#NEGATIVE FIVE PERCENT… hater

[berylgrace]

percy is such a hater… i live

[thewispsings]

Could you do a part 2 to please date my sister in law with max and r getting married?

wedding of the century | max verstappen

part 2 of ‘please date my sister in law’

pairing: max verstappen x reader

summary: one year after charles sets up his sister in law with max, the world is preparing for the wedding of the century.

liked by charles_leclerc, yourusername, landonorris, and 819,717 others!

maxverstappen1: to be wed 💙

view comments below!

user1: OH SHIT ITS HAPPENING

user2: STAY CALM EVERYONE!! STAY CALM!! STAY FUCKING CALM

user3: charles leclerc found yelling out in happiness, 3:21 AM, monaco.

user4: oh my god

user5: omg

user6: the pictures are so cute 🥹

user7: THAT SHOUDLVE BEEN ME

user8: marrying max? or marrying yn?

user7: BOTH

user9: max waited no time to put a ring on that

user10: AHH IM SO EXCITED

user11: i can live out my wedding fantasies through you guys 🥹

user12: i know charles is freaking out rn

charles_leclerc: oh yes. i’ll be over with the binder in five minutes.

user13: he’s actually at lot more calmer then i expected

yoursistersuser: nope! he yelled for a straight ten minutes after this was posted

user14: yeah that sound more like him…

user15: so happy for you two 🤞

landonorris: so when can i pick up my bridesmaid dress?

maxverstappen1: you mean your groomsmen suit?….

landonorris: i know what i meant

user16: i hope max takes her last name

danielricciardo: how funny would it have been if she said no

maxverstappen1: not funny at all

danielricciardo: tough crowd

user17: ahhhh congratulations!!

user18: NO PLS NO

user19; you have shattered my heart

yourusername: FUCK YOU BEAT ME TO IT

maxverstappen1: YOU TOLD ME I COULD MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT FIRST??

yourusername: I LIED I WAS GOING TO BEAT YOU TO IT

maxverstappen1: HAHAH SLOW POKE

user20: these are the two getting married btw

user21: i didn’t want you anyways 😒

liked by, charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri, maxverstappen1, and 916,016 others!

yourusername: officially a #fiancé! 😾

view comments below!

user22: so it’s real….

user23: why wouldn’t it be real?

user22: idk i was hoping max went crazy and just started making shit up

user24: you know what. hell yeah.

user25: mama a happy future ahead of YOU 💜

user26: CONGRATULATIONS!!

user27: no….

user28: this just broke my heart

user29: so happy for you two 🥹

user30: if anyone deserves this happiness, it’s you!! congratulations 🎊

oscarpiastri: oh he wasn’t kidding

oscarpiastri: you said yes?…

yourusername: i cannot deal with your negativity today oscar

oscarpiastri: IM JUST SAYING

oscarpiastri: you said yes?…

user31: let’s all say thank you charles!!

charles_leclerc: YES THANK YOU CHARLES! WE ALL THANK CHARLES!!

charles_leclerc: and too think they all called me crazy for setting them up!

charles_leclerc: HA

charles_leclerc: and to think…

user32: you’re talking to yourself babe

landonorris: i can’t wait to pick up my bridesmaid dress

yourusername; we talked about this lando

landonorris: i know 😔

user33: does this mean lando isn’t a bridesmaid? because i would KILL to see that man in a dress

user34: HELL YEAH!!

user35: true love, rock on 🤘

user36: 50 percent of marriages end in divorce

user37: genuinely, why would you say this

user36: i’m a hater to my core

user38: no you’re a bitch to your core

user39; oh damn

yoursistersuser: love you babe 💜 but pls tell charles he can calm it with the wedding planning

yourusername: and you think he’ll listen to me?

yoursistersuser: no, but it was worth it a try 💔

liked by, yourusername, maxverstappen1, and 720,015 others!

charles_leclerc: it’s always hows the wedding plannING? and never hows the wedding plannER? 😕

view comments below!

user40: nobody gaf how you are, WHENS THE WEDDING?????

carlossainz: when’s the wedding?

user41: you signed up for this buddy, when’s the fricking wedding???

oscarpiastri: when’s the wedding?

user44: uh huh, uh huh, yep totally agree! when’s the wedding?

user45: who cares, when’s the wedding?

user46: i don’t care, when’s the wedding??

landonorris: when’s the wedding?

user47: don’t give a shit, when’s the wedding?

user48: chop chop wedding planner, when’s the wedding????

danielricciardo: when’s the wedding?

user49: OMG CHARLES NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU, WHENS THE WEDDING????

user50: shut up when nobody asks, when’s the wedding????

maxverstappen1: when’s the wedding?

user51: boy who asked? when’s the wedding?????

charles_leclerc: I WAS GOING TO ANNOUNCE THE WEDDING DATE. BUT YOU SICK FUCKS DONT DESERVE IT! SO FUCK YOU ALL!!! YOU WONT KNOW WHEN THE WEDDING IS!! HA HA HA. LOSERS.

user51: charles wait we were joking

user52: don’t pmo

user53: DONT BE SUCH A BABY!!! WHENS THE FUCKING WEDDING?

liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz, and 1,027,017 others!

maxverstappen1: i’ve reached peak happiness

view comments below!

user53: you are fucking kidding me

user54: CHARLES I WILL KILL YOU

user55: WHAT

user56: WHEN

user57: HOW

user58: WHERE

yourusername; 💙💙

user59: BUT YOU JUST PROPOSED??? LIKE THREE MONTHS AGO

user60: no, you guys are actually so fake for this

user61: wow, i can’t believe this

landonorris: congratulations!! i still think me as a bridesmaid would’ve been amazing but….

maxverstappen1: let it go lando

landonorris; FINE

user62: charles when i find you

user63: i say we all kill charles on his birthday

user64: how could you guys do this to me??

oscarpiastri: loved the shrimp! 🦐

user65: THEY HAD SHRIMP

user66: charles planned a whole wedding in 3 months???

use67: that’s actually so impressive

liked by charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri, user68, and 927,518 others!

yourusername: i win! 👰‍♀️

view comments below!

user68: you’re actually fucking kidding me. charles leclerc when i find you

user69: not to much now, he did plan this in 3 only months

charles_leclerc: THANK YOU!! HOW ABOUT SOME APPRECIATION FOR MY PLANNING

user70: stfu. it’s your fault non of us knew when the wedding was going to be

user71: these pictures are so cute 🥰

user78: living through you guys rn

user79: someday i hope to be married to someone who loves me as much as max loves yn

user80: con😭gra😭tula😭tions😭

user81: so happy for you guys!!! i will go kill myself now!!!

user82: THAT SHOULDVE BEEN ME

user83: that man did NOT wait to put a ring on it

user84: if he wanted to, he would

user85: let this be a reminder to women that if someone wanted to marry you, they would!! congratulations 💙

oscarpiastri: loved the shrimps 🍤

user86: we get it oscar

oscarpiastri; no. you don’t. the shrimp were delicious.

