#<- they are deliberately attempting to censor the media

[planetkiimchi]

"Last Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court held a hearing in response to a petition brought forward by Israeli rights group, HaMoked, to reveal the location of a Palestinian X-Ray technician detained from Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza in February. It was the first court session of its kind since October 7."

if people in israel can speak up against this genocide, as someone who will not be subject the legal repercussions they are likely to face, how can you stay silent?

Concentration camp.

They built a concentration camp.

I don't think words can describe what this other than genocide.

[rogha]

‘there are terrible things happening in the world and the media is not covering them if you even give a shit’ is actually a bad way to deliver news. i am not a bad person for falling for deliberate attempts by governments to both ignore and censor civil unrest in their countries. I am busy trying not to fall for deliberate attempts by my government to both ignore and censor civil unrest in my country. like there is a lot going on everywhere all the time.

[cipheramnesia]

Today I am asking myself why do I like Terrifier and Terrifier 2. There doesn't have to be a reason for it, and I struggle to find any merit to them other than the dubious quality, inventiveness, and excess of the gore and violence. Maybe that's it, and probably that is literally all there is to the movies - fans all say as much. And if your only thoughts on Terrifier are "I hate that shitty movie," honestly that's fair, more than reasonable, but this post isn't for you so kindly skip along by.

But also the movies don't hit for me in the same way as a bloody rollercoaster ride movie does. For some reason I am unable to comprehend, my mind is insisting the movies are good on an artistic level - my brain insists there is artistic merit, although it steadfastly refuses to disclose what that might be. This isn't an endorsement, by the by, the Terrifier movies are extreme in a way apart from even the French Extremity movement or the whole torture trap Saw era from the USA.

Although in some ways that may be a part of what makes the movies something more than graphic violence alone. They are unpleasant in a way that is malicious - a naked cruelty which in a perverse way is a form of open honesty speaking to truth. There is no detachment from the violence, no easy way to disconnect from it as some sort of mechanical function or take it in as a part of a story. Art the Clown embodies such a totality of unrelenting and unchecked cruelty that it comes around as confusingly refreshing, because it is so rare for any media to be so graphically violent without attempting some framing of the harm - even if only as a plot point. It's masochistic to watch but in a more literal kink way. The Terrifier movies are a safe space to engage with senseless violence and cruelty, to experience the emotional impact of the idea of an uncaring world design only to cause pain, and then to be able to safely leave this mental space physically intact, better equipped for the real world which by nature is not nearly so malicious as Terrifier. Cathartic in the same way as it can be to get whipped or beaten, followed by care and caressing. Maybe.

All that under consideration, a throwaway line from a review has raised a second consideration for me: Are these movies camp? They are wildly exaggerated performances which incorporate large amounts of generally discarded pop culture on purpose. They deliberately incorporate the cheap aesthetics of low budget video nasties, grindhouse movies, and direct to video 80s horror. Everything about Art the Clown and his violent acts is severely over the top from his facial features to his makeup to his mannerisms which are those of a mime rather than a clown. I think it's arguable that the Terrifier movies go beyond simply utilizing a retro aesthetic into performing a kind of horror drag - dressing up in the clothes of the 70s-80s but elevating the content into a hyper-grotesque persona that's almost like everything the film censors and critics from that era thought such movies actually were. It's a movie that purposefully becomes the kind of monster conservatives always imagine about horror, just to throw that right in their face. It is, I think, very arguably camp in how much it is purposefully over the top and self-indulgent about what the vast majority of people would (often rightly) dismiss as artless trash.

Which leads me back around to asking myself if I truly believe what I've written, or if I'm merely trying to find an internal and artistic justification for liking violent and misogynistic horror flicks with nothing of else of substance.

[buttercuparry]

not confirming or denying what tumblr is or is not doing re shadowbanning palestinian users but i made a new blog a while back maybe a year ago by now made a gag post and got a big blogger to reblog it needless to say i went from newbie 0-5 notes in my activity feed to 100+ notes a day that lasted for about 2 days if so much before i got shadowbanned i made a public post about it tagging humans and they responded and i got it sorted out. the valid issue may be something on tumblr's wonky end that equates a ton of new activity for new blogs with being spam so they 'shadowban' the blogs. if some palestinian bloggers are new and making accounts to seek donations and getting a lot of activity on their posts this is likely to happen them. maybe knowing the stupid 'intricacies' of this site with avoiding these situations. it's a stupid mechanism but also considering how many scammers make accounts to solicit money wrongfully it also makes sense as a way of attempting to mitigate that. also if someone's blog 'got deactivated' they did it themselves that's fully on them tumblr terminates blogs and then you dont see the -deactivated[date] at the end of it.

The thing is anon, I too have one post with a few thousand notes. But I till now did not get shadowbanned...so yeah maybe it is all in the defective way a site works.

Now we may continue to argue about the finer points and speculate what might have gone wrong on tumblr blogging, but it has been brought to attention countless times that tumblr does in fact deactivate blogs they find to be "troublesome". Did they not deactivate a popular trans woman's blog? And even (chrisdonnersomething's ) blog? They are trans and an anti Zionist voice popular on tumblr. I remember their partner posting about how tumblr deemed the blog not appropriate after manually checking up on it. So tell me what should we do in this situation?

If I were smarter, I would have typed in paragraphs after paragraphs about censorship and what is thought to be in need of censoring, while letting white supremacists and terfs run free on this blogging site.

And since we are talking about censorship, you must know that throughout social media, Palestinian voices are getting suppressed and even American government was talking about bringing in some bill to ban Tiktok because how overwhelmingly supportive the platform is to the Palestinian cause...so keeping all this in mind, should we not look into what tumblr is doing? A site that is just soooo american? Should we not look into every other platform? Should we not think about how macklemore's song has a content warning while Israeli rap on wiping out Gaza has none?

And no I have talked to Haneen, I have come across multiple posts from other Palestinians who have said that tumblr nuked their blog overnight. It is not a deliberate choice of the blogger to delete their blogs and then to come onto tumblr and complain about deleted blogs amidst a genocide.

And if it is scammers who are a problem, and it is a bug in the system then tumblr should in fact look into it- should upgrade their process of deactivating scam blogs so that Palestinians don't get the burnt of it. Amidst a genocide...I think that much can be expected of a corporation. That much a corporation can be held accountable for.

[xxxjarchiexxx]

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-76-extrajudicial-killings-of-men-in-front-of-their-families-in-gaza/

Casualties 

19,650+ killed* and at least 53,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.

303 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem

Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.

469 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 1,831 injured.

*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 26,000.

Key Developments 

UNOCHA: Israeli forces allegedly executed at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of family members in Gaza’s Remal neighborhood

Palestinian Ministry of Health: Hundreds of wounded die as a result of the lack of health services in Al-Shifa Hospital.

Israeli forces kill 16-year-old boy near Bethlehem in occupied West Bank. 

OCHA: Over 360,000 cases of infectious diseases recorded in UNRWA shelters

WHO: About 14 healthcare workers of al-Ahli Arab Hospital arrested by Israeli forces and held in unknown locations.

Al-Haq: Israeli forces deliberately destroyed access to health services in Gaza since October 7 through patterns of intimidation, direct targeting, siege, and occupation, “resulting in a humanitarian disaster.”

WFP: first aid convoy from Jordan, including 46 trucks, reaches Gaza on Wednesday. 

