#since westerns are rooted in a racist history

[turnbacktyne]

Are you native? I am too I’m lakota!

Ah unfortunately I'm not, but I'm so glad to hear that I have indigenous people in my followers!

I'm irish, but I've always wanted to learn and understand the native people in what's now America, especially since the irish and indigenous have a long history of supporting each other.

The powwow was open to the public and I wanted to learn and support local tribes so I was super happy I got to go! I learned a lot and saw amazing things, I loved the fancy shawl dance and the MC calling the dancers storytellers just really struck something in me

[zweiginator]

The way in which Israel is actively citing H*tler as their muse for murdering tens of thousands of Palestinians and then Zionists deny deny deny a genocide that they are complicit in is fucking terrifying. I’ve seen plenty of Zionists online belittling and bullying anti-Zionist Jewish people, stating their ancestors would be ashamed of them, that they are not “real” Jews…

How far removed are we? The holocaust was not even 100 years ago and Zionists wholeheartedly believe that their ancestors would be proud of a stolen state representative of Judaism committing a genocide.

Not only that, but the denial stage of genocide is ramping up in full force, ironic since Zionists don’t realize that their vehement denial is further proof that a genocide is what is occurring. Any form of cognitive dissonance that disproves their denial—statistics from international organizations, indictments from the ICC, primary sources of Palestinians giving firsthand experiences of their family members and friends being slaughtered—will not stand for them. They simply deny it. The UN is a terrorist organization to them. Everything is rooted back to October 7th and Hamas and the hostages. No understanding or acknowledgement of the context surrounding this conflict or how it has been going on for over 75 years. No nuance.

And the release of the hostages and the dismantling of Hamas is not in Zionists’ best interests. It’s the only thing they can somewhat grasp onto as a driving force as to why Israel is systematically murdering Palestinians, targeting aid, and bombing civilians (all war crimes, by the way). Without Hamas, their arguments become even more obsolete.

I weep for Palestinians and the land that was robbed from them. The lives that have been robbed, the innocence. I can only pray that international law will, for once, act not as a puppeteer for western interests, but as a driving force to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, as it already has. The ICC has a duty to prove itself (especially as a relatively new body of enforcement of international law) as competent to try Israel and their accomplices (AMERICA!) to the fullest extent of the law. I have to admit I’m not very optimistic, but I am hopeful.

And lastly, I think this proves a psychological truth that’s hard to swallow—that really any group of people can and will commit atrocities like this. Any form of fervent nationalism will exist at the expense of an “opposing” group. Then the us v. them dynamic begins. Zionists use western hegemony and racist connotations of the word “terrorist” to scapegoat and dehumanize Palestinians and Arab people at large, although their actions can and should only be categorized as terrorism and blatant ethnic cleansing.

Thus, we need to dismantle our racist conceptualization of terrorism and the propaganda we have been taught. I have seen many people who were formerly pro-Israel become pro-Palestine as more information and resources come to light. We need to do academic research and come to properly informed conclusions that don’t keep us in echo chambers, but which inform us of the context of the conflict in today’s world, as well as the post-WWII world in which Israel was created.

Human rights are not inherently political. This is humanity, empathy, and being staunchly on the right side of history.

[sillyandquiteawkward]

When I was younger, up to like. The end of elementary school, my parents told me my hair was dirty blonde. I was confused, I thought it was brown, but when teachers told me it was dirty blonde I was convinced that I must have the color wrong.

Looking back at old pics of me: that shit was brown. It was always brown at its roots. The only reason it looked blonde was because the surface was sun-kissed.

So anyways I love my brown curly hair now, I don't understand the obsession with blonde hair. Here's my hair then and now. I cut it short a couple years ago and it couldn't be healthier :)

Now if you want another example of hair trauma there's people who just go up and TOUCH your hair. A stranger once sat behind me on some bleachers and just started BRAIDING MY HAIR and no one stopped them, it was wild

white people have always been obsessed with blondness, and i dont think i can give a whole history of why that is, but im pretty sure it is deeply rooted in racism. so the western beauty standard decided blondness to be the desired look and its stayed strong for forever i guess. people still think in racist ways, crowning one hair color over the others and it just perpetuates it. i think ive seen a tiktok that kind of discussed why white women cling to blonde but its been a hot fuckin second since i saw that.

also yeah fuck ppl touching your hair without permission. theres a reason why cutting someones hair can be assault. its part of a persons body, just like someones arm or face. dont touch people without permission, especially peoples hair.

