Periodic reminder that you are not immune to reactionary radicalization through fandom.
We all know the "jokes" about how old bronies either came out as queer or became fascists - except they're not really jokes, and a lot of the queer ones admit to having been in the pipeline before they came out (some in a way that implies they never totally got out of said pipeline and don't understand the gravity of it),
GamerGate was an entire right-wing reactionary movement that was - and this is not hyperbole - partially responsible for turning fascism into a "legitimate" position by the American Overton window, composed entirely of people who feared losing their fan spaces,
We've had terfs right here on tumblr dot com BRAGGING about how useful fandom is as a recruiting space,
TJLC was a big pipeline for acephobia on this hellsite in particular, when people argued that headcanoning Sherlock as ace was inherently homophobic because it was denying a TOTALLY GONNA BE CANON (while the creators were promising that it wasn't going to be canon) gay pairing, and puritanical, and just HAVING that headcanon was saying that people COULDN'T ship Johnlock, all in the interest of a "fake" sexuality and "pretending to be oppressed" and oh whoops there you went,
We see people who all but center their fandom activity and identities around figuring out which people in predominantly queer fandom spaces are SECRETLY PEDOPHILES AND GROOMERS, acting consciously or otherwise under the assumption that predominantly queer fandom spaces are just massively infested with them in a way that other spaces are not for SOME reason, who twist the definition of "pedophilia" in these spaces until it covers shipping a 17-year old fictional character with an 18-year old fictional character, or a 30-year old with a 45-year old, or including an autistic character in a ship, and drawing two 17-year old characters kissing constitutes "child porn", and who unironically say we should bring back the Hays Code and Censorship Is Good Actually And Our Problem Is We Don't Do It Enough and this often becomes a pipeline to "sex ed is child abuse; people shouldn't even know what sex is until they turn 18; you need my consent to wear certain outfits in public if I see them as sexually charged, and Pride SHOULD be an assimilationist sideshow for our corporate overlords family-friendly party with no sadness or anger or ESPECIALLY acknowledgement of sex allowed",
We've seen otherwise progressive people defend literal hate symbols in fanart when pushback against the above brand of reactionaries gets corrupted into zero-nuance "it's us vs. them so anything they don't like is Good",
Even outside of those examples some of the most vicious, unapologetic, blatant queerphobic abuse I've seen in recent years hasn't come from right-wingers but from LGBT+ people, dressing their deep, violent, seething hatred for queer people who aren't exactly like them in a thin veneer of progressive language, who have become so convinced that they're the main character of the fucking universe that they think writing or enjoying a queer story that doesn't resonate with them is more queerphobic than sending a queer person who writes or enjoys such a story countless rape and death threats and denying their identity,
We've seen these examples again and again and again, and we keep seeing it again and again and again, so I am once again on my knees BEGGING people to recognize that this is not Something That Happens To Other, BAD People, or Something That Happens To People In BAD Fandoms, or Something That Happens To People On The OTHER Side Of Perennial Drama; this is something that CAN happen to you.
These things are the result of the fact that fandom is, by nature, a place of heightened emotion and if you don't know what to look out for that is very exploitable; you need to know the methods people use to do this, simply Being In The Right Fandoms or Liking The Right Ships is not enough.
So, if you see someone trying to convince you that you have the ONLY valid approach to any specific character, or ship, or show, or whatever, that your ship is activism and your fanfics are praxis, and liking something else or liking the same thing differently is Only For Bad People, that is the single biggest red flag that YOU NEED TO RUN, THEY'RE TRYING TO SELL YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT WANT
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
Here’s my favorite panel from my kylux comic Armistice ♡
Thank you to everyone who got the comic so far and thanks so much for your tips!!! I’m 34 downloads away from hitting 1000 downloads on gumroad, WOW. This is more than I ever thought I’ll get! If you’re interested, you can get the Comic here for free https://gumroad.com/queenstardust
fun new executive dysfunction hack that might work for you? I've started to narrate my actions in my mind as though i were the subject of an anthropological documentary. I'm taking down xmas decorations right now and the narrator in my head (who is british and posh. obviously.) is like:
"despite the atheistic spiritual beliefs of the family, the christian holiday known as 'christmas' is an important cultural event. So important in fact, that decorations remain on full display a full month after the religious ceremony itself. Now, on the 3rd of February, a full day of labour has been designated to the exodus of all christmas related pageantry. The eldest daughter of the family takes on the bulk of the work, performed in silence, and with great focus."
and hot damn if it isn't working
ADHD
Misophonia
I was watching a ghost hunter show where the ‘ghost’ could only use the machine to say pre-recorded words. And I had an idea. We know that technology can’t always work with ectoplasm. So what if ghost speak couldn’t be heard over the phone? And to call for help, the Amity Parkers had to get creative to get ahold of the Justice League when the GIW declares all out war on all the ghosts and liminal in town.