Human Rights Watch: Meta systematically censoring content about Palestine on Instagram and Facebook.

Israeli media: Muhammad Deif, leader of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades who survived seven assassination attempts by Israel, alive and in better condition than previously believed.

Australian Defence Minister: Australia to send “up to six additional” troops, but no warships, to support U.S.-led Red Sea operation.

Lebanese Civil Defense: civilian woman killed by Israeli shelling in Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Ted Littleford]

* * * *

When Florida governor Ron DeSantis last March signed the law commonly called the “Don’t Say Gay” law, he justified it by its title: the “Parental Rights in Education” law. It restricted the ability of schoolteachers to mention sexual orientation or gender identity through grade 3, and opponents noted that its vagueness would lead teachers to self-censor.

Under the guise of protecting children, DeSantis echoed authoritarians like Hungary’s Victor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who claim that democracy’s principle that all people are equal—including sexual minorities—proves that democracy is incompatible with traditional religious values. Promising to take away LGBTQ Americans’ rights offered a way to consolidate a following to undermine democracy.

DeSantis sought to shore up his position by mandating a whitewashed version of a mythic past. At his request, in March the Florida legislature approved a law banning public schools or private businesses from teaching people to feel guilty for historical events in which members of their race behaved poorly, the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop WOKE) Act.

In July the Florida legislature passed a law mandating that the books in Florida’s public school cannot be pornographic and must be suited to “student needs”; a state media specialist would be responsible for approving classroom materials. An older law makes distributing obscene or pornographic materials to minors a felony that could lead to up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Unsure what books are acceptable and worried about penalties, school officials in at least two counties, Manatee and Duval, directed teachers to remove books from their classrooms or cover them until they can be reviewed.

In January, DeSantis set out to remake the New College of Florida, a public institution known for its progressive values and inclusion of LGBTQ students, into an activist Christian school. He replaced six of the college’s thirteen trustees with far-right allies and forced out the college president in favor of a political ally, giving him a salary of $699,000, more than double what his predecessor made.

On February 28, right-wing activist Christopher Rufo, the man behind the furor over Critical Race Theory and one of DeSantis’s appointees to the New School board, tweeted: “We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty. The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.”

Then, this Tuesday, the board voted to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school. DeSantis has promised to defund all DEI programs at public colleges and universities in Florida.  

The attempt to take over schools and reject the equality that lies at the foundation of liberal democracy is now moving toward the more general tenets of authoritarianism. This week, one Republican state senator proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about DeSantis, his Cabinet officers, or members of the Florida legislature, to register with the state; another proposed outlawing the Democratic Party.

DeSantis and those like him are trying to falsify our history. They claim that the Founders established a nation based on traditional hierarchies, one in which traditional Christian rules were paramount. They insist that their increasingly draconian laws to privilege people like themselves are simply reestablishing our past values.

But that’s just wrong. Our Founders quite deliberately rejected traditional values and instead established a nation on the principle of equality. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they wrote, “that all men are created equal.” And when faced with the attempt of lawmakers in another era to reject that principle and make some men better than others, Abraham Lincoln called it out for what it was. “I should like to know,” he said, “if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop?”

To accept DeSantis’s version of our history would be a perversion of our past and our principles.

But it is not unimaginable.

The troops did not leave the South in 1877.

[Heather Cox Richardson:: Letters from an American March 2, 2023]

[fact-nova]

The Controversy Surrounding Ram Gopal Varma: An Analysis of His Legal Challenges

Ram Gopal Varma, a name synonymous with controversial filmmaking and outspoken opinions, has once again found himself at the center of a heated legal and political debate. Known for his audacious tweets and unconventional approach to controversies, Varma has often dismissed legal notices and arrest warrants with an almost cavalier attitude. However, recent developments suggest that the situation this time is significantly more serious. As of November 25th, Varma appears to be avoiding direct confrontation with the authorities. The police from Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, have made attempts to reach him at his residence, only to find him absent. Teams have been dispatched to Mumbai and Coimbatore to locate him. This escalation raises questions about the gravity of the charges against him and his response to them. The Origin of the Legal Battle The issue stems from a social media post by Varma that promoted his pre-election film Vyuham. In this post, Varma used morphed images of prominent leaders like Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh, placing their faces onto female characters. The post sparked outrage and led to a complaint by Ramalingam, a TDP Mandal Secretary from Maddipadu village in Prakasam district. An FIR was registered on November 12th, and the police subsequently summoned Varma for questioning on November 19th. Varma, citing prior commitments and a packed schedule, failed to appear, requesting an extension to November 24th. As the situation escalated, Varma and his legal team filed a quash petition and an anticipatory bail plea in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Legal Proceedings and Responses Varma’s advocate, Balayya, has made the following arguments in his client’s defense: - Cooperation with Authorities: Varma has responded to the police notices and expressed willingness to cooperate. His absence, they argue, is due to genuine professional commitments. - Virtual Meetings as a Solution: Given concerns about potential arrest during in-person questioning, Varma’s team proposed a virtual meeting. - Media Speculations: Balayya emphasized that rumors of third-degree treatment against Varma are baseless and only serve to sensationalize the issue. Despite these assurances, the police remain firm. Prakasam SP A.R. Damodhar has made it clear that the choice between virtual and in-person questioning lies with the authorities, not Varma. He criticized Varma’s perceived lack of respect for the process, stating that such requests should have been made earlier. The Political Angle The controversy has also drawn comments from political figures. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy recently condemned what he called “revenge politics.” He questioned the legitimacy of targeting Varma when his films, including Vyuham, have passed the scrutiny of the censor board. Reddy highlighted the importance of free speech and the risks of stifling dissent through legal intimidation. Analyzing the Larger Picture The situation presents a complex interplay of legal, political, and social factors. On one hand, the police are acting on a complaint that falls under the purview of defamation and potential misuse of social media platforms. On the other, Varma’s supporters argue that his actions fall under creative freedom and political satire. This case also raises broader questions about the fine line between free speech and defamation. Should filmmakers and public figures be held to stricter standards when commenting on sensitive political issues? Or does this signify an attempt to curtail dissenting voices under the guise of legal enforcement? Conclusion The saga surrounding Ram Gopal Varma’s legal challenges is far from over. As the courts deliberate on his petitions and the police intensify their efforts, the outcome will likely have implications beyond this individual case. It will touch on issues of creative expression, political satire, and the boundaries of law enforcement in a democratic society. Whether Varma’s actions are seen as provocative but harmless satire or as a calculated attempt to defame political figures, one thing is clear: this controversy will continue to spark debates in the public sphere. Only time will reveal which side of the story resonates more strongly with the public and the judiciary. What are your thoughts on this issue? Is this a necessary correction to unchecked behavior, or does it pose a threat to free speech? Let’s discuss in the comments below! Read the full article

[xtruss]

Digital Warfare: US 🇺🇸 And China 🇨🇳 Go Head To Head In Cyberspace

— Mariam Amini

As the start of the new year sees Israel’s war on Gaza rage on, the US faces an ongoing battle in the cyber realm back home.

According to one survey by Gallup and Knight Foundation, trust in US media is so low that half of Americans believe national news outlets deliberately mislead them.

This rise in distrust is a common global pattern, with the UK having the second lowest levels of media trust according to a study of 24 countries by King’s College London. Held as part of the World Values Survey, just 13% of British respondents expressed confidence in the press.

