#the real problem is that poc in rock don't have it as good as white people in rap frankly

[weedle-testaburger]

i would say i can't believe i saw someone saying 'if you don't like rap you're racist' on tumblr yesterday but i absolutely can bc it's exactly the kind of brain dead take you get on here from time to time

[an-idiot-in-fandoms]

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WAY WE TALK ABOUT THE MEMBERS OF MCR???

A-FUCKING-TTENTION. I WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS SOMETHING.

as my followers may know i am a giant mcr stan. i love their music. i think most of the band are good people. however, something came to my attention.

i haven't made it a secret that i am NOT a fan of Lindsey Way, Gerard's wife, who is a racist, pedophile apologist. learning about her being a giant piece of shit made me very sad to acknowledge that if Gerard is willing to not only marry her, but use the reunion tour as also an opportunity to uncancel his dear precious wife or some bullshit, then he's not obviously the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to race and racism in general. the fact that they even endorsed and was a fan of MSI, a "shock humour" band, which used slurs to get attention (which is fucking pathetic by the way), says a lot already. perhaps it speaks to the rock scene's general tolerance for racism at the time in the 2000s, but it wasn't the 1800s. Jimmy Urine was still a white man using the n-word at full volume, and profiting off of it during his concerts and releasing his music.

and maybe shut the fuck up if you're going to call me a "snowflake" about it, because chances are you're white, and you have no fucking clue how dangerous this rhetoric can be towards POC, who have to put up with the normalisation of slur use that the band encourages. i am a POC, and i find the fact that he used that language for money and fame absolutely disgusting. the whole band is disgusting. they can rot in hell.

anyway.

i came across a blog, not going to say which one, but one where it called out Lindsey Way. i was like "ok cool someone else who can use critical thinking in this fandom and doesn't just blindly support Gerard even though he's still definitely not the goddamn messiah". so i go on a scroll through their blog. they were a big fan of Frank, and i respect that, Frank deserves all of his flowers and more.

and then it got weird.

i came across posts where they speculated on the dynamic of the band. and a lot of things were spoken about, where they talked about Gerard being manipulative towards Frank, and how Frank didn't like going on the American leg of the tour during the reunion, and how, basically, they weren't friends, and how Gerard wasn't a good person.

the point is - there was A LOT of speculation. it made me upset to be reading it because i felt as though i'd been punched in the face, reading all this stuff about a guy i look up to partially. i sort of fell into a rabbit hole scrolling through their tumblr, getting more depressed, feeding into the logic that i could never truly feel happy about liking mcr again, reading about all of these theories, and---

hold the phone.

did you read that?

THEORIES.

it occurred to me that these were THEORIES. and the way they were demonising certain people, such as putting down Ray in certain posts to make way for Frank, made me realise that there's a problem with this fandom and how people like to assume what happens with the band members' personal life, and how they interact with each other. people like to speculate in this fandom. like, a lot.

i'll assume it's partially due to how most of the band don't shed a lot of light on their personal lives, only really Frank and Mikey are active on social media, usually showing appreciation for their families/or Frank's countless side-projects (which are all great btw, go listen to Parachutes again). so a lot of the fandom turn to speculation, to come up with these theories that "oh there's in-fighting", or "Gerard is secretly an evil genius who manipulates the whole band".

these are real people. Gerard isn't a saint, despite what some people may believe (cough, girlgerard, cough), but what we don't have to do is start making up bullshit about them being a certain way with no evidence. it's all speculation. and it's demeaning, not only to Frank and Gerard, who've probably had enough with the rumours about them over the years, but for Mikey and Ray as well.

these people aren't your friends. they're not some mystical beings shrouded in darkness that you have to find everything out about either. they are people in a band.

going too deep into speculation robs them of their autonomy. it makes everyone in the fandom look like creeps as well. it's horrible to see, and it takes away the real importance of critical thinking.

you can think critically about Gerard for marrying and excusing a racist woman, because there is EVIDENCE of her being racist. there is EVIDENCE of her being a pedophile apologist. that brings up questions about his own views on race, and how much he's willing to excuse, if he could love someone who willingly takes part in racism.

you can't do the same for Frank and Gerard's relationship. we know JACKSHIT about that. they have never said anything negative pertaining to each other in interviews, whatever "beef" people have made up between them is entirely manufactured by the fandom's overactive imagination. it's like a dead-dove fanfic on AO3 for fuck's sake, where Gerard is tagged as an asshole.

i'm aware it is only a small proportion of people who do this. but the extent to which they do it is honestly shocking. so i got pissed off.

we don't need to know everything about what happens with the band members. Frank has LS Dunes. Mikey has his family. who the fuck knows what Ray and Gerard are doing.