[namorthesubmariner]

About Namor x Shuri

I’m not here to rain on anyone’s parade, ship what you ship and tag appropriately is my fandom motto, if there’s something I don’t want to see then it’s up to me to not engage with that.

I am Namor x Shuri neutral, I don’t love or hate it. I am just here to put this post together to address the Fandom and make sure that some information isn’t lost in the chaos that has become the Namor tags these days.

1. Please do not harass the actors or the production crew. Yes, I am speaking to you, I don’t care how valid you think your ship is, I don’t care if you think it should be canon. Don’t harass the cast/crew or other fans. Don’t do what Reylos and MCU fans have done in the past and just a reminder in case people forgot: Reylos have been extremely racist and harassed the actors and other fans all for the sake of their ship. MCU Fans harassed the fans and the actress Emily VanCamp during the Peggy vs Sharon discourse. I’m not here to argue this and I’m not going to provide receipts, the information and past actions are there if you want to go looking for them. Edit to add: I was speaking in general terms of what I know about these discourses, but I do understand there are Reylo fans who are chill and I was not pointing out anyone specifically. I just wanted to share the observations I knew of in a general way.

2. In a Rollingstone interview Tenoch Huerta has stated that the intentions for the Namor and Shuri relationship was not romantic. Please read the full interview, this role and the movie’s themes mean a lot to the actor beyond shipping.

On another note, some viewers felt that there was romantic chemistry between Namor and Shuri when she was in your city. Did you play that romantic chemistry deliberately? I don’t feel it was a romantic touch [between them]. I think it was more a human, intimate touch. I mean in the history of their kingdoms, the history of their people, they share the same root, and the threat comes from the same place for both of them, for the same reason. They both face threats from Western countries like the United States and France in the story, because of vibranium, natural resources. I think they connect in that aspect.

I mean, when you meet someone and you have a good relationship, whether this person is the gender that you prefer or not, you always have this ambiguous relationship. It’s normal. It’s human. So, I think this happened with both of them. If that can evolve into a romantic relationship or not? I don’t know. It wasn’t our intention. It could happen or not.

The beautiful part of this relationship is, it doesn’t need to be romantic to be deep. It doesn’t need to be romantic to be beautiful and bright and intimate. And this connection between a man and a woman in different levels doesn’t need, necessarily, to end in a romantic relationship. And that’s beautiful, you know? Because I hate the romantic love. I think it’s poison. [Laughs] These characters, they create something… I don’t know. It was magical, but not necessarily romantic.

3. in an interview by Newsweek  with film editor Michael P. Shawver this was written:

On Shuri’s Bond with Namor One thing that has stood out amongst fans since the film was released is Shuri's bond with Namor, and whether there is any potential for romance between the pair. When they first meet, Namor urges Shuri and her mother Queen Ramonda to work with him to retrieve the scientist responsible for making a Vibranium detector, Riri, or face the wrath of Talokan. Later, when Shuri goes to Talokan with Riri, the Talokan leader tells the Wakandan princess of his history, and how his people came to establish the underwater nation after being oppressed by Spanish colonizers. Namor shows Shuri his kingdom and she comes to realize how similar Talokan is to Wakanda and this has inspired some fans to believe a romance could be on the cards for them. Shawver explained that idea was something that was discussed during the film's creation process, and was even something they tested, but ultimately Shuri's bond with Namor felt like it should be something different. "I think what's really interesting is there were takes where there was some connection there," Shawver said. "And at one point in an early cut we discussed like, 'Hey, do we leave it there? Do we just put it out there? Let's just add some complexity to the relationship.' "But, then, you've got to watch out for portraying, for example, Shuri flirting to get what she wants as opposed to being a diplomatic leader and becoming the leader that she needs to be, that she'll get to at the end."So what we ultimately focused on was Namor's line where he says 'only the most damaged people can be truly great leaders', and that's planting the seed of the shared trauma that she realizes at the end [of the film]."But that's essentially who they are, they're trying to lead and be a leader of their nations with all this pain, carrying around this heavy heart." The editor explained that Namor "sort of became [a] big brother" to Shuri "because of the similarity she saw when she saw their world and hearing the story." He added that there is "obviously a shared cultural trauma between his people and her people" and "what she lost at the beginning he started to fill that void, and that felt the most genuine to the characters." Even so, that didn't mean that the editors and Coogler felt the pair were completely unsuited to each other, because Shawver said: "They relate, and I think that anytime we can relate to somebody there can be undertones of that kind of thing, you know what I mean?"Referring to how Namor gave Shuri his mother's bracelet in the film, the editor added: "Honestly, we've got to keep ourselves sane and laugh a lot, especially with the tougher moments or the serious moments, so we would always joke that when he gave her that bracelet they were married now, and she didn't know it."There's a whole different movie where she's like, 'wait, what, I'm the queen of Talokan now?'"

