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#or any other bigotry or discrimination for that matter
agendercryptidlev · 22 days
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now post the homicide statistics for trans demographics
Alright I'll post some violence stats o7
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(From: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/assets/static/trevor01_2022survey_final.pdf)
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(From: https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/07/23/op-ed-trans-men-experience-far-more-violence-most-people-assume )
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(Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/transgender-day-remembrance-advocates-honor-lives-lost-violence-n938401)
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(Stats above relate to fatal violence in 2023, source: https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-expansive-community-in-2023)
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(Source: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/sexual-violence-and-suicide-risk-among-lgbtq-young-people/)
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(Source: https://dailybruin.com/2021/04/08/ucla-study-finds-transgender-people-face-greater-rates-of-violent-victimization)
Most stats show the biggest indicator of a trans person's likelihood to be murdered in the united states is race, with Black Transgender Women having the highest rate of murder by far.
Of course murder is not the only form of violence that affects the transgender community, sexual violence is most commonly experienced by transgender men which is likely a leading cause of the disproportionately high transmasculine suicide rate.
Violence against transgender people of all kinds is under-reported, especially since if a transgender individual was misgendered by everyone in their life and got murdered there is no one around to affirm what their true gender identity is.
I will never, ever say any transgender identity has it easier than the others, because what makes life "easy" is defined by so many different factors, what we need is solidarity within the trans community because across the board transgender people face violence and discrimination at higher rates than cisgender people.
What we need as a community is to have the space to combat all forms of bigotry and oppression than trans people face, no matter which transgender identity faces that bigotry and violence at the highest rate.
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helluvapoison · 8 months
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Lucifer x Imp!Reader
warnings: imp bigotry, heavy topics, lowkey angsty (happy end, i swear)
ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ
• Secret relationship, baby!
• Let’s get into the hard part first, shall we? The discrimination of Imps isn’t something Lucifer set into motion. They helped him build Hell into what it is today—! Which is… flawed. Fuck, there’s no excuse. Know that he doesn’t condone it and he’s ashamed to admit he allowed it get this far
• That saying “history repeats itself”? Yeah, Hell isn’t immune
• It’s an elephant in the room situation when your and Lucifer’s feelings come into play. Along with the enormous power imbalance. He would never take advantage of that, by the way, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s there
• Those issues are in the beginning though. Yes, it takes a lot of time and many painful conversations but now? Undoubtedly worth it
• Lucifer is quite proud of himself for the charade he concocted. You pose as his employee! No one would question it and you could hang around as much as you like! It’s perfect, right?
• “It sounds like a shitty romcom plot.” You snort
Lucifer’s smile is unwavering, eyebrows high on his face as he awaits what he longs to hear.
“But?”
Sighing, you softly return his smile, “It’s perfect.”
• And like a shitty romcom, it is
• Naturally, there’s ups and downs
• For Lucifer, the worst is that he hates keeping you a secret. It’s not that he wants to dish it live with Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench, he’s rather private as is, he’s just so— happy! He wants to show how proud he is to be yours! Unfortunately, that would do more harm for all of Hell. Selfish as his wants might be, he wouldn’t do that. Especially if it meant putting you in danger
• Occasionally he takes you to meetings and events. You try and slip into the background, supporting him from the shadows. Even from the other side of the room, Lucifer’s eyes will find you standing amongst the other Imps. He accidentally ends up ignoring whoever’s trying to rub elbows with the King of Hell
• (Honestly, it’s a miracle no one has found you two out yet. His longing gazes are far from subtle)
• Sometimes those outings don’t end well. A blue blooded dickbag might’ve dumped their drink on you or shoved you because you were “in the way” or berated you in front of everyone. Lucifer sees red and the entire event is cut short via a demonic rage. On a positive note, his publicity goes off the charts! “King of Hell defends his people, no matter the race!”
• (A motherfucking miracle, I tell you)
• Lucifer likes to take care of you when those incidents occur. He feels guilty. For everything. Reassuring him has always easy for you in any other situation. This one just bleeds into something personal. A failure
• So, you let him take care of you. It improves his mood bit by bit. Could be pancakes! No matter the time of day, Lucifer’s go-to are pancakes. (He’ll simply die all over again if you let him feed you too) Could be a bath for the two of you to share, he loves washing you and putting a bubble beard on your face
• Sleepovers can be a tad difficult to pull off but no one disturbs him in the mornings. He loves having you in his arms all night long. Kissing your horns, forehead, eyes, nose and lips— yes, in that order— before wishing you only the sweetest dreams
• Lucifer has a rubber duck that looks uncannily like you sitting on his desk at all times
• Oh! And despite being an Imp, you’re still taller than your beloved short king. It’s slight but he adores the difference
♡ a/n: if i had a nickel for every time a blue blood fell in love with an imp, i’d have /three nickels HAHAHA
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burst-of-iridescent · 5 months
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i've written before about how fire lady katara isn't an inherently disempowering or racist trope, as have many others, but lately i've been thinking about how arguments against fire lady katara often tend to utilise a surface-level interpretation of colonial trauma.
[edit: this post will use the term "colonial trauma" because those who argue against fire lady katara usually use the same wording or are referring to that concept. but it's important to note that according to show canon, the fire nation did not colonize the southern water tribe and zuko and katara did not have a colonizer/colonized relationship.]
antis who present this argument usually posit that marrying zuko would be a form of re-traumatization for katara, while marrying aang would "protect" her. katara is supposedly more shielded from confronting the impact of colonization in the southern water tribe or on air temple island than she would be with zuko in the fire nation, which contextualizes colonial trauma purely through the lens of physical interaction with the colonial power (ie. living in the fire nation or looking after the people of the fire nation). whether intended or not, this argument inadvertently limits colonial trauma to the geographical boundaries of the colonizing country and implies that it can be reduced or averted solely by minimizing contact with said country.
even leaving aside that we have seen katara in the fire nation (and enjoying herself there), the implication here is that active engagement with a colonial power as a member of colonized peoples is an inherent form of re-traumatization... which i take issue with for multiple reasons.
firstly, katara lives in a world that has been permanently shaped and changed by imperialism, and that's going to affect her no matter where she goes. sequestering herself in the south pole her whole life and never seeing a glimpse of fire nation red again won't allow katara to escape the legacy of colonization or the trauma it has caused her, because its influence is rooted in everything from her family to her tribe to her own bending. believe me, i understand the appeal of a world where women of colour can avoid reckoning with the impact of colonization by simply never setting foot in the colonizing country again, and why people might be uncomfortable with zutara individually as a result - but i can't accept it as a valid argument against the ship, because that's just not how colonial trauma works.
secondly, the idea that this "protects" katara reeks of paternalism because katara is not a character who chooses her path simply based on how safe or comfortable it is. if that was the case, she would never have left the southern water tribe at all! she could've remained there her whole life and likely been safe, since the fire nation had no real interest in the south pole any longer. katara is fundamentally defined by how relentlessly revolutionary she is - over and over, she chooses to do what is right, what is hard, what is unexpected, even at cost to herself. she challenges injustice and discrimination and bigotry; she fights for the downtrodden and speaks for those who can't speak for themselves; she will never ever turn her back on the people who need her. does that truly sound like someone who needs to be hid away and protected from her own supposed re-traumatization?
thirdly - and i fully accept that there are those who might disagree with this - katara actively choosing to engage with her colonial trauma can be empowering just as it can be traumatizing. don't get me wrong: as a woc and a minority in my own country, i understand how tiring it is to do this. i understand the exhaustion of confronting what was done to you and your people, of facing down bigotry over and over. i understand the desire to run away from it all, and why it can be wish fulfilment for others to let katara do so. i really, really do.
but there is also wish fulfilment in letting katara fight, as a brown girl with power and resources that few brown girls in the real world hold. there is a power fantasy in seeing katara head into the belly of the beast and emerging triumphant. there is empowerment to be found in seeing katara struggle with racism and ignorance and mindless hate to enact change - and succeed. i love reading and writing about katara unpacking her trauma regarding the fire nation, about growing to love the place she once hated, about reconciling both her homes and healing from the wounds of her childhood.
and ultimately, i think that's what katara would want for herself. after throwing herself head first into the fight against the fire nation, after facing down her greatest trauma instead of letting it consume her, after helping and protecting the people of the fire nation, after refusing to let the fire nation take anything else from her - i firmly believe that the last thing katara would do is allow herself to be ruled by the fire nation instead of being the one ruling it.
personally, i find that a more hopeful and victorious narrative than one where she remains safe and sheltered away from the fire nation, but forever haunted and dictated by her trauma. would that be realistic? perhaps. but the entire point of foiling katara with characters like jet and hama is to show that she's not doomed to be mired in the pain of her past. that where their stories could only end in tragedy, hers can - and does - end in hope for something better, as she always believed it could.
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Moral Superiority and the 2024 Election
I think a lot of those that are looking to either vote third party, vote for GOP, or not vote at all don't understand nor realize that a lot of the rights we have today as American citizens were won in hard and bitter fights that often led to people dying. From job rights, civil rights, gender rights, and more, our elders suffered from bigotry, hate, greed, and severe violence to get us to this point and as we reach the eve of the 2024 election, we are on the cusp of losing everything our elders fought, bleed, and died for because of a myriad of reasons.
Many will claim that general apathy and pure ignorance would be two of the biggest reasons, and I would agree when it came to the 2016 election, but the biggest reason is we could lose it all in 2024 is moral superiority.
So many people I've spoken to on tumblr, twitter, reddit, canvassing, and people I personally know have stated the democrats need to "earn" their vote by doing this, that, and the other or they won't vote/vote third party.
Many don't/won't understand that the main third party candidates this year in Jill Stein, RFK Jr, and Cornel West are different shades of MAGA with their various ties to Putin, Trump, and general MAGA Superdoners (something people better have me have illustrated in their own posts) and actively bury their heads in the sand and ignore that any vote to them will actively bring us closer to a Trump Victory, and thus, a Trump dictator ship.
On the other side of it, many simply won't vote and will not listen to reason, not understanding that their vote is their voice and if they willingly silence themselves, they lose any right to complain later because they failed to speak up when their voice was actively needed.
In the last couple of months, I've heard every excuse in the book, from "Both Sides bad," and "I'm in a deep red state and my vote doesn't matter," both being equally false considering that only one side is actively trying and succeeded to strip away rights and recently, we've seen deep red states, such as Texas and Florida, inch ever so closer to blue by people going out to vote more.
