Previously on The Tanuki Corner, I wrote a post demolishing the arguments presented by the YouTuber Unclaimed Demigod and I promised that I would do a part two since within the thirteen minute video called “Reading Trials of Apollo Reviews from Homophobic Parents and Losing My Mind” there were twenty incredibly shallow arguments that made my blood boil. I believe Unclaimed Demigod has proven to be a case study in how our public school systems are failing kids and instead of teaching them useful things that they can use in real life are simply teaching them how to parrot the views of Leftist lobbying groups. Honestly, if nothing else, for you parents reading this, you should see this as an ad for homeschooling or at least for private schools. If I, a sophmore student, can break the arguments given by someone much older, then that should prove that public schools are nothing but indoctrination camps for your kids.
#11: Transgender vs. transvestite (Timestamp: 8:42)
Madam, these are synonyms. Look up the definiton of words before bashing people’s use of them to talk about a group of people. Someone who is transgender is someone who identifies as someone of the opposite sex and and dresses like them. Someone who is a tranvestite is someone who dresses up as the opposite sex. While there is a slight difference here, most transgender people are dressing as the opposite sex for clout or because they have autoginaphillia, a fetish in which men enjoy and get pleasure from dressing as women.
#12: Every gay book gets a good review because it’s gay (Timestamp: 9:21)
While this was said sarcastically, actually yes. Books with gay/LGBTQ+ characters are often rated higher by critics such as the New York Times, Chicago Sun, Rolling Stone, Kirkus Reviews, etc. because they push the gay agenda and these critics are often the Leftists who want that to be pushed. You don’t need to look further than the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series (which came out very close to Trials of Apollo) to see this. The review for Ship of the Dead barely talks about how well the book was written or anything like that. Instead it says, quote, “Black, deaf, trans, Muslim, white, homeless, and formerly homeless readers will see characters like themselves cracking jokes and caring for one another, with identities that are crucial to success. … The climax, a deeply emotional testament to the power of community, could leave some in tears. Riordan is again fighting for a revolution in middle-grade fiction with his funny, whiplash-fast writing and deep moral convictions.”
Even in the T.V. and music industry, if you have gay characters in your show or represent the gays in your music, critics will give you a good review. It’s all about pushing a message and to deny that is absurd. The movie Bros, which was supposed to be a gay romance and comedy got a rating of 89% from top critics, but from the general audience got an amazing 59% rating (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bros_2022). If you pander to the LGBTQ+ cult, you will get good reviews from its leaders.
#13: Making characters canonically gay damaged Rick’s image (Timestamp: 9:57)/ #14: Didn’t make it sell better (Timestamp: 10:25)
Let me tell you something: I wrote my first novel when I was thirteen, the second at fourteen, and just finished the third one. I’m currently working on the fourth one as we speak. I have been looking for a traditional publisher for two years ever since I finshed book one, but no one would take me. Most of the conservative publishers I looked at aren’t interested in publishing a YA/ teenage fantasy novel. The only people who would maybe be interested are people like Disney Hyperion or Scholastic, but they are incredibly woke. Scholastic has actually turned down authors for refusing to put in a LGBTQ+ character or including CRT. In fact, the whole reason I started this blog was so I could have a place to publish my books where I won’t get canceled, but still reach a large audience. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about when I say including gay characters not only made Rick’s books sell better but also boosted his image.
Something that most people don’t know about the publishing industry is that they are like Hollywood. They don’t think about the audience (unless you’re discussing cover design or marketing). They think about appeasing their corporate overlords. While in Hollywood, the corporate overlords are people like Black Rock, Vangaurd, or the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), for the publishing industry, the corporate overlords are the Teachers’/Librarians’ Unions. Kids don’t read anymore. They aren’t the ones buying a ton of books. So who do you think are the ones buying the books?
Answer: It’s the libraries and schools buying the books. Because these two things are being run by Leftist lobbying groups, of course they’re going to only buy books that push their agenda, namely the LGBTQ+ agenda. If a book has that or CRT in it, it will certainly do better than if it was just a book with mainly white, heterosexual characters.
You know what else that means?
That’s right! That means that whoever panders enough to the Teachers’/Librarians’ Unions by including these things will get their image boosted. Screw what the parents think. Most parents get to spend only about 30 minutes a day with their kids. Their kids are literally being raised by the public schools and TikTok. If you talk to most parents, they have no idea what their kids are learning in schools or reading in their spare time. Their kids could be reading or looking at porn constantly and most parents wouldn’t know. If you did an unbiased scroll of most of the reviews and comments for the Trials of Apollo books, you’ll find that an overwhelming majority of readers left good reviews. The people – the parents – that left bad reviews of it (i.e. based reviews) are a tiny minority. This means that Rick Riordan’s image was in fact boosted, so much so that for his pandering in the Magnus Chase book, The Hammer of Thor, he got the Stonewall Book Award ( a gay award).