However Production Designer Hannah Beachler has already stated that the interview was taken out of context and that there was no romantic scene between them.  (source, source)

Nope. JS never shot a romantic scene with them.

I think Shawver was taken way out of context.  While there was a curiosity & seemingly a mutual experience of loss, never any scenes that would be considered typical "romance" or physical intimacy filmed. Shawver is a good dude. Media recreating something where there's nothing.

MCUDirect has already updated with an edit to include Beachler’s response. Again please read the full Newsweek article because there is more there about Honoring Chadwick and other things about the film.

4. Yes, there is a lot of scenes cut and I am just as excited to see those scenes released as anyone but please do not do what Snyder Fans did and harass the crew with #releasethetalokancut that I have seen pop up recently. Hopefully once the DVD comes out we will get all the extra scenes and commentary.

5. The Mary Sue wrote an article about their views on the Namor x Shuri ship parallels and Namor’s background (source) the reason I’m linking this is because it also talks about how Namor is not Mexican even though the actor is, but the Character of Namor is a Mayan/Mesoamerican Native/Indigenous. Please remember this in your fics/headcanons. Namor would not speak Spanish, he would speak his native Yucatec Mayan.

6. White/Light washing, there are many new Namor x Shuri Fan Arts out there and many of them have lightwashed Namor’s skintone to the point of him being white. Please ask artists to consider what white/light washing does to harm Fans of Color and also erases Characters of Color. There is NO EXCUSE for this, and artists should do better. I’m not here to call out artists but to point out that the issue is there and to be wary of it. The actor Tenoch Huerta is very vocal about how racism/discrimination against darker skinned actors in Mexico has affected him and other actors like him.

7. Fandom Racism. It’s there, it’s all over the tags, it’s in the fics. I am not only speaking about Namor x Shuri but about the Namor x Reader fics that have exploded in the tags: Namor is NOT a Noble Savage or a Rapist or a Pedophile. The incident with DeltasStories (discussed here) has sparked outrage in fandom however it was inevitable with the way fandom and specifically white fandom engages with Men/Characters of Color in Fandom. Men/Characters of Color are highly sexualized and you all should educate yourselves on why writing a Character like MCU!Namor who has dark skin tones in this manner is highly racist. Comic!Namor also is painted with this Exotic Lover Rapist brush when it comes to the NamorSue ship, even though he has never done anything like that and Comic!Namor does not mess with kids (source). So the next time you want to spread Fanon!Namor stop and think about how you are perpetuating racist stereotypes.

Shipping is for the Fans. Not the Cast/Crew/Canon.

It won’t be canon, because we all know Namor kills Ramonda. However it doesn’t mean fans can’t ship, just be sure to be respectful of the characters, other fans, and the cast/crew. And for the Antis please shut up about the Age Gap, you aren’t helping your crusade. If you don’t like Namor x Shuri then block/blacklist. I shouldn’t have to say this over and over but the “Immortal Lover” trope is an old trope in romance media, the whole Vampire/Human romance genre is built on this as are other types of fantasy pairings, there’s so many ships centered around white/non poc character that have this trope, this is nothing new so don’t pull out this outcry because all you are doing is infantilizing Shuri and making Namor out to be a predator. Namor is NOT a sexual predator.

This post will be updated with edits as time goes by when new information comes out.

