Jus

She/he/they

[reluctant-bi]

Hi! If you're looking for my art, please go to @purple--pen

Everything's at #my art

❤️

[milanesidades]

Ví esto en Twitter e IG pero no en Tumblr, por favor tengan mucho cuidado y si pueden difundir por Tumblr argie mejor, están lanzando una búsqueda laboral FALSA en La Plata, el centro libertario "KYLE RITTERHOUSE" Calle 5, 1565 que se hace pasar por un centro cultural buscando "gente LGBT+, vegana o punk".

Porfa tengan cuidado y difundan si pueden gracias

[reluctant-bi]

[ID: un screenshot de un tweet que dice:

"en la plata hay un centro cultural libertario, anticomunista, antifeminista, homo-odiante que parece haber lanzado una búsqueda laboral falsa"

Debajo hay dos fotos de la búsqueda laboral, que dice:

Somos el centro cultural Kyle Rittenhouse

"Nos dedicamos a crear comida vegana, bandas punk, cafetería y eventos para gente de diversos espacios políticos (con preferencia por los LGBT). Necesitamos 10 personas para trabajo de miércoles a domingo

Limpieza, barra y ayudándonos con los eventos vendiendo medialunas, de todo. El base por 8 horas es de 85 mil pesos

Con extras por ganancias del centro llega a 120 mil pesos mensuales

Nos gusta que esto Confidencial una familia y que los empleados participen del beneficio. Quienes estén interesados presentarse directamente de a 19 horas en el centro.

No hace falta contactarse previamente ya que solo conversaremos con quienes se aproximen al lugar. La dirección es calle 5, 1565. Con gusto le mostraremos el centro y las cosas que hacemos."

Fin ID]

[milanesidades]

Ví esto en Twitter e IG pero no en Tumblr, por favor tengan mucho cuidado y si pueden difundir por Tumblr argie mejor, están lanzando una búsqueda laboral FALSA en La Plata, el centro libertario "KYLE RITTERHOUSE" Calle 5, 1565 que se hace pasar por un centro cultural buscando "gente LGBT+, vegana o punk".

Porfa tengan cuidado y difundan si pueden gracias

[reluctant-bi]

[ID: un screenshot de un tweet que dice:

"en la plata hay un centro cultural libertario, anticomunista, antifeminista, homo-odiante que parece haber lanzado una búsqueda laboral falsa"

Debajo hay dos fotos de la búsqueda laboral, que dice:

Somos el centro cultural Kyle Rittenhouse

"Nos dedicamos a crear comida vegana, bandas punk, cafetería y eventos para gente de diversos espacios políticos (con preferencia por los LGBT). Necesitamos 10 personas para trabajo de miércoles a domingo

Limpieza, barra y ayudándonos con los eventos vendiendo medialunas, de todo. El base por 8 horas es de 85 mil pesos

Con extras por ganancias del centro llega a 120 mil pesos mensuales

Nos gusta que esto Confidencial una familia y que los empleados participen del beneficio. Quienes estén interesados presentarse directamente de a 19 horas en el centro.

No hace falta contactarse previamente ya que solo conversaremos con quienes se aproximen al lugar. La dirección es calle 5, 1565. Con gusto le mostraremos el centro y las cosas que hacemos."

Fin ID]

[zvaigzdelasas]

[wrenwilm]

please, this is so fucking funny, you can’t keep that in the tags

[manlet-rights-activist-deactiva]

[bytedykes]

[ID: three drawings of toothless the dragon, all from the neck up. the first is green toned; his head is tilted down and the tops of his wings are visible. second is blue toned; he faces forward. there are scribbled notes around him. third is blue toned; he has little fangs. there are doodles around him and text that says "going 2 see if i can draw him from memory". /end ID]

toothless doodles from aggie time earlier :)

[lightshaped-archive]

can i please get help with making rent this month? currently still searching for a wheelchair/rollator accessible job and havent had a lot of luck so far 😔 please help me avoid homelessness.

ven-mo

cash-app

pay-pal

[lightshaped-archive]

9 more days til rent is due. at $40/$900 currently (rent will be secure at $700, the extra $200 is for upcoming bills 💜)

[lightshaped-archive]

$114/$900 💜 please keep sharing 💕

[normal-thoughts-official]

Thinking about Frenchie, Oluwande and Roach as names... And both the tragedy and the privilege of being mixed/having lighter skin

Out of the three Black men in the Revenge, Oluwande is the only one who has a real name. He's also the only one who has a last name (Boodhari). That, paired with the fact that he seems utterly unused to experiencing racism (his shock at the french person's comment during the party) and the fact that he's the darkest-skinned one out of the three, makes me think that Oluwande probably came from a relatively safe Black community. Maybe a quilombo or maybe he's African and from a tribe that hadn't been torn to shreds before he was born. Either way, Oluwande comes from a place where he's fully human; he has a last name, he has a real name. He knows what it's like to live relatively unaware of how much white people hate him

