Happy Thursday The 20th

NP LMAO, I'm literally obsessed with their au I basically share with any mdzs fan the minute I find out they like tma >:)

Also watching you live go insane over their arr rn shahhq.

Was scrolling through your blog and saw the ask abt you being a tma fan.

So now I'm wondering, have you seen @Themaymoth s tma X mdzs au yet?

:0???? I HAVE NOT. BILL ME 50$ FOR LETTING ME KNOW TY

Yoooo. Tagged by @randomness-is-my-order happy to be chosen!

Last song: Wrecking ball by: Mother Mother (I was watching that one Svsss Animatic XD)

Last book: edit: cause actually I was wrong my most recent book is bab (at my friend's request) I'm only a couple of chapters in tho.

Last Movie: I cannot remember, but it was a really bad horror movie.

Last game: it's been a hot minute since I've played any video games, I'm not much of a gamer (Less you consider playing those bad mobile games to pass off the time gaming) But I'd say it was tlou (The last of us)

Last TV show: Deep space 9!! The show has single handingly consumed over my life.

Sweet/spicy/savoury: I like all of them, But I am very much a spicy person.

Favorite color: Green!

Last Internet search: Writing related stuff.

Hehe as said previously this was exciting! Thank you for tagging me <3 I shall pass on the honor- @hypnogogyc @xiaokuer-schmetterling @ca-the-nerd @h0frwann1ng Idk who else to tag 😅

TAG GAME - 10 People I'd Like to Know Better

Tagged by @naamah-beherit, thank you very much! :D

Last Song: Everybody Knows by Wild Fire

Last Book: ... That one's a little complicated because I read like quite a few books at the same time (on account of them being translated chapter by chapter). So the last book I read is Welcome To The Nightmare Live by Sang Wo and translated by 98novels. My memory is kind of fucked so I'm not sure what was the last book I finished. It was probably So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky

Last Movie: Promising Young Woman

Last Game: Rune Factory 5 (I was in the mood for some farming and jrpg shenanigans after getting my heart crushed by the two Nier games xD)

Last TV Show: Marianne

Sweet/Spicy/Savoury: All three, just not too strong :P

Relationship: Single!

Favourite Colour: Black

Last Internet Search: I usually wouldn't be able to tell you, but this time I remember x) It was stuff about escalators in French because I was helping a friend with their French studies and didn't want to say stupid stuff on accident.

Tagging: @admirableadmiranda, @madnessofthemuses, @grewlikefancyflowers, @jiangwanyinscatmom, @welgansheer (one might say I know you quite well already, but hey it's a good opportunity to know you EVEN BETTER!!)

I didn't see the text and I lowkery thought this was some yuri leoya/aprilnardo art😭😭

Tryna show how April’s jealousy is just under the surface… through g-swap form so I can have an excuse to draw guy Koya…

When your girl has a guy friend that’s cooler than you by default….

Best video on this App actually

i’m So sorry Chappell Roan

[description: a video of Quark and Odo from star trek edited to fit the song Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan end description]

My friend @h0frwann1ng made this for me for pride month art trade a couple of months ago heheh and I have to repost it here!

personally i do think julian bashir is trans, but not in a way that sublimates his genetic alterations into a trans allegory. i think he's disabled and trans at the same time, but i think his rebellion against his parents--the symbolic death of his old self with the name change--that's not about gender, for him, at all.

it's about the incredible violation of autonomy he experienced as a disabled person under the knife of a eugenicist society. it's about the need to reclaim some, any, of the agency that was so completely stolen from him by his parents.

it's about discovering that his entire self was deconstructed and reconstructed, without his knowledge or consent, for the express purpose of being less of a burden on his parents.

because let's not forget that the death of julian's old self was not his decision. it was his parents who killed the old self and created a new one.

let's not forget that human society in star trek is still recovering from the eugenics wars--that just because it's post-scarcity doesn't mean it's a utopia.

let's not forget the multiple episodes where bashir is forced to confront the fact that his "success story" is truthfully a gross reminder of how deeply his society (and his family) hates disabled people, not only shown in how they tried to fix him, but also in the fact that the process so rarely works as intended, yet is still done anyway--and the failures and the ones too far gone to save are locked away! with no connection to general society, and only the bare minimum provision for their physical needs, with no privacy and no autonomy!

and let's not forget that julian sees these people and is torn between the empathy he has for them, and his urge to fix them. and he goes through with this urge on Sarina, "fixing" her to conform to his idea of what she ought to be, treating her as a problem to be solved, objectifying her via "my ideal woman was trapped in this disabled body/mind and i saved her," thus continuing the cycle of violence, because even he can't conceive of a world where the disabled do not need to be fixed. where the violence done to him was wrong. fuck man

Let's see how long I can go with this mdzsXst fixation lolll

Vague concept for this aus wangxian haha

They all work at a station xiao xingchen is the commander obv, here are some roles I've already established in my mind.