Meanwhile, news consumption on social media is only growing, with data showing a third of Americans under the age of 30 now get their news on TikTok.

2023 saw the White House ramp up its efforts to manage the Chinese-owned tech giant, which has over 150 million users in the States, the highest of any country globally.

In March, platform CEO Shou Zi Chew even appeared before Congress, in an attempt to dispel allegations over the app’s collection of sensitive user data, as well as censorship of any content that goes against China’s Communist Party.

It’s all slightly ironic, considering the intense regulatory crackdown on domestic tech companies by Chinese authorities in 2020, which even saw e-commerce site Alibaba fined $2.8 billion in a landmark antitrust case in 2021.

US government and European Union's parliament ban TikTok From staff mobile devices

The Asian nation’s technology sector has since conformed to new regulations, much like the control US officials perhaps wish to instill over TikTok.

In December, US presidential primary Nikki Haley publicly condemned the platform. She says: “We really do need to ban TikTok once and for all. For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day, they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas.”

Her statements have since been debunked by Generation Lab, the data company behind the survey she references. However, it does beg the question of why TikTok faces greater reprimand when, for instance, Silicon Valley-owned Meta has already been proven to systematically censor Palestinian content in a review by Human Rights Watch.

So then, one must ask, is the real concern about data protection or threats to Silicon Valley business interests, or maybe even anti-Israeli sentiment in general?

While Instagram saw a decent growth of 47.8% between 2020 to 2022, TikTok doubled its user base. According to polling data shared by Axios, the majority of these users express pro-Palestinian sentiment. This is especially frequent among young people on the platform.

The tech giant has confirmed this natural trend, emphasising a need to listen to users: “This is a really difficult time for millions of people around the world and in our TikTok community.”

“We feel it’s important to meet with and listen to creators, human rights experts, civil society and other stakeholders to help guide our ongoing work to keep our global community safe.”

U.S. President Joe Biden participates in a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping

So, would the North American giant really ban TikTok? And if they did, would more countries follow suit? TikTok was banned in India in 2020 over claims of illegal data collection. This occurred shortly after geopolitical tensions at the border between India and China.

The video-sharing app was also slapped with a $368 million fine by the European Union for data beaches in the same year.

However, the company has since taken steps on advancing data security in partnership with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. According to TikTok U.S. Data Security, as of June 2022, 100% of US user traffic is now routed to the US-based computer software company.

As for the question of censorship, visiting fellow Michael Kwet at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project believes: “There’s no reason to believe TikTok will offer substantially more diverse views across the global media landscape”.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, he says: “When confronted with content moderation decisions, TikTok will do what all big social media companies do: remove content at the request of entities with power, so long as it becomes too costly to disobey.”

In the midst of Israel's ongoing aggression in the besieged Gaza Strip, alongside rampant misinformation and media bias - one thing is clear: access to honest, independent journalism centred on human values, not corporate, is needed like never before.

[aenor-llelo]

Okay my Discord server asked me to make a post about orp!wilbur’s extensive crime list and how/why some of them are crimes in the first place, because most/all of them are actual offenses irl Somewhere, or at least were at some point.

-Disrespectful behavior towards the Noble Houses and agents of the Crown. (Multiple counts) -Attempts to incite political criticism, dissent, and debate towards the Noble Houses and agents of the Crown. (Multiple counts)

This is kind of a given, but just for the record, there are countries that have censorship laws about the government, and attempting to open critical discussion of politics can fall under that kind of criminalization. 

It may or may not also be a joke about the trial of Socrates.

-Causing distress of uncertain origin to animals belonging to the Crown.

This mostly falls under tampering with royal/government property.

-The promotion and reproduction of banned media.

This right here is related to censorship laws again. Specific books and music can and have been banned from distribution and production for discussing taboo or censored topics.

-Arson. (directed towards own property)

This is specifically illegal in urban and city areas. Burning trash is a pretty common thing in rural areas but very illegal in building dense places due to risk of fire spread.

-Inciting physical altercations. (Multiple counts)

That’s just a pretty ubiquitous law, don’t start fights with people in public.

-One instance of attempting to fight a nautilus in the Community House public aquarium.

Same reason as the royal animals offense, but also falls under public disruption and disorderly conduct.

-Street vending in unpermitted areas.

Street vending tends to actually have a lot of laws attached to it in terms of what/how/where you can sell.

-Using a shotgun in a residential area.

Like arson on private property, this is another urban v rural legal distinction. In many countries, gun usage and possession, especially outside the Americas, is heavily regulated (I understand the US is different but The World Is Not America).

-Handling fish in a suspicious manner.

This is a very poorly worded IRL law about handling illegally obtained fish.

-Busking.

If I recall correctly, this is one of those regional laws that are deliberately hostile to homeless people, because busking is often associated with street begging.

-Parkour.

Yep! Parkour is very illegal on anywhere considered private property in many places, because the owners of private property don’t want to be liable for parkour injuries.

-One count of public indecency. -Vandalizing public spaces by placing unpermitted photography.

Another “generally illegal everywhere” law, though what counts as public indecency or vandalism will vary by region.

-Causing distress by consuming inedible/hazardous materials in public view. (Multiple counts) -Threatening (though not provably committing) bestiality as a form of verbal harassment.

Causing distress can file under harassment/disorderly conduct, and in some places actions that could be taken as self harming/suicidal behavior are criminalized.

orp!wilbur has committed so many crimes over fundy’s lifetime.

[feministmetalgreymon]

@maradigma​

You claim to be against harassment. Yet your willing to lie in order to make Anti’s seem innocent. Yeah no. SessRinners didn’t start anything. We don’t care that you don’t like our ship. We minded our own business. Then Anti’s started harassing us. Spamming death and rape threats in the Yashahime tags. Calling people pedophiles. Stalking and spying on us. That was all started by anti’s. It’s also telling that your only example of shippers behaving poorly. Is stating the fact that SessRin is cannon in a rude manner. That’s really just as bad as anti’s posting rape threats /s.

Many SessRin shippers including my self are also victims of childhood sexual abuse. And we find it offensive when you exploit our experience for a ship war. My trauma is not a weapon for you to use in your ship war. Also stop spreading the lie that Sesshomaru groomed Rin. Child grooming is gaining a childs trust in order to abuse them. Sesshomaru married Rin when she was a full grown adult capable of making decisions for herself. And he has never done anything to harm her. So claiming that he “groomed” her is a bold face lie. And makes a mockery of the experiences of real life child abuse victims. I know what it’s like to be taken advantage of as a child and SessRin isn’t it.

 Anti’s have also spammed the SessRin tags with drawings of Sesshomaru abusing Rin. In a deliberate attempt to triggers trauma victims. So how any of you can claim to care about trauma victims when you take actions to harm us is beyond me.

Finally victims of sexual trauma all deal with trauma in different ways. Some of us cope by avoiding anything that reminds us of our trauma. While others cope by interacting with media that deals with our trauma in a safe manner. Exposure therapy is a medically recognized method of dealing with trauma.

Anti’s only respect abuse victims when we cope in the ways they find “appropriate”. Even though those methods don’t work for all of us. They only care about us when we can serve as perfect victims. That they can use to justify censoring things that make them feel uncomfortable. But when were messy and don’t behave like obedient tools they throw us under the bus. I refuse to be anyone's perfect victim.