user87: don’t brag

oscarpiastri: i’ll brag all i want. you can’t do anything about it because i had the shrimp and you didn’t 😹

user88: oh damn

user89: someone’s passionate about the shrimp…

yoursistersuser: love you to the moon and back 🌙

yourusername:💛💛💛

charles_leclerc: i’m hearing a lot of ‘love you’ and ‘shrimps’ but i’m not hearing enough ‘thank you charles for planning a beautiful wedding in 3 months and taking time out of your very BUSY racing career to make sure my wedding was amazing’

yourusername: don’t act like you didn’t beg me to let you plan the wedding

maxverstappen1: yeah, me and yn were fine with eloping

charles_leclerc: please guys, no need to thank me! it was my pleasure ❤️

oscarpiastri: the shrimp were great man

liked by carlossainz, maxverstappen1, user90, and 710,761 others!

charles_leclerc: since no one else will say it 😒 thank you charles for planning a beautiful wedding in 3 months and taking time out of your very BUSY racing career to make sure my wedding was amazing

view comments below!

user91: i’m still pissed at you for not telling us when the wedding is

user91: it was a beautiful wedding tho

charles_leclerc: thank you charles!!

charles_leclerc: of course charles!!!

charles_leclerc: beautiful work!! especially with the very short time you were given

user92: maybe we shouldn’t let charles plan anymore weddings, it looks like they’ve drove him insane

carlossainz: i look gorgeous

oscarpiastri: the shrimps were chef kiss 🤌

landonorris: what is with you man?

georgerussell63: are you still drunk?

user93: charles posting more photos then the actual people who got married is so funny 😭

user93: it really sums up their relationship

user94: beautiful wedding planning charles!! 👏

user95: how much do you charge??

user96: i still can’t believe yn and max got together, engaged, and married in less then 2 years

user97: i bet she’s pregnant

user98: WOAH

user99: where tf did that come from

user100: or maybe they just love each other??? not everyone waits years and years hoping that their shitty bf will propose to them

user101: oh! okay!

user102: you ate those decorations up charles

user103: the flowers??? gorgeous

user103: if yn and max ever divorce, i will kill myself

oscarpiastri: great shrimp 🥰

user14: what tf is wrong with you

. . .

thank you fo rrequesting!!! life’s been busy but i hope you guys didn’t forget me 🩶

[kitkatopinions]

“Lots of RWDE blogs don’t post *criticism,* they just post hate.”

Okay? Next argument?

Like, I’m sorry, are people not allowed to hate things on the internet? Are we not allowed to talk about things in RWBY we hate? Are we not allowed to talk about characters or plot points in RWBY we hate? Are we supposed to use compliment sandwiches or something, or make sure our delivery is always one hundred percent emotionless?

Like, I could talk about how people will dismiss literally any RWBY criticism if they don’t personally like it - even if rwde posters are just stating what happens in canon - and call it hate, or I could talk about the insane levels of rules and standards we’re held up to in order to achieve the ‘valid critique’ label from these anti rwde posters. But I don’t care to do that. It’s just like “You’re the HTDM!” Okay??? Why are we supposed to not talk about things we hate? For the comfort of people who refuse to cultivate their own internet experience by easily filtering out tags like ‘RWDE,’ ‘RWBY hate,’ ‘anti RWBY,’ and ‘RWBY bashing?’ How is that my responsibility as a grown adult expressing myself in an online forum while using all the proper tags? RWBY fans choose to see the content of me and other RWDE posters, some people literally evade blocks to continue to do so. Sorry for not catering my opinions or how I express myself to someone else’s comfort level over a problematic web cartoon made by a notoriously problematic company, I guess??

People are allowed to hate things in RWBY, hate characters, hate some of the choices, hate the direction of the show, hate some of the dialogue - heck, people are allowed to hate the whole show. And they’re allowed to talk about the things they hate - yes, even if they hate the whole show - without pretending to be emotionless and completely objective. They can say when they actually really dislike something, or they can say something impacted them negatively, or impacted their enjoyment of the show negatively. They can just say ‘this sucked’ if they think something sucked. Yes, real hot take apparently, but people are allowed to hate things and talk to others’ about or post online about their feelings. And that’s something that anti RWDE posters probably do already know, because they talk about hating things and post hate with as much venom - if not even more venom - as any RWDE poster, it’s just that the things they hate are RWDE posters and James Ironwood, instead of things like the choices of the writers, and the Atlas outfits.

And for the record, for people that apparently don’t know, here’s the first two definitions of criticism:

noun

the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything. the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.

Severe judgement

SEVERE judgement

Severe judgement

Like, imagine if while Gordon Ramsey was doing Kitchen Nightmares, the store owners and chefs started freaking out about how he wasn’t a real critic because real critics aren’t mean and he’s just a hater who hates their cooking. I mean, I don’t have to imagine it, because it happened all the time and it was ridiculous of them. Critic doesn’t mean ‘nice, soft, emotionless, careful toned, treat everything like an educational opportunity.’ Some people choose to do that, and they’re great! Weird that even they get lumped into the ‘HTDM’ just because they also don’t think RWBY is a near perfect show. But as I’ve learned there is no way to make anti RWDE people happy or satisfied with my stuff and the whole point of this blog of mine is venting, I refuse to spend my time talking about a web cartoon made by grown people from a freaking problematic corporation the same way I would talk to a five year old about why they shouldn’t hit, especially because no one is making anyone see RWDE content!

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Hi. Not VMIN or Namjin related, but I would love to hear your opinion about some critics (maybe haters is a better word lol) saying how Butter's success is inorganic. They were saying how it's just army mass streaming and mass buying etc, that the BB charts are irrelevant bec of it. It's a controversial topic and apparently it was common in the music industry to have payolas too? Lol. I never knew there's politics into it. Does streaming practically mean "cheating" ? Your thoughts?

You've come to the right place because I have a lot of opinions on the topic and I'm more than willing to share my thoughts because truly, just like everybody else, I'm sick and tired of yet another whiny white man of the week coming at us with baseless accusations of ARMY "cheating" and inorganically pushing Butter because that doesn't fit with what has been the status quo so far.

The issue, though really it only is an issue because it’s BTS and ARMY, is, like you said, ARMY buying Butter via the US store offered to us by BH/Columbia. This is funded either via funding accounts that gather donations and distribute them to those (usually fellow ARMYs) willing/wanting to buy the song, or people who just, well, want to buy the song because they like it, which includes non-ARMYs, aka locals/the general public. None of that is against the rules, which I think whiny white man of the week also acknowledged, but here we are anyway.

