shamanicshaymin | (no subject)

"Ugh, what a day I had! I'm so mad at this idiot at work who--"
"ABLEIIIIIIST!!1!1"
"What?"
"You used the word 'mad', and that means crazy, so you're insulting the mentally ill. And you called a person an 'idiot', and that is a slur against the mentally disabled!"

Gods, the Internet is giving me such a headache. Apparently, it's a fad now to be offended by EVERYTHING. Someone says something you don't agree with? It "triggers" you. You're offended by what a person has said? Call them "ableist."

To the people who throw around "ableist", "trigger", and "oppressive" like free candy, remember what dear old Inigo Montoya once said: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

In a sort of related note, I had a dream I was studying Maurice with my high school English class. Of course, the kids around me acted like immature, homophobic morons. And I was the awkward kid everyone kept staring at. Ugh. I always feel like I'm in another planet in environments like these, because I can't help but think everyone's head would explode as soon as they have had their first encounter with fandom. (Welcome to Harry Potter, home of ten katrillion crackships!) You'd think we'd have gotten over homophobia by now, but nope. Like, this would be high school class's reaction if they had to read Giovanni's Room:

People: dude it's gay this book sucks. *doesn't even bother with the themes/plot/writing, all they care about is "it's gay" and whine about it over and over*
Me: No, it sucks because the main character is a self-pitying whiner that learns nothing by the ending except that life is unfair (which he already knew), and the only person I don't want to punch in the face is the chick the MC is using to cling to the "fact" that he is straight.

I'm glad I graduated. While I only spent two years at the university at Austin, at least it was LGBT-friendly based off the places I visited. :/

Meanwhile, I've been replaying SA2B and raising Chao.

- I've forgotten how tsundere half the cast is, especially Shadow. <.<;;;
- Security Hall still needs to die in a fire.
- Something funny happened while I was at Egg Quarters. You know how Omao-Chao makes these pained cries and lectures you when you beat him up? I think I pulled a glitch or something, because while I was trying to find a key, I kept hearing Omao-Chao screaming every few seconds. Now that is something that doesn't happen everyday. 8)

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Actually, "jerk" would be an affront to Jamaican cooking.

Which in and of itself is offensive to working tastebuds.

OH SNAP I SAID IT, SOMEBODY BETTER HAND OUT THE BANS OH MAI.

Really, the fan-actress for Derpy (pre Last Roundup) put it best: They treated Derpy like ANY OTHER PONY, which is EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES EVER WANTS. And then these White Knights come riding in, saying WE CAN'T SHOW THAT THEY EXIST WITHOUT PUTTING THEM ON A MAGICAL PEDESTAL OF LIGHT and UGHHH NO YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

O NOES!!!

Well, I DO understand how people might've been taken aback by Derpy in TLR. I myself just saw her as a dorkier and clumsier Pinkie Pie, but if she really DOES have a disability, I can see how it'd be offputting for her main appearance to be mucking things up. They probably don't think the disabled should be put on a pedestal, but they don't like the idea of treating them as shallow comic relief either.

But, that's just the take of someone who's only heard about half the FULL story and only seen Derpy in that one episode. XD; So I dunno, I could just be talking out of my ass here!

Otherwise...yeah. Should we respect people regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, mental capacities, physical abilities, etc? Hell yeah. But there's a difference between real respect and just putting them on a pedestal so we feel less guilty.

"The true sign of equality is not when a minority is permitted to be a hero, but when they are permitted to be a villain for reasons other than their race/disability/gender." -

bossgoji

...that's a good quote, and I agree. The whole Magical Negro or Inspirational Disabled Person business gets pretty old (unless the latter is inspirational in the "I don't let it rule my life, I'm just as human as anyone else" sense because that's actually a good lesson to learn). And while Action Girls and women getting to be badass is a good thing, some take it too far by claiming girly princesses or housewives are "a step backwards"/"setting the women's movement back 50 years" and screeching that an Action Girl was "derailed" simply because she lost a fight/a woman is being portrayed as a harpy because she has a moment of irrationality.

I agree with this - seriously. Sure, minorities being heroes/protagonists is a good thing but the point promotiing equality is to show that they are human beings, just like everyone else. I mean, action women? That's great because it shows that not all women have to be weak/submissive/whatever. But that doesn't mean a housewife character is necessarily a bad thing (also, housewife =/= weak/submissive and action girl =/= super tough woman who is not afraid of anything but that's another rant entirely). Women are human beings, just like men, are not exactly the same as each other. Some are kind, some are horrible. Some are outgoing, some are shy. Some are rebellious, some are obedient. Some don't want children, some do. And so on.

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily mind being a housewife and raising my kids as long as it was purely my own choice and my husband is grateful to me in looking after the house and doesn't take it for granted. And like hell am I going to pressure other women to do the same thing.

Sorry if I confuse you in this but TL;DR - feminism is about getting women and men to be treated as individual humans. And I'd say similar things with anti-ableism, anti-homophobia, etc.

I'm going to bake

bossgoji a giant cake of WORD.

I remember someone on

hated_character saying that if you're not a white cisgendered male character in a book/movie/game/etc, people will judge you a LOT more harshly. For example, if you're a gay character, you'll get three reactions: A. EWWW HEZ GAAAAAAY B. WAAAAH HE'S NOT A BISHOUNEN THERE'S NO WAY HE CAN BE GAY and most relevantly, C. HE'S LIKE THIS AND HE DID THAT, SO HE REFLECTS BADLY ON THE GAY COMMUNITY. FOR SHAAAAAAAME!

What the people who want minorities on shining pedestals don't understand is that they're human, just like everybody else. We have flaws. We make mistakes. We do really, really shitty things to each other just because we can. Minorities are racist assholes. Women are misogynistic. Atheists abuse other atheists. If the main antagonist is evil because he's gay, I can understand where there would be a problem. But if he's evil because he manipulated the protagonist into shooting his dog while planting a bomb inside the school his daughter goes to, then it doesn't matter to me if he's gay. He's an evil douchebag, and therefore, has proven to be a successful villain.

Another mistake people make is categorizing minorities in "types" of personality. Women are either love interests/sex objects, damsels in distress, or action chicks. No inbetween, nuh uh. MLP: FiM is awesome is because it shows girls as individuals rather than portraying them as "how a girl should be"/"how I believe girls act." Rainbow Dash is a tomboy while Rarity likes fashion, while Twilight's nerdy and Pinkie's bouncy as hell, AND IT'S ALL GOOD. And that's another beef I have when people complain about the portrayal of Derpy Hooves. Yeah, because every mentally disabled person is clumsy and speaks slowly.

In short, if you're a minority character, there's no need to compensate for anything, via Magical Negro and whatnot. You're only human... what's there to compensate for?