[theladygazingatemptiness]

the lie that reactionaries try to plant into people’s heads is that they respect early civil rights/social justice movements and only hate “”modern”” activists and so I’m here to say: no, they absolutely do not — the one and only reason they say this because they believe that said early social justice movements are no longer a threat to them or the system they put in place. if today’s conservatives were around during the time period of slavery or Jim Crow, I Promise you that they would have called Martin Luther King Jr a criminal, they would have called Harriet Tubman a criminal, they would have called Rosa Parks a criminal, they would have shouted racial slurs at Ruby Bridges as she was walking to school, they would have voted no to women’s suffrage, and the list goes on and on. 

let me put it this way: reactionaries will attempt to deliberately soil the memory of and spread slander about a black child who was murdered by a racist stalker while literally just walking home from school minding their own business and will paint said child as a degenerate criminal who deserved to get killed, and likewise will hail their murderer as a sympathetic martyr who did nothing wrong; what makes you think that they wouldn’t do the exact same thing in regards to black people being lynched by the Klu Klux Klan or in regards to Emmet Till’s murder? reactionaries support and defend the violent assault and arrest of disabled people who peacefully sit outside the Capitol to protest anti-accessibility bills; what makes you think that they would support the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins, especially considering that conservatives very openly believe that their own personal comfort and convenience is far more important than the lives and rights of others? reactionaries support cops attacking black protestors — including the Peaceful™ black protestors that they supposedly support — with rubber bullets and tear gas; what makes you think that they wouldn’t support cops attacking black people with fire hoses and attack dogs? the republican party passes laws that dictate what a woman can and can’t do with her own body; what makes you think that they wouldn’t overturn a woman’s right to vote if they had the chance? 

conservatives are, as we speak, fighting tooth-and-nail to have literally Every piece of media documenting America’s bloody history of white supremacy pulled from shelves and banned from schools and libraries. not only that, but they’re just straight up and not-so-subtly attempting to completely rewrite history entirely to make the Nazi Party and the KKK into the True Heroes of the story (or, as they like to put it, “”take a more neutral approach”” to discussions about violent white supremacist groups murdering thousands of innocent people in cold blood). so, answer me this: if they “respect” early activists like they claim they do, why would they be literally Fighting And Fighting Hard to completely censor the efforts and the voices of those early activists? if white conservatives are Truly against the crimes committed by their ancestors and if they Truly acknowledge that said crimes were in fact oppression, why are they currently trying their Damnedest to destroy and hide the evidence of those crimes? and on top of everything, reactionaries don’t respect You fighting for Your rights; what makes you think that they’d respect your ancestors fighting for theirs? 

“modern black people already have everything” you mean like how the black people who were denied clean water (you know; the ones that reactionaries claim were “”actually oppressed””) "already had everything” and should have just been grateful to be able to drink? you mean like how black children forced to attend run-down underfunded schools “already had everything” and should have just been grateful to be able to learn to read and write? you mean like how black people, as they were legally beaten, ostracized, murdered, and discriminated against, “already had everything” because it wasn’t legal to own them as property anymore, and how they should have just been grateful that white people even allowed them to stay in America at all and that they weren’t all being shipped back to Africa? like how black people were expected to suffer injustices in silence and to just be happy they weren’t being forced to pick cotton, and how now the exact same thing is expected from us, and we apparently should quietly let a racist cop get away scot-free with stalking and murdering a black person who was literally just walking home with a Subway sandwich, because at least we don’t have to drink from a “colored” fountain anymore? is that how you think this should work?

reactionary anti-protesting rhetoric is not about being pro-peace, it’s not about respectability, it is not and was Never in good faith; it’s about upholding white supremacy. it’s about protecting the status quo. it’s about framing the white man as the true human and others as less human. it’s about protecting capitalism. and now that those things are once again being threatened, this time by “”modern”” activists, reactionaries hate us and want us dead, Just like their ancestors hated the early civil rights movement and wanted them dead.

[rollerwavegallery]

The Point (1971)

Harry Nilsson’s 1971 animated TV special “The Point” is an unassuming thing- a cartoon which upon closer inspection is one of the most indicative examples of the Rollerwave aesthetic possible. 

It resembles a segment from an early episode of Sesame Street or Schoolhouse Rock, which makes sense when you consider that it was animated by Fred Wolf, creator of the famous Tootsie Pop commercial with the owl. His sensibilities in bringing Nilsson’s album to life are fitting in that they convey a surreal, extremely colorful world with no fixed rules. 

The story is rare in that it will appeal to both children and adults, far more than any segment from Schoolhouse Rock or Sesame Street. This is mainly due to the film’s theme of deliberate absurdity- that is, it is not designed to educate as much as it is to make the viewer think. These are two very different approaches. The Point is philosophical rather than methodical, it does not hammer any one particular idea into the audience’s head, and at times it is intentionally confusing, which is something you would not expect from a cartoon of this period. 

The work most readily comparable to The Point is, of course, Norton Juster’s 1961 masterpiece The Phantom Tollbooth, in that, like The Point, its settings and characters are entirely allegorical. This method of storytelling seems especially popular around the 1960s and 1970s, rejecting the straightforward methods of the 1950s. The Phantom Tollbooth also contains vivid illustrations, particularly similar in their cross-hatching, messy ink style. Fans of Jules Feiffer will, I think, appreciate the style of Fred Wolf to an equal extent. 

Some parts of this film draw attention to just how much we’ve changed as a society since the 1970s, and how much we’ve altered what is considered “acceptable” for children. During one abstract musical number, for instance, a dead whale is depicted, slowly rotting away, frame by frame. A modern viewer would see morbid imagery like this as only fitting in a Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared-type parody. In the 1970s, however, this was seen as not only acceptable to show children, but important, in that it adequately conveys the grim yet natural reality of death, and the cyclical system of nutrients in the ocean’s ecosystem. Other examples of children’s media being deliberately censored with the misconception that it would be deemed offensive include the infamous lost Sesame Street segment, “Cracks,” which was obfuscated during the 1980s cocaine epidemic despite having nothing to do with cocaine. 

The Point, as I mentioned, is a philosophical fable with the key theme of societal acceptance and dehumanization. On the other hand, its title serves as wordplay, in that it asks what it means for something to have a point. By the end, the viewer is left asking themselves whether the cartoon had any sort of point. This element is aided by dialogue which is obtuse by design, and a meandering plot which attempts to defy the well-documented “Hero’s Journey” structure in favor of an episodic series.

The frame surrounding the tale is equally abstract, featuring a father who reads a bedtime story to his son, all the while sarcastically commenting about how “kids these days just want to watch TV” and his son views the story, presumably as the film itself, on the TV next to his bed. The father was voiced by four people across The Point’s broadcast history, two of which were Dustin Hoffman and Ringo Starr, and watching each version provides a somewhat different experience, given the varying inflections of the narrators.

This may very well be the ultimate animated Rollerwave film, ideal for anyone wanting to know more about the visually artistic side of the aesthetic, departed from live-action. It is inspiring for anyone looking to enter the realm of 2D animation, with its detailed landscapes and vibrant color. One can only long for this period, when animating a full album and bringing an hour-long narrative to life using nothing but pens, paper, and watercolor paint was considered routine. The result is well worth your while.  

[supermoviemaniac]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MOVIE SPOILERS...

Don't worry, there's no spoilers in this post - just a rant about people's insatiable need to spoil things.

