#I still remember that one post saying that BLM is an American thing

[taggthewanderer]

It's true that we as Americans tend to be self-centered about what goes on in the rest of the world… but I don't think it's the fault of US bloggers talking about issues here that you're so uncurious about the events going on in your own country.

[velvetvexations]

Intolerance of Intolerance & You (& Me)

This is where the party ends I can't stand here listening to you And your racist friend I know politics bore you But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you And your racist friend

Once, around 2018, I had a Catholic friend who was a lot of fun and very good conversation. He tried to encourage me to go to church, but I was totally fine with that because I like religion as a topic and he wasn't overbearing about it. More than that, I was entirely open to the idea, because although Christianity, much less Catholicism specifically, would not ever swallow the rest of my spiritual beliefs, it was even then something that was part of my beliefs.

But beyond that, he just seemed like a great guy and was pleasant to know. A good, solid friend, a welcome interaction every day.

Then one time he just, casually, brought up that he voted for Trump.

Now, when he did this, he was specifically expressing regret...but specifically because he expected Trump to do more for Middle Eastern Christians. I don't really remember the specifics, but his protests that he totally understood it was a mistake were not convincing because his one big problem, that Trump surprisingly did not follow through on his promises for humanitarian relief to one specific religious minority in other countries, was what to any rational American voter should have been approximately the six billionth reason to not vote for the motherfucker.

I'm pretty sure our acquaintanceship lasted a bit longer because I was convinced at the time that he really did just make a bad mistake. But then not long after that, he made a big dramatic deal about how a BLM protest or something similar made him "a prisoner in his own country" because traffic was shut down for a bit. And that was what really sent it home. My exact words were that I was tired of pretending he was a good person.

I have this thing where it can sometimes be hard for me to let someone go. I broke up another close friendship with the person I was closest to for years because they started loudly complaining about immigrants in Russia, and I still think about them often and hope they're doing alright because I miss them and they were a good friend. They were a bit racist in that regard, but the emotional connection was and still is hard to sever. I've been very concerned for them ever since 2022. I wish they had been better. I wish they just apologized, or never said anything like that to begin with. I wish we were still friends.

My only IRL friend is unpraxis, but not actively so, and mostly out of ignorance. I brought up bans on HRT for kids*(important) and he was like, "honestly I think that's fine can't they just wait" and what followed was one of those times where a character seems cool and in control and then after the scene is over the person they were calmly having a discussion with realizes they had come within a nanometer of dying then and there. We got past that. God bless him, he's a lower class cis Dixielander, he just isn't plugged in.

The ones that really hurt to remember, though, were when the issues were interpersonal. I won't go into details, but I still feel sick about staying friends with some people after Discord server drama. This is a somewhat different thing than the rest of what this post talks about, but it's relevant at least in the sense that it was a moment of assessing how much I was willing to excuse in someone, and I failed the test but at least learned from it.

My outreach efforts are, of course, aimed directly at people who are unpraxis. Friendly interaction can resemble friendship at times. I feel a sense of affection towards some, the ones who just genuinely are misguided and never get outright evil with the things they say or promote. Others make it more difficult.

Of the two TRFs I've been speaking with, one has a fairly realistic view of us just having private debates now and again, while the other thinks she's eventually going to make me a "transfeminist" and a "better person," and said I "identify as a fetish" and "am everything TERFs accuse us of being" which is like...yeah, you nailed it, I'm so glad my stated goals are being achieved.

Of the TIRFs, which includes the chat group for Radfem Classic trans women, they seem to be very weird but not hateful. Some seem lonely. As ever the goal is not to convert them, but to simply support them being their best selves, and let that lead where it may.

One of the most basic examples of proximity to terrible behavior is family. Every year there are inevitable jokes about conservative relatives at holidays. I've been luckier than not in that regard, but I did have to listen to my grandfather be a terrible fucking person on long car rides, and it's all the more frustrating that I only learned he did truly awful things after he died.

My cousin, though...I really, really used to like her. Now she's gone full QAnon. It's depressing. I never have to really interact with her, but it'd be nice if I could at least still want to.

Celebrities are interesting in this way. We've talked about separating the art from the artist, but as I've said before, JK Rowling is totally unprecedented in both scale of her art's pop cultural footprint and the direct damage supporting that art enables. I used to be a huge Harry Potter fan and, like my Russian friend, it hurts to have had to cut that cord. All the stuff I liked about it feels jagged and painful to remember now, and all the franchise's negative aspects seem magnified. I've never had personal investment in JK Rowling herself, but it hurts to have lost something that meant a lot to me when I was younger.

I remember that reading the Wikipedia entries for Harry Potter characters was the very first time I ever engaged with wikis at all, which led to me getting into various franchises I'd never be into otherwise. In a way, Harry Potter is responsible for me getting into such a diverse range of things that I still think about and feature right here on this very blog often. I'm fairly sure I got into Dr. McNinja through Wikipedia, which linked to Darths & Droids, which linked to TV Tropes, and good God if TVT didn't become the center of my life for several years. It's still a site I use often, if not as religiously, and the things I got into there are legion. Probably a good deal over half the media I'm into these days.

Ronnie Radke was one I had a lot of trouble with. The last of his stuff I liked was from 2015 already, but his transphobic tweets were...distressing. The first time was bad, but he said he meant no offense and his trans fans knew he loved them. It was a totally dogshit apology, but I loved him and his music, even already knowing he was kinna a dick, so I just swallowed it. I said "good enough!" and moved past it immediately.

Then he made another transphobic tweet.

Sigh.

Then there are the ones accused of sexual misconduct. I had basically centered my life around Mindless Self Indulgence, and then the lawsuit dropped. On the other end of the equation, I was gravely upset to discover, mere days after discovering the band itself and declaring one of theirs a favorite album of mine, that the lead singer of The Orion Project turned out to have groomed fans. I like some Marilyn Manson songs a lot, but funnily enough they're all covers of songs originally by other artists.

Some artists are weird cases because things went down with them when I was a very small child or before I was born entirely, and many died before I got into their music as well. That situation has always confounded me.

Some would say the greatest example of this kinna thing is who you vote for. If you were able to vote for Harris and didn't, fuck you! But I'm not unsympathetic to people who felt deeply conflicted about it, so long as they got the fuck over it. That's pretty black-and-white to me.

No, I would say the greatest example of tolerating intolerance is when others tolerate it in you. I was a weird, deeply grating and unnerving person for most of my life. I said some really, really bad things about a variety of topics, but some people continued to stick by me. Most of all one friend continued to love me and regularly come to talk to me even in spite of me being a total dick to her about converting to Judaism because she was doing so without - I may not be articulating her exact feelings well - necessarily believing fully in God, To me, at the time, it seemed pointless and slightly offensive to me as a theist, not just someone not believing, but not believing and participating in religion anyway.

This was horribly anti-Semitic of me and it fills me with shame. I literally have zero clue how she even considered staying friends with me, but she did, and we continue to be extremely close friends as we have been for about ten years now.

Another thing, perhaps minor, is that I didn't used to get certain terms like BIPOC or queerplatonic, and I was a dick about those as well. Not, thankfully, to any BOPOC or queerplatonic people, but I eventually realized the logic behind their use and it made me show more restraint about staying in my lane in the future.

Most recently, it took a close friend admitting that they sometimes felt guilty about being Russian that made me reassess my attitude and put more effort into restraint. I felt deeply bad about it, and though they insisted they didn't mind, it still got me to understand that was no way to live one's life.

The conclusion to all of this is that some people are good people and some people aren't, and some people are caught in-between. But no matter what, the question is - how much do you care about others? How much do you care about the people they cause harm? Sometimes that can be heartbreaking, like with my old Russian friend, and sometimes actually doing anything about it can be impossible, like with family. But it's important to keep in mind. Sometimes you're in a position to help them climb out of the pit, and sometimes there are simply better people to spend your time with.

*do NOT send asks talking further about this, it's a major trigger

[that-was-a-bit-stupid-of-you]

I don't understand, what's going on with Taylor and Matt trash being a couple? Could you explain to me?

nothing is really going on at the moment tbh, cuz they broke up a pretty long while ago, but the issue is the album (if that's what you're referring to) and taylor swift herself.

[will add sources and more stuff when I find the links and if I realise I missed something out, cuz this is a general thing based off of memory]

Context: dating history

Basically she and matty had been friends for a few years (there are rumors of them hooking up ig in 1989 era maybe, but I don't really care enough to believe shit like that). Apparently he had also been pining for her (according to stuff he said in interviews and tweets) for years, but again, you can still chalk it up to rumors if you wanna.

The thing is that post her breakup with joe alwyn, she started dating him (in like april I think) [there had been dating rumors of them since 2014 tho, and again in March 2023] and the fandom kinda got divided.

Here is the link to their entire timeline

Context: what matty healy did

Matty healy (you prolly know this) is basically racist, sexist, antisemitic, homophobic and God knows what else I have missed out or not been aware of. He did shit like doing the nazi gesture on stage, mocking asian accents, tastelessly making fun of ice spice on her race and bodyshaming her, laughing and basically confirming that he watches violent rape porn of black women on a site that is known to be highly problematic and force their actors (gender neutral) to do things they dont consent to (there was also an actress who was assaulted or something but im not informed on it). Even when he was called out on stuff like this, he accused people (who were poc, btw) of overreacting.

Context: taylor and activism

Taylor had also, in the past (lover era, and miss Americana the doc) had talked about how she had been too quiet about political issues and politics itself for too long, that she understands her influence and power in society, and that she "needs to be on the right side of history" and even specifics such as that she thinks it's spineless to go on stage and say "happy pride month" and not acknowledge the political oppression that queers in USA were facing (something about a bill or the republican party idk man I'm not american, i dont remember but i did research when i watched the doc tho). She has claimed she was gonna be clear about where she stands (many republicans had considered her to be one, and many thought she's conservative or something, but she was always quiet about it, until the lover era). However, she just stopped that activism after the lover era, and went back to being quiet on where she stands (I've seen many swifties refer to the lover era as the activism era) and hasn't spoken about anything substantial really. She did some things like post a black square with 13 hearts during blm, and stuff that every celeb who wasn't openly a pos did, but that's kinda it. Even as a self proclaimed feminist, she didn't speak up on issues such as roe v wade, or about an issue regarding drag queens despite having them in yntcd, or talking about trans/queer rights until she was in a blue state (im not an American, I just like to keep up a little with stuff in usa cuz it's always up in my face sadly, and thus i cant be specific, but anyways, correct me if I'm wrong, or if I missed something).

So even after saying she'll be vocal, she was just... not. And that's basically her on politics or giving a shit about minority communities.

Context: Fandom's reaction

Swifties were extremely disappointed that taylor CHOSE to associate with a man like this, and there were fans calling her out, and she received backlash, too.

Most of these swifties were poc (myself included) and they felt hurt that an artist that they not just supported and developed such a deep connection with, but also financially supported for years, would have such disregard for them. Not just was she dating him, but she kept saying things such as "I have never been happier in all aspects of my life" or saying "I love you" or "uk who you are" in romantic songs on the tour, which was just adding insult to injury. She also did a collab with ice spice (which was completely out of nowhere, and the collab itself seemed badly made and rushed), which fans and others speculated to be a pr cover up for the fact that matty healy had mocked her (many ppl also believed that it was too quick for it to be a pr cover tho).

