Heavy on the 'dis'

25. Video editor. Artist. Wattpad Star. Env Scientist. INFJ.

[the-bluespirit]

[gtgrandom]

Um…idk who needs to hear this, but you’re allowed to roast celebrities who make their personal lives public information? Especially when they profit off that information? Center their careers around that information? Like, hello? They’re selling a service, and many times, that service is their character.

Enduring judgement from the Internet is the cost of fame; that’s just the world we live in. Doesn’t mean you can bully them or send them death threats, but you can share your opinions and feelings and speculation with whomever.

Gossip is not slander, and you don’t owe celebrities (or politicians) respect, understanding, or brand loyalty 🤷🏻‍♀️.

[allthezipofnukacola]

Honestly, I really side-eye people who say shit like, “I hate all hetero romances. If a guy and girl kiss, I totally lose all investment.”

Male-female pairings are not all the same and I’m kind of sick of people acting like they are. Similarly, I’m sick of people forgetting that there are LGBT+ people in male-female relationships.

[allthezipofnukacola]

I see white LGBT+ people say shit like this about positive male-female relationships between POC and I legit GROAN.

[allthezipofnukacola]

I saw someone say the relationship in If Beale Street Could Talk didn’t interest them because it was “hetero nonsense” as if young, poor black couples dealing with unjust incarceration regularly get positive, healthy representation.

[allthezipofnukacola]

If you’re tired of love stories focusing on relationships between traditionally attractive, able bodied, neurotypical, white, cishet people–especially when they’re void of chemistry and commonality and abusive but pushed as ideal (see: The Notebook)–then, I totally get it. I am, too.

But if you disparage a positive, healthy love story that features marginalized people because it’s between a man and a woman, your grasp of things like representation and intersectionality is likely weak.

[ikimaru]

it’s the little things that remind you 💜

[simplysparrow14]

Tim Drake: *is confirmed Bisexual*

Me:

Also a good time to remind people that just because DC decides to give him a female love interest later on down the line, it still doesn’t invalidate his bisexuality.

[caffeinatedrogue]

having ocs is so fun tho. It’s like playing with barbie dolls except we’re hallucinating it all vividly in our heads and everybody is emotionally scarred

[caffeinatedrogue]

after carefully reading the notes I can safely say that most of us are just continuing the childhood tradition of treating our dolls in ways that could easily be considered violations of the Geneva Conventions

[nature-travel-photography]

I took Infrared Film to Milford Valley, New Zealand [OC] [5000x5000] - Author: life_is_a_conspiracy on reddit

[colinarthurgeoffrey]

give me a broken, self-loathing man who firmly believes no one could ever love him and a strong-willed woman who doesn’t take any of his shit and gradually becomes his light and hope and sun and stars and i assure you i will ship it til my dying breath

[gtgrandom]

Gladly! 

Couldn’t get enough of this ship dynamic, so I wrote one. Here you go. <3

[heavensenthearty]

I've seen many ZK blogs being attacked over supposed bad takes regarding Aang and Mai (specifically Mai) and I don't think it's a coincidence that this is happening right after last night when ATLA Twitter was talking about "the cognitive dissonance of ZK shippers who will forgive everything Zuko and Katara did and say to each other just because they weren't in a relationship vs. slandering Mai for not coddling Zuko in their relationship."

There are A LOT of things to unpack in that claim, but the most important one is that when you decide to start a relationship with someone, you are assuming a responsibility in regards of your partners' emotional needs. The bare minimum that you can do is offer a listening ear, which is what Mai doesn't do, not even in her first interaction with Zuko as a couple.

As an abuse victim, I can't even begin to describe how much I abhor the "but she didn't ask for his life story" argument! Yeah, I suppose that when me and my partner wonder how the other is doing we're not asking for anybody's "life story", either, but we still talk about each other's personal and family trouble. As in, a mutual conversation. And we can't always pinpoint what the other needs to hear or a very effective solution to the issues at hand, but at the very least we communicate. There's a mutual effort to understand and reach a common ground, so forgive me if I do criticize a relationship that doesn't display that effort or if I do believe in the cycle of abuse after being abused by other abuse victims.

Maybe it's just that my "angsty" and "dramatic" self doesn't like a relationship where two characters in a similar situation to mine are being toxic to each other and I happen to prefer a relationship where the characters do work towards understanding each other, care about the other's problems and emotional wellbeing, and... yeah, have actual conversations with each other.

Oh, my! But where

could

I

find

that?

[sokkastyles]

The thing that baffles me is that "I didn't ask for your life story" was so very obviously not meant to be written as a wholesome romantic bonding moment, we are MEANT to recognize that it's wrong. We're meant to recognize that everything about Zuko's situation is wrong, and he's meant to as well, but he faces obstacles in his journey towards that realization, and Mai is one of them. Regardless of how you feel about Mai's redemption, you cannot deny that for most of her relationship with Zuko, she is written as another obstacle, and the show struggles to recover her characterization from that. You can vary on the amount of sympathy you have for Mai but if you have to do these mental backflips and paint Zuko as in the wrong for calmly and vaguely talking about his feelings in order to defend her or the relationship, then there is a problem. There are a lot of times when Zuko is out of control when I would say that his feelings are not the responsibility of others, when he's yelling or otherwise throwing a tantrum, but this is so very not one of those times.

Whereas Katara and Zuko's relationship is one that formed only AFTER they had stopped hurting each other. That's not cognitive dissonance, that is common sense. Why would I hold them accountable for things they apologized for and forgave each other for?

