Imperfect Daensa

This is my way of fighting back against pitting two strong and flawed female characters against each other.

[skywalkxr]

Game of Thrones | 4x05

[hellsbellschime]

idk if you already have one (if you do link pls), but could you do a meta on how dany and sansa compre as rulers?

Well shit, honestly I know my inner Sansa stan is going to come out here and it’s going to sound like I hate Dany. However the fact that I love Dany as a character doesn’t negate the fact that she was an absolutely terrible leader, and I feel like the fact that every time she was in a situation (typically one of her own making) that was too difficult to handle her reaction was to essentially toss up her hands and say “soz guys this isn’t working out, DEUCES” is pretty irrefutable proof that she was just an absolutely awful queen. 

This might seem minor in the grand scheme of things, but one of the earliest learning experiences for both Sansa and Dany I think represents how they learn and behave towards everything going forward. For Sansa, the riot is a huge turning point for her. She’s already been abused and mistreated on a level she’s never experienced before, but she genuinely can’t understand why some men she’s never met before wanted to rape her and likely kill her. The lesson that she learns here seems to be that, regardless of the fact that in the moment Sansa is completely powerless, as a member of the ruling class she has more power over the common people than they will ever have over their own lives and that they’ll ever have over anyone else, and so when those rulers don’t have a good handle on ruling and if they’re ignorant of the experiences of those below them, then they will inevitably suffer and often times die. But it of course is extremely telling that Sansa’s reaction to Shae’s explanation is that she would have given them bread if they had it, and it’s an interesting contrast to Dany.

I think Dany’s kind of defining moment as a leader is with Mirri Maz Duur. Although these incidents aren’t really that similar on paper, the life lesson to be learned behind them is, but Dany and Sansa take entirely different things from it. Unlike Sansa in the riots, Dany is actually almost completely directly responsible for the suffering of Mirri Maz Duur. No, she wasn’t the one doing the raping, but the Lhazareen are being pillaged, killed, and sold into slavery to fund Dany’s conquering of Westeros. Mirri seems to do what she can to hurt Dany, and obviously Dany burns her alive in return. But Dany’s perception of herself, her righteousness, and her ability to do whatever she wants as queen seems to be cemented here. Mirri actually gives Dany a much more clear and understandable explanation of why she did what she did, but Dany’s internal reaction to it seems to be that the suffering of the Lhazareen were an unforeseen and unintended consequence, and that it’s only the fact that she didn’t intend for it to happen that matters. Instead of trying to understand what other people are going through or coming from, Dany essentially decides the opposite, that everyone should understand where she’s coming from and that she has good intentions, so anyone who acts out against her regardless of their reason is deserving of her wrath. 

Another defining element of their leadership styles seems to be “I am the blood of the dragon” vs. “the lone wolf dies but the pack survives”. In a broader sense, the whole blood of the dragon obsession represents the absolutely insane level of Targaryen exceptionalism that the Targaryens believe, honestly Dany probably even more than the rest of them. The Targaryens literally think they’re gods among men, and the fact that Dany became the mother of dragons only cemented that idea in her mind. So then, she considers anything below godly exaltation to be blatant disrespect. Ironically, she hates ruling, but she wants everyone in the world to acknowledge her as their ruler because she sees literally everyone else as her inferior, and she cares much more about symbols like the title of queen or the Iron Throne than she does about anything else. Dany is willing to completely destabilize the world and to let anyone suffer so long as they call her queen while they do it, and she has shown time and again that anyone who doesn’t respect her position as ruler or acknowledge her claim to the throne will die. She’s completely injudicious when it comes to who she kills because literally all that matters is how they feel about her. FFS, “ending slavery” was a huge focal point of her storyline and she indiscriminately killed slavers who weren’t of use to her, but almost her entire army is made up of the Dothraki who were a key component of the slavery economy in Essos. In a weird way she has always demonstrated her “I know what is good” mentality in the sense that she literally just judges whether or not someone is good or bad based on whether or not they defer to her and call her queen.

