btw: if you reblog this poll, feel free to explain your answer in the tags or the reblog!

*reads the poll and the comments*

*despairs jewishly because the vast majority are mostly wrong as hell*

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So I made a post about this before, but from what I can remember it really didn't gain enough traction (probably my fault since I don't remember saying much on it) but anyway. I've been trying to find a job for a while now. Something that, as you all know, isn't easy. A few of my mutuals convinced me to start my own Patreon to make some kind of money that way until I finally get a job. What I'll be posting on their is basically my writing. You guys will be able to sneak peaks of the next chapters of my current WIPS, A Child For A Monarch. I may do polls to see what you guys would like to see next. Haven't really decided about commissions yet, but I'm considering it. Also, this goes without saying, but please don't feel pressured to do this. If you can't support me, that's fine. No hard feelings.

Edit: I also have a ko-fi if that's preferable instead.

this from the guy who wrote the sting pain index, a scale he constructed after letting himself be stung by insects

“why did i start this list” pleaseeeeeee this is so funny

his descriptions were extremely on-point, and frankly inspiring when writing a hurt/comfort scene

Instagram poets could never!

The only difference between Zuko's "metamorphosis" (weird word Iroh!) and Azula's breakdown is that Zuko's conflict between his mind and body happened because someone that cared for him straight up told him that he can change himself by doing something. Azula's conflict interestingly happenes because of her own subconscious straight up telling her(because she doesn't have someone that cares about her on her side that's willing to stay with her and guide her) that she's miserable and keeps losing people she cares about because she's been taught only one way and it's bad. In a single scene we discover Azula's massive capability of self reflection, her own subconscious against her conscious despite the very essence of Ozai's parenting on her being the erasure of herself, emotions and moral agency.

Will always love the mirror scene

I think the reason a lot of leftists struggle with disability justice is that they haven't moved past the concept that discrimination isn't bad because it's objectively "wrong." yes, sexists are objectively wrong when they try to claim women are dumber than men. yes, antisemites are objectively wrong that jewish people are inherently greedy and run the state. yes, racists are wrong when they try to claim that white people are the superior race. and so on.

but then with disabled people, there are a lot of objective truths to the discrimination we face. people with IDs/LDs do fall behind and struggle with certain concepts. physically disabled people are often weaker and less capable of performing demanding tasks than able bodied people. many of us with mental illnesses are more reckless and less responsible. a lot of us are dependent on others and do not contribute much "worth".

and guess what? disabled people still deserve a place in the world. disabled people still deserve the supports they need. because they are people, and that should be enough to support them and believe they deserve a place at the table.

if your only rebuttal against discrimination is its objective inaccuracies, you are meeting bigots where they are at. you are validating the very concept that if and when people are truly incapable of being equal to the majority, that means they are worth less. this causes some leftists to then try to deny the objective realities of disabled people and/or become ableist themselves.

your rallying behind marginalized groups should start and end with the fact that people are completely worthy of life and equity, because they are fellow human beings and that should, frankly, be enough.

I don't think goyim understand how the memory of Yisrael works and I don't think they feel understand or realize the ramifications that their responses to Simchat Torah pogrom has.

The collective memory of our people is a long one and we do not forget. We hold onto all that happens. The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the joyful and the sorrowful.

It is not a matter of grudges or slights, but a matter of the importance of history, memory, and learning.

So we do not forget, but a time will come, soon, where goyim will forget how they responded to Simchat Torah pogrom and in turn expect us to forget as well.

But we won't because we don't and so they will surprised. Just as they always expect us to forget and are always surprised when we have not.

We carry long memories. We do it for those amongst who can not, for those who are no longer with us, and we do for the future generations.

So many of us have pulled away and/or back from places and people because we no longer feel safe and many of us will not return even those places and people forget.

What we have seen and heard has deeply scarred us and added more scarring and trauma to scars and trauma we already carry.

Trust that is so easily broken is not so easily restored and that trust is gone.