[eretzyisrael]

As the publicity increases for the new "Golda" movie, and anti-Israel activists are freaking out over the possibility that people might watch it and learn that Israel isn't wholly evil, let's revisit the quote that the haters consider the most damning and racist from Golda Meir.

Wikipedia traces Golda Meir's supposedly bigoted quote denying that there were a Palestinian people.

1969:  "There was no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country from them. They did not exist."

Fact check: True. The quote is often butchered, but her words are precise: There was no independent Palestinian people in a Palestinian state. It was considered "southern Syria" by the Arabs and Westerners included Transjordan in "Palestine" which usually meant Biblical Israel and Judah. While there were isolated exceptions, Palestinian Arabs did not consider themselves a "Palestinian people," by and large, until the 1960s. 

1970: "When were Palestinians born? What was all of this area before the First World War when Britain got the Mandate over Palestine? What was Palestine, then? Palestine was then the area between the Mediterranean and the Iraqian border. East and West Bank was Palestine. I am a Palestinian, from 1921 [to] 1948, I carried a Palestinian passport. There was no such thing in this area as Jews, and Arabs, and Palestinians, There were Jews and Arabs....I don't say there are no Palestinians, but I say there is no such thing as a distinct Palestinian people."

Fact check: Mostly true. I would argue that by 1970 there was an emergent "Palestinian people" that had been formed by decades of Arab mistreatment of and marginalization of Palestinian Arabs - and the Arab League decisions to maintain their stateless status until Israel is destroyed. 

What she didn't say is that the creation of a Palestinian people was specifically to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish state and ultimately meant as a weapon to destroy Israel. Their Arab "brethren" (and their own leaders) did everything they could to destroy Israel, and when they couldn't do it militarily, they decided that they could appeal to the Western proclivity to root for the underdog. Before 1967, Israel was the clear underdog, so they needed to create a Palestinian people who could make Israel look like the bully and the tiny, stateless Palestinian people as the hapless victims. 

Meir's comments were in the context of that deliberate re-framing of history, as she witnessed this change in the meaning of the word "Palestinian" and the emergence of the new phrase "Palestinian people" to refer to Arabs. 

[endusviolence]

Magnus Hirschfeld was a eugenicist. I suggest you read Racism and the Making of Gay Rights by Laurie Marhoefer, a historian of queer and trans people in Nazi Germany, before you go writing posts praising him. He literally advocated for the sterilizing of the "feeble-minded", but oh, he has such a "fabulous mustache"!

Yes, he was. I really should have addressed this in my previous post. In my defense, this is a side topic that requires a lot of elaboration and to do so in that post would've derailed the point. Let's have that elaboration now, shall we?

For those who are unaware, eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices created with the goal of improving the genetic quality of a population. Versions of its practices have kind of always existed, but the term itself was coined by a British polymath named Francis Galton. The problem with it is it's scientific racism. From its start, it was meant as a method of "racial improvement" in society. Galton genuinely believed that all people with African roots were "two grades below Anglo-Saxtons in intelligence and ability." I've not even mentioned yet that Galton created eugenics under the belief that we didn't need to know how the mechanism of hereditary work to see its results. The entire practice was and is an uninformed pseudoscience that always focused more on racial traits than trying to find any truth based in reality.

Eugenics is often considered a Nazi thing because they really loved using it (see the mass sterilization and the Lebensborn program), but reality is that most nations (especially Western nations) have utilized eugenics in one way or another since its inception. In the US, for example, hundreds of thousands underwent compulsory sterilization during the 20th century to prevent socially undesirable traits, disproportionately affecting non-white populations. Eugenics was also used to help ban most Asian immigrants (except for those from the US's ally Japan or the then-colonized Philippines) from entering the country in the Immigration Act of 1924. Counter movements protesting eugenics made serious waves to dismantle some systems in the 70s and 80s, but prisons and other public institutions will still sterilize especially unruly people.

Magnus Hirschfeld, like many scientists of his time, was influenced by the ideas of eugenics. It's not entirely clear cut as it may seem. For one thing, Hirschfeld mostly rejected the racial hierarchy aspect (part of what made him controversial in his time, actually). He did, however, believe that those with disabilities or other undesirable traits should not reproduce. Sterilization was performed at the Institute (often with transgender patients). I also don't deny that he had his own racist beliefs, and I'll be delighted to read the recommended literature for better insight on this topic. I do not praise him for any of this behavior. In fact, I personally find it absolutely horrifying.