If you're reading this, it's probably because you're a fellow movie enthusiast. Entertainment by any means has the ability to bring people together. We can anticipate and experience things, then discuss and share said experiences. Sometimes we have to wait an agonizing amount of time - often seemingly forever... but when it finally arrives, we're happy we waited, and most often than not, it's usually worth waiting for too.

As a kid, spoilers were never really a risk I encountered, partly due to the internet being not as, let's just say, socially collosal and expansive as it is today. I was able to enjoy movies, games, TV shows and comics from start to finish and get surprised along the way. The duration between a piece of media being announced/confirmed, and the time it took for it to release and be ingested was never a spoiler minefield, partly because such a minefield didn't exist.

Flashforward to present day, and we all have the same social media apps installed. We use these apps to discover content and stay updated with friends and family, though for some reason, in the last few years, all I seem to encounter on a daily basis are just spoilers for things I care about. The argument could be made that the algorithms are attempting to tailor content to me for convenience. I'm not denying that this is a beneficial system in theory, but when I'm forced to see spoilers against my will purley due to it relating to something I'm interested in, it gets a little annoying.

Another argument could be made that I don't have to use these apps, which is certainly true, but I shouldn't have to deprive myself of near-infinite entertainment that I do care about, just because a portion of people/organisations make it their mission to recklessly splurge out exclusive content for the sake of views.

These spoilers range from rakishly explicit images, to implicit news headlines trying their hardest to be allusive, though fail to realise most people aren't stupid and will probably know what a cryptic headline is implying, without needing to read the actual article. I've seen screenshots from upcoming movies that I would've rather not seen, I've seen people posting pictures of merch and figurines for things before we've even seen a trailer. Yes, merch/toys aren't always accurate, but they still give you a good idea of what's in store.

I miss being able to just sit and wait for a trailer, enjoy the hell out of it, wait in anticipation for the movie to release, and then just be able to f**king enjoy it when it's out! Now, everyday just feels like I have to dodge spoilers no matter what I'm doing. If I get a whiff of a spoiler, I have to double down on my vigilance to ensure it remains unspoilt. I have to make sure that remains the case right up until release day, and then let out a sigh of relief when I finally rest my cheeks on the cinema seat. If you're excited about something, why the hell has it become an obstacle course to make sure that remains the case?

I understand that some people are okay with spoilers, and I understand that some outlets try to share spoilers with some sort of security attached, for people that don't want to inadvertently see things, which I definitely appreciate... but to some degree, you have to acknowledge that there is nothing stopping a fellow reader taking that spoilery information and passing it along without the same degree of care.

Posting spoilers is easy content. It comes with an element of exclusively that is bound to pull in a larger audience, but I dislike this severely. If you have encountered a spoiler deliberately or accidentally, it is your responsibility to make sure others aren't forced to learn about them. If everyone else around you is posting spoilers for views, don't worry, it doesn't suddenly make you uncool for not taking part. If anything, I find it admirable if you're making the conscious effort not to participate in sharing spoilers.

At the end of the day, seeing spoilers isn't life or death, and in the grand scheme of things, this issue seems petty, but when you're passionate about something, you want to be able to enjoy it properly. If you bought a new book, you'd be annoyed if the person next to you skips to the last page and bellows out the ending. If you're queuing up to watch the final of a football tournament, you'd be annoyed if a time traveller teleported in front of you and spoiled the outcome. The irony of these over the top examples is that we're actually encountering this for movies/shows, however they're in the form of mundane social media posts.

This issue is just getting worse by the day, and I imagine every new movie that's set to release will just breed more and more spoiler content. I think there needs to be greater consequences for the initial leakers, and more of a deterrent for the people/outlets that are itching to share them. I'm not a tech whiz of any kind, but why can't we have something similar to an AdBlocker which censors potential spoilers? Silly, I know - ideally though, it would be nice to not have to suggest desperate ideas to avoid things I don't want to see. These are first world problems for sure, and I'm not denying that in the slightest, but it still sucks. It shouldn't have to be like this. Why is there such a need to declare you know something before other people? I honestly don't remember the last piece of content I experienced that hadn't had an aspect of it spoilt. I watch the trailers, featurettes and interviews as it's the quantity the content makers want me to see prior to the movie. I look at the poster because they want me to visualise what's in store. It should stop there. This is what we should discuss, speculate on and get hyped about and nothing more.

What are everyone else's opinions?

[passionate-reply]

This week on Great Albums, we talk about something a little more recent, but still old enough to be a classic. Can you believe that John Maus’s We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, is turning ten years old already? Yes, 2011 was that long ago...and so were my high school years. Come check out this lo-fi synthwave masterpiece! Transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! So far in this series, we’ve looked at a lot of older albums, and that’s by design. While I listen to, and love, plenty of more recent music and younger artists, I’ve decided to focus Great Albums on works that are at least ten years old. That’s partly because I think that having some distance from when albums were released lets us situate them in fuller context, and take their legacy into consideration. It’s also partly because so much of the music criticism that’s out there is focused, somewhat myopically, on only the newest and hottest releases, when there’s so much amazing music to be discovered outside of that purview.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on to discussing today’s album: John Maus’s We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, which was released in 2011, one decade prior to this video. It’s an album that was very significant to me as a teenager, when it was new, and one that I think will go on to be seen as one of the most important electronic albums of this decade.

Before releasing his arguable magnum opus, John Maus had two LPs under his belt, Songs and Love Is Real. They earned him some cult followers, but also attracted substantial derision and disdain. While many elements of Maus’s signature sound are present, such as lo-fi production, atmospheric washes of synth, and lyrics that straddle the line between pithy and biting, I’d characterize these releases as being very...rough around the edges.

Music: “Too Much Money”

“Too Much Money,” off of Love Is Real, is tantalizingly close to a pop song, but its truly shocking bridge seems almost deliberately crafted to shatter our ability to enjoy it as such. Maus had initially set out to be an experimental, outsider musician, but he soon became more interested in the tradition of pop, particularly after meeting his longtime friend and artistic collaborator, Ariel Pink. It was in that pop spirit that Maus created We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, and the resultant increase in accessibility is what made his third album so different--and so much more successful. There’s a certain charm that only comes from an outsider attempting to do pop, a fusion of intuitive mass appeal, and an intuitive, unschooled process of creation. This album has that in abundance.

Music: “Hey Moon”

While “Hey Moon” is one of Maus’s best-known tracks, it’s actually a cover, and was originally penned by singer-songwriter Molly Nilsson. It’s a very simple, and very pop, composition, and it’s easy to see how it embodies the sort of straightforward songwriting Maus had in the back of his mind while creating the album. But it fundamentally lacks the signature oddness of Maus, and I think that leaves it as the least interesting track here. With everything else going on, “Hey Moon” feels all the more plain and banal in comparison.

Music: “...And the Rain”

Listening to “...And the Rain,” it’s easy to hear how strongly Maus was also influenced by Classical and Medieval composers. Besides those organ-like synth textures, Maus is also inspired by the Medieval modes, and pre-tonal ideas about melody. Whenever contemporary music uses slightly older synthesiser technology, and/or that lo-fi production, many people become preoccupied with using ideas of 80s nostalgia and retro chic to understand it. I think this album has less to do with “old school cool” and more to do with the spectre of the past as something faded and ineffable, accessible only through the dim consolations of memory. Consider “Quantum Leap,” which presents us with a hazy dream of time travel, contrasted with the “dead zone” of the present.