But the biggest thing people cite is the Palestine/Israel conflict, something that has been going on longer than any of us have be born and was recently inflamed by both Trump moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the October 7th attack.
The attack on Israel on October 7th was a horrible act but the retaliation that Israel took on Palestine in their "hunt" in Hamas was down right heinous and in our generation where the internet is widespread, we've all seen absolute horrors that Israel has enacted on the Palestinian people in a looooooooong list of heinous acts they've inflicted on the Palestinians.
We have every single right to be angry by it. Personally, as a Black Woman who has spent years studying discrimination, a lot of the horrors instilled on the Palestinian people reflect those that happened to my race during and after slavery and that had me marching in the streets and arguing for the Palestinians every step of the way, thus losing a lot of close friendships and family members in the process.
We have every right to hold our government accountable for this as for decades, longer than many of us have been alive, have been allies to Israel. Many will say that Israel, much like Nazi Germany, learned from the United States how to inflict such cruelties and I will not disagree.
However, with all of that said, due to the actions and personality of Donald J. Trump, Racism, Homophobia, misogyny and every other -ism has been on the rise to the point that since 2016, we've been in a fight to defeat the rising dictatorship that Trump and the GOP have been salivating to instill on us, with 2024, in my opinion, being the the final round.
We, as the American people, have seen the GOP and Trump actively skate by and make a mockery of the laws that many of us are still adhered to while also watching not only our rights being stripped away, by the world we live in being ravaged by climate change, all by the actions of the GOP and the billionaires that fund them.
But instead of us all banding together and trying to stop them from completing their plans for Agenda 47 and Project 2025, many will opt to...do nothing because of the Palestine/Israel conflict, thus allowing a Trump Dictatorship to potentially win.
These people understand what is at risk and they understand that people around them will suffer, but they refuse to fight back and instead do nothing to help because of their rage that no one is doing anything about the conflict.
I don't know if they don't believe that these things can happen, outright ignoring what's going on in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and Florida or our country at large since 2016, or that they hope it will happen so they can build the "perfect society" from the ashes of what America used to be or that they'll be a glorious revolution.
But what I do know is that many believe that by not participating in fighting the dictatorship that is knocking on their door, they can retain their moral purity.
And I'm not talking about Palestinian-Americans. They have all the right in the fucking world not to vote and unless that want to, I will not convince them because they are hurting.
I'm talking about the Performers, the clout chasers, the puritans. Those people don't care about Palestine and her people. They care about looking good to the people around them. Much like the BLM movement, where they put a black square on their pfp and dusted their hands like they did something, it's all performative to them.
They care more about being right than the suffering. Because if they did care, they would know that many people in Palestine are hoping that anyone but Trump and his ilk win in the white house. I even posted an article from a Palestinian website saying as such.
And there are plenty of Palestinians that I spoke to in my personal life and during canvassing that are voting for democrats in order to help their homeland because they understand the risk to not only those in Gaza but to themselves in the states.
If they did care, they would be out in this streets, protesting and raising hell. Not only against the democrats, which they love to target, but to the republicans as well, which have been conveniently ignored everywhere that I've looked.
And if they did care, they would understand that if Trump wins, Gaza, along with the Ukraine (something I'm sure many have forgotten about) would be gone, along with the United States.
Because many of us do care, but we also know what is at stake for a lot of fucking places alongside Palestine so we vote to fight because If Trump and the GOP win, there will be no revolution or reclaiming the united states from the ashes. Why? Because half of the country love that God-King Trump and his GOP are hurting the "others" in this bullshit culture war and they are counting on a lot of the single issue voters to sit this out. They are practically begging for it as they have been losing in the polls lately since Biden stepped down and Harris stepped up.
Trump, the GOP, and the mindless followers of MAGA don't care what happens after Trump wins, as long as they get to say their slurs, beat POC and Trans in the streets and act like they are the "Master Race chosen by the "Christian" God" while keeping women in the chained in the kitchen, popping out babies until they die.
These mortal puritans will say "I don't care about your first world problems," while forgetting that they live in the same country. I've even seen tweets saying "The US can burn to protect Palestine" ignoring that Palestine will be done and dusted if Trump wins.
Trump has said time and again that Israel needs to "Finish the job" and has used Palestine as a slur. When he says this, it is not a joke. And yet people will allow him to win because the Democrats are not doing enough, while not understanding the political tightrope many are walking on due to this conflict.
Can the democrats be harder on them, yes. they can. I was not pleased to know that Biden was sending weapons to Israel at all, nor was I pleased to learn that he's a zionist, which made me loath voting for him.
And I really didn't want to vote for him a second time in the first place because I did NOT forget how racist Biden was when I was younger.
But so far, Harris seems more sympathetic and harder on Israel than Biden is (don't not make me a fool Harris) and that, along with everything else, makes me want to vote for her.
But the biggest reason we need Harris to win is because once she does, we know that protesting and letting our voices be heard can sway her to be harsher on Israel. Versus Trump, where he is on record talking about giving all officers Qualified immunity and making protesting illegal.
And we all know the infamous photo-op during 2020.
So to all of the moral purity performers that are just looking for the next trend to catch, either put your money where your mouth is and vote to help, or admit to what you are and your lack of care and then be true to yourself and let Trump win.
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olderthannetfic · 1 month
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https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/758964492351799296/ httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost75863697332#notes
preface, I'm not arguing about the current ongoing war situation. I only mentioned war so that people who filter out the word have their filters catch it. I'm also only commenting on XJZs behavior on the basis of using that kinda language. One bigger incident I've seen of XJZhao getting a massive wave of criticism was using "blood libel" against a Jewish follower, when they said they wouldn't buy their next book. XJZhao: "I don't want your blood money." Once again, think what you may of the current situation, or if you're on either the person's or XJZhaos side.
All that said, using a stereotype or a racist slur against someone because you feel they (as an individual) are an appropriate target is not ok. You don't get to replicate racist, discriminating, hateful and damaging words, phrases or stereotypes which attack an entire group, just because you're mad at one specific person, and then pretend it doesn't affect an entire group of people. No not even if you're POC, you don't need to be a armband wearing moron or a white hood cross burning swine to be sit at that particular kinda table.
If you're angry at a black person and use the N-word. If you're angry at a single queer person and use the F-word. You catch my drift, that's unacceptable, and would immediately get you labelled, and rightfully so, a racist, or queerphobe. Before anyone pulls that maybe they didn't know card, if someone unknowingly says something racist or queerphobic, do we just give them as pass, or do we call these people out? We still criticise people who use racist stereotypes, even if they didn't know, because this stuff should be called out regardless. Apparently that caused quite a stir, especially completely unrelated Jewish followers. Even those that are neutral/non-political or even on XJZhao's side. 👁👁
And obviously their ongoing beef with random people who criticize their online presence. XJZhao's main tool has been making tiktoks, and insta posts where they take screenshots and post the full online name and clearly invite their followers to harass them, or even tell them to blacklist and find people related to the target. Even sending their followers after someone who basically repeated exactly what XJZhao said themselves, that they missed deadlines and started fighting with their publisher. Just that they also pointed out how much leeway XJZhao was given compared to what's normal, and was still complaining. 🐧
Some of their tiktoks against the criticisms have also been just been very petulant. This one I relate to a bit lol 🤔 Such as the tiktok/yt short where they tell everyone who criticised or commented on the very blatant Darling in the Franxx story beats that "Akshually, the makers of DitF said I was all good." Yeah, that's fine, most people don't care about that though, they're commenting on how obvious the story elements were copied. It isn't always bad, many reviewers were neutral, some critical on how blatant it was. It doesn't matter if you got the green-light, it's still going to be something that might irk people because anyone who copies another story's story beats in such an identifiable way is gonna be called out at some point. That literally happened to every Hunger games, Twilight and HP clone. 🤷‍♀️
--
My dim memory is that XJZ literally said the initial plotbunny was a response to Darling in the Franxx in a youtube video long before the book came out. I think they should calm down and take some time away from toxic social media for their own good. (And yes, I do think they're acting antisemitic and getting a pass because online lefties often give people a pass for that when they wouldn't for other bigotry.) But I don't think it was any kind of secret that it's a blatant response to that series.
I haven't read the actual book. Does it come across as just a repeat? My impression was that it was supposed to be more of a critique/reaction.
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glitchedsoftware · 1 month
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well its been long enough so here it is -
My personal thoughts and issues with Sammy Lawrences characterization in Dreams Come to Life
little disclaimer im obviously gonna be pretty negative in this so if you like the books good for you!! i just want to put my thoughts on the matter out there its just some silly indie horror game book and i wouldnt take others opinions TOO seriously lol also spoilers for dctl of course
also another little edit - a majority of this was written before the graphic novel came out,, not like that changes anything rlly just yk remember im exclusively talking about the original novel here
Lets start with the most obvious point first - the racism/misogyny
The idea that Sammy's racist and misogynistic mainly stems from two parts from the book - the part where Sammy refers to Tom by his first name instead of "Mr Connor" to which Tom replies quote "Not used to giving someone like me respect?" and the part where he refers to Abby by her first name with Buddy directly stating how he wonders if this could mean Sammy has some sort of bigoted views.
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Now of course he does consider if this is just a habit of his, but it is pretty unclear if that's the case. This weirdly vague and ambiguous way of writing a fan favorite character to be racist and misogynistic is just generally very weird to me. Before anyone tells me I am aware of the fact a former kindly beast member claimed that Toms race had nothing to do with it and Sammy just said that because he's a repairman or whatever, but that still doesn't remotely change the fact that it can easily be read as Sammy being racist.
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(Also even in said screenshot they said how could be easily interpreted as that. Also they didn't even write the book obviously so that whole point just falls flat.)
To be fair, there is a line from Buddys first encounter with Sammy in which he also refers to Joey by first name, which could imply Buddys other conclusion was correct and that its just a habit of his.
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However, I'd argue this small details pretty easy to miss (even I almost forgot about it while writing this) especially considering the only other people he refers to by any sort of name was Tom and Abby. That paired with the other two scene previously stated still make this very easy to misinterpret and even considering this, very confusing on if Sammy was written with the intention of him being racist. Also Sammys bigotry in this book being conflicted by literally one word kinda speaks for itself. It's just super weird and definitely should have been handled better. If you don't know how to write topics like this with the amount of care they deserve then you don't need to write them. On another note, Sammy being racist or misogynistic just wouldn't affect the story or world building in any sort of meaningful way. Whether he was supposed to be bigoted or not, it has no bearing on the story or characters. Any time It's even slightly implied this could affect someone it's just super underdeveloped which makes this whole thing just feel completely pointless and unnecessary. It really does just come off like it was just thrown in there to "make it more realistic to the time period" instead of working it into the story in any meaningful way that actually works, or any sort of commentary on that sorta thing other than just "racism and misogyny exist".
