Come to think of it, it really is insane that my entire country is burning alive and literally no one in the rest of the world cares. Thousands of Indians are dying every day from the heat, it's 45+ degrees in multiple areas, the government couldn't give two fucks, we're getting severe warnings and red alerts, and not a soul outside of South Asia is speaking about it because why would you ever care about brown people
Kinda? I know it's for Black Americans but not why
No
Yes
I plead 'Not American'
Voting ended onJun 20, 2025
So first, let's clear a common misconception: no, President Abraham Lincoln did not love Black people nor see them as human equals. At best he was centrist about it (though, even his implication that 'exceptional' Black men ought to vote got him assassinated).
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do, it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union...I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."
The "freeing of slaves" after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 was meant to kneecap the economic and military powers of the seceded South. Lettuce stop making a white savior figure out of Lincoln, or thinking that my people's shackles were unchained via anything other than desperate war strategy and extreme violence. Think on that, for a moment.
That being said!
Juneteenth is a time to gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. Discover ways to celebrate this African American cul
But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas.
Consider going through the Smithsonian website to learn about Juneteenth! Recognize why it's an actual day of freedom, versus July 4th and the independence of a select few.
This is a great post. Juneteenth is so important to recognize.
As a kid, I remember going to large celebrations for Juneteenth full of fellow Black folks. There was heaps of BBQ, lively music and local market goods. I didn't fully understand or appreciate it then. It also wasn't taught or mentioned at school either. I'm glad a light is now being shone on this important day.
Juneteenth (June 19): basic definition
"It celebrates the emancipation of enslaved [Black] people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation."
-Oxford Dictionary
Juneteenth marks the last of the enslaved Black American people being told they were free. This happened on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas.
This day is a powerful symbol of deferred justice. Justice, respect and the right to live in peace and love that we're very much still fighting for.
I encourage all Black people to celebrate this day in whichever way that looks like. Do something that makes you happy. And by "doing something" that could very well just be relaxing (as is my plan for today; after writing this, I'll be escaping into a book!).
Black joy and rest is important. Both are acts of resistance.
All can celebrate this day, today and well beyond, by supporting Black people in your daily lives.
In the stories you as writers, write (Include us as nuanced main characters! Give us our moments, love, happy endings!)
In the authors you read and recommend.
The artists, musicians, creators and makers you support.
The people, places and causes you put your time, voice and money towards.
It all makes a difference and is seen.
Happy Juneteenth.
Love to you all, from the WritingWithColor team and me
Disgust has absolutely no ethical weight. If you are basing your ethical positions on the emotion of disgust you should stop, it is entirely unjustified and leads to a huge amount of harm.
I'm sorry but as a great researcher I just can't sit by while you left glance it is people like you who are bundle steward fandom and I just can't stroke convert you have the most memory awful takes and everyone just keeps letting you have them I can't recognize letting you organ split while the rest of us watch
I just confirmed today that me and my platonic spouse are in fact queerplatonic. We've been doing this* for so long and I only just now thought to ask "is this a qpr?" And they said yes!
*this meaning having a non traditional relationship
I just confirmed today that me and my platonic spouse are in fact queerplatonic. We've been doing this* for so long and I only just now thought to ask "is this a qpr?" And they said yes!
*this meaning having a non traditional relationship
The fact that Wanda's "friends" who had known her for *years* didn't bother to check in on her, yet people who had known Bob for mere *days* showed more care and concern for him speaks volumes.
Literally Sam and Clint and Scott are still alive post-Endgame and yet *none* of them even *mention* Wanda. Which is a disgrace.
(I don't include Bucky in this group because Bucky barely knew Wanda and he was struggling enough himself at that point.)
The ending of Thunderbolts is Nonsensical Part 2: How not to Conclude a Story
For this part of my analysis of why the Thunderbolts ending doesn’t work, I’m going to go into how it simply fails as a piece of storytelling. Essentially, by going along with Val’s plan, the Thunderbolts fail to actually redeem themselves like the movie claims they do.
Val acts as a pretty straightforward villain in this movie. She brings the protagonists together by going after all of them. She sends the antagonist, Sentry, after them. She unleashes the Void on New York, leaving the Thunderbolts to stop it. She is behind everything, and she provides motivation for them to work together.
