Devon Malcolm

@Gooner just turned me into a Liverpool fan.

#JusticeForSuarez

I know it's so easy to just use this Twitter account for these now but I haven't stopped laughing at this one since I saw it.

1 minute ago, Mr_Danger said:

Yeah, it’s articulate, heartfelt and well informed. It certainly makes my views on using terminology look petty and foolish.

Not at all. I really do understand your concerns and those of anyone else who may feel this way because you're right. There are performative grifters out there and we should be concerned about them as they do set everything back as well as profiting off the back of non-support. I just think we shouldn't use them as a blanket reason to question anyone who calls themselves a supporter of minority rights and lives or an ally. You're one of the really good ones.

I told myself over and over in the last 24 hours or so not to respond to this latest discussion. Perhaps because I'm too close to the subject, even more so with the fallout from the Cass Report over the last day or so, to be able to respond to all this like a rational, non-ranting human being. Additionally because I have a big mouth and I'm not good at keeping it shut and I'm sure I'll regret this post as soon as it's done. But fuck it. I'm so FUCKING tired of this shit.

I'm not going to be guilt-tripped into not asking people not to buy a Harry Potter video game because of the repercussions for those who worked on it. And I *will* ask people not to buy it, as I have done on Twitter. I will also say that if you are an adult with your own income choosing to buy that game and it's not for your kids or a gift for a child relative of yours then I am going to tell you that you have no right to call yourself a trans ally or whatever term you're choosing to use, but more on that later. Because you're not.

This notion that 'well, Rowling's rich anyway so what difference does it make' is so staggeringly myopic that I can't believe for one second that anyone would truly believe that. Rowling's actually a billionaire, I believe, and maybe the money or royalties that she will obviously get from the game will be a drop in the ocean to her. But do we just give up not putting any more in her pocket just because it 'won't make a difference'? Of course we don't. Because that money could be used to support a game that isn't based on a franchise created by the most prominent fascist transphobes on the planet. (A game, presumably, that will have been worked on by other human beings who need to pay the bills. So by all means tell us that we should buy the new Potter game because of the people who worked on it, but don't conveniently forget that gamers will probably put their money in another corner of the market and help those programmers instead.)

Rowling completely dedicates her social media platforms to the demonisation of trans people, particularly trans women. Because let's face it, this mob don't give a shit about trans men and they never enter the discussion. Because they can't continue the paper-thin defence of it all being about 'feminism' when challenged on it. Her voice has undeniably led to unmeasurable amounts of abuse being levelled at trans people. A generation of people who grew up on her books, idolising her, now seeing one of the most important people in their formative years spending thousands of hours of her spare time actively trying to make the lives of people for whom life is usually difficult enough even more miserable. A lot of them will see through it and pull away from her. But many others won't.

OK, it may not make a difference to her to not buy the game. But we have to do something! This rhetoric smacks of more or less saying, "Well, boycotts damage people down the food chain and this woman's rich as fuck anyway so let's just crack on as we were, eh?" Absolute fucking horseshit, buck-passing centrism. There's been a discussion about performative allyship and minority support in this thread and there's nothing that falls into that category more than saying that you support trans rights but then saying that it's alright to put more money in JK Rowling's pocket because what difference does it ACTUALLY make anyway. Fuck's sake.

The fucking GIDS service just shut down. It's gone. My 17yo has had to join a network of inter-supporting trans teenagers to assist him with his transitioning because of this. He's lucky that he has that network of friends that he trusts (and so do I) but many do not. These events will be one of the most damaging things to happen to trans kids this country has ever seen. I'm too close to all this and too emotive about it, sure. But the state of play is fucking terrible and I'm so scared about what's going to happen to kids now. If you support trans kids, support them. Don't support them with caveats and 'yeah, but alsos'.

And it's absolutely fine to call yourself an ally btw! Are there people out there who call themselves such but aren't really or are just saying that for clout? Sure! Some of them are on this board. It's no good calling yourself such a thing and then showing absolutely no hint of actual, meaningful support. It does matter, though. It means the world to my 17yo when I tell him that somebody I know is a supporter or an ally. Keep calling it yourself because those who aren't on the LGBTQ+ spectrum saying "Yeah it's a bit fishy to me this, when someone calls themselves that!"? Their opinions on this don't matter AT ALL. It doesn't affect them. They don't know how much it means. 

I'm going to hit Submit Reply now and sink into my well of regret. Again. GREAT.

5 hours ago, Weezenal said:

If he was so fucked why did he get dressed up as the Sheild and struggle to get to the ring? Cos he’s a chump.

Because he was attempting to play mind games with Reigns. That was the whole point! And it worked. It fit the story they had been telling for months.

