its all made up

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tomnamako/neil-degrasse-tyson-sexual-misconduct-investigation

https://www.vox.com/2019/7/29/8934845/neil-degrasse-tyson-misconduct-allegation-investigation-museum

‘q word’ does none of this and also still allows people to black list the word queer if they need it black listed. 

There's a lot to be talked about when these sort of things come up, and we should know why we make fun of certain traits (In this case red heads) For instance "Polish are dumb" jokes might seem harmless but they're actually rooted in Nazi propaganda.

The movie starts with the idea that the male god who wronged Te Fiti must be the one to heal her. This seems to make a certain sort of intuitive sense in that I think we all believe that if you do something wrong you should try to make it right. But how does he try to right it? Through more violence. Of course that failed. 

It was only when another woman, Moana, saw past the “demon of earth and fire” that the traumatized Te Fiti had become (what a good metaphor for trauma, right?) and met her with love instead of violence that she was able to heal. Note that they do the forehead press before Moana restores the heart, while Te Fiti is still Te Kā. Moana doesn’t wait for her beautiful island goddess to appear in all her green splendor before greeting and treating her as someone deserving of love.

This is a touching anaylisis but it’s extremely racist as not only have you completely ignored the whole point of Maui’s character, but have managed to incriminate a man of color on a tumblr wide scale.

First of all, Maui’s character does not represent male violence—it represent human greed. Maui did not take the heart because he is a man, and Te-Fiti is a woman. He took it because the humans asked him to. The humans asked Maui to do everything for them, not caring how greedy or selfish their requests were and in the end it was Maui who suffered for it. Maui is supposed to show the flaw of humanity.

This has nothing to do with sexism, it has everything to do with the fact that Maui gave and gave to the humans who could never stop being greedy. Moana giving the heart back wasn’t supposed to be her “making up” for the male violence that Maui represents. It was her making up for the greed she and her people represent. It was touching however because yes it was an important moment between two women, but you missed the point and you’ve come off racist and very disrespectful to a culture at that.

Yes, Moana is an empowering movie for women, especially women of color. But the last thing this is about is Maui being an abuser/rapist or whatever. That is not the point of Maui’s character.

And to assume so is racist. You are a white woman completely dehumanizing a man of color and ruining his image because of how you see him. And other white girls here on tumblr have happily picked up that image and interpretation and rolled with it. Maui’s character is now seen as an abuser or as someone who is violently because of white girls here on tumblr—which it doesn’t surprise me. (an in a historical context this is even MORE racist because white women would always make Maui’s people out to be savages and abusers etc., simply because of the color of their skin and their culture so yea, this is bad).

You can see the morality of the movie however you want, but do not be disrespectful toward a character and in this case a culture.

I’ve thought about replying because I’m tired of seeing these kind of “Moana is a feminist movie” posts collect hundreds of notes despite the fact that these posts always conveniently fail to mention Pasifika people, but it always stressed me out, so thank you.

This is insight for me as well (as I wasn’t aware that the movie also came fro the culture of the Pasifika people), and does give a very important perspective. I do agree with you, this movie is about environmental restoration, not some white fem bullshit.

I tried over and over again to explain to I-want-cheese about how she was being racist, but she responded by blocking me and other poc who called her out (even other polynesian people). People to this day are still trying to explain that she is being racist and culturally insensitive but she ignores us.

I’ve made a few posts about this, hoping that people realize how problematic it is to agree with i-want-cheese.  Explaining to her racist white ass that this was problematic was like explaining to a bird. She wouldn’t listen and neither would have of her racist friends.

