DO NOT TAG THIS AS LONG POST
trigger tag as: racism, native targeted racism (and variants), and cultural appropriation.
i know that the images used in this can be upsetting and look "scary," but i do not want to see people tag for this if they are not native. the images of the ice cannibals in this are not of real ice cannibals and have no impact. i want people, especially those who are not native, to see this post.
i will be blocking all people who tag this as "long post" or variants.
tl;dr: please stop aestheticizing native spirits, especially evil ones that should not be spoken about unless to warn people. i'm not putting this under a read more because i am tired of people on here, tiktok, and twitter playing these out to be funny things to put into their identity and monster aus.
people who are not native, especially white people, seem to have an obsession with the "evil spirits" of native culture and beliefs. an interest in our beliefs is not unusual nor is it unwanted (depending on what they are, or how closed their community is), but the way people on social media (especially tumblr and tiktok) treat these is deplorable.
the most common creature appropriated by people is the one from the algonquin-speaking nations up north. this one is explicitly an evil spirit, sometimes described as the definition of evil, whose name should not be spoken. it should not be romanticized or aestheticized. it is hard to exactly say why, but it is akin to how christians feel about the word "devil." we believe that these beings are terrifying, and that their names also give powers; we must not give them the room to exert power. if you speak their name, it gives them power and may summon them (especially if you are near the location of those nations). this is not a good comparison in any way except to show the impact of the word.
just by me bringing this up, it is likely that you understand what i am talking about. this creature goes by many names that vary from not only region, but also by culture. the best way to refer to it is as the "ice cannibal," or by censoring its name.
the bastardized version of the ice cannibal appears to be this.
this depiction was created by stephen king, and was popularized by his story. the image of this is inaccurate to most, if not all legends of the ice cannibal.
the most common description of the ice cannibal is sourced from here. it states:
The apperance of a ... is huge, monstrous, and made of or coated in ice, but the human it once was is still frozen inside the monster where its heart should be...
there are little to no drawings of this actual depiction, simply because the nations do not wish to create power for the ice cannibal. some others are found from here, which are described as:
Sometimes, ... are described as exceptionally thin, with the skull and skeleton pushing through its ash-coloured, mummy-like skin. Other stories describe the... as a well-fleshed giant who gets proportionately larger the more it eats. According to other legends, the ... has pointed or animal-like ears with antlers or horns sprouting on its head. A ... eyes have been described as sunken or glowing like hot coals. Sharp and pointy teeth, extremely bad breath and body odour are also often traits of a ... .
it should be stated that the relevancy and truthfulness of this article may or may not be fully accurate due to the nature of the site and author (ran by the canadian government, and written by a white man.)
none of these descriptions line up with the modern depiction of ice cannibals. the sheer misrepresentation combined with the aestheticization of these monsters grows an unhealthy attachment to them, to the point where people who are not native have been using this creature as gender identities, pronouns, or even names. an example of this is found here,
(click images for better quality and to enlarge, archives are found 1, 2, 3)
this is wildly inappropriate, appropriative, and racist. this is not even including the ice cannibal monster aus of people, including a person from a group of racist youtubers.
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