Now, in the fandom, when poc swifties were calling her out on dating mh, (mostly) white swifties started harassing poc swifties for doing so, or saying that they are hindering with her happiness or some bs about it being "just a fling" (again, myself included). They said it's the same as seeing a friend get out of a long-term relationship and make bad dating choices, and poc swifties should let it go (as if taylor is our close personal friend). In a mostly white fandom, poc swifties felt alienated and sidelined.

Ofc, taylor never addressed any of this backlash, and after she broke up with him, there were articles saying that sources say (which mostly means her pr team atp) that her breakup had nothing to do with his controversies or behavior.

The album release (lyrics, references and reaction)

Now, with the release of ttpd, contrary to what most of the fandom believed, most of the songs on both the albums are believed to be (and heavily hinted on) about matty healy. These include 4 songs- "ttpd", "but daddy I love him", "I can fix him (no really I can)", and "guilty as sin?"

Ttpd, the title track, talks about mh being "a tattooed golden retriever" (wtf) and about him love-bombing her, and her pining after him, thinking about marriage and shit. But daddy I love him and I can fix him, are basically that no one supported her dating decision and she's claiming that she loves him oh so goddamn much, but more importantly, her talking about her fans' reactions. Specifically, describing her poc fans to be "vipers" and "judgemental creeps" who hate her and them being hurt as "bitching and moaning", and basically took the side of the (white) fans who defended her, indirectly. She described his racist bs as "crazy" and said shit like she could "handle a dangerous man." She also has another song, "Guilty as sin?" and while I genuinely don't give a fuck about what she chooses to do in her private life, unless it is problematic, it is about her fantasizing about being with that racist man while being in a long term relationship with joe alwyn. She sings about how she wants him and wants to be with him... in multiple ways, iykyk. Again, out of context, I love this song so much, but that doesn't erase the context, right?

She also has a song "I hate it here" where she says the following lines:

"My friends used to play a game where

We would pick a decade

We wished we could live in instead of this

I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid"

And while there are many reasons why this line by itself is racist (romantisization of a time that was extremely shitty to many communities, most of which she is not a part of, showing herself to be "oh look I'm so woke I still remember the bad things even when I romanticize bad eras in history" which is something you expect from an ignorant white high schooler maybe, not a 34 y/o billionaire who claims to be well-read, etc.) but taylor swift herself saying these is adding insult to injury cuz she has shown time and time again she has no problem with racism (she kept quiet when antonia gentry, a black actress, received hate and racist threats by swifties because of a line BY NETFLIX that taylor didn't like, and she shouldn't ofc, but it wasn't the actress' fault), or associating herself with them (matty healy, for example). It is hypocritical to write something like that after writing an album about pining after a man and his "dangerousness," which is just bigotry. Way to romanticise racism, sexism, and antisemitism, taylor.

Even now, after listening to the album, she clearly doesn't like mh anymore, NOT because of his actions, but because he broke her heart, showing that she still enables and is okay with everything he did.

And that's kind of it (ig) about her and matty healy. I'm not really sure exactly which part you wanted to know, so this is just a gist of it all. Hope it helps :)

[blackgreenandblue]

I added a comment a few shared posts ago about my WIP involving unschooled wizards.

It also involves this type of psychiatric horror. I’ve been having a lot of recurring nightmares with an unnervingly consistent and ever-continuing narrative about being stuck in a psychiatric “rehabilitation” prison in the year 6474 C.E. run by theocratic fascists worshipping a twisted and warped version of the ancient Welsh Mari Lwyd, and the place is called the Ossuary of Incongruities.

I have experience with real psych wards from back in my early adolescence, and they truly are horrible places. I still periodically remember things my mind has long fought to repress, like how the staff would periodically barge in on teenagers in the latter’s own rooms - sometimes in the middle of the night - trying to see if they could catch us doing the they considered “inappropriate.” Pretty creepy stuff. Also just a ton of brainwashing and gaslighting in general along with things like physical abuse. (I literally at one point uttered the phrase “I can’t breathe!” as a grown man was sitting on my chest. This was toward the end of July 2008, so way before it became a BLM-associated saying. At least, as far as I’m aware. (Also, I’m white, for whatever that’s worth.)

In addition to fiction, I fully plan on exposing the truth of what happened to me in a memoir about growing up neurodivergent in the American Deep South. I’m hoping to avoid being sued for being specific, for as Anne Lamott once said, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

The worst thing is that there is so much potential for exploring the horror of psych wards from the angle of medical abuse, ableism, forced treatment/drugging, loss of autonomy, power imbalance, demonization, dehumanization, etc, and YET the horror genre keeps defaulting to "insane asylums and psych wards are scary because there are mentally ill people in there"

[silverrstarrr]

Headcanons of Eren with a Black s/o!🍡

(Happy black history month babes! Remember blm isn't just in this month but all year long :p)

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• You guys most likely met in your high school years.

• I feel as if Eren would stare a lot at you during freshman year. Not in a bad way but in a Curious/adoring way. I mean all his friends are white lmao💀

• He probably approached you during a class period you guys have together.

• I don't think he would be ignorant? But he'll most likely ask to touch your hair.

• Maybe you have braids, locs, or passion twist or your natural curls out/4c Afro—doesn't matter, he'll ask to touch your hair.

• Of course you can decline and tell him no, he won't really fuss over it. He'll even apologize.

• But trust me, he's going to keep staring 😭 he thinks you're really pretty, don't worry ;)

• He won't care about your Skintone/shade, lightskin, brownskin, dark-skinned. He likes them all, I don't see Eren ever have a preference in girls in general.

• Whoever he likes, he likes.

• You guys hit it off in your freshman year.

• He'll ask a lot of questions about you and your culture and your hair

"Hey, why do you wear braids??"

"Is your hair really this long? Wow 😁"

• PLEASE LMAO, I TAKE THESE AS AN INSULT BUT I KNOW HE'S JUST HE CURIOUS 😭

• You'll have to explain to him about your hair.

• You guys most likely snapped and he sent a streak of him getting out the shower and his hair is wet.

• You'll go on about how you can't wash your hair everyday, that you have a certain wash day and his reaction is like "😲"

• Poor baby is like "woooow" and ever since then, he's been hook up to learn about your lifestyle, your family, cookouts, etc. He just wants to know you.

• He calls you pretty a lot.

• Not in a flirtatious way just because he thinks YOURE really pretttyyyy. He's just stating the obvious queen🙄❗

• He offered to go to the Beauty supply store once or twice to buy your weave/pick out the next color. Or he'll just accompany you.

• Also would pick out your next nail color, maybe hairstyle.

• He doesn't care if you wear lakefront, wigs, braids, or natural. He believes they're all beautiful. Plus he understands that our hair need protective hairstyles and can't really, yjehehejehwhww iykyk.

• During BHM, he would do the mossstt.😭

• He'll buy you food and buy you hairproducts.

• He'll constantly post about African American stories on his social media.

• Talked Armin into making a poem about discrimination and racism then made him read out loud to you in the hallway😭

• Would buy a BLM shirts for him Mikasa and Armin.

"Look y/n! We're supporting your people. Remember we're on your side. BLM!!"

• IM CRACKLING TOO MUCH LMAOOOO.

• Don't worry, he's has the right attitude but mann💀

• Depends on the type of person you are: you probably confronted them and told them to relax. Or, you dealt with it and the embarrassment 😭

• You most likely ask him for Reparations 🙄❗🤞

• He deadass would give you them.

• He'll be confused at first and probably wouldn't  even understand the word 💀

• But he'll give you money though LMAO.

This was 15 year old Eren, moving on to when he's older.

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• You guys are older. You've been introduced to the rest of his friend squad. Jean, Connie, Marco, sasha etc.

• Jean most definitely thinks you're pretty and fell for you at first sight. Eren didn't like this at all.

• Eren never really understood why he didn't like it when Jean played in your braids. Eren then started to purposely make you lay between his legs so he play with your braids before Jean could.

• They probably reacted the same as Eren about regarding your hair.

• Eren would take it upon himself to explain and even tell them about Lace fronts, sew ins, braids, etc

• He'll probably show off about  how much he knows about your hair.

• Eren would ask to help you with your hair.

• He most likely looked up YouTube videos about how to plate hair or how to deal with your hair type in general.

• You could probably teach him. He wouldn't understand the first time but with practice, he's pretty good. Not better than you though 🙄🤞❗

• Carries Hair ties, brushes and combs on him just for you.

• You also carry hair ties for him because of his long hair.

• You're the person who even puts his hair into that sexy ahh man bun🤨❗

• Most likely help you on wash day. Massages oil into your scalp.

• Supplies you with hairproducts.

• Likes it when you play in his hair. During PE, you guys would sit on the bench. Him between your thighs relaxing as you caress his hair.

• You guys look so cute and perfect while doing this. Connie and Sasha would always tease you about being Eren's gf.

• Loves your food! Like literally, he's in love with it.

• During the summertime, you invited him to a cookout. A lot of your family members stared at him but you know, they're accepting and gave him some food, chatted him with etc.

• Ever since then, he would always ask your mom to come over for dinner or save him a Plate lmao😭

• Sometimes if you were to cook, he'll be in the kitchen watching you

"Why are you watching me?"

"I wanna watch you so I can learn to cook your food and surprise you one day with it."

"Suurree but you can't out-cook me."

• He'll then smirk and accept that challenge.

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Sorry I just realized I've only been talking about yall friendly part, lemme get into more intimacy 🥲

• He always have his hands on your hips, waist or ass.

• Maybe you're cuddling in the library or something, his hands are on your ass.

• Black women naturally have curvy bodies In my opinion. And curvy can mean thick, skinny or in the middle. They're still curves.

• He loves kissing your lips. Either that or your neck.

• When you're walking together he always have his hand around your waist.

• Eren seems like the type to hug you from behind and kiss the top of your head.

• I dont think he's big on PDA but that doesn't mean he won't do it.

• You're talking to Jean? Wraps his arms around your waist from behind and places his head on your shoulder- kissing your neck.

• If you so happen to have thay dump trunk in the back, he'll always caress it, give it a pat or smack it. But in the most sly way ever.

You're in the hallway, chatting up with Jean. You guys are discussing the topics of what was recently covered in class. Jean cracks a joke about how the teacher was talking and their looks. You laugh at the small insults he was throwing at your professor. Eren recently just left his class a few doors down from where you and Jean was. He notices your long box braids from down the hall and sees a tall male walking alongside with you. Eren quickly caught up with you guys. As he walked passed you, his hands slides over and grabs a good squeeze from your ass. Naturally you wouldn't mind but for some reason you got embarrassed and flustered. Most likely it was because Jean was there. Before you could respond  and complain to him, he leans over and places his lips against yours. Obviously, you kiss him back as his free hand grabs your chin, deepening the kiss. It was passionate. The kiss was probably to make up for his sudden actions but it was also because he missed your presence and touch. The way your lips felt against his own, his hands grasping and holding your hips rolled, everything. Jean rolled his eyes,

"Okay lovebirds, I get it." You break away from Eren with a small smile. You turn towards  Jean with an apologetic look, since he did just kiss you in the middle of a conversation.