This complaint isn’t new either, we’ve already gone over it last year with Dynamite, so it’s another cyclical piece of discourse we’re having to deal with. Here is something that Bryan Rolli, a journalist writing (among other places) for Forbes and the man behind a lot of really good articles about BTS (among them also one in defense of them about this very topic), twted recently:

And he is right, it’s unrealistic to think that even a fandom as large as ours in the US would be able to find funds they are able to spend across five weeks and ongoing in order to just make the #1 happen based on sales. There is no way, unless we have some truly generous rich people amongst us who would be wiling to spend thousands of dollars. Which we don't, as far as I’m aware. Which leaves us with one conclusion: while yes, ARMY are able to buy a good quantity of copies of Butter, it’s ridiculous to think that a song that is such a hit hasn't found its way into the heart of locals as well and that there aren’t people out in the US who just like the song and have bought it. Not because ARMY asked them to, but because they genuinely wanted to.

Besides, regardless how many copies ARMY would buy, sales aren’t the only deciding factor that goes into which song gets onto the charts, and which one will be #1. 

In order to chart on Billboard Hot 100 you basically need points gathered across three major categories: Sales (physical as well as digital), Streams (this includes music streaming services as well as video streams on YT) and Airplay. There are more finer details that go into all three of these, but just knowing those basics is enough for this post.

Staying with sales, there are many ways in which you can game the system, most of them ways BH has never touched while US artists did. Have any of these critics ever proclaimed how that was breaking and manipulating the charts? Of course not. At the height of the bundles era a label could decide to bundle something as cheap as a lollipop with a song/album and the sale of that lollipop would count as song/album sale, even if you didn’t actually pay for the album/song. That used to be an awfully popular method of gaming the system, just like selling a single song on a CD for a dollar (which isn’t against the rules) knowing that physical sales weigh heavier than digital ones. Again, that’s something BH/BTS never did.

So, even if we’d have sales covered, we still need streams and airplay to get that number one. Do you know what one of the major factors was for why ON “only” made it onto #4 and never onto #1? It wasn’t the song being bad and ARMY not buying, but because it barely got any spins on US radios. And by barely I mean (if I remember right) less than ten.

More below the cut:

Years ago when BTS were not anywhere as famous in the BTS as they are now, ARMY would call radio stations across the US, send flowers and cupcakes, just to get them to play BTS. In most cases, radios laughed at them and refused to do it. Thanks to one radio DJ we even know that there used to be a group chat of radio DJs who spent their time ridiculing BTS and ARMY and discussing how regardless of what we’d do, they wouldn’t play them anyway because *inset dumb, likely ra/cist, reasons here*.

Thankfully with Dynamite and Butter being English singles, the tides have turned a little more in our favor. According to this website the wonderful BTSChartData has created, Butter has had a reach/audience of 12M when it comes to radio (I’m unsure if this is overall or just this week) with nearly 3.5k spins. This helps tremendously when it comes to BBH100 points, but it’s important to remember that really, we don’t have any real influence on radio playlisting. Labels do through something commonly known as payola. And many, and by that I mean many, do that for their artists. Notice how some songs are being played nearly every hour? And yet other things which are massive hits get barely any plays at all? As far as we know BH/Colombia has never done any of this for BTS. If they had, those spin numbers would look very differently.

At this point we could get into a whole argument how messed up it is that it took an English song for radios to play BTS while they basically refused to do so with their Korean ones, and how with radio charts labels have the ability to pay their chosen songs to be high on them, but that’s a can of worms that would take too much time and we’re all aware that it’s a thing that happens.

The last category is streaming and here it gets messy, or messier, depending on how you look at it. ARMY might be the only fandom with this degree of knowledge about streaming and how to make our streams count, how to set up playlists properly etc, and yes, we do use our knowledge to our advantage, so to speak. And yet the system still finds a way to penalize us for it by basically filtering out massive amounts of streams for apparently no reason whatsoever. While other songs and their first day streams saw a filter rate of perhaps ten, maybe twenty, percent, do you know what it looked like for Butter?

That’s quite the difference, right? And it remained at such drastic numbers for quite a while, too. Despite ARMY knowing how not to behave like bots, even though critics and antis love to present us as such. Does Spotify explain those filter rates, or even how those are decided and calculated? No. So basically ARMY is up against an invisible power that has all the tools while we have to hope we won’t get stepped on and crushed like ants.

Speaking of Spotify, a big part of how streaming numbers happen and how songs find their way in front of new audiences are playlists, specifically the ones curated by unknown Spotify staff members like Today’s Top Hits (28.8M followers) or Top 50 - Global (16M followers). Since those playlists are created by Spotify using whatever secret criteria, we have no influence onto them (other than some that depend, to a degree, on streaming numbers). Labels do through, again, payola. Labels can buy their artists top spots on the biggest playlists and thus their songs get massive streaming numbers, not because fans genuinely listen to them, but because random people listening to those playlists might have it playing in the background without them even really knowing it or being aware who the artist is or what the song is called. You know those ads you get when you’re listening to the free version of Spotify, specifically those advertising some new album or song? Even just those thirty seconds of ad time count as a stream.

While it’s true that ARMY hold streaming parties, it is also a fact that ARMY, unlike many other fandoms, really spend a lot of time genuinely listening to BTS’ music in general. And while some idiots on twt think streaming means sitting motionlessly while staring at a screen as the song is playing over and over again, most ARMY just have the music playing while they do something else, like household chores or reading or doing work. Is it cheating to enjoy your favorite artists music? To play it on Spotify or any other streaming platform? Is it cheating to watch an MV simply because you enjoy it? No, of course not. 

Therefore, to answer your question, no, streaming isn’t cheating. And neither are listening/streaming parties since, chances are, even without them those participating in them would be listening to BTS anyway. Thanks to those parties they get to do it with a sense of community, talk to each other, discuss whichever song is currently playing, and have fun. Nothing inorganic about that.

Pulling up another Brian, in this case Brian Cantor who is an entertainment journalist, here’s something he said that I think is very true:

And that’s the thing, when BH set up streaming parties for a week after the release of Butter, that was seen negatively, as well as ARMY doing their own, and yet when another artist’s label did it for them, it was seen as fun way to engage with fans and to make listening to the new album a collective experience, or something like that. As long as it is Bangtan, only the negatives will count. But they (critics) forget something, as in, setting up listening parties and online stores for songs is one thing, but getting people to actually tune in and spend their coin on music are a completely different one.

And this is the thing that whiny white man of the week, chose whichever one you want, don’t understand--the fact that ARMY are a big and very active fandom. That we are organized and that, in order for BTS to chart and be known, BH/Columbia doesn’t need to use any of the cheats that US labels use, like payola. They don’t have to rely on the whims of the general public, on radio DJs, or put out tens of thousands of dollars to get proper playlisting and interest in a song. BTS releases new music and ARMY is there, we tune in, we spend our hard earned money on their music, not because some smart PR tactic tricked us into it, not because playlisting, payola, and mediaplay tricked us into it, but because we genuinely enjoy their music, because we have this one of a kind connection with Bangtan, one that US labels, and whiny white man of the week, don’t understand. And don’t really care to understand either.