At the impromptu press conference, Val presents the Thunderbolts with a temptation. She is trying to give them something they want in order to continue with her evil plans. Because what (most of) the Thunderbolts want actually is encapsulated by becoming the “new Avengers”. As much as Yelena mocked Natasha for being a “poser”, as much as she claimed that the Avengers meant nothing, that all they did was take her sister from her, I think that she does want what the Avengers represent. She wants to be part of something bigger than herself, she wants to do good, to redeem herself. She wants companionship, to be surrounded by people who understand her. And she doesn’t want to actually confront and own up to the crimes she’s committed by working for Val. While the movie clearly barely covers Ava, we are left to assume that she feels along the same lines as Yelena. As for John and Alexei, they have even more reason to be tempted by Val’s offer.
John Walker ruined his life with his obsession over being Captain America. All of his feelings of insecurity about taking on the title, his resentment towards Sam for being the one to actually inherit the shield, his feelings of nationalism that he associates with the role, make him throw away everything good in his life. He gets Lamar killed because of his own pride, because he refuses to just let Sam and Bucky handle the Flagsmashers. He commits a war crime by killing a surrendering man, then tries to kill Sam and Bucky, causing him to lose his entire career. He remains fixated on this failure years after the fact, causing him to ruin his relationship with his wife and infant child. All of these problems happen because he is obsessed with the idea of being the one in charge, the kind of man who is always right because he is white, violent, angry, and forceful. So of course, for him, the idea of getting made into an Avenger is perfect, it's exactly what he wants. Rather than challenging his mentality, it validates his attitude.
As for Alexei, he is similar to John in a lot of ways. For all his life, Alexei was obsessed with the idea of being the Red Guardian, a popular superhero loved by the people. He wanted to be on cereal boxes, he wanted action figures made of him, he wanted to be the kind of person people recognized as a hero. He wanted renown and glory more than anything else. This is why he resented his undercover mission at the beginning of Black Widow. He literally traffics a young Yelena and Natasha because he wants to go back to being a public facing superhero. And while he seems to recognize the error of his ways at the end of that movie, by the time of Thunderbolts he’s back on his bullshit. So of course he would really want to go along with Val’s plan. It would mean finally getting to live out his fantasy.
As for Bucky, I’ll be honest this choice just makes no sense. I just have to put a pin in that and say that this is a Skrull, because nothing about Bucky’s story has ever implied that he would want to be part of any team that didn’t include Sam. As for Bob, he’s also just such a mystery that I don’t really know what his motivations are. It doesn’t seem reasonable that he’d want to work for the woman who experimented on him. So I’ll just put a pin in Bob as well and just say that a lot about him makes very little sense in this movie.
So it’s reasonable that Val’s offer would be properly tempting to (most of) the Thunderbolts. But that’s exactly why, if the story was actually good, they would need to reject her. Because this movie is supposedly about redemption, a group of people who want to turn their lives around despite all they’ve done. And, by stopping the Void and saving New York, they’ve started down that path. But, as others have pointed out, it isn’t exactly a redeeming act. Frankly, anybody would feel motivated to keep a city from being consumed by a big shadow depression monster. Mostly so they also don’t get consumed by it themselves! Like, Wilson Fisk would have also probably tried to stop the void from eating the city he’s trying to violently rule. I would describe this, in Dungeons and Dragons terms, as a “true neutral” act.
Meanwhile, rejecting Val’s offer would actually demonstrate their commitment to doing the right thing. And the right thing would have involved the Thunderbolts publicly rejecting Val, to help bring her to justice for the things she’s done. To provide their own testimony to attest to her crimes. Even if that means risking their own freedom. That’s doing the right thing, that’s an actual redeeming act.
This isn’t an unreasonable expectation I have for this story. Instead, this is a basic storytelling element - the hero rejecting the villain’s temptation. Think about it: “we can rule together, father and son!” "take his place at my side!" , this is a common refrain for a reason. So many stories are about the hero thinking they want something, but when the villain offers exactly that, the hero realizes that’s not what they need at all. Val calling the Thunderbolts the “new Avengers” in front of the whole world is such a perfect setup for this dramatic rejection. An opportunity for the Thunderbolts to demonstrate what they’ve learned throughout the story (acting like the story had them learning anything, but I digress). But instead, it's completely wasted. And, as I’ve gone more into detail about in the first part of this analysis, the idea that the Thunderbolts are actually blackmailing Val doesn’t work. Beyond it not making sense logistically, It's also not dramatically satisfying in the same way as helping bring her to actual justice would have been.