Jean nodded and said his goodbyes, he'll catch up with you another. Watching as his figured faded within the crowd, you turn towards Eren and smack his arm. He let out an "ow" in response.

"Eren, what was that for? I usually don't mind it but we were chatting."

He lets out a soft groan and buries his head into your neck. He released the grip on your rear and just lays it there as his other hand slips down and does the same. You tap his back and he raises his head from it's previous position. You give him a few quick pecks, wrapping your arms around his neck, he quickly to returns the small kissed back. You both smile at one another, letting out a small giggle.

"Its okay baby, I miss you too." You peck his cheek for the last time.

"We can walk home together after school, meet me at my last period class." 

Eren face brightens up when you say those words. Mann, this boy was in love. The bell rang and you notice all the kids scrambling to get to class. He releases his arms from you and grabs your hand as you both scurry along to your next period class.

He drops you off and waves at Armin and Marco that happens to be in your last period.

"Remember your promise y/n!!" He said as he walked off to the direction of his class.

You rolled your eyes jokingly and settled in to class.

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Okay bonus:

I feel as if Eren would talk you into making those tik toks that beautiful darkskin/brownskin woman do with makeup and their cute ass hair. Of course you'll end up doing it because he kept hyping yo ass up and wouldn't let it down.

The video actually goes viral and gets a decent 345k likes with 1.1m views. Some of the kids in school  came across the video and started chatting up with you. Even some guys you never knew before started to hit you up but Eren gets so Jealous and has you hold his hands always in the halls 😭

Okay thank you loves! Please request/suggest things for him. I don't mind doing one of these for Jean, Connie, etc. Next up are my jjk men 🤨❗

[unicorndads]

For the anons asking about what Garrett tweeted and the responses of his friends: I don’t remember Garrett sharing a video at that time, and he definitely didn’t tweet the words ‘all lives matter’ or ‘blue lives matter’ or anything like that. But I do remember him sharing something long and rambling he’d written in the notes app, which I *think* (and it was a long time ago, so I might be misremembering) was along the lines of seeing LA on fire made him sad, and wishing everyone could love each other and be friends, as it would make the world a happier place. All you need is love etc etc. Seeing as this was the first time he’d said anything about the protests, he was rightly called out for it being tone deaf, focused on the wrong things, and coming across as dismissive of the situation African Americans were facing. Garrett took his tweet down pretty quickly, tweeted an apology (and again, it’s a long time ago, so I might be misremembering the details) that he hadn’t thought carefully enough about what he’d written before tweeting it, and he certainly didn’t want to come across as preaching against people’s hurt or the protests, he’d just been trying to spread ‘love and good vibes’. But he understood that it wasn’t his place to say what he said, especially with everything going on.

As for his friends (and I think it was Matt and Ricky, but may have been others too), they called him out publicly on twitter about what he wrote. In separate incidents around the same time, they tweeted their criticism of him not using his platform to spread info about BLM resources, and I think at one point Garrett got upset and asked them why they were tweeting ‘ACAB’ when they’re friends with his brother who is a cop? Anyway, I think they all deleted their tweets from that twitter exchange, and said they were having the conversation offline, as it was more productive. And seeing as they’re still friends with Garrett, I guess they must have worked things out.

I love Garrett, but I do think his ‘love conquers all’ worldview, combined with him not watching the news and trying to avoid information that makes him sad, can lead to him having views that are naive and ignorant sometimes. But he was rightly called out for what he said, apologised, and hasn’t said anything similar since, so hopefully he’s learnt and grown.

So I actually went back in my Tumblr so see posts from that time because I do want to give newer people an accurate description. The first tweet was actually a video of a cop joining a peaceful protest with the words:

“This is beautiful. At a time when so many want to fight fire with fire...there are people joining hands & moving forward into the future together.

TRUE evil wants to see us AGAINST one another. We must fight that evil with our greatest weapons: Unity, compassion & communication.”

As you said, this was very tone deaf since peaceful protests obviously weren't working and, at the time, cops were joining protests for the videos to then turn around and beat the protesters. This post upset a lot of people because his first mention of BLM was him basically condemning riots when historically they are most effective and how Black people and their allies were reacting.

He then deleted the tweet and said that he wasn't trying to tell POC how to feel, he just wanted to express unity.

A bit later he shares a video of a Black man talking about the movement, including how peaceful protests aren't working and how there are no good cops, and started that he felt like he didn't have anything else to say. Him highlighting Black voices was good to see, though he never did formally apologize for his ignorance or give his own opinion on the movement.

I don't recall a long notes app apology for this situation, so I think you may be remembering something from something else.

-

Thank you for the info on his friends! I remember now it was something on Twitter that made us realize.

-

I agree. As a white man, he has the privilege of turning a blind eye to a lot of things that affect POC. I'm hoping this situation has taught him not to.

[eustochium]

i have so many things to say about reality television for so many reasons. but for me it has legitimately come to function as a tool of survival. like when i was still in college and struggling with severe grief/stress of caring for ill and dying loved ones and also psychologically contending with branching out as a would-be academic and therefore engaging with the nightmarish political spectacle of the world around me i basically decided i was going to write The Great American Work on reality television as a medium and like society of spectacle and simulacrum etc etc whatever. this was also like the High Trump Ages and mid-COVID and at the height of the summer BLM protests and bingeing Real Housewives or The Surreal Life or 90 Day Fiancé was both an escape as well as a very simple digestible presentation of like all of foundational american mythology. also i felt so empty and grief stricken and disillusioned by everything but i was like I can’t kill myself yet because i still have Things To Say about reality tv as the quintessential american medium and it will Be Important. anyway that fell by the wayside eventually and is still decaying in my google drive lol. but like As Someone Who™ has never quite grasped human interaction or social dynamics or just like. how to function as a human being, i always just reveled in the weird schrodinger’s reality of these shows. every interaction is simultaneously real and un-real, where everything is staged but with the express intent of simulating and presenting the image of real-life human situations. like everyone is acting and performing but the performance is intended to be of their own lives. like the entire principle resonates v heavily in my brain with how i’ve felt every time i engage with others or try to navigate a social situation. (i think to an extent this mirrors like broader shared cultural and social developments of the past like half century with how we view and dictate our own senses of “self” vs “other” but i don’t wanna dwell on that rn, im the protagonist of this specific post lol)

also like i just find it fascinating the way that narratives and spectacles are manufactured and played out on reality shows. like those scenes where editors will layer dramatic sound effects and intense close-up reaction shots to give gravitas to what will otherwise be an extremely banal interaction. or when a cast member clearly has a “storyline” revolving around their conflict with another cast member so they’ll respond to an otherwise innocuous gesture or remark by having some big public episode about it. i remember once seeing a post where someone said they loved how Real Housewives cast members will always invoke the most random arbitrary rules during fights like “don’t you DARE make negative implications about my husband’s business!” and like all of these things are true and entertaining, but also that is exactly what real life is like when u are raised in a profoundly deranged and chaotic family household. like every interaction is so fraught with potential subtext and volatility that everything becomes simultaneously real and false, you only learn to perform “yourself” rather than actually being yourself, you’re playing by random rules that others make up on the fly, and u learn to anticipate strife and theatrics at every corner. anyway i’ve recently come to understand that the best and most effective way to navigate these dynamics is literally to enjoy the spectacle with the same detachment that i enjoy the chaos of Real Housewives drama. i’m on the scary island episode, just sipping my mojito and watching Kelly Bensimmon slip into full psychosis on a resort patio. “stop being mean to her, she’s clearly got problems.” you can make it stop hurting. you can stop playing a part. you can learn to stop worrying and love the show.

[hannawatchesesc]

Kinda a (long) rant about this movie situation.

I have seen a lot of posts (mainly from States) saying that Europeans are way too sensitive about this Fire Saga what ever situation, that the movie should be taken with a sense of humour, and that people from States doesn't even care about our stupid competition (when joked that they made this movie because of jealousy.)

Please note that this isn't the end of the world, or the most pressing issue to be solved, and Eurovision fandom surely knows it. Still, it doesn't change the fact, that this movie wasn't the Eurovision representation we hoped for.

TL;DR in the end

So here me out.

I'm not even ashamed to say, that this Eurovision movie didn't spark a joy in me, and that I'm tired of people who don't understand Europe, and the worth of Eurovision for this continent.

Eurovision is one (1) single thing, that honestly unites Europe. The European Union consists 27 countries, and the whole continent 51. There are about 750 million people living here, and about 450 million in the Union. So obviously the cultural differences here are huge.

These 51 countries includes: one of the most powerful countries in the world, a dictatorship, few countries with worrying state of democracy. Poor countries, rich countries, welfare states, countries which have faced a devastating humanitarian crises and wars no longer than 30 years ago, old countries, and countries not older than 10 years.

Creating unified European identity is really hard, even within the Union. And we are always compared to other parts of the world as the European Union. Sure, it's a great comparison since the Union and the States are approximately same size in population, but this erases the fact that there are 27 independent nation states in the Union with their own norms, laws and leaders. Not to mention, that Europe ≠ European Union.

We don't have sports, politics, religions or even cultures, which could unify whole continet. So to be able to unite it once a year is a miracle, that shouldn't be belittled or say that it is useless.

Eurovision has a long, succesful history of doing this. First contest was held in 1956, to unify war torn continent. Lets not forget, Europe was devided ideologically and politically. Old enemies were suddenly friends, and old friends were now enemies. Many countries were in ruins both literally and figuratively. It's not a small thing if a song contest is able to do this barely a decade after a world war tore through whole Europe, and keeps doing so six decades later.

ESC might be silly and over the top, but it's our silly and over the top. It's one thing Europeans can discuss with each other and everyone can understand the concept. It's a safe platform for marginalized groups to show their art and communities in a very large and public place, and in countries that tries to deny those communities. It isn't only about the music, it's about the possibility to share our cultures as well as be as freely who we are, when not everyone has right to do so in their every day life. Eurovision isn't without a flaws, but it has shown it's commitment to human rights more than once in recent years.

Eurovision is also a few of those things, that is truly ours (and Australians, but you know.) We live in a world full of news about US. Past four years I don't remember a single day reading/watching our national news and not seeing news from across the pond.

Sure US politics have been kinda crazy lately, but I have a hunch, that most of people there cannot tell as much about a European country's (not UK) politics, as Europeans can about US politics. We read, write and post about problematic politics in the States constantly, and worry how their foreign policy desicions will affect our countries.

And it is not just about politics. We watch American movies, tv shows, read American books, eat American foods and follow American celebrities. We use US based platforms; US based companies collect and sell our data. To be able to understand (internet) culture we need to speak English and understand how the States works as a society.