And it would be disingenuous to say that Sansa doesn’t care about titles or rank, clearly that is something that has always been a priority to her and was especially when she was younger, however her perception of power and how it works is very interesting. She actually has an unfair advantage here because she has “role models” for kingship and queenship in people like Joffrey and Cersei. Especially with Joffrey, she obviously learned that being called king or queen says nothing about how much power you actually have, and having that title says nothing about whether or not people defer to you or whether or not you truly rule them. And more importantly, Sansa’s arc with Jon as the King in the North and even when Bran came home demonstrates that she understands what a necessity stability is, and that she’ll prioritize stability over her own superiority. Like Dany, Sansa actually has a pretty strong claim to the Northern throne, she could have very easily pressed that claim when Jon was named King in the North, and that claim is something she likely would have won. She also immediately tried to put Bran in the position of Lord of Winterfell even though in name that would have weakened her own political position, because she understands that destabilizing the North would be dangerous, would cause people to suffer, and because she truly understands that changing her title and having people call her something different would have zero effect on the actual power that she had within the country.

It’s kind of weird to say it, but Dany was almost at a disadvantage because she had no real experience learning how politics worked or how to rule or lead. Drogo was arguably the only real ruler she ever saw, but he didn’t really rule. Just like Dany ultimately wound up doing, he went to certain places, yielded whatever benefit he could find from it, and left. She never got to see why people like Joffrey and Cersei failed as leaders, or why people like Ned and Robb failed as leaders, and because she is the only person in the world with WMDs she’s never had to learn how to do anything through any other means besides overt force. And I mean, killing everyone who opposes you is certainly a way to gain power, but it’s clearly not effective leadership. 

And on the other hand, Sansa has literally never been able to do anything alone. She’s always been a helpless girl who had to rely on the people around her, which has given her a lot of very good and clear life lessons on the fact that not only do rulers have to cooperate with others in order to succeed, but cooperating with the right people is as important as learning to work with others in general. Also a hugely important distinction here between her and Dany is that while Dany believes that the only moral choice for a leader is her and that anyone who chooses her as a leader is inherently moral, Sansa learns the opposite. She understands that a lot of the people who try to connect with her or earn her favor may be ill intentioned, and that it’s extremely important to distinguish between who is on her team for the right reasons or wrong ones. She also cannot bulldoze her way through problems so she has to actually solve them, and she understands that she can solve them much more effectively if she has other people around her to work with. If she needs food, she can’t just fly on a dragon somewhere and take it. If she needs men, she can’t just find a city and kill all of the leaders and tell everyone there that she’s their queen now. And that makes her job infinitely more difficult than Dany’s, but it also makes her position of power far stronger in the long run. 

That’s not to say that Dany isn’t someone who has good ideas or good intentions, honestly when it comes to the status quo in Planetos it’s safe to say that it should be challenged, and although Sansa values stability over change that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s the best course of action for a better world. But Dany’s problem when it comes to her big ideas is that she won’t put in the work to execute them properly. She doesn’t like the work of ruling and if we’re being real, she doesn’t have to put in the work because her dragons and her army the size of a city can do it for her or silence any dissent or opposition. And that is what makes her enormously dangerous. She looks at it as her right instead of her duty, and instead of ever trying to convince anyone of her competence she takes it as a personal insult if everyone she meets doesn’t immediately fall all over themselves to do her bidding. But of course why wouldn’t she, and why would a god ever have to prove themselves to mortals?

Sansa and Dany are meant to be foils for a lot of reasons, but one of the most intriguing to me is the fact that Sansa comes from a family of people who are just as super special as the Targaryens, but she’s not super special (I think it’s extremely likely that she is a warg, but when you compare her experience to that of Bran, Jon, or Arya, obviously she seems like the ordinary one in a family of superstars), and more importantly she was never raised with the idea that she was super special. Yes, she was an extremely highborn lady, but Ned Stark didn’t raise any of his children to believe that they were the chosen Kings of Winter who had ruled the North for thousands of years and done magical things that no ordinary human could ever dream of (and that difference always stands out to me so much, because frankly the Starks have even more reason to believe that they’re super special snowflakes than the Targaryens do, but they don’t), and that attitude obviously carries over into her leadership. She doesn’t look at being queen as her birthright because it quite literally is not, but she understands that it is first and foremost a duty and responsibility instead of an entitlement, and that shines through in the fact that she diligently does all of the scut work that the position requires. 

[esther-dot]

I like Davos as much as anyone, but I have to say, Jon falling in love with Dany may be the tiniest bit less weird than Davos pushing that relationship even though he served a king who was entangled with a lady who burned people alive, resulting in Shireen’s death (a girl he loved as his own), and then given a second chance at being hand of the king, encourages Jon to get romantically entangled with Dany, a woman who burns people alive.