(Which is then, of course, lost; and because he didn't grow up in that environment, and because he is so dark-skinned, he is the most vulnerable one now, and the one who, in the eyes of white people, needs to be put in his place the most. I want to make it very clear that I'm not trying to imply Oluwande is privileged here; but he is in a unique position as a person of color, especially in that time, and that comparison makes the violence the other two went through even more visible)

Compare that to Roach. Roach as a name is so utterly horrifying, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I talk about him. Which I think is absolutely intentional. It's racism in its purest form, and you have to be uncomfortable about it. You can't talk about Roach without thinking, to some level, about the horrors of racism and colonization

And also... Roach doesn't have a last name

This, of course, tracks down historically - enslaved people were denied their last names. And having no last name while living in the Western world is having no history, no family, no origin. It's being denied community and family and culture and richness. Someone without a last name is alone in Western society. And someone named Roach and only Roach... Well, they're nothing. From the moment Roach was born, as a dark-skinned Black man who definitely came from a colonized environment, he was put in his place as less-than

And then you have Frenchie. Frenchie was named after the people who colonized his people, and that is fucking awful. Especially considering that Frenchie also doesn't have a last name. So no connection to his own history or culture; all that's left is the culture that hates him. Frenchie was born to be assimilated: forget your culture, forget your roots, spend your whole life trying to be like your colonizer

Except, of course, you'll never actually be accepted by them. He's not a Frenchman. He's Frenchie. It's derisive, it's scornful. Forget who you are, but don't forget that you're also not really one of us. Embrace us, but remember, we won't embrace you

(And if you've studied French colonial history - or read Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon - you know that the fact that he's named after France absolutely cannot be a coincidence. That was the modus operandi of French colonialism down to the bone. Give your colonized French status, force them to trade their culture for yours, assimilate them in such a way that they might actually believe they are indeed Frenchmen; but never see their lives as equal or them as real Frenchmen)

So, Frenchie's name is a tragedy and also leaves a horrible taste of colonialism, of culture denial, of assimilationism in my mouth. It reminds me of my own grandfather being taken away from his people and taking years to even find out the name of his tribe; it's horrible, and painful in a way that's hard to even put into words

At the same time, he's not Roach

Because Frenchie is also too light-skinned to be anything that isn't mixed, and so his name doubles - it's about colonialism and assimilationism, yes, but it's also being closer to being acceptable to white society. Frenchie can be a Frenchman, kinda; there is some space for him, if he forever accepts the abuse and violence that comes with not being white in that environment. Roach isn't even offered this choice; his skin is not light enough for him to be human in the colonizer's eyes. He could never be seen as even on the vicinity of French men. To them, he's just a roach

It's a good balance, I think, of tackling the privilege of light skin versus the horrible lack of belonging and the fact that said privilege is born out of violence that's carved on your skin into the bone. A commentary made even better by the presence of Oluwande, reminding us that the best thing to be is neither Roach nor Frenchie - the best thing to be is Oluwande Boodhari, a full person, with a real name, with a family and history and a sense of belonging; and who's not used to being treated as lesser than. And in that, OFMD also reminds us to have solidarity, and to not aim for crumbs of acceptance, but for the whole thing

(In this setting, Oluwande feels almost like a fantasy. Being whole, being unused to violence, having history and pride as a person of color. Which again, is not to say he's privileged, because as the darkest-skinned one he's the biggest target. But there's something... Just amazing about seeing this man be so whole despite that)

And it's really a nice balance of drawing solidarity while also pointing out privilege; having both what makes them similar and what makes them different; pointing out that no violence is better or acceptable; and encouraging that people band together instead of tearing each other apart. Plus commentary on history, racism, and assimilationism. It's really so well done, and it blows my mind that they managed to fit so much commentary into nothing but their names

[normal-thoughts-official]

#Oh hmm this is very interesting.#I didn't interpret their names this way at all#I assumed they were nicknames#Pirate names like blackbeard#Or buttons must be a nickname no?#Makes me wonder about The Swede now tho 🤔#our flag means death

Hope you don't mind me taking your tags because I actually forgot to talk about this!