We live in very US centric world right now, that is unavoidable, but I wish Americans would regonise that. There are many issues in US that are not relatable in European countries (example gun violence, or electoral colleges). We have own problems in our countries, and yet we still need to hear about and understand yours all the time, whether we wanted it or not.

Eurovision is one piece of culture that is just European. There is a reason why we don't want Americans to be involved. We don't really care if you don't care, we are going to make these jokes anyways, because we have to care so much about your problems and culture. This is our moment to atleast pretend that US doesn't matter. Once a year we can be in our own bubble without worrying if there is going to be nuclear war next week.

So sure, we are going to be salty and sensitive about this, but it is going to be a big of a deal for like 6 days max. We are going to return to post about BLM, and gun laws and Donald Trump. But I think we have a right to be salty. Some Americans (who don't even care about our stupid competition) made a movie about our thing, made some beginner level mistakes and used the most tired European/Eurovision stereotypes.

Will Farrell maybe great guy and Eurovision fan, but it isn't the same. I know they probably tried their best to make this fun and light, but it wasn't probably the best way to tell about Eurovision for wider audience.

Maybe, just maybe this could have been our movie to make, and our story to tell? There isn't that many European movies about Superbowl, is there?

TL;DR

Living in the US Centric world is really tiring sometimes as we need to learn and understand at least our own countries and US politics and cultures, and stress about said politics' effects on our countries and continent. Beside that, we have our neigbouring countries and European Union to worry about.

Eurovision is one thing that unifies Europe and its vastly different countries. It's okay not to understand it, but being disrespectful about it is just super rude. Europe is full of problematic shit and we know it, but Eurovision isn't one of them, so just leave it alone.

[allthingsfern]

In order, my responses to comments in Reply of my COVID19 era post that was my answer to my question “My answer to my questions: Has the era of COVID19 changed your photography? How? And perhaps also, why?“ I am so confused now...

adventuresofalgy

Algy thinks you are lucky and - certainly if compared with Europeans - perhaps quite unusual in not having experienced a more profound effect on your creative outlets and expression. Many of Algy's creative friends have experienced wide-ranging and often severe impacts on their creativity and associated motivation - and therefore on their mental health as well.

themazette

As @adventuresofalgy Jenny said.... you are lucky...

I am indeed very lucky, or as I think of it, blessed. However, it is no way a US thing, nor even a California thing. I add California, because I know many in the US and around the world think of the Golden State as a haven, a progressive, hippie filled state that is all about peace and love and marijuana. However, that is far from the truth. California is like Germany in the 1920s and 30s. There was Berlin, where there was a wildness in the city that was not shared, and was often looked-down on, by those in the majority of the country, who lived in more conservative areas and who, often, economically could not afford the grand life of partying Berliners. In California it is the same. Except for a few urban areas, the state is full of very conservative folks, and for them, like for those in the cities (and in the rest of the world) this COVID19 era has been devastating. Well, and the fires for Californians have been too.

Even in this cool college town where I live, which is lovely and quiet and inspiring, the painfully empty streets, movie theaters, restaurants, shops (think of all those unemployed people) is (still) staggering. In mid-March last year, right after lockdown, I took several phone videos of the deserted street in our town and the campus, but I could not bring myself to share them, since I knew that so many others here on Tumblr were experiencing the same desolation in many different ways. (I figured: “Why add to the sorrow we are living, almost globally?”) I was overwhelmed by the emptiness of the major (well, major for a small town of around 65,000 people) street where I live and the empty bicycle trails and street on campus. And by empty, I mean that even now, I see maybe 3 cyclists per hour, and very little car traffic. Remember, this is a bicycle town; I do not own a car, doing most all my errands on my bike with its 2 fordable baskets in the rear.

And now, over a year later, that same heavy, oppressive emptiness persists. And no, I am not used to it. And yes, I traveled over the last year, but I found the same suffocating blanket of emptiness in each city I visited, even in Las Vegas. It was unnerving. As a matter of fact, last year when I drove to San Francisco 2 months after lockdown for my birthday, I wound up getting depressed and disoriented, in a city where I lived for almost 7 years. Driving back home across the Golden Gate Bridge with tears of sadness in my eyes on my birthday was not what I expected. However, I did get some solid photos of the malaise that hung thick in the air, a malaise that physically took up the space that once was taken up by crowds of people.

Now, I am also very aware that my situation is unique. (Not a fan of the word exceptional, since it can mean both unique and special, and I do not see my situation as special.) My life situation is very unique in that I have a job I love and I work with a great team of characters. We get work done and we have fun, share about our lives. My job is often, especially since COVID19 first got noticed in early 2020, stressful and demands my colleagues and I learn (and sometimes then teach) lots of new technology and that we adapt to the vagaries of the technology gods, which are sometimes unfriendly and unresponsive. And a big part of my job is trying to figure out how to get the technology gods to like us again and grace us with their gifts. (I never realized, until now, with this discussion, that the troubleshooting that is a big part of my job is creative and probably fuels my photographic creativity. Who knew?) Yet, as a group, my colleagues and I support each other. And I am fortunate to count my closest colleague, Steve, as a friend. We have been a great emotional support to each other over the years and now through this COVID19 era. And I recently was reminded (as if I needed reminding) just how unique my work situation is because I participated in a committee that was going over responses to a UC Davis-wide survey exploring levels of employee satisfaction. My 2 colleagues who were also on that committee and I did not have the complaints that others from other departments shared. We work well together, have supportive management that share what is going on and include us (as mush as possible) in the decision making process. And as a department, we get stuff done.

Possibly the best example of how blessedly unique my situation is is what happened this morning when I was talking (yes, on ZOOM) with my immediate supervisor. We discussed the work related stuff, including how at around 10:30 pm the night before I figured something out about an online tool integration I had never done before that I knew was easy but I did not see as easy until I reread the overly complicated instructions a couple of times and just figured out how and where to cut and paste the lines of code (it was that easy, just fucking cut and paste some lines of JSON code) that got the fucking thing to work. Then we talked about his dealing with his young children returning to school and how “normal” now is not “normal” from before and how disruptive the whole thing has been, yet since we work in a supportive atmosphere (and are both salaried), he was able to deal and keep living.

Then, and you are gonna love this, I shared about my original COVID19 question post and the responses and pretty much said to him what I am sharing here.

We talked for a little over an hour. That kind of rapport is rare, for any job, anywhere.

And then there is another way my situation is unique. In some ways, previous “bad things” were actually a preparation for this era of physical distance and uncertainty. In mid-2019, from July to August, first because of my work related bowling concussion and then an antibiotic resistant infection, I was bedridden for about 5 weeks and then had several absences because of concussion issues, like sudden and extreme anger flare ups, nausea, headaches. But however bad I thought that concussion and infection were, the concussion induced forgetfulness and my desire to sharpen my mind and nurture and nourish it have lead me to become, in my old age, organized. I now often take notes of important stuff, add work and personal dates and notes to my Outlook calendar, and even know what day it is, which bugs my colleagues who often find they have no idea what day and/or date it is. Yep, unique, but the bad concussion shit got me to be organized in ways that I was never able to be before, no matter what I tried. This time, I just fucking get organized, without thinking about it too much. And if I fuck up with my being organized, like I did the other day for work, I admit it, fix it, and move on.

Preparation for isolation (and unexpected natural threats) came by way of the 2018 Northern California (the region where I live) fires that year, which caused the campus to shut down for about a week. (As my friend Steve called it, the smoking break.) And for work, my colleagues and I faced a couple of long term, emergency technical outages that impacted all of the UC Davis faculty, one of them for over a month. Pretty much on a professional and personal level, I was, if not ready, at least getting used to the WTF of whatever life decides to surprise me with. (And lets not forget the really bad fire last September, seen in this video I posted of ash “snow” falling. We did not have to shut down the campus because there was no one there anyway.)

Another aspect of this last year, and one that has been present in my life for a few years now, is the BLM movement and the brutal police violence against Black people in this country. As someone who was a teaching assistant and taught in African American Studies and worked closely with students of color on campus in a student run organization, I was and am still devastated, in part because I know, from hearing so many personal accounts, the pain many of my friends, former colleagues, and former students, are still facing and how overwhelmed they felt and still feel. I understand, if as an outsider, their emotional exhaustion. This has been going on for a while, plus add the years of anti-immigrant hate against the Latinx in the US and the rising tide of violent hate against Asians, and yes, it has been sorrowful. Heartbreaking. And I have, in several ways, including my photography, tried to capture the sorrow and resilience of US people of color. It hurts, almost physically, that many people of color are just tired of talking and dealing with the hate.

So, yes, my situation is unique, but with its own emotionally draining weight. And yes, I am extremely grateful. This leads to the other 2 comments in Reply:

kkomppa

Thank you for sharing, Fern. Very interesting. Like you, I would say my output hasn’t changed much. However, I have sought locations deeper in the wilderness. This has been fulfilling.

schwarzkaeppchen

Really interesting thoughts. We live in strange times, but creativity and motivation comes and goes for so many different reasons. My photography has changed a lot. I used to work as a photographer at events and took portraits for fun... Now I'm officially a portrait photographer.

Both of these comments point to another unique aspect of my life situation: For some of us, our photography and how we do it, has not changed much, and if it has, that has been a part of our overall experience with this art form we love so much.

For me, because of my depressive tendencies, the Zen of photography, at least the way I do it, is therapeutic. And I do not use the  term “Zen” lightly here, because my spiritual life has helped me come to terms with the WTF surprises that are pretty much life, if at times the WTF of it is more impactful, as it is during this COVID19 era. And that is part of what I was trying to share with my original post: Before this period of isolation and disorientation, I was already coming to grips with the gospel truth that “creativity and motivation comes and goes for so many different reasons.” as @schwarzkaeppchen​ said. In no way do I diminish the anguish flared up by these bleak times that impact so many around the world. And really, when you think about it, bleak times have been a norm, at least here in the US, since late 2016, though, of course, lockdowns and physical distance make it all worse. But, at least for me, I try to learn from the bleak times, even if I abhor going through them. And when dealing with the highs and lows of creative energy, at least for me, I have a calm certainty that photography is part of my life and I do not have to worry, since I only love it more each day. And the other side to my certainty is that if someday my love of photography fades, some other treasure of creativity will replace it.

Let’s be real, because of photography. I think about stuff like this and get to have discussions with so many great Tumblr original photographers.

And I am grateful for it, and no, this is not unique to my life situation. I know many of us love being here and sharing the good, the bad, the confounding.

Please think about joining @tvoom and me for InConverversation this month. It has been a long time since we talked, and this COVID19 era will be our topic.

I am grateful for all y’all.

[kedreeva]

Drove out to the Ypsi BLM protest today with Sark and one of our friends. I’d meant to meet up with a group of my coworkers, but there were so many people there that we never actually found them. I’ll count that as a point in the protest’s favor. They had some great speakers, and the crowd remained peaceful the entire time. There were premade signs you could borrow (and return at the end) if you didn’t have your own. There were dozens of people walking around with free water and snacks, and medical folks threading through the crowd the entire time checking on everyone, even people that seemed fine, and everyone was wearing masks even if they were often standing a bit too close to one another. 