It's honestly pretty funny to compare this ending to any story that actually makes sense, especially in the MCU. Imagine if the Guardians of the Galaxy just handed over the power stone to Ronan in their first movie and just, like, asked to be on Thanos' payroll. Imagine if Tony had just let Obadiah Stane just continue selling weapons to whoever and asked him for an extra cut of the funds. That version of those movies would be trash, right? That would ruin the whole point of the story and those characters, right? And yet?! That’s what Thunderbolts does?! Lmao?!
That's why the whole 'But but Yelena said they own her and you all just don't understand!' Is just a cope. Literally they had the opportunity to be the heroes they wanted to be, they just decided to take the bribe instead. How very Lisa Murkowski of them.
The only good Thunderbolts poster summed it up - the new Avengers are puppets, them and their fans are just too dumb to accept it.
hello, white tumblr user. before you is a serious post by a blogger of color about racism. if you are able to quietly reblog it without adding any bullshit, especially not anything starting with "as a white person-" you will be allowed to go free. the hardest challenge in your entire life begins now
It drives us crazy that so many people argue "the word narcissist comes from the Myth of Narcissus, who was obsessed with himself! So it means egotistical!" cuz they clearly know NOTHING about the myth.
Narcissus was a beautiful man, who was constantly being harassed by people who desired him. But he didnt want to be with them, and always rejected them. One day, one man (Ameinias) was so upset that he was rejected, that he complained to the Gods, and the Godess of revenge (Nemesis) cursed Narcissus. She cursed him to become completely infatuated with someone who would never be able to give him affection in return. So when Narcissus looked into his reflection, he fell in love with his reflection, since his reflection would never be able to give him love in return. In some versions of the myth, he melted away after the passion overtook him, turning him into a gold and white flower. In other versions of the myth, he ends his own life out of despair that his reflection can never give him the affection he desires.
THE ENTIRE POINT OF "NARCISSISM" IS THAT SOMEONE OR SOMETHING ELSE FORCED A PERSON TO BE THIS WAY. That they had no choice in how they behave, how they view themself. Its not a story about a man who is egotistical, its a story about a man who is drowning in despair, because the love he desires feels unachievable.
People with NPD or other disorders that cause narcissism are deeply insecure. They are suffering. Just like people with depressive disorders, or anxiety disorders, or dozens of other mental illnesses.
Stop using narcissist interchangeably with egotism. Stop using it interchangeably with self-absorbed. Narcissism is a state of despair, a state of self-destruction, an uncontrollable response to either trauma, chemical disruptions, or genetic disruptions.
And for the love of everything holy, stop saying "narcissistic abuse." Say "emotional abuse." Stop promoting the idea that emotional abuse makes a person a narcissist, or that a person with narcissism is inherently abusive.
Something that can be done to help autistic people: if we're ever rude, or are too blunt about something, misread a social cue, or hurt your feelings, give us the benefit of the doubt. Odds are we're probably not even aware of what we did and had no intention of upsetting you. It can be very easy for us to make social blunders without realizing it. Just explain what we did and how it hurt you, so we can make an effort to do better in the future
I think it might be helpful to add some examples of how this might look in an actual conversation.
Let's say I, an autistic person, say statement X. You think it comes across as rude or oblivious or something else. You could respond:
'Hey, I'm not sure what you meant by X, can you clarify/explain/rephrase?'
Or
'Just to clarify, when you said X, did you mean Y or Z?
These both give me, the autistic person, the information that what I said wasn't clear (or came off the wrong way) and gives me a chance to restate what I was trying to say without putting any blame on anyone. (This also works well when trying to communicate with basically anyone at any time tbh.)
If you know me well enough, you might also add something like, 'oh, I understand now, at first I thought you meant W' which could give me some useful feedback for the future on how what I say comes off to others, but this isn't always necessary.
Basically 'giving the benefit of the doubt' doesn't mean 'let things slide,' which is an interpretation I often see. It might turn out that what I'm trying to say is actually rude and I'm trying to be rude, in which case, you would be justified in reacting to that rudeness. But more often than not, there's just a simple misunderstanding that can be cleared up with a couple extra sentences.
I am a person with a mess in the head. Miao. @iosonounapersonamiao - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