“Hello, you have reached the Justice League emergency hotline. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Hello, hello. Emergency, hello. Justice League.” A distorted male voice answered back.
“Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? what is the nature of your emergency?” Green Lantern asked again.
“I can hear you, emergency. Hello Justice League. Hello emergency.”
“Do you need help? Can you hear me?”
“Help. Help. Can you hear me? Help.” The voice distorted again to something like static.
“Prank calls aren’t funny kid. This is an emergency line.” With an exasperated sigh, Green Lantern hung up.
“What was that about?”
“It’s just a prank call. Some kid using a voice mod thing.”
“Really? That’s annoying.”
“I know. But it’s not that unusual. Kids don’t have anything better to do during the summer.”
“I guess. What are you doing on hotline duty? You’re not scheduled for refresher training for another few months, right?”
“Food fight in the cafeteria. Batman added everyone involved to additional monitor or dispatch duty twice a week for the next month.”
“Yikes. Hate to be you. Who else got caught?”
“Flash, Plasticman, Vigilante, and Shining Knight.”
Zatanna raised an eyebrow. “Can’t imagine Sir Justin getting involved in a food fight.”
Hal shrugged with a good-humored smirk, “Vig took a salad bowl to the head, Sir Justin jumped in to cover his retreat. Right in time for Bats to break up the fun.”
Zatanna giggled, “Poor Sir Justin.”
“Poor Sir Justin?” Hal Jorden gasped dramatically, “What about me? I was just an innocent bystander.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“What are you doing here anyway?”
“Unlike you. I’m just here for one shift for refresher dispatch training.”
“Good for you. Well, have at it. The active-duty roster is on the big screen with who's suited up and available.”
Zatanna looked up at the large monitor with pinging dots in various locations around the world. “Alright. A bit better than the old system of scrolling for available heroes and asking where they are.”
“Yeah, Cyborg linked everyone’s com into the system so we can tell who is where, when their com is active.”
“Sounds good. Alright, Let’s do this.” Zatanna put headset on and clicked ‘available operator’ on the screen. Immediately her phone rang. “Hello, this is the Justice League Emergency Hotline. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Emergency. Hello, Justice League. Emergency.” A female voice came through her headset. The connection was very poor. Interference and static came through.
“Can you hear me? This is the Justice League emergency Hotline. Do you need help?” Zatanna looked over at Hal. He was fiddling with his headset cord. He looked up at her and she gestured her head to the screen. It was the same number as his prank call.
“Hear me? Help. Justice League. Emergency Help.” The feminine voice sounded vaguely familiar. Zatanna ignored it to confront the prankster.
“Kid, this isn’t a joke. This is a serious line for actual emergencies. You can’t keep calling. I’m going to hang up now. Please don’t call back.”
“Isn’t a Joke. This isn’t a Joke. Please don’t. Hang up now. Actual Emergencies. Keep calling. Hotline. Justice League. Help. For actual emergencies.” The static under the female voice sharpened. Zatanna paused. Her finger was just hovering over the button to end the call when something stopped her. The tone of voice was sharp. Irritated. Also, strangely familiar. After a second it dawned on her. Hal was still looking at her, so she waved him over to listen into the call. Once he was listening with his own muted headset, she asked “Are you…? Are you repeating what I’m saying?”
“Repeating. Help. Isn’t a Joke. What I’m saying. Emergency. Help. Hello. Help. Emergency.”
Zatanna finally recognized the voice. “Is that my voice? Are you repeating with my voice?”
“Repeating. Voice. You. Emergency. Help. Isn’t a Joke. Help. Justice League. Don’t. Hang Up.”
“You’re using my voice to talk back to me? My words. And…You can only repeat what you hear… is that right?” Zatanna shared a glance with a horrified Hal. Him, just realizing he had hung up on an actual emergency. Not a kid playing a joke.