There are many ramifications to what happened on Oct 7, 2023 and we will see those ripple out for long time even when we are the only who remember.

Ok another thing that stands out to me in ATLA is the s3 episode The Beach. Zuko is sitting on the porch of their family’s vacation home. Azula invites him down to the beach. He responds, holding a childhood memento, that their vacations there feel so long ago. Azula responds by repeating her invitation and saying: “come on. This place is depressing.”

Like. Pretty much up until that point, the audience has never considered her human side. She agrees with her father and follows his every command. Why would memories of him be “depressing?” This moment makes the viewer realize: she grew up in that house, too. She grew up in that palace, too. On some level, just for a moment, she knows how fucked up it is.

That moment fucks me up because it’s the first time they’ve actually felt like siblings. Like, siblings that went through the same horrible abuse at the hands of the same person. There’s no twist to her invitation down to the beach to get away from the memories. That might be the only time in the entire show she does something genuinely nice to him, for no ulterior self-serving purpose.

For a brief moment Azula can admit what the viewer, what Zuko has known all along. All those memories of their family’s happiest times are collecting dust in an abandoned home that now is only meaningful as firewood:

Is fucking depressing.

OKAY; We need to talk about this TyZula scene:

this scene has been talked about a LOT. specifically by anti-tyzula/azula fans. but for this "rant" im looking at it through the lens of just azulas character.

it is DETRIMENTAL to azula as a character. this will be a slightly indepth review i guess. im sure someone already talked about this and what im going to say, but i just want to bring it to light considering some of the anti-azula/tyzula stuff i've been seeing recently

Azula would be so loyal to Zuko if he ever showed the slightest loyalty toward her.

People don't seem to register that Azula is being sincere in this moment.

(Does that also mean that "betrayed Zuko" is one of the reasons why Azula holds Iroh in utter contempt?)

characters in their 30's and older exploring their sexuality and discovering themselves beyond their teens and twenties is so important and beautiful and worth telling

This little ✨Sir✨ is everything good in the world and must be protected at all costs

@tikkunolamorgtfo

my question is this: why do atla stans care more about an 11 year old azula's reaction to ozai burning zuko than what iroh did or could've done at that moment?

azula was excited due to the clear meaning that she would be next in line for the throne. iroh looked away in guilt because hes the one who invited zuko into the meeting in the first place. both reactions are fantastic looks into the respective characters.

Where, precisely, does she express any interest in the throne for herself?

Galaxy Brain take: Zuko projects his anger at Ursa onto Azula.

When I think about his resentment of her compared to the actual things she did to him that fall within the normal range of bratty little sister behavior, an Ursa-shaped hole popped up.

Then it suddenly made sense. If Zuko relates to Azula more as his surrogate mother than as his sister, his resentment toward her makes more sense.

Look at what Azula does. She comforts him when he doubts himself in "The Crossroads of Destiny." She freely offers him advice when he needs or demands it in "The Headband," "The Avatar and the Fire Lord," and "Nightmares and Daydreams." She seeks him out to take him away from the "depressing" house in "The Beach" and helped him work through his anger at himself too.

From the moment Zuko returned to the Fire Nation, Azula has, in her own words, been looking out for him. Zuko seems to lean on her a lot too, relying on her in ways he doesn't acknowledge and probably doesn't know.

Let me lay out a scenario.

After Ursa left, Zuko still needed a primary caregiver. Even then, Zuko was aware that seeking that from Ozai was a no-go. But who else does he have? It's just him and Azula. Azula, who's so smart and strong and capable and also invested in his well-being.

Yet there's still anger and sadness too big for him to understand and process at the time. He "can't" be mad at Mom for "abandoning" him. His loving mother is "good," and leaving him would be "bad." Azula is "supposed" to take care of him, but Azula fails at being Ursa. So for that, she's "bad," and everything that happens to him is all her fault.