And yes, warfare is different than offering human sacrifices, but it just feels like there should have been residual trauma that would have made him extremely wary the second time around. You’d kinda think it would turn Davos’ stomach to know Dany was just waiting to unleash a hellish death (like the one his son suffered) on men who were forced to fight other people’s wars. And even if he rationalized it, he then had to watch that woman burn a city, burn children alive, murdering more people than he could have ever imagined, and he had just been contemplating having his king marry her.

You’d think he would pack it in and say no to anything political after that.

I don’t blame him, it’s just amazing how D&D methodically destroyed each character in s7-8.

[sanktasansa]

It’s like Kit was unable to look at her with any lust all and they were like “Right. So maybe if we get Davos to say he’s been looking at her tits (despite her wearing the most covered up, conservative and structured top imaginable), people will buy it.” Also they had him suggesting marriage AFTER Jon bent the knee and became basically nothing again; won’t that have been a subject to bring up when they were both royalty? To solve the stalemate that was keeping them stuck on Dragonstone? Especially if allegedly they both were interested in the other?

(This is another reason why the tragic love reading doesn’t work; there was little reason to be together and nothing keeping them apart except for themselves. That’s not “tragic love”, that’s two people in a relationship that doesn’t work and never would.)

Speaking of Davos acting crazy, it will never not shock me that they had him joking with Tyrion about Tyrion causing his son’s death. His fucking SON’S DEATH! He should hate Tyrion as much as he hates Melisandre! “Oh but it was war, he understands!” HIS. FUCKING. SON. NO! (But then again he stopped giving a fuck about Jon once he landed in jail so…Sansa was right: Davos is fickle hangers-on).

[esther-dot]

I wrote a post saying exactly what you’re pointing out about the forbidden/tragic love idea not working! The primary problem with the J/D relationship was that it was written nonsensically, and I wish critics had pointed that out instead of chalking it all up to lack of chemistry. D&D told the audience in s7 that Jon might want Dany because she’s beautiful and a marriage between them was the political solution. Therefore, writing-wise, they said it wasn’t forbidden love, it was simply unwanted. And then, in s8, the only thing keeping them apart is the fact that to Jon it became even more unwanted. They wrote the opposite of what they needed to write in each Jon/Dany scene and every conversation relating to them. It’s kinda amazing. 

That interaction with Tyrion was SO weird. I don’t…I mean, even if you understand prioritizing survival over personal grievances, that was too much. 

I will always be amused at how much the fandom loves Davos and thinks Sansa was disloyal to Jon although Sansa knew what Dany was before Jon even left for Dragonstone and Davos didn’t get a clue even after seeing Dany in action. While Sansa was keeping the Northern Lords loyal to Jon, Davos was trying to get Jon laid. While Sansa is expressing her worries about Dany to Jon in s8 Davos is planning their wedding. Even in the finale, Sansa brings an army to save Jon and wants to make him king again, and Davos was…well, he was there. I’m sure it was unintentional, but they really made Davos look awful. 

[istumpysk]

Don’t forget this gem -

Davos, the war-time food smuggler, born in Flea Bottom, is apparently a-ok with Tyrion and Jon weaponizing the starvation of innocent King’s Landing citizens against Cersei.

[esther-dot]

What’s truly disturbing about that scene is that D&D were so focused on writing around their “Dany is a baddie” surprise they made everyone stupid/complicit in war crimes, and simultaneously tried to say they were blameless. They even have that look between Davos and Jon during the massacre in KL as if there were no way either of them could have known how this was going to go, ignoring that whole scene in the previous episode. Like, if you’re suggesting starving people is humane in comparison to what your queen is about to do, that means you damn well know the hell your queen is wanting to unleash.

[c-sand]

Despite the writing, I do always stan Sansa (and Brienne) being right about something lol, like at least there’s that. They didn’t trust Davos. They didn’t trust his seemingly simple drift in the wind to another leader. Sansa didn’t like the way he spoke about the North. She didn’t like that he was Jon’s most trusted advisor, because from what she had to go off of, his track record was poor. She didn’t like how quickly he jumped into the idea of Jon going to Dragonstone. Davos is the Hand of the King in action, if not title, and he doesn’t even think over the possibilities and weigh risks, as is his job. He just goes, “So, let’s immediately throw you into a terrible situation for the dragons, shall we? I’m actively against burning people alive, but I’m sure the dragon lady is worth a shot.” 

