vindsie

30+ / singular pronouns / Johto / [email protected]

[ycoil]

do not joke about the advertisements, do not engage with the advertisements in witty fashions, do not, fucking, mention the contents of the advertisements. as soon as an advertisement enters your mind, you kill it, dont care how cute it is, take it out back and shoot it. install adblock, ublock, mute the volume, look away, turn off the monitor, cover your ears, paint over it. evolve your mind, your modality, your instincts, to disregard the stimuli of advertisements before you can even process it. whatever it takes, you do not let them win. and thats an order.

[ml-futch]

This completely unironically

[fictionz]

If only.

[vindsie]

time to reblog this again

[unbound-shade]

Some very eloquent notes on violence as a necessity for resistance.

[teh-nos]

oh no my pornography is turning into an angst-filled character study

[gotinterest]

"Political violence is not ok" alright and how many coups has the US backed, exactly?

[msexcelfractal]

I counted fifty-nine coups, Boss! Here are the US-backed coup attempts we know about: Mexico 1867 Hawaii 1893 Cuba 1898 Philippines 1902 Honduras 1903 Nicaragua 1909 Dominican Republic 1916 Haiti 1917 Russia 1918 (failed) Korea 1948 Costa Rica 1948 Albania 1949 (failed) Syria 1949 China 1951 (failed) Egypt 1952 Cuba 1952 Guatemala 1952 (failed) Iran 1953 Guatemala 1954 Syria 1956 (failed) Syria 1957 (failed) Indonesia 1957 (failed) Cambodia 1959 (failed) Iraq 1959 (failed) Congo 1960 Laos 1960 Cuba 1961 (failed spectacularly) Dominican Republic 1961 South Vietnam 1963 Iraq 1963 Brazil 1964 Congo 1965 Indonesia 1967 Cambodia 1970 Bolivia 1971 Chile 1973 Angola 1975 (failed) East Timor 1975 Argentina 1976 Afghanistan 1979 (failed) Chad 1981 Nicaragua 1981 (mixed success) Poland 1982 (failed) Grenada 1983 Panama 1989 Ethiopia 1991 Iraq 1991 (failed) Haiti 1991 Haiti 1994 Iraq 1996 (failed) Zaire 1997 Yugoslavia 2000 Haiti 2004 Kyrgyzstan 2005 Syria 2005 (failed) Palestine 2006 Libya 2011 Syria 2011 (failed) Venezuela 2019

[mysharona1987]

[receiptsofwhiskey]

[ IMG READS: 'Microsoft killed my online life,' Microsoft is reportedly banning Palestinians in the U.S. for life for calling relatives in Gaza.

A BBC investigation reveals that Microsoft is permanently banning Palestinians in the U.S. and other countries who use Skype to call relatives in Gaza. /END OF IMAGE]

On a separate note, I think it's worth posting this article as well titled Microsoft killed my online life after I called Gaza.

[vindsie]

what the fuck

[fictionz]

If only.

[musicalmelody001]

[saathi1013]

On White Fear & Creating Diverse Transformative Works

So whenever fandom tries to address the question “Why aren’t there more works featuring characters of color?” there are a myriad of (predictable) responses.  One of which is appearing with increasing frequency: “Because we (usually: white creators of transformative works) are afraid of getting it wrong.”

And like.  I’ve already addressed how ‘thinking you’ll get it wrong’ is a failure of both imagination and of craft/skill (and a symptom of the racial empathy gap, which I forgot had a proper name when I wrote that post).  Meanwhile, @stitchmediamix absolutely accurately pointed out that the ‘fear’ being discussed is fear of being called racist, not necessarily fear of failure.

Now, we could go into the whole absurdity of white fragility here, but google is a thing and “white fragility” is discussed all over the place and I trust ya’ll to do the work if you actually give a shit about this subject… which I assume you do, if you’re reading this – but if you’re just here to find a way to dismiss the issue at hand, I’m gonna save you some time and recommend you scroll past.

