Your annual reminder that the worst genocide of the 21st century happened while we were busy worrying about COVID. And no one talks about it. Then or now.
Something that will drive you insane as a Tolkien fan is that so many of the things in other fantasy settings inspired by it are often (correctly) decried as racist, and so people will attribute racism directly or indirectly to the concepts themselves as created by Tolkienâand this is so close to a reasonable analysis but misses the mark every time because, bafflingly, everything famous inspired by Tolkien somehow makes the ideas racist in new and worse ways.
Like. Tolkienâs work is racist! Lord of the Rings is about Magic World War One where the magic Europeans are led by their noble virtuous monarchs to defeat the evil god whoâs recruited all the Mysterious Eastern Foreigners. Itâs racist in very interesting and understandable (not excusable, to be clear) ways that are fun to analyze, but itâs still very racist.
But since thatâs a much broader and more generic fantasy trend, the pop culture itâs inspired tends to fixate on other elements like the different races, which is where you run into maddening things like every other media that uses orcs making them far more of a racist parody than Tolkien ever did. Tolkienâs orcs are a tortured, technologically advanced slave raceâpop culture orcs are tribal unintelligent comic buffoons who speak broken English. Tolkienâs elves are silly, occasionally-wise senior citizens who get used as pawns by gods over and over again and literally invent the concept of killing your family members, and pop culture elves are either Genius Flawless White Elves or the Evil Scheming Black Elves. Tolkienâs most famous villain is a blatant allegory for the perils of âefficiency over all elseâ thinking and of eugenics, and half the villains inspired by Sauron are far more associated with things like chaos and generic mindless violence.
Hell, even the adaptations of the books themselves do thisâAragornâs ridiculous âMen of the Westâ speech is so much more white supremacy coded in the movies than the books, and the movies cut out the few moments where characters reflect on how the people theyâre fighting are also just cogs in a machine.
And all of this creates this minor but persistent peeve that when someone not super familiar with Tolkien assumes his work is racist you canât just tell them theyâre right or say theyâre wrong, but instead go âI mean, yes, but also not like that, but also theyâre definitely still racist and youâre not wrong, but alsoâ look let me explain the Silmarillion to youââ
Yes it was actually shit. It took a story about abuse and Stockholm syndrome and romanticised the most toxic aspects of it. Stripped the story of power and meaning and didnt even look that good. Fuck Emerald Fennell and the horse she rode in on.
Its like remaking Mysterious Skin as a retro May/December gay romcom and wondering why people are upset.
Well, I was sufficiently enabled for the idea, so here it is: â¨Alex P. Keaton's Top Neurodivergent Momentsâ¨
The funny thing is that the amount of time I put into scrolling through my encyclopedic mental inventory of Family Ties scenes, compiling these moments in a list, making gifs, and finding past gifsets/analysis to link back to makes creating this post one of my most neurodivergent moments. Good for me.
These will be organized by season (easier for me than trying to rank on a scale) and are in no way ALL of the moments. I'd need like...15 posts for that. Also, tumblr only allows 30 images/gifs per post, so I'm going to include links to past posts when possible.
ENJOY!
⢠Alex gets his first-ever failing grade and immediately decides to quit school
Exactly what it says. Alex strolls into college all bright-eyed and confident and ends up a broken shell of a guy just a week or so later. The prototypical Gifted Kid from the moment he learned to speak, Alex cannot handle anything less than perfection. Getting the first F of his life shatters his entire self-image, and he wants to drop out of college entirely.
⢠Alex's friend Doug announces he's getting married, and Alex spirals into despair. As one does.
The entirety of the "Best Man" episode is one big Alex displaying neurodivergent behaviors moment, honestly. There are a whole lot of Alex-centered plots that are set into motion because A Change happens, and he just cannot deal with it, and this is one of the best examples. Alex is so distraught at the suddenly altered dynamic that he wanders the house like a lost soulâsad and confused and needy. He walks in on Steven's shower just to give him a hug, offers to go shopping with Mal and play dolls with Jen, and also draws up a seven-year contract for his other friends to sign to ensure they stick to their regularly scheduled card games, lest they also run off to get married and destroy his life.
