A Manifesto For The Liberated Autistic

Actually I'll never forgive Punk Rave and Killstar and fast fashion brands for tricking people into thinking that being goth or punk or emo is expensive. Babygirl the only goth brand names you need to know are Rit, Good Will, Etsy, and Studs and Spikes, we used to shove safety pins through our ears and then they started selling earrings that look like safety pins for 15.99. We used to dye thrifted wedding dresses black and they started selling gothic gowns for 300 bucks. We used to put studs on boots we found in the back of the good will and they started making Demonias. DIY or die wasn't perfect it can be exclusionary to disabled people but whatever the fuck we've got going on right now is so much worse. It's not any more inclusive to the disabled and it is exclusionary to the people who made punk, to the people who made goth, to the people who made emo. If you've got the funds and you don't want to do diy pay someone else to do it for you but please let it be a small artist or a friend not some guy in a suit who's made it his business to gentrify punk. You can turn flats into platforms with flipflops, hotglue and gumption don't let anyone tell you different.

fuck why is disco elysium so good

thank you disco elysium for the best idle animation ive ever seen

nine inch nails at woodstock '94 by joseph cultice

Isn't it weird that Azula was all but said to have been abused and/or tortured in her asylum yet no one in-universe or outside seems to care or think how it could have negatively affected her? For a show that handled so many difficult topics with grace (ex. genocide, child abuse, ableism, sexism, etc.), it seem weird that the ATLA franchise seems to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about mental illness.

It is unfortunately not weird at all, because of something I call “The Azula Bias”, and because the comics are poorly written due to the writer’s failure of understand what made the original show so important in the first place.

There were some problematic aspects surrounding mental illness on the show, but nothing even close to what the comics did. Azula’s breakdown was, for the most part, something to show us that she was a literal child soldier who had been neglected, groomed, and abused. Zuko and Katara were talking about “putting Azula in her place” before the Agni Kai, yet the music made it all sound like the tragedy it was, and Zuko clearly felt no joy with his victory. He was watching his sister cry with a somber expression, and Katara literally had to give him emotional support. That happened because, at that moment, Zuko finally understood that he was not Ozai’s only victim.

There were plans for a Book 4, and one of the stories it would involve would be Azula healing and redeeming herself - with Zuko’s help. That would be the perfect way to have that happen because Zuko knows what it’s like to be raised by Ozai, to be constantly put under pressure and having to sacrifice everything to please that man, only to get no reward because nothing is ever enough for that bastard. Zuko made many mistakes and he knows he could have ended up like Azula if things had been difference, so it makes sense that he would now understand that it might not be too late for his sister. It would be a natural conclusion to their story.

The problem is that the main writer who was planning on this, Aaron Ehasz, was not involved at all with the comics, meaning there was a considerable chance that that storyline would be botched. Which unfortunately was exactly what happened.

Instead of trying to help Azula because he cares about her and finally understood why she did the things she did, Zuko now seems to only have kept her alive because A.The writers gave him all the power and personality of a doormat and B.They’re related and killing family members is a no-no. Zuko’s motivation to be in his sister life are the old bullshit of “You can never, ever, ever cut ties with a family member and you are obligated to forgive every bad shit they’ve done to you” instead of it being something he chose to do because he loves Azula, empathizes with her, and finally understands why she did the things she did.

On this bastardized version of the story, Azula is not Zuko’s sister. She’s not his antagonist or his enemy. She’s not even an obstacle he has to overcome or a plot-device. She’s his burden, a cross he has to bear - which is how many people view their disabled/mentally ill relatives, and the writers validated that. Kiyi, one of the few likeable characters on that shitshow, was literally the replacement sister/daughter. The perfect child that Azula failed to be. The writers even try to disguise this by having the characters say that Azula is delusional when she claims Ursa had Kiyi to replace her, but that doesn’t change the fact that this exactly why they created her. They gave the “normal” family members a cute, “normal” kid to compensate them for the “broken” one.

Azula’s mental illness was treated as a replacement for her personality, and even as more reason for the characters and the audience to hate her, even though she had no control over what she was doing. Even the way she was drawn was meant to look scary, like she was nothing but a threat that had to be dealt with, and her pain was something we should either ignore, or even cheer. 

Zuko locked her up in a terrible institution that abused her, and didn’t visit her until he needed something from her? That’s what she gets for being a bad sister! That’s karma for you! 

She’s constantly being physically assaulted by the other characters? She’s Azula! Of course they’re doing that to her! She’s dangerous! 

Ozai groomed and abused her? Well, Ozai is a monster who is horrible to everyone. She ain’t especial. 

Ursa neglected her? Oh, but she didn’t mean to, so it’s okay that it happened and that she’s not trying to make things right in any way.

What do you mean Iroh she have at least tried to help her? Nobody could help her! Bitch crazy!

The writers weren’t telling a story about a mentally ill 14 year old finally getting the love and support she needed, and learning to be better with the help of her older brother who is truly sorry for everything that happened and wants to give her the same chance he was offered. They were using her as a way to make Zuko look like a saint, and their target audience was those fans that seem to believe that Azula is a robot who has no emotions, and was built by Ozai solely to make Zuko’s life harder, so anything that is done to her is okay - it’s not like she’s human or anything.

“face the truth as it is instead” disintegrated him

world’s tiniest kitchen

Barbie (2023) ✦ Dir. Greta Gerwig

yeah. yeah i can do that

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