he was a beautiful fiction

Imagine being Jiang Cheng; you’re 18 years old, and there was a moment, after the destruction of your sect, the Fall of Lotus Pier, the deaths of your parents, when you see your brother about to be taken away by Wen soldiers.

Imagine the things you’d think in the span of a few seconds: that if they take him, your brother dies, and you’re alone in a war, left to take care of your people and your sister. If you distract them, they take you instead.

But if they take you, you’ll die. You’ll get tortured and killed in your own home that’s bathed in the blood of your family. If you die, your brother will inherit your sect and your responsibilities. He will be the leader your father knew you could never be. You hear your mother’s voice, that always said he will bring nothing but trouble, that he’ll take away what’s rightfully yours.

Imagine that despite everything, not caring about anything, you step outside. You get caught, tortured, your golden core crushed– a fate worse than death, because now you have become what you always thought you already were: useless.

You don’t let him know. You don’t let either of them know.

Now imagine that despite the deteriorating relationship with your brother, who doesn’t seem to take anything seriously, who doesn’t help with the sect, who makes trouble in every public appearance you have, you don’t let him know. You don’t throw it in his face. He must never know.

And years– so, so many dreadful years full of mourning later– you find out your brother made the same sacrifice you did. Except, he tells you that he did it out of obligation. You were a debt. You were a way to repay your father’s kindness and your mother’s tolerance and your sister’s love to an orphan boy. You were the price the man you called brother had to pay for being allowed to live in Lotus Pier. You were his duty, nothing more.

That’s what you hear in his words. That’s what he means when he says to leave it all in the past. You are the past. Which maybe was fitting, as you never moved on from him. You were a weight that your brother is finally free of, so he can go live a happy life with other people he considers family.

Imagine how it feels, to think that what you did out of love, nothing more or less, but pure, unadulterated love– it destroyed your beloved’s life. Everything you have built, everything you were proud of, it was at his expense. Then, your brother trampled all over your love with the cold detachment, although unknowingly.

He didn’t know after all.

So, steeling whatever is left of your heart, you let him go. You finally let go, knowing your grip has never been love, to your brother, but a chain, a prison–

So you don’t tell him.

You could never admit to it. You could never put him through the anguish you yourself are feeling.

Pro: Thing

Patient: “What’s wrong with me?”

Doctor: “Well let’s take a listen.”

“Is there a ghost kissing me right now?” is a metaphysical question, it asks about reality.

“How would I know if a ghost is kissing me right now?” is an epistemological question, it asks about how we acquire knowledge about reality.

“What does it actually mean for a ghost to kiss someone?” is an ontological question, it asks about the nature of reality.

We saw this a lot after the last World Cup. Lots of people were talking about how the French football team was "really" African and US tv shows made fun of the French Ambassador for correcting this and saying "no, these men are French". None of them realising that by calling the French football team African they were, in the eyes of French people, invalidating the Frenchness of these young men. "They're African" is the language of the French Far Right, in fact it is the language of the far right in many European countries, aiming to invalidate the contributions of immigrants to our various societies.

I get pissed off when US-ians say Chicken Tikka Masala isn't British or was "stolen" from India because to me that erases the contribution to British culture of the person who invented it. Don't tell me that someone who moved here and created a dish that was so popular that it changed our entire nation's relationship with food ISN'T British. I will fight you over it. That person is arguably far more British than I am.

When challenged about claiming national identity from countries that they are in no way a part of many US-ians will make the argument that they are "more Scottish than you" or something similar. This is almost always an argument based on blood quotient or them partaking in two or three stereotyped activities that are associated with the culture, ESPECIALLY heavy drinking or violence. It is not a good way to endear yourself to members of a culture you are trying to ingratiate yourself with by calling them all wife beating drunks and claiming that your own drunken violence makes you a member of their community.

And as for the blood quotient, many of us Europeans who have had unfortunate encounters with people like this take great offence to people who have never set foot in our country claiming that a 23% DNA match from one of those fraudulent genetic heritage tests (seriously, literally all their data is fake and you're paying them to steal information about you, stop using them) makes them a more valid member of our community than our Polish neighbour who has lived here for the last 15 years.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POST TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE US POINT OF VIEW ON HERITAGE.

I KNOW the US view on heritage. I hear it all the damn time. What US people need to hear is just how insulting the way they speak about heritage is to those of us who live in these countries. When you speak to us remember that these words have different meanings to us and you are being incredibly disrespectful to valued and loved members of our communities and invalidating their identities as members of our communities in order to set yourself in their places.

Also anyone who claims the US "doesn't have a culture" so you have to claim ours gets an instant block. Please consider just how privileged you are to have your national culture dominate international life. What you see as "default culture" is YOUR culture. You're buying into Imperialism when you see US things as the default and anything else as "other".