After A Shitty 5 Months Things Are Starting To Look Good... I Have An Audition To Be A Singer At A Cruise,

Me saying that people should look at the sexualisation and pedophilia present in western media with the same lens they do with anime is not me defending it in anime as a medium it’s me saying that a lot of people fall back on orientalist and racist critiques of anime and while turning a blind eye to all pop culture of the West like… Indiana Jones himself is a pedophile who dated a teenager and has a child with her and he’s a pop culture icon… but where are the critiques

TRUMP TO CAPITOL MOB: “So go home. We love you. You’re very special.”

I fear it really is time to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Trump apparently doesn’t know when to stop. If he was capable of putting the nation before his own needs, he would have forcefully condemned what his angry followers did in his name today at the Capitol.

Instead, Trump weakly told the Capitol mob to “go home” while at the same time repeating his continued lie that the election was stolen from him. 

But I think the thing that really got to me was Trump’s saying to these would-be insurgents,

“We love you.”

Yes, Trump “loves” his “very special” insurgents. 

This is particularly galling because the “Law & Order President” had a very different response to the Black Lives Matter protesters:

And how about Trump also telling the mob,

“I know your pain. I know you’re hurt.”

This from a man who has expressed minimal empathy in the past year for the nearly 360,000 Americans who have died of Covid-19.

Here’s the video and transcript of Trump’s appalling speech to the Capitol mob this afternoon:

“I know your pain. I know you’re hurt.

“We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.

“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.

“We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.”

“It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened. Where they could take it away from all of us. From me, from you, from our country.

"This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.

“So go home. We love you. You’re very special. 

“You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. 

“I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”

i learned that slaveholders in the US knew that enslaved people were escaping to Mexico, the U.S. tried to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty, but Mexico refused to sign such a treaty, insisting that all enslaved people were free once they set foot on Mexican soil (x)

Tumblr,

As you’re probably aware, the coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, has now been found in countries all over the globe. This is an understandably disconcerting moment for many, but there are steps we can all take to help mitigate the effect on our communities.

COVID-19 is spreading, but misinformation and disinformation are spreading even faster. The most responsible thing you can do is protect yourself from both the disease and false information. Being prepared with facts and data instead of assumptions and fabrications will help inform how you can best prepare for COVID-19.

Here are some resources you can trust:

WHO provides daily updates surrounding COVID-19’s spread, infection rate, and general influence on our society. Their latest update given on March 3, 2020, details that there is a shortage of personal protective equipment for healthcare professionals. They also provide a very handy FAQ section, where you can learn more about how to protect yourself and your community. 

Every day Worldometer updates its website with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each country that has been affected. Worldometer has been rated one of the best free reference websites by the American Library Association, and for good reason: it lists every single one of its regular sources here, and lists the source of every COVID-19 update at the bottom of the COVID-19 page. 

Your local health department will often have the most up-to-date information specific to your immediate area, including how to proceed if you believe you may be showing symptoms of the virus. If you live in the United States, you can find the contact information for your health department by visiting the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

There’s another thing about this news that a lot of places are not talking about: the toll on one’s mental health, especially if you are someone who struggles with anxiety. If you find your concerns about being prepared are crossing a line that affects your mental health, please consider reaching out to a loved one who can guide you to help, a mental health professional, or an organization set up to help those in need.

Here are a couple of organizations you can trust:

Crisis Text Line is free, 24/7 support. Just text 741741 from anywhere in the United States. The Crisis Text Line will connect you with a trained Crisis Counselor. 

National Alliance on Mental Illness (@namiorg) offers free support and resources for those who are struggling. NAMI can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 am - 6 pm EST at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or by email at info@nami.org.

Take care of yourselves, Tumblr. Wash your hands well, practice keeping a safe distance from others, only wear a mask if you believe you are sick with COVID-19 symptoms and could infect others (or are immunocompromised yourself), and remember to fact check everything that you see. Head on over to @world-wide-what for a refresher on what fake news looks like and how it spreads. Pass those tips onto others when you see them accidentally spreading false information. 

<3 

Here's how easy it is to spread dis-information on Twitter despite an on-going TELEVISED trial

"ReemDepp" quoted something that Johnny Depp said about his kids while on the stand. The issue is that they did not quote the whole thing, leaving the door open to shit holes of false propaganda such as "popculturedie in2009"

This account goes on to claim Depp is a liar because there are public records of Amber and his kids together and texts from Lily-Rose at the beginning and during of their relationship. (Still based off the "ReemDepp" quote tweet.)