Zatanna’s own voice echoed staticky in her ear. “Right. Right. Can repeat. Only. Talk back. Using voice. Help. Emergency help.”
“Are you in danger?” She looked over at Hal who was typing on his own computer to trace the call origin. He looked back at her and shook his head. Weirdly, they can’t find where the signal is coming from.
“Danger. Emergency. Help Justice League. Help. In danger”
“I understand. I’m going to ask you where you are. Do you understand?” Zatanna was going to have to narrow this down. She pulled up a world map onto her screen.
“Understand. Help. Emergency.” The static in the voice softened slightly. Like relief.
“OK, we need to know where you are. What continent are you on? Asia? Africa? Australia? Europe? North America? South America?”
“North America. Help. Emergency.”
Zatanna clicked on the screen to enlarge the North American Continent. “OK, you’re in North America. Are you in Canada or America?”
“America. Help.”
Another click of the mouse to focus on the USA. “OK are you in the North, Northeast, Southeast, West, Southwest, or Midwest?”
“Midwest. Midwest. Help emergency. Help. America. Midwest.”
“OK I’m going to ask your state now. Do you know it?” Zatanna clicked on the Midwest region of the map to enlarge it more. Hal was standing up now. Anticipation making his body glow faintly green. He was texting something on his phone, but Zatanna ignored it to focus on her own echoing voice on the other end of the line.
“Know it. know it.” Her voice repeated back, “Ask.”
“Are you in North Dakota? Are you in Minnesota? Are you in South Dakota? Are you in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan-“
The voice interrupted her. “Illinois. Illinois, Midwest America, Illinois. Help. Emergency. Justice League Help.”
“Do you know where in Illinois you are?”
“Yes, yes. Where Illinois. Emergency. Ask.”
Zatanna enlarged the map of the state infront of her. The closest hero was in Detroit Michigan and they didn’t’ have any abilities to help them get to Illinois quickly. She gestured to Hal to look at the screen. He nodded his understanding. “Do you know where in the state you are? what region or what county?
“County. Know. County.”
“OK I’m going to name a few counties. Tell me yes or no if you are there, okay?”
“Yes, yes. Tell me.”
Zatanna listed off the counties on the map. Her tongue slightly tangling over the midwestern words. “OK, Joe Durres, Steffensen, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Lake, Cook, Dupage, Kane, Dekalb, Ogle, Carroll, Whiteside, Lee-“
The voice interrupted again. “ Lake. County.”
“OK you’re in Lake County. is that right?” Zatanna clicked over the county and enlarged the map.
“Right. Right, help. Emergency. In Lake County.”
“OK I’m going to name off some cities in Lake County. Are you in a city? yes or no”
“City no. name cities. Yes.”
Zatanna paused for a second. “Do you mean you are not in a city, but you can name the closest one to you? yes or no?”
“Yes. Name. Closet one. Name. Closest. City. Emergency.”
“Okay. I understand. Are you in Gurney? are you in Libertyville, Grayslake, round lake, or round lake beach? Are you in Lake Forest, Zion, Vernon Hills, Highland Park, or north Chicago-“
The voice cut her off again. “Park.”
“Are you in Highland Park?”
“No. Park. In Park. Park. Park. Park. Emergency. In Park.” The tone of the voice did’t change but the words came faster, almost overlapping over themselves.
“OK calm down. Let me understand. Are you in a park or in a place called park?”
“In a place called Park. Help emergency. In place called park.”
Zatanna scanned the list of Illinois cities called ‘Park’ in the county. “OK are you in Round Lake Park or Beach Park, Deerfield Park, Park City, or Deer Park.”
“No. Place called Park. No city. place called park.”
“So you’re in a place called Park but it’s not a city is that right?”
“ Right. Place call park. Emergency. not city. Help.”
“OK, let's go down the list. Brook Park, Mill Park, Park Barrington, River Park, Park Township, VernonPark Hills, West Keegan Park, West Deerfield Park, Amity Park, Wheeling Park-“
“Amity. Amity Park. Emergency in Amity Park. Emergency in Amity Park. emergency help help emergency.”
“OK you're an Amity Park. Is that right?”
“Right. Right. In Amity Park”
Zatanna nodded to Hal who was still texting on his phone. He nodded back to her.