On a related note, I saw someone speak out about how they interpreted specifically the scene with Tom to be intended not to show that Sammy's racist, but to show how Tom would assume that it was about his race considering he's of course a black man in the 1940s and has clearly faced discrimination over that before. I could almost see how that could be perceived, but that along with the part with Abby really makes me contemplate if that was really the intention behind that scene. Also, as I said before, it isn't really expanded on how that would affect Tom. I get that that could just be because Tom is supposed to be more of a rude abrasive kinda guy, I'm not expecting him to cry over it or something. I just feel it should have either been a bit more developed on, or not been there at all. I'm all for subtly, I love how the subtle misogyny is shown in BatIM with the Alice angel merchandise not selling as well as other products, but if that's what they were going for I think this was a bad way of doing it. If you wanted to portray how this kind of bigotry affects people, maybe choosing the rude asshole character who doesn't really seem to give a shit wasn't really the best idea. (Also who's in the games implied to be classist but that's a whole other conversation) Sorry for the little detour away from discussing just Sammy, I just felt it was important since I do get where that point was coming from, I just still feel like the execution of it all was FAR from perfect.
Also overall the idea that Sammy would be racist or misogynistic is just awfully misunderstanding Sammys character and it just really fails at what its trying to do. Sammy is shown to have had a genuinely strong relationship with Susie (whether you interpret it as romantic or not) and never shown to have seen women as less than, quite the opposite actually. I saw someone say Sammy being bigoted doesn't make sense because "he doesn't respect anybody" and I heavily disagree. I think it doesn't work because he does care so much about people. In the cycle Sammy isn't shown to be selfish at all, like he's not just trying to free himself but also others (albeit through sacrificing Henry, and even then describes that as seeming "cruel"). You know it's "he will set us free". Whether he himself knows or not, Sammy does care about people deeply so him being bigoted just really doesn't work at all.
I just generally thought the topic of discrimination was handled pretty bad. I could go on and on about this subject alone, but hopefully I was able to get my point across.
Now with that out of the way I can discuss just the general mischaracterization and demonization of Sammys character
This obviously being a more broad subject makes it a little difficult to start so let me just start with this- I believe that Sammys character get heavily dumbed down to just being an asshole. I of course have no problem with Sammy being a bit of a dick considering the sort of sarcastic tone he's shown to have had in certain audio logs, but the problem arises when that is practically all he is shown to be. Looking through every scene with him, all he ever did was just be super rude to everyone and eventually go insane and kill people and talk about worshiping Bendy or whatever with little depth. This, in my opinion, makes him both weak as a character and antagonist. I mean, Buddy only first met Sammy the DAY he got infected by the ink. He never even knew what Sammy was like before that incident which REALLY makes the line "I just know that Sammy isn't Sammy anymore" make no sense. Buddy never knew Sammy, he only knew the one dimensional character we got in Dreams Come to Life.
After looking through all of Sammys characterization outside the novels I can clearly deduce that Sammy was never even explicitly the sort of condescending asshole hes shown to be in Dreams Come to Life, but was just a bit blunt and stern due to the stress of working at the studio. I get that some people just chock up his behavior to the fact that he had been drinking ink at the time or whatever, but again the fact we're never shown how he was before that just makes this feel like overall bad writing to me. It just feels like a very poor attempt at writing Sammy that lacks any sort of nuance his character was shown to have. Characters have intended purposes, and I believe Sammys was to display a character who was so overworked it drove him to insanity. Part of the reason he even worships Bendy is just because the unhealthy hours he would spend working forced him to have to see his stupid face everywhere, not the whole ink addiction thing the book goes with. It's one thing to make him unnecessarily rude, but the thing is that they never really deviate from him being just that, which just left his character feeling very flat and lackluster to me. Buddy being an "unreliable narrator" doesn't excuse this both because Buddy only states that he sometimes forgets the order of events, not the actual events themselves, and, as I said before, it never deviates from this view of Sammy. I don't even think Buddy was supposed to be an "unreliable narrator" in that way as I've heard people excuse this for. If all of Sammys mischaracterization was because of that, than like half of the book would just be Buddy completely making shit up, which clearly isn't the case. The book just genuinely tries to portray Sammy in some of the worst light ever.
All that along with the the whole implied bigotry thing I just discussed really makes it seem like they tried dehumanizing Sammy as much as possible, which really goes against one of the core messages of BatIM. Sammy just being some asshole who got addicted to ink and went crazy because of it is FAR less interesting or emotionally compelling than him being an abused overworked employee and a prime example of what working at the studio can do to someone. Stripping him of that in favor of making it that he's always just been a total dick just completely misses a lot of the point of Sammys character and even BatIM as a whole. It's not just a game about "ooh scary ink" or whatever, it's also a game about corporate greed, capitalism and obviously how big corporations abuse and manipulate their minimum wage workers. And that's what Sammy is. He's not "evil" he's just a victim of a highly unhealthy work environment. Sammy being overworked to death (literally) is something that is barely, if at all, developed on in the book weirdly enough, despite being a very interesting part of his character that they had every opportunity to explore. It feels almost like they explicitly tried making Sammy so unsympathetic so he could be a more "evil" antagonist which, in turn, makes him a very poorly written antagonist lacking depth and completely missing anything that made his character so interesting. Again they just took Sammy being a bit irritable and sarcastic and wrote him as being a genuinely bad person, which really bugs me for sorta personal reason I'll get into in this next section.
Why this matters (to me)
I feel its of importance that I discuss how writing an implied mentally ill/neurodivergent character in such a demonizing way can, whether intentional or not, come off as ableist. TO MAKE THIS CLEAR I am NOT stating Adrienne Kress is ableist. This is overall just a much larger issue in general that definitely could have a discussion of it's own. However I will be briefly talking about it since it does unfortunately relate to dreams come to life.
As I said before, Sammy is a victim. Yes, he's still a morally grey character who generally does bad things with good intentions, but hes still a character. The way Sammy is shown to act and have acted in the past is very likely because he was mentally ill and possibly autistic. Taking an actually nuanced character like that who was clearly just extremely mentally unwell and writing it that he's some evil irredeemable asshole has always just rubbed me the wrong way. As an autistic person myself, I've always kinda had issues with regulating my emotions and coming off as "too blunt", so seeing a character who also has those traits be warped into being a "bad person" just. Really sucks.
When I read Dreams Come to Life, I had always sorta read Buddy as being autistic, all though this coding could have been unintentional. For instance, he's shown to not fully get some social cues and mentions feeling like people would kinda talk down to him for not getting certain things. This being the case really confused me for a bit as to why Sammy was demonized for also displaying traits of autism until it finally hit me as to why that is. It's likely because Sammy shows symptoms that are unfortunately far more stigmatized by society. Lack of emotional/impulse control can obviously lead to someone being more prone to lashing out than other people would, and I hate how just in general people or even characters who do that are labeled as "bad people" since that clearly isn't true. Again, he's not evil or whatever, he's just extremely stressed and overworked. That's all it ever was.
Sorry for getting a bit personal, in case it wasn't obvious I'm just very passionate about this character (and franchise in general) and just wanted to discuss how I personally perceived certain things. I'm sure I wasn't supposed to read into it THIS much and I know I'm probably stretching with this. Again, I VERY HIGHLY doubt Adrienne Kress intended for Sammys writing to be read as ableist, just felt like getting my thoughts out there (regardless of how insane I probably sound)
Conclusion
To sum it all up, I just found Sammy character to be heavily flanderized and lacking a lot of the things that I personally loved so much about him, as well as finding the way bigotry was portrayed to be very nothing. It just overall didn't build on what we know about Sammys character in game in any interesting way, at least to me. Despite how long this was, I honestly don't really mind people who enjoy the books, this wasn't some personal dig on anyone of course lol. Hell, I'm even friends with some people who like Dreams Come to Life!! I've tried putting different perspectives into writing this, and I've obviously concluded that this, on top of just a bunch of general issues with the book, have just made me personally unable to like it. I'm fine with people liking the books, however I do wish people would actually criticize them more than they do. Like, you're allowed to criticize the things you like, especially with a franchise as flawed as Bendy lmao
Anyways that's pretty much it. Thanks for listening to me ramble about this silly little series I'm hyperfixated on <3
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dangerpronebuddie · 3 months
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Just saw your RB of that post abt Garrard and HARD SAME cos like it keeps being irritating af to me that the conversation so far, in some parts in fandom, is centered around how buck, the one white man on the A shift atm, would be effected by Garrard's bigotry and not literally everybody else's!!! Who's like.... none of which are white!!! Like I love Buck but c'mon!!
... honestly, I apologize for using your ask box for venting but this has been chocking me for a bit there
Feel free to vent any time honey 🥰 I totally get it.
I love Buck too. With my whole heart. But a lot of people forget that Hen and Chim were traumatized and harassed nonstop by that man, and Tommy was no help whatsoever.
It seems to me like they brought in Gerrard partially to somehow get people to sympathize with Tommy. And I get it, Gerrard is a jackass and hates everyone and everything, I'm not justifying his newfound dislike for Tommy. Hate is hate, and I thought the fairy comment was uncalled for just as much as anybody.
But damnit, Hen and Chim faced the brunt of it and it feels like no one cared until the white guys might be subjected to it. Even after 7x09, they made it out to be like Chim was defending Buck and Tommy and not himself. Chim was standing up for Chim, and I felt immensely proud and so happy for him. I have no doubt in my mind he'd stick up for them should the need arise. But that moment? That was for Chim.
I definitely see Gerrard making all of A shift's lives hell, but the way these people talk about it make it seem like Buck and Tommy's struggles will be the only ones that matter. As if Hen and Chim won't be reliving the worst moments of their professional lives and Ravi and Eddie won't be subjected to it too.
And I wasn't gonna go there, but ya know what? Fuck it. To me, it's a little hypocritical of some people in the fandom to call out bigotry and homophobia and any other discrimination when all they care about is Tommy and Buck being victims of Gerrard's reign of terror like the others don't exist.
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cannibalsmayhem · 12 days
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𐂂 BEASTSATANISM. 𐂂
Pt: Beastsatanism.