(now, no one's complaining about the lack of Ray on social media, but when people see a picture of Gerard's hand they flip out and beg for a face reveal - but no one's ready for that convo...)

point is: let them be. work with what you get. there's no need to make up things to make it all interesting, to create conflict - you've got that with the heavily problematic connection to MSI. evidence is key. you do not need to analyse these people like they're fictional characters.

because they are PEOPLE. and people are neither completely good or bad, they are usually in the grey area.

[steveharrington]

But we’re not told WHY they’re vecna’d. There’s no reason why vecna targets traumatized teens EXCEPT to make it even more horror-movie-ish. Why do they get trash compacted like that specifically? It’s implied that’s how vecna a powers work but why? No idea.

The show has left so many unanswered questions already and this new element (vecna itself!) just over complicates everything

And I’m actually kind of pissed bc Patrick gets vecna’d and we know almost nothing about him. But stranger things… hates poc

I actually kind of hate Chrissy because of how differently she (pretty white girl) was treated from Patrick (black boy). And. her eating disorder existed SOLELY for exploitative purposes just to cause an emotional reaction it’s not something that adds to her as a character it’s just there to freak the audience out, meanwhile other REAL LIFE ACTORS are being forced to starve themselves for the roles. We get it eating disorders are scary good thing they’re not real! /s

Acting like this new girl will be important focusing on her ed only to kill her off in the most horrific way possible… i don’t like it it feels exploitative especially of a real world problem this show is absolutely complicit in spreading

We got a LOT less development for Fred than chrissy and didn’t fucking. Languish in such a triggering topic I think he was the happy medium.

Regardless the focus on traumatized teens with no other similarities was already so random they could have just picked literally anyone with no special backstory and it would have worked just as well? At the end of the day Chrissy ONLY matters as motivation for Jason, who only matters as motivation for Eddie ( and since Eddie’s death did nothing like. It didn’t seem like he was saving Dustin’s life or anything) who only matters to make Dustin kind of sad? She died for man pain except the ultimate man pain was for some guy she never even met

Chrissy isn’t a person or a character she’s a bafflingly written INTENTIONALLY TRIGGERING and misogynistic plot device with an outrageous amount of minute details they could have given to any of the real characters. They didn’t have to spend 10 minutes pretending she mattered only to beat her to death with a rock and then run over her a few times for good measure

well first of all i am no authority on the topic of whether or not chrissy's struggles with her ed were done correctly and therefore i will not speak on it because its really....not my place as someone who hasn't experienced that!

as for why vecna targets people with trauma specifically, i think it serves a greater narrative purpose and that's depicted best through max's arc this season. vecna's whole backstory as henry shows that he was obviously traumatized himself by brenner and when he appeals to chrissy, fred, and max he attempts to persuade them to just give up/join him/etc because it's easier than carrying on. he's using their trauma against them. and then when max is faced with this threat of losing her life to vecna, it motivates her to want to get better and want to stop isolating herself from lucas and the group, she literally says "i don't want to go, im not ready" and it kinda overall like. saves her life! vecna acts as a narrative tool to explore mental health and trauma and guilt. imo it's much much MUCH more impactful for our characters to overcome him through their bonds and their desire to live despite what they've been through than like.....killing a monster of the week

obv you dont have to agree with me and that's fine but i don't think chrissy is like...a misogynistic charicature in the slightest. like i said before i really don't think chrissy's treatment in the show was uniquely different than fred's or even max's. i don't really understand how chrissy's trauma was "languished in" any more than fred's? i feel like they got equal screentime and fred's vecna vision was just as brutal as chrissy's, even if they talked about two entirely different topics. and if im being completely honest (again not trying to be rude or demean your view of the show, but you did send this ask to me personally so im going to give my honest opinions back) i think referring to chrissy as a "plot device" and not a "real character" is intentionally reading the show in bad faith.

this season is a horror season. people die like they do in any slasher movie. i understand if the vecna plotline isn't for everyone because like yeah watching characters who are already suffering die very tragic deaths is hard! but i think the point of vecna like i said before is to personify trauma, guilt, and shame to allow our characters to overcome those feelings. chrissy's death worked both to establish what vecna does and to involve eddie. but i dont think that automatically makes her a "prop" or a "plot device" because she's given a personality, she's given a lot of thought and care from the actress, she's given people who mourn her. i think it was genuinely one of the sweetest moments in the whole show when eddie dedicated his little guitar solo to her because it showed that her death affected him and in motivating him to want to kill vecna and save his friends from her same fate, it had meaning

[sokumotanaka]

MHA 370 spoilers

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Look man, like what you want but I've seen way too many people devil's advocating this particular page here.