Then, why don't I hold it against him? Simply put, I don't find it productive to completely throw away and forget about important historical figures over controversial beliefs. I think Kaz Rowe put it perfectly in their video on Chevalier d'Eon (another controversial figure in trans history). You don't need to like a historical figure to find them interesting and worthy of study, and a historical figure don't need to be a good person to be queer. Without Hirschfeld and the Institute of Sexology, the early practice of sex reassignment surgery wouldn't have nearly as big, and the transgender people who did receive care from the Institute likely wouldn't have been able to transition. You're allowed to feel complicated things about figures of our past and even hate them for some of their beliefs. But you cannot deny that they do deserve at least a golf clap for the foundations they laid.

[manicato]

Daka Taíno y estoy aquí.

I was the blogger Triguenaista/Inaruri who was stalked and harrassed for 10+ years, while homeless, by Keyla Rivera and her anti-indigenous group “This-is-not-taino". Keyla Rivera, of Florida and Orocovis, PR, a white Puerto Rican, was mostly responsible for this racist behavior.

Since in the last ten years, I have CONTINUED to see my name thrown around as a "validated pretendian/fraud" because of the now-exposed Keyla's behavior- We're just going to need to address it. And since I was doxxed by them, and my full name has been shared with you all, I'm going to go ahead and show you some documents that that hate-group wasn't willing to show.

Let's start with a family tree- ya?

Avelino, was born into slavery in Puerto Rico, approximately 1865, in Arecibo Puerto Rico. To the best of my knowledge (and factoring in the DNA test), he was Afro-Taíno, with strong Nigerian/Western Bantu roots. As noted on the last published Registro Central de Esclavos of 1872 (page 3, 9th person recorded), he was a natural-born Puerto Rican (Natural de Oto Rico).

 After abolition in 1873, like many others, Avelino was forced to continue working for 3 to 5 more years. Do Barbara Balseiro (the indicated slave owner) had a working relationship with Felix Marengo y Poggi, and was known to send slaves to work at his plantations.

Through research (1910 census), I found that Maria Baerga y Rivera De Quiñones was a "Mulatto" housekeeper for the Felix Marengo y Poggi in the 1910’s. It is likely that this is where Avelino met her daughter Maria Quiñones Baerga and developed a relationship.

They had son Felix (recorded as negro on census documents, until adulthood/WW2, where he is then recorded as blanco/brown toned (on his Draft card), who married Carmen Martinez.

This is Carmen’s Acta de Nacimiento which indicates race as “Mestiza”, clearly indicating not only direct Taíno heritage/ancestry, but a connection to an existing community as that was the only circumstance in which this term was legally used in PR when they started to write Taínos out of the country. It was and is currently illegal to list someone's race/ethnicity in PR as indigenous. Mestiza and Trigeño is the ONLY exceptions for those with concrete connections.

A Close-up:

On the naciemnto form above her mother is cited as “Vincenta/Vincenda”, from/born in Jayuya. There is a note about her grandparents in part 3. “Ambos de raza mestiza”, Ajiubro Martinez and Juana Martinez from Morovis.

According to family oral history, Carmen Martinez came from a community/family that took care of the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial site of Utuado before the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña took over with formal protections in 1955.

There may be a relationship between her and one of the 60 Puerto Rican indigenous children taken to the Carlisle Indian School in 1901. Three Martinez children were enrolled there, Provindentia, Levia, and Miguel. My best-informed guess is Provindentia Martinez may be my 2nd great-grandmother as “Vincenta” could be a derivative of the name. If it was Provendentia, she would have been the right age to have a child, settling down in PR after traveling to NY for a few years after her time at the Carlisle School, as recorded in their records. Until better clarification can be obtained, this is just speculation.

Carmen would make and maintain small bohio-like structures in the backyard of the family Utuado home (many were destroyed after Hurricane George, and the rest after Hurricane Maria), to house Semisakis and Opias.

My grandfather, Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr. was extremely proud and vocal of our rich Taíno heritage and culture. He made sure that we knew our roots and how precious our indigenous ancestry is, and taught us all he could remember.