.

35 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

This banal surge of Arsenal gloatposting is giving me a rash. 

Well, they've got 20 years of it saved up.

Hey guys.

11 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Surely when something is ambiguous it’s the viewers interpretation? It’s clear some agreed with my view and some with yours and I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong. 

Where did I say anyone was wrong?

I didn't get that The Rock was turning babyface from that segment at all. Did I watch the wrong one? He called everyone trailer trash, put undertones of threats throughout the segment, and then ended it with a thinly veiled gesture that he's got something on Rhodes. You're all mad.

Well it can't be any worse than last year when absolutely fuck all happened aside from Lesnar clocking Rhodes.

I know it's been framed that Rollins has been made to look a chump this weekend but I honestly think it's the best period he's had since The Shield. I was thinking about his match with McIntyre and once again his story/character work was great because he didn't pay the slightest attention to CM Punk. That played into what he said to him about not even thinking about him. He's had a superb couple of days.

5 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Thoroughly enjoyed both nights. Can’t see me devoting time to watch regularly again but it’s good to see they can still create the old magic when they really want to. I didn’t think it was the ‘best WrestleMania ever!!’ and all that and granted I missed about a decade of Manias from 30-40 so I’m not the best to judge. But overall, this was up there for me with some of the best Manias. Doesn’t top 17 but there was very little on both nights that I thought was bad, most of it was really good and the bits that mattered most were bloody fantastic. Put it this way, I’ve not watched wrestling properly in probably 15 years. In the last 48 hours I’ve spent about 7 or 8 hours watching something I used to love but something I thought I was over. And I don’t regret a minute of the time I spent watching it.

Honestly, if you have the time I'd try and just watch all their PPVs. They're usually of a really good standard. Same goes for AEW. Just roughly follow what's going on on TV in-between with the results and threads on here to get some idea what's going on. Works really well for me and doesn't take a bunch of time out of my routine.

Went on Twitter earlier and wondered why the fuck 'bisexual Undertaker' was trending.

He shouldn't be turning heel at all. It would be an easy, disappointing get-out. He should come out tonight and do an "Actions have consequences" promo about how all of what's happened with the Bloodline was his fault in the first place for when he broke up The Shield, and that last night was his apology for that.

And he should apologise to Reigns, too, because the Tribal Chief has a point, like all the best heels.

38 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

And I get that, I guess I just don't like obviously forced and fake reactions. She doesn't have to be Morgan Freeman but maybe act like an actual human?

What the fuck are you talking about?

Amazing things happening in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

Huge year for Wythenshawe.

3 minutes ago, FLips said:

If we’re talking underrated moments then mine would have been Randy Orton having a blast on the back of Kevin Owen’s golf cart. Pissing himself laughing telling Owens to slow down. Like a big pair of kids.

They're an absolute delight at the moment. Everyone just seems like they're having fun and being themselves at the moment, no-one more than these two.

Better news on the HOME front after some huge protests.

A couple of underrated moments from the main event was McAfee making a Little Naitch reference and Charles Robinson ruefully handing The Rock his Mamma Rhodes belt as he helped Reigns out of the ring. Cracked me up.

4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

You don't have him decide. Make it the stip for the tag match and do all the shenanigans in there, as said. Then the babyfaces win and choose the one on one.

They can't do that anymore. The Rock is on the board. He's in charge. He can just veto that suggestion. It wouldn't make any sense.

4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Plus as a knock-on, Rollins doesn't look like as big of a loser as he ended up, and you sow some seeds for Rock and Roman after you've done the Rock/Cody match you've built over the last few weeks.

I don't think Rollins looks a loser. The build-up to this has had a lot in it about Rollins stating that taking down the Bloodline is bigger than anything else going on. He sacrificed his personal gain for the bigger story. It's rare for wrestling to actually tell that story and follow through with it and I thought they did this side of things superbly. Rollins still comes out of this hugely popular. He's still busy the other side of it. He's got potential stories with Rhodes and Punk and even McIntyre to go.

Reigns suddenly doing the "I got this on my own" act wouldn't have made any sense at all. The whole Bloodline saga has been about family and it being bigger than one person.

3 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I'd get used to it. From a longevity perspective, stretching your top level program to two WrestleManias is probably the way this stuff's going to be done for the foreseeable. 

I still hear people's arguments that two nights is too much. It is a lot. But the way I see it is that it's WrestleMania. It's the biggest wrestling show of the year and one of the biggest live events of any kind of the year. It *should* be a weekend of stuff, with a Hall of Fame and an NXT show and a Smackdown. I think next year they just need to work a bit harder on the matches across the card, they were bailed out a bit by almost every match and angle delivering something good.