#classism cw

[blackcur-rants]

The fascinating thing about the idea of Victor Frankenstein being the true monster in his titular story is that, contrary to what that designation might suggest, he is not some kind of callous and immoral sadist who delights in the suffering of others.

Rather, the text shows us throughout itself that he is a man who is, in fact, deeply capable of love and compassion and affection. He adores his parents and is deeply heartbroken when he loses first his brother and then his boyfriend and then his wife. He is not simply a Complete Monster incapable of love or affection or good feelings.

Rather, the tragedy of Victor in “Frankenstein” is not that he is incapable of love, but rather that he does not extend that love beyond those like himself and whom he considers worthy of his time and affection. And that does not include his son the Creature/Adam, because the Creature is uncanny and weird and falls outside the spectrum of what Victor considers to be human.

And the book makes it very, very clear that this is by no means an attitude that is limited to Victor himself. It is also present in Clerval seeing India as a place to have his little colonial adventures rather than as a place where people live and breathe and work and love. It is also present in how the de Laceys claim to be compassionate and loving because they took in a friend’s daughter when no one else would and how they were screwed over by That Mean Old Turkish Man…and yet the moment that the Creature/Adam reveals himself to be something with which they themselves are not comfortable, they turn against him and reject him and drive him away, leading him directly into the fateful and fatal confrontation with William Frankenstein that causes so much of his later suffering.

And with regards to William himself, is death and its aftermath reveals how this theme holds true for the citizenry of Geneva as a whole.

Genovese People in Frankenstein: We are so much better than those filthy stupid monarchists in France and England because we are a proud and equal republic where all citizens have full and complete rights before the law!

Genovese People after the death of William Frankenstein: What’s that!? Our magistrate’s son is dead and we cannot find the culprit!? Quick! Let’s just blame the servant maid who was in love with him and give her a show trial before we quickly hang her and dispose of her corpse!

“Frankenstein” is often said to be the first science fiction story, and while that is not completely true (“A True Story” by Lucian of Samosata and “The Blazing World” by Margaret Cavendish both predate it by quite a bit), it was the first that placed its science fictional and fantastical elements (the Monster, namely) in an otherwise realistic and real world setting. And Mary Shelley uses that juxtaposition of the fantastical and the realism to comment on how much people of her own class and culture (and people in our own time as well, in all honesty) failed and still fail to see other kinds of people as fully human and thus the dangers of marginalisation and oppression as a whole. Victor’s failure to see the Creature as human and worthy of love is an extension of the failures of the whole society in which he exists and the whole society in which his story was written. And that is the reason why he is the true monster of this tale.

@muirin007 @dachi-chan25 @cynicalclassicist @carcosa-commune

[krakenartificer]

Today I'm entertaining myself by translating medical pseudo Latin into English

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome=

Standing straight-staying fast-heart-badness disease.

Not so fancy now are you? Hahahaha

[cisplus]

I came home from getting my blood drawn today, and my landlord was standing at the entrance of my apartment building, looking like a #girlboss in a tweed dress and heels. She was holding the door open for a prospective tenant to come inside.

We make eye contact, she lets me inside, and then she *closes the door* to go off on a tangent to the tenant. It was clear she didn't want to walk down the hallway with me and have the tenant be tainted by my presence and change their mind about the apartment.

I am aware I have the smallest, cheapest apartment at this classist place. I am aware I don't make enough money for these people to treat me with any kind of decency. I'm aware I look like a 15-year-old girl from the wrong side of the tracks who's living with a middle aged guy.

But it still pissed me off. I was very tempted to flip her off, but my anxiety stopped me, which is good because I enjoy having a place to live.

[ellrond]

I know others have said it, but there is something so lazy about the accents in Rings of Power.

Harfoots and Irish accents: they're wild travelers, they don't have infrastructure, they are widely uneducated, they're insular and vulnerable, they're visibly dirty, they're primitive. These are all harmful stereotypes that were prevalent in Great Britain in the 19-20th centurties about the Irish. Anti-Irish Traveller sentiment is still widespread and almost completely accepted openly in British society.