Because those aren’t the norm in the US. Because in the past hit songs were decided through large sums of money and deals happening behind closed doors. Yet now ARMY and BTS are here. We see the broken pieces of the system, we shine light upon them, reveal the negatives and all the ways in which the system doesn’t work and/or isn’t fair, we’re vocal about it on social media, and whiny white man of the week, as well as label executives, don’t like it. So we are made out to be the bad guys. For genuinely enjoying our favorite artists and their music. For being willing to listen to them and to spend money on them. What scandalous behavior.

We don’t do what we do because we want to game the system, but because we want things to be more fair, for BTS to get the respect they deserve, to be listened to and given the time of day. They are called the biggest band in the world right now, so why is it so hard to believe that their song is rightfully #1? That they are simply popular, not just with ARMY but also with locals (Dynamite is the background music in the new trailer for the Clifford the Big Red Dog movie, has been used at high school graduations, and many other things showing just how big of a hit it still is almost a year later, that isn’t us, that’s locals loving the song just as much as we do), and that ARMY aren’t just silly little girls (not that there is anything wrong with being a little girl that enjoys music, of course) that scream any time someone as much as mentions BTS. We are a large and extremely diverse fandom in terms of age, gender, race, and education/profession. We see the injustice and we aren’t afraid to point it out and stand up against it.

What we are doing isn’t manipulation, isn’t inorganic or fake, and it certainly isn’t making BBH100 irrelevant or broken. If anything it shows that it already was that way before we arrived. 

[dynamicduoofstackie]

Me at the end of The Falcon and Winter Soldier Finale:

I know my behind set an alarm for 3am, woke up, mentally said "oh hell nah, and fell my ass back to sleep in order to wake up at a decent hour, but still...

Spoilers ahead

I love me some Sam Wilson... but he spent 89% of the TV show blocking his blessings with the shield cause he gave a damn what America thought about a black man with stars and stripes and a shield. Clearly he ain't give a damn when he was an American pararescuer or an American VA counselor or an American superhero with wings, but as soon as he got a promotion... he got to thinking... but that racism though. Like he wasn't deal with haters and racism as the Falcon, which clearly he did at the bank and the streets of Baltimore with the cops.

So Bucky was the only one keeping it real by wanting to give that shield back to the rightful owner, Sam Wilson. He was as subtle as a fog horn having Wakanda not only giving Sam a new set of wings and Redwing. But a whole Captain America outfit. If that ain't love, gifting tech that can block a whole helicopter and a metal bird Bucky loathes, than love don't exist 😤 💯.

The series was good despite Sam playing hard to get and them having to change the entire plot last minute cause they couldn't use a pandemic producing terrorist plot when we already in a pandemic. But I swear any time the actors was like six hours of content, I was like no... less than six hours... more like five.

I was expecting them to do a two hour long or even one and a half hour long finale. But nope... under 50 minutes, even including the one post credit scene. I mean fuck... I knew tfaws was shorter than wandavision. But this is ridiculous.

We got more fighting in episode five than episode six. Like yeah Sam got a new suit and is finally acknowledging he's Captain America. But the finale was more car/helicopter chasing than fight. Sharon and Zemo were the anti hero of the show. They killed Karli and her fellow flash smasher with guns and a well-placed explosion.

First off I didn't realize Bucky and Steve were that vulnerable in these streets. I thought they had like Luke Cage skin or something... They can jump a hundred or so feet out a helicopter or window with no problem; yank out and bludgeon people with steel poles and run with cars. But a single bullet can end your career. Get the hell out of here. Why y'all hating on Sam if he is managing to keep up despite not having super serum. At least Sam's previous job as a parareacuer had him qualified before he even did that American Ninja training montage.😒

Bucky shouldn't have been doped by Karli wanting to talk to him. Like he couldn't put her on speaker as he moved down to the basement. Sloppy. Then you don't let John react to new Captain America whether positive or negative or Bucky for that matter after the heat died. I know if I got my ass flung like a human Frisbee and my arm broken like a wishbone, I'd have some words. But apparently they didn't have time for that.

Also, how the fuck did John Walker learn how to dial Val's number. At least show that. Plus as touching as the ending Isiah Bradley moment was... notice how they had to wind their way all the way in the back of Steve's exhibition to see Isiah's statue and plaque. Like it wasn't to the side of, front of, floating above Steve's exhibit. It was in the back as an afterthought that 90 percent will miss.

Sam didn't even really get to defeat/fight Karli. He refused to fight her and got himself beat the hell up for what... for Sharon to kill her. So he saved the senators, but didn't save the one girl he been trying to reach half that damn movie. Like what the hell... and why was Sam being served up in the beginning of the movie by the same man he beat so easily while flying in midair? 🤔 How the hell you get worse fighting after you spent a whole training montage doing flips and spins?

Also why did Sam get upgraded to Captain America in the TV title credits; but Bucky who has been fighting not to be the Winter Soldier... doesn't get his name changed to White Wolf or Srgt. Barnes. Why we calling that man by his slave name? The Wakandians set him free and upgraded his arm.

The only redeeming thing about the finale was the Captain America outfit with vibranium accessories and Bucky damn near being adopted by the Wilson's. Man was smiling harder with the Wilson family than the whole MCU. If there is any justice Sam and Bucky will be dating soon.

[jeanjauthor]

There has been some discussion of late of just how rare and difficult it was pre-2000s to “come out”, to “find your community”, to connect with the LGBT+ community.

This is a five-page explanation of how the story of Lawrence Poirier was broached in the world of major syndication newspaper comics...and it is JUST as important a story to know and understand and learn from as any other story about how the world started to genuinely discuss being something other than, well, “heteronormative.”

It really was NOT easy to connect, because of how heavily stigmatized and horribly punished a person could be, for coming out as someone who was queer*.  It really did cause a lot of backlash.

But the thing that makes me absolutely proud of Lynn Johnston?

She wrote the most normal comic/cartoon family ever...and she knew she had to include more than just the “normal” folk.  She knew that being queer IS normal.

Mad props to her for weathering this early-days storm.

Mad props for her writing and her artistry, her effort and her willingness to write these stories in ways that shared knowledge, understanding, compassion, and acceptance.

Lawrence Poirier was the first cartoon character who openly announced he was gay.  Michael Patterson was the first straight ally of a fellow cartoon character who openly announced he was gay.  The Pattersons as a family came to accept him, and to rally around him, giving him support and a second family, a safe place to go to while waiting for his family to eventually accept Lawrence as he truly was.

Some of us have gained that acceptance.  Some of us are still waiting.  Some have given up on waiting, too.

This story could have gone in so many different ways, but it showed how one could behave, how one should behave:  with compassion, with friendship, with acceptance.

This was literally the first time in modern history wherein the masses (at least, the newspaper comics reading masses, and this was the equivalent of social media back then, in the sense that nearly everybody was reading it!) were given a chance to see good allyship modeled.  Many protested, but many more absorbed, internalized, and began reflecting what they’d learned back out in to the rest of the world.

It is thanks to For Better Or For Worse and Deep Space Nine and Xena: Warrior Princess and so many many more pieces of pop culture that we have the Pride Community that we have today.