Having a fictional people tell a black person he'd never get discrimination or prejudice when they could of used anybody else ( another hero) is wild to me man.

Cause black people are currently facing one of the biggest racial declines in years, they get arrested for nothing, shot at or even worst! All these negative stigmas, I can't walk down the street without some white woman clutching her purse and walking faster. Or seeing me and walking across the street no matter how busy it is.

And people on Twitter and elsewhere will say some wild out of pocket crap about black people just minding their own business.

They get censored out of Marvel/DC and star wars movies in japan, there's also places in japan that say no black people allowed! So you get why this panel is wild. It's undermining that black people will get prejudice way more than a fictional people who will get a perfect ending!

Rock lock showed up once almost died in his first appearance then vanished only to come back to get told he don't get it, my guy has less screentime than the background characters in class 1-A. MHA has done a terrible job at talking about its mutant discrimination; we're learning about the brunt of it and characters backstories in the recent chapters towards the end!

Froppy, shoji, Tokoyami, Ojiro, Mina etc all never spoke about how they struggled or how the world treats mutants. And none of thr non mutant heroes have sny opinions on it sans the ine interaction! Minorities and discriminated people tend to tslk about it more than once! And the viewer wouldn't know either with how the world is shown! (It comes across as they wanted enough prejudice talk to meet the quota but not enough to make your manga bros uncomfy)

The number 2 hero is a guy with wings beloved by all!

The num 5 hero is also beloved powerful and simped for in and out of universe and num 10 is a whale man who faces the most physical problems with discrimination we never see.

The chief of police has a dog head.

This ain't like X-men where it's actually nuanced from the start and it didn't happen at the tail end of the series. (Cause it's actually good and they have dark skinned poc, more than one! And they talk about the prejudices.)

I really do wish MHA was better, I really do.

But stuff like this? Is insulting; you can't tell a black guy a REAL RACE! He doesn't get it. And the fans pretending this is okay and genius is...tiring...

You can't tell me Rock lock the only black MHA HERO EVER, that he doesn't have it worst than fucking SPINNER! Especially when he's you know, the only black person to appear in the series with a name and voice!!

[masterthespianduchovny]

I think people see Black people and POC as simultaneously incapable and overly capable. So they treat them as children and as threats-both undeserving of respect and humanity. You see this with how Richie treats Sydney, for example. And I think that's why most people have no problem with his treatment of her. The reality is that Sydney is much more competent than he is and he knows it. He is fully aware of it and that's why he degrades her, and Carmy too. That's why many viewers don't want her with Carmy. Because she is the shit. She is young and impatient and green but she is great. And that's why she is impatient because she sees her own potential and wants to grow it because she knows she can do it. She is not only talented, but she also has the skills and work ethic. It's both that she is innately good and has worked to become the best. And to be quite honest, most people are very much content with mediocrity. And that's the thing about Carmy and Sydney-they aren't. They absolutely are not. And that's a big part of the reason why they are so immediately connected. That's why Richie is so bothered by both of them. And that's why, in a larger sense, there is such a problem with Black people and POC. Because a lot of us have been taught that mediocrity is not acceptable. In fact, for a lot of us, it is intrinsic not to be mediocre. And mediocrity is a core tenet of whiteness, all while touting greatness for just being white. For existing. So it makes total sense that a lot of viewers would see this young, Black woman, who immediately can go toe to toe with someone as great as Carmy, and be seen as an equal and someone deserving of respect and even love eventually, and be threatened. They are cut from the same cloth and they see it and know it deep down and people are mad because they themselves aren't part of that fabric. They are mad that someone like Sydney is.

You spitting. I’m ready to pass a collection plate because this sermon is the truth.

You’re essentially saying they know they’re losers like Richie and are upset like he was when he was called out. They heard her taunting him and started hollering because those rocks hit their target: white mediocrity.

Deep down, many of these white people who coast of white mediocrity feel inferior because they know they wouldn’t be where they are without white supremacy. They wouldn’t be successful, they wouldn’t be viewed as attractive, they wouldn’t have friends, etc without a racism structure backing them. They need that to thrive in the world.

But people like Sydney, how dare she succeed and exist in a world that tries its best to make it hard for her to be great. How dare she be beautiful and viewed as such? How dare she be confident in her own talent and not apologize for it or diminish herself. How dare she challenge someone for being rude and disrespecting her.

