#maybe not!

[squad-3]

“Burrow told ESPN there were no setbacks”

“Burrow who’d push to play… initial plan was never to play him against NE tho he made a run at it”

[completeoveranalysis]

What do you think about Ashura and Fai relationship with each other as his adopted father? And the past of cursed twin Fai and Yui? Both Fai and Yui trapped in the tower, they may not interact with each other, but the twin want to leave the tower together not giving up. The fact that Fai (the real one) is slightly more self-sacrificing than Yui, aside from being a dramatic misdirection aligned with the "death-seeking Fai-san," is probably because, in addition to being unable to move from the top of the tower, he couldn’t bear to watch Yui stubbornly climb toward the tower instead of the cliff outside, no matter what. So the real Fai wanted to to die so Yui can be free from the tower. Ashura did not treat Fai cruelly, he murdered the people living in Celes country just because Ashura wanted to be stronger than Fai's magic. So he can triggers Fai's curse so he can be free, but Sakura triggers the first curse. Ashura’s magic overpowered that’s causing the reason he losing himself because of his own magic put him over the edge. So he need Fai to kill him so he can free from Celes country. When Fai and the group arrived to Nihon country, Tomoyo already explained to him how Ashura wants Fai to live happy without misfortune or his curse.

My thoughts are that this plot point is very open to interpretation. Like you say, Tomoyo introduces a bit of a "free pass" to the plot in that logic in the universe is apparently not working very well, so things don't have to make as much sense. Which, as far as I am aware, only really applies to Ashura - but the upside of that is: I think the reader is free to choose to think what they want about Ashura, and it’s kind of correct either way. 

It sounds like you’ve already landed on an explanation that works for you, but since you asked for my thoughts, for me it’s the opposite.

I will explain below but since Fai’s story line has some very dark elements I will give people the option to not have it on their dash if they don’t want it today.

I do agree that Ashura treated Fai kindly but that’s not necessarily the same as not being cruel. Regardless of his intentions, the mental scars he left on Fai were extreme to the point that Fai would not have survived this series of events if Kurogane had not directly intervened. Either Fai would have let himself die by Ashura’s hand, or if he HAD killed Ashura he would have killed himself straight after. (And this isn't even taking into account that Fai was already willing to die in Acid Tokyo, where Kurogane also intervened)

This is Ashura’s fault. I don’t think he did this damage to Fai intentionally - I think he either did not consider the effect it would have on Fai, or he did not care what the effect on Fai would be. 

Either way, the things he did to Fai include:

Lying to him about the purpose of his tattoos

Hypotising him and rearranging his memories to suit Ashura’s purposes

Raising him in an emotionally manipulative environment, so that Fai was taught to repress his true emotions at all times and only ever smile 

Brutally murdering every other living person that Fai knew

Possibly brutally murdering everyone in the country

Telling Fai that brutally murdering an entire country was for his benefit

Pushing Fai to kill the only family member he had left

Using Fai’s dead twin to manipulate him

Threatening Sakura’s empty body to manipulate him

Trying to force Fai to kill Kurogane (his new family)

When that didn’t work, actively trying to kill Fai’s new family himself to force Fai to do what he wanted

Trying to frame all of the above as acts of love

So! You know, to me, that reads as cruel. It reads as so far beyond cruel that Ashura is the only person in the plot I actually think is even worse than Evil Wolverine. 

You don’t have to be “mean” to somebody to be emotionally abusive to them, and I do personally read Ashura as both emotionally and psychologically abusive to Fai. (again, to the point that it drove Fai to the point of suicide)

So that’s my read on their relationship! Though again, everyone is welcome to read it in other ways.

[spacecasehobbit]

Genuine ideological consistency with progressive values requires questioning things you are told.

Even and especially things that feel true when you hear them.

If you want to defend yourself against conservative propaganda, if you want to ensure that your actions and beliefs remain ideologically consistent with the progressive values that you hold, then you must question things you are told, you must do your own due diligence of fact checking and critical thinking - even when those things come from trusted sources and/or feel right to you in the moment.

Otherwise, you will fall for propaganda, and you will be susceptible to further conservative rhetoric and conservative radicalization.

--

Fair warning: I'll discuss an aspect of the tumblr discourse around JKR and the Harry Potter books in the rest of this post, as it provides a fantastic & deeply insidious example of the above point that I have seen propagated on tumblr a lot over the past few years.

--

As most people around here likely know, there has been a loud and pervasive messaging on tumblr for years, now, that to even speak of the HP books in public spaces, let alone participate in fandom or even continue to enjoy the books or related fan merch you bought years ago in the privacy of your own home, is tantamount to active ideological support of JKR's horrifically transphobic views and the transphobic violence that her rhetoric encourages and which she herself monetarily supports.

