Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
DS9’s overarching story about societal retribution is pretty damn revolutionary actually. It took several generations and the better part of a century, but eventually the same Cardassian political and social hubris that led them to enslave and exploit a whole world led to them making a series of decision that led to th Dominion alliance which wrought a level of devastation on Cardassia far greater than anything Bajor experienced. While this is cosmic karma and in some ways immensely satisfying, it’s also clear that the majority of Cardassians suffering were not high war criminal facists but just regular people. Every Cardassian deserved it and no Cardassian deserved it. The message of DS9 is not, well sucks that innocent Cardassian children are gonna die of starvation now but that’s what happened to lots of Bajoran kids so payback time bitches. It’s that since Cardassia was led by fascism, greed, and corruption all of Cardassia will eventually come to bear the burden of that. The fury of that reckoning cannot be controlled or limited to those who “really deserve it” it will come to all. It takes your breath away as a viewer, and. As an American watching an American show. I’ll never forget that message.
I will also never forget the conversations had by Kira, who was still rightfully still extremely angry over the occupation and ravaging of her planet, with the Cardassians about how to free THEM. About how unbelievably hard it was to also chose to turn around and liberate the very same people who had tortured her and slaughtered so many of her loved ones. There were also Bajorans who wanted nothing to do with helping Cardassia, and they were allowed to feel that way. Kira just had enough perspective by that point to recognise the only way to make the entire quadrant safer was by destabilising the Dominion and freeing Cardassia.
It wasn’t okay and it wasn’t easy. It was awful and messy as fuck, and maybe it also wasn’t graceful, but you know what it was: a beautiful, terrible story I have never forgotten and think about from time to time. There are a lot of storylines on DS9 like that for me.
How many incarcerated people actually need to be rehabilitated, really? How many people just need a decent income, or better quality of life overall, or steady childcare, or to not be punished for made-up crimes?
American culture is so self-righteous and vindictive. We make up arbitrary rules and then destroy people’s lives when they don’t follow them. And then we have the gall to situate the problem in the rule-breakers and not in the system we’ve built? If it weren’t obviously about money and power it would be totally unhinged. As it is, it’s just vile.
We as a society will never get over “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” and that’s beautiful.
BUT, let’s not sleep on the raw power of the “Offer me money. Anything I want. I want my father back you son of a bitch” exchange because it sends me fucking feral exactly every time and only gets stronger.
“idc about shipping im an adult” i love that and i hope youre having fun but im gonna go gorge myself on every silly little interaction these fake people have and live like a king
I want what that endangered crane has with the human who has to be married to her because she keeps killing other cranes. I specifically want to be the crane. I want an alien to tolerate me for the rest of us our lives for the good of my species.
and this is important. I never want to realize there’s anything weird about our relationship.
cis people who legitimately questioned their gender and decided they were cis are cis, but theyre not cis about it. i respect that.
exactly!! even if youre cis, examining your relationship with gender closely like that is only gonna help you understand yourself and grow as a person!!!
gender is a social construct. You get to inspect your own construction site to make sure it’s up to code.
Examining my gender led to my conclusion that I am my assigned-gender-at-birth and something else, and figuring out the something else made me very happy, but I’ve also never been happier and more comfortable being my AGAB than since I sat down and decided that yes, actually, I like it, I enjoy it and I’m keeping it. But I am choosing it, I am choosing the ways I want to perform it, and on days I don’t want to, I don’t have to and I am something else.
yes! i do like [problematic thing]! and unfortunately i am under no obligation to defend my interests to strangers on the internet. good day and thank you for your time