#15: Apollo is bisexual, but it’s fine since he isn’t in a relationship (Timestamp: 10:48)
This is a ridiculous statement. Would it be okay with you if there was a 20, 30, 40, 50 year old character eyeballing a 10-year-old girl and commenting on how sexy she happened to look on a particular day or fantasizing about how he missed a previous relationship with a minor in a young adult book? While he might not currently be in a relationship with a character who happened to be a minor, would that still be considered appropriate?
You can try to use a red herring and draw me away from this argument like you do in your video by claiming that Apollo being bi isn’t the most innappropriate thing in a book about children fighting and dying in wars, but at least that’s actually historically normal (there were child soldiers that fought in wars throughout history even as late as World War II and today still fight in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq , and many countries in Africa).
Apollo being bi is still more inappropriate than child soldiers in a book for kids, even if it is in Greek mythology. You know what else is common in Greek mythology? Pedophillia. In Greek culture, the practice of pederasty (a romantic/sexual relationship between an older male teacher and a teen boy) were very common. Should that be included in Rick Riordan’s next book?
#16: Two gay characters won’t turn your kid gay (Timestamp: 10:52)
It actually can. If you portray being gay as the cool thing to be, then kids are going to start identifying as gay. That’s just how kids work. When I had first read the Percy Jackson books, I loved the character Nico di Angelo. I thought he was the coolest character in the book. Because of that, I started dressing primarily in black and started wearing eyeliner because Nico was portrayed as emo/goth and I thought that was the cool thing to be. I always wore a cheap little skull bracelet because he had his skull ring. Later, I even got bangs and a shag haircut. While my sense in fashion hasn’t changed too much from that (because I found that it looked good on me), you get the point. By portraying the LGBTQ+ lifestyle as cool, you are encouraging kids to partake in a lifestyle that will damage them physically and emotionally for years down the line. Another example of this is from the documentary What is a Woman where Matt Walsh talked to a wolftherian who said that he started identifying as a wolf after watching an anime when he was 11. Stop pushing this on children.
#17: Children’s minds aren’t as malliable as you think they are (Timestamp: 11:08)
Apparently you’ve never met a toddler before. The minute you suggest something to one of them, they’re going to try to find a way to do it. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” applies very well to kids. Kids don’t have fully formed brains yet. In fact, your brain isn’t fully developed until you’re 25. That means that kids especially aren’t capable of informed consent. They are incapable of thinking everything through before they do it. If you suggest that they’re gay or something else in the LGBTQ+ spectrum, they’re going to believe you if you tell them that constantly. If you add the promise of fitting in with that, they’ll definitely go for it.
#18: Most of media is straight (Timestamp: 11:19)
Eternals, Bros, Red, White, and Royal Blue, Muppet Babies, Willow, Lightyear, Strange World, Ultimatum, need I go on? It seems that every year that we wade through, Hollywood gets gayer and gayer. Books have also been getting gayer and gayer. Do you want all media to be gay? Doesn’t that seem hypocritical since you claim that’s what us straight people are doing? The difference between your gay media and our straight media is the straight people aren’t pushing our sexuality onto children and people in general. You LGBTQ+ people are.
#19: You can talk to me if you have parents that aren’t supportive of LGBTQ+ (Timestamp: 12:08)
This isn’t an argument, but I’m talking about it because this was the part of the video which made me have the most visceral reaction. This is what groomers and online sexual predators do. They provide “safe spaces” for kids to talk to them about sexual matters behind their parents’ backs. You are not these kids’ parent. You have no right to be inviting kids to talk to you about this stuff. Realize it or not – like it or not – you are a groomer. While I do not hate you as a person, I hate what you’re doing to these kids. I pity you to a degree because this is what you’ve been taught to do . “Hurt people hurt people” as the saying goes and you are no different. Because of the hurt put on you by creeps in public schools, you are now helping to hurt a generation of kids who will forever regret the decisions they made in this moment.
#20: If someone sends hate, I’ll block you (Timestamp: 12:15)
This just says that you’re a coward and proves that you can’t even defend your own arguments. As established before, “hate” in your mind means “anyone who disagrees with me.” However, I’ll allow you to try to redeem yourself. If ever you see this post, Unclaimed Demigod, whether that be on Twitter or Facebook and you’re interested, I’ll be willing to challenge you to a recorded, unedited debate over Zoom where you can try to defend your arguments against the ones presented in this post and the last one. If you can defeat my arguments with well-researched ones of your own, then I’ll issue a public apology and will take down these posts. If not, I will keep these posts up. Your choice.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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