⢠Alex P. Keaton: child development expert
When faced with the news of another sibling on the way, Alex has some very nurturing advice at the ready for when the baby is crying.
⢠The Keatons all laugh at a funny story. Alex is not amused.
This is one of my favorite Alex scenes of the series. Uncle Rob shares a memory of the time Steven was young and got in trouble because he started rebelling against the system and refused to write his name in the designated spot on his school test papers. The family shares a hearty laugh. Alex, king of black-and-white thinking and lover of rules, is deeply upset.
I love him so much. He genuinely cannot see how they're enjoying such a story. The Name Spot is for names. And his father dared to write in the Not For Names Spot?? Jail for Steven.
He's so ridiculously autistic.
⢠Alex's favorite childhood toy
It was a cardboard box. I can't quite put into words why this sets off my ND radar, but it does. Maybe it's the being attached to unusual items thing that's common with autism? The intense fixations that make other people go ????
The Alex and Ba-ba plotline provides some wonderful Alex Lore.
⢠Mr. Mustache
Yeah, those intense fixations? In the "Fool for Love" episode, Alex grows a mustache and legitimately cannot speak about anything else for the several days that follow. He's asked to present a speech at Mallory's homecoming dance and centers his entire speech around his mustache. He's unable to have a conversation that doesn't involve mustaches. It's incredible.
⢠Everything in "Matchmaker"
Alex is so sweet in this one. After Mallory comes home crying after a bad date, Alex promises to help her find a great guy. Unfortunately, putting someone who struggles socially and with processing emotions in charge of your love life isn't exactly a great fit. Alex uses the power of science to craft a formula to find Mallory's perfect match (he isn't), then tags along on their date and helps foster a very natural environment (it isn't) for the relationship to flourish (it doesn't).
The episode ends with a great scene between Alex and Mallory that shows just how well Mal understands the inner-workings of her big brother's head.
⢠Divorce is tough. Alex has some advice.
The Keaton kids are shocked to learn that their Uncle Rob is divorcing their Aunt Maureen. As Jen and Mallory reel from the information, Alex helps to reframe things.
He then pulls out the Special Interest Card and compares the divorce of their aunt and uncle to a "failed merger, not unlike the breakup of the phone companyâalthough obviously less emotional. Nothing more than a natural fluctuation in the marketplace of love and marriage."
And the thing is, he IS impacted by the news. He just hasn't the slightest clue how to actually process it. So, a simple failed merger it is!
⢠You had one job
Mallory needs some croissants for a fancy get-together she's having with her poetry class. Alex helpfully offers to go pick them up.
Now, I debated about this one because there's part of me that's like, "Hmm, did Alex purposely do this to annoy Mallory?" Is this just a jerk move? But you know what? It stays on the list because the whole "I personally don't like this thing and struggle to see how anyone else could. Therefore, I will get the thing I like" is (for me) a relatable aspect of being ND.
⢠Every single second of "A, My Name is Alex"
For real, though. This episode is a deep dive into how Alex became the person he is, and it is FILLED with "flashbacks" of an intensely neurodivergent child whose issues were made worse by the people around him. (Mostly teachers and peers. Steven and Elyse did their best with him, but I do also have some critiques of the way they parented him). Anyway, he represses his emotions to the point of a meltdown
And then there's this
Full coin gifset here. Also, I made posts on the full episode, which can be found here and here.
⢠"Alex has a weird body"
That's Mallory's explanation to Andy as to why Alex can't help her when she needs someone to model one of her latest clothing creations. She says Alex's head is too big for his body, and those words, unfortunately, find their way back to him. In a mini plot reminiscent of the mustache one, Alex proceeds to obsess over the comment.