And then they get to Dragonstone and, apart from one good speech at the start about how Jon was chosen as the North’s leader, he spends the rest of the time being useless. All he does is walk around going, “So, you gonna bang her or what, brah? Think she’s pretty hot, brah – if I was a younger man, brah. You should tap that, brah.” All he does is walk around openly saying to her people that he might need to switch sides (?!?!?!), which feels like it’s something that should be a joke, but he’s so adamantly trying to get Jon in her pants (just as Tyrion is doing the same with Daenerys) that it doesn’t feel like one. And he just doubles down on this absolutely baffling behaivor by being very pro, “Let’s get these kids hitched” after Jon’s already bent the knee.

Then this guy Sansa doesn’t trust just sits by while Jon’s arrested. She gets to Kings Landing and oh wow, look at that. That guy she doesn’t trust has already moved on to his next leader, all hail Gendry! It might make sense if they actually showed him caring about that wife he still has and wanting to go home, but they don’t. He appears to be content with serving Jon in the North, before his personality goes haywire. And don’t get me wrong, we love and stan Gendry, but he’s supposed to be Jon’s closest advisor and he just drops him like a sack of potatoes, as if he wasn’t actively (for unexplained reasons) pushing for Daenerys – as if he was some sort of secret spy who had been on her side the whole story and we just didn’t know it. They all know she burns people alive, Davos knows she burns people alive. It’s very obvious. And he still spent two seasons pushing for Jon to have the sex and get in on that and talk about how she’s seems like a great lady. And Davos just drops Jon, as if none of that happened.

Davos, the every-man who spends six seasons carrying about the every-man, suddenly not caring at all about the every-man, starve ‘em who cares!

And it’s all terrible. They turn Davos into an absolute joke. 

But. Gotta say. I love Sansa being right about things.

[korra-of-the-watertribe]

Great Houses of Westeros: House Targaryen (2/2)

“But in recent years, it has occured to me from time to time that it might have made for an interesting twist if instead I had made the dragonlords of Valyria, and therefore the Targaryens black….if I’d had dark-skinned dragonlords invade and conquer and dominate a largely white Westeros… though that choice would have brought its own perils. The Targaryens have not all been heroic, after all… some of them have been monsters, madmen, so…Well, it’s all moot. The idea came to me about twenty years too late.”

[pondnaravit]

[taikeero-lecoredier]

Archive.org is facing a lawsuit

tldr: the Internet Archive/WayBack Machine is super important in term of archived content, billions of stuff are on there, and with the current event happening in the world like stated above,without this tool, it will be hard to properly document what took place. It will be easy for certain people to rewrite history. Dont let them.

DONATE HERE (post dont get much exposure with working links sorry)

 archive.org/donate/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

IF YOU CANT DONATE THEN PLEASE SPREAD THE INFO

On twitter,tumblr,facebook,heck,anywhere you want,this needs to be talked about !

[j-morgan-fly]

Fandom Discord, GOT/ASOIAF

You know what’s messed up? That I can’t even find someone to do commission of Jonsa with their four children from a story I’m writing because of the discourse in the Game of Thrones fandom between Jonsa/Sansa Stans and Jonerys/Dany stans. 

Like seriously? 

And by the way, I completely understood and respected my commission being turned down for the reason that the wonderful artist did not want to draw attention to themselves that would make them a target of ridiculous and unnecessary hateful criticism for choosing to draw that particular couple for me.

To the fandom:

I understand where both fans are coming from, I get what makes the couples and characters appealing and also what makes the couple and characters unappealing. But the fact that we give others so much crap over who we like is nonsense. There fictional characters in fictional relationships that we like to read, write and draw but that is all they are. If they helped you get through a tough time, that is awesome, for others these couples and characters might make them think of more upsetting times are people they knew in real life that hurt them or they see troublesome parallels with historical figures or events in which are controversial and dangerous. I know that happens a lot with Dany, but guys, be respectful, fight that urge to stand up for your fave if you think it’s going to end badly between you and the other person. I do it all the time. 

