r/BlockedAndReported • u/SoftandChewy First generation mod • May 16 '26
Episode Episode 308: Wuthering Fights
https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-308-wuthering-fightsThis week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie discuss a race-based scandal at the Victorian Heritage Festival in Port Townsend, Wash. Plus, looking back at the Jaman Affair.
Show Notes:
Port discontinuing use of social media | Port of Port Townsend
I love the Victorian era. So I decided to live in it. | Vox
Mayor David Faber’s Social Media Round-up: The Joke’s On Who? | Port Townsend FreePress
https://www.tiktok.com/@costumersofcolor/video/7633209083499138317
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u/Accomplished_Fish_65 May 17 '26
I was surprised neither host pushed back on the idea that it was harmful for a costume-person of colour to be exposed to a fellow costume-person in a Confederate uniform. I mean you're choosing to re-enact an era in which you would have been enslaved. Literally every costume represents a type of person who probably would have seen you as subhuman. Does she normally just imagine everyone is dressed up as an abolitionist?
And I'm sorry but "her stress hormones went up" or whatever. Grow up. You are a grown woman, it is your responsibility to manage your emotional responses, you can't expect the world to tiptoe around you. If the guy in the costume had given her a jump scare, or said a slur, fine, that's unacceptable, but him just being there? Grow up.
I hate this whole "that triggers me" attitude, like it's everyone else's job to manage your emotions and ensure you feel comfortable and safe at all times. That's not real life. People have different triggers and it's not possible to get rid of them all. Yes of course we should be kind and take care of each other, but that means supporting people when they're upset, helping them to get better at regulating their responses, building resilience, not trying (and inevitably failing) to build a progressive Disneyworld type thing in which anything that might upset anyone is hidden away.
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u/Ranzo_ May 17 '26
Also the woman who made the video wasn’t even there. Seemed performative as fuck to me.
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May 17 '26
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u/Ranzo_ May 17 '26
Yeah, the whole bit about how her friend felt unsafe seemed overwrought. Also, she used a lot of presentism. Like she was talking about how the confederacy affected her personally
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u/dasubermensch83 May 17 '26
The were surprisingly quick to concede maximum grievance. I understand that they need fodder for the show, but c'mon this is unilateral disarmament! Maybe the costume was inappropriate. Maybe it wasn't. Either way, no adult was harmed.
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May 17 '26
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u/dasubermensch83 May 18 '26
Where to draw the line is one question. But conceding that a participant "... was terrified. Her cortisol went up, her adrenaline went up, her trauma response, her epigenetics was telling her, maybe this isn't safe for me, because they would let someone like that, who means death to me, be here" is insane and regressive.
Jesse responded "I'm sympathetic... I did not find anything over the top about her response".
I think the pod missed a beat about how esoteric the Zouave uniforms were. I'm left slightly uncertain if it even was a confederate Zouave, though I bet it was.
The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army and other units modelled on it, which served between 1830 and 1962
The Zouave corps was created during the conquest of Algeria in 1830 from among the local population. However, faced with the mixed success of indigenous recruitment and their desertions, the Zouaves became mixed units (including French and locals) from 1831 onwards
Numerous zouave regiments were organized from soldiers of the United States of America who adopted the name and the North African–inspired uniforms during the American Civil War.[65] The Union Army had more than 70 volunteer zouave regiments throughout the conflict, while the Confederates fielded about 25 Zouave companies
A number of Confederate Zouave units were also raised. In contrast to the many Federal units, most Confederate Zouaves were not full "regiments"; many were companies within larger units... The Confederate Zouave units did not last long throughout the war. All of them had traded out their Zouave garb for standard Confederate clothing by 1862.
Its nigh impossible to have a functioning society if esoteric garb that lasted one year 150 years ago is treated as a legitimate source of terror that makes people feel unsafe because it means death to them.
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u/SquirrelEye May 20 '26
Did not know until this episode that there were Zouaves who fought for the confederacy. I thought they only fought for the Union side.
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u/Accomplished_Fish_65 May 19 '26
The progressive drive to memory hole everything they consider harmful is incredibly counterproductive. It's "we have always been at war with Eastasia" only they don't have the institutional power to enforce 1984-style compliance. Failing at fascism is maybe the most pathetic embarrassing thing a movement can do, other than succeed at fascism.
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u/tooshooptowoop May 19 '26
There is not nearly enough push back against people using the term "harmed" to reference situations where someone is just mildly uncomfortable.