Writers can also be fragile, especially in transformative works communities, where “if you don’t have anything nice to say, hit the back button and keep your mouth shut” is the primary expectation wrt feedback, and anything that deviates from that is considered a mortal insult (do you vageublog about my fic, sir?).  But if we’re willing to deploy an array of tools to make our writing not-My-Immortal-bad, from spellcheck to wikipedia to in-depth historical research to betas and britpickers and so on, then we should be willing to employ equivalent tools to avoid writing racist stories.

Incidentally, writing stories that erase/ignore extant characters of color, especially if they’re prominent in the source text? is racist.  So avoiding writing characters of color altogether is not the solution to making your writing not-racist.

And, okay.  I feel it’s important to acknowledge here, as I have before, that the Fear of Fucking Up is a very real fear that genuinely does affect people’s enthusiasm for / likelihood to write, regardless of the validity or fairness of that Fear’s origins, and I’m going to be generous enough to assume that there are some people who are acting in good faith when they say “I want to, but I’m scared.”

So. This is for those who are acting in good faith, from the perspective of a white fan who has written fic about characters of color in several fandoms and never gotten pilloried for it, even when I know for a fact (in retrospect) that I’ve fucked up details.

(oh, side note: I know this is mostly tackling things from a writing perspective, but a lot of this can apply to creating transformative works overall with a few tweaks.)

First: realize that the likelihood of getting called out is actually pretty low.  And fans of color aren’t as Mean and Angry and Unfairly Sensitive as some people want us to believe.  (Do you vagueblog about That Dumpster Fire Meta, sir?  /  No, sir, I do not vagueblog about That Meta sir; but I do vagueblog, sir.)

This is not to say that there aren’t people out there who’re more than willing to make a (justified) stink about egregiously racist writing.  But it’s actually very rare to get targeted, especially publicly by a large number of unhappy fans.  Because you know what? most fans, including fans of color, want to just have fun in fandom as much as anyone else.

It’s just, y’know, a little harder for fans of color to ‘just have fun’ when us white fans are showing our asses with stories involving “Dragon Lady” Elektra or “Angry Black Woman” Sally Donovan or “Spicy Latin Lover” Poe Dameron.  And sometimes us white fans only listen to what fans of color are saying when they make a Big Deal out of it. 

That’s not a failure of their ability to stay calm.  That’s our failure to listen before they get loud and organized.  Because I’m willing to bet that people who get called out publicly? got a few polite, private messages about their screwup first, and they doubled down instead of listening. 

Also: there is a thing where, no matter how politely they word their critique, fans of color, especially black fans, are more likely to be unjustly perceived as ‘mean’ and ‘angry’ by white fans.  Again, that’s our failure, not theirs.  Plus, even if they are angry, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re wrong (see: Tone Argument).

Step Two is: pay attention to discussions about racist tropes in fiction.  Yes, even when it’s crit of our favorite shows/movies/characters/etc.  If you understand the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope and why it’s harmful, or you understand the Bechdel-Wallace test, or you can have a meaningful discussion about Mary Sues, or you can (justifiably) rail about how Bury Your Gays sucks, then you can develop a similar appreciation for racial biases and stereotypes.  And then you can find ways to avoid them.  

No, no one’s expecting you to memorize bell hooks so you can write a drabble about Iris West, or demanding you write a dissertation on media stereotypes wrt the simultaneous fetishization and desexualization of Asian women (who aren’t a monolith, either, but Hollywood doesn’t seem to know that) before you’re ‘allowed’ to write Melinda May in a story, but like.  Pay attention when people, especially fans of color, are talking about common tropes so that you don’t unthinkingly replicate or perpetuate them in your fic.

Yes, racist writing can involve more than just thoughtless parroting of harmful tropes, but my best guess is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, fanwork getting ‘called out’ in fandom involves those tropes.  So avoiding them takes your chances of getting criticized from ‘low’ to ‘almost nonexistent.’  Less to fear, see?