his brothers mocked him for being a poor fisherman, he crafts a fishook from a jawbone and proceeds to raise new islands from the sea the sky is so low the trees bend, maui raises it for everyone, then fills the new sky with wind

the sun flies so quickly there is not enough time in the day to do the labors for everyone, maui has to lay traps for each of the suns many feet, chase after it as it was slowed, and then threaten to chop its legs off if it would not slow down

he then due to the complaints of the now longer dark night creates the moon and is upset his creation will not please humanity for it does not make sufficient light, then shows it to the sun so that it may learn how to be bright maui was credited with having invented as gifts for humanity the outrigger canoe, stone tools, and seaworthy boats that had no mast or sails. he was credited with inventing tattoos as a gift to dogs, however humanity is still not content so maui descends to the land of the dead to ask the secret of creating fire from the grandmother, who kept it hidden in her fingernails. he dropped the fingernail in the water as he tried to return to the land of the living, came back for another, dropped it as well, and went through all ten fingers and toenails untill he had to then interrogate birds the grandmother had shared the secret with to tell him how

a monstrous eel tried to put the moves on his wife, and again maui had to prove his worth to reclaim her by breaking the monster eel’s spine, shoving him into the ground to create the first coconut tree, the single most useful thing for polynesian life, as a gift to humanity yet again Maui, as a mythological figure, did nothing but give from the day he was born. he gave humans tools, land, fire, boats, light, the wind, everything except life itself and he even tried to give them that- and it killed him, he was bitten in two a crucial part of Maui as a legend is that he failed, its literally part of the point, also that he was driven to prove himself endlessly to the (during his life) ungrateful. do not try and drag Maui, its disrespectful on a level i cant express thank the man, you asshole Moana succeeded where he failed, for she saw that she did not have to prove herself. the whole movie up untill then she was trying to put on a brave face (there was literally a cut song ‘warrior face’ where maui teaches her Haka), shout her courage, announce to the world at large that she WILL do the thing and fix the world and be the hero, just like Maui

While it's somewhat frustrating all the people in the notes going "wow it seemed right but now I know better!" I will give them and i-want-cheese ONE thing they kinda touched on. There is a very strong presence of feminine compassion that is important and very tied to Moana's character. The "villain" isn't defeated with force or wit, but with her compassion. It was a very feminine way of portraying compassion that you don't see often as a powerful trait and surely not one that "saves the day" But just because that's Moana's defining character trait that in no way makes Maui the antithesis of compassion. If that's what they wanted Maui would've been the villain. If you want that sort of message/dynamic, look at Hunchback. Another story about self-worth and compassion whos villain directly opposes the compassionate protagonist by the way they see the female character. But that's not what Maui is. He is our flawed character who's shortcomings directly coincide with Moana's shortcomings. And when they both overcome them, they both succeed.

Moana is on her journey because she feels like she has to prove something, to herself, to her father, to her grandmother, to her people. And throughout most their journey together, she's trying to prove herself to Maui (trying to wayfind, escaping the Coconut creatures (?) outsmarting Tamatoa) Maui accompanies her because he desperately needs the approval of humans (something Moana dangles over him before learning of his abandonment) While the aftermath of stealing the heart of Tefiti is very much part of the environmental message as geek-bait explained, Maui's motives for doing such as more to do with his character arch than the environmental message of human greed destroying the earth.

By the time we get to the final act of the film, Maui's hook, the thing he tyes his self worth to, is almost destroyed, "I am nothing without my hook". He leaves, leaving Moana and her self worth in pieces, because the approval she had just gotten from Maui, him telling her the ocean chose right, was just ripped away from her. It isn't until she gets a pep talk from grandmother, where she is reminded, she is not worthy because she "chosen" do a thing, she is worthy because she is a compassionate caring person, grandmother sings "She stands apart from the crowd She loves the sea and her people" and that character trait is more than enough (a very human lesson that makes this story a universal one that anyone can take away from)

The story must continue, and she takes what grandmother tells her and decides she is worthy and continues to try on her own, not needing the powerful demigod, because she. is. worthy. We don't need to see the same character moment from Maui because frankly, it is not his story. But when he comes back it is implied that not only does he not see the hook as his self-worth, he is also not motivated by human approval as he was before. He finds his own strength in compassion, he wants to help his friend. A lesson he no doubt learns from Moana throughout their interactions and their bonding. His return also signifies that he also believes in Moana, a sentiment she no longer needs, but the mutal care they have for eachother is what makes this a triumphant moment.