Our stories can make a huge difference, you know.

...One thing to take away from Lynn’s experience, however, is very important, because it almost always unfolds in the same way:  The haters come out in droves...but the supporters come out in masses, in the end.  And though it took a couple weeks for the supporters to get going, and even longer for gays, lesbiants, etc to write up and send in their own thoughts...overall it was more positive than negative, and it definitely got a lot of people talking, at least for a while.

To quote her own website:  “ Altogether, over 2,500 personal letters were counted, and, of these responses, over 70 percent were positive. “

Like in all things, this was not the sole spark that lit the fires summoning the queer community together.  (The Beacon Fires of Gondor are in a fantasy book, after all.)  It took several different things happening.  But this was the first discussion of coming out as any flavor of gay in an internationally syndicated comic strip, and it was one of the beacons lit along the way, blazing a trail through the decades all the way to today.

[wearevillaneve]

Bad Reviews of Killing Eve DON’T MATTER (and neither do good ones).

We are literally hours away from the season 3 premiere of Killing Eve and as we get closer the reviews are starting to roll out and some of them are...well, less than positive.

“...the Honeymoon phase is over. We know these two can’t make it together in the long run and so does the show itself. That’s the problem. “ (Observer) “As each new showrunner is left to pick up the pieces left by the person who came before, they valiantly try to recapture the magic of Season 1, but the shine only continues to wear off as the characters never seem to move forward in any meaningful way and the narrative doubles down on its least interesting storylines, mainly the shadowy organization known as the Twelve.” (TV Guide) “...I found myself longing throughout for scenes featuring the impish Villanelle, dressed in a variety of wigs and custom suits. Perhaps that’s the point – the viewer is supposed to relate to Eve’s acute boredom, or Carolyn’s inertia – but if that is the case, I’m hopeful that in the episodes to come, (Suzanne) Heathcote spreads the fun a little more evenly. “ (Radio Times) “Killing Eve has already been renewed for a fourth season, so criticism is probably pissing in the wind, but the truth is that beyond Comer, it doesn’t have much left to offer. Sometimes killing can be a mercy.“ (Independent)

Okay.  You get the idea.  Some television critics really dislike the new season of Killing Eve.   Some television critics really like the new season of Killing Eve.  So,which critics should you listen to? I suggest none of them.  Opinions are like assholes: everybody's got one.  In full disclosure,  I used to be a critic of movies, books and film.  I enjoyed the gig, but I always said the only difference between a critic’s viewpoint and the fans was mine gets published.

That was before the Internet made everybody a critic.  Now you don’t need a newspaper or magazine to tell you what rocks and what sucks.  You can literally find all sorts of ordinary people offering their hot takes on what they think of cars, bourbon, movies, video games and especially movies and TV.   Why do you think we’re getting so much Tiger King bullshit shoved down our throats?

What Killing Eve 2020 has run into is something Killing Eve 2018 did not have to face: the weight of our expectations.

Consider this: all of these reviews are based upon what the five episodes the writer BBC has provided.  That’s enough of a sample size to draw some conclusions upon the quality of KE Season Three, but it’s an incomplete picture. The critics have only seen the first five episodes out of eight total. They don’t know how the stories are resolved or not, or what happens in the finale.  That's like walking out of a movie halfway and assuming you know how everything turns out in the end. If you create art and you think it’s beautiful and you put it out for public consumption and say “Behold, the splendor of my vision” and some smart-ass says, “It’s ugly as a goat’s ass” are you going to slink away in shame? Nah.  Just shrug it off as, “That’s your opinion, buddy” and keep it moving.  Shake the haters off.  Killing Eve is not immune to negative reviews,  nor should it be.   Being critical of something is not the same thing as being negative.   This is a show in its third season and that means it is now subject to being compared against itself. 

Something has to fall in third place, but when Sade warbled, “It’s never as good as the first time,” she wasn’t entirely right. Sometimes it’s better than the first time.  What Killing Eve 2020 has run into is something Killing Eve 2018 did not have to face: the weight of expectations.   We all have them and some of us will be pissed off when they aren’t realized. 

Just because in the eyes of some the thrills and wit of showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s breakout season hasn’t been matched by her replacements, Emerald Fennell and now, Suzanne Heathcote, that is no reason to declare the show needs to be put down like a sick dog.   It’s that critics are no different than the rest of us.  They want to recapture the rhapsody of The First Time. Eve and Villanelle aren’t the same people they were two seasons ago and neither are we.  When I sit down Sunday night, it won’t be like the first time, but there’s no such thing as secondary virginity.  Once you lose your innocence, you’re now experienced.  Killing Eve at its worst is still better than 95 percent of what’s on TV at any given moment.   Maybe this season won’t deliver the goods, but you know what?  That’s my determination to make and it’s your decision too. Don’t let a critic think for you.  You can draw your own conclusion.  Never wait for someone else to cosign your own tastes.  “I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”    ―      Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  

[sleepykalena]

Ten Songs to Get You Through the Plague (Hallyu Edition)

How dare you all, daring me to make a list even though I declined because I said it was just a whole lotta kpop. :P

@skitzofreak, @crazy-fruit, and @funkygourmetrva-blog apparently REALLY wanna be “enlightened” or something like that so here it goes~

(under the cut because long post is long)

ON (BTS) - This song slaps, and is one of like...three(???) songs that I like from BTS. This is a straight-up fight song- it’s hesitant, a little scared, but embraces a self-professed insanity as a motivation to keep going, and that’s pretty damn inspirational (and also very Jyn, I must say. That’s been on my mind). This song and Mikrokosmos are helping me write Parka. Favorite Line(s): Can’t hold me down cuz you know I’m a fighter / 제 발로 들어온 아름다운 감옥 [translation: Carried myself into this beautiful prison] / I’m alright, bring the pain on, yeah / I’ma fight, bring the pain on, yeah

Mikrokosmos (BTS) - I love a good song that compares feelings of love and companionship to stars in a night sky. This baby got me through writing about half the chapters in Parka, and is gonna help me write the remaining 3-4 chapters before I move on to Scarf. Favorite Line(s):  어쩜 이 밤의 표정이 이토록 또 아름다운 건 / 저 별들도 불빛도 아닌 우리 때문일 거야 / You got me / 난 너를 보며 꿈을 꿔 / I got you / 칠흑 같던 밤들 속 / 서로가 본 서로의 빛 / 같은 말을 하고 있었던 거야 우린 / 가장 깊은 밤에 더 빛나는 별빛 [rough translation: It’s possible that the night is beautiful not because of the lights or stars, but because of us / You got me / I see you as I dream / I got you / in the darkest of nights / The lights we saw in each other / were saying the same thing / A starlight that shines brighter than the deepest night]

Bad Buy (Cover) (Eric Nam) - I was really uncomfortable with the idea of a female minor talking about how she’s the type to “might seduce your dad”, but under the lens of a “guy next door” in his late 20s/early 30s, it seems...more like a strange quirk than some lolita thing. But also, Eric Nam has no business being this attractive and making this super smooth cover. Seriously. No business whatsoever. *fans self* Favorite Line(s): Duh. (SERIOUSLY. That’s the favorite bit. I’m not even joking.)