Emojicode: 🥀🚩/ 🌈🫀 / 🪶🪭 / 🫎🫀
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Beastsatanism its a political movement based on Radqueer, it is a movement that seeks to dismantle all forms of harassment based on blasphemy and satanism / paganism.
It is a movement that seeks the freedom of individuals without having to be attached to a god or someone.
Beastsatanism its a Radqueer related label, its a political movement based on blasphemy, anti-government, anti-medicalism, anti-harrasment, anti-war, pro-choice/bodily autonomy and change social norms in the area of what is considered "normal". ( etc )
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Supports:
- Supports all paraphilias, including the big three as long one, both or several individuals involving that act are pro-consensual, contact on necrophilia.
- Supports all transids, bodily autonomy, body modifications ( including abortion, assisted suicide, piercings, tattoos, cosmetic surgeries ( etc ) ) and non-harmful and informed transitions.
- Supports ALL queer labels, ALL types of alterhumanity, KFF and factkin. ALL plurals, no matter their origin or the way they function.
Consang.
- Supports destigmatization of sexuality and nudity.
- Supports pro-ship, pro-fiction, pro-lolisho.
- Supoorts FOF (freedom of fiction) and dead dove: do not eat.
- Support only non-submissive religions.
- Self-diagnosis, MUDs, and medpunk.
- Destigmatization of drugs and their users.
- Consensual cannibalism.
- Kink at pride and other types of self-expression.
- The death penalty and torture of people who deserve it.
- Anarchy, abolition of psychiatric yards, abolition of corruption, abolition of the conventional education system.
- All types of consensual activities.
- Fults (faux cults).
- Inclusionism.
- Consensual human and animal sacrifices.
- ALL good faith identities.
- Mental Health awareness.
- Cosang.
- The exploration and expression of queer identities, relationships, and communities within the digital and irl realm.
ANTI:
- Bullyng/harrasment, all forms of harassment, including callout posts that are filled with personal drama or non-issues and beware posts that bury actual serious issues under non-issues.
- Ableism, bigotry, racism, LGBTQphobia and all sorts of discrimination, anti ANY Hate Groups like Racist, cisnazis, TERFS, Anti-MOGAI, Exclusionsists, ect
- Non-consensual acts.
- Pro-contact groomers and predators of all kinds.
- Safequeers.
- Submissive religions.
- Medicalism, psychiatric yards.
- War.
Neutral on:
- Non-harmful political stances.
- Buddhism.
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Pt: If you dont like us, just block! Feel free to ask for more information about the label.
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Pt: DNI: Truscum, heavy religius, dahlia/winter, antiradqueer, anti transids, anti paras, anti muds, anti mspec, anti endos, anti profic, hypoharmful, non-good faith, anti cosang, anti therian, otherkin (etc), terfs, anti xenogenders or xenoids, pro-harrasment of any type, anti kink, anti agere/petre.
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lee-hellenic-butch · 3 months
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Problematic and Bigoted Pagan Authors (and how to avoid them)
After what was pretty much a mess in a discord server I'm in over an author posting artwork containing Nazi symbols, I decided to make a post letting everyone know about certain authors and what to look out for. I will keep updating this list as I discover things!
Big thanks to @dvudushnydiaries for letting me know ab some Slavic Polytheist authors, as well as my friend Agnes for letting me know about some Irish Polytheist Authors too! <3
If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please let me know!!!
🛑 = Avoid as much as possible
⚠️ = Be very cautious around this author
Generally, here is some red flags to look out for:
Use of symbols associated with hate groups
Claims an (open culture) is closed via ethnicity, especially if these cultures or religions historically shared with other cultures.
Claims there is a "true" or "pure" version of a certain open religion.
Use of dogwhistles.
Writes historical inaccuracies, misinformation, appropriation, making up things and presenting them as fact, etc.
Refusal to take accountability for actions.
Any form of bigotry or discrimination
The list is under the cut!
Hellenic Polytheist Authors
🛑 Timothy Jay Alexander
creator of the "Pillars of Hellenismos", which have little historical basis.
Made homophobic and ableist remarks in a blog post, essentially saying that because ancient Greece did not allow same-sex marriage, that modern Hellenic Polytheists shouldn't too. In this same post he said that marriage should be for making a family, and that since LGBTQ+ people, as well as people with "physical deformities" either can not or should not have children, they cannot marry according to him.
The same ableist remarks listed above were used as reasoning as to why a disabled person shouldn't become a priest or priestess or any higher up positions due to not being in good health. This also reminds me of eugenics.
In that same blog post, referenced a group called YSEE, which is notorious for being homophobic, xenophobic, displaying nationalism among other things better explained in this post by @hellenic-reconstructionism
Books include: A Beginner’s Guide to Hellenismos - Hellenismos Today - The Gods of Reason: An Authentic Theology for Modern Hellenismos
🛑 Galina Krasskova
Numerous things have happened with this author, some of the most notable being selling "Bacchic Lives Matter" pins on Etsy during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement protests, as well as defending a neo-nazi and fascist group, AFA, on a blog post
Some of her Hellenic Polytheist books include: Honoring the Mothers: Novenas to the Mothers of Our Gods and Heroes - Combatting the Evil Eye - Unto Herself: A Devotional Anthology for Independent Goddesses - Out of Arcadia: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Pan - Guardian of the Road: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Hermes
See Norse Polytheist section for her books on that.
🛑 Edward P. Butler
Supports Hindutva, which is Hindu fascism, antisemitic, as well as defends and supports Galina Krasskova.
Books include: Essays on a Polytheistic Philosophy of Religion - Essays on Hellenic Theology.
🛑 H. Jeremiah Lewis / Sannion
Neo-nazi, having nazi symbols on his blog. Also transphobic, islamophobic, and everything under the sun, really.
Books include: Ecstatic: For Dionysos - End to End - Everything Dances: Strange Spirits 3 - Gods and Mortals: New Stories of Hellenic Polytheism
Norse Polytheist Authors
🛑 Galina Krasskova
See Hellenic Polytheist section for details.
Her Norse Polytheist books include: Living Runes; Theory and Practice of Norse Divination - Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner - Neolithic Shamanism; Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition
Irish Polytheist Authors
⚠️ Lora O'Brien
Has a cultish following, thier followers and even themselves bullying and publicly shaming other Irish Polytheists. Often acts negatively towards the Irish diaspora. Has taught Irish Catholic practices, which are closed.
Runs the Irish Pagan School, which has similar rhetoric.
Books include: Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch - A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood
Slavic Polytheist Authors
🛑 Patricia Woodruff
Has a cultish following, often writes wildly inaccurate information. In a recent book she had completely made up a deity whose name means "swastika". Rated her own books on Goodreads, and publicly responded to any reviews criticizing her books.
Books include: Woodruff's Guide to Slavic Deities - Roots of Slavic Magic Book 1: Slavic Deities & Their Worship
🛑 Madame Pamita
Recently had a (now-deleted) post with an artwork containing various Nazi symbols, and deleted any criticism and seemingly refused to take any accountability. In DM's had repeatedly alluded to if you didn't follow her you "didn't know anything about Slavic Polytheism". Said to be friends with Patricia Woodruff
Books include: The Book of Candle Magic, Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft
🛑 Dmitriy Kushnir
Writes about Rodnovery, which many Rodnovery groups in the US and other countries often have ethnonationalist and right-wing connotations and ideology.
Books include: Rodnover
⚠️ Natasha Helvin
Misconstrues Slavic culture to be Wiccan
Says witchcraft are the "universal laws of nature" and that subjects of karma and divine judgement are solely monotheistic.
Claims to be an initiated Haitian Vodou priestess, which is doubtful.
Kemetic Polytheist Authors
⚠️ E. A Wallis Budge
Inaccurate translations of texts
Books include: The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Translation)
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incorrectnevermoor · 6 months
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drank a five hour energy, so these are gonna be rapid-fire headcanons, respond at your own pace
every minority knows jupiter. every. one. they all consider him an activist and welcome him, and he gives random interviews advocating for their rights all the time in one newspaper or another. the princess diana of nevermoor.
Captain Jupiter North, Esq. also known as The People’s Princess™️. The Deucalion accepts people from any background, and whenever someone’s down on their luck, be it because they were kicked out due to bigotry or other types of discrimination, there’s always a room that’s magically available for them, no matter how busy or full it is.
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I feel like people wouldn't discriminate openly again after the War. Maybe shops refusing service but they aren't going to imprison people just because they are Faunus. The world has rejected that.
I am sorry but that's naive.
That's now how racism works - bigots don't just shrug and become good when they are told "racism bad" (despite that being the only thing shown happening in the MilesWBY canon, with Yang telling someone racism bad).
Discrimination has layers, and levels of intensity - and people "feeling" that way don't just disappear - they adapt and they prod over and over again to see what's "acceptable" currently.
Sure, smaller discrimination cases will happen, but that's not the "end".
Discrimination always longs to reach its "greatest hits" - there's a reason why lots of ideologies of oppression resort to "Hey, do you want to go back to the Good Old Days when X?"
Smaller cases of intolerance not getting a pushback are treated as "acceptable status quo" - and the bigotry takes a step forward and escalates onto bigger ones.
And before you know it, you have dehumanizing language, restrictions, rights being taken away, laws being walked back upon and repealed.
It's all about moving the window of what's "acceptable" - we have seen it in our world over and over again (for example - the surge of racism and authoritarian surveillance after September 11)
Think about it - in the show, with Volume 3 one of the four largest huntsmen academies got assaulted by White Fang.
Of course, it's not just them, but that only means different people with different prejudices will focus on different parts of what happened - to some, Atlas would be at fault, while to others - Faunus would be at fault.
Discrimination of all kinds would absolutely escalate - bigotry twists facts to its liking to "prove itself right" - mistrust spreads, and tragedy births propaganda.
And yes - White Fang is not the whole species, but to bigots, that wouldn't matter - it's an age-old tradition to take the examples of worst-of and use them as stereotypes, broad brush strokes, and all.
Destruction, discrimination, AND war are largely cyclical in no small part due to complacency and ignorance.
Need I remind you that even in "present-day Remnant" Atlas (and especially Schnees) had literal slave mines? Remnant is nowhere near close to getting rid of the uglier parts of its past.
One of the most disappointing aspects of the show is that there never were any real consequences or shockwaves from what happened at Vale - not just in terms of kingdom relations and tensions, but also in terms of Faunus rights, mistrust, and overall chaos. In a way, the show ended up making Fall of Beacon feel smaller than it actually was because of that.
The shockwaves of what happened at Beacon SHOULD affect all four main leads in different ways due to how the event connects to them as people.