“OK, I know where you are now. Now we need to know what kind of emergency is it a natural disaster? is it a villain? is it an alien?”
“Villain. Emergency. villain villain villain.” The words came fast. Static was almost overwhelming.
“OK, calm down. I'm right here. Does the villain have powers or not.”
“Villian have. No. Powers. I'm here. Powers. Help. Natural- powers. Help. I'm. kind of. Natural. Help. Powers. We. Need help. OK?”
Zatanna paused. The sentences didn’t make sense. The villain did not have powers? But the caller said “I’m. Kind of. Natural.” She shared a look to Hal. Hal typed on his computer and a message appeared on her screen.
“I txted Flash. He can be there, but he needs to know what kind of situation he’s running into.” Zatanna read the message and nodded.
“OK. You need to give me more information. There are villains but they don’t have powers? Can you tell me what kind of natural powers you mean? Are they metagene powers? Are they magic? Are there weapons?”
“Magic. Weapons. Powers magic. I. powers. magic. Help. Can you help. Me?”
Zatanna felt a rush of fear. Magic powers. ‘Villains no powers. Weapons’ must mean that the villains don’t have any powers, but they have weapons that can affect the magic user who is calling. She looked over at Hal. He nodded. “Okay. I have magic too. I am going to Amity Park to help you. Can you tell me how many villains there are? Are there more than five or less than five?
“More than five. Villains. I have magic too. Villains. Weapons. more than we. I am going too. yes. Yes going. Help.”
So, the caller definitely needed magic backup. Zatanna gestured to Hal who began to send an all-notice message to any Magic using League hero. “Are the villains after your powers? is that right? the villains are attacking you for your powers?”
“Right. Right villains attacking for powers. Help emergency. More than me. Powers. Villains attacking. We need help. Amity park. Needs help.”
Zatanna froze. ‘We need help.’ More than me…powers. We need help. Oh god. “Is there more than one of you with magic? There’s a group of you with powers that the villains are attacking?” Zatanna asked. A group of magic users fighting villains? Maybe sending more magic users isn’t the best idea. They might need some heavy hitters for this.
“Group. with powers. Magic. Amity Park. Magic. Villains attacking. Disaster. Emergency help. Villains have. More than one of you. Of you. We. villains have. More than one. Of We.”
It took Zatanna only a second. By now she was standing up out of her chair. “Do The villains have hostages? With magic powers? How many?”
Hal had linked in the call with multiple coms. On the large monitor Zatanna could see multiple heroes dots shift slightly. All in the direction of Illinois. She was grateful to see Wonder Woman, Flash, and Captain Marvel all headed in that direction. “We’ve got hero’s coming your way. They will be there soon to help you and rescue the hostages.”
“Many hostages. Many magic in Amity Park. Weapons. Villains have. Weapons. We have. Magic. Villains have Hostages. Villains have. Soon. Powers. We need help. Heroes coming. Justice league. Help. Not villains. We not. Villains. Help we.”
Zatanna felt sick as she understood that message. ‘The villains have hostages and weapons. The caller and the others have powers. But then… villains have…soon…powers. Did that mean that the villains were taking powers away from whoever was calling? She paused at that last sentence. “You’re not the villains. what do you mean by that?
“We. Not. the Villains. Villains have hostages. Villains have weapons. Isn’t a joke. Isn’t. Isn’t Right. We. Not Villains. We Natural. We not weapons. We not villains. Help. Rescue hostages. Rescue. Me. Help Me. Help we have Powers. Help.”
“You’re not the villains, I know. You say you are natural. Do you mean that when the heroes get there, they might think you are the villains and get confused?” Zatanna knew that multiple heroes were silently listening to the call.
“We not the villains. Heroes might think. Powers. Are the. Weapons. We Amity Park. We need help. Justice league get here. Rescue Hostages.”
Hal messaged her again on her screen. Zatanna read off the message.
“We’ve alerted the Illinois National Guard as well. They’ll be there soon to help.”
“No. No. No. National Guard. No help. Villains. Guard villains. Help we. Help Amity Park.”
Zatanna looked confused. “What? No the national guard is coming there to help.”
“National Guard. The.Villains. They guard. The villains. No help. They’ll. Weapon. Amity Park. Powers. Justice League Rescue Amity Park. Help. Help. Help.” The static became so prevalent that Zatanna had to fight the impulse to rip the headset off. She tried to decipher the words.