Xxc:Captian

Wwx:first officer

Lwj: chief of science

Jyl: chief linguistics

Wen Qing: Chief of medical (her brother is a nurse)

No idea who on who I should make chief if security, perhaps nmj?

Garak's makeup in the beginning of 'second skin' b looking crunchy af. Who did this to my boy?

not only would they win a gift card but also a mug

Ik their are a bunch of arguments abt mdzs fans lacking media literacy (which I get why) and this especially is a very strong argument about it, but to me honestly, I feel like alot of these misconceptions stem more from a lack of knowledge about history, like if you knew any surface level info about how these societies would work irl you'd understand that the sect leaders had NO competition, especially in the world of mdzs where its already been confirmed that so long as the major power isn't attacking them specifically, than they're just going to turn a blind eye to it.

the myth of helplessness and the “hands-tied” rhetoric for authority figures in mdzs

i’m pretty sure every one of us has seen this notion echoed around for atleast one of the clan/sect leaders when it came to their compliance and/or active participation in the wen remnants’ genocide as well as their prior lack of help/refuge for the wen remnants once wei wuxian had rescued them. while this goes beyond just the way the cultivation world’s leaders handled the aftermath of the sunshot campaign (namely, their lackadaisical approach to helping civilians, exploiting those weaker than them, etc.), i’ll start with the genocide because that’s the crux of it all. that’s the nail in the coffin, that’s the biggest proof of why i feel so fucking angry whenever i see this sentiment of excusing/justifying/or even explaining why the sect leaders did what they did.

and like most skewed interpretations of mdzs (and i don’t mean this in a haughty superior way of only MY way of reading the text being THE right way but i feel like this is something we all have noticed after traversing the fandom waters for a while), this too begins with jiang cheng.

now, let me clear: jiang cheng, in full sobriety and clarity of thought, led the siege of the burial mounds to kill a group of innocent people, which included elderly women and men and a child. you would think this should be obvious but i’ll retierate: NOTHING justifies this, nothing excuses this. the same applies to every single sect leader and sect affiliated member who went for the siege that day and participated in the killings, whether directly or indirectly. this isn’t a nuanced situation and i personally feel that a discussion that begins with the premise of muddying the culpability of the people involved in the genocide shouldn’t even be entertained because the reasons do not matter. they just don’t. it doesn’t matter that nie mingjue’s personal philosophy stemming from his upbringing and loss gave him a narrowminded view of the “wen-dogs”. it doesn’t matter that jiang cheng was sunken in grief and rage after losing his sister. it doesn’t matter that the lans were convinced of wei wuxian’s deviousness and found it paramount to put an end to him and his affialites. it doesn’t matter that some were operating on half the information because when you march into the temporary residence of your supposed foes and kill them all in cold-blood despite them being unarmed and untrained—the weight of ensuring that your violence has a meaning, a justification is on YOU! if you’re committing this act, you have to make sure you aren’t being led blindly by manipulating rumors and ideals.

even before the genocide, before the nightless city massacre, before the qiongqi path ambush—the way i’ve seen handwaving of jiang cheng’s mindset regarding the wens is a little baffling. “he had the burden of being a sect leader” “he had to protect his clan, his hands were tied!” jiang cheng wielding power and authority are often repackaged as baggage that his poor self is so tragically saddled with. it genuinely puzzles the shit out of me. have we all forgotten about “with great power comes great responsibility”?? jiang cheng’s responsibility as a cultivation sect leader goes beyond just the immediate thought about his sect and towards the cultivation world as a whole and how injustice was taking place by a fellow prominent clan. we know this is extremely important because the whole reason the sunshot campaign happened and why it came down to a war was because of prior negligence by the clans towards the congregation of power by the wens. to recognise the same methods now being employed by the jins was, infact, part of jiang cheng’s responsibility. just saving your own neck doesn’t work, when the larger picture is considered. besides, giving the wens the backing of the jiang clan would NOT have brought down instant doom upon the jiangs. that was the whole point. that was why jin guangshan felt it necessary to put ideas into his head and lead him to a path of hostility towards wei wuxian (which is still a choice jiang cheng made, mind).