So I want to first point out an important distinction, which is that those names are ostensibly and clearly nicknames and pirate names. We know that BlackBeard's legal name is Edward Teach. We know that Buttons' name is Nathaniel (the seagull, Olivia, calls him that). We know that Black Pete chose his own pirate name, and that his legal name is, presumably, Peter. We know that the Gentleman Pirate is Stede Bonnet and that he chose that for himself; we even know that Wee John's legal name is John Feeney despite him being probably the most minor character in the whole crew. And even Oluwande himself has a nickname, as he's called Olu, but we still know his full name is Oluwande Boodhari

With Frenchie and Roach, we have nothing to call them but Frenchie and Roach. Those might be nicknames, they might not; I'm not saying they are definitely their legal names (I think they probably don't have legal names, since they don't have last names, but that's conjecture on my part). But it doesn't actually matter whether or not they are, because they are the only thing they are ever called, and that makes those, for all intents and purposes, their names. It doesn't matter if those are nicknames or not because they are reduced to these names, and as Black men living in the Western world, these names cannot be detached from their identities and the racism they face, and the history behind their every existence

The only other character who has a nickname whose name we never learn is The Swede, and the Swede is probably the most minor character other than Wee John. His only plotline is when he gets scurvy and even then he has like, 3 lines about it. He doesn't get a name outside of his nickname, but that makes sense because the Swede is that guy you don't know very well who's a friend of a friend; you don't learn much about him. Frenchie and Roach are way more relevant/present characters, and even other characters who are less relevant than them, but white (such as Wee John) explicitly have other names

So basically the options here are either that those are the only names they ever had, or that they are nicknames. And nicknames are usually given by other people, and in this context, most likely white people. And upon receiving these nicknames, their other names ceased to exist, and they never got to be anything but Roach and Frenchie again

Both of these options circle back to my analysis, which is that they have been reduced to these names due to racism, and that this is commentary on racism, colorism, and colonialism

There is also a third option, which is that they chose those names for themselves; I don't tend to think that's the case but that's my gut feeling. I definitely don't think Frenchie would have chosen this name for himself, especially considering his derision for colonizers. But even if they did, then this means that these facts about their identities (Roach's less-than-ness and Frenchie's liminar place as both a Frenchman and someone who could never be a real Frenchman) are so important to them they became their most important sense of self, and what they identify themselves by. This also cannot be detached from the lives they have lived as Black men in the Western world

So basically, the history behind how they got these names and the legal status of the names may vary, but it doesn't matter because it's still the direct result of the racial and cultural context they were raised in, and the specific types of violence they have faced in this environment

[normal-thoughts-official]

Okay so at this point some people have pointed out that Samba Schutte said on his Instagram that the roach also has cultural significance to his people as a symbol of resilience. I didn't know that when I was writing this post because I don't have Instagram and I kind of make a point of not following celebrities since it never ends well lol

So, although death of the author and all that, I don't want to erase this cultural significance because I think it's an important bit of representation. And I am very happy and relieved that Roach is not an entirely negative name to him! Because while I do love this show and all the bits they've included about race, one thing that bothers me is that they've said so many times that they wanted to create a space of joy for marginalized people, and for that chose not to include homophobia/transphobia... But also chose to include a lot of racism and particularly antiblackness

So I'm happy that Roach's name is a positive thing for him! I do love that. However, I still want to point out a few things:

1. I don't think that discredits my original analysis, because as viewers, I think we are still supposed to think of the difference between these names and what they mean for these characters in general. And I think that not ever textually pointing out this reason is meant to make us, again, feel uncomfortable about that name at first and think about its implications

2. Samba didn't say that he (Samba) or he (Roach) picked the name for the character. It is entirely possible that the name was given by someone else and he decided to ressignify that name by associating it with a part of his culture. Which is a nice way to reclaim that insult, and very clever

3. Even if he (Samba or Roach) did pick that name, I don't think you can say "oh, he chose this name because it means resilience and survival in his culture :)" about a Black, African character living in the Western world and detach that from his status as a Black, African character living in the Western world. If Roach has had to be resilient, if Roach has had to survive, this means that he was under threat. This means that people were trying to crush him. This means that he has had to resist, again and again, every moment of his life, so much so that it became the most fundamental part of his identity; his own name

And I'm sure he has! Because he's a Black, African (since Samba implies Roach is Saharan/Mauritanian, like Samba himself) man living in a world of racism, imperialism and colonialism. A man who's close to his roots but turned away from them and living in the singular most important slave trade point at the time. The character who was called "darkie" and a "savage" by the British, textually, in the show

And the thing is, as he lives in the Western world, I'm sure that he knows what the roach is associated with there. And he still chose to call himself roach in their language, so they would know what his name means. So I think he is choosing to make a play on the word here - you think I'm nothing, but I'm strong. You think I can be crushed under your feet, but I'll survive even a nuclear apocalypse if needed be. At the very least, he knows the name will be seen by white people as yet another reason to look down on him, and he embraces that

Which also brings me back to my point about colorism and the comparison between the names Roach, Frenchie, and Oluwande: although Frenchie's name is awful, he isn't in a situation where the violence he faces for his existence is such an all-encompassing thing that it became his identity. He isn't a roach. He isn't under threat of nuclear apocalypse. The kinds of violence that they face, the way that it's built, is fundamentally different, because Frenchie can be assimilated and Roach can only be annihilated