“Okay. Okay we’ll help you. But we need to be able to find you. Are you in a house or a building? Can you get to a rooftop?”
“Building Rooftop. Heroes Find Me.”
“How can we find you? Can you wave a flag or give us a sign. Are you a woman or a man? What do you look like.”
There was a long pause. “I can. Wave. Kid. Kid. Woman. Kid woman.”
Zatanna wondered for a long moment where the word ‘kid’ came from before remembering when she first accused the caller of prank calling. She said ‘Kid, this isn’t a joke.’ The she felt bile flood her throat as she understood what they meant. “Are…are you a child?”
Zatanna’s own voice answered back. “Child. Kid. Woman child. Rooftop. Help Justice League. Find. Me. Help Hostages. Help. Amity Park.”
Flashes voice came over the com line. Muted from the call but clear in Zatanna’s other ear. “Oh my god. I’m here. It’s a war zone. There’s…We’re going to need back up. Medical units. There are tanks and fires everywhere. There’s been some kind of artillery shot at different buildings. It’s a war zone.”
There was a silent horrified moment as all the heroes listening absorbed the information. “I think I see our caller. It’s a little girl. Maybe eight or ten. White hair. She’s floating. She’s on the library roof with a giant phone. I think she sees me.”
In Zatanna’s other ear her own voice repeated. “Heroes find me. Rooftop. Help.”
“The man in red is called Flash. He’s there to help.”
“He’s there. Man In Red. Help. Flash. Find me.”
“I’m on my way too. Just stay with Flash and tell him what you need, okay sweetie?” Zatanna’s voice was infinitely softer now that she knew it was a child on the phone.
“Okay. Stay with Flash. Help. On. You. Way.”
The line shut off and Zatanna flinch at the sudden silence in her ear. She glanced over at Hal. “I’m going to Zeta down to Amity.”
“I’m right behind you. Flash said a war zone. I…I need to be there.”
Zatanna nodded at his guilty expression. “Right. Let’s hurry and get to Amity Park.”
I miss the days when, no matter how slow your internet was, if you paused any video and let it buffer long enough, you could watch it uninterrupted
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Reveals Astounding, Unprecedented Views of the Universe
in general the idea of jason as a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of character is really crazy to me. his plans don't fail because he doesn't think them through they fail because they're crazy. because he's crazy. it's literally why he's hot
Loved By Time
Part 2
"H-hi, um—crap... I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne. Uh... It's nice to meet you. My name's Danny— wait, shit— you probably already know that."
It was an odd first impression, to say the least. The boy in front of him is an open book; quite obviously nervous and uncomfortable. Black hair with white covering nearly the bottom half that doesn't look dyed, light blue eyes, and a telltale of a wide scar right below his left eye, making the skin lighter than the rest of his otherwise tan skin.
Bruce in turn chuckles kindly at him, shaking his head. There was only him currently in Gotham; all of his kids were still dispatched elsewhere so Danny had time to adjust to the new environment. He reassures the boy that he's fine— that he'll fit right in and, in truth, he was somewhat right.
Dick, Steph, and Duke were the first ones to greet him; giving the boy quite a scare. He had met with Tim not long after, surprising the latter on brief comments about his works.
The strange things about Danny started when he met Duke. The two had started off great; they both introduced themselves kindly and shook hands. But something must've happened while they shook—because Duke's face had paled slightly as his eyes widen. Danny must've noticed; because the boy himself immediately placed a hand to cover Duke's eyes, whispering something in a rush.
“Don't— I know you can see it. Don't look at it. Don't look at me in the eyes. Don't say anything.”
He then met Jason and Damian.
Something must've snapped within the two, because the next thing anyone knew, the two had practically lunged at him.
Bruce had no time to react.
No one had time to react.
No one had time to react when a large, eldritch abomination of a knight loomed over Danny's figure, caging him within one of it's arm. A large greatsword was drawn, pointing at Jason and Damian who abruptly froze, ready to strike the moment they move even an inch.
A silence engulfed the manor as their eyes all widen in horror; the only thing audible being Danny's heart rattling within his ribcage and his heavy breathing mixed with wheezing, clear panic etched in the way his breathing didn't seem consistent.
"Do not. Touch. The child."
&—
Read: Part 1