel like a bunch of self-fashioned leftist ideologues are more in it for feeling great about themselves than for actually helping anyone.

[enderlordisadumbusername]

the fact that kobolds seem to be this more "animalistic" race, with kuro talking in broken language and like improper grammar. this, coupled with the fact that he seems unaware of the fact that he's being exploited by mick, makes kobolds appear to be less intelligent than other races.

but we actually find out that the simple speech patterns are in fact due to common being kuro's second language. and in a scene where kabru talks to kuro in his native language, it's actually kabru with the simple speech patterns.

we even learn that kuro seems to actually have a much better understanding of his situation with mick than we first imagine. merely wanting to stay with them so they can have someone who they can feel relaxed around.

this, coupled with a bunch of other things, really makes dungeon meshi stand out from other fantasy media. there are no "dumb" or "evil" races, they're all just people.

[afeelgoodblog]

Feel Good News Weekly

Acts of Kindness and Positive Change 🌟

Hey friends,

This week, we're celebrating stories of compassion, resilience, and progress from around the globe. Let's dive into these uplifting tales!

1. Missouri Senate Once Again Overwhelmingly Approves Child Marriage Ban

The Missouri Senate has passed a bill to prohibit marriage for individuals under 18, aiming to protect minors from potential exploitation. The legislation received bipartisan support and now moves to the House for consideration.

2. Native American Suicide Rates Drop 43% in New Mexico

New Mexico has reported a significant 43% decrease in suicide rates among its Native American population from 2022 to 2023. This reflects the success of culturally appropriate mental health care programs and collaborative efforts between tribal and state-level initiatives.

3. Oregon Senate Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Marriage Age to 18

The Oregon Senate has approved a bill to raise the minimum marriage age to 18, aligning the state's laws with international human rights standards.

4. Steve Carell Surprises Students by Covering Prom Expenses After Wildfires

5. Man Lives for 100 Days with Artificial Titanium Heart in Successful New Trial

In a groundbreaking medical trial, a man in Australia lived for 100 days with an artificial titanium heart, potentially revolutionizing future heart treatments.

6. Bus Driver Saves the Day by Getting Pajamas for Boy Without PJs on Pajama Day

A compassionate bus driver in Wisconsin noticed a young boy upset because he didn't have pajamas for Pajama Day at school. She took it upon herself to get him a pair, ensuring he could fully participate and feel included.

7. Eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubles in 2025

In encouraging news, the eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubled in 2025, according to a new report announced in Mexico. The population wintering in central Mexico's forests occupied 4.42 acres, up from 2.22 acres during the previous winter. While monarchs occupied nearly twice as much forest habitat as last year, populations remain far below the long-term average.

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That's it for last week :)

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