No one is telling you(or they should not be telling you if they are) who you should like but everyone is allowed to explain why or why not they like certain characters. If they think a character is racist, thats valid, that is their perspective and we need to learn from why they see it that way and bring that into our own lives and fix the way we see and treat people. If someone thinks a character or relationship is abusive, the same as the first point should be applied. 

Also, we don’t have to like a pairing or a character to appreciate amazing talent and art. I see Jonerys art posted all the time and I appreciate how beautiful and skilled the artist is even if that is not something I personally ship.

Honest to God, I don’t even really ship Jonsa. I don’t really ship either, I don’t think I’ve ever put much effort into writing a Jonsa romantic fic. I’m doing it now to learn how to get out of my comfort zone, to expand my writing skills and after I want to try my hand at writing Jonerys but ya’ll need to fucking lay off while I make my attempt and let me try without shitting on it because it’s not exact to how you see your faves. The same is applied for art. Do not EVER give shit to an artist for the basic ass reason that you just don’t like the pairing they have drawn/painted.

Like shit, I know we can’t make everyone happy, that really sucks but it’s life. We all got to live on this planet together, we are all on this god forsaken sight for some reason still, so lets me tolerant of each others ships and faves and keep our thoughts to ourselves if we got nothing constructive to say and the same goes for people responding. If you don’t like someone making a counter point or pointing something out that is in disagreement with your fave/ship and you can’t bring yourself to respond back maturely then fucking ignore it. Keep going, move on with your next thing. If you feel that you are just going in circles, no one is learning anything from each other and it’s just a roast then stop, don’t type another thing and move on.

This is not an attack on one or the other, I am speaking out to both sides!

Damn, can’t believe I even had to write this.

And if you guys want to give me shit about picking sides, point out all my ant-Dany rebloggs go ahead. I’m allowed to reblog, I’m allowed to agree with certain issues pointed out about their character mostly because their aren’t as many about Sansa not that the anti-Sansa force is not strong in that group. It is. And both sides usually have the same arguments over and over, at this point I think I’ve learned all I can about why people hate both and why people like both.

Shit, these girls are super flawed, we don’t need to pit them against each other but it’s also misogynistic to just think because they’ve been through similar trauma and are women they have to be best friends. They don’t. I also don’t believe either has to just accept and kiss the others ass either. They can be at odds, some people just don’t get along and sometimes it’s justified and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes you just have a gut feeling, sometimes you just butt heads, your unable to see eye to eye and that can lead to really, really bad conflict or it’s something that just means their will always be a huge distance between these two people. 

Thanks, that is it. 

[mmelolabelle]

daensaweek day one: your dream meeting for daensa

In the second month of the 304th year after Aegon’s Conquest, at the onset of the Second Long Night, the Dragon Queen, Daenerys Targaryen came to Winterfell on the invitation on Sansa Stark, the Queen in the North to broker a pact to defend the Seven Kingdoms from the Night King and the false queen, Cersei Lannister. According to Maester Wolkan, the two were soon “of one mind.” The event came to be euphemistically known as ‘The Courtship’, for it sowed the seeds of an alliance that blossomed into the reign of Westeros’ first co-monarchs. Queens Daenerys and Sansa ruled Westeros together for over fifty years, and were said to have lived as husband and wife.

[mrgaretcarter]

Women of Ice and Fire Part I + Mother’s daughters

[hylialeia]

I don’t think we as a people talk enough about how ugly Game of Thrones really was. like not storytelling wise (even though Wow was that Hideous) but even just aesthetically. the later season costumes being lifeless slabs of black leather? the -34% effort put into the hair styling?? the fact that even messy chaotic battle sequences were choppily choreographed and so poorly lit they weren’t even interesting? the complete lack of color or vibrancy in sets, costumes, and general designs? the removal of everything that makes fantasy even remotely appealing?? It literally looked like shit y'all why the FUCK did anyone like it

[marauders-in-pajamas]

well I cannot speak for the others but I always loved how gorgeous the Starks look in their literal linen shirts and leather and fur. I have a thing for understated fashion and they are all just so adorable in it, it makes them look sweet and humble. honestly if they had worn more fabulous clothes it might have blinded everyone ^^

but the thing that always bothered me was the Northerners never wearing  any sort of hats xD you know the human body loses a great deal of heat from the head, so you want to cover it when it’s cold. but no, not even the brothers of the Night’s Watch have any head coverage. Bran’s team too. Winter is coming and no one is wearing even a beanie. Cannot mess with Jon’s luscious locks of course, and how would you tell them apart otherwise in the mass of beards, but still, in almost every scene in the wind and snow, you bet I was sitting there and giggling about it.

