#on a past and present they have never experienced themselves in hopes to be ''absolved'' of blame and freed of guilt

[wachi-delectrico]

Spent all of yesterday studying on the problem of Nationality and the creation of a National Identity and ngl I haven't stopped thinking and trying to figure out how yankee's modern idea of nationality came to be, specifically thinking of white American people who say they're of a nationality based on "ancestry" with no personal cultural ties to it

[monkey-network]

redPill Your Mind [Part 1]

This is gonna be one of the drunken things I’ll ever write, but there needed to be balance so I hope you enjoy.

So, you know what I expected when I saw the title Change Your Mind? A sequel to Sorry to Bother You, in which Rebecca Sugar and Noelle Stevenson’s [self inserts] head to a Penthouse house party hosted by Buzzfeed type millennial hetero CEOs and they eventually have to slaughter their way out of there before they’re injected with a serum that turns people into jungle cat human hybrids......... instead we got a special that one could say had too many cooks in the kitchen, only for all to season the roast with the same salt, water, & pepper. But hey, whence you read all of this, know that it was all very entertaining to me. Okay, so...

We return to Rapunzel’s tower where Steven is still locked away in his sequin suit where Blue comes in and has an argument with him who is actually Pink and it’s all a dream that apparently took place in the past but the question here is when? Like it supposedly takes place before Pink got Earth but after she started acting like less of a brat? So it’s like... she was a pretty entitled brat at one point but here she’s restrained and regretful of herself here now. What?

I’m honestly at a lost at how I should feel about Pink Diamond cuz on the one hand she basically lied, used, and manipulated others into false realities and subconsciously relied on a 14 year old to be their guiding key to relieving the weight they had on themselves because she wasn’t mature enough to face this herself. On the other hand, she is seen as somebody that’s in a strict, estranged relationship with her parental figures and comes across as the one gets the rod and yet is pretty spoiled. On one hand, she sent Steven some positives vibes before her death, so that’s great. But on the other hand with this dream scene, we, or at least I, don’t really see her getting abused by the diamonds as much as having to be disciplined and told to for goofing around? Like Blue Diamond agreed to letting Pink keep the rainbow worms, Pink took advantage of that and did something unruly, and she’s put in time-out because of it. Like yeah, that tower is pretty depressing even if you can escape from it with your shapeshift and floaty powers, but it’s not like she’s in there because the others think she’s always a waste of space but because she acted headstrong and is sent there to have some time to reflect on her repercussions. Blue doesn’t figuratively looks down on Pink, think of her as any less in that scene in particular, she just appears disappointed that Pink isn’t acting like an expectedly responsible leader. Like yeah, Pink’s treated like a child but the show made me believe that she was only a child back then.

Not to mention, her “parents” are dictators, explicit dictators that are trying to maintain a galaxy wide empire full of destroyed planets and massive use of structural militarization. They have to chastise Pink for not living up to their expectations because their expectations amounts to being sith lords that seek to kill, look grandiose, and control at will. They weren’t trying to get Pink into an Ivy League and get a million dollar business afloat, they were trying to build her into the next conqueror and I’m at a lost as whether I’m supposed to empathize with that. The show made little effort in helping me think of her as anything more than a based ass bitch among a group of the same stitch that sorta kept the cycle of control going when she finally stepped up to be a leader and yet the show wants me to think that her intentions overall meant something sincere but fuck, man. Intentions work when the outcome is most probable and soluble on all accounts, it doesn’t help with three mentally stunted alien women that apparently haven’t integrated too well into society despite the fact that there are entire libraries to learn from and grasp the ups and downs that humanity have gone through since one of the purposes of staying on Earth is to protect the life on Earth as well as coexist with the inhabitants otherwise a World War 0 would’ve been imminent from the get go. Honestly, WW0 would’ve probably been cool too. I guess that’s why Russia is nonexistent cuz the fight between Russians and Gems would’ve been too epic to be detailed.

Also, we see the Diamonds do the truth bomb again and it’s like were they trying to kill or corrupt the gems cuz it seems that they weren’t aware of how their powers work and it’s like what the fuck. You just throw up your hand and expect the worst? They didn’t test this power far beforehand before decidedly saying “You know what? Let’s try these hand beams. I’m sure they’ll be super effective in wiping them out.” On top of that, the Diamonds didn’t bother to see what happened afterward? They just nuked the planet and left not caring if there were any survivors to squash out? Like yeah, if I set off a nuke then I’m certain many would die but if I wanted to make sure everyone dead, I’d cover my tracks and send some drones down to comb the area to make sure of no survivors and if the corrupted gem count were overwhelming then yeah I’d step in and take care of it again. Just saying, I would be a far more tactile villain but apparently there are no villains in this show so I guess not doing this is consistency? Wonderful.

