Harp the Wigglytuff @wigglytuffitout@computerfairi.es

for example: i really love star wars. one of the things i really love about star wars is padme's character design.

but.

i also try to be aware how that has hurt people. how hopi and mongolian peoples have looked at it and gone, "why are you praising these people for their originality? it's stolen from US! it didn't come out of the ether! that's OUR things that are being used to make your space fantasy look otherworldly!"

you can still love something and admit its faults. i'd argue that's even a crucial part of loving something. loving something while admitting it has bad parts is much more honest and complete than saying you love something but you're going to whitewash over where it's hurt other people.

recognizing that harm done is how we figure out how to not perpetuate it, and that's important. it keeps the prejudice from snowballing.

i know why people shy away from doing that because, quite frankly, i do the same damn thing sometimes! it is hard work, it is exhausting, it feels bad, it's a burden that you have to shoulder.

however, it's a lot better to do that work instead of tossing it back in the faces of people who have been hurt by it and essentially declaring that you don't care how they were hurt by it.

either stories affect people, or they don't.

if they don't affect people, there's no need to fight for any sort of representation at all. because being served a non-stop buffet of cishet white dudes should not be a burden of any note.

if they *do* affect people, it means you have to acknowledge sometimes that affect can be not so great. sometimes it means confronting and acknowledging that.

and believe me when i say i am not interested in going the total opposite direction and saying you can only consume the most morally pure gruel. i'm a star wars fan for god's sake. if you go through the original trilogy and drink every time there's something problematic, you're gonna go to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.

however.

"it's just a story, stop saying it can affect people" is a bullshit line of reasoning.

mostly because what got my goat about the 'anti-anti' position as often espoused on tumblr was the inconsistency.

listen, if you're pushing for positive representation - that's great. but you're also acknowledging media affects people, that media reflects and affects society around it.

at that point you can't go "well it's just a story" when people raise objections about the type of affect a story is having and what agenda it is pushing.

so in the category of Things That Will Disappoint People, But I Feel Must Be Said

if you believe me to be a tumblr refugee because i am fleeing 'the wrath of the antis', and that i am proudly 'anti-anti', you're going to be disappointed.

my true horse in that race is "both sides are wrong in their own unique ways", but quite frankly i found myself arguing the 'anti' side more often when it actually came up lol.

(srsly tho apparently the more earnest i am the more i cuss and it's starting to be Difficult on facebook l m a o)

hey who made this fucken meme of me

tossing bombs in the last 5 sec of a #splatoon2 match while on 2000% drama: 𝔗𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔱, ℑ 𝔤𝔯𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔢; 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔩'𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱, ℑ 𝔰𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔢 -

jjjjjjjjjjjust kidding that wave of not being exhausted lasted forrr (looks at watch) about 6 minutes, so

splatoon it is

and in this case (in chiss) means not actually in csilla, but a) very politely and with appreciation for meticulous consideration for detail and also art, b) while having no visible pupils

maybe even time to write a very self indulgent chapter of a very self indulgent already fanfiction that's basically just

au darth vader accidentally stumbles into some part of the afterlife to meet thrawn and cipher nine as they yell BOOOOOO! BOOOO BLONDIE YA AIN'T SHIIIIIIIIIT at him (in chiss)

i think....... it might be time to Write

@GavinWolf@snouts.online SUPER META ANSWER:

..........pulling out my phone/laptop and checking mastodon/discord

👉 😎 👉

(i still don't know what praxis is)

hand masks from lush are good praxis i mean good self-care because they are good for interrupting when you are getting mad on the internet. you have to go boil water, fix a bowl of stuff, wait for it to cool down, and then dunk your hands in it for 15 minutes. and when you're soaking your hands in something, you can't type to be angry on the internet.

and then you have soft hands!

win-win