We marched around a huge block, yelling chants the entire time (”No Justice, No Peace” and “I can’t breathe” and “Black Lives Matter” and “George Floyd” among them). Twice some white folks near me started trying to get a chant of “fuck the police” going but were shut down for being too aggressive, which was a good move. There were drummers keeping chant beats with everything from snare drums to overturned 5g buckets and tambourines. When our section’s “NO JUSTICE” shouter got too far ahead of us, I picked it up to keep people shouting “NO PEACE” until the head of the march switched chants, and my throat is raw, raw, raw from it, but it was worth every second. There were police on every street, they had blocked off a route for us to take that the organizers had notified them of beforehand, and they made no move to do anything except watch us and direct traffic.

They ended up taking us to the local PD, where they asked the chief to come out and speak with them, and answer questions, which he did. He promised to post to social media the 8 things on the police reform legislation that he claims his officers are already doing, even though the folks from the city told us after that they definitely were not, BUT ALSO they said as much to the chief, who said if he posts it and it’s not enough, he would listen to what everyone has got to say about it and what to do to improve. Remains to be seen if that will happen. At some point, protesters took down the american and pride flags that were flying in front of the PD; I don’t know if the cops didn’t see, or if they chose to ignore it, but they didn’t try to stop them, and didn’t get angry about it. I had thought they lowered them to add the “black lives matter” flag someone had been flying during the speeches, but I never saw it go back up again. Afterward, we moved back to the starting point of the march for a couple of closing speeches, and disbanded about 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the event.

I’m only writing this down because I wanted to record keep for myself while I still remember it.

[borisbubbles]

17. CZECH REPUBLIC

Benny Christo - “Kemama”

So first off, thank you for the nice commens. 😇The past few months haven’t been the happiest time for me, so thank you for your patience as I scraped my bearings together for another post! 😁

So I will now extend that same sympathy to Benny Christo, whom I think I damn fucking underrated. Let’s jump in~

ENTRY ANALYSIS

As one may expect i INSTANTLY liked “Kemama” because you know, it’s a fun, laid-back, tropical afro-breeze, completely different from anything else we would see in NFs and the year. EXACTLY the type of song I was hoping the Czech NF would deliver (and deliver they did, see NF Corner). This level of mild like swung into strong unironic like upon realizing that the title is a contraction of “Okay Mother” 😍 and the song deals with the subject of overcoming racially-tinged discrimination and rising above the hate. That just feels very poetic and apt? “Kemama” felt like the entry that had to overcome the highest odds in order to earn the respect it so fully deserves, and still hasn’t fully reached it.

.In our Western European bubble, comprised mostly of gays and left-liberal straights, we have a very grateful and universal acceptance of many different kinds of [lizard] people that make up Eurovision casts. Yet with “Kemama” we may have reached  an unusually grimy undercurrent of coded racism. 

Of course nothing I read was outrageously rancid, than Cod for that. The worst statement I read was a double-whammy of “EWW THIS ISN’T CARIBBEANVISION” and “WHY WOULD SOMEONE FROM *KENYA* WANT TO REP CZECHIA IN EUROVISION?”, and yes they first got the continent wrong and then *also* got the country wrong in the follow-up post and then they were torn limb from limb by a pack of aformentioned left-liberals. I’m sorry but i can’t not have any other response than laughter in the face of yet another fucking MORON faceplanting themselves with words like a... racist JK Rowling if you will?

Still, while I never read something outright vile about Benny doesn’t mean I found his deniers really annoying and they were! Think “Ew Solovey is ‘Too Aggressive’ it will NEVER DO WELL IN ESC”, a statement that isn’t coded nor racist (and yet extremely false and misguided), functioned as a similar idea by the same minds. A statement borne from the same breed of narrow-minded stubbornness which has caused elitist morons to be all “there is **SOMETHING** about “Kemama” i do *NOT* like and I cannot lay my finger on it... but I **DO NOT** like it at ALL. It won’t ever qualify because everyone will think the same way I do” -- Eurovision snobs, tiptoeing around racial coda in January 2020.

 They would also insist that Benny was “arrogant” because he was seemingly impervious to their (de)constructive criticism. Like, if you were a biracial butterfly living in a slavic country who had to deal with statements such as the above on a regular basis, you WOULD block out the noise. And if you heard them often enough you will start to block them out pre-emptively. DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW COPING MECHANISMS WORK?? (oh wait you’re white-privileged. Nevermind 🙄)

 So naturally, when Benny decided that he would revamp “Okay Mother” by adding in MORE African elements it only made me love him even more lol. 😍 Was it a bull-headed, contrarian and possibly really stupid decision? Yes, yes and absolutely yes. Was it worth it? Well he managed to incite even more meltdowns in a group of people I feel nothing but contempt for, so hell yeah? Eurovision was cancelled anyway so who cares how much ‘worse’ “Kemama” actually got. 

Okay, so we’ve arrived at the revamp.

Granted, it wasn’t the best ‘vamp, I’d be a fool to deny it. The new elements threw a wrench in the melodic balance of the song. Out went tropical laid-back fun, IN went that fucking guitar oh my god this is some Hotel FM piano levels of overbearing I swear. (nb: this still didn’t stop me from ironically stanning Hotel FM’s lame asses anyway 😍). However, it made the personal backstory that I loved and savoured take a backseat to the now inferior composition. 😭

Regardless, New Kemama was fundamentally the same song, and I fundamentally liked Old Kemama, so whatevs, it made no different to me. In the eyes of many Eurovision diehards we were experiencing WORST PRESHOW SEASON EVER (after three songs... lol) and nothing clinches this brainworm more than a revamp announcement. “OH MY GOD HE WILL RUIN IT! I CAN GUARANTEE YOU I *WON’T* LIKE IT”. Self-fulfilling prophecies, ya know? It certainly didn’t help when the official channel accidentally uploaded a vid with broken soundmixing (‘OMG HORRIBLE LAST IN THE SEMI!!!!’ calm the ever-loving HELL down) and took another FULL WEEK to upload the correct vid. The damage had already been done. Typing "SEE I TOLD YOU THE REVAMP WOULD BE SHITE HA HA HA” in the Kemama comment box really just is the ESC equivalent of reponding with “Actually, *all* lives matter :smug:” to a BLM support pamphlet, isn’t it?

NF CORNER

While not my favourite NF of the bunch, I found the Czech NF to be lowkey epic. Not epic enough to remember its name but regardless Czechvision or whatever marked the end of an era because it was also the last selection spearheaded by Jan Bors :o

I think I’ve made it clear enough in the past that I’m somewhat mixed on Bors Era Czechia - Lake Malawi were a toetapping good, Ickolas was a pockmarked, skin-crawling evil and the other three inhibit a purgatory somewhere between “moderately nice” and “moderate timewaste.”

Still, I have great respect for the man who orchestrated Czech’s comeback after scoring NINE POINTS TOTAL across three years with the mindset of “So what? Why says we can’t win?” so ofc I was all into the idea of the “EIGHT INDIE ANGELS, HAND-PICKED BY BORS HIMSELF” NF that would serve as his swan song.

Naturally things went down the drain the second Bors left, with one of the eight peacing and his successor cancelling the live broadcast (does anyone remember what exactly happened? I vaguely recall one was the cause of the other but lol it’s July can’t be bothered to factscheck (Factsczeck?) anymore, bitches.

Anyway, ON TO THE GOOD STUFF, and yes, there was plenty.

We All Poop - “ All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)”

Yes, as you can imagine I ofc IMMEDIATELY fell into like when I saw that chyron and invisioned the inevitability of the Czech Rep’s Rep immediately alienating every parent just based on their name alone <3 😍 w/e WAP quickly became that “Good but not great” song you find in every NF that everyone gushes over because it’s the whitest option available. Like, yes, “All the blood” is good, but musically it’s identical to Green Day and Twenty-One Pilots and god name ANY 90s-early00′s American Punk Rock band. For me the enjoyment came from the fact that WAP were openly crazy vegan fundamentalists and the VC clip actively condemns the use ANY animal protein by replacing the cattle and game with LITERAL HUMAN BEINGS. 😍 :fusedmarcintensifies: :kasiamosage:

Pam Rabbit - “Get up”

Ohhhh YES a glorious experimental Synth-Trap song only I could love and ofc I did. God what is there even to say; the provocative darkness of the verses combined with the swirling amorphousness of the chorus gives me LIFE. LUFF THIS SHIT <3333 Ftr, this was also the fave of Slovene Juror duo / synth angels / Boris faves ZALAGASPER, further proving their pathetic naysayers that they own all things music and the haters can suck a series of-

Barbora Mochowa - “White and Black Holes“

Lol, yes even with a “Get up” existing, there was a song I liked even more. Barbora proved a very competent Lana del Gay last year, but I was a YUGE fan of this year’s... Kate Bush-Björk blend of ethereal awesome. It is so soothingly beautiful and the rare example of a song that I find completely free of flaws. Were the competition not such a hard place, I’d be pissed she didnt win (at least she won the jury vote MASSIVE KUDOS to every alum on that) but w/e this selection had opions and I’m rather robbed of a “Kemama” than I am of a BRILLIANT IRREPLICABLE AETHERBALLAD. ~Danse balance sûr les white and black holes~

Elis Mraz & Cis T - “Wanna be like”

I *VERY* strongly felt that if the Czech Republic wanted to win ESC, they should have picked Elis and even now I STILL believe she could have won. That isn’t to say I gushed over “Wanna be like” because I find it kind of annoying lol. Yes, I LOVE an annoying female voice (:Tones&Icackle:) but Elis’s reaches a Camilla Cabello sort of place for me (good lord get Senorita OFF the fucking radio) and the Scat + White Guy Rapping middle-eight. 😬. However, the second I opened up the video clip for this paragraph and was immediately BLASTED by Elis murdering a ukelele and wearing a  “schoolgirl” outfit straight from a Japanese tentacle porn movie and OH MY GOD THE AGGRESSIVE TWERKING made me reconsider that hey, this min-sized Meghan Traynor actually kinda highkey owns, yo!  Yet, I’m not at all bothered we lost her in the Czech NF because we got UNO DOS QUATRO CINCO SEIS :fatmansplit: fill up the megameme slot instead, so...

Eurovision 2020 vs Eurovision 2021

BENNY RUINED HIS SONG AND NEVER WOULD HAVE QUALIFIED. jk I’m not a moron. Sure, “Kemama” wasn’t an easy sell because you know AFROBEAT in a contest where half of the people watching are fash (ie: all of Eastern Europe, who watch out of ~Nationalistic Sentiment~ 😬), but there are Kemama live renditions out there and he owns them SO hard lol. A few soundmixing issues really would not have stopped Benny from qualifying in that RIDICULOUSLY WEAKSAUCE SEMIFINAL are you fucking kidding me. He probably would’ve bombed in the Grand Final, but I mean it’s Czech and it’s not Ickolas so ofc it would have.