also, while we’re at it, you’re telling me that the jiang clan rebuilt in part due to wei wuxian’s insane gravitational pull towards aspiring cultivators, would NOT have stood behind wei wuxian if jiang cheng had only tried? hell, i would go far as to say that some jiang disciples would have WANTED to join wei wuxian’s side. there was risk. there would be trouble. but that doesn’t mean jiang cheng had no option. the path of least resistance leads the crooked men, does it not? besides, being a leader is not about tucking tail and keeping your head down. it’s about making the difficult choices and yes, for jc, in this scenario, refusing to help the wens and wei wuxian was the easy choice.

also this whole myth about the sect leaders not being able to do anything because their clans would become targets is sort of antithetical to the whole premise of them being sect leaders in the first place. they’re the only ones who can do something with comparatively less risk to their person and those they’re “protecting” because they have the power of organisation. if the holders of authority cannot make decisive lines in the sand and push for change and resist, who can? the disciples or civilians would have an easier time opposing the clans individually or in groups, you think? they would have less to lose? (we already have an example in the form of mianmian; the waves had to be made from the top in this time-sensitive situation).

these fanon tropes originate from somewhere i know. it’s interesting to think of how these authority figures perceive their power as burdens, how the prince doesn’t want to become king but is forced into the role, how inheritances, even the ones that favour you, can feel like shackles around your neck.

but this kind of sympathetic view of the antagonists and the wrong-doers in mdzs leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because time and again, we have been shown how these sect leaders are blissfully happy to reap the fruits of their inherited power and generational wealth and are the ones most protected by the system. jiang cheng was perfectly fine being the sect leader by default and his grievance was moreso that wei wuxian wasn’t around to be his subordinate. the less that is said about jin guangshan the better. even lan xichen’s troubles didn’t come from him holding power but from his prolonged semi-wilful ignorance regarding jin guangyao. nie mingjue, while alive, used his influence to make his voice heard and condemned the wens because that was his unshakeable opinion on the matter.

now, this isn’t to say all the sect leaders were the same brand of callous and incompetent. yes, they had their problems. yes, their positions didn’t automatically make them immune to harm. but they were not the poor little burdened leaders with “pragmatic” point of views, trying to keep their boats afloat.

the ones with their hands tied were these: the lower classes in the pyramid. the ones who relied on the clans for shelter and food. the civilians whose requests for help were denied by the cultivation sects. the wen remnants who couldn’t do anything to save themselves. wen qing and wen ning. wei wuxian, whose every avenue of help was closed. mianmian. and even, imo, lan wangji.

there’s another similar notion towards wei wuxian that because he was a subordinate and because he has lesser social standing, he had more “freedom”. what ass-backwards logic is this, to be honest? when has having lesser social status, political power and monetary resources given a person more freedom? more freedom would mean that wei wuxian could do anything he wanted and go unquestioned. more freedom would mean that he would be able to practice the ghostly path without every second person accusing him of demonic activities. you know who had more freedom? the nie sect! their resentful energy dabbling went unquestioned because they had more freedom, they were protected by the reputation and might of their clan. nie mingjue’s hypocritical stance went unquestioned because he had freedom, precisely because he had more power. wei wuxian having a big personality, being flirtatious and not being a picture-perfect version of properness (he had good manners regardless) is not having more freedom. if he had that personality and no one accused him of being arrogant and if it wasn’t used against him as means to sully his reputation, then yes, that would be true freedom. this last part is probably redundant but hope the point of it was relayed. just because wei wuxian’s able to authentically be himself despite the backlash he receives for it does not make his social standing somehow a more advantageous position to be in compared to the literal leaders of the cultivation world.

in conclusion, the sect leaders did not have their hands tied by some inherent circumstance, their thrones of power were not ill-begotten curses they were trying to escape from but all the tying was done by them and their ropes which they gleefully tied around the necks of the wens to silence them forever. and if that sentence makes you uncomfortable, great. because that’s the reality of what these people did.