In terms of direct lineage, my direct Taíno lineage can be traced from my 2nd great-grandfather Avelino, my great-grandmother Carmen Martinez (whom I had the honor of knowing and having a relationship with as a child living in Puerto Rico), and my own grandfather Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr (who I grew up with).

If "cultural connection"/"growing up in a continuously connected family" was your issue with my indigenous status- clearly I did and have the documentation to show my family's continuous connection.

If it's blood quantum/documented indigenous status- I'm between 3/8th and 7/16th according to my DNA. With the documents I have here, if Tainos were a federally recognized tribe in the US, by the BIA standards, I'd be eligible for enrollment.

And this is all without discussing how history and the laws affect lineage recording or the "Whitening of PR". My family's oral history should have been believed to start with, but now the documentation can be found online. You have your "proof" on the two points yall bring up the most.

So you see why the younger me couldn't figure out why everyone just believed the lies being told? How even now that this hate group was exposed, I don't get why I am the scapegoat for people trying to make a point. Like, I wasn't and am not an educator, nor was I trying to make money in any way (and I was homeless- I needed money and yet DID NOT ASK). I was literally just existing on this hell site and became a target. But yall handed over your cash really quick to this hate group, validated them, and were so shocked when they ended up being frauds and provided yall with NOTHING.

You all believed a white puertorrican that BIPOC's could not be trusted to be indigenous (look at the list, it is EXCLUSIVELY Black and Brown peoples and anyone who stood up for them. It wasn't a "frauds list" until after we all left the platform. That was added AFTERWARDS. And yes, some of us are STILL friends because we were here for the community, not cash or fame). You continue to keep that belief every time you defend it. In the end, ya'll are just being racist and need to stop hurting an already small af community.

Taínos exists. We are here. We are NOT recognized by the US gov't yet. To imply our self-determination takes away from indigenous people is to fundamentally not understand what it is to be indigenous. And, it implies you see the indigenous status as money and not actually living people with complex needs and issues.

I'm glad the rest of the internet has unlearned what this group put into the world about Taínos, but now I'mma need yall on here to minimally stop throwing my name around. Stop it. I am exactly who I have been telling you all I am, whether you accept that or not is NOT my problem. I have the documentation, which is more than can be said about anyone yall have believed in the past.

At least I know who my people are, grew up knowing, and can live happily knowing there are people who disagree in our community because we aren't a monolithic group. Yall just need to treat us as humans.

For those reading for the history of it all- I'm glad to help. If you're trying to figure out your family's documentation- I got great info on how to find the information and who to contact. If you're looking for cultural resources- tainolibrary is LITERALLY the best source and it's free (Note: I have no affiliation with them. I genuinely believe they are a healthy and safe resource for those seeking reconnection/validation).

For those realizing they fucked up in believing my stalker- I accept my apologies in cash.

[j4m3s-b4k3r]

Heroes & Monsters

I kept seeing something moving quickly out of the corner of my eye. But it had always disappeared whenever I looked up & out the window by my lightbox.. After a few of these annoying distractions, I stopped working, and stared intently out the window. Until.. I saw weird SCI-FI NINJAS acrobatically battling a SPACE MONSTER on the rooftop across the road. Wha?! 

I had no idea what I was looking at! Colleagues explained that this was a shoot for a popular Japanese action/sci-fi TV show called SUPER SENTAI. I was in Tokyo, working at TOEI Animation studios. Their live-action studio was nearby, and they were simply shooting stunts on the rooftops of the mall across the street. (This same show would soon take the world by storm, renamed as - POWER RANGERS!)

Mystery thus solved, I turned my attention back to my work. Which was also about spandex-clad heroism - a 50th birthday animated series of SUPERMAN. With character designs by the great Gil Kane (I later discovered that another fave comics artist worked on the show too - Jim Woodring).

I’d looked for animation work when arriving in Japan, with no luck. Despite having a working holiday visa, and several polite interviews at studios. Anime gurus were unimpressed by my career working on terrible Saturday morning cartoons..

So I did the inevitable. English teaching. That, and a few illustration gigs, financed my own studies at a Japanese language school (recommended by pal Martin Ramsay). I enjoyed learning Japanese in the mornings, with afternoons free to explore Tokyo, before teaching English classes in the evenings.