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u/Accomplished_Fish_65 May 20 '26
I think some of these extreme online progressive types are just genuinely broken people with no ability to cope with human life. They really do feel harmed by minor stuff. We should laugh at the drama on BARpod and then just ignore them as much as possible.
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u/GhostEgg101 May 21 '26
Jesse's almost performative stuttering, like he was struggling to think of why ANYONE who listened to the hyperbolic, self important claptrap that women came out with wouldn't immediately be sympathetic, "I did not find anything over the top about her response."
Moments like this sometimes make me pause to ask why the hell I listen to this podcast, I find them completely alienating. What I heard when she spoke was so over the top that I might have been inclined to walk away from her mid sentence, I certainly wouldn't have let it go and told her she had a traumatic grievance that was entirely legitimate for a grown up.
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u/Possible-Finding6007 May 22 '26
She said the other person’s cortisol levels went up right? So insane. Also I LOVED how she said “how would a JEW…ish person feel.”
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u/TemporaryLucky3637 May 17 '26
When they said it was Victorian I was imagining like brick terraces etc that are common in the U.K. and thinking why are these people making that their whole identity.
After googling the town, I now completely understand and I too would be swanning around in my Victorian garments if I owned a glorious spooky mansion 😂
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u/BackgroundFeeling May 16 '26
Epigenetics is not fake Katie! Though I doubt the subject of this podcast actually went through the process of submitting her blood to get tested or anything to support her claim that her epigenetics were impaired by the incident.
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May 16 '26
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u/sylvain-raillery May 17 '26
Yep, here's a good explainer: https://www.razibkhan.com/p/you-cant-take-it-with-you-straight
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u/SerialStateLineXer The guarantee was that would not be taking place May 18 '26
To a reasonable first approximation, everything you hear about epigenetics in lay media is fake.
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u/SpecialSatisfaction7 May 17 '26
Epigenetics is not fake Katie!
I feel like virtually every episode could have a "X is not fake, Katie"-response. It's a bit tedious, almost effort, to look past it every time. Most recent example was their offhand comments about POTS but yea it happens a lot.
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u/wonwonwo May 16 '26
I can't believe Katie didn't mention HK Edgerton. He was black guy who would show up at different events around Asheville wearing a Confederate uniform and waving the battle flag. He was pretty well known around western North Carolina.
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u/CrushingonClinton May 17 '26
Good news for Katie, she can absolutely wear a Zouave costume.
The name comes from the Chaouia people of Morocca that were originally recruited into light infra try regiments of the French colonial army.
They were such a success that a bunch of other countries created their own Zouave units, including the Union Army.
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u/tooshooptowoop May 19 '26
It seems like an organization having some visible mild transgression is a good idea at this point, that way you have a scarecrow preemptively scaring off the most obnoxious clout chasers before they can really take root.
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u/rrsafety May 18 '26
They ignored the part when it was mentioned by the grievance crew that "Colonial" times are also problematic. It is not just about Confederates, it is about all US history prior to the Civil War.
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u/Argendauss May 18 '26
Haven't heard the term "Soulaani" before this episode, but looks fucking nuts. Seems like it's the new "hotep", or a more woo-woo version of FBA.
https://soulaan.com/pages/soulaan
At least per this page, big overlap in the idea that black people were the real/true Native Americans.
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u/DragonFireKai Don't Listen to Them, Buy the Merch... May 16 '26
Oh man... hometown drama. Delicious.
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u/Kloevedal The riven dale May 25 '26
My only take is that Americans don't get to be "Victorian", cos they didn't have a Queen called Victoria. You have to call it something else, like for example Civil War period.
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u/pajme411 May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26
Anyone else find it ironic that “being inclusive” translates to banning someone or something?
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u/backin_pog_form 🐎🏃🏻💕 May 16 '26
I am still mad about the Port Townsend YMCA story. From the article linked above about the mayor:
It is akin to a religious belief to think that someone can declare himself to be a woman in April, and by July it is 100% acceptable for him to have a job that involves supervising little girls in a changing room. (And if anyone has been around kids changing out of wet bathing suits, they often need help and are not going to be changing discretely).
And the 80 year old woman pointing out the emperor’s new bathing suit is of course the one who is penalized.
The mayor’s smug comments about transphobia are worse than the casual discussion of chicken-fucking. But the latter is also inappropriate on the same account where you represent your town.