Men in the Southlands and northern English accents: dirty, hostile, primitive, descendants of those who allied with evil, and they have strained relations with the elves who are self-appointed 'watchers of peace' and act as a military presence. For hundreds of years in England, there has been tensions and unrest between the north and central government and the ruling class. Propaganda against these tensions has always been in favour of the ruling class (or Westminster, or the south, or London, or the government, whatever you want to say) and is seen as recently as August 2022 with the RMT strikes. While this propaganda is not exclusive to the north, as this is a nationwide issue, you just need to look back at the Miners' Strikes in the 1980s to see how effective this was. The north is disproportionately affected by government cuts, and remains the most economically deprived region in England, hence a more prominent working class. This is why northern accents are more commonly associated with the working class. Popular media, classic media, history, politics, will all attempt to write the working classes as dirty and hostile and primitive in England. There have always been hostilities between them and the 'benevolent' police or army or lords of the land who are only there for the working classes' 'own good'. Do you see the problem?

White Eldar: the Eldar (high elves) are all white and all have 'posh' English accents. This is an incredibly lazy trope that is weaponized to ensure the middle and upper classes in England are seen as responsible and benevolent and righteous and more intelligent and Good. They're also all white. They are the only race without diversity in skin-tone. Silvan elves, dwarves, humans, Harfoots, all have diversity in skin tone. It does not seem accidental that the 'wisest and fairest' are exclusively white.

PoC Silvan elf: the only PoC elf is a Silvan elf, a 'lowly' race of elves who never saw the light of Valinor, who are 'more wild, less wise'. This fits into the racist narrative that people of colour are more instinct-driven, less rational, less educated, and lowlier than whites.

Dwarves with Scottish accents: dwarves are shown to be impolite, hostile to outsiders, inelegant, and insular. These are stereotypes perpetuated by the English to dehumanise Scottish people and culture. There is an enormous amount of propaganda that aims to 'prove' Scotland is incapable of self-governance in order to undermine the push for independence, and the aforementioned is often what can be found by reading between the lines.

It's great that Amazon has hired a diverse cast, but it has slipped into lazy and harmful tropes in its writing. It's great that they are defending their cast against racist attacks, but they are only perpetuating classist and racist and xenophobic stereotypes in the show itself.

Antisemitism and dwarves is a whole other issue that has been much more clearly articulated by those more informed than I.

[dimitresca]

big spooky vampire lady obsessed w rules and manners bc they are tools of the social hierarchy that directly benefits her so she doesn’t want to ever seem “””lower class””” by using cuss words:     drat

[cyburnya]

Callout On Azuresky2468/Kiteswings3768/Grandpapertyrant

Callout On Azuresky2468/Kiteswings3768/Grandpapertyrant By: Hound, with help from Be, Jaz, Beck, Sin, Flof, Cai, Tim, Squee, Bingus, Beetle, and Ell. TLDR; Azure has been accused of infiltrating anti spaces of primarily minors while hiding the fact that she was a proshipper, grooming minors, sex...

A callout and compilation of experiences we’ve had with Azuresky2469/Kiteswings3768/Grandpapertyrant.

Even if you don’t believe in anti ideology, I’d suggest reading. This doc takes a neutral standpoint and it’s only a small portion of this doc.

All users and characters are censored, barring Azure. 

TLDR; Azure has been accused of infiltrating anti spaces of primarily minors while hiding the fact that she was a proshipper, grooming minors, sexualizing canonically sex repulsed characters, expressing homophobia, classism, and racism though RP, strange and flirtatious behaviour towards others who did not consent, potential cheating, and tracing art. 

[theminecraftgay]

Stitching five year old shoes back together and using wikihow as an urgent care is the American experience

[nikkiitalks]

Amber Alyssa Tuccaro, known to her family and friends as fiercely courageous and independent, was confident, compassionate, and protective over her bloodline and loved ones. Her deep rooted connection with cultivating relationships, as well as her passion to nurture those in need and make a positive impact on the world around her, was cut short by an unexplainable, unsolved death in the dog days of summer in August of 2010, leaving all who knew her across the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Alberta, Canada and the entire country at large grasping for answers in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt… 

 As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning built upon observable evidence and situational analysis, this is an examination of the death of Amber Tuccaro, and the suspicious audio recording from Amber’s final phone call that may or may not provide a clue to identify her unknown killer... 

 This is Cold Case Detective.

If you have 35 minutes, this is such a good watch and it really goes to show how the RCMP  treat indigenous peoples, and even moreso indigenous women, that go missing in Canada. I REMEMBER this case, I LIVE in Edmonton, I STILL to this day think about this case and how the RCMP brushed off her mother’s concerns because they said Amber was ‘PROBABLY IN THE CITY PARTYING’. 

Everything about this case is disgusting in how it was handled by authorities and it’s SO indictive of how our people are seen as less than to most levels of government.