It robbed us of the arc about Ruby dealing with the realities of the world and her idealism as the world around her falls apart and everyone she knows is hurt (and few of her closest friends are dead)
It robbed us of the arc about Weiss having to face the oppressive privileged nature of her family and things in her life she took for granted.
It robbed us of the arc about Blake having to face the increasingly hostile world around her as she struggles to find her path and face her own indecisiveness and hypocrisy.
It robbed us of Yang having to deal with the fallout of the tournament and the uncertain chaotic reality of the world around her as she's searching for a goal of her own.
It's one of the first things I thought about when I started outlining my plans years ago. There are multiple avalanche effects planned out for more than one part of the setting and characterization of the leads.
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misalpav · 1 year
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south asians, the internalized bigotry needs to stop. we don't need to come to the usa or any other country for that matter and lose any semblance of our culture/religion. we don't owe that to anyone. people are allowed to wear a kurta, bindi, jhumkas, hijabs, or any other kind of cultural clothing of their choice. accents take time to adjust to and nobody has to change it the second they step into another country. it's okay to be proud of religion, food, language, clothes, etc. people who don't conform immediately or at all for that matter should not have to expect discrimination. hell, we certainly don't owe it to western society to integrate into their lifestyle, especially in countries like usa and australia where white people themselves are immigrants. quit the self-hate and the hate on other south asians, it doesn't make you cool.
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horizon-verizon · 3 months
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There is something funny about the fact that unlike most of the other bullied or abused characters, Aemond is bullied not out of misogyny or ableism or homophobia or parentage, but simply because he's "bullyable" and Alicent never put a stop to it on either end. Because any other Targaryen in his place would have been like, "Yeah I'm in a brothel. So are you. So what if I was feeling a little... nostalgic tonight. Now go away, I already paid for a second round."
But then again, not EVERY Targaryen. And that's where it gets kind of dark. Because the writing itself wants us to have far more sympathy for Aemond in that circumstance, than for Rhaenyra at the same age being accosted by Alicent for her own brothel visit, and this time Alicent has bigotry behind her.
And that's what annoys me with how the show wants you to sympathize with Aemond for being "uniquely" bullied. Because he's not. Because in the episode he's introduced, we're shown how Rhaenyra, Laenor, and their sons are being harassed and outright abused for misogyny, homophobia, and parentage, by adults wielding actual power. Hell, Viserys and Aegon are getting more elder and child abused than Aemond is in that episode. And I find it kind of fucked up that... the writers see the one character who isn't harassed or abused for being vulnerable or marginalized as the true "victim" in that regard.
I'm going to be honest with you. I have not seen this episode so aside form the fact that I know Aemond gets mocked by Aegon at the same brothel Dyana works at. HOWEVER, yes, the show has been doing stuff like this since at least episode 3 or 4. With Rhaenys speaking with Rhaenyra and acting as a sort of diegetic mouthpiece against Rhaenyra for not basically acting as if she has no chance of actually becoming queen. The show places her as the "voice of reason" when she herself has lost her seat bc a man, her own grandfather, made it happen--effectively justifying how misogyny doesn't really matter as much as conforming to the status quo and its threat of violence so you can avoid violence from said status quo...
Or how the Velaryons are apparently paternity tests to use against Rhaenyra's supposed proclivities as if Aegon isn't also having bastards he leaves to fight each other in pits.
This is what we mean when we say unchecked, patronizing sexism is built into the very ethos of this show as well as the moral standard the show is structuring all of its characters and the value of their actions on. This is pretty much what capitalism does--provide a sort of "space" or are of focus for its consumers, pretending that they are pointing out a discrimination when they are really using the consumer's extant biases already socially trained and advertised to them since childhood to sell the product. Makes for seemingly rationally written TV when it's all just shallow trash with glitter on it trying to to seem meagingful or making meaning.
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An Ultimate Revise: Who Or What Is Satan?
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Okay... So I have a lot to say before I get into this post, because the original blog post I made was extremely problematic and I would like to address it, first and foremost.
My original "Who Or What Is Satan" post that I wrote was meant to be an educational and historical post, but it ended up being far from historically accurate whatsoever. It was full of errors and antisemitism, and I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.
And so I've decided to completely rewrite and revise the entire post from scratch. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while now, because I really hate how my original post turned out and how antisemitic it was.
So without further ado, here is the revised and rewritten version of my original post, minus all the bullshit lol. Strap in, because this is gonna be a looong post! Full blog post is under the cut. ↓
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So here's a little more info and backstory on the original "Who Or What Is Satan" post, before we get into the revised version;
⚠️ - TRIGGER WARNING: Antisemitism - ⚠️ About a year ago now, I wrote a blog post of the same title under the username of @/thebaphometicforest. At the time of writing that post, I was extremely uneducated and new to Daemonolatry, and I had also been almost fully indoctrinated into a Ne0-Naz1 cult on Reddit without realising it (cough cough the fucking cesspit that is r/DemonolatryPractices cough). The blog post I wrote was full of misinformation and antisemitic propaganda, and I'm really not proud of the fact that I used to hold such antisemitic beliefs surrounding Judaism and cultural appropriation in general. I have since deleted the post, though I believe there are reblogs of it that exist, for those who wish to seek it out for further context, or whatever other reason you may need it.
I would like to take the time to sincerely apologise to the Jewish community for how blatantly ignorant and disrespectful I was in my past. There is no excuse for my antisemitism; I was just stupidly misinformed. I want it to be clear though that I never intended to purposefully discriminate against Jews, I just didn't realise how problematic my views were at the time. I wanted to clarify that distinction; But the bottom line is that the intent doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I was still a dick. It is no excuse and I take full accountability and responsibility for my past actions.
Please know that my past problematic views do not represent me anymore and I have changed and educated myself since then. And with that said, I want it to be my main goal to help dispel antisemitism, ignorance, and bigotry in occult spaces as an ally, as well as advocate for the rights and wellbeing of the Jewish community not only in occult spaces, but overall. 💙
With all of that said, it's time to set the record straight and talk about who and what Satan actually is!
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DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind that I am not Jewish or Muslim, and therefore cannot speak from those perspectives on this subject. I understand and acknowledge that the concept of Satan originates in Judaism and have no intention to be appropriative. I'm simply just going off research and from what Jewish people in occult spaces on Tumblr have said regarding this subject. I also apologise in advance for any inaccuracies in this post. Please don't hesitate to point them out and I will correct them as soon as I can! Xx
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+: GIF Credit :+
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Satan has evolved to become a very complex character in the modern day. In fact, the very concept and idea of Satan can depend on who you ask, as there are multiple different spiritual paths that interpret Satan differently nowadays. Satan's history has also been muddied quite a lot over the years.
But what are the actual historical origins of Satan, and how did he even come to be?
༺・ The Origins Of Satan ・༻
So, where did Satan even come from?
The origins of Satan can firstly be traced back to Judaism, where Satan refers to an angel (Ha-Satan) that was initially subservient to God. It was only later that he came to be known as "The Devil" in Christianity (sometimes considered synonymous with Lucifer, a bastardised Greco-Roman god) and was referred to as an evil demon, devil, and fallen angel. Later in Islam, he came to be known as an evil spirit who went by the name of Iblis or Ash-Shaytan.
The concept and role of Satan varies drastically between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other belief systems which may have similar figures in their mythology. Let's further elaborate on what Satan means when it comes to these three belief systems.
Note: In the Christianity section, I have added a lot of my own interpretations and personal beliefs on the subject as I used to be a Christian as a child. However, I have not done the same with the Judaism or Islam sections as they are closed practices from what I have heard, and I feel that it is not my place to have a UPG on a closed practise, especially if I am not a part of it. Therefore, I will only be including historical info I have gathered from doing research in those parts and nothing more. I wish to remain respectful by not adding my personal input on those parts.
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+: In Judaism :+
There appears to be two main accounts of Satan in Judaism. The most well-know account is that Satan refers to an angel in the Torah named Ha-Satan (literally "The Satan") who is actually subordinate to God, rather than being an opposing force of God. His role was to test the faith of God's followers by tempting them to sin. If they resisted Ha-Satan's temptations, they were proving themselves faithful and loyal to God.
Another account comes from Satanail, the Prince of the Grigori Watcher Angels. The role of the Grigori were to descend to Earth so they could guide humans and teach them. But when they began having sex with humans and producing offspring such as the Nephilim, they were cast out of Heaven and became fallen angels. Some translations suggest that the Nephilim were a type of giants, whereas other translations suggest that they were the hybrid children of fallen angels.
Sometimes the archangel Samael is also equated with Satan, however they don't necessarily have the same functions. Samael was usually tasked with destroying sinners, whereas Ha-Satan was tasked with tempting and testing sinners.
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+: In Christianity :+
Here's where things begin to get muddy. Satan is referred to in multiple different ways in Christianity, and it really just depends on the interpretations and translations of the Christian Bible. Let's have a look at Satan's multiple titles that are mentioned.
~ The Serpent ~
Satan is considered to be synonymous with The Serpent that convinced Eve and Adam to eat fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge. In Genesis 3, the serpent claimed that if you ate the fruit, you could "be like God, knowing good and evil".
+. Genesis 3 .+ ❧ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman "Did God really say 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" ❧ The woman said to the serpent "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die'." ❧ "You will not certainly die", the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". ❧ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
In my interpretation, Satan brought liberation, indulgence enlightenment, wisdom, and free will to Adam and Eve through eating the fruit. He showed them that if they open their minds and were willing to learn new things, they could grow and flourish to be wiser than they once were, as well as constantly strive to be the best version of themselves.
It was actually God that brought about consequences for Eve and Adam eating the fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge, not Satan. My interpretation is that if you choose to embrace your true and best self, there are always going to be people who will not like or approve of you; But that doesn't mean that you are doing something bad (as long as you aren't hurting anyone or doing anything immoral of course, lol).
~ The Devil ~
I think everyone is aware that Satan's most well-known title that he goes by is "The Devil". Personally, I don't like to refer to Satan using this title because the word originates from the Ancient Greek word 'diabolos', meaning 'slanderer'. This implies that Satan is a liar and deceiver, which I don't personally believe. In my experience, he has always been a bringer of wisdom and truth.
Satan is said to be the "father of lies" and that he "leads the whole world astray", but I still have yet to see any evidence of him lying or leading anyone astray. The Christian Bible says that he lies, but doesn't show how he is a liar; At least not to my knowledge anyways. However, the God depicted in the Christian Bible seems to have lied about how the fruit on the Tree Of Knowledge would kill Adam and Eve... Because it didn't. It enlightened them and opened their eyes. It helped them to see the truth.
