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When I was younger I was very right-wing. I mean…very right-wing. I won’t go into detail, because I’m very deeply ashamed of it, but whatever you’re imagining, it’s probably at least that bad. I’ve taken out a lot of pain on others; I’ve acted in ignorance and waved hate like a flag; I’ve said and did things that hurt a lot of people.

There are artefacts of my past selves online – some of which I’ve locked down and keep around to remind me of my past sins, some of which I’ve scrubbed out, some of which are out of my grasp. If I were ever to become famous, people could find shit on me that would turn your stomach.

But that’s not me anymore. I’ve learned so much in the last ten years. I’ve become more open to seeing things through others’ eyes, and reforged my anger to turn on those who harm others rather than on those who simply want to exist. I’ve learned patience and compassion. I’ve learned how to recognise my privileges and listen to others’ perspectives. I’ve learned to stand up for others, how to hear, how to help, how to correct myself. And I learned some startling shit about myself along the way – with all due irony, some of the things I used to lash out at others for are intrinsic parts of myself.

You wouldn’t know what I am now from what I was then. You wouldn’t know what I was then from what I am now.

It distresses me deeply to think of someone dredging up my dark, awful past and treating me as though that furiously hateful person is still me. It distresses me to see others dredging up the past for anyone who has made efforts to become a better person, out of some sick obsession with proving they’re “problematic.”

The obsession with finding shit in someone’s past and then claiming that a questionable or even sordid past negates all possibility of a good present needs to become extinct. Gold-star activism and purity culture are bullshit and we need to collectively reject the fuck out of them.

We really need to start asking where this purity bullshit came from. I’m not  Christian and was not raised Christian but there has been a lot evidence that much of gold star activism and purity culture originated in of evangelical youth movements and then infiltrated progressive left-wing and center-left politics when those youth left their churches but failed to leave behind the black-n-white puritanical “you’re going to hell if you stray one inch from the righteous path” style of thinking they were taught.

I distinctly remember some conversations I had in the late 00s and very early 2010s with long time social justice activists who were baffled and disturbed by the new crop of youth activists who were practicing something that was decidedly NOT social justice despite stealing that phrase from us.

In the decade and a half that has passed since then, all of this gold-star activism and purity culture has done exactly what I predicted back then: empowered the far-right while sowing division everywhere.

A random person who had a moderately shady past or fucked up views before shouldn’t need to flog themselves to show how penitent they are beyond just doing better now, just to be able to live their life in peace, but if someone is campaigning to get political power and all they have to say for their life up to that point being a field of red flags, it isn’t enough for them to say “well I’m not like that now” if they haven’t actually achieved anything that makes up for it in the opposite direction.

#this is the best scene in the whole show no i will not elaborate #i love him so fucking much #the focus on jiang cheng despite the moment arguably being betwee wwx and jyl #it might be their moment but HIS FACE is what we see #whats important #the immensity of his love for them both #LOSES MY MIND (via determinedprince)

#the fourth one!!!! #he’s just like wipe that stupid smile off my face #betcha he didnt even notice he was Smiling Like That until both siblings turned to look at him #literally top tier smiles from jiang cheng right here #he is the king of smiling in the face of overwhelming enotion #he is also the king of Rage in the face of overwhelming emotion (via theheartofthekoko)

#look at him so hungry for love #vicariously drinking in other people’s love #he just wants his family to be together #if we take him away from his loved ones how can he be happy #look at his gruff little eye wipe washing his face like a kitten (via truishcolours)

#‘ambition is the most important thing to jc’ wwx says about man who openly weeps at having his siblings in the same room hugging each other (via psqqa)

Y E A H

YEAH

And this isn't even me being amatonormative about it, because it doesn't even have to be romantic or sexual to be an intensity that is beyond what is typical of siblings or best friends or sworn confidantes. I posted once about how Jiang Cheng embodies Jo March's reaction to John Brooke asking to court Meg in Little Women:

“Of course not. It would be idiotic! I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it, and now it’s worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.“

IF ONLY HE COULD MARRY WEI WUXIAN HIMSELF AND KEEP HIM SAFE IN THE FAMILY!!

#i think this is one of the differences in interpretation that make bad jiang cheng opinions so enraging to me lol#so many people read jcs intense emotional reaction to wwx leaving as entitlement and classism#idk man i think the level of attachment op describes here is way more compelling#also lets face it jc basically acts as wwx's jealous ex all through the novel#and wwx equally acts like they had a bad break up!! - by @iri-vail

#the story makes NO FUCKING SENSE if they are not codependently obsessed with one another#the whole fucking plot HINGES ON IT - by @godswallowing

PROPAGANDA:

[Yue Qingyuan]

"The Sect Leader should get pregnant because the Sect Leader should be the picture of fertility and virility both, boost the usage of male child-bearing pills, and because the whole Sect would go crazy trying to find out who's the baby daddy. I think Yue Qingyuan could benefit from having to raise a child of his own instead of managing disciples, because Yue Qingyuan no longer has a family of his own and deserves one, and this way, perhaps he'd be forced to care about another person again. His strong and qi-rich body would also have an easy pregnancy and have a strong and happy child."

[Phoenix]

"It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened to him."

A sword that is killing him, an allegory for erectile dysfunction, a childhood friend that hates him, and death by ten thousand poisoned arrows.

Phoenix had a hobo arc but Yue Qi was an enslaved child without a home!!