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who up curlin’ up they markeplier into ryan gosling’s arms

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I SCREAMED ALOUD

But every single show had these moments that were so strong, and actors that absolutely sold those moments. It was those moments I stayed for.

They also pushed the boundaries on diversity as most of Hollywood lagged behind, with trans, gay, bi, Muslim, black, Hispanic and more groups represented—including a woman of color coming out as asexual in Legends of Tomorrow! (Just before it was cancelled 😡)

They pushed concepts of heroism that, despite their deeply flawed execution, were simply not really being shown elsewhere at the time. Putting the emphasis on the heart as the mark of a hero, on their compassion and love and ability to inspire hope instead of their capacity for violence.

The Arrowverse was also the only other successful live action interconnected universe on that scale than the MCU and that should count for something.

And on a purely personal level?

They were there for me as a consistent source of joy through the worst moments of my life.

And yet, the Arrowverse is a perfect example of the Acceptable Punching Bag. People laugh at you for loving it unironically. You get trained to stay on the defensive about it.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Episode 1: mentions on how Nathan got the hotel before he died, and implications of Katherine and Nathan’s strained/complicated relationship pre-death

Episode 2: Nathan mentioning doing stuff (frequently wasn’t good stuff) while being alive, which displays his insecurities as a ghost plus him not really investigating the hotel’s watermill when he was alive initiates the b-plot of the episode

Episode 3: nothing in particular comes to mind lol

Episode 4: Nathan being dead now leaves him disconnected from the outside world and wanting to spend more time with his niece and nephew. Despite being a ghost stuck on hotel property, Esther’s love for the supernatural and Nathan’s enthusiasm for a “bonding activity” with the kids starts the b-plot of the story

Episode 5: Not much to go with for this episode except that it was revealed pre-death Nathan found Abaddon in the woods and presumably kept him

Episode 6: Pre-death Nathan setting up the alarm for the forbidden wing, Nathan’s email account showing his pre-death life, and the “Dear Nathan” email’s existence as a whole

Episode 7: Spaghetti night being his ghostly purpose, tying to the moments when he was alive as a kid

Episode 8: Aunt Rose’s monologue about Nathan when he used to be alive

Episode 9: EVERYTHING about this episode including the petty secrets revealed about the two siblings and of course the true cause of Nathan’s death

Episode 10: the prophecy mentioning pre-death Nathan and Pre-death Nathan having screentime for three seconds and is seemingly Abaddon’s introduction towards loving the family as he lives with them

'“The U.S. Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A U.S Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was 'done by a few people,’ and ‘you cannot blame us all.’ And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said 'This was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.'" "The morning after the tour, the Mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don't know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse. But we know enough. I ask you to consider what the Mayor of Ordruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought 'How is this my fault? I have no jurisdiction over this.' Maybe he would have said, 'This site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?' But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.”

Arizona Right Watch also posted a video of within the warehouse.

I recommend watching it.

This, this is the first time I've seen a concentration camp before it became a concentration camp.

This is the first time I've seen a place and known that people are going to be tortured there, that people are going to die horribly there. If it's not stopped.

We have to stop it. We just don't have any other choice.

You may have seen pictures of concentration camps after they were liberated, but this is the first time you've seen a concentration camp before it became one.

You saw photos of an atrocity you couldn't do anything about.