#su145

See, there’s a difference between “sympathetic” and “good”.  That’s what some people don’t get about the Diamonds: they are simultaneously real, three-dimensional characters with thoughts, feelings, desires, flaws and virtues, and awful, evil tyrants.  It’s important to understand that; thinking that people who do bad things are inhuman or “other” not only contributes to the purity culture that metastasized in Tumblr’s heart over the last decade or so but drives the fallacy where people think that because they’re not-evil/unproblematic/good-christians/etc they must be doing the right thing.  I’ve mentioned before the video floating around of Adolf Hitler flirting with his wife.  It’s terrifying, more so than any of his speeches or commands, because it’s a reminder that he was human, just like us.

We must be on guard against othering evil people, because it leads to declaring the other evil.  Sound like anything that’s going on right now?

Yellow and Blue Diamond, because they’re real, three-dimensional characters, aren’t spending every waking moment crushing gems, torturing puppies, and ordering the eradication of inhabited planets.  Yellow and Blue really did grieve Pink Diamond, really have been coming from the consistent position of “YOU ASSHOLES KILLED THIS PERSON I GENUINELY LOVED”, and that makes them sympathetic.  What it does not make them is good people.  They’re still tyrants, still oppressive dictators who murder dissidents and discourage individuality.

It’s heartbreaking that Lapis is honestly surprised that Steven would want to see her again. People sometimes complain that Lapis gets off “too easy,” that Steven is too quick to forgive her for doing the terrible things she’s done like stealing the ocean or forming Malachite.

And the thing that they miss is that Lapis has got some serious self-loathing issues. Even if Steven were inclined to list off Lapis’ flaws, there’s nothing he could tell her that she hasn’t told herself again and again ever since she took the barn.

She doesn’t think she deserves forgiveness. She doesn’t think she deserves happiness. She literally told Steven that exact thing in Alone at Sea.

Ronaldo: STEVEN!!!

Body.

Mind.

BUH

WH

WHUH.

IT’S JUST A

WHAT

WHOA HI HELLO EXCUSE ME WHAT THE FUCK

OKAY!

Okay.  Okay, let’s puzzle out what’s going on here.

First off, my suspicions about Pearl not being Pink’s seem right on the money--she mentioned she was “given” to Pink, her color scheme is WAY wrong, and her gem placement matches WHITE’S, whereas this new Pearl matches Pink’s.

But this raises some questions.

First off, this new Pearl who I guess is going to take over the White Pearl tag for clarity’s sake has Pink’s gem placement...but NOT her color scheme.  That doesn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t Pink’s, though, because she looks less “white” and more “drained”, especially since she also appears to be damaged.

Severely damaged.