Step Three is: more research – basically, at least as much as you’d be willing to invest in any equivalent white character.  @writingwithcolor is a great blog, and has links to additional resources; .  If you’re the type to get a beta or a britpicker, find a sensitivity reader or a beta of the appropriate background.  Not all fans of color are willing to do this kind of unpaid labor, just as not all fans are willing to britpick/beta, but they’re out there.  Approach them respectfully, and listen to them if they say that something in your story looks off.

It’s worth noting here that writing about characters of color doesn’t need to involve - and in fact, some advice recommends avoiding - telling Special Stories About Racism.  Stories about characters of color don’t need to be about slavery or civil rights or the constant parade of microaggressions they have to deal with daily in order to be realistic or compelling (or angsty, for those who love writing angst, as I do).  Research can turn up useful information that can inform our choices as writers, but if we don’t share the oppression our characters face, it’s not our job to tell stories specifically about that oppression.

Step Four is: before posting, anticipate the worst.  What will you do if someone says you fucked up?  If your answer is “argue with them and talk over their concerns,” stop.  Remember that you’re not a victim of a ‘mean fan of color,’ but that you’ve probably written something that they consider harmful.  Being told that you wrote something racist isn’t an attack on your moral fiber.  You’re not an irredeemable monster if you fuck up, but your response to being told you fucked up is far more telling.  Acknowledge their concerns, fix the issue if you can, learn from your mistake, and fail better next time.

You cannot improve if you don’t try in the first place.  Failure to try is failure, so try your best, and improve incrementally – just as you already do as a writer with any story.

In conclusion: The 4 Steps to Getting Over Yourself as a White Fanfic Writer: (1) recognize that the likelihood of getting called out is pretty low; (2) educate yourself about the most common racist writing issues, so that likelihood will be even lower; (3) do your due diligence when writing; (4) in case of the worst: apologize, fix the issue, learn from the experience, fail better in the future.

(And again, google is your friend – there are a lot of people who’ve written about this subject, like Kayla Ancrum, Morgan Jenkins, the mods at Writing with Color, Thao Le, and Monica Zepeda, among many, many, others.  I’m merely sharing my own perspective from what I’ve learned from listening to a lot of smart people, in case it might help some of you – if it doesn’t, keep looking, a ton of great resources are out there.)

[vindsie]

Hello. mallycahs-blog, who you reblogged from recently, is a scammer. If you search their name you can see they've been called out in the past. Please delete your reblog, report their blog and block them. In the future, please search up fundraisers before boosting them.

thank you for letting me know, I appreciate it. I have been donating mostly through gaza funds which is legit. I generally look up the fundraisers I reblog but I must have missed this one.

[notetaeker]

[90-ghost]

That picture before October 7th Israeli soldier posted it on Instagram after kidnapping a palestinian woman from the west bank. They are terrorism itself

[intersectionalpraxis]

"Gaza now has the largest population of child amputees in the world." [@/abrahammatar on X. June 5th, 2024.]

[voidster3]

worth mentioning that children who are amputees need several surgeries throughout their lives as their body grows. Even if they make it through this genocide, their lives have been irreversibly changed and they will never have the same opportunities available to them. Shame on those who justify Israel's terrorism.

[intersectionalpraxis]

This. This is important to talk about. The IOF has been permanently disabling Palestinian people purposely for decades, and this mass acceleration of violence continues to inflict pain and suffering in ways that will last and linger and it's heinous. And especially since these amputations cannot be done immediately, it can create further complications:

"Children with war-related amputations will need up to a dozen surgeries on the limb by the time they reach adulthood because the bone keeps growing, experts say. "But even before the conflict there was a shortage of vascular and plastic surgeons, medics say, and Palestinian health authorities say over 300 healthcare workers have been killed since." "Still, Noor, whose right leg may survive intact, is luckier than some children whose limbs were amputated swiftly due to a lack of time or medical expertise, sometimes without anaesthetics. "Unfortunately many of them are really unnecessary," said Sean Casey, WHO Emergency Medical Teams coordinator." "At other times, amputation is the only choice because wounded children arrive in hospital days after the injury." "UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said he saw a child whose injured left leg had begun to decompose because he had been stuck on a bus for more than three days due to military checkpoint delays." "Israel's military spokesperson's unit said an operational debrief was held to draw immediate lessons from the incident and that it would be further examined."

