What the hell is wrong with people who think homophobia is the only bad thing about Russia? Especially in the Heated Rivalry Fandom I hear this excuse all the time. "OMG poor Ilya won't even be able to go back to Russia", "OMG poor Ilya can't even visit his niece in Russia or his mother's grave" blah blah blah. War? What war? There is no such thing. Also "Poor Russians living in Russia", as if their silence didn't help what's happening now. "If you say X you're a Russophobe!" God forbid you criticize Russia. I'm not from Ukraine but my hatred for Russia boils over every time I see people defending Russia and treating them like babies. "Not all Russians agree with the war!" As if they have any proof. Most of them either keep quiet and leave things as they are or agree. Silence contributes. The Russians didn't even take to the streets for their own people who are now in prison and they expect me to think they care? WTF.
I also came across this post (Don't ask me how ☠️):
https://www.tumblr.com/sevrin-descaray/812633505398947840/is-heated-rivalry-homonationalist-propoganda?source=share
Immediately someone appeared in the comments to say that Heated Rivalry is not propaganda. 💀💀
For some people, Ukrainians are the crazy ones for not liking Heated Rivalry and the fact that it's a big pinkwashing for Canada (Canada loves to do pinkwashing and homonationalism in their country) and a whitewashing for Russia (Let's pretend that only homophobia is the problem, not that Russia is and always will be an imperialist country and they like to colonize other territories that they say historically "belonged" to them. Oh, and let's ignore the genocide, only Israel commits genocide, in Ukraine it's not genocide!)
"If I close my eyes maybe it didn't happen, maybe reality doesn't exist" that's exactly what Heated Rivalry reminds me of. Let's not forget that Heated Rivalry came out right when a huge scandal broke out in the NHL, apparently a sexual assault case involving five junior hockey players that everyone has now forgotten about because they're too busy worshipping Heated Rivalry and the NHL. They also forgot about the "Junior Hockey Bible" where hockey players were supposed to do horrible things. Those players of course went back to playing like nothing happened because they came out clean.
Good job Rachel Reid (A straight woman but fans lie that she is queer so as not to be criticized, and who writes MLM and only MLM (She is not interested in WLW) and writes superficially, the romance genre is not an excuse not to write more in-depth things or to ignore the fact that Russia is horrible not just because it is a homophobic country. Her fans will not admit that their "favorite" author helped to make pinkwashing (Canada), whitewashing (Russia), soft propaganda (Russia), racism, stereotypes and fetishes about Russia and Asia etc (Ilya of course is a very tall Blue-eyed Blonde with muscles and has a Russian accent that makes women wet 💀 (at the same time no one is talking about Ilya being misogynistic, his father who is a former officer, Ilya who is a Russian hockey player and he has certainly shaken hands with many high-ranking Russians...), and Shane could be replaced with a woman and you wouldn't know the difference because oh, Ilya is so masculine and sexy and Shane needs this Russian to stuff him like a turkey) and many things they don't like to talk about like toxic masculinity, queerphobia/homophobia which is not always taken seriously and why the NHL really is toxic, apparently the NHL is only bad when it involves Ilya and Shane, and much more). And it's no secret that Ilya is Rachel Reid's favorite, apparently according to her, only Ilya has real trauma and Shane doesn't... even though Shane is Asian and comes from an immigrant family and we all know that racism is a problem in Canada. And Yuna (Shane's mother) has some stereotypical Asian mother traits. "OMG the books and the TV show are just a fantasy, why would they talk about war or other issues!?" This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Especially since this TV show and books take place in our world, not in another universe. It's never been a secret what Russia is doing. But of course, only homophobia is the problem, and that serves no purpose since they don't talk about why all this is happening. Ilya "suffers" and... I guess that's what matters. These types of books and TV shows are clearly for white people who prefer not to use their brains most of the time. And I say that as a white person. This also reminds me of the PJO Fandom who didn't understand why the Greeks were so upset that PJO and Rick Riordan took their gods just to make them USA. (PJO and Harry Potter can compete together for the biggest loser, these books/movies/tv shows are not as fantastic as their fandom claims them to be.)
Good job Jacob Tierney (A misogynistic man who also, despite being gay, has encouraged and sided with straight women who fetishize gay men and only consume MLM (Which of course helps him make money watching this tv show), even though he knows that straight women always take the space of queer people in the community and kicks us out of them and any discussion because the opinion of queer people doesn't matter when you want to fetishize something. And if you draw their attention and tell them that they make you uncomfortable, it's all your fault, not theirs. Let's not forget the straight men who do the same to lesbians that straight women ignore. Also, his fans have the impression that this tv show is better than the book, both are the same but god forbid you say something like that). I wouldn't be surprised if he read Rachel Reid's books superficially, ignoring any red flags and problematic things... and then made this TV show that supposedly is "better" than the books... He did the same thing as Rachel Reid, how is that better? Wow, this fandom... and the fact that they kiss the ass of anyone who claims to be on their side. By the way, if you judge him and Heated Rivalry apparently the fandom will accuse you of homophobia. Besides the fact that this TV Show is not canon because the source material is the true canon, this TV show also made small changes that do not respect the canon even if they are small changes. For example in the book Svetlana is just a hookup for Ilya, in the TV Show they are childhood friends. It's funny how a misogynist wants to erase the misogyny in the book with a sponge, only to then find other ways to be misogynistic because in the TV Show Svetlana is there only because poor Ilya needs a friend AND hockup.