[bechdeldaensa]

^ Great point about hats. Or maybe ear muffs, and what about scarves?

Truth is, I like the clothes in GOT, I think Clapton did an awesome job in choice of fabric and the cool tricks she could pull off with embroidering and sewing patterns without being too over the top. And unlike a lot of studios and other shows they didn’t reuse costumes from other shows, or take their wardrobe for the runway like Reign did. She made all of it just for the show. I think the outfits were amazing.

 My big issue, and why I re blogged this the first time was because I agreed about the issue with everyone in black. Like, seriously, everyone, and I mean everyone except for a few rare scenes the characters were all in black. I loved Sansa’s velvet gown, I loved the colors Daenerys wore outside her house colors when she was in Meereen and I get the symbolism but they could have done that in embroidery, or other little things instead of just make everyone where black. It took away from each of the characters in a sense rather than build there story as it had been doing before. Like give Sansa back her purples, give Dany her blues, it was all far too military for me. 

Also, the hairstyles were cool. I remember when GOT came out and I tried braiding my hair like Daenerys all the time.

[yennefers-geralt]

♛ THE WOLVES HAVE COME AGAIN

When Princess Sansa of House Stark returned to her home in Winterfell, more than a little southron art and vibrancy came with her. A poet, dancer, and lover of music since her earliest years, she brought King Brandon’s court to life by filling the castle with artists of every kind. Bards, traveling mummer troupes, poets, and puppeteers would find in Sansa a generous patroness. Such was her reputation in championing the very best artists that her fashionable circle in Winterfell became famous around Westeros.

While she loved the arts for their own sake, Sansa had also learned to wield the power those pretty distractions could offer. The princess did not merely enjoy the songs and sonnets of others. She wrote her own poems and performed songs of her own making. Alongside her sister, Princess Arya, she even entertained the guests at many a harvest feast with a play she wrote herself. Sansa could weave words together in such a way as to bring even the strongest to tears and create an image in their mind of the truth she wanted them to see.

When singers and mummers left her company, they carried her songs and stories with them, as well as ones created in her honor. Through them, Sansa could reach from the North all the way down to the southern most reaches of Dorne and through all the lands in between. Her singers and mummers would recount the glories of Winterfell and the might of House Stark.

[seijohsremade]

ways to help protestors if you are unable to protest

everybody has to do their part. as a reference, this was posted on 1 june 2020. if any links are broken or direct to a place they should not, please feel free to add on with corrections. if there is new information with better knowledge, please feel free to share. thank you.

1. donate

do not donate to shaun king. he has repeatedly collected money to “support” black people, but no one knows where the money is.

BAIL FUNDS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER; NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST)

note: washington dc and new jersey have cashless bail systems.

bail fund google doc (also includes lawyers for protestors)

national bail fund network (directory of community bail funds)

community bail funds masterpost by @keplercryptids

resistance funds (google sheets; lists bail funds around the country)

nationwide bail funds (split a donation to the bail funds listed on the linked page with a single transaction)

atlanta bail fund

brooklyn bail fund

colorado freedom fund

columbus freedom fund

houston chapter of black lives matter

liberty fund (nyc based; focuses services on people from low-income communities)

los angeles freedom fund

louisville community fund

massachusetts bail fund

minnesota freedom fund (as of may 30, 2020, they are encouraging people to donate elsewhere since they have raised enough money; as of may 29, 2020, they do not have a venmo, as some fraudulent accounts have been claiming, source)

philadelphia bail out fund

richmond bail fund

MORE PLACES TO DONATE

note: more links are listed in the masterposts below.

northstar health collective (healthcare and medical aid for people on the front lines)

reclaim the block (aims to redistribute police funding to help the minneapolis community)

twin cities dsa (provides fresh groceries and hot meals to people in minneapolis)

2. educate yourself

it isn’t enough to sign petitions and reblog/retweet/etc. nonblack people, including people of color, owe it to black people to educate themselves and correct themselves and the people around them on anti-blackness.

note: more links are in the masterposts linked below.

resources and tools regarding racism and anti-blackness (google sheets compilation)

readings on society, racism, the prison system, etc. (twitter thread)