Zuko doesn't relate to Azula the way a big brother does his little sister (see Sokka and Katara for a more typical example). He relates to Azula the way a disappointed child relates to the mother who failed him.

Before anyone gets it twisted, I'm not saying that Zuko deliberately put that expectation on Azula. When Ursa left, he was a child dealing with a situation and feelings too big and complex for him to understand. Putting everything he wanted from Ursa onto Azula is just how he, as a child, would have coped. It's not his fault that he needed his mom. He was a child. It's not Azula's fault that she couldn't be his mom. She was a child herself, and younger one at that.

If there is fault to lay at Zuko's feet, it's continuing to do this after he's old enough to realize that putting that expectation onto his younger sibling is inappropriate, especially when he has a more fitting adult in his life who is willing and able to provide the guidance, nurturing, and affection he needs. But old habits die hard.

It's just tragic all the way around.

[ID: #atla #fire nation siblings #fire nation royally screwed up family #the parentification is coming from inside #there's also some metatextual support for this in a way #if you consider that azula's 'sin' is not taking care of zuko like katara does sokka #which seems to be a very popular if unstated take]

See, I wasn't trying to put that out in Tumblr, but if the shoe fits...

So the interesting thing to me is not about Zuko, but about Azula. Zuko might seem think that it's Azula's responsibility to take care of him, but, at some level, Azula also seems think that that is her responsibility, and she puts significant effort toward it. We have every reason to believe that she also thought this before Zuko's exile, to believe that she tried hard to take care him of even when she was young. Certainly Zuko leaning on her so much would make little sense if he's not used to getting results from it.

But I also think she would have, at some level, resented Zuko for this. Ozai was also encouraging competition between his children, and Azula's parentification surely increased her negative feelings toward Zuko.

By contrast, Zuko never believes he has the least responsibility, parental or otherwise, toward Azula, and Azula never expects him to do anything to take care of her. Azula is both a caregiver and a dangerous competitor for him, but she's not a sibling.

For Zuko, there are two and only two versions of Azula: "Azula the surrogate mother" and "Azula the enemy."

"Azula the sister" and "Azula the person" are entirely beyond his imagination and perception.

i just want people who say shit like “now isn’t the time to talk about antisemitism” , even in the select few situations where i agree with them, to understand that it’s never the time to talk about antisemitism.

nothing is ever about antisemitism. nothing. a shooting at a Jewish synagogue is automatically about right wing extremism before it’s about antisemitism, anti-zionist Jews talking about antisemitism aren’t talking about antisemitism, the holocaust is a dumbed-down cautionary tale for people who actually matter before it’s about antisemitism, a pogrom is a word you use for anything you feel like before it’s about antisemitism, Jews being expelled from their countries of origin isn’t about antisemitism, eugenics used to slaughter Jewish people isn’t about antisemitism. not even antisemitism is about antisemitism.

and lord knows i’m gonna be labeled a “crypto-Zionist” (whatever the fuck that means) despite clarifying in this post that i am ideologically and ethically opposed to Zionism, because some of you fuckers will use the 100% legitimate cause of Palestinian liberation as an excuse to be antisemitic and then gaslight us into thinking you aren’t!

did you know that the word antisemitism itself was invented by a nazi? like wow, g-d for-fucking-bid we want to discuss our oppression on our own fucking terms!

we’re too loud! we take up too much space! it’s all our fault anyway! we’re a uniquely imperialistic and evil group of people! our religion is dated, our history is false! we whine too much about the holocaust, i mean, that was so LONG ago! get over it already! modernize but don’t be too modern! preserve your culture but not in ways we don’t like! be authentic in ways we think are interesting for one sentence acknowledgment on twitter and then never we’ll never mention you again! don’t be too poor! don’t be too rich! don’t play the victim! we can’t speak! our silence is suspicious! we’re not allowed to care about each other because that’s proof we hate everyone else! don’t you get it? don’t you fucking get it now? even a dead Jew isn’t a good Jew. a dead Jew isn’t even dead, because they were never human in the first place.