[tea-and-la]

I totally agree with all of this! Antis willfully misunderstand every valid critique of Ma/iko’s relationship and come up with extreme conjectures that are in no way related to the initial issues that zks bring up.  Since when does wanting Zuko to receive effective emotional validation translate into coddling? These two concepts are on two ends of a spectrum, and throwing around a word with a negative connotation  ESPECIALLY in regards to an abuse survivor whose love language is words of affirmation doesn’t even fit.

And honestly, it’s so insensitive of them to invalidate his emotional distress by calling it “angsty” and “dramatic.” Because it implies that he was overreacting to his trauma.

That scene in The Awakening is so disconcerting not because M/ai is expected to have a solution to his problems, but because her words didn’t fit the context of the conversation.  And that scene in particular disproves the “M/ai already knew his life story” argument.

Also, looking at it from the Zuko-Aang narrative foil, I think it’s interesting how the responses from their canon love interests contrast each other. Zuko and Aang are both at a  transitionary point story-wise, with lots of uncertainty and emotional turmoil about their next steps. Taking a look at Katara’s responses to Aang’s distress. She tries understanding his pov (validates) and also attempts to get him to accept what he can’t change and have hope for the future:

Katara:  I think I understand why being a secret bothers you so much. You don't want people to think you failed.

Katara: It's not for good. Remember, there's still a plan. The invasion!

and when Aang asks her to leave:  

Katara: Is there anything you need?

Contrasted to:

Mai: [Yawns.] I just asked if you were cold, I didn't ask for your whole life story. [Zuko frowns at her sarcastic response. Mai giggles and holds his face in her hands.] Stop worrying. [exits]

Also it’s ironic that antis brought up coddling since it is often defined by codependency: where one partner has intense emotional needs and the other partner spends most of their time responding to those needs. Hmmm... I wonder where we’ve seen this dynamic?

Feeling compelled to shield the other person from pain (in spite of potential consequences):

Overprotectiveness to the extent of hindering growth (by allowing them to escape uncomfortable feelings relating to failure):

Denying and avoiding difficult conversations OR censoring your message in order to not hurt someone:

...Yeah the twitter antis should’ve sat this one out.

[gtgrandom]

I say this ALL the time!  I judge Mai/ko (and Ka/taang in season 3) for the toxicity within their romantic relationships. You agree to listen and support one another when you enter a relationship. You help each other grow, not regress.

I absolve Zuko and Katara for their behaviors as enemies because there was no relationship yet.  They were ENEMIES.  They toed the line of friendship once, Zuko apologized for his betrayal, and THEN a trusting and healthy relationship developed.  

Context matters. 

[weri-draws]

The strongest firebender, the Firelord, Warrior of Sun, My little Prince, most powerful and the most handsome man of Fire Nation, My little Zuzu, God of the sun, Father of Dragons, Ozai’s son, wonderful friend and the Love of my Life - Zuko.

I’m externally busy with my life but there’s always time for rewatching Avatar: The last airbender. My crush on Zuko burns deadly flame now.

[nature-travel-photography]

Nadlenspitz, Swiss Alps [OC] [3703x5184] - Author: tegucigalpa1337 on reddit

[nature-travel-photography]

To this day, one of the best photos I’ve ever taken. Mt Cook, in New Zealand’s South Island. [OC] [3974x6291] - Author: a343 on reddit

[dinah-lance]

“What’s the nature of your relationship?”  “I’ve been wondering that myself, but an interrogation is not how I wanted to broach the subject.”

Nightwing #080 (2021)

[nature-travel-photography]

Crazy sunrise above the flowering heath in Belgium [OC] [901x1350] - Author: kevin_teerlynck on reddit

[luimnigh]

Sorry, what Batman discourse might I ask?

The entertainment magazine Variety did an interview with the showrunners of the Harley Quinn show.

Turns out, DC forced them to cut a scene from the upcoming Season 3, because it involved Batman performing oral sex on Catwoman. DC declared that "heroes don't do that".

This declaration has received widespread and near-unanimous condemnation from the fandom, and some DC writers, with many people talking about how that's out of character for Bruce, how Selina wouldn't accept man who didn't, or the multiple scenes where fellow Justice League member Green Arrow goes down on his wife.

(One DC writer even pointed out that Bruce has convenient handles on his head.)

It's the best discourse I've seen in a while.

[cryptocism]

wayne manor home videos part 2

[hijabi-adventures]

[gtgrandom]

I graduated college with a degree in environmental science and renewable energy, worked in a climate resilience office for my city, and then got my current job as a sustainability coordinator for businesses in Nevada, and people in my family continue to deny the fact that anthropogenic climate change is real. To my face.

While experts in other fields are consulted on a topic for their library of knowledge, for some reason my expertise only makes me biased and unreliable. Because people think climate scientists and nonprofit organizations actually make money off of research and resource conservation. Like it’s some big market. Like there are billionaires making their money studying ice core data, counting plants, or encouraging people to use less plastic.

No one is in the environmental field to make a big profit, lmao. We’re up against every polluting industry! We’re the underdogs!!

And plus, if you’re not going to believe a climate scientist about the climate, who are you going to trust? A businessman who runs a fossil fuel company? Politicians bought out by Exxon? That’s like going to a car salesman about a car issue. Idiotic. You go to the mechanic (someone who can diagnose your symptom) not the person who will deny any responsibility in your dilemma. Look at Exxon’s climate denial campaign if you really want to get into the weeds of it.

We can debate all day about the best way to address climate change. But pretending like it’s a non-issue is not only foolish and ignorant — it’s costing people their lives, their homes, and their health.

Wake up.