And Czech renewed him for 2021 regardless of the sceptics, woohoo! I think part of it was due the Czech not wanting to re-organize an ENTIRE NF from scratch without Jan Bors, but probably also because Benny owns live when he isn’t engaged in psychological trench warfare with actual human detritus <3 and also because the Czech fucking CARE about their artists and don’t drop them like a sack of rotten potatoes wtfshitprus.

Can’t wait for the moment when he qualifies and Efendi does not, etc, etc. 

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

I’d say that the core around which the Ben Drama spun was pretty standard fare: niche fave beats out the concensus fave, meltdowns ensue, people convince themselves it was the WRONG decision because it wasn the result they wanted, try to disown the song and make a fool of themselves because the song slaps, sorry. Even the revamp drama felt more of less generic for me, because yawn fantards melting down over a revamp of a song they don’t even like what else is new.  

However, what I do take away that the revamp was ENTIRELY Benny’s idea which he told no one about (cue to JAN BORS having a social media meltdown like he’s Caesar at the Ides of March 💔) added MORE afrobeat just to troll his haters even more <3  God, I’d say it was bad from a musical perspective but this level of in-your-face defiance is fucking iconic and hilarious, sorry. This entire this year is so batshit bonkers that the concept of a someone potentially shooting themselves in the foot and “torpedo’ing” their qualification chances  (not rly, he would’ve Q’d anyway lol) JUST to take the moral high ground in a racially coded argument only HE took seriously may not even be the craziest concept in the year! (lol it definitely isn’t. Look at the pics I haven’t greyed out yet)

This and more yield Benny some well-earned Senheads! Yay!! 

Score: 3 Senhits out of 5.

[adivinationwitch]

I think the main reason people are upset that more cast members aren't speaking out is because a majority of them are white with very LARGE followings. And many of them have used their platform to speak out on other issues, so why stay silent about this one? We can't afford to stay silent anymore. Silence is still taking a side, and it's the side of the oppressor.

But they weren’t staying silent, they just hadn’t yet posted.

 People keep using the forest fires as a comparison, but I remember it was over a week after the fires hit worldwide media that Michelle posted something, and in general it was weeks before the entire cast really got a movement of awareness going. Generally speaking, many take time to post over serious issues because they’re, understandably, wary of sharing the wrong thing (for example, when people have discovered charitable links are in fact just paying corrupt governments directly, or funding billionaires). But no one got aggressive and ‘cyberbullied’ to use their own words about their perceived silence. 

Also, because they are white, there’s probably extra wariness for posting the wrong thing or wrong link and felt more research needed to be done. No one wants someone with a white saviour vibe coming along and sharing a horrendous link they didn’t research. Michelle and Miranda are not on social media every day, in fact Miranda has huge gaps between her activity, and they most likely didn’t even see all these @ messages people were doing and presumptive attacks and shitstirring (when their energy could have been better spent dedicated to the BLM efforts) until they signed in to post something about the issue. 

No one has attacked the cast for not raising awareness about the border camps, no one attacked the cast for not raising awareness about the lack of clean water in certain communities right now in the US, no one has attacked the cast for not raising awareness over the confirmed fact that Native American communities are suffering far more under Covid-19 than any other. And they weren’t attacking them over this until they read the post from Skye, which, personally, tells me the ones being the loudest and most aggressive in their ‘anger’, are not the ones who genuinely care, or as you said upset about lack of sharing from white cast members, they most likely didn’t even care about the point Skye was trying to make; they just saw an opportunity to be self-important and toxic in that self-importance, doing nothing but focusing on celebrities than the actual matter at hand. The twitter thread where some pre-teens say ‘cyberbullying works’ as if that’s a good thing to say seems to be further proof of this. 

That’s my personal opinion. 

In conclusion: yes, people with large followers should use their platforms to share awareness about important issues. But those people are not logged in every day and also need to time to research what they post (and confirm it with those they’re under contract to as many production companies can have rules about it, and they’re all under contract to Netflix and/or HBO at the moment). Not yet posting is not the same as silence or not posting at all (and doesn’t account for their activism off social media), and cyberbullying and toxic energy never helped anyone.

[maplecatra]

i am back for a brief moment!!! so, i live in the USA, if you are curious about the current political situation, here’s what’s going on:

several politician figures who are running for elections for positions have been using social media to say that the blm organization should be caterogized as a terrorist orginization, using the fact that the website says they are looking to disrupt the nuclear family idea and raising their kids in “villages” of friends and family. this way of raising kids, by the way, is very good for them because it gives them a strong community of role models that will help raise the kids and give them a more varied experience with people early on.

antifa, or antifascist, has now been classified as a terrorist orginization.

president trump is continuing to send armed police to peaceful protests, it has been appearing less in the media now. the peaceful protests for justice that aren’t disrupted by the police are not reported on making many americans who haven’t actively been following in support of the the cause believe that there are no longer any protests and that the only protests that happened were turned into riots by bad civilians supporting blm. in truth, most of the violence and rioting is started by either undercover cops or people who came to make the movement look bad.

the current black lives matter protests spurred by the death of george floyyd and pushed on by the police brutality that has killed many innocent black people is now the biggest civil rights movement of all time. there are protesters in most places now, and even the news channels, which are largely supportive of the police and avoid supporting anyone that is a victim of the police recognized the death of george floyyd as completely unwarranted and an outrage. some news channels who had not suported other innocent black people who died from police because of an excuse the cops made have taken a complete 180. others have used the chance to take videos of the riots and censor them to not show what the police have done. at one point, the news broadcasted a video that was cut off of the protests. it cut off right before the police car drives through a group of civilians.

police so far, both in past riots and current peaceful protests have:

blocked ambulances from areas in the riots where people have set up first aid kits.

driven past peaceful protests with a gun out their window

killed a black shop owner who had supplied them with free food previously and left his body in the streets for over 12 hours

gotten extremely physical with peaceful protesters, grabbing people who have done nothing wrong aggressively and forcing them down, or in painful positions.

used excessive force even with a crowd and many people recording, using violent action of protesters not resisting arrest and only not causing possibly long lasting injuries because another cop or another person the cop seems to deem an ally lifts them off at least 2 times

have taken photos with protesters faking peace for the media and tear gassing them immediately

shootig rubber bullets into crowds, which are lumps of rubber a little less than the size of your palm with metal shrapnel designed to ricochet outward. these prices of metal shrapnel have enough power to go through a persons leg, and are lethal as they are. in close range, however, they become even more dangerous and cause more damage and also panic.

used teargass to clear out an area where trump was scheduled to have a photo shoot. after teargassjng all the protesters out he took photos and said some things about how proud and brave he was.

they have gone to the supply tents of some peaceful protests and have broken all the water bottles and ruined the food so they had no supplies

currently, the US is becoming a facist nation. our president has stated that he is against antifa, has quoted hitler in a speech, has set up borders that send immigrants back into dangerous conditions or just take their kids into dangerous conditions. ICE has begun spraying harsh chemicals on and around the detention camp that is irritating the eyes, lungs and skin of the immigrants inside sometimes 3 times a day or more.

closer to the start of donald trumps term, he had disbanded the pandemic response team, and now refuses input from actually doctors and scientists. when they suggested they pause meat plants, donald trump refused and stated that they should keep working. after people started suing meat companies because of covid cases, they brought up an article with a subsection that they stated allowed them to keep working. millions have been wasted on this. upon closer inspection of the article, which was implemented by donald donald trump who stated that meat plants would keep running, does not say that meat plants are legally allowed to stay open.

our current political climate is incredibly right leaning, and bernie sanders is the only current candidate who has somewhat centrist ideas. most people in power are right wing, which means that many ideas donald trump proposes will be approved and anything that the other branches proposed will be approved by trump.

trump has a past of sexually harrasing women. it was leaked by a well known hacker that donald trump had been prosecuted for raping a 13 year old girl. he and jeffery epstein, a pedophile who ran a child sex trafficking ring for high profile people on a private island, had been fighting over who would take the virginity of the young girl. it was said that jeffery epstein killed himself before he could go to jail, but the leading theory and the most likely as well is that one of his high profile clients had him killed so he wouldn’t tell anyone their name.

trump has consistently harmed and mocked many race minorities in the US, and while parading that he has many avid minority supporters. the reality of it is that if you attend a single trump rally you will find only white people.

donald trump has made people feel more confident about being open in their racism. this appeals to many white people who believe minorities want to actively harm them when they try to gain justice for themselves, and especially for white people who were shoving these feelings down because they recognized that it was not a popular opinon but who still felt constantly motivated to share it. trump supporters are always bigoted, even if they don’t believe they are. they believe their opinion is not biggoted despite it showing incredible hypocrisy. for example, some say they support the lgbt community but don’t think they should be in kids media. that shows that they believe that only cishet characters are appropriate. and even if you haven’t heard them say anything biggoted or they say “i don’t support him but he shares my political alignment so i have to vote for him” they are bigoted. simply by supporting a person like donald trump you are supporting his ideals, his action, and a person who acts like that in a seat where he can access much more people who can become victims and can use his position to spread his biggoted opinions on every inch of news

as a result of the protests, donald trump now has a bunker. he has called trump supporters who were yelling and acting rudely “nice people” and peaceful blm protesters “savages”

the government is currently trying to make it harder for local post offices (the USPS) to function. they’re trying their best to pass things and many people haven’t noticed. taking out the USPS would take out local newspapers, which are a very reliable source. they share the voice of the people and do not have a reason to not give unbiased information. this means we will be fed mostly propaganda if this happens.

to bring up old news, i would like to take a moment to remember the time donald trump put the government in lockdown (?? he just basically pressed pause) for i think 60-70 days till the officials were begging him to stop. i don’t remember what happened to spur that on but i certainly still think that the response was inappropriate.

the US is becoming a facist nation. donald trump is putting markers on his supporters by giving them a free gift and mass emailing how to get them. the US is becoming a facist nation and it feels like my world is burning down and collapsing in on itself. people often ask why no one noticed that hitler was a horrible disgusting monster, but the reality of it is that they don’t show it until they’re in power, and then they slowly start to coax people into the idea that he is not bad. even if many americans recognize that donald trump is horrible, a devoted group of many aggressive registered voters just keep falling for it because they are tired of holding their ugliness and hatered toward others in check. no one noticed until minorities started to be put in camps and be killed by the people in power.

i’ve lived in the US my entire life and was always fed on the idea that places in the middle east were always poor and less than the US, that they were pitiful and needed the protection of our armies. i know that’s not true now, but action movies and media keep on circulating the idea that the USA is better than everywhere else and that everywhere foreign (other than canada, no one talks about canada really, and russia, the uk and australia are pretty safe) is strange and gross and any food that comes from them is censored and dulled to fit into one aisle. it’s not right, and young children are still constantly being fed these harmful ideas that they have to unlearn later in life.

the US is becoming a facist nation and the older people in my life, even if just by 2 years, refuse to recognize it.

if your outside of the US, ask any friends there if they have a plan to leave if they need to. it’s heading into a direction where it might become dangerous, the best thing to do is to be prepared.

if you can add on anything about the situation, please do. If youre from the US you can share your feelings on the situation and ways to help as well

[thinkbothways]

Entry 02

2020 was without a doubt the most chaotic and dazing year of my adult life. To “unpack” my take I’ll have to organize this entry as well as possible, as it’s so easy to lose track of, or even establish a point.