Double Knot (Stray Kidz) - I heard the English version of this first and thought, “hot damn, these kids go HARD”. And then someone pointed out that they were literally singing about tying their shoelaces and now I can’t stop laughing. I actually have had this in my rotation because it helps me get in the mindset of the show I’ll be working on next (which has a similarly hilarious juxtaposition), because I hear this song and literally imagine a bunch of 13 year olds trying to act hardcore with a song as G-rated as this (I’m still laughing just thinking about it) Favorite Line(s):  Dramatic cutscene every scene is the best of the best / 'Cause my life is a five star movie / I'm not done yet so / Tight-tight, go brace yourself / I tighten my double knot

HIP (Mamamoo) - This song is a huge critique on the kpop industry and their rather restrictive and fat-shamey culture, and I AM HERE FOR IT. Plus these gals are just GORGEOUS. This one got me exposed to Mamamoo and I have zero regrets. Songs like this always make me feel super empowered <3 Favorite Line(s): 논란이 돼 My fashion / 별로 신경 안 써 그저 Action / 자꾸 Click me click me 홀린 듯이 Zoom / Close up close up close up HIP 해 [localized translation: Your controversy is my fashion / I don’t care, it’s just an action / Go and click me, click me, like a stan, you zoom / close up, cuz you know I’m HIP, hey]

Regular (NCT 127) - Pretty sure this has been living in my playlist for most of 2019, and it hasn’t changed much since. Definitely makes me feel like a baller while I (used to) commute in shitty traffic, so listening to it now that I’m practicing social distancing is more about mentally taking myself to a place of normalcy than anything else.  Favorite Line(s): I like shining, you be lying / I be grinding, you waste time / Know you wanna roll with me / Cause you know I put it down / When I show up, I’m the one and only, nah nah nah / Yeah, pull up in the jag / Haters gon’ be mad

Kill This Love (Blackpink) - This is also an empowerment anthem that also helped me get through my (former) commute! When you spend all this time indoors, you’re bound to overthink your life, so it’s nice to have a song remind you that you need to assess those relationships and, if the relationship is hurting you more than helping you, “kill this love”. Deffo applicable to your relationship with yourself (e.g. if you’re wallowing in negative thoughts on a detrimental level), or even with others on a platonic level. Favorite Line(s): 나 어떡해 나약한 날 견딜 수 없어 / 애써 눈물을 감춘 채 / 사랑의 숨통을 끊어야겠어 [translation: What do I do? I can’t stand being this weak / While I force myself to hide my tears / I need to bring an end to this love]

POP/STARS (K/DA) - My previous editor showed me this song at the start of this year before he left for a new show and it slaps so hard that I’m mad at how much of an earworm this is LMAOOOOOOOO (side note: has anyone noticed that I’m picking these songs based on how upbeat they help me feel since I’m stuck indoors all the time?) Favorite Line(s): Ain’t nobody bringing us / Down down down down down down / They could try but we’re gonna wear the crown / You could go another round / Round round round round round round / Wish you luck but you’re not bringing us down

Dr. BeBe (Pentagon) - The song is just really catchy. The lyrics is really possessive in a helpless kind of way, and that’s sort of the flaw with most pop songs, it’s also strangely self-aware of what it’s going through. So meta LOL Favorite Line(s):  너란 벽에 갇혀 몸부림쳐 / 상처 나도 / 벗어날 수 없는 울림 [translation: I’m stuck inside your walls / struggle to escape / and get hurt]

AND THE ONE SONG THAT ISN’T KPOP:

Godzilla (Eminem ft Juice WRLD) - Came for the two folks in Godzilla suits, stayed for the lyrical mastery. I think even my partner was shocked that I liked this song, but honestly? It goes pretty hard, it’s a bit rude and taunting, which is just the kind of salt that I sprinkle in my head. Plus it’s fun to try and get even a FRACTION of the speed that Eminem raps. Favorite Line(s): You're bringin' the killer within me outta me / You don't want to be the enemy of the demon who entered me / Or be on the receivin' end of me, what stupidity it'd be / Every bit of me's the epitome of a spitter / When I'm in the vicinity, motherfucker, you better duck / Or you finna be dead the minute you run into me / A hundred percent of you is a fifth of a percent of me / I'm 'bout to fuckin' finish you, bitch, I'm unfadable / You wanna battle, I'm available, I'm blown up like an inflatable / I'm undebatable, I'm unavoidable, I'm unevadable

Is there anyone left to tag? Making this post was exhausting, so tag yourselves if you want in LMAO

[eretzyisrael]

But then I started reading the Comments. Around sixty-five percent by my count were about something I’d said in passing at two different times and for a total time of less than one minute on the podcast.

I had said that I’d been “accused” of being too “positive about Israel” (although I said nothing further about Israel) and that I’d noted a “rise in ethnic bigotry towards the Jewish people in general, and among some feminists too.”

Thus, I spent less than one minute on these two points, over and against fifty-four minutes of an intense, feminist conversation. It is important to note that the audience here is primarily a feminist one. However, only twenty-seven percent of these comments were about feminist and gender issues; and 6% praised (or critiqued) the conversation. Some defended my right to speak, no matter what I had to say.

But the loudest, most vocal, and most vicious comments spouted blood libels about Jews and Israel. One must assume that such Judeophobic poisoned propaganda has fully infiltrated the feminist discourse. This is certainly the case when you realize who the American National Women’s Studies Association honors (Angela Davis; Jasbir Puah) and who Women’s Studies Departments dis-invite (Ayaan Hirsi Ali).

It is heartrending but not surprising that two icons acknowledged as feminists:  Alice Walker and Angela Davis have very strong and very negative views about Israel and perhaps about those Jews who support the existence of a Jewish state without needing to immediately criticize its every imperfection.

It is also possible that non-feminist Jew-haters and anti-Zionists have infiltrated feminist space. I have definitely seen this happen on listserv groups over and over again. No matter what the subject may be, it all becomes a forum to discuss Israel/Palestine—but only from a pro-Palestine point of view.

[superspunarticle]

4 Reputation Management Realities That All Brands Now Face

Tutorials and tips on Content and Video Marketing.

What do Beyoncé, Kate Middleton, and Harrison Ford have in common? Other than having devoted fan bases, they’re celebrities who have a reputation for giving very few interviews. They control their messaging tightly. 

While Beyoncé and Kate Middleton choose to go directly to their fan bases with highly choreographed messaging through their social media channels, Harrison Ford is one of only a very few celebrities who isn’t on social media at all.

However, whether or not they choose to connect with their fans online, none of these celebrities can stop the millions of rabid fans who run fan accounts, who post to Reddit and Instagram, and who analyze their every move through YouTube videos and blog posts. 

Why does this matter for you and your business? 