Music: “Quantum Leap”

In “Quantum Leap”’s more strident moments, I like to think that a whiff of the in-your-face abrasiveness of “Too Much Money” remains. But rather than scornful and vitriolic, it comes across as the overwhelming splendour of divine mystery, thanks to its appropriation of Medieval church music. There are many antecedents of what Maus is doing with it, from the tradition of goth to the work of other electronic musicians like John Foxx, but what Maus really excels at is weaving together the sacred and the profane, and getting us to forget which is supposed to be which. For a more splendid example of that, look no further than “Matter of Fact”:

Music: “Matter of Fact”

Yes, you heard that correctly--this song’s only lyrics are, “pussy is not a matter of fact.” I’m tempted to compare this laconic number to some of Maus’s earlier pieces that seem to satirize easily spouted slogans of social change, such as “Rights For Gays.” The core assertion here could be interpreted as a rebuttal of essentialism with regards to gender and sex, or perhaps of toxic masculinity, and the idea of a man feeling entitled to a woman’s body and sexuality. But its ambiguity, and possible meaninglessness, are, I think, part of what makes it so effective. Still, as far as transgressive lyricism goes, the use of the term “pussy” here pales in comparison to the preceding track, “Cop Killer.”  

Music: “Cop Killer”

Maus has described himself as extremely left-wing, but he’s also consistently maintained that his music isn’t meant to be interpreted through a strictly political lens. But however much Maus insists that “Cop Killer” is “really” about metaphorical cops, its seemingly blatant call for violence feels obscene. Ten years ago, “Cop Killer” was shock art, and an expression of the unsayable. But in the past year, more and more people have opened up to criticism of police brutality, and police as an institution. “Cop Killer” has been re-evaluated and re-contextualized, and interest in the track has surged. It’s had a degree of vindication that most provocative and challenging art will never see, no matter how powerful.

Given Maus’s frequent emphasis on ideas of criminality, justice, and the punitive arm of the government, I’m tempted to interpret the lighthouse featured on the cover of We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves as a reference to the “panopticon” prisons designed by the Enlightenment thinker Jeremy Bentham. Bentham proposed prisons, and other state buildings, in which a single observation tower stood watch over people to be controlled. Prisoners cannot tell when, and if, they are being observed, and thus are forced to live as though they are under constant surveillance, and internalize the structures of social control. The panopticon has often been used as a symbol of how structures of discipline and punishment affect the psyche of those who live within them, most famously by the 20th Century philosopher Michel Foucault.

But this is, of course, me using political theory to try and pin Maus down! We can also set this aside and appreciate the cover design for its aesthetic ambiance. Its fog and tumultuous sea evoke the wild or unrefined qualities of the music, but the bright and piercing light of the lighthouse suggest a firm and directed focus, not unlike Maus’s stated goal of creating bona fide pop.

The album’s ponderous title doesn’t actually appear on the associated artwork. This isn’t so uncommon nowadays, but when physical media was more central to music consumption, it was a self-sabotaging move that few but New Order ever got away with. Maus was one of the first artists I became aware of who chose to omit text from album art, and it struck me as a very bold and forward-thinking adaptation to an increasingly digital world. Maus nicked the title “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” from the work of the philosopher Alain Badou, under whom he studied at university. Like that piercing ray of light, it seems to suggest a pruning away of impurities, and a recalibration or refocusing of one’s energies. It applies equally well to the idea of becoming sanctified or purified in the presence of the holy, or, more prosaically, to Maus’s newly pop-oriented artistic direction.

After the success of We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, Maus’s follow-up was, essentially, the 2012 compilation, A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material, which featured assorted tracks he had written throughout the preceding decade. Over the next few years, Maus chose to isolate himself from the public eye, claiming to not see himself continuing a career in music, and instead pursuing a Ph.D. in political science. He eventually returned, however, and released a fourth LP in 2017, entitled Screen Memories. Screen Memories would continue the focus on hooky and accessible melodies, while also increasing the use of guitar and bass to bring Maus’s sound a bit closer to rock.

Music: “Touchdown”

While Maus hasn’t put down any new material since Screen Memories, he has made himself substantially more notorious quite recently, by having been present at the attempted coup at the United States Capitol Building in January of 2021. Given Maus’s aforementioned radical leftism, and his cryptic, but seemingly anti-fascist oriented tweets afterward, it seems unlikely that Maus actually supported the insurrection, but the incident continues to cast a shadow over his reputation, at least for the time being. Whether Maus is ever truly rehabilitated or not, and wherever his true intentions and sympathies lay, his music has certainly left an indelible mark. We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves was a watershed moment for this idea of lo-fi, electronic pop, with a gothic and mysterious aura to it, and I don’t think this sound would be so commonplace in today’s musical landscape without what John Maus had accomplished, ten years ago.

My favourite track on We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves is “Head For the Country.” Its stirring and anthemic refrain is one of the most emotionally powerful moments on the album, particularly when juxtaposed with its lyrical themes of feeling confined by society’s rules, and its return to the idea of criminality or deviance. It's probably too intense and overbearing to ever pass for an ordinary pop hit...but who’s keeping score? That’s everything for today--thanks for listening!

Music: “Head For the Country”

[bigskydreaming]

You’re a disgusting, abuse-survivor-shaming cunt. I hope you choke, I truly do.

So I get way more of these kinds of messages than I could possibly ever count. Have been for years. I don’t generally reply to them the way I mock some other hate messages I can at least have fun with, because like, what’s there to say about this kinda thing, y’know?

I don’t know how to get people to understand that there is NOTHING hypothetical about my anger about the things in fandom I get angry about. My rants about dark fic are PERSONAL, they have NOTHING to do with some arbitrary moral superiority stance. I don’t make assumptions as to others’ survivor status or motivations for writing various things because I don’t HAVE to, my anger and frustration are with the OUTPUT, not the inciting reasons. 

My hostility towards fandom comes directly from the hostility fandom shows me every time people try to convince me that I have no reason to have the reactions I do to the way they interact with the extremely combustible topics that define my own trauma and that of others. And the fact that fandom at large has decided that the ONLY acceptable reactions from survivors upon seeing others engaging with these sensitive topics in any way they choose, is either to be silent, or to take part in it. 

I don’t have to know which writers of which fics are or aren’t actually survivors attempting coping mechanisms of their own to be fucking furious at the way fandom has literally commodified these traumas, made them exploitable by making the catchphrase “some people write dark fic to cope” all-inclusive, utilized by anyone. With no shame or self-scrutiny as to the fact that YOU at least know if you are or aren’t a survivor, and if you aren’t one, you have ZERO business offering this particular line up as a defense to any survivor taking issue with the ways you embrace particular topics in particular ways.

The only things I have any interest in shaming people for is their choices, the fucking CHOICE to turn on any survivor who dares say “I have issues with this take” and this goes for abuse as much as it does rape. I’ve lost count of the number of authors over the years who HAVE spoken of being rape survivors specifically but then turn around and treat childhood physical abuse as their personal playground, with none of the care they put into crafting rape storylines on display when they casually have male abuse survivors punching each other in every other argument and just citing ‘boys will be boys.’ I can have sympathy for their status and experiences as rape survivors while still being upset at how they simultaneously perpetuate so many of the untruths that make it so hard for abuse survivors to affirm that they have actually been abused rather than call it something that its not, something that they’ve seen writers call it because the writers simply don’t want to inspect the fact that they’ve casually and without awareness written their characters abusing another.

