#bs wank

No anon, I’m not getting that. And frankly I’m so sick of hearing the word “anti” in this fandom I want to barf.

As I’ve said in tags, I’ve listened to roughly 36 minutes of the Flint season 2 podcast. And what I am getting from the podcast is the different perspectives the lovely ladies of hoist the colours have of the show’s characters. 

Could it be argued that some perspectives on certain characters are colored by individual shipping choices? Sure. If I, as a die-hard flinthamilton shipper, were discussing my thoughts and feelings on the development of that ship on the show, there’s probably things I’d have to say that would be different than someone else’s. The conversation on the podcast discussed each member’s take on that first meeting between Thomas and James and no, not everyone thought it was love at first sight. And that’s…a perfectly legitimate read on that scene?

The same goes for other things discussed. I’ve heard nothing to make me think “anti” at all. You can have different perspectives on a character. You can even be critical of a character or a character’s actions and that’s totally okay too.

1. First of all... Thomas is a colonizer? What exactly was Thomas supposed to do? It's said "well he never advocated for giving the island back to the original people who lived there," but how on earth do you think he should have done that when it's not even "his island" to begin with (that would be his father as the one with the "title")? And all the actual colonizing took place long before? He didn't even have true political authority, it was all his father's. Working through the system with the little authority he had to improve things is not the same thing. That was even a theme throughout the show (is it better to work in the system how you can or fight the war)

2. Let's say he rebelled, did the Flint thing, and started a war to take the island back that way. Everyone would be tearing him down for being a murderer who wanted to fight an impossible war and try to discredit him, same as is being done to Flint lately. 

3. He wanted to gentrify the island? So somehow, stepping in to say "hey let's not kill the pirates, let's try to help them and get them on their feet instead because they don't deserve to die" is somehow the same as wanting to just kill and hang them all? Supporting the locals who are already there and wanting to help them get on their feet is gentrifying?? Seriously?

4. I've seen it said "his plan was never to end slavery or bring down the empire." Pretty big assumption to be making, considering it was never said one way or another whether he wanted slavery ended or not. Bringing down the empire? See points 1 and 2.

5. Yes, Thomas was privileged, but he was also marginalized as a gay/bi man (you can be privileged in some ways and marginalized in others, they do not cancel each other out). And honestly? I find this new trend towards twisting things to make Flint and Thomas on the same level of intent as their oppressors really disturbing. I'm not talking about legitimate criticisms of their actions, I'm talking about this need to twist them around make them worse in the name of making other characters seem better. It doesn't matter if other characters have done bad things, or even worse things, that doesn't take away or change someone else having done bad things and doesn't make what they did any better.

This is gonna be all over the place and inarticulate af because I’ve lost my patience and I apologize in advance but… Can we just be adults and go ahead and admit that Flint abused the fuck out of Silver FIRST? And their relationship has ALWAYS been tumultuous and selfish and unhealthy and intense and frayed from BOTH ends and that THAT is basically the allure of their entire dynamic? What they grew to mean to each other? Their codependency? Their support? Their differences and how they worked together toward a common end DESPITE them? Can we all agree that there was some serious mental illness and emotional damage hindering BOTH characters and that THAT explained a whole hell of a lot of their dynamic to begin with? The fact that they could reach those places within each other that were locked away for years? The fact that two broken people could find even small measures of solace within, at the very least, the concept of each other? The fact that the complexity and growth and trials of their relationship mirror reality for so many? These two fucking people transformed each other, but y'all wanna sit here and be reductive as fuck and demonize their entire relationship and I’m so tired.

I mean… stripping Silver of any and all redemptive qualities while woobifying Flint is fucking beyond my comprehension tbh, but I'ma beat this dead horse anyway because fuck alladat! Yeah, everyone is entitled to their interpretation of the material. My only issue is the disrespect for the relationship that basically made the entire show.

I mean… There is not ONE relationship on Black Sails that is presented without involving some type of betrayal. Not. One. Except the PAST relationship that we got all of 15 collective minutes of: James/Thomas. So while I understand the purity standard here, let’s not forget what this show has tried to present regarding its relationships. They’re complicated. They’re strained and unhealthy because people are strained and unhealthy. But they have their redemptive moments. So if you can’t respect Silver and Flint then you can’t respect Max and Anne. You can’t respect Vane and Eleanor. You can’t respect Max and Eleanor. You can’t respect Jack and Anne. And you certainly can’t respect James and Thomas, because if you do not believe in the redemptive qualities of love, then there’s no fucking way in hell you can sit there and say Thomas forgave James for the fallout surrounding his own psychodrama. You can’t respect any relationship that has not been perfect cuddles and you’ve missed the point of the show entirely.

I’m not equating what anyone did to anyone here. I get it. It’s easy to make Flint the hero and Silver the villain. It’s easy to wage a war for righteousness. It’s easy to discount the lives of those on the wrong side of history. Fuck em. I feel the same tbh. But Silver is who most of us would be in that situation, like it or not. He is who Vane warned us about. He is the average man. The meek. The coward who would trade in their freedom for their protection. He is who a lot of us have been during these times of civil unrest and upheaval. And I get the categorical hate of him, but that doesn’t make the Silverflint relationship invalid. So what we NOT GON DO is sit up in here and act like Flint is perfect and never abused Silver, and Silver is simply a monster. Not on this blog.

Look, you don’t have to ship anything you don’t want to ship. You don’t have to like it. Shit, you ain’t even gotta understand it, my g. All I’m saying is that nobody on this show is innocent and none of the relationships we hold dear are without their abuses. (One could even argue that James killing Thomas’s father is a betrayal, revenge porn aside. We will never know how Thomas feels about that.) But if you’re going to hold the biggest ship on the show up to James/Thomas standards, hold all of them up to those. Why wouldn’t you?

I mean… it’s easy to shit on Silverflint because that’s where most of the material is. That’s where the stakes are the highest. That’s where there is the most fallout and that’s where you find the driving force of the show. But when you take away all the fallout, all the consequences placed upon people that never asked for them, all that pain and confusion and emotional instability and mental illness come to light. And I think that’s why people are so wildly defensive of John Silver. It isn’t condoning what he did. It isn’t excusing his actions. It’s affording him the same understanding that we afforded James when he burnt down a city, that we afforded Eleanor when she sacrificed Max for Nassau, that we afforded Jack, and Max, and Miranda when they betrayed the ones they loved.

If we were given Silver’s sob story, as we were given Flint’s, would we feel differently about him? All consequences aside? If we can extrapolate that James and Thomas loved each other based on fifteen collective minutes, and that James would WAGE a war against the very concept of civilisation as a result of that love, why then can we not understand that Silver would risk anything, and STOP a war that could go on forever for those he loves also, based on four seasons of character development? Why is he not held to the same standard?

Again, this is all over the place and I apologize as I’m tired and probably incoherent, but y'all are irritating af. I’m not gonna argue. This is just my catharsis. Block me. Vague post about it. Make your assumptions about me and what I support and condone and the kind of person I am as y'all love to do on here. Do whatchu gotta do. I said what I said.

to those who interpret anne as an exclusively gay woman: i don’t point this out to say that you’re wrong. i point this out to say that i’m not wrong either. and if you feel compelled to make a judgement about the content of my character, or the character of any of my like-minded peers because of it, then you are a genuine blight on this community. there is enough room here for all people with all creative and personal interpretations, and the moment you start slinging around accusatory name-calling to force out or silence people who disagree with you, you become the exact thing you hate.

GOD I'm so bored with these losers! I think that's their worst offense: they're boring. If you're gonna be a dick, try to be original! *falls asleep*