Just like celebrities, the rise of fan culture on the internet has fueled both a huge boom in brands’ abilities to control their own reputations, as well as the decentralization of where reputation management lies. 

We are now able to build communities of like-minded customers and brand-fans. With that comes responsibility of monitoring a growing array of websites and spaces where brands rate products, review services, comment, and ask for help. 

4 Key Considerations of Reputation Management

Ratings and Reviews Are No Longer a Choice

“The rating trusted most by consumers is 4 stars followed by 4.5 and 5 stars,” according to review software company ReviewTrackers. 

Many years ago, I worked for a well known arts & crafts brand. At that time, the company I worked for gave the ability to customers to rate and review patterns (the directions consumers would use to create their craft projects), but not the products themselves. 

The thinking was that we didn’t want the companies’ own products to have negative reviews. And yet, study after study shows that a few negative reviews actually bolster trust in reviews overall. Furthermore, customers tend to trust relatively positive reviews most (see above quote from ReviewTrackers).

What brands must do is not only encourage reviews with open arms, but encourage customers to look at positive reviews as social proof. Today, that same company has embraced product reviews both on their website and in their digital marketing efforts. 

And this goes beyond B2C brands. Brands as wide ranging as US Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the US whose reviews are mostly on Google My Business, to DeSantis Breindel, a New York City-based branding consultancy whose reviews are on platforms like Clutch (both brands are clients of Convince & Convert) are not only monitoring and responding to reviews, but also using reviews to feed their marketing efforts (see below). 

It’s Not Just What They Say, It’s What You Do

“39 percent of social media complainers who expect a reply want it to come within sixty minutes, yet the average response time from businesses is five hours,” found research by Jay Baer and Edison Research.

In 2016, C&C founder Jay Baer wrote, “​​Haters are not your problem….Ignoring them is.” That reality is more true now than ever before. 

Customers expect help with their issues, and when you don’t respond to negative reviews, your prospective customers will hold you accountable for that inaction. 

To positively impact your reputation, treat reviews as an opportunity for customer service and excellent customer experience. Respond to your reviews; add context; thank brand fans and address fan haters. 

Social Listening Is More Complex Than Ever

“Word of mouth is directly responsible for 19% of all purchases, and influences as much as 90%,” says the book Talk Triggers by Jay Baer and senior strategist Daniel Lemin. 

Outside of owned review channels, brands must monitor reviews and conversations on channels from Facebook and Reddit to the bumper crop of industry-specific review sites such as Zocdoc and Healthgrades. 

Using monitoring tools like Meltwater and Sprinklr helps brands to stay on top of what’s being said. Beyond sentiment and topics, brands must make sure that they are leveraging the built-in AI to analyze conversations for trends to keep on top of what their proactive messaging needs to be. 

Not sure how to leverage these social listening tools to uncover this data? Consulting firms like Premium Blend can help to build strong queries and implement effective listening processes.

Again, it’s not just knowing what people are saying, but also using this data to shape what your brand should be talking about to be relevant to your customer base. 

Showcase Your Customers’ Words and Stories

Reputation management is the reactive part of our work, but we also have the opportunity for reputation marketing. Leverage the stories that your customers are telling about you to market your products/services to prospective customers. 

Whether you’re aggregating real customer social media posts like Korean beauty brand Hanacure does on their @hanacureeffect Instagram account or you’re using a tool like SocialProve to pop-up notifications to website visitors that indicates when others have purchased on your website, you’re engaging in reputation marketing. 

What are some ways that your brand can leverage customer stories as social proof? 

Proactively turn user-generated content (UGC) into social media campaigns

Leverage customer reviews and quotes on landing pages

Showcase real customer feedback in advertising

Address questions you’re getting from Quora, Reddit, and/or your own communities as content

Create animated videos featuring customer reviews 

Integrate real questions into your chatbot scripts or FAQs

Highlight your review scores using in your top-navigation and/or footer

3 Questions to Ask Yourself

Your customers are already out there talking about your brand—are you encouraging them to do so in the places that help you to strengthen your reputation? Are you showcasing the level of customer experience that your prospects can expect from your team? Are you reassuring prospects that others like them trust you? 

That’s your opportunity with reputation management. Don’t waste it. 

This article “4 Reputation Management Realities That All Brands Now Face” was first provided on this site.

I trust that you found the above useful or interesting. Similar content can be found on our blog: superspunarticle.com/blog Please let me have your feedback below in the comments section. Let us know which subjects we should cover for you in future.

[thestudyfeels]

In our last interview, my friend and I talked about what success really means, the three things that you need to get rid of to achieve success, and what you should keep in mind when you’re on the road to success. That's all well and good, but we’re humans and quite a few times we fall short of the fuel needed to do the grind. Sometimes, I would much rather put on my reindeer socks (Christmas is around the corner!) and doze off on the sofa than touch my huge pile of work. And don't get me wrong guys, I love hustling. It's basically what I preach all the time. But just like your car needs petrol to run, you need fuel to work too.That fuel is motivation.

T: It's good to have you back on here, homie. You're quite a sensation on my blog, you know that?

P: Oh, am I now? *sarcastically laughs* I tend to have that effect on people.

T: True, and gotta love your modesty as well. *laughs* Coming back to our topic, motivation. Do you ever feel unmotivated?

P: Oh boy, countless times. I would be lying if I said I don’t. But motivation isn’t just an emotion or a feeling. It’s not a mood, it’s an attitude. It’s not the adrenaline that you feel after listening to an upbeat song or the inspiration that you feel flowing through you after watching a documentary about a successful person. It’s not about eagerness or hype at all.  Even an old man can feel that if you play “Timber” for a few minutes. *laughs*

Motivation is being persistent and conquering your hardest times. It’s about being at the lowest low of your life and even then having the positive outlook that no matter where you are right now, you’re not only gonna get through it, but you’re gonna conquer it. The confidence that no force can stop you, not the slightest doubts, not the haters, nothing. Motivation is about being a winner, not a survivor. It’s like water. It can take the form of whatever situation you’re in. Whether you’re a broke person trying to give a better life to your children, whether you’re an athlete trying to win that race of your life, whether you’re just a student trying to slay that test. Also, it doesn’t matter what unmotivates you, what matters is what motivates you, and most importantly, WHY it does.

T: Hmm… why it keeps you going. Can you elaborate on that?

P: Allow me to quote my friend Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Motivation isn’t simply getting someone on their feet. It’s when you already are but feel like you’ve had enough and want to stop. That’s when it tells you to STAY on your feet. It’s what pushes you beyond what you think you go. The only reason motivation works is because you already want it. You just need a power, a support, to keep you on that track. It’s not the motivation that forces you to go on, it’s your DESIRE to go on that does. All the motivation did was remind you of that desire when you wanted to forget it.

T:  You totally changed my perspective, wow. Also, I have a wedgie. Just putting it out there.

P: *Clears throat* Ahem.

T: Um, yeah, next question. So what destroys motivation?