“where do we go after ferguson?” by michael eric dyson

official black lives matter website

3. give out supplies to protestors

people need supplies to protest safely, and even if they bring supplies with them, they can often run out. if you’re able, stock up and hand them out to people protesting. for more supplies to donate, see the “george floyd action” google docs link in section 5.

water bottles (dehydration and heatstroke are not things people should have to deal with alongside bastard cops. if the police in your area are particularly violent or known to use tear gas, get the ones with the sports cap/suction-thing/etc so people can use them as emergency eye-flushes.)

snacks (make sure to take into account that people have allergies of all sorts. foods will have a little label that says “may contain” and then list any potential allergens. write the allergens on the ziploc (or any container you use) in permanent marker, or better yet, write the snacks included in the pack.)

masks (don’t forget there’s still a pandemic going on. also it will aid in deterring facial recognition when the police try to track down protestors,  also part two, if the cops use tear gas, wearing a mask (with the combination of a scarf or bandana) will lessen the adverse effects. lessen, not stop.)

bandanas, scarves, etc. and goggles (ski goggles, swimming goggles, etc.) (see above for explanation on the scarves. same goes for the goggles. anti–tear gas and anti–facial recognition.)

clean shirts (for people who are heavily gassed. also helps deter recognition through clothing.)

wound care supplies (band-aids, packets of neosporin packets or a similar antibiotic, alcohol wipes, etc.; if you can, decant bactine into those little travel bottles.)

a sharpie or another type of marker (for writing bail numbers or emergency contacts on arms, hands, etc. it’s not enough to have your city’s bail fund number stored on your phone; the police won’t give it to you to look it up. give people a marker so they can write it down, preferably not washable so it isn’t easily removed.)

IMPORTANT: KNOWING FIRST AID

tear gas: if you’re hit, get out as fast and as soon as you can. take anyone you can with you. the longer you’re in the gas, the harder it will be for you to see, and it can irritate your airways, making it hard to breathe. if you’re hit, don’t run; it’ll only make things worse on your lungs. when you leave the area, take a cold shower. don’t use hot water (it will only reactivate the agent); don’t bathe (it will only spread the CS around). (source 1) (source 2) (cdc fact sheet on tear gas)

move them to a clean and ventilated area where it’s as safe as possible.

ask them if they’re wearing contact lenses. have them remove it. if they’re wearing glasses, rinse it with water.

solution of half liquid antacid, half water. spray from the inside going out, with the head tilted back and slightly towards the side being rinsed. if they say it’s okay, open the eye slightly while doing this. (source)

bullet wounds: the most important thing is to stop the bleeding. be sure to check for an exit wound and cover that as well. treat both wounds, but treat the worse one first.

stop the bleed (youtube video by uc san diego health)

first aid in active shooting scenarios

making a tourniquet (a commercial tourniquet is best, but improvised ones can work as well if done properly; the most important things to remember is that tourniquets are for limb injuries and are not meant for the head or torso and that they have to be very tightly wound on the injury.)

how to apply pressure dressings

miscellaneous

adult cpr tutorial (youtube video by cincinnati children’s; think of “staying alive” by the beegees or “uptown funk”)

4. be a source of information

be responsible with this. people’s lives are at stake. that being said, the media is a fucking joke and the best way to get accurate information in a grassroots rebellion is amongst ourselves. record everything, but if you are going to share any information at all, be sure to blur people’s faces.

signal (encrypted messenger app; messages delete after x amount of time): app store | google play

tool for scrubbing metadata from images and selectively blurring identifiable features

tech tips to protect yourself while protesting (by rey.nbows on tiktok, via vicent_efl on twitter)

cop spotting 101 (google docs)

know your rights (by personachuu on twitter)

NUMBERS TO CALL FOR ARRESTED PROTESTORS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER; SOURCES LINKED TO THE NUMBER)

remember to keep phones OFF unless absolutely necessary. cell phone towers, stingrays, location notifs can all be used to track you and other protestors. don’t fuck around. if your phone must be on, keep it on airplane mode as often as possible and only communicate using encrypted methods. no, snapchat doesn’t count. (a twitter thread on stingrays, for those interested)

lawyers assisting protestors pro-bono (by riyakatariax on twitter)

atlanta: 404-689-1519

chicago: 773-309-1198

minneapolis: 612-444-2654

5. miscellaneous links and links for protestors

masterpost of petitions to sign, numbers to call, places to donate, and more (carrd by dehyedration on twitter)