Then, Sean Newton told me of a short animation job at TOEI in northwest Tokyo. My background in American Saturday Morning animation was suddenly an advantage, because TOEI’s client was Ruby-Spears in LA. I continued teaching the evening classes (till the semester ended) but had to stop my own Japanese lessons, sadly. However, I jumped at the chance to work in a Japanese animation studio.

I'd done Layout supervision in Taiwan, and oversaw inbetweening and reshoots in Korea. For the TOEI job, I was to help the Ruby-Spears on-site animation supervisor with fixes & reshoots. This gig even came with an apartment, in a building owned by TOEI mere blocks from their studio.

TOEI animation studio was created in 1956 (with roots in an earlier studio, Nihon Douga Eiga founded in 1948). Many anime masters got their start at this great studio - Osamu Tezuka began at TOEI, as did Hayao Miyazaki & Isao Takahata. The list of famous anime titles produced there is long indeed.

Since arriving in Japan, I often went to anime movies, trying my hardest to follow the language. Which was usually a fool's errand, as my Japanese vocabulary wasn't extensive, but I could follow the fantastic visuals. It was a great year for animation. I'd seen "TOTORO" in April. "GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES" had come out in May. Even western animation was fun, with "ROGER RABBIT" in June. I was utterly floored by "AKIRA" in July.

Anyway, there so many great projects in production around that time, that it was hard to get experienced animators interested in SUPERMAN. I am not sure what precisely was attracting talent when we needed it. Possibly TOEI's own DRAGONBALL-Z? or Kawajiri’s DEMON CITY SHINJUKU (which dropped later that year).

Trying to pump up enthusiasm for SUPERMAN, my boss had episodes of the 1940s Fleischer/Famous Studios cartoons sent from LA. He assembled animators in a screening room, and spoke excitedly about the history of the SUPERMAN character, and the classic cartoons - “This is what we are going for!” The lights dimmed and he rolled tape. The very first thing on screen was the title..

THE JAPOTEURS. I flinched. Uh, oh..

What followed was several minutes of absolutely the most racist stereotyping of the Japanese. Yikes. I'd seen some of these classic SUPERMAN cartoons before, but not this one. It was perhaps the first time that I saw a feel-good pop-culture icon used as a propaganda tool.

All the other shorts on that tape were about catching bank robbers, or fighting robots built by a criminal mastermind. Beautifully designed & animated action-escapism. Just what the supervisor had intended to show. If he'd previewed the video, he could have shown an inspiring action-animation banquet. Minus the insulting racism appetiser.

The lights went up, and he awkwardly apologised that these these cartoons were made during World War 2, when Japanese were the baddies. This mea culpa was made more awkward & prolonged as it had to be translated, sentence by embarrassing sentence.. If the intention was to get the Japanese crew excited for the poster boy of Truth Justice & The American Way.. well, that screening had the exact opposite effect, sadly..

Our main liaison with the crew was an absolutely lovely man, named Mr Otani. I imagine that he did serious damage control after that.. Otani San had worked at TOEI for many years, and knew everyone (he even had tales of working with Miyazaki). Anyway, I think it's largely due to this well-loved man that a crew finally assembled to finish the show.

By the standards of 1980s Saturday morning cartoons, the show came out pretty well, but is perhaps the least well-known of all the animated series of SUPERMAN. I wasn’t on the project long enough to get a screen credit. Which didn't bother me. It was years before I realised that screen credits on cartoons even mattered. That changed years later, when I applied for a US work visa..

ha ha!

[mariacallous]

Vladimir Putin's disastrous full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by a remarkably competent wave of repression at home, leading to renewed talk of Russians’ supposed “genetic predilection for slavery.” Ostensibly, centuries of oppression, dictatorship, and state terror could not but affect the Russian people's “DNA” — a fact, some argue, that is clearly demonstrated by the absence of any mass protest movement against the war inside Russia itself. Biologist Alexander Markov, however, has an answer for those arguing in favor of the popular theory that genetics — or “cultural heritability” — can explain why Russia today remains so persistently authoritarian.

