Sometimes I hear people say that racism/sexism/etc in culture isn’t important or worth criticizing. ”Oh it’s just a book,” they say. ”It’s just a crappy TV show.” ”It’s just a commercial.”
This argument always baffles me. It’s like if you put poison into a fish-tank and then say “Oh well I didn’t poison the fish, I just poisoned the water.” The fish lives in the water, dumbass; it’s completely submerged in and surrounded by the water. I’m pretty sure that poisoned water is going to affect the fish.
Similarly, we all live constantly immersed in this miasma of information that we call “culture.” People are not born prejudiced. We don’t emerge from the womb knowing that all black men are scary thugs, that all Latinas are spicy sexpots, that all Indians are violent savages, that all women are weepy and frail, that all gay men are depraved pedophiles, and that all people in wheelchairs are objects of pity. We learn these things, usually starting at a very young age, and we often learn them from our culture — the books we read, the movies we watch, and the constant barrage of advertising that we don’t really pay attention to but which still manages to seep into our brains, and which shapes the way we think about the world, for better or for worse.
If you want to save the fish, you need to purify the water.
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you’re my king and I’m your lionheart
#so you know how when people describe Sansa and their arc they talk about how she is the way she is because she grew up very sheltered in the North #very ignorant to a lot of the things in the world #well Robb was the same way #I don’t think Robb understood how bad it could be for Sansa in King’s Landing #Robb didn’t save Sansa because I don’t think he knew how cruel people could be to a girl as lovely and innocent as Sansa #because up North he’s never had to experience something like that in his life #he’s grown up with people loving his sister #if he knew what Joffrey did to her #he’d tear the Keep apart with his bare hands
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![Bryan: Now I think Sansa gets a bad rap. I’m gonna— I’m gonna address some critics of Sansa. She is one of my favorite characters, and I have great affection for her as a character. […] I think Sansa— she’s been told that the world is a certain way, and through the course of this season and indeed the series finds out that it’s not. And some people find her behavior annoying and selfish, but she’s a kid—she’s a teenage girl, you know, and—
Kit: I have to agree with you. I really like Sansa in the books. I have no objections to her at all. I think she’s misguided in a lot of ways, but she’s by no means in any way lesser than any of the other children. I think she does some brilliant things in the books—like when she stands up to Joffrey with the dismembered heads. I love that moment.
Bryan: I think in many ways some of the stuff she does in the later episodes are every bit as heroic as the things that Arya does. She just has to play a different game than Arya.
—1x04 “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” Audio Commentary](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0wo1gqOCz1qgut2uo1_500.gif "Bryan: Now I think Sansa gets a bad rap. I’m gonna— I’m gonna address some critics of Sansa. She is one of my favorite characters, and I have great affection for her as a character. […] I think Sansa— she’s been told that the world is a certain way, and through the course of this season and indeed the series finds out that it’s not. And some people find her behavior annoying and selfish, but she’s a kid—she’s a teenage girl, you know, and—
Kit: I have to agree with you. I really like Sansa in the books. I have no objections to her at all. I think she’s misguided in a lot of ways, but she’s by no means in any way lesser than any of the other children. I think she does some brilliant things in the books—like when she stands up to Joffrey with the dismembered heads. I love that moment.
Bryan: I think in many ways some of the stuff she does in the later episodes are every bit as heroic as the things that Arya does. She just has to play a different game than Arya.
—1x04 “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” Audio Commentary")
Bryan: Now I think Sansa gets a bad rap. I’m gonna— I’m gonna address some critics of Sansa. She is one of my favorite characters, and I have great affection for her as a character. […] I think Sansa— she’s been told that the world is a certain way, and through the course of this season and indeed the series finds out that it’s not. And some people find her behavior annoying and selfish, but she’s a kid—she’s a teenage girl, you know, and—
Kit: I have to agree with you. I really like Sansa in the books. I have no objections to her at all. I think she’s misguided in a lot of ways, but she’s by no means in any way lesser than any of the other children. I think she does some brilliant things in the books—like when she stands up to Joffrey with the dismembered heads. I love that moment.
Bryan: I think in many ways some of the stuff she does in the later episodes are every bit as heroic as the things that Arya does. She just has to play a different game than Arya.
—1x04 “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” Audio Commentary
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"Most of the writers I know are weird hybrids. There’s a strong streak of egomania coupled with extreme shyness. Writing’s kind of like exhibitionism in private. And there’s also a strange loneliness, and a desire to have some kind of conversation with people, but not a real great ability to do it in person."David Foster Wallace (via ellielamothe, sometimesagreatnotion) (via applesarefuckinghealthy) (via fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin) (via crowleyshouseplant) (via eldritchjoy) (via bibliophilicwordweaver) (via tookmyskull) (via eccecorinna) (via thorosofmyr) (via marnienotmadden) (via evewithanapple) (via bananaleaves) (via singsongsung) (via goodheavensgwendolen) (via alookinglassgirl)
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"We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently. Jaime learned to fight with sword and lance and mace, while I was taught to smile and sing and please. He was heir to Casterly Rock, while I was to be sold to some stranger like a horse, to be ridden whenever my new owner liked, beaten whenever he liked, and cast aside in time for a younger filly. Jaime’s lot was to be glory and power, while mine was birth and moonblood."
George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings
preach, Cersei, preach. However much you dislike the woman, you cannot deny this is a pretty accurate summing up of how women have been treated throughout history. Cersei may be a scheming bitch, but she is only a woman trying to protect her kin, trying to make her way in a man’s world, and I can only admire that even if I dislike her methods.
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