It’s not a zero sum game.

I get angry not because I feel powerless in my own life (I don’t, actually, thanks, I’ve taken actionable steps every single day to fix what’s wrong in my own life and lol that’s power baby), and not because I’m fixated on my own trauma and unwilling to move past it (lol yeah I have no money to spend on anything BUT therapy because I’m committing to the highly specialized and expensive therapy I only arrived at after years of trial and error with other forms because I just don’t want to move past any of this, okay sure).

Nah, I get angry because of the galaxy brain intellects who smarmingly just decide on this view of me for themselves, condescension dripping from every ‘well-meaning’ expression of contempt sympathy, with zero examination of the fact that like.....idk guys, its a little hard to move past my trauma when everyone ELSE seems more fixated on it than I do! LOL, so we’re just gonna skip merrily on by the fact that the only reason its an ISSUE for me in fandom is because its EVERYWHERE in fandom, huh? ‘Mind the tags’ people parrot mindlessly, as though its not like tags HAVE to be created with self-awareness for what people are supposed to mind, or like I haven’t had people literally try to trigger me with tags aimed specifically at getting under my skin as ‘payback’ for something I wrote (out of moral superiority, naturally, not a visceral display of emotion, never that). As though the tags have anything to do with the fact that even outside of Ao3, there are incest-themed shipping weeks every single month of the year, that every major discord server and fic exchange and other fandom wide event demands participants be ‘ship-friendly’ which might as well be code for ‘not friendly to anyone who doesn’t prioritize ships over survivors,’ like fandom hasn’t created a culture in which people are more inclined to be defensive over how people make writers FEEL about stuff they’ve written than they are to be defensive over how certain writing makes various survivors feel.

I’ll never get over how a fandom that universally expressed disdain for Devin Grayson’s disrespectful handling of the sensitive topic of rape has obliviously embraced every form of euphemism under the sun for their own content, and just flat out REFUSES to concede that there is ANY room for criticism in ANY handling of even the most sensitive of topics. Because there’s no sensitivity allowed when it comes to any topic in fandom....unless its the writer’s sensitivity, that must be respected at all costs.

Does that not really strike you as....odd? Aren’t there lines out there about how no society or culture or environment that truly embraces free speech can simultaneously embrace freedom from criticism? And yet time and time again, its anyone who dares criticize - in ANY fashion - the HOW of what someone wrote, not even the WHY, they’re the ones termed authoritarian, censor, the one attempting to SHUT DOWN conversation rather than expand upon it. Tell me, what conversation was THIS anon and similar ilk attempting to invite? Every criticism I write of fandom invites people to engage with it. I fucking BEG people to engage with it. You’re the ones who choose not to. At least not in good faith. Because its only when I refuse to let you move the goalposts from anything other than this being about me reacting to what you wrote, no aim at doing anything other than being a reaction to an action, not an attempt to tell you what to do, just an attempt to get you to tell me WHY, if it really is as defensible as you loftily claim it is - then why is it you just can’t tell me, straight to my face, that it doesn’t matter what negative reaction your writing evokes, you don’t actually have to care? Cuz you don’t, of course. But if you’re that content with your own motivations, your own impact, why so uncomfortable just saying that?

The funny thing is, I truly don’t make any assumptions as to the why of anyone writing dark fic. I have a lot to say about the fact that we all know damn well that at least some of the people offering up the ‘some survivors use dark fic to cope’ aren’t speaking of themselves when they do so, but I have ZERO interest in imagining who that is and why. I’ve spoken of the fact that its willful naivete to assume that even if your own motivations for writing certain content are innocent in your own mind, you can’t assume the same of EVERYONE. That its nothing but willfulness to pretend that actual predators don’t peruse the same content. That the very same factors that make Dick Grayson so appealing to survivors, for example, as a strong heroic character who neverthless has been victimized and violated more than once - the flip side of this coin is this of course makes him EQUALLY appealing to people on the other end of things....a strong heroic character who nevertheless can be victimized and violated more than once.

And yet I honestly, truly have no interest in figuring out who might be whom, when it comes to writers, and I don’t assume everyone who writes or reads certain content in certain ways is in the latter camp. IT DOES ME NO GOOD, to go through life assuming that many people are all potential rapists or inclined to side with my own rapists’ or abusers’ side of things. I CHOOSE to give people the benefit of the doubt there, I assume perhaps they ARE survivors trying in good faith to cope with their own trauma and defensive about hearing that butts up against with other survivors trying to move on in other ways, or that they’re simply people who grew up in fandom being told there is nothing they can write that can be termed wrong, and have trouble with such a deeply held conviction being contested. Or perhaps only got into shipping incest because the ‘fandom elders’ of various fandoms like SPN deliberately and with full intent once upon a time pitched incest as being the same kind of taboo relationship that the same kind of people who forced gay men into secretive relationships were against....that incest ships and closeted gay ships were basically the same, and so as the latter became less of a thing as media showed more open gay relationships, incest ships became more of a thing among fans who were really compelled by the secretive/’society’s against them’ aspect of forbidden love.

I don’t assume any of that on a ONE TO ONE basis with any single writer or reader because I don’t KNOW their personal story and I’m not TRYING to. It makes no difference when I’m not talking about or arguing against the WHY of someone doing a thing, but the HOW. The end result, and the interactions it creates in the environment in which their output is published, shared, celebrated.

All at the expense of any survivor who doesn’t enjoy seeing things they’ve struggled with getting taken seriously about, maybe all their lives....not taken seriously, and offered up as just a themed week on the latest fantasy porn prompt generator. The problem with incest shippers isn’t even just ‘you ship incest, why do you do that,’ its that you can’t seem to manage to do it without assuming anyone who objects is only doing so out of a place of moral superiority. You try and make it a hypothetical argument “well what about when you do this” as opposed to something rooted in the here and now of the personal. We’re not talking about what ifs, we’re talking about what is. Deal with that before you try raising something else, instead of always raising something else so you never have to deal with that. 

The problem is people condescendingly assuming we have ZERO basis for any objection, or any negative reaction at all. Its our own fault, you see, for being too stupid to get that fiction doesn’t affect reality (even though we’ve debunked that time and time again). Its our own fault, you see, for not getting that its not really incest BECAUSE (a claim that is never actually as universal as it tries to pretend to be, and thus is never more than a distraction for the specific argument that prompted it). Its our own fault, you see, for not getting that this isn’t really a big deal, there are bigger problems, and its awfully sad if we’re so fragile and delicate we can’t handle someone enjoying something that has nothing to do with us (even though its never your call whether or not it has anything to do with us, just as its never our call what your specific motivations for writing specific content might be).

The problem is the same thing I’ve been dealing with all my life, and all the more exhausting for it being front and center in fandoms that claim to be escapism and catharsis for survivors....as long as those survivors perform in the manner fandom is comfortable with....aka the manner fandom has exploited and commodified in order to make certain manners of enjoying certain topics possible and defensible for ALL fans, regardless of their own connection to such topics, or motivations surrounding them.

Denial, avoidance, and abdication of responsibility. There’s no problem if YOU don’t see a problem, after all. There can’t be a problem if you just refuse to acknowledge a problem. A problem has nothing to do with you if you simply have nothing to do with it.