The very question as to the mythical or “real” foundations of Russians’ supposed “genetic slavery” is unquestionably politically incorrect. Many will call it racist, and for good reason: the idea that socially meaningful differences between peoples — such as their intelligence, levels of aggression, penchant for hard work, or love for democracy — are determined by genetic traits, is baldly racist. The broad modern-day consensus, shared in particular by the educated general public of Western countries (at least in public discourse), is that such differences do not exist and could not exist in principle. Such is the generally acceptable social norm, the product of a cultural revolution rooted in the long and tumultuous history of fighting for social justice and equality for all.

However, as important as this tenet might be at our present stage of societal development, it contains no scientific proof that genetic differences between ethnic groups do not actually exist. Indeed, many societies and individuals continue to indulge in racist heresy, whether publicly or in private.

But even weak arguments are usually based on at least some facts. It is true that the Russian state yet again failed to build a Western-style democracy, and it is also true that the bloody consequences of this spectacular failure have shaken the entire world. As a result, many have come to wonder, eagerly or reluctantly, whether the Russian people really might be a few cards short when it comes to the genetic deck.

Genetics is a science — a natural science. It deals with facts and experiments. At least in theory, it should have nothing to do with ideological bias or political correctness. And since we cannot simply ban racist thoughts, we should at the very least be willing to offer a scientific clarification for those political activists who have only a vague understanding of genetics.

[kingjaffejoffer]

I watch NBA league pass religiously and have noticed a disturbing trend- a lot of teams regional announcers are fucking racist and it manifests in wildly inaccurate criticisms of good players. Best example being former Player and elite dumbass Wally Sczerbiak calling Tyrese Haliburton a “wannabe allstar” and basically a fraud. Wally should know a good player when he sees one. So when he says something like that about a guy who is widely accepted as one of the best young players it’s telling. The comment also sounded weirdly personal so there’s that too. Another thing I’m noticing is that the same announcers that make weird inaccurate comments about players also ALL favor Jokic as this year’s MVP. Jokic is unbelievable, and for what it’s worth if he keeps on this trajectory, niggas are going to forget about Dirk as the best European player ever. BUT- MVP is a political award and you have to be on a top 4 team to have a chance at winning it because white Nerd writers with MVP votes said so. Denver is in first in the west but any of the 5 Western conf teams behind them could EASILY turn their lights out in the playoffs because after Jokic, Denver relies too heavily on players that are overrated (Murray, Gordon, Hyland, and especially Porter). Denver certainly isn’t better than Boston or Milwaukee… which brings me to my final point- Giannis and Jayson Tatum are the actual front runners for MVP, but white voters/ regional announcers are just waiting for an excuse to remove them both from the race. Watch how this shit plays out…any and all excuses will be made for Jokic despite Denver’s inevitable collapse and soon to be exposed short comings. I fucking hate how the NBA allows for history to be altered via unrefined, outdated MVP voting. It’s got niggas acting like Steve Nash was a better player than Kobe, Shaq, Olajuwon, Malone, etc.

unrelated and random- Jordan Poole in his final form is gonna be so fucking crazy! He has Dame’s tool bag (range, confidence, ability to finish at the rim)+ more height that keeps Dame from advancing to the next tier of super star. He also has a Kyrie-esque counter package that very, very, very few other players posses. When Klay finally goes to another team or becomes 6th man permanently shit is gonna get really fun.

Messages like these are right up my alley! I watch the NBA every day. I don't have league pass officially but I've been pirating since I was a literal child so it's nothing.

I agree with you about just about everything. I hate how the MVP race has turned into this year-long media event / content machine. There's no fucking reason an "MVP Ladder" should even be the subject of conversation in December. Journalists and media personalities craft narratives for whoever they want to win and spend the year rallying a base. I hate it.

Most local team Homer broadcasts are unlistenable, have you ever heard the Celtics? 🤮🤮🤮

As exciting as Poole is offensively, until he can significantly improve on defense and decisionmaking he will be second fiddle to Klay in crunch time when it matters. Kerr values experience and trust more than anything when it matters. You can see that by the short 8-man playoff rotations.

But yeah Pooles creativity with the ball is amazing. This really is his time to shine right now with Steph out. I'm rooting for him.

Also... Only 4 teams are actually competing for a title this year: Golden State, Boston, Milwaukee, and with luck the 4th slot can be Brooklyn or Philly.

The rest of these teams are completely unserious to me. Especially Phoenix and Memphis.