Richie expected to be handed the family business NOT because he knew what he was doing, but because he was Mikey’s best friend. There is literally nothing that supports the idea that Richie can run the restaurant. Nothing. This man relies on a toxic system that was the backbone of a failing restaurant. He has no idea what’s going on with the finances, takes shortcuts in repairs, and de-escalated tension with violence.

Not only could Carmy cook, he ran the best restaurant in the entire country. And he chose Sydney as his sous chef. Sydney repeatedly showed time and time again that she was the right choice. How she got the brigade running, improved the skill set of the other chefs, de-escalates various situations, on her feet thinking, etc.

He’s one of those entitled fucks who thinks he’s entitled to a POCs success and opportunities because he wants it. He doesn’t actually put in any work, yet he wants the acclaim and attention. Then feels resentful because they’re doing well and he’s convinced himself he was “robbed.”

We see this all of the time in real life. White people get handed shit they aren’t qualified for and no one questions it. Black people work our asses off and we’re said to be getting “hand outs.”

Sydney worked at so many fine dining places that Carmy said she had some serious “heat”, so much so he thought UPS was another fucking fine dining place.

The actual cooks in the kitchen respected Sydney eventually, but the man who was only hired because his best friend owns the kitchen and can only use the cash register is talking about her as if she’s come intruder? As if she doesn’t belong there? Lololololol

I’ve lived in neighbors with white people, I’ve gone to school with them, and I’ve worked with them. One thing they will always have is the audacity.

To protect and defend Sydney means to admit that they are lacking and that’s the last thing they’d admit. They hate and resent Sydney for challenging the system and refusing to be less than her best. They hate her for wanting more and not kissing their asses whenever a white person is upset or she makes a mistakes.

It makes sense that they’d idolized the epitome of toxic masculinity. Someone resentful that they’re being phased out of life because they don’t add value to others. Richie knows he has to adapt or he’s not going to survive, but they haven’t made that connection yet. Life will always keep moving forward, the question is: will they move too or be left behind?

Others are resentment because they allowed themselves to be walked over and thinks others should be okay with that behavior as well.

[percabeth4life]

I 100% agree with you that it would be so cool and is a missed opportunity for the Greeks to react poorly to Hazel bc of her eyes, but I am also very glad that Rick did not write it that way in canon. It would have left a bad taste in my mouth to read a canonically white man (even if I and many others hc Percy as a poc) be wary of Hazel, a black woman, bc of a physical feature she could not change. Even if it is bc of trauma, Hazel wouldn’t know that, (at least at first) and I would hate to have her feel like one of her friends and her potential allies are scared of her bc of her race (bc she was FRESH from the 1940s she would assume it was race bc it couldn’t be godly parentage bc he wasn’t afraid of Nico). And Percy wouldn’t have even been able to tell her the real reason why bc he didn’t know it himself! It would come off like he was brushing her off or dodging the question if she confronted him about it. Idk, I’m kind of glad that the narrative doesn’t paint Hazel as someone to be scared or wary of

I get that, like 100% I hadn't even really thought of that twist to it. But honestly that just emphasizes why he shouldn't have given her gold eyes.

This is coming from me, who literally shoves shining eyes on every character because it's my favorite magic trope like ever. Glowing eyes rock and gold eyes? Stunning. But with Hazel-

He literally wrote her with Gold eyes and did nothing with them, they're just there to make her look special which... is a problem.

If he was going to give her gold eyes they should've had a narrative relevance. Gold eyes were too much of a big deal with their meaning in PJO for it to just be tossed in and not used for anything other than looks.

Even if Percy himself didn't have a wariness of her, because of no memories at all, other's in the Titan war should've felt something. And even if we put a pass on Hazel (maybe because Percy is clearly so comfy with her the others aren't bothered so much, maybe because when Percy gets his memories back he already knows she's safe and a friend, maybe because Annabeth doesn't even notice until long after the first meeting because her eyes were only for Percy and while she felt some small discomfort at Gold eyes like Luke's when he was Kronos Percy trusted her and she trusted Percy and maybe even she studies Hazel for a long moment and determines that the Gold is different it's warm and gentle and caring instead of sharp and cold and cruel), the eidolons should've been a panic attack in the making.

Those are literally spirits possessing people that turn their eyes gold. Like I'm sorry you're throwing in Possession with Gold Eyes and not bringing up Kronos????

Basically yeah I get what you're saying, a good point, but that point also emphasizes why the gold eyes were bad to give Hazel. She should've had lovely deep brown/black eyes that were filled with warmth and hardened like stone when she was determined and going into battle. Eyes with depths you could drown in.

Either make them have a narrative purpose or let her have eyes actually matching Hades and Nico and most POC. She's the only black person in the seven! Don't give her magic eyes if they don't have a purpose!