Which isn't to say that being assimilated isn't fucking awful. Like I mentioned in the original post, that's the part that I can relate the most to. But I do think OFMD is showing us the fundamental difference between being acceptable to your oppressors and not being acceptable, and how that leads to building fundamentally different identities and views of yourself

At the same time, we also have the fact that Roach can get to pick a name that's significant to his culture and his roots; Frenchie does not seem to have that kind of connection. But then again, not really, because Roach's name is in the language of the colonizer, and cannot be detached from the violence of the colonizer

Which again I think is a really nice balance of pointing out the differences and privilege while also acknowledging that pain is pain, racism is racism, and they're on the same side, should be on the same side, and can and will support each other

And again that's what makes the Oluwande name so important, because otherwise people might argue all day whether its better to be under more intense physical violence or threat of assimilationism; whether it's best to be Frenchie or Roach. And the answer is neither. Because Oluwande means "god has searched for and visited me" (according to the article A Sociolinguistic Survey of Yoruba and Ashanti Naming Re-engineering: The Case of Nigeria and Ghana, by Yekeen Bello, which I will link below), and it's Yoruba. It is not a name that speaks of pain and resilience, or of being taken away from yourself; it is a name that means being whole and holy. It's in his own language. It is about him, not what has been done to him by colonization. And again I just think that's great and beautiful to see, and a good representation of how, if we lost ourselves to the community infighting, we lose sight of what we should really be fighting for, and the way our differences trace back to the same roots. While also acknowledging that they are differences, and shouldn't be flattened or disconsidered, but rather put together to get a whole picture

So, yeah

I think that adds a lot more layers to my analysis that I hadn't considered before, so I'd appreciate it if the people who reblogged the previous versions reblogged this one as well

Link to the article I namedropped below:

Link

[normal-thoughts-official]

One thing I love about Frenchie is how he very obviously likes some of the high life stuff, particularly fashion, but he's not at all interested in taking it for himself over picking his own community. And how he's very well aware that the high crust is nothing if not the violent, ugly colonizers that they are

Think about it. Frenchie obviously cares about fashion; although his clothes are tattered all the way to hell, there is clearly an attempt to make something nice. Everyone else is just wearing practical clothes; Frenchie is the only one with an accessory (the scarf). He's also the only one save for Roach who wears something colorful (the scarf is bright yellow, the jacket is blue; and considering that dye was very expensive at the time, he would have had to go out of his way to get that. It might be even why they're so tattered; those might be the only colorful clothes he owns, and the fact that he keeps wearing them proves how attached to them he is). The scarf is styled in a loose way, but also slightly resembling a cravat

It's far from a high fashion look; it's obvious that Frenchie can't afford it, both in the economic sense (his clothes are the most tattered ones by far) and the lifestyle sense (he's a manual laborer, he can't be wearing high fashion clothes, or anything that is too impractical really). Nevertheless, the fact that he cares enough to try despite it being so inaccessible to him says a lot about just how much it means to him

His appreciation for fancy clothes is very much confirmed when they raid the fancy ship and Frenchie immediately goes to check their wardrobe, gets himself a very nice and fancy outfit, and then walks into Stede's library with the biggest grin we've seen on him so far, says, "good evening, my fine sirs" and gives a little bow as he holds a party invitation

And the thing is, he wants to go, because if he didn't, he wouldn't have given it directly to Stede, the single person in the ship who's likely to say yes (and the fact that he doesn't is character development, too). He could've thrown it out and Stede would literally never know. And even if he did know, the show makes it very clear that the crew doesn't respect Stede enough to do stuff they don't want to do, especially in the first half. Frenchie himself proceeds to run a whole con behind Stede's back that same episode, so I think it's safe to say that he doesn't give Stede the invitation out of a sense of duty to his captain. And even if he did, Stede never invited him and most of the crew didn't go, so it's obvious that it was his own choice to attend

With all of that in mind, I think it becomes clear that Frenchie likes the fashion, the pleasantness, the fine aspects of the high life that he has never had access to. And he enjoys the fantasy of getting to live it, even if for a day

And it'd be so easy for him to then become the person who turns on his peers in order to get his shot at fitting in the high life. It could even be good commentary about colorism and assimilationism, seeing as Frenchie is the lightest-skinned Black man on the ship, and historically lighter-skinned Black people had been the ones who were allowed to "serve" within the white spaces and the house. I won't get into this in depth because I'm not qualified to, but many people have talked about this before, and this dynamic would obviously be important if they went for this kind of narrative