And all the while, you continue engaging in the same behaviors that provoke the same reactions that you refuse to ever actually engage with or address, relying on gaslighting to try and sell people and everyone around them that THEY’RE the real problem....its us that have no respect for freedom of speech, creativity or the creative process, other peoples’ traumas, the difference between fantasy and reality, etc etc ad nauseam.

We see people waving away instances of physical abuse with textbook abuse apologism, and we’re told we don’t know what we’re talking about. We see people offering up wording and phrasing in the comment sections of fics that are literally textbook grooming techniques we recognize from our own experiences and we’re told we’re imagining things. We see characters raping others without it being described as rape and we’re told we didn’t mind the tags, even though oddly enough, none of the tags actually said ‘rape’ but rather other euphemisms and if they aren’t in place to tell readers not to expect actual rape in the actual fic, then, what purpose is it they actually serve, again?

But sure.

Talk to me some more about survivor-shaming. 

[arsnovacadenza]

Lan Wangji, Sir, I’m Sorry

So, today my friend ranted about the changes in NCT Dream and how she feared that SM Entertainment might end up letting go of her favorite Chinese member to the Chinese management forever. It leads to us talking about weird marketing directions and the resulting alienation of the non-Chinese fans. 

In the middle of that conversation, I found myself coming back to that time when I criticized the danmei’s characterization of Lan Wangji and his romantic plot with WWX up to chp. 59. Needless to say, the reactions I got were rather…..curious to say the least (more on that later). 

After that painful trip down the memory lane, I decided to sit down and put into words what was it that made me stray away from Lan Wangji as a character and eventually the MDZS fandom as a whole. Now after some thought and seeing the matter through new perspectives, I’m ready to put this case to rest.

After some time away from the fandom, I began to watch the first season of the donghua, which, surprisingly endeared me to Lan Wangji’s character. It shows that, on his own, Lan Wangji actually has the potential to be a solid, complex, and relatable character (which, in my opinon, was in no small part thanks to the animation team, the show’s writers, and his outstanding voice actor). Therefore, I conclude that my troubled impression of Lan Wangji of the novels may have stemmed from factors related to the writing style (since the POV is exclusively Wang Wuxian’s) and other stuff lost in translation (although Exiled Rebels Scans’ translation was nothing but excellent), and me just being more interested in Wei Wuxian’s platonic relationships with other characters.

In any case, I understand that other fans find Lan Wangji (in any incarnation) an appealing character and a good romantic lead for Wei Wuxian. I respect their opinions because everybody deserves to be part of the fandom despite having different opinions.

But marketing-approved fandoms are where opinions and healthy discussions go to die. Especially if the producers or creators make demographic-pandering decisions that alienate portions of their fanbase. Especially if said creators micromanage what their own fans can and cannot produce (even ships, apparently). 

And everything is made worse when the majority endorses their behavior and overtakes nearly the entire fandom by driving away other camps that voice objections to those decisions. Meanwhile, the creators continue to shower fans with loads of fanservice dedicated to the remaining demographic. What results is a symbiosis that not only alienates part of their audience but also ensures that newcomers from different demographics will never feel comfortable within the fandom.

That, my friends, is my impression of the MDZS fandom —now entirely converted to WangXian hell. And my plunge into the SVSS fandom further confirms that.

You see, I’ve been following SVSS fan artists on Instagram and while they do make MDZS art once in a while, I never follow artists or artwork-stealing fan accounts that exclusively post MDZS content. Still, this doesn’t keep Instagram algorithms from flooding my explore tab with WangXian pictures and nothing else, aside from the occasional Jiang Cheng or Jing Lin fanart. Thankfully, the whole thing died down a bit once the donghua’s second season and The Untamed drama came out  (not gonna lie, I’m thankful for C-Drama and x nine fans suddenly getting involved in the fandom and making Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo content).

Last year, out of curiosity, I looked around Youtube for MDZS video essays and came back empty-handed. While there are plenty of review videos, the most views they can get is at 95K. Needless to say, I don’t recall ever seeing big-name reviewers specializing in animated series (Gigguk, Mother’s Basement, Saberspark, etc.) pick up the donghua.  Which in my opinion is baffling since it made quite a scene among the Japanese BL fandom. And then I realized something.

To sum up what I feel about the MDZS donghua’s marketing as a foreigner: it’s a BL work made for MXTX’s loyal fujo fanbase. Not the Chinese-speaking or BL fans, mind you, just MXTX’s fujo fanbase.

The post I made (which mostly addressed my problems with LWJ’s characterization up to chapter 59) led to an interesting exchange with a Vietnamese fan who attempted to refute my opinions but couldn’t because of potential spoilers. I should probably chalk it up to the misfortune of reading slow-burn romance novels (which MDZS supposedly is) with untranslated chapters, but all direct responses to my post were all from people who share the same ideas, among them a fan who has read the novel from start to finish. 

To date, no one has ever approached me directly via DMs or reblogs in the defense of Lan Wang Ji’s characterization. It could be that my post is just too irrelevant to warrant replies or reblogs by other fans, but it sure didn’t stop people from making passive-aggressive posts that in no way address the points made by me or other LWJ critics directly.  

See, this is where the author-endorsed hive mind mentality rears its ugly head. As someone who didn’t immediately buy Lan Wangji’s setup as the romantic lead found it baffling at how quickly the English-speaking fans embraced him as the perfect Seme without question. It doesn’t help that we get bombarded by promotional pictures that fans quickly translate as Wangxian fanservice.

To be fair, the English fandom is directly influenced by English and Vietnamese speaking fandoms and the official materials they translate. However, I can’t accuse them of deliberately concealing information and refusing to translate promotional materials unrelated to Wangxian, because there are little to none, apparently. Which brings us to the bigger problem at hand.

Now, I don’t know if the donghua on its own has exploded outside of Weibo or Twitter (do tell me if you know), but it certainly doesn’t circulate well enough to be picked up by foreign audiences with no prior interest in BL, which is strange because the Donghua itself doesn’t contain the same amount of homoerotic elements, unlike the novels. It could be that Tencent is trying to protect its reputation to avoid association with a novel that is sure to put them in trouble with the Chinese government. 

But why wouldn’t it garner a cult following outside of China, especially with more and more people embracing same-sex relationships in media regardless of whether or not they’re hardcore BL fans? While I understand that Western fans may have trouble accepting some aspects of MXTX’s depiction of same-sex relationships, I think that everyone can still have a good time and make great content together while respecting each person’s preferences and values—

Oh. 

Well, my friend, to quote Anita Sarkeesian:

In case you mistake me didn’t get my point, the problem is not about the acceptability of MXTX’s depiction of her couples by Western fans, it’s her fans (Western, Eastern, what have you) that’s censoring discussions brought up by other fans and then deeming said fans unfit to stay in the fandom. 

Funnily enough, people in the SVSS fandom do frequently point out things they don’t like with the main pairing or the characters themselves without facing repercussions from fellow SVSS fans. I also never hear anything about TGCF fans being banned from shipping non-canon pairings. CMIIW though.

So, to sum things up, I find the MDZS fandom uncomfortable due to MXTX and her fans acting like inquisitors whenever somebody critiques her work or simply pointing out things they simply don’t sit well with.  

Cry all you want about me not being able to comprehend MXTX Chinese values and writing style, but I’ll have you know that I’m part of the SVSS fandom where everybody acknowledges that some parts aren’t for everyone due to language barriers and cultural dissonance and that’s FINE.

Ex-MDZS enthusiast signing out.