All this leads to the conclusion. She is worthy because she is compassionate. Tē Ka is a character who became what she was because of human greed and the insecurities of Maui. Moana, now that she has reached her character conclusion, represents the opposite of both those things.

All these moments with Maui needed to happen in order for her to succeed. He is just as much as a part of the success as she is. Compassion is very much tied to the self-worth theme, and also tied to the environmental message (care about the earth) and self-worth theme is tied to the importance of cultural ties (knowing who you are). The themes, the messages, were all so carefully woven together.

There's a lot more about this movie worth talking about. Tamatoa and the message of human greed, how strong the cultural roots are apart of self worth and self realization and depending who you are you're going to read into certain aspects more heavily.

Not just feminism but white activism…

minor/teen: i’m ace

A while back a ton of people saw a video of a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose. I was one of them. It was very sad. 

So when places started proposing we ban plastic straws, I was like…

“Yeah! Fuck straws!”

But then the disabled community spoke up and tried to inform everyone that plastic bendy straws are essential for people with various health issues. Without them, people might end up having to make the choice of whether or not they can consume liquids in public. And that really sucks.

This community put a lot of thought and research into this and was unable to find another material that could be a suitable replacement in every circumstance.

They proposed a system where you could just ask for straws rather than places giving them out all willy-nilly. This would still reduce the use of plastic straws significantly without screwing disabled folks. 

I assessed this new information and…

I CHANGED MY DAMN MIND. 

*gasp* “The Frogman is a flip-flopper!”

Naively, I figured most people who consumed this new information would do the same. 

But it ended up being a mixed bag of mostly sullen disappointment. 

As I read the comments on various articles I noticed a weird phenomenon where people magically transformed into materials scientists. 

Disabled groups thought long and hard about this. These groups did some great in-depth research. And all these groups pretty much came to a unanimous consensus that there are currently no satisfactory alternative solutions. They also found that plastic straws are actually a drop in the bucket of our waste issues. Furthermore, the “straws on demand” solution would make that drop pretty frickin’ tiny. The overall risk to turtle noses would go way down.

Despite seeing these conclusions thoroughly presented to them, people would think about the issue for about 30 seconds and be like…

“Okay, but what about paper straws? What about reusable straws? What about this? What about that? I have a metal straw that works great! Surely that will do!”

These internet dunderheads actually believed their 30-second brainstorm would come up with a sufficient solution that has not been thought of yet. 

As if the entire disabled community is going to be like, “We did all of this research, spent all of this time looking for alternatives, committed all of these resources to spread our conclusions, BUT WE NEVER KNEW ABOUT PAPER STRAWS! Thank you, kind stranger! You have single-handedly solved this dilemma!”

I just have trouble wrapping my head around the kind of ego one must have to think they could solve an issue like this with an internet comment. 

What makes it worse is some of these “what about” comments would be replies to actual disabled people. These sudden experts in the science of materials would start suggesting straw alternatives. And these disabled folks, who are probably exhausted and at their wit’s end, must decide if they should give these individuals explanations of why these genius suggestions won’t work for them. 

“I know you aren’t feeling well, but can you do all of the research for me so I don’t have to spend 2 minutes googling shit?” 

And when you try to tell these people they are being ableist and kinda shitty, they act like a wounded animal. Suddenly they are the victim. THEY WERE JUST TRYING TO HELP! Not trusting people who live with these problems is the height of privilege. And forcing them to make their experiences relateable while remaining calm and polite is exhausting. 

Then someone made this amazing chart that couldn’t possibly make it any easier to comprehend. 

And people were still responding to it with…

“OKAY, BUT WHAT ABOUT…?”

In conclusion…

IT’S OKAY TO CHANGE YOUR DAMN MIND.

Also…

YOU’RE NOT AS SMART AS YOU THINK YOU ARE.

“that’s so queer!”

“ew, how queer!”

“it was really queer of you to flake out on us last night :/” 

“stop whining, don’t be so queer” 

Y'all ready? All strapped in? Nice and cozy?