Besides, there is a lot of commentary that can be done about oppressed in-fighting. Particularly when it comes to people who are allowed some degree of closeness to the power ranks and then turn against the people who are not, in order to get approval and feel like they belong with those in power. This is a subject that OFMD actually touches a lot on, especially through Stede

(I won't get into details cuz I have a bigger meta on this planned, but think Stede in episode 1 making all the Black men on his ship pretend to be servants and go through awful amounts of racism in order to impress his childhood bully that he hates. Why does he care about impressing that guy? Because Stede is still attached to his privilege and power, and as such, he's willing to throw others under the bus so he can still hold on to it)

(Mandatory "don't get me wrong, I like Stede" comment. I think that his arc is about letting go of precisely this in order to fully embrace the poor, queer poc as his people instead of the gentry. And that is exactly what makes him interesting to me! But this commentary about the intersection of privilege and oppression, and how it can make people turn on other oppressed people, is absolutely being made)

Back to Frenchie, it'd make sense if he was the kind of character who has issues with the fact that he does not have access to things that he values, and who just wants a shot at feeling like he's fancy and could get the finer things that he's been denied. And who, as a result, turns against his peers. And I don't even think that it'd be a bad thing to show. But OFMD does us one better: it makes Frenchie (and Olu and Roach) unabashedly supportive of his darker-skinned Black peers, and perfectly aware of the ugliness of the upper crust; and not only unwilling to participate in it, but actually disinterested in doing so, because fancy clothes aren't worth it. ["not only unwilling to participate in it, but actually disinterested, because fancy clothes aren't worth it" in italics]

This is even shown in the very same scene where Frenchie shows up with his fancy clothes; although he is enjoying the fantasy of being a fine, respected, well-dressed man, he also refers to the party as "for hoity-toity people". The derision he feels is clear, and although there is a way to interpret this as simply Frenchie pointing out that that's not him, his behavior at the party confirms that he does not actually want to be a part of "this lot" in their ugliness

Because when him and Olu (the darkest-skinned man on the show, and I don't think that's a coincidence) go to the party, Frenchie is the one who's in control of the situation from beginning to end. Olu is a bad liar (doesn't know what to answer when asked who he is), clearly unfamiliar with the workings of the upper crust (shocked by racist comments, which is really not something any Black man of his skin tone who's been around gentry for one second would be surprised by), and anxious about the whole situation (when called out by Abshir, immediately reveals their whole scam and offers to leave, going as far as saying "we can swim"). Frenchie, on the other hand, is calm, collected, knows how to lie, and is familiar with how the upper crust works. The show makes it very clear that he can play them like a fiddle, and it's not even a challenge to him

So Frenchie is in control of the lie, and it would have been so easy for him to throw Olu under the bus and make himself the center of attention so he could get to be the "fine sir" he clearly thinks would be nice to be for a moment. Instead, he makes Olu the prince and himself his viceroy; it is Olu who gets to have his hand kissed (and how beautiful it is to see those racist white people, who paint their faces even whiter, kissing a dark skinned Black man's hand), and, when things get overwhelming for Olu, he steps in and takes control of the situation. This last part is shown during the racist comment situation - Olu is shocked and Frenchie steps in, saying "what a lovely thing to say" and giving Olu a pointed look to indicate to him that this is the safe way to play it (and Olu trusts him immediately). It is also shown in the way the whole con is made and how Frenchie even brings it up, doing all the talking and making it so Olu has to make minimal effort. This is also survival, of course; if Olu fucks it up, Frenchie is toast too. And while I believe that Frenchie is more practical than Olu is (especially because I think that Olu is, to some extent, kinda naive, or at least new enough to the Western world that he doesn't quite get how important certain things are for survival), that's all the more reason why Frenchie could have made himself the Prince and drawn all the attention. The fact that he didn't is proof of his unwillingness to throw Olu under the bus, and the bond between them as two Black men among rich white people

So Olu is the center of attention, he's the prince, he's the one who gets all these racist whites begging him to take their money (which I can only imagine was a very amazing sight for Frenchie, especially considering his grin as he watched how the party ended). And then, at the end, he lets Olu decide what to do with the money that, by any reasonable account, Frenchie earned

When they are leaving, he asks Olu "so, what did you do with our earnings?". He obviously let him decide whatever he wanted. It was mostly Frenchie's hard work, and it would be perfectly reasonable for him to decide, or at least for it to be a joint decision, but he leaves it to Olu. And then the most beautiful part of all, of course: Olu gives it to Abshir and the other servants so they can leave. They both give up their hard-earned fancy goods and money for someone who they deem needs it more, someone who they see as equals and part of their community as Black men. And it's beautiful and one of my favorite Olu moments that helped him be solidified as my favorite OFMD character, because I'm just a sucker for selfless people who value community above all else. But everything about the selflessness and sense of community that Olu shows then is first shown in Frenchie