Good job Canadian Government (Which funded/endorsed Heated Rivalry to do even more pinkwashing and which also inevitably did soft propaganda for Russia because most fans and people in westerns fetishize Russia and are not interested in their past and current crimes). This is not even the first time this country has done this.
https://www.tumblr.com/chaoticamelay/789974981542084608/july-24-you-know-what-that-means-happy-eighth?source=share
I also get annoyed by the international queer community who are generally from countries like the USA, Canada, UK etc (who think they know best, better than anyone else) who immediately jump on you if you criticize something queer. I know we are desperate for representation in the media regardless of the country, but the fact that we encourage such things and ignore some issues just because they are queer... annoys me and doesn't help us at all. Queer people deserve good representation no matter what kind of media it is. But god forbid you criticize the queer community that encourages certain things or ignores certain things because there is a lot of toxicity there too and they will immediately jump on you.
I always laugh when I hear: "Poor Russians suffer and seek escape but at the same time they are happy to be Russian and want to share their culture with you. We should cry for them, they are so good." Who cares that Ukraine and other countries suffer because of Russia, it is our fault that we do not understand Russia and Russians who are the real victims. 🙄
Sorry for writing so much, but after being silent for so long I felt the need to release myself because my country borders Ukraine and we are neighbors, drones have also come through my country and every time I hear someone praising Russia from my country, I feel like sending them there to Russia to see if they would still like this country.
No, anon, I get it. It is maddening to see takes like, russia is bad because it's homophobic, because it simultaneously:
asserts that this is the sole, or main, reason why russia is bad; whereas colonialism, imperialism, wars, occupation, genocides is swept under the rug;
implies that other countries with a similar level of homophobia are the same level of bad.
"Not all Russians agree with the war!" As if they have any proof.
I just want to clarify here, because I feel like some moron will misinterpret it and come here asking "Well, do you have proof otherwise?" or "It's statistically impossible for everyone to agree!" completely missing the point. Which is again, two-fold:
Most russians do agree with the war, even if they dislike putin, or dislike the amount of losses of russians/economic hardship/certain acts of russian government. So in either case, it doesn't matter how many of them disagree while the war is still happening;
"Not all russians agree with the war" and what then? Should we... lift the sanctions? Economically cooperate with "good" russians who disagree with the war? So russian state gets even more money and resources for the war? Because that's where this argument ends up.
Immediately someone appeared in the comments to say that Heated Rivalry is not propaganda. 💀💀
I mean, that post really doesn't provide a good case of homonationalist anti-russian propaganda. (small aside: I also find the whole concept of homonationalism kinda... skewy. Sketchy? Applied to russia as opposed to Middle East countries and people of Islamic faith. Now simply showing homophobia in other countries is homonationalism? You do get that it's russia threatening everyone with nuclear war because there's too many damn gays in other countries, and not, like, Canada threatening to nuke russia because they oppress queer people?
I also find it extremely disingenuous when people talk about homonationalism, even within the framing of white American queers supporting Iraq invasion or Western European fearmongering against POC/Muslim immigrants etc, and at the same breath they're saying how they don't care about war in Ukraine, because Ukraine is either homophobic or racist or Nazi or capitalist. Or that it's even good that Ukraine is invaded, actually. Make it make sense!)
Let's not forget that Heated Rivalry came out right when a huge scandal broke out in the NHL, apparently a sexual assault case involving five junior hockey players that everyone has now forgotten about because they're too busy worshipping Heated Rivalry and the NHL.
Link to a case description. And yeah now male hockey got more fans, and sponsors coming back to Hockey Canada Let's Pay Sexual Assault Victims Off Fund. Diversity fucking win. Everything about this show is cursed for real.
re: Rachel Reid being a straight woman, I don't think it matters, even if she were a queer woman, if she made all the same mistakes and stereotypes, even if she wrote about other women instead of men. I don't begrudge straight women writing LGBT romance, especially since it's a danger in the end for queer people who would get outed. It's just... doesn't seem to be a particularly good book, even outside of its politics. I said it before and I will say it again: they should have adapted the Check Please webcomic instead. It has its own problems, sure, but just comparing the two...
I always laugh when I hear: "Poor Russians suffer and seek escape but at the same time they are happy to be Russian and want to share their culture with you. We should cry for them, they are so good." Who cares that Ukraine and other countries suffer because of Russia, it is our fault that we do not understand Russia and Russians who are the real victims. 🙄
oh, the russian-centrism in western countries...
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