I can't really find any bible verses that suggest Satan actually lies; Only verses accusing him of being a liar. I did, however, find evidence that God lies in the Christian Bible. (Please note that this isn't me trying to be anti-Christian or anything, I'm just trying to make the point that there isn't really any evidence that Satan is deceptive in the Christian Bible. This is mainly to point out the hypocrisy of conservative/extremist forms of Christianity.) Here is an interesting verse that I found which may prove my point that God is deceptive and does in fact lie:
+. Jeremiah 4:10 .+ ❧ Then I said, "Alas, sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived these people and Jerusalem by saying 'You will have peace', when the sword is at our throats!"
Just something to thing about lol.
~ The Dragon ~
It is when Satan is introduced as The Dragon that the idea of him falling to the Earth (presumably from Heaven) is addressed in Christianity for the first time. In the Christian Bible, Satan is described as taking the form of a giant seven-headed red dragon, donning ten horns as well as seven crowns, one atop each head. It is described that Satan is "hurled down" to the Earth, as well as his angels that serve him.
+. Quotes From Revelation 12 .+ ❧ Then another sign appeared in Heaven; An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the Earth. ❧ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. ❧ The great dragon was hurled down - That ancient serpent called The Devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the Earth, and his angels with him.
+. Luke 10:18 .+ ❧ He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven".
I personally don't really believe in angels or the Christian God, therefore I don't believe in fallen angels and I don't really buy into the divine simply being split up into "good vs evil". Instead, I believe in metaphorical fallen angels; Deities and spirits that were bastardised by Christian extremism and painted as evil, simply because they were anything other than the Christian God (e.g. Baal and Ashtoreth starting out as Canaanite deities and being demonised into the Goetian daemons that are Bael and Astaroth).
I think the whole thing of Satan being "hurled down" was most likely just a metaphor to symbolise his apparent defeat and that he had no place in Heaven, according to the Christian God.
~ The Morning Star ~
I think this is mainly where the whole idea of fallen angels came from, when Satan was conflated with The Morning Star, better known by the name of Lucifer. Funnily enough, Lucifer is never actually addressed by name in the Christian Bible; At least not that I could find. Rather, he is addressed as "morning star" and "son of the morning".
+. Isaiah 14 .+ ❧ How you have fallen from Heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the Earth, you who once laid low the nations! ❧ You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the Heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the upmost heights of Mount Zaphon. ❧ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." ❧ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
+. 2 Peter 1:19 .+ ❧ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
These verses seem to paint Lucifer as some sort of fallen angel that was jealous of God and wanted to rise above him. However, what some may not know is that Lucifer didn't even start off as an angel at all. The name "Lucifer" is Latin for light-bearer. The Greek word for this term is "Phosphorus", which is also the name of a Greco-Roman deity!
Phosphorus was the personification of the planet Venus, which appeared as the brightest "star" in the sky at dawn, hence the term "morning star". Phosphorus was the son of Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, hence the term "son of the morning". So technically speaking, Lucifer and Satan may not even be the same entity. At least, not historically. The concept of Satan originated in Judaism, whereas Lucifer seems to have spawned from the bastardisation of a niche Roman god.
However, when it comes to Luciferianism, Lucifer is seen as a guide/teacher, liberator, guardian, beacon of enlightenment/ wisdom/ truth, and even sometimes the "true god" as apposed to the Christian God. I personally differentiate Lucifer from Satan to an extent in my beliefs, but more on that a little later!
IMPORTANT EDIT: A good friend of mine has since informed me that the aforementioned bible verses weren't referring to the Roman god Phosphorus. I was incorrect about this. The term Lucifer was actually a title applied to the King that ruled over Babylon at the time, most likely Nebuchadnezzar (II) the Great. The King of Babylon was compared to the planet Venus because of his power and influence in the world. He was "cast down to the earth" because of his wickedness. In this context, "Lucifer" was a physical human being; Not an angel, nor a god.
It was only until Christianity that these verses were misinterpreted (probably because of mistranslation issues, though I'm not entirely sure) and the story of the King of Babylon was twisted into the tale of an alleged angel that got his arse kicked out of Heaven for "disobeying God" or whatever lol.
You can read more about the backstory in this PDF I found that goes further into detail here.
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+: In Islam :+
The concept of Satan is also found in the Qur'an under the names of Iblis or Eblis, also known as Ash-Shaytan or Al-Shaytan. He was a djinn and the "leader of the devils" in Islam. On some accounts, Iblis actually started off as a high-ranking angel and went by the name of Azazil (not to be confused with Azazel). Iblis was assigned the role by God of eradicating disobedient and destructive inhabitants of Earth, so that they could be replaced with humans who were more obedient. But when Azazil refused to create a successor, he was punished by being cast down to Earth by God, where he then became a shaytan.
In another account, God created Iblis from the fires beneath the seventh Earth. Iblis worshipped God for thousands of years, and eventually, he ascended to the surface and continued to rise in rank until he accompanied angels in the seventh heaven.
God then created Adam from the essence of clay and breathed life and a soul into him, and ordered the angels to bow down to Adam. But Iblis refused to bow down; Being a jinn born of the essence of fire, he felt superior to Adam and refused to bow down to someone he considered to be below him. His disobedience to God and efforts to prove humans unworthy led to him being cast out of Heaven, where he earned the position of an eternal enemy of humankind.
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So with all of that said, I would now like to talk about my UPG of Satan and my personal spiritual beliefs surrounding him! :)
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+: GIF Credit :+
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༺・ What Does Satan Mean To Me? ・༻
My personal experience of Satan is that he's a very complex figure made up of many different bits and pieces from other spirits and deities. But mainly, I view Satan as being a triune godhead made up of three different beings/aspects; Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet. It's kind of similar to the "Holy Trinity" in Christianity. He's a diagram I made of the "Satanic Trinity" lol.
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In my UPG, I see Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet as their own distinct entities, but I also see them as all being aspects of Satan as well. Think of them as being like a hydra dragon; Three distinct heads that all connect back to the same body. I also believe that other daemons can hold this title as well (Azazel, Belzebuth, Mephistopheles, and possibly many more) but I also see the term 'Satan' as just that; a title.
My best friend @sortiarus-de--naturas--daemonum has a really cool UPG regarding Satan as a title. She believes that Satan can be anyone or anything, and that it can also be a title for people who appose Christian (extremist) values. I actually really love this lol and agree with it quite a lot. ^.^
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In regards to the Satanic Trinity, the number (3) is said to historically be a sacred and magical number, revered across many different cultures and religions.
❧ In Celtic Paganism, the Earth was said to be made up of three realms/parts; Land, Sea, and Sky. ❧ In Alchemy, there were Three Primes (tria prima) that corresponded with the three aspects of human nature; Salt (body), Mercury (mind), and Sulfur (spirit). ❧ In Greco-Roman religion and Neo-Pagan religions such as Wicca, the triple goddess was a triune godhead usually made up of three different goddesses (e.g. Artemis-Selene-Hecate) and was usually also associated with the waxing, full, and waning phases of the Moon.
I view Satan in a very similar way to this. I see Sathanus and Lucifer as being almost like polar opposites, with Baphomet being in the middle of both of them.
❧ If Lucifer is Above and Sathanus is Below, then Baphomet is the middling Within and All Around. ❧ If Lucifer is the Sky (Upperworld) and Sathanus is the Land (Middleworld), then Baphomet is the Sea (Underworld) that meets and connects the two. ❧ If Lucifer is the Radiance of light and Sathanus is the Shadow of darkness, then Baphomet is the grey Quintessence in between. ❧ If Lucifer is the Sun above and Sathanus is the Earth below, then Baphomet is the Moon that middles between the two. ❧ If Lucifer is the Waxing Moon and Sathanus is the Waning Moon, then Baphomet is the Full Moon that connects the two moon phases together.
These are the correspondences I personally associate with Satan. I also have my own UPG about how Satan came to be.
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༺・ So... Who Is Satan Then? ・༻
I believe that Satan came to be through many different deities, spirits, influences, and Christian extremist paranoia throughout history. To an extent, I believe Satan to be a spirit shard of sorts. What's a spirit shard, you ask? Allow me to explain...
+: Spirit Shards :+
❧ A spirit shard is when a piece of a deity or deities breaks off and develops into its own entity that stands alone from its fountainhead deity. This is usually the result of vilifying and demonisation of gods from other religions and belief systems, primarily done by Christian extremists.
A good example of this would be the formerly mentioned Bael and Astaroth; I believe they are both spirit shards of Baal and Ashtoreth that came about because of demonisation by Christian extremists, and eventually those demonisations broke off from the fountainhead deities and became distinct daemons.
I also believe that there was some egregoric influence that aided in the creation of Satan as well. Thus, I feel that he could partly be an egregoric entity too.
+: Egregoric Entities :+
❧ An egregoric entity is a spirit, deity, or other type of entity that arises into existence from the collective thoughts, influences, and energy input of a distinct group of people.
Lord/Lady Baphomet themselves are a perfect example of an egregoric deity that arose from the collective belief in them being falsely conflated with "The Devil" by Christians. But more on their origins a little later. :)
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With all of that said, here is my take on how the three main aspects of Satan that are Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet came to be! Please note that this is just my UPG and isn't meant to be presented as an absolute truth or fact; These are just my personal beliefs.
Note: In my practice, I believe in eight elements rather than just five. I believe in Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. I also believe in Spirit, but I split it into three aspects; Spirit Above (Radiance), Spirit Below (Shadow), and Spirit Within (Quintessence). Finally, I also believe in Void as an eighth element, which is represented by The Self, as you are the ultimate creator of your own personal practice. :)
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∙---+ 🜍.~ Lucifer ~.🜍 +---∙
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As previously mentioned, Lucifer seems to have originated from the Roman god Phosphorus, a personification of the planet Venus that appears as the brightest "star" in the sky at dawn, called the "morning star". Phosphorus also had a brother named Hesperus, who was basically the same but instead appeared at dusk instead of dawn, and was known as the "evening star". In some accounts, the two gods were later combined into one singular deity.
For whatever reason, this niche Roman god was then dragged into the Christian Bible with the coming of Christianity, thus demonising them and leading to an initial split of Lucifer as a spirit shard from Phosphorus/Hesperus.