I've said before that the Black (and overall poc) solidarity is one of my favorite things in this show, and it just really gains particularly wonderful undertones in Frenchie's whole behavior throughout this episode. Because as much as he might like nice clothes and the fantasy of being fancy, he loves his people way more, and he knows where he would be accepted and where he wouldn't. It's beautiful to see and such a great thing about his character and the overall way this show handles racial issues, privilege, and belonging

TLDR: Frenchie is shown to like fancy stuff, but he still chooses to uplift Olu instead of himself and give the fancy things away to Abshir. And that shows a lot of solidarity between the Black men on OFMD

[normal-thoughts-official]

#shades of jim and olu even with frenchie taking olu's spot as translator and guide and ride or die backup (via knowlesian)

Your tags actually made me realize that they lowkey go full circle because the first (and maybe most obvious) moment of POC solidarity we get in the show is Jim throwing the knife at the British soldier's hand because he had been racist to Frenchie; then we have Olu being so supportive of Jim throughout the whole series, and then Frenchie supporting Olu in this episode. It's really so nice how they wrote this dynamic with this whole web of mutually dependant people who are all there for each other. No one's taking a bigger toll than the other and they're all there for each other in their own way. This is real solidarity

[halfeatenmoon]

I've talked about this plotline a fair but over on Twitter but this is even BETTER. I'd never picked up on Frenchie liking fine clothes, or thought about Olu being less exposed to Western culture and racism. This meta is so good! and also these tags!!!

[normal-thoughts-official]

ID: Set of tags that reads: "our flag means death; ofmd spoilers; [caps] but wait it got better!!! [end caps]; the magic of this deeply intersectional show is it allows for each of us to have these moments; 'the magic' it's all magic here babes; but like there's something so structurally cool about how if any of us want to understand the whole show; we have to seek out the people who live the lives we don't; and find out what THEY ['they' in caps] saw; like it literally encourages solidarity by its very NARRATIVE STRUCTURE? ['narrative structure' in caps]; what the fuck is wrong with this team i just; i wanna talk okay; i need to know why they did this and how we make all shows ever do this". End ID

[normal-thoughts-official]

Thinking about Frenchie, Oluwande and Roach as names... And both the tragedy and the privilege of being mixed/having lighter skin

Out of the three Black men in the Revenge, Oluwande is the only one who has a real name. He's also the only one who has a last name (Boodhari). That, paired with the fact that he seems utterly unused to experiencing racism (his shock at the french person's comment during the party) and the fact that he's the darkest-skinned one out of the three, makes me think that Oluwande probably came from a relatively safe Black community. Maybe a quilombo or maybe he's African and from a tribe that hadn't been torn to shreds before he was born. Either way, Oluwande comes from a place where he's fully human; he has a last name, he has a real name. He knows what it's like to live relatively unaware of how much white people hate him

(Which is then, of course, lost; and because he didn't grow up in that environment, and because he is so dark-skinned, he is the most vulnerable one now, and the one who, in the eyes of white people, needs to be put in his place the most. I want to make it very clear that I'm not trying to imply Oluwande is privileged here; but he is in a unique position as a person of color, especially in that time, and that comparison makes the violence the other two went through even more visible)

Compare that to Roach. Roach as a name is so utterly horrifying, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I talk about him. Which I think is absolutely intentional. It's racism in its purest form, and you have to be uncomfortable about it. You can't talk about Roach without thinking, to some level, about the horrors of racism and colonization

And also... Roach doesn't have a last name

This, of course, tracks down historically - enslaved people were denied their last names. And having no last name while living in the Western world is having no history, no family, no origin. It's being denied community and family and culture and richness. Someone without a last name is alone in Western society. And someone named Roach and only Roach... Well, they're nothing. From the moment Roach was born, as a dark-skinned Black man who definitely came from a colonized environment, he was put in his place as less-than

And then you have Frenchie. Frenchie was named after the people who colonized his people, and that is fucking awful. Especially considering that Frenchie also doesn't have a last name. So no connection to his own history or culture; all that's left is the culture that hates him. Frenchie was born to be assimilated: forget your culture, forget your roots, spend your whole life trying to be like your colonizer

Except, of course, you'll never actually be accepted by them. He's not a Frenchman. He's Frenchie. It's derisive, it's scornful. Forget who you are, but don't forget that you're also not really one of us. Embrace us, but remember, we won't embrace you

(And if you've studied French colonial history - or read Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon - you know that the fact that he's named after France absolutely cannot be a coincidence. That was the modus operandi of French colonialism down to the bone. Give your colonized French status, force them to trade their culture for yours, assimilate them in such a way that they might actually believe they are indeed Frenchmen; but never see their lives as equal or them as real Frenchmen)