We cut to the present where a Deja Blue, that isn’t ass tasting water, happens and Blue is like “Dang it, I try to be the better, more lenient dictator mom and you just soiling the good order and my patience. I’m putting my foot down this time.” And they mention dehydration and starvation but it’s like how would Blue know what those are? This small moment comes off as Blue being quite a brick wall but that’s the fact she doesn’t know what human customs are because.... she was never informed or obligated to care of such things. 

In any case, Steven tells Blue that this dynamic of theirs ain’t gucci, and Blue breaks down coming to terms with her estranged behavior with Pink. And I gotta look a little further into this. So the scene amounts to Blue realizing that Earth suited Pink or Steven better than the likes of Homeworld and yet it didn’t feel earned in the sense that Blue truly saw what Steven saw in Earth.  

Remember the episode When It Rains where Peridot felt more comfortable with Earth after experiencing raindrops for the first time? That could’ve been for the Diamonds, somewhat. Legs from Here to Homeworld rushed and brushed off what could’ve been a chance for Blue and Yellow to at least grasp the perspective Pink had all those years ago before they came to a full realization in this episode. They didn’t have to be as blown away as Peridot was, but they should’ve had some time before to somewhat get a sense of conflict in their own ideals and how Pink was probably in the right of her actions before falling in line to Steven’s gospel.

Like we can point the finger at Blue for being an emotionally controlling parent but like I said, she is a dictator, one whom, based on what we got, didn’t figuratively looked down on Pink as much as wanted better from her, and punished her accordingly when she went against the order that the Diamonds built for themselves. She was negligible to Pink’s real desires, but then again she had to run an empire and had to make sure Pink would follow suit so it’s like what Pink wanted was irrelevant to what was expected of her. The chamber’s a bit much, and I ain’t excusing it, but it’s like they could’ve done far worse to make Pink see things their way. And we never really see Blue enforce any control over Pink, be emotionally dysfunctional towards her, or diminish her sense of self as much as give her a stern talking about what she must uphold as a Diamond, what she born to be, as any sense to diverge from that should be absolved, while being consistent in her soft-spoken yet straightforward tone. I’ve seen a few say that she alludes to abusive parenting but the show never indicates that her disappointment and frustration enabled a subtly abusive side of her. Only one moment presents such a case where she uses her power blue balls on Steven and he takes this as a regular occurrence, but this only happens when Steven pushes her to do so out of frustration not long after trying to reason with him. For the sake of Pink Diamond, Blue really just agrees with Steven instead of understanding this for herself. Yeah, this is meant to feel like a one sided argument, but it didn’t feel like Steven had to think that much to get her on his side. While it makes sense that she would be the first who comes to terms with her past transgressions, those transgressions aren’t exhibited well to say that she was truly in the wrong for everything she did to Pink, based on what we’ve seen and heard of her. I ain’t trying to defend the Diamonds, but Blue’s revelation feels more by design of the plot and less out of earnest rationale that’s emotional resonating.

And trying to say the Crystal Gems are better parents than Blue and Yellow is a big ass understatement because their expectations weren’t as necessarily impactful as being a responsible ruler of a fucking galactic empire. Those are two different planes of settlement and standards, and Steven trying to say what is normal or not rings hallow when he didn’t make any case back on Earth for what is considerably normal there. Not to mention, Pink and Steven, despite how it may seem, are two different characters. The show tries to provide that Steven is his own person yet has to work out the complicated relationship of somebody he’s never seen and still knows minute about with her emotionally stunted parents, or his other family, by making believe that they’re almost one in the same based on pattern recognition? Say what? I mean we’ll get to this later... but let’s say Pink is quite the catalyst in this special and the uphill battle is only the slight incline from here.

So after Blue joins the party temporarily, she hides Steven and Connie in her boobs, they head to Pink’s quarters, the two eat, get clothed, and head out to get the gems back. And this is where I stop for now cuz I’m tired.

Continued in Part 2 (eventually...)