Interpretations then spread of Lucifer apparently being some sort of "fallen angel" that was cast out of Heaven for wanting to "rise above God" out of jealousy and pride. They were then conflated with being an evil demon, possibly originating from the benevolent daimon/daemon that was initially a type of guiding spirit that provided wisdom and knowledge, and not actually having anything to do with being evil at all.
Lucifer then started being conflated with The Devil, The Serpent, The Dragon, and the entire concept of Satan in general, thus leading to Lucifer earning their place in the Satanic Trinity.
❧ Lucifer represents higher consciousness, wisdom, enlightenment, knowledge, spiritual liberation and freedom, a guiding light in the dark, expressing/embracing your true self, confidence, standing up for yourself, self-love, rebellion, and always striving to be the best version of yourself.
+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: ravens/crows, hawks, swans, tree snakes, doves - Colours: icy blue, sunshine yellow, snowy white, sandstone orange, rich golds/silvers/bronze - Element: Air & Radiance (Spirit Above) - Incense/Scents: sandalwood, lavender, juniper, amber, lily - Metal: Copper & Gold - Planet: Venus & Sol (The Sun)
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∙---+ 🜔.~ Sathanus ~.🜔 +---∙
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In my UPG, Sathanus is a complex daemon and deity that came into being via multiple sources. I believe that the concept of him spawned in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; However, he later broke off into a spirit shard and egregoric deity, and further developed into his own entity over time.
As Christianity spread and extremist paranoia began to mount throughout the years, more and more deities were demonised and vilified in comparison to the Christian God. Deities such as the Greek Pan, the Celtic Cernunnos, and the Canaanite Moloch were all conflated with "The Devil" and falsely assumed to be demons. Overtime, attributes and pieces of these gods and many other vilified horned deities began to feed into the concept of Satan; And in an egregoric fashion, Sathanus evolved into a daemon and deity of his own.
He even has entries in several demonology grimoires that were written within the past few hundred years (e.g. Livre Des Esperitz and Liber Officiorum Spirituum).
Sathanus is primarily The Serpent, The Devil, and The Dragon. In the Garden Of Eden, he showed Eve that she wasn't bound to follow the rules of God if she didn't want to. He gave her the fruit of the Tree Of Knowledge to open her eyes and show Eve that she had freewill and could be the god of her own life. At least, that's my interpretation of it anyway lol.
Some rumours suggest that The Devil appeared at Witches' Esbats as a "great black goat with a candle between its horns". In this account, he was referred to as "The Witches' Devil".
❧ Sathanus represents worldly pleasures, power through knowledge, self-leadership, ecstasy, strength, confidence, insurgence, finding/embracing the beauty in darkness, finding hidden wisdom, nature, deliverance from limitations, courage, hedonism, and liberation through "sin" and freewill.
+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: dragons, snakes, goats, bats, spiders - Colours: blood red, jet black, electric blue, rich golds, rosewood / dark strawberry pink - Element: Fire, Earth, & Shadow (Spirit Below) - Incense/Scents: dragon's blood, rose, cinnamon, black opium, sandalwood - Metal: Lead & Titanium - Planet: Saturn & Terra (The Earth)
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∙---+ ☿.~ Baphomet ~.☿ +---∙
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A lot of people don't actually believe in Baphomet as an existing daemon or deity, but rather simply as a symbol representing universal balance; However, from my personal experiences, they definitely are a very real entity. But how did they even come into being? Let's have a look at the history of Baphomet, and how they came to be associated with Satan later on.
Baphomet was said to have been a Pagan deity or idol that was allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar. The name Baphomet first appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights Templar starting in 1307. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Baphomet was worshipped by the Knights Templar. Furthermore, it has been stated that the name Baphomet was actually a bastardisation of the name Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
It wasn't until the 19th century that the well-known illustration of the "Sabbatic Goat" was drawn by Éliphas Lévi. It was comprised of a number of binary elements in order to symbolise the "equilibrium of opposites"; Half-human and half-animal, male and female, good and evil, light and darkness, above and below, mercy and justice, etc. Lévi's goal was to symbolise his own idea and concept of balance, with Baphomet being an ultimate symbol and personification of "The Absolute".
But what many may not know about Baphomet, is that Éliphas actually drew inspiration from two distinct existing deities to create his Baphomet illustration; The Greek Pan and the Egyptian Banebdjedet. Lévi equates his image with a god that went by the title of "The Goat Of Mendes" (Mendes is the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet). On some accounts, it is said that Pan is The Goat Of Mendes, but it is much more likely that this title referred to Banebdjedet instead, who was mistaken to have been goat-headed instead of sheep-headed.
The chief deities of the city of Mendes were the ram deity Banebdjedet (meaning "Ba of the Lord of Djedet"), who was said to be the Ba of Osiris, as well as his consort Hatmehit, the fish goddess. In my UPG, Baphomet was partially conceived through these two deities, as well as through Éliphas Lévi's illustration.
❧ Baphomet represents ultimate balance, equity, unity of the universe and all its elements, cosmic order, the cycles of life/death/rebirth, queerness, beauty, duality, love and peace, creation, liberating knowledge, embracing/becoming your true and best self, creativity, wisdom, manifestation, and nature itself.
+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: sheep, goats, rams, cats, sea snakes - Colours: amethyst purple, sapphire blue, stormy grey, charcoal black, oceany blue-green - Element: Water & Quintessence (Spirit Within) - Incense/Scents: oud, patchouli, sandal rose (sandalwood and rose), frankincense, myrrh - Metal: Mercury & Silver - Planet: Mercury & Luna (The Moon)
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+: Divider Border Credit :+
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Please keep in mind that all of the correspondences and associations listed here are brief summaries of my UPG regarding these three deities/daemons. I will be making additional posts going into further detail regarding Satan as a triune godhead, hopefully in the near future! I'm not sure when the posts will be out though lol.
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Welp, that's pretty much it for this post! Holy shit this took me so long to write. 😭 I hope this has helped you learn more about Satan origins, and Satan as a concept as well as an entity!
I wish you well on your spiritual path. :)
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༺⋆✦. Ave Satanas .✦⋆༻
-Korv
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wordslikesilver · 3 months
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Sometimes I think about how ready discord servers of big companies and games are to literally just ban people for being homophobic or transphobic, zero tolerance whatsoever and I think for just one moment of blinding clarity how nice it would be if tumblr was actually that intolerant and direct about online bigotry as well. If facebook was like that. If Twitter was. Suddenly I feel like I get it. I understand what it would feel like to actually be supported and truly accepted by society. Like what the fuck kind of place is this where you can just spew hate speech and face nothing from the people who keep the lights on? Why is League of Legends more queer friendly than Tumblr?
Years ago, BLM protested and made the Pride parade in my city of Toronto ban cops from being in the parade and every year that passes I feel like I get it, more and more. How dare they let them march? How dare they let the police pretend they’re not still complicit in rampant queer and BIPOC violence and discrimination to this day?
How dare Tumblr tolerate TERFs and discriminate against trans women as freely and readily as they do? Fuck it makes me so angry. There’s a taboo against saying free speech is bad but you know what? We don’t need to be lawless and indifferent to the suffering of an already discriminated against people. We don’t need to welcome everyone. There’s no slippery slope or ruthless calculus, it’s basic fucking math. Bigotry and hate speech should not be welcome. Period. You’re right, it’s not free speech anymore, it’s the super spooky censorship devil. Censorship is not evil you stupid fucks. Reddit deleting r/jailbait is censorship. Deleting incel subreddits is censorship. Deleting racist, fascist, predatory cess pool subreddits is censorship. It’s a tool. And just like a shovel can be used to kill a person, so too are it be used to clean up the garden and remove the rot and the sickness.
I truly believe deep in my heart that making space for any and all opinions to be heard is cowardice. To make space for evil to flourish and refuse to weed it out is to welcome and encourage it. This is not subjective. The systemic oppression of and hunting of minorities is not a subject with deep or complicated nuance. It is evil. It is evil and it has always been evil. We’ve been so slow in the grand scheme of history to acknowledge this, but even slower to accept that we need to be kill the myth of the censorship devil and recognize that maintaining a stance that tolerates and thus encourages bigoted behaviour is to be accomplice to a wicked and wretched, rotted evil. I believe in the inherent intelligence and goodness of humanity, I fully believe without a single faltering of my heart that we can establish on far larger scales than a fucking discord server, rules of conduct and behaviour that reject the rampant and heinous bigotry that my trans sisters and DOZENS of other minorities face day to day. I believe without a moment of doubt or wavering resolve that it can be done in clear ways that are above and beyond reproach from the incessant, inane and ill intentioned questioning and muddying of rules that of course would follow from those who would cry villainy that they can no longer voice their disgusting, hate fuelled opinions on matters of basic human rights.
I know how I sound. I know these words can be used just as easily by The Other Side about the Woke Left and Special Snowflakes with fragile feelings being cowards who can’t Get Real and accept the world’s rejection of who they are. But isn’t that what they’re really afraid of? That they’re the ones who are wrong and need to change if they still want to be welcome anywhere? We don’t welcome cops in the pride parade because being queer isn’t about everyone being valid and welcome. We are a people and a community that will not quietly bow to hatred against us. Anyone who wants to claim they support us cannot abide the proliferation of hatred against us when it happens under their own god damn roof.
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fanfic-lover-girl · 1 year
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Double Standards: Draco Malfoy Edition
My main issue with HP is Slytherin vs Gryffindor double standards. I like Draco Malfoy and I find Slytherins very interesting. I understand why people don't like him. But I hate when people demonize Draco for something but are perfectly ok when another character (eg. the golden trio) does the same thing. So based on the post above, I wanted to share a defense for Draco Malfoy. Most of the logic comes from the post above but a good portion of these arguments are mine.
Draco mocks Hufflepuffs
Hagrid: “everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers–”.
Hagrid also says everyone in Slytherin is destined to be evil. Hagrid is a grown man (well half-giant) perpetuating harmful stereotypes to Harry while Draco is a kid (11 yrs old).
Also, Harry did not lift a single finger to defend Cedric and Hufflepuff house when the lions were bashing and mocking Cedric. This is AFTER Cedric, being a good sport and overall great guy, told his housemates to back off Harry. Cedric was too good for these books. Cedric was the hero horrid Harry could only dream of being.
Draco has not mocked Hufflepuffs since his intro chapter.
Draco bullied Ron and Harry
Harry and Ron initiated this antagonism. Harry likened Draco to Dudley after a short conversation. The same Draco who engaged him in conversation despite his poor appearance. Harry never gave Draco a chance before he painted him as evil. Draco ignored Ron on the train until Ron laughed at his name.