So, Frenchie's name is a tragedy and also leaves a horrible taste of colonialism, of culture denial, of assimilationism in my mouth. It reminds me of my own grandfather being taken away from his people and taking years to even find out the name of his tribe; it's horrible, and painful in a way that's hard to even put into words

At the same time, he's not Roach

Because Frenchie is also too light-skinned to be anything that isn't mixed, and so his name doubles - it's about colonialism and assimilationism, yes, but it's also being closer to being acceptable to white society. Frenchie can be a Frenchman, kinda; there is some space for him, if he forever accepts the abuse and violence that comes with not being white in that environment. Roach isn't even offered this choice; his skin is not light enough for him to be human in the colonizer's eyes. He could never be seen as even on the vicinity of French men. To them, he's just a roach

It's a good balance, I think, of tackling the privilege of light skin versus the horrible lack of belonging and the fact that said privilege is born out of violence that's carved on your skin into the bone. A commentary made even better by the presence of Oluwande, reminding us that the best thing to be is neither Roach nor Frenchie - the best thing to be is Oluwande Boodhari, a full person, with a real name, with a family and history and a sense of belonging; and who's not used to being treated as lesser than. And in that, OFMD also reminds us to have solidarity, and to not aim for crumbs of acceptance, but for the whole thing

(In this setting, Oluwande feels almost like a fantasy. Being whole, being unused to violence, having history and pride as a person of color. Which again, is not to say he's privileged, because as the darkest-skinned one he's the biggest target. But there's something... Just amazing about seeing this man be so whole despite that)

And it's really a nice balance of drawing solidarity while also pointing out privilege; having both what makes them similar and what makes them different; pointing out that no violence is better or acceptable; and encouraging that people band together instead of tearing each other apart. Plus commentary on history, racism, and assimilationism. It's really so well done, and it blows my mind that they managed to fit so much commentary into nothing but their names

[normal-thoughts-official]

#Oh hmm this is very interesting.#I didn't interpret their names this way at all#I assumed they were nicknames#Pirate names like blackbeard#Or buttons must be a nickname no?#Makes me wonder about The Swede now tho 🤔#our flag means death

Hope you don't mind me taking your tags because I actually forgot to talk about this!

So I want to first point out an important distinction, which is that those names are ostensibly and clearly nicknames and pirate names. We know that BlackBeard's legal name is Edward Teach. We know that Buttons' name is Nathaniel (the seagull, Olivia, calls him that). We know that Black Pete chose his own pirate name, and that his legal name is, presumably, Peter. We know that the Gentleman Pirate is Stede Bonnet and that he chose that for himself; we even know that Wee John's legal name is John Feeney despite him being probably the most minor character in the whole crew. And even Oluwande himself has a nickname, as he's called Olu, but we still know his full name is Oluwande Boodhari

With Frenchie and Roach, we have nothing to call them but Frenchie and Roach. Those might be nicknames, they might not; I'm not saying they are definitely their legal names (I think they probably don't have legal names, since they don't have last names, but that's conjecture on my part). But it doesn't actually matter whether or not they are, because they are the only thing they are ever called, and that makes those, for all intents and purposes, their names. It doesn't matter if those are nicknames or not because they are reduced to these names, and as Black men living in the Western world, these names cannot be detached from their identities and the racism they face, and the history behind their every existence

The only other character who has a nickname whose name we never learn is The Swede, and the Swede is probably the most minor character other than Wee John. His only plotline is when he gets scurvy and even then he has like, 3 lines about it. He doesn't get a name outside of his nickname, but that makes sense because the Swede is that guy you don't know very well who's a friend of a friend; you don't learn much about him. Frenchie and Roach are way more relevant/present characters, and even other characters who are less relevant than them, but white (such as Wee John) explicitly have other names

So basically the options here are either that those are the only names they ever had, or that they are nicknames. And nicknames are usually given by other people, and in this context, most likely white people. And upon receiving these nicknames, their other names ceased to exist, and they never got to be anything but Roach and Frenchie again

Both of these options circle back to my analysis, which is that they have been reduced to these names due to racism, and that this is commentary on racism, colorism, and colonialism

There is also a third option, which is that they chose those names for themselves; I don't tend to think that's the case but that's my gut feeling. I definitely don't think Frenchie would have chosen this name for himself, especially considering his derision for colonizers. But even if they did, then this means that these facts about their identities (Roach's less-than-ness and Frenchie's liminar place as both a Frenchman and someone who could never be a real Frenchman) are so important to them they became their most important sense of self, and what they identify themselves by. This also cannot be detached from the lives they have lived as Black men in the Western world

So basically, the history behind how they got these names and the legal status of the names may vary, but it doesn't matter because it's still the direct result of the racial and cultural context they were raised in, and the specific types of violence they have faced in this environment

[normal-thoughts-official]

I created a TikTok just to make this

VD: A "Yo Yo Yo Vine" meme to the sound of Frenchie from OFMD singing "A Pirate's Life"

A man stares at the camera in shock and screams, "yo, yo, yo!!" Two of his friends show up and stare, then immediately start screaming in joy and the camera zooms quickly into their faces. A Pirate's Life, which is a softly sung song with only a lute and voice, starts playing. The men in the video start dancing intensely, synchronized at first and then devolving into crazy jumping. One of them starts to do the worm across the screen as the other two cheer him on, the soft song still playing.