The IOF has made it evident MANY times that they purposely target women, children, and the elderly -the most vulnerable, and they have yet to be stopped and sanctioned. If ANYWHERE else in the world had 1 child who had amputations because of criminal bombardments it would be headlined everywhere around the world and the terrorist state or persons that did this would be marked as such -terrorists. But here you have Israeli and US military committing and being complicit in the mass disabling of Palestinian people -especially children and it's just evil.

[sanstoitniloi]

"You survive this and in some terrible way, which I suppose no one can ever describe, you are compelled, you are corralled, you are bullwhipped into dealing with whatever it is that hurt you. And what is crucial here is that if it hurt you, that is not what’s important. Everybody’s hurt. What is important, what corrals you, what bullwhips you, what drives you, torments you, is that you must find some way of using this to connect you with everyone else alive. This is all you have to do it with. You must understand that your pain is trivial except insofar as you can use it to connect with other people’s pain; and insofar as you can do that with your pain, you can be released from it, and then hopefully it works the other way around too; insofar as I can tell you what it is to suffer, perhaps I can help you to suffer less."

- James Baldwin, The Artist's Struggle for Integrity

[catmask]

'you wouldn't pirate a-' i would steal anything from any company. anything in the world. i dont even want it i just hate you

[catmask]

'you wouldn't pirate a-' i would steal anything from any company. anything in the world. i dont even want it i just hate you

[flower-tea-fairies]

You should be furious that people trying to escape genocide in Gaza, Sudan, Congo all need raise an absurd amount of money just to survive

You should be furious at how these people went through atrocity after atrocity and still need raise tens of thousands of dollars to get away

You should be furious at this insidious thing that completely encapsulates how capitalism feeds off of blood

[saintjosie]

being a content creator raising money for a family trapped in gaza has been a dystopian nightmare.

having had little energy to make much content recently, i have found myself over the last few years putting less and less energy into content and making videos that are low effort and doable. i will maybe make one 30 second video every few weeks and sometimes have gone three to six months without posting anything.

but doing this fundraiser, i find myself pushing myself to make the kind of content that i haven’t had the energy to make in years. despite the fact that i have stopped caring about the numbers years ago, i find myself anxiously checking to see if i was entertaining enough to appease the algorithmic gods and attract enough attention so that a family in gaza can raise enough money to possibly be allowed to live. and to know that i am a person with an audience of hundreds of thousands and that i am struggling to be able to do enough to possibly save a handful of lives, when there are 1.6 million others who may not be as lucky, is one of the deepest experiences of powerlessness that i have ever felt.

and to be on the other end, to feel that kind of hopelessness, to be dependent on being lucky enough to be matched with someone across the globe who is capable of raising that kind of money, is more than i could imagine.

it would take around 6.5 BILLION dollars to allow every person in gaza to safely cross the border into egypt. 6.5 BILLION dollars to move some of the last people of an entire culture just a few miles away. and that’s only if egypt would even continue to let them all in.

i can’t imagine a world where a human life has a price tag or a world where there are people who have enough money and power to end a genocide and instead continue to profit off their lives. but here we are are. this is the world we live in and it should make everyone angry.

if you have the ability or have it in you to share, i am running out of energy and raja and her family are running out of time.

Donate to Rajaa family to out from Gaza, organized by Khalil Bassam k Alnemnem

As a mother of two lovely children, I humbly seek your assistance to relocate f… Khalil Bassam k Alnemnem needs your support for Rajaa famil