#blacklivesmatter (google docs by ambivaIcnt on twitter; includes information on relevant events, other masterposts, lists of petitions and donation links, how to protest safely and protests to go to, and more)

george floyd action (google docs; includes information on apps to download, supplies to buy and donate, places to donate to, protest safety, resources on unlearning racial bias, and more)

how to get out of ziptie “handcuffs” (by finnianj on tiktok, via katzerax on twitter)

how can i help? by @abbiheartstaylor

how to make a signal-blocking cell phone pouch

tips for protestors by @aurora00boredealis

twitter thread for protestors (by vantaemuseum on twitter)

also, if you’re protesting, change your passcode. make it at least 11 characters long and don’t use facial/thumb recognition.

[wolvesandfoxes25]

Question time: Do you think Jon truly 'loved' Dany?

[bechdeldaensa]

I think a part of him really wanted to. I think he did want to believe in her dream and that maybe she could actaully make it happen. But be it his family’s disapproval, or because he saw who she was becoming and realized nothing he did would stop it, the breaks were put on his growing love for her and as much as he really wanted to truly love her, it wasn’t going any further than what it was.

[jollyhaunt]

George Floyd was killed by an officer while being handcuffed. He was PLEADING for breath.

A black man asked a woman to put her dog on a leash. The woman then threatened to call the cops on HIM and accuse him of threatening her.

A white pastor claimed two black men kidnapped him to cover up the fact that he was in the hotel room because he was cheating on his wife.

A white woman drowned her nine-year-old son with autism, and said a black man had done it.

Regis Korchinski Paquet was shoved off the balcony by an officer. She died.

Tony McDade, a transgender man, was shot and killed by an officer.

These are all under 72 hours. 3 days. Now, realize what happens in a month.

[queennymeria]

If I must trade our four Lannisters for their two Starks, I will call that a bargain and thank the gods.

[bechdeldaensa]

Ned went to war for his sister, men followed him to save her and Robb really thought his men would look down on him for trying to do everything he could to get Arya and Sansa back? What the fuck.

I have a lot of issues with Catelyn Stark, but at least she had her priorities right when it came to the war. Robb called his banners to get his father and sisters back and then the moment Ned dies it feels like he just dropped them. Like they had been an afterthought for why he was going to war, why he was marching south on Kings Landing. It eventually became more about avenging the honorable Ned Stark and fighting for the North to be independent and nothing about getting the girls back. The North’s Independence is a huge deal, but that wasn’t why the war started, It was for family and then one day it felt like the only one who remembered that was Cat.

[hylialeia]

I don't think we as a people talk enough about how ugly Game of Thrones really was. like not storytelling wise (even though Wow was that Hideous) but even just aesthetically. the later season costumes being lifeless slabs of black leather? the -34% effort put into the hair styling?? the fact that even messy chaotic battle sequences were choppily choreographed and so poorly lit they weren't even interesting? the complete lack of color or vibrancy in sets, costumes, and general designs? the removal of everything that makes fantasy even remotely appealing?? It literally looked like shit y'all why the FUCK did anyone like it

[kleeklutch]

“But although the cliche says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said … is that power always reveals. When a man is climbing, trying to persuade others to give him power, concealment is necessary. … But as a man obtains more power, camouflage becomes less necessary.”

- Robert A. Caro

Dany never loved Westeros. She never loved the people of Westeros. I’m not surprised at all she’d burn it all to the ground. She’s been a tyrant in the making for a while. She destroys w/o building. She conquers without counting the cost. This is her arc. It has always been her arc. Dany didn’t change. She became more of who she was the more power she got.

She wanted the throne. The throne was Everything. The throne was Power. She didn’t want the responsibility and duty and tedium of what it actually means to rule seven kingdoms. That was never a part if her dream or her plan. Only vengeance. Of “taking back what’s mine.” There was no “what next” there was no “future.”

Sansa calls her out on it. “And what happens afterwards?” “What happens then?” “What about the North?” Daenerys doesn’t have a plan for what comes after she regains her father’s throne. Dany doesn’t need the North and the North is not ultimately responsible for her father’s death or Targaryens losing the throne to Robert Baratheon. Sansa saw that Dany was power hungry and short sighted- and the danger that would mean for everyone.