And I mean, I think being told your head is too big for your body would make anyone insecure, but it's the way Alex handles it. He's unable to have regular conversations for a while because he can't stop fixating on the size of his noggin'.
Both of the "Read it and Weep" episodes fit in this list, to be honest
⢠An accurate statement by Lauren
I've got to include this because it really does neatly condense a lot of who Alex is
So true, bestie.
And then, to wrap this whole thing up, there's all of this
And this is just what I can fit in this here post without going over the limit lol. Obsessed with the way MJF played Alex.
October 1, 1917 - Turks Capture Jewish Spy Ring in Palestine
Pictured - Sarah Aaronsohn and Avshalom Feinberg, leaders of the Nili spy ring that worked for the British in Palestine. Sarah was captured on October 1 and committed suicide after four days of torture.
On October 1 1917 Turkish authorities in Palestine broke a Jewish spy ring that had been operating since 1915, arresting its leader Sarah Aaronsohn. Aaronsohn headed the spy ring, which also included her brothers. Called the Nili, the group publicly provided aid to starvation victims in Palestine, which gave them permission to travel around the country and meet with Ottoman officials. Unknown to the Turks, Aaronsohn and the others passed on everything they learned or saw to British intelligence.
Aaronsohn believed that British rule would allow more Jewish autonomy than the Turks, and also feared the possibility of persecution under Ottoman rule such as had happened to the Armenian Christians. However most of the Jewish community in Palestine feared Aaronsohnâs activities would bring a fierce crackdown.
German submarines in the Medittereean forced the Aaronsohn ring to use homing pigeons to contact Cairo. The capture of a bird by the Turks allowed authorities to unravel the group. Aaronsohn and several others were caught. Held under house arrest and tortured for four days, Aaronsohn would commit suicide with a hidden pistol on October 5.
For anyone who canât access the vulture article on Neil Gaiman because of the paywall here is an archive link and I also downloaded it as a PDF from Firefox
The Dark Secrets Behind the Neil Gaiman Abuse Accusations
The Dark Secrets Behind the Neil Gaiman Abuse Accusations.pdf
This video was cited in a psychology textbook on body language and social anxiety. Michael Stipe is someone who fought through some fairly big psychological obstacles to be able to perform live, but TV interviews still threw him off.
Karen Diamond Z"L, 82, has died of her injuries sustained in the antisemitic firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado.
She was murdered in an antisemitic terrorist attack.
She was a member of Bonai Shalom, a conservative synagogue in Boulder, where she was part of a program that made deliveries to elderly and immobile congregants. She also helped the synagogue refurbish its space after the building was badly damaged in a 2013 flood, according to a leadership award she received from the University Womenâs Club at the University of Colorado Boulder.
âAlthough our family tends to be somewhat more secular than religious, we recognize and honor our Jewish heritage,â Diamond and her husband, Lou, wrote in a statement about why they were donating to the synagogue. They said they âgreatly respect the educationally important, socially relevant and often courageous work being done by the members of Bonai Shalom and its dedicated, inspiring leaders.â
In a statement announcing her death, Bonai Shalom Rabbi Marc Soloway said, âThere are no words to express the pain of this horrific loss of our beloved member and friend.â
Karen Diamond died of severe injuries in the firebombing, the Boulder County DA said in a statement announcing additional charges against th
An 82-year-old woman has died after a man hurled Molotov cocktails at her during a peaceful demonstration in support of Israeli hostages earlier this month in Boulder, authorities said Monday.
Karen Diamond, one of 29 victims in the attack, died of severe injuries, the Boulder County District Attorneyâs Office said in a statement Monday announcing additional charges against the suspect, Mohamed Soliman.
âKaren was a cherished member of our community, someone whose warmth and generosity left a lasting impact on all who knew her,â executive director Jonathan Lev and board chair David Paul said.
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