All forms of knowledge creation and meaning-making are shaped and crafted by power relations and the justification for those relations. A common way to shape knowledge and meaning is to reframe the denial of atrocity by those in power as a "debate." This tactic creates a rhetorical "Schrödinger's cat" in which the atrocity is simultaneously happening and not happening, according to who you ask. It turns the material reality of the situation into a hypothetical thought experiment that the audience is invited to debate forever, with any conclusion being cast as "biased."

For a well-known example, oil lobbyists tried to suppress the scientific consensus on climate change for decades, and a significant amount of media aided in this by shaping all reporting on climate crisis into a "controversy." Reporting construed economically motivated denial as another "point of view," and positioned their own journalism as being "neutral" and "objective" in presenting "both sides."

Dear Heughan Observer Anon,

I don't think this is a new kid on the block. By the blogger's own account, they are a long time lurker, who decided to bring something to this shambolic table.

Theirs is an articulate, informative, balanced and well presented blog. This is refreshing and to be very honest with you, preferable to the endless rehashing of the same old, same old 📷carrousel, at least as far as I am concerned. This is also preferable to the collective fretting, emotional overload and tiny shuttle games born out of pure boredom, frustration and FOMO.

The fact that it equally welcomes Antis, Shippers and even the Shrieking Banshees corner is absolutely normal and the blog's initial statement is so far respected. It provides the sort of safe middle ground where I could see people who would probably not stand eachother, exchange opinions in a civilized way, without the intolerable arrogance of You Know Who, in the mix. This blogger positioned themselves in neutral gear. An observer, not a player. And remember: if that blog is Switzerland, on this fandom's fractioned map, it may be useful to note Switzerland only joined the United Nations in 2002. Long after 1945, and for very specific reasons I will spare you.

So, I can only welcome more balance and less empty cackling, entitlement and insults, in this community. But I am also waiting to see if the neutrality promise will be kept. It's not an easy manifesto, but their entire credibility depends on it.

Like you, I am reading these posts on the regular. At this moment, it would be unfair to speculate. Let them unfold their trade, for I think they know what they are doing. I have no other sentiments to share, other than genuine curiosity and good will. We are not running in the same lane, and that is ok, Anon. I've never hidden my own bias and they are no competition, nor do they want to be. It's the hypocrisy I cannot stand. This blogger did not show any, until now.

ִ ࣪ ˖ ࣪ Fem She/Her ! ᰔ ִ ׄ

Someone who uses she/her pronouns for feminine reasons and NOT because their gender relates to being a woman, girl, female, ect

ִ ࣪ ˖ ࣪ Masc He/Him ! ᰔ ִ ׄ

Someone who uses He/him pronouns for masculine reasons and NOT because their gender relates to being a man, boy, male, ect

ִ ࣪ ˖ ࣪ Neu They/Them ! ᰔ ִ ׄ

Someone who uses They/Them pronouns for neutral reasons and NOT because their gender relates to out of binary genders.

A while back, I wrote this essay where I talked about the ways that neutrality can "behave" - ways that it can influence or act on the rest of our gender(s). I thought it'd be cool to coin some neutral gender qualities!

↓ Concordine: A gender quality for neutrality that balances out one's gender(s). This term comes from concordans, a Latin word for "harmonious." The flag shows greens and yellow, representing neutrality. They meet in the middle and are balanced, having the same colors on either side of the center stripe.

↓ Medialine: A gender quality for neutrality that feels like it sits in between or even in proximity to other genders. This term comes from medialis, a Latin word for "middle." The wide green stripe represents neutrality that sits in the middle of other genders, represented by the gray stripes.

↓ Velatine: A gender quality for neutrality that softens one's gender(s). It can turn full genderedness into demi-genderedness, for example. This term comes from velatus, a Latin word for "veiled." The colors fade from green (neutrality) to white and gray (the "softened" or "subdued" part of one's gender.)

↓ Stathrine: A gender quality for neutrality that stabilizes one's gender(s). For example, it can stabilize gender fluctuations or slow gender fluidity. This term comes from statherós, a Greek word for "stable." The dark bluish green stripes represent the stabilizing part of this quality, keeping the other stripes in place (which are gray, yellow, and green to represent neutrality.)

I might do some more sometime in the near future! I'll see how I'm feeling.