Long before Draco did anything truly hurtful to them, the golden trio cheered his misfortune and his fear. For example, before we saw Draco & Hermione exchange dialogue, Hermione danced in joy at Draco getting detention. Harry declared him his arch-enemy and worse than Dudley (the cousin who abused him all his life) and threatened him with physical violence (threatening to shove Draco off his broom). Up until that point, the worst thing Draco did was set them up to be caught by Filch. That makes Draco worse than Dudley lol.
Draco could be doing something innocent, not Harry related, like welcoming a new house member or getting sweets from Mama Narcissa and Harry would be glaring daggers at him like he is committing a crime. These three boys bullied each other.
Draco called Hermione a mudblood
Draco never said a word to Hermione and ignored her existence until she dissed his quidditch skills. Also, Sybill and Hermione call Firenze a horse. Firenze saved Harry's life - you think Hermione could show some respect. Dean brazenly asked Firenze to his face if Hagrid breeds them like thestrals. Please note: All of these actions are somehow better than Umbridge calling centaurs half-breeds lol! According to the narrative, "half-breed" is more offensive than HORSE. Hagrid and Minerva use "muggle" as a slur. Remember that WE are the muggles.
If JKR wanted "mudblood" to be meaningful, she should have shown how mugglebornes struggled in the wizarding world. Such as strained relationships with loved ones in the muggle world (Lily & Petunia's relationship is an example) or discrimination in employment. But the wizarding world at large is on mugglebornes' side.
What impact does Draco calling Hermione a "mudblood" have? Her blood status up till that point has been irrelevant and does not disadvantage her. Compared to the bigotry centaurs and muggles face in HP! I don't give a crap about Draco calling Hermione "mudblood" when no other slurs or discriminatory behaviour seem to matter!
She is hardly bothered by it anyway so who cares? I don't. Draco is not an impressive bully when it comes to Hermione. Draco's bullying of Hermione basically boils down to him calling her "mudblood" and hardly anything else. It's hard for Draco to truly be a bully when Hermione never takes him seriously and he never has any real power over her (except when he is on the inquisitorial squad in book 5).
Draco bullied Neville
Everyone mistreats Neville. Including his own housemates and 'Queen Minerva'. That includes Harry and Ron btw. Harry and Ron laugh at Neville in his face and behind his back. In book 1, they basically tell him he should not stick up for himself when he confronts them as they sneak out. Harry thinks Neville is a loser half the time. I thought the golden trio were Neville's friends but after looking at the books I am horrified. My baby boy Neville deserves better than the rotten trio. For example, Harry compares Peter Pettigrew to Neville! Harry sees Peter as pathetic and the first person that comes to mind for Harry is Neville!!! Poor Neville :(. Draco, however, has not been seen or mentioned bullying Neville since book 1.
Draco is mean to Hagrid
Hagrid may act like a disgraceful, blubbering crybaby half the time, but he is a grown-ass man. He's what...50 or 60. Draco is a preteen/teenager. We have seen Hagrid threaten Draco several times. For example, when Draco rightfully calls out Hagrid in book 4 about the (possibly illegal) blast-ended skrewts, Hagrid uses the ferret incident (a horrific case of child abuse) to silence Draco into submission. It's so outrageous for Draco to backtalk and mock Hagrid but it's hilarious when Hagrid, the adult, abuses the child under his care. The HP fandom is insane!
Hagrid endangers children and he is a horrid teacher and should have been fired! And he would have been fired if not for the meddling rotten trio (specifically Harry freaking Potter). This dimwitted jackass knows Hagrid is a bad teacher and drops his subject in book 6 but is willing to ruin the subject for everyone else because he likes him!!! And he is willing to intimidate/bully his friends (especially Hermione) to comply with his views on Hagrid. Harry is extremely selfish and can go rot in hell with Hagrid! If I were Harry's classmate, I would be tempted to punch him myself!
Draco is punished for saying what everyone else was thinking. No one thinks Hagrid is a good teacher. Including the rotten trio! Why does the narrative and fandom coddle Hagrid and treat him like a damn child?! Why is Draco, the student, constantly bashed for Hagrid, the teacher, being incompetent!?
Edit: Hermione disrespects Trelawney in Divination (in the same chapter I believe) but she's seen as a girl boss. She has no need to be there and clearly hates the subject (what a wonderful use for a time tuner). But everyone has a problem with Draco hurting dumb Hagrid's feelings wah.
Draco does mean impressions of other people
So do Ginny (of Fleur) and Ron (of Hermione). At least Draco's impressions are entertaining! Draco is totally the class clown and/or theatre kid type. He has a captivating and dramatic personality. I think he would thrive in the arts. I can literally see him as the male version of Sharpay :)
Draco called Molly porky
Molly is objectively overweight. Draco is a 14 yr old boy throwing out insults (porky is pretty tame if you ask me). JKR, through Harry, goes into unnecessary detail every other sentence about how fat Dudley is whenever Dudley is around. Dudley is a kid. Why should Molly be excluded from the fat character treatment? Plus Harry is actually very shallow when he describes people. He always focuses on how pretty or ugly someone is. Even in serious situations, you can count on Harry describing Fleur as beautiful, Sirius & Tom as dashingly handsome and Snape as hideous. Ron is quick to label Eileen Prince as ugly when the trio discovers she is Snape's mom in book 6. She has done nothing to them but he insults her because of who her son is. Why is it ok for the trio to mock people's looks but Draco calling Molly fat is a crime worthy of physical abuse?
Draco wanted his classmates to die
So did Ron and Harry. Ron says “shame that his mother likes him” when discussing shoving Draco off a glacier. Harry has fantasised about killing and/or torturing Draco/Snape. And guess what! He almost made his fantasies a reality! He nearly murdered Draco with very short-lived remorse and then attempted to use the same spell (+ multiple crucios) against Snape! What a hero :). So full of love and pure goodness, right Dumbledore (gag).
Draco used the cruciatus curse
Attempted cruciatus. Draco said ‘cruci-‘ before Harry somehow yelled out an entire sectumsempra and almost eviscerated him to death. I think that is the only time Draco has attempted to use the crucio in a fight.
When Harry saw Draco being forced to use the curse in a vision, Draco was terrified, right? Harry on the other hand has fantasised about the cruciatus since the moment he learnt about it (he daydreamed about torturing Snape after Fake Moody's class). Harry has used the curse multiple times before and after Draco's use in book 6 and unlike Draco's attempted crucio, Harry's actually hit. Harry sure loves his dark spells :). For a while, sectumsempra and crucio became Harry's new expeliarmus. Harry is called gallant for using the cruciatus in book 7 too by 'Queen' Minerva, how lovely.
Why is Draco demonized more than Harry by the fandom for this curse? Harry used the curse 3 more times than Draco. He hit Bellatrix and the Carrow guy and attempted to crucio Snape twice in book 6 in the SAME FIGHT. Make it make sense!
Draco (& Lucius) almost got Buckbeak put down
Hagrid, as the teacher, should be held responsible - not the animal. But if the ministry is going to claim Hagrid has no fault, then Buckbeak sure as hell needs to be put down. In our world, we put down animals that attack people, especially kids. Once again, Buckbeak is a wild animal so Hagrid's bad teaching is ultimately to blame. If Hagrid won't man up, then sorry Buckbeak! I know several people hate Lucius but the man is being a decent father. Wouldn't you be outraged if your only kid, and heir, was attacked in a class like Draco was? Be real.
Also in the same book, Hermione shows gross indifference to the well-being of Scabbers - “All cats chase rats, Ron!”. Ron should have slapped this inconsiderate bitch. Ron has the patience of a saint. If my friend acted like this, our friendship is through unless sincere apologies are made. I am not even a pet person but Hermione was utterly disgusting in book 3. Ron deserves better than this girl with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. Ron always wants to kick Norris the cat. The Weasley twins experiment on animals. Hagrid mistreats the animals under his care (eg. the dead flubberworms and poor Fluffy). Transfiguration class is 99% animal experimentation. But boo-hoo, the ministry is killing Buckbeak...why should I care again about some random wild animal when animal cruelty is a staple of HP?
Draco hates Muggleborns
Draco is supposed to be from a family of blood supremacists. Yet he willingly engaged Harry in conversation despite Harry being dressed in unkempt MUGGLE clothes and not knowing who he was. So you can't say Draco spoke to Harry because of his fame (unlike Ron Weasley who deliberately sought out Harry Potter). Harry is the one who judged him because Draco was talking about things that are normal to him, ironically proving Draco’s point — “I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways” — true. How hilarious.
Anyway, all wizards, so-called light side included, hate/mistreat muggles. But it's ok because JKR wrote it that way. It's ok for wizards to invade muggles' privacy and threaten them. You don't see Draco attacking mugglebornes like this when you meet him. He just thinks wizards should keep to themselves. As a muggle, I approve of this message. I don't want these sadistic wizards near me.
So how did Draco go from this in book 1 to the boy in book 2 declaring "mudbloods are next"? I have no clue. Draco was almost creepy in book 2. I think Draco had a grudge against Hermione and was childishly acting out. Draco is a pampered 12 yr old, what does he know about the horrors of death? Heck, sometimes I wished I was aborted when I was an angsty preteen. Not knowing what exactly I was wishing for myself. Plus, I believe JKR was using Draco as a lazy plot device in book 2.
Plus, I think his negative interactions with the golden trio made him more radicalized as time went on. We don't see Draco calling other students "mudblood", right? I don't recall Draco harassing people like Justin. Draco seems to have a "Hermione" problem, not a "mudblood" problem.
Bonus: James Potter bullied Snape to first impress and then later blackmail Lily, a muggleborne, into dating him. And when said muggleborne girl retaliated...James threatened to hex her. James literally threatened Lily with violence for (barely) attempting to defend Snape. The girl he supposedly has a crush on! James Potter is supposed to be from a muggleborne friendly, light-side family haha. At least Draco was upfront that he despised Hermione. I have read Dramione fics with healthier foundations than canon Jily - not that I like Dramione as a ship. But sure Dramione is the only toxic ship around here!
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Please add any other double standards I missed! (Book) Canon Draco fans need to call out the unfair treatment of Draco! Draco is not the evil monster people paint him to be. And you can like him too without warping him into this pathetic, bland, crybaby, gay fanon version. I used to like Fanon Draco when I just started reading HP fanfiction and did not know any better, but book Draco is so much more entertaining, colourful and even charming :)
You don't have to like Draco. But stop giving the heroes passes for the same awful actions.
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