Toilet-Paper-Gate

The toilet paper frenzy baffled me. This topic forces me to admit my most cynical understanding of humanity as a social entity. (For the sake of keeping this interesting I’ll be as honest as possible, but I must first say that this is not a reflection of my typical feeling towards us humans.)

It was early covid days and we were all learning about the impending threat of this virus. Slowly I saw more masks at the grocery store, the news reported it coming closer and closer to being a full global outbreak, and then I saw the toilet paper aisle at Kroger. What do I think happened? In a nutshell, people are greedy and will put themselves first when they feel threatened in any way. Hoarding TP was one way for people to create some sense of control in a situation where there really wasn’t any. I saw videos online of people literally fighting each other for the last TP roll at the store. The situation resembled a panic induced TP stock market crash. This was the first reaction to covid and it was bleak. 

Covid is a situation that requires people to consider the impact their actions have on others and what happened? Totally selfish behavior. A problem was created for no reason but to bring a small sense of comfort and victory to a few.

I have fought to embrace my role as a member of society and to make compassion my default feeling towards others. Toilet-paper-gate challenged that. The pandemic had barely started and true colors were already being shown.

BLM protests, the news, the protests & privilege

This is a tough one to reflect on; it is so complex because it takes a specific experience to fully understand. An experience I can only observe. What I can do here is be as honest as possible about my personal experience; one I have never actually articulated. Here it goes:

For most of my life, I have been “asleep” in regards to the underlying racial tension that plagues our country. I was raised in a mostly white town/county in Massachusetts. The area I grew up was mostly upper-middle class and laughably peaceful. I road bikes with neighborhood kids, walked to school, and used my small allowance to buy soda at the old town market. 

When I was probably around 7 or 8 years old my parents showed my sister and I the 1977 historical miniseries, “Roots.” 

“Based on Alex Haley's family history. Kunta Kinte is sold into the slave trade after being abducted from his African village, and is taken to the United States. Kinte and his family observe notable events in American history, such as the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings and emancipation.” -wikipedia summary

I remember feeling utterly shocked by this series. Roots was my introduction to that part of our countries history. The horrifying imagery from the film is still seared into my memory. But as far as I knew, what the film depicted was only history. It was scary and evil, but nothing more than a thing of the past. For a young innocent mind like my own, it was inconceivable for that kind of evil to exist in modern times. In my world of nickelodeon, nintendo, and Harry Potter; racism just didn’t exist.

Up until I moved to Boston for college in 2010, at the age of 18, I really thought that racism was old news. I had never met a “racist” and I had never heard anyone say or do something racist. It was my understanding that everyone saw racism as despicable and it was pretty much abolished. In fact I still grapple with cognitive dissonance from that comfortable belief and coming to terms with the reality of our society.

In college I made friends of all different backgrounds. I studied fine art and saw films, paintings, performances, and every kind of subversive form of expression imaginable. I learned about important topics like “institutionalized racism” and the prison industrial complex. As I matured I noticed the racist undertones in our media. But I had not connected with the topic on an empathetic level. It seemed totally separate from my small world. At an art school you really don’t meet people that are prejudice. At least I didn’t. So to me it was a real, serious issue but it didn’t hit close enough to home to have a deep impact on my life.

Since then I’ve lived a tumultuous  and exciting life that basically centered around me. I did my best to be kind and learn all I could about our world and my reality was ultimately defined by me.

The summer of 2020 was an awakening. Covid had flipped everything upside down. I was confined to my tiny downtown Columbus apartment for months. 

George Floyd was killed.

When the news broke I found the whole thing sad and disturbing. But I was still asleep. The protests began and the movement was spreading throughout the country. Suddenly the movement erupted literally outside of my window. I heard the sounds and watched as a crowd of people gathered on Broad St, rapidly growing in size and getting increasingly louder. Police in riot gear lined up in front of them, marching towards them in attempt to intimidate. Pretty soon I had half of my body hanging out of the window to get a close look. The crowd chanted and pushed back on the police. They went back and forth, seeming to challenge each other to make a move. The police made the first move. Streams of powerful mace sprayed the crowd in a brown mist. Suddenly I was coughing and choking. I had never experienced mace before, nor any real violence. I think that is the moment a part of me woke up.

I think that, like in the toilet paper frenzy, people are more self centered than they know or would ever admit. For a movement to really work, it has to also have a direct effect on uninvolved individuals. The BLM protests did that. I had inadvertently gotten involved just by poking my head out of my window. That moment induced in me a new empathy. I was exposed to the smallest amount of mace and was choking and my eyes were burning. I literally cannot imagine how it would feel to be maced in the face by a police officer, but I can now understand how truly fucked up it must have been.

I think that it is in our nature to empathize with things we see ourselves in. Things that validate us and our existence. I think that an individual’s reception of art is an example of this experience. We like art that we see ourselves in. Whether it is a painting that shows a certain form of pain, or a song that describes a form of love we’ve experienced. 

I think that, as the majority, white people don’t automatically see themselves in other white people. But I can surmise that minorities have that innate empathy towards each other.

From my apartment window I saw that. I imagine that, for black Americans, seeing George Floyd murdered symbolized their own murder.

I try to understand, but I can only do so within the limitations of my own experience and empathy.

I’ll never know what it’s like to be black in America. The closest I’ve gotten to that experience was breathing in a small amount of mace from across the street. Mace that wasn’t even intended for my lungs. That is my privilege. It’s something that is extremely difficult to wrap my head around. 

What do I do?

With the pandemic still dominating basically everything, it’s difficult to come up with ideas. I feel more detached from society than ever before. To be honest, I don’t really know what I can do. I think we’re all kind of stuck watching the world through our TV and window. Our political climate is more volatile than ever and it’s got our attention by the balls.

Imagining a post-covid world feels like fiction. For now my plan is to listen to learn. I have a feeling that this class will be enlightening.

[rinrenrina]

Protests and social movements: local news media and you.

This Patriot Act video by Hasan Minhaj is about how important local news is to covering what affects us, especially in light of BLM and antifa protests. Local news media are compiling lists of Black-owned businesses, protest groups that need support, community resources, and documenting/recording perspectives and events. It's also local news media that are breaking stories of national importance like Epstein.

First, a timely article about the Seattle autonomous zone/CHAZ that’s an exact example of what’s going on in the video: local Seattle Times journalists did original reporting [link] and fact-checked some claims (yes, it’s peaceful; no, crimes are not happening; no, local businesses are not being extorted and in fact are doing well; yes, the mayor and governor told Trump to shut up) along with USA Today, which picked up ST’s reporting and added more information [link]. And here’s more original local reporting about armed right-wing groups being dangerous and obnoxious because they boogeyman antifa: [link]. Industry callouts on Fox News for creating and publishing doctored images of CHAZ, which is as ridiculous as it sounds [link].

Ridiculous.

To the point, the video had me thinking about the widespread "Why isn't the media talking about this" or "What the media won't show" messaging that's in nearly every high-note protest/BLM Twitter thread or Tumblr post I’ve seen that are not only often false (Yes, local and national news organizations are reporting that protesters are peaceful [link], cops are abusive+lying to everyone about the content of their body cams [link], and communities are creating resource and hydration centers [link]. No, news media will not ignore you if you keep protesting - the video in this post [link] is from NBC.), but show how much of an information bubble some people live in.

Remember, these are your news orgs, not a government's news orgs. Everyday people are the voices in an article, especially in local and community news.

The same popular posts I see about not trusting Democrats/Biden/liberalism and incrementalism are voiced by several knowledgeable activists in this article, New generation of activists, deeply skeptical of Democratic Party, resists calls to channel energy into the 2020 campaign [WP link | non-paywall MSN link] by Cleve Wootson Jr. [link].

Some pull quotes (but you should check out the article):

“Some people are like I’m . . . done accepting what the Democratic Party has offered us. It’s not getting better,” said Keene, 37. “This current moment is a reflection of the United States’ inability to meet any of the demands black people have put forward. I wish they would stop holding black people responsible for the failures of the Democratic Party. Why aren’t y’all responsible for not giving us a candidate worth voting for?”

Malcolm X warned people that neither Democrats nor Republicans had adequate plans to help black Americans in his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech. And Martin Luther King Jr. called on his followers to not accept political stalling.

“It’s always come down to the question of time,” Delmont said. “Dr. King had so many great sermons or speeches about time and how that group of activists just could not wait. People feel the same way today. You can’t wait for Biden to get elected. You can’t wait four years. We can’t wait on politicians if we want to see these things change.”

These are the same ideas that have floated through the blogosphere, especially here on Tumblr.

That isn't to be an idealist though. There's a lot to complain about in US journalism. At the top editor positions, it's highly staffed by white people, men, cishets, and those with privileged backgrounds. All journalists use news judgement (PBS has information on what news judgement is here: [link]), which in front page design aims to showcase what’s important to know in terms of impact, but deciding "what's important/what will people read" when the decision-making team is homogeneous and privileged leaves valuable voices unheard, entire life experiences unaddressed, and harms marginalized groups.

This is something recognized among journalists: The Inquirer's POC staff had a sick-out and open letter about a now-fired top editor's news article that insensitively riffed on BLM [link], NYT staff and union came out against the now-demoted opinion editor’s publishing of an opinion piece by the Arkansas governor that called for violence against protesters [link], Post-Gazette was publicly criticized by staff, union, and the public when management barred a Black journalist from reporting on protests because she joked about anti-protester hypocrisy [link].

There's a lot of criticism to be had about US journalism, but the "Why isn't the media talking about this" or "What the media won't show" messaging I'm seeing on Tumblr and Twitter is inaccurate because the very things people are saying are not being reported actually are being reported. It's coming from a place of not having the methods to access this information - maybe it’s not visiting non-social media sites to receive the news that affect and reflect you, not understanding that articles of quality take time, not knowing that you can reach out to news orgs and tell them what the news is, and/or not knowing how overwhelmed/source competitive news organizations are.

A read more to not dash stretch. Under the read more is information on how to escape the “Why isn’t the media reporting”/”Why am I only just hearing” information bubble (visit a news site), why the news takes days to be good (imagine writing an original research essay), and tips on avoiding paywalls and on basic journalism.

Receiving the news that affect and reflect you

There's a significant difference between the news you will see on a social media feed (even if you do follow news orgs) and the news you will see by going to any news website. I can write more about it later, but the tl;dr is that the news you see on a social media feed is decided entirely by algorithms, money, and community bubbles, which isn't evil, but causes other important news to be buried on your feeds. Social media are great for fast news and no longer letting only a select few people, who cannot reflect the need-to-knows of everyone, decide what's important. And to better avoid the information bubble, you can combine your social media feeds with news websites so that you can better avoid the "Why am I only just hearing about this" phenomenon and see that yes, the thing you said was never reported on, probably was reported. Yes, the front page curation won’t reflect the need-to-knows or even nice-to-knows of everyone, but the information available is still valuable and impactful - I saw the article on armed right-wingers holding an anti-antifa block party by visiting Seattle Times, Wootson’s article from MSN, the article on cops lying on documents about their body cam recordings from CNN’s front page. By visiting news websites, you may find information and topics that never landed on your feed - which you can now introduce to and improve your social circles with.