Lyrics say: "A pirate's life sounds just right / sounds quite nice, I could say that twice / sounds quite nice / we won't live long-" it cuts off before it finishes. End VD

[casmick-consequences]

most ironic screenshot of the whole show

[normal-thoughts-official]

ID: OFMD screencap that shows Jim, Oluwande, and Lucius. Jim and Oluwande are looking down and Lucius is pointedly not, as if ignoring what’s going on. The caption says, “keep it straight, if you can”. End ID

[aanakin]

David Fane as Fang in Our Flag Means Death (2022-)

[fortyorangecake]

[ID: A series of gifs of Fang from Our Flag Means Death. They go as follows: 1. Fang standing at the rail of Blackbeard’s ship, saying: “Well, there go those fancyboys.” 2. Fang lying down for Lucius to draw him. He is saying: “Izzy the Spewer? Let him look.” 3. Fang covering his mouth in excitement and disbelief after the announcement of the talent show. 4. Fang standing over an unconscious Lucius with a hand on his shoulder. He looks distressed and is saying: “Oh, for God’s sake! He’s a visual artist. You can’t cut the boy’s little fingies.” 5. Ivan holding Fang as he cries into his chest. Ivan is saying: “It’s all right, Fangy. He’s up in doggy heaven now, mate.” Fang gets more distressed and says: “Yeah, but we go to different heavens!” 6. Fang standing at the rail of The Revenge. Offscreen Lucius says: “Has anyone ever told you you have stunning cheekbones?” Fang looks bashful and giggles replying: “Once or twice, I guess.” End ID.]

[normal-thoughts-official]

Plain text: “David Fane as Fang in Our Flag Means Death (2022-)”. There’s a dash after 2022, indicating it’s ongoing. All the names are in bold. End PT

[dropdeeperbee]

girls pretty

[mioxenoblade]

“you’re going to DELETE a post you AGREED with just cuz you found out ops a terf??”

yeah turns out learning that people having uber bigoted ideologies changes the context of the post buddy

[lesbiantiope]

I once reblogged a post about how a women’s bathroom was an important place of refuge, and that was why women often go to the bathroom in groups or to cry and why people leave those domestic abuse cards in women’s bathrooms, and how it’s the one place women can be away from men, and I was like “this is a fantastic post, yes” and then I found out the OP was a TERF and that post was suddenly no longer about safety in women’s restrooms. It was actually about wanting to make it impossible for trans women to pee in a public restroom. It was about making trans women seem like they invade a sacred place and make it dangerous. You bet your ass I deleted that reblog.

[chescaleigh]

thanks to my followers who hit me up when/if I need to delete something

[lilly-isnt-here-deactivated2022]

Its kinda like how a communist and nazi may agree that elites are ruining our society but when the communist learns a nazi said that they would be horrified, not because they don’t believe elites are ruining society but because they now realize that elites was a euphemism to make what they Meant more palatable and what they meant is not agreed with.

[icy-moons]

on another but similar note, this is how they get you. Bigots will dress up their ideologies in something you agree with and maybe it makes you want to look at their stuff. so you do, and you keep going, and you find yourself agreeing to more and more stuff they say. it’s a slippery slope from there. it’s a slow indoctrination.

“TERF made a good point though—” no they absolutely did not. if you know enough to recognize how their ideology corrupts and recontextualizes their post, good. but for someone else just diving into this, this is the fostering of radicalization. it’s how originally well-meaning feminism curdles into hate for the very existence of trans people. it happens, and it’s for the best we keep others from going down that road.

[rawrda]

This is your daily reminder to not be ashamed of making your life easy for yourself.

Cut your food into small pieces, make the font size 30 on your e book, use straws to drink, get a pen that’s comfortable to hold, take more naps, walk slowly, eat another cookie, buy velcro shoes, re-watch the part you couldn’t understand the first time, write things on your hands so you don’t forget it… whatever you want and/or need

Don’t let anyone tell you how you should be doing things. We don’t need to prove each other anything

[girlbi-deactivated20220618]

im not immune to how corsets make breasts look

[bluebandit-deactivated20220607]

Ain’t no way god thinks I’m this strong