So, is Johnny Depp a liar ? Are we fucking stupid ? Do we live in a shit world ? Was a televised trial a good idea ?

Well. No Depp isn't a liar. Yes we are fucking stupid. Yes we live in a shit world. Yes a televised trial was a good idea. And here's why:

Johnny Depp was asked "And at the end of your relationship, how was Ms.Heard's relationship with your children ?"

Depp went on to reply: "Non-existent. (..) My children refused to be around her anymore."

He never insinuated that his kids never had a relationship with Heard. He never said that they always hated her.

Weirdos on social media put words in his mouth and as usual, distorted the truth.

All it takes people to do is pay attention, open their ears and I beg.. shut - the - fuck - up.

extremely versatile yet underrated actresses: Charlize Theron

Disabled Person: I can’t do this.

Ableist: Yes you can. Quit using your disability as an excuse. The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

Disabled Person: I can do this.

Ableist: Then you’re not really disabled. You’re just faking, which is offensive to actual disabled people.

The year is 2021, nearly 2022, and JK Rowling has posted yet more TERF bullshit.

I'm not going to post it here. If you're trans, you've probably already seen it, and if you're cis, you don't need to see it.

It is far, far, FAR past time for you to drop Harry Potter if you haven't already.

I get it. Harry Potter was an important piece of many of our lives. It shaped many of our formative years. Choosing your house became a form of self identification for a not insignificant portion of the population. And you're allowed to feel mixed feelings. But there's one thing that needs to be clear:

Harry Potter fandom, in any form, especially done by TME people, harms trans women.

Now I understand what you may say. "Oh I'm not gonna spend any money on it but I'm still gonna make posts/fanfiction/etc about it"

And sure, not giving money that'll go to its TERF creator to fund her TERF desires is just about the bare minimum. But by continuing to engage with the work, by continuing to maintain a fandom presence, you are giving your tacit support to JK Rowling and anyone that agrees with her.

Your trans followers will see this, and the vast majority will be made to feel unsafe as a result.

But perhaps you don't care about trans women. You certainly wouldn't be the only one. So it only seems fair to mention a few other bigotries transphobia is joined by in the Harry Potter series:

Antisemitism: Goblins as a whole, trying to claim "Anthony Goldstein" as Jewish rep despite him barely being relevant and having an incredibly stereotypical name, and once again, GOBLINS AS A WHOLE

Racism: The name "Cho Chang", Lavender Brown starting out as Black in the movies before being whitewashed as soon as she became relevant to the plot

Homophobia: The use of werewolves as an HIV/AIDS metaphor, but where the infection actually IS dangerous to others, not to mention a character who actively targets children to "infect", trying to claim Dumbledore is gay and it never showing up anywhere in text

Sexism: Hermione's whole "not like other girls" schtick that's backed up by the universe itself, traditionally feminine characters being villainized (Lavender Brown, Umbridge)

These are by no means an exhaustive list, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

If you're looking to read other YA books instead, here's a few recommendations to get you started

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series is my top pick for anyone looking for another series about wizards coming of age while they face down the forces of darkness. It's been ongoing since 1983, and the author has shown an admirable willingness to go back and fix plot points that include topics she wasn't well informed enough to be sensitive about at the time. The author herself is actually active on this website, her url is @dduane

Katherine "KA" Applegate's Animorphs will always hold a special place in my heart. If you like sci-fi, aliens, and the horrors of war, this series is for you. The author is fairly vocal of her support for the trans community, and has a trans daughter herself. Her husband is Michael Grant, who both did some work on Animorphs and is the author of the Gone series which is also worth highlighting here

Tamora Pierce has multiple universes of book series largely focused on growing up in magical worlds. While her Song of the Lioness quartet and following series in the same world were great, I was always a big fan of the Circle of Magic books myself

Rick Riordan is well known for his mythology-based series. Starting with Percy Jackson, he contextualized Greek mythology in a modern setting, from the outset giving representation to people with ADHD and dyslexia. As he continued, writing series focusing on Egyptian, Roman, and Norse mythology, he added more representation into his books. While he has sometimes had issues with how he has portrayed these marginalized groups, he has largely shown himself to be receptive to criticism

Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant series is another fantasy series that I quite enjoy who's author has shown explicit support for the trans community. While I am not up to date with the most recent books, it is my understanding that they include an explicitly trans and genderfluid character, and the books' magic system and themes goes into the nature of identity and names many times, in a way that even when it isn't explicitly trans, often FEELS very trans

The TL;DR is this: however you may try to justify it, participating in Harry Potter fandom in any way IS harmful to trans women, and there's a world of other series to go for instead