(This message is, overall, a whole can of worms that I will not waste time on a thorough discussion of in this particular post, because there are about a zillion different rhetorical tricks and logical fallacies that can and have been used on tumblr alone to make this argument sound reasonable, and I do not have the time nor the patience to address all of them.)

I will be limiting my discussion to one specific argument for the above which I have seen utilized with disturbing frequency. The argument in question is deeply unsettling and concerning each time I see it, and it cuts right to the heart of the issue in bold at the top of this post - that in order to defend yourself effectively against conservative propaganda, you must question things even when they feel right to you.

--

-> The argument appears, generally speaking, as follows:

JKR herself has said that anyone who enjoys the Harry Potter books agrees with her and supports her views of trans people. Therefore, any positive engagement with or discussion of Harry Potter - whether in fandom spaces, in other public spaces, or even alone in the privacy of one's own home - is tantamount to supporting JKR, transphobia, and transphobic violence.

-> The issue:

JKR's views, and transphobia in general, is predicated on the notion that there are certain people who possess the authority to impose their own criteria - criteria not based in objective reality or supported by objective evidence - on the world at large in order to dictate the identity, intentions, and even political ideologies of other individuals in defiance of anything those individuals say about themselves.

-> The logical conflict:

You cannot maintain a consistent progressive ideological argument against JKR's transphobia, when you agree that JKR does have the right to impose her own criteria - which are, again, utterly unsupported by any evidence outside of the presumed authority of her own words - to dictate the identity, political views, and intentions of complete strangers, as long as what she is saying is something you already agree with.

To validate the authority of JKR's words that you agree with in order to deny the authority of JKR's words that you disagree with is a logical contradiction.

There is only way to make this argument logically consistent: to claim the existence of an authority to your words and feelings, in absence of any appeal to objective & veriafiable external evidence, that overrides the authority of individuals you disagree with to define their own views and intentions, for those cases in which their words about themselves contradict your feelings.

And that is an incredibly conservative ideological path to go down.

--

(I'm sure many of you may be ready, at this point, to jump in with an, "Aha! I do have external evidence to back up my claim!" At which point I invite you to take a moment and ask yourself the following questions: -> i) "How thorough have I been in fact-checking the evidence I claim to hold?" -> ii) "Is it possible I'm doing the equivalent, here, of using high school level biology as 'evidence' that trans people can't exist?")

--

I want to end, now, with the following closing statement: if you have read through this whole post up to here and are currently feeling angry/distressed/upset/attacked/any other slew of negative emotions, that's okay. Please feel free to take space for yourself to sit with your emotions and process through them as you need.

Your emotions are a valid, objective reality when you feel them.

Whether or not the conclusions you draw from those emotions are equally based in objective reality is a separate question.

All I ask is that you take the time, afterwards, to come back, give this another read, and think critically through the logic for yourself, at your own pace, before deciding whether or not you agree.

Question, fact check, and do your own critical thinking before taking other people's words at face value.

Even mine.

[t4tomarry]

Would Harry Potter be in Slytherin if he hadn't been told that Slytherin was bad?

yes

no

button for op

Voting ended onFeb 21

[tc-doherty]

I think I'm misrepresenting Linnet as a slut because, pinup poses are fun to draw especially when the clothes are cute, but actually I think if a sexual situation came up he would fully pass out LMAO

Canonly, so far, he can barely handle letting someone touch him to treat his injuries :^)

[call-me-casual]

Something that’s popped into my head and I wanted to get down:

A flicker from a gauntlet, a flash of blue and the sudden disapproving glare of Five.

“This is International Rescue, I’ll ask you allow our operatives to do their job in peace before we take this to the World Council.”

“What do you mean?” Frustration, confusion. They never learn, do they? “What could you possibly say to make them care?” Oh. They’re asking for it.

“Let’s just say that we retain evidence of a particular… incident we aren’t afraid to bring to light. Your commander would certainly know about it.”

Keep the tone light, eyes narrow. The only fire any recordings will see will be the colour of his hair. It does stand out against all the blue.

“Wait, you don’t mean- no, you can’t-“ He’s got them now. “That’s blackmail!”

“You can call it that but trust me when I say that it will be more harmful to your organisation than ours.” Go cold now. It’s personal. It’s always been personal. They can’t hide behind titles and commands forever. Now when he knows the truth. “Just because our father is gone doesn't mean your commander can push us around. You come after my big brother, you come after all of us. And if you try again… well…”

“Y-you wouldn’t dare…”

Stone cold. Heartless. Maybe they deserve a taste of their own medicine.

A threat from Orbit.

“Try me.”

[sugashook]

sometimes im like......am i talking to a girl......not a dude