Articles of quality take time, aka "People wanted the news five minutes ago"

There's a few tweet threads where someone is shooting video of a currently developing situation, with a caption akin to "Why isn't the media talking about this" ...even though this is something that is currently happening, so of course no one has sat down and made the article or video segment. Especially if they’re waiting on comment from city officials. Tweets are a fast, immediate information delivery method and this is where protesters have an advantage. If you had checked YouTube's front page from the US the past weeks, you may have noticed that the news video article/news livestream section took about two days from the start of the protests to say that the protesters are peaceful and that it's the police that are violent. It's extremely slow compared to a protester's tweet. If you combine the speediness of a protester's tweet with the context/backstory/statement from officials in a news article, your knowledge of what's happening is more thorough. The news article takes time to come out and be worth reading, though.

(Related to the topic of speed and quality is the Mueller Report. It's 450 pages, yet news orgs were writing about it on day one. It was all junk because they were reading from the Trump CliffsNotes in the rush to meet the people-want-to-know-yesterday/first scoop demands so the articles worth any time only started coming out a week after the Report's release. News orgs admitted to their initial reporting being garbage and being led on, but by then readers who don't look at news websites had moved on. The same goes for any protest or breaking news coverage: it's usually junk for the first few days. Sometimes subverted by local news orgs due to their proximity to the events.)

Reach out to news orgs

There's important ground information coming from protesters and observers - first-hand experience with police brutality, police militarization, and just how tired Black Americans are of having to protest for their lives. Among this info are communities' food and hydration resources, example here [link].

"What the media won't show." "These stories need to be told."

Two things that go well together by remembering to tell your local news organizations. And if they show up (you might get the reporting from a desk treatment: adapting a press release (which btw, nonprofits and non-organized groups can write and submit too) to an article), you have their ear: tell them your message. Something every journalist has heard? "Your article is only as good as its sources." You can be the reason that article and news org are good.

The above mostly applies for when you don't want to be a press worker. But another angle is to be your own community's source of news and watchdog. You have access to the exact same information a news organization is privy to (FOIA and PRA), the same protective laws (shield laws, the First Amendment guarantees the right for journalists to work), and being a writer is free to learn and easy to do especially in the time of free blogging and content hosting. As this NPR post [link] put it:

I think I can say that I have some professional credibility as a journalist. I have a master’s degree from a major university, a national Emmy award, work in all forms of media, and am in charge of journalism at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Yet legally, I have the same standing as a journalist as a high school dropout who writes a blog in his grandmother’s basement, and that is exactly the way it is supposed to be.

And if you do start your own community news source, forward the articles you publish to the wider-area news orgs above you. Tying it back to the video: this is how the news works - local news media are important to national discourse.

Here’s some other things that can hopefully be helpful to understanding the essential field that is journalism:

- If you're being paywalled by a local or national newspaper or by a magazine you want to read, check if your library (or a friend who will let you use their library card) already pays for online access either through a website or through an app like Flipster. Or, search the title of the article and see if an another site (such as MSN) offers it free. - Tips: You only need to read the first two-three paragraphs of a news article, but it helps to read the rest. How and when to be an anonymous or on-background source: when you have information no one else has and/or you would face retaliation for speaking. More here: [link]. What differentiates an opinion from an editorial: editorials are the opinion of the editorial board, opinions are written by columnists, officials, and readers. Figure out what type of article you like better: inverted pyramid favors quick reporting (minutes to hours) and fewer facts, feature style favors long-term reporting (weeks to months) and more research, details, and human-focused anecdotes/testimony.

To nitpick the video: local and national broadcast news has more than what’s on TV, they also have a robust web article and web video article presence. For example, NBC’s article about BLM NY members’ and other activist groups in NY’s social justice and policy goals (and an app that creates digital models of Black and brown heroes of history to educate!). [NBC link | MSN link]

[semi-imaginary-place]

gamers have no rights

SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

Oh and Minato actually using crude (like he always speaks very politely)  speech for the last big shot was a good moment. i rather like minato  and you can  see how dear kaburagi is to him. Minato gets Kaburagi put on mod duty instead of being destroyed or sentenced to life at the waste facility. Minato then stops Kaburagi from getting destroyed a second time and even keeps his avatar which would have gotten him killed. and he does all this without Kaburagi asking him, without Kaburagi ever knowing. Minato in the finale then risks annihilation to see kaburagi in the finale and is willing to gamble his life by staying in deca-dence to execute the plan. if he hadn’t helped, kaburagi would almost certainly be destroyed by the bubble wipe. Minato just wants to be near Kaburagi and be a part of his life. me in the distance: “gaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy”

when the admins threw donatello into the poop jail, did no one think to take the arm gun?

Yuzuru Tachikawa  has a lot of good stuff. death parade, mob psycho 100 II, assistant director for zankyo no terror.

once a limiter is released, can you put it back on?

http://decadence-anime.com/en/ incase the website ever goes down and i have to use the wayback machine

5.5: ok so i did forget the part where they say that Solid Quake and the other mega corps manufacture the cyborgs. ah and the cyborgs are also property of Solid Quake. real last stage capitalist dystopia. and some cyborgs’ job is to play the mmo. Like the company mandates download of the game upon cyborg activation. yeah if solid quake has the resources to manage a population of squishy monsters and have absolute control of all matter in the bubble they totally could have dealt with the air pollution on the rest of the planet. There’s also at least 4 other structures/companies on the planet. I wonder what they are up to. i was wondering about the ruins, so they were made as set pieces/background art for the post apocalyptic story.

so cyborgs did originally have their roots in biological humans. but currently and all the ones we see are assembled by Solid Quake. I wonder about the cyborg cores, they have the same green glow as oxyone. And one of the characters (minato? kaburagi?) says that cores aren’t controlled by Solid Quake, so the cyborgs have free will.

So I doubt minato ever switched departments though I guess its possible, meaning when he says he wants to fight along side kaburagi again he means this metaphorically, he wants to be able to once against work towards the same goal as kaburagi side by side. Also Minato calls Kaburagi “Kabu” no honorifics or anything and the subtitles bastardize this into just “Kaburagi”

they ended up making a game that involves throwing around a cyborg core. isn’t that a little...

Though everyone helped out a little, the finale was all about helping kaburagi where as I would have preferred something like everyone working and changing the system rather than kaburagi having a chat and the deca dence system letting him do what he wants. but I suppose that’s a hook for season 2. So seen on its own deca-dence has a good solid ending but not a spectacular one. But I am so glad it has a good ending, you don’t know how many shows have gotten my hopes up in the first couple episodes only to fizzle out and flop. I am so happy this show stuck the landing even if there was a little wobble.

I watched all of Deca-Dence in one sitting and wow do I love this show. It's just a good solid show. There's no weak point, each episode is solid, the writing is good, the animation is striking, and most importantly the show holds itself together throughout its entire run.

funny thing is. When I first saw the promo material for this anime back in spring of 2020 i went like ”ugggg not another one of these” where the remnants of humanity fight against annihilation at the hands of some monsters like shingeki no kyoujin or kabaneri of the iron fortress mostly because I’m been thinking a lot on compassion for the Other and a lack of that combined with propaganda about how the Other is a threat to the existence of the in-group forms the basis of a lot of modern facism and white supremacy groups that justify their existence against an imaginary threat use this same kind of logic framing themselves as the last bastions of humanity (whiteness) against a monstrous other (muslims, immigrants, ethnic minorities, usually people of color/not white people). Now the premises of humanity fighting against annihilation by monsters in of itself isn’t necessarily racist, but after a year where violent racism exploded against asian americans and BLM had a lot of attention, my mind can’t help but be in that space. However by the time I watched Deca-Dence on January 25, 2021 I had completely forgotten everything and anything about the show. All I remembered was some people crying about it on tumblr and twitter whose posts I skipped over once I realized they were about a show I hadn’t seen. So I went into this with a completely blank slate, I didn’t know that this was scifi, or that there was a giant fortress city, I didn’t know that Kaburagi was featured in the promos alongside Natsume, and I didn’t know we would be fighting monsters. But the first episode was just so well directed that I was excited for a second one despite the premises, and also i was still processing that last shot when i clicked the next episode button. It was the second episode that sold this show for me.

Oh I totally forgot to talk about natsume’s arm and how the show handle’s disability. Also I don’t have a prosthetic so take this with a gain of salt. Natsume occasionally feels self conscious about her prosthetic arm since people will comment on it and it adds barriers in her life, disqualifying her from joining The Power and making it more difficult to adjust the nozzle on her pack. She has added struggles in her life that others don’t, but the show never portrays her as lesser for it, its just something she has to consider and work around in her life. The line about how its not her weakness, but her power was a good line. And she literally turned it into a weapon, that’s so cool.

Corporations generate capital for the enrichment of their shareholders. But in the world of deca-dence there are no shareholders at the end of the pipeline. The machinery of the capitalist firm continues to spin, squeezing out as much cheap or free labor as possible, and acquiring assets, but for nothing and no one. Its a system made to benefit the Few, but whose beneficiaries no longer exist (or at least we never see them in the anime). The exploitation of the Tankers and cyborgs serve no purpose but to continue the existence of Solid Quake and its system.

dissonance grieving tankers at funeral to cyborgs chatting about how fun the last raid event was. bright cartoony artstyle to the dystopia of neoliberal capitalism (and the labor camp). the cheery game trailer and company intro style exposition for the apocalypse.

The reason the ending was only good instead of spectacular is because it doesn’t engage with the themes laid down in earlier episodes enough. The ending provides an emotionally fulfilling ending for its characters but only a lukewarm one for late-stage capitalism. There’s two narratives going on in Deca-Dence. The personal narrative told through Natsume and Kaburagi about learning to try again, improve yourself, make your own decisions, live on your own terms, and push your limits. Then there’s the secondary narrative about overcoming structures and systems of oppression. The anime team did a great job at the first one, but kinda meh about the second one. When we are introduced to the people of Deca-Dence we see them stratified into classes like Gear/cyborg and Tanker. However this is a false narrative perpetuated by Solid Quake to maintain its control of both groups, after all Solid Quake owns both the cyborgs and the Tankers as literal property. Ideally the Tankers and cyborgs would realize the divide between them is false and team up to tear down not only Solid Quake but the systems that allowed mega corps to exist in the first place and build more equitable and just social systems. And we do get some of this in the ending with changes in how Solid Quake is run (no more punishment of “bugs”, got rid of the gulag), but all this is shoved to the background. Essentially management and company policy changed but the fact that the corporation or its structures exists, didn’t. I can't tell if its deliberate or not though. Its common with single cour anime to leave dangling plot threads as a bid to the funding for a second season and most of them never do. So I can see it like that, but eh I still never liked this approach. Its also a limitation of the single cour instead of being produced as a 24 ep anime where they would have had lime to develop that second narrative.