P: Notice how I said “that desire which you wanted to forget”? There’s your answer. We never forget what we want or what the finish line is, we simply lose sight of it. That is what destroys motivation. You WISH to forget that aim, because you’re tired of aiming at it and missing every time. When you give up, when you THINK about giving up, that thought is what destroys your motivation.

Motivation is also just a choice and a chance. You either take it, or you miss it. You let it in, or don’t. Kinda like other people’s opinions. If your favorite song is playing, don’t be afraid to jam out to it, even if you’re in public and you dance like a potato. It doesn’t matter that people are staring. If you let their sneers into your mind, you’ll get embarrassed. But if you let the music fill you and groove to it, you’re gonna have the time of your life while the others are just gonna waste their time judging you.

T: That's a really cool way to put it! Shoutout to all my fellow potatoes out there. We should make our own potato dance. It can be like the harlem shake of 2018.

P: *cough*

T: Oh yeah, motivation. So what do you suppose affects someone’s motivation? Is it your environment or the people surrounding you?

P: Neither. Those are simply excuses that we make up. You can grow up in the worst home possible, but that doesn’t have anything to do with your motivation. There are many successful people in the world to prove that. Sure, what’s going around you does take a toll on you, but that’s a SITUATION.. Situations can’t always be controlled, but how you react to them, can. I live in a very dysfunctional family and my parents have arguments every other day. At first, I let it fill me with negativity. But soon I realized, that was just something that I was letting affect me, because I needed something or someone to put the blame on for me giving up. But the truth is, you can be at the center of the crowd, get lost in it, or get trampled under it. Ouch, I’m horrible at giving examples. It’s not just the situation around you that gets out of control, it’s when you allow yourself to be swept away by it. And that’s exactly the challenge that motivation offers you. “Fight? Or perish.” YOU have control over what stops you and what doesn’t. If you want that goal badly enough, you’ll force your way through that crowd. And the crowd will HAVE to part way.   

T: Ok, story time! Tell us about an incident when you lost your motivation. What helped you regain it?

P: Just last night. I was working out and I had five more exercises left. My legs felt like jelly and I collapsed onto the yoga mat. All these thoughts starting coming into my mind. “Skipping abs won’t do any harm, I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna have a six pack in one day.” “I do have so many chores left to do, and it’s late.” I got up, dragged myself to the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. “Look. That’s your competition. It’s not the exercise that you have to win over. It’s yourself.” I went back and finished that workout and truthfully, I’ve never felt more satisfied. Listen, failure isn’t falling down. It’s refusing to get up. Motivation isn’t getting up. It’s refusing to give up. It’s all a battle with yourself. So what helped me win mine? I reminded myself of MY DESIRE to win it. I reminded myself of how much I want that body, how much I want to feel confident and beautiful in my own right.

There are three types of people in this world. Those who suffer with their imperfections, those who embrace their imperfections, and those who make it a life goal to turn their weaknesses into their strengths, their flaws into their pride, their imperfections into their excellence. The third one is the path I’ve chosen. That goal is my only motivation. Prove your mind wrong. Prove your heart right.

T: *feeling super proud of her homie* Impressive. So what advice do you have for people who want to regain their motivation?

P: You can ask me this question time and again, but the answer will always be the same. And most of you won’t like it because it hits hard. But who said it’s easy? It’s not. Is it worth it? 100 damn percent. So you want motivation? You gotta want it. There are billions of people in this world, and millions of them work to make their dreams come true every day, yet it doesn’t happen. So what makes you so special? Why should YOU have it? Whatever goal you’re working for, do you want it as badly as you want to breathe? Are you ready to have sleepless nights for it? Will you sacrifice anything for it? Don’t stop asking yourself that question until you reach the point where it’s not just about wanting it to happen. It’s about NEEDING for it to happen. THAT is when your motivation will turn into determination. The fire inside you has to burn brighter than the fire around you. *drops mic*

T: Uh, not sure where that came from, but *sniffing* BEAUTIFUL, HOMIE.

P: K, now gimme ma moni. (author’s note: me and my friend, we from da hood. don’t mind us)

T: Huh?

P: *Laughs* Joking, but I could talk about life all day long. Can’t wait for our next interview already! I’m out though, peace conquerors! <3

and that’s a warp for this interview! i hope you are getting something out of these, bc remember you have one life and once chance to become better. and it’s totally up to you. after reading this, you can change for the better or you can wash away these words outta your mind and remain the person you were. it’s your choice.

to the end card it is! if you have any questions/suggestions regarding anything I said up there (or maybe you just wanna talk about food), feel free to send in a message! my other masterposts are here and to request a masterpost, leave your question in my ask box!

I hope you all are well, stay safe and conquer life, you amaze conqueror :“)

[socialmedia41-blog]

14 Common Misconceptions About social media company perth

4 Simple Techniques For 15 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses ...

Research released in the Harvard Service Review shows that brands who do not satisfying those expectations damage their bottom line. The HBR research, which specifically takes a look at Tweets, reveals that clients who get a reaction to their Tweet would be prepared to spend more with the brand name on a later purchase, especially if they get an action within five minutes.

We pointed out social media monitoring above as an essential aspect of audience engagement. But it's likewise important as a crucial source of intelligence about your brand, your rivals, and your niche. Social network creates a substantial amount of information about your customers in real time. You can use that info to make smarter business choices.

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This can help you customize your strategy to much better speak to your real audience. We have actually developed substantial social media strategies perth guides on how to utilize analytics in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest, so there's no reason to remain in the dark about your customers and social followers. Great deals of discusses is a great thing, right? Sure, in many cases.

Social Media For Business - Business.gov.au for Beginners

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Hootsuite's social engagement organizer, Nick Martin, defines social media sentiment as "the perceived positive or negative mood being portrayed in a social media post or engagement." While it is necessary to understand how much individuals are talking about your brand online, it's also important to know how individuals actually feel about your brand name.

It's likewise important to know what people are stating about your rivals. For example, tracking discusses of your competitors may reveal discomfort points with their products that you could reach out to deal with, winning new customers while doing so. When Uber Canada released a promotion to deliver totally free ice cream for a day in Vancouver, things went amazingly incorrect.

They required to social media to grumble. The social group at Avoid The Dishes saw an opportunity and connected to people complaining about Uber with a free ice cream shipment of their own, in the form of an Avoid The Cuisines credit. All those Uber haters rapidly turned into Skip The Dishes fans, and new clients (considering that you needed to develop a Avoid The Cuisines Account to get your free ice cream).

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In the online world, things move fastand you can't afford to be left. Keeping a virtual ear to the ground through social listening makes certain you're always notified about upcoming changes to your industry that might impact the way you do service. Social advertisements are an inexpensive way to promote your company and distribute material.

Savvy online marketers have welcomed this crucial benefit of social media for service: They will invest twice as much on Facebook advertisements in 2018 as they will on paper marketing. With advertisement targeting alternatives including market information, location, language, and even online behaviors, you can craft specific messages that finest speak with various groups of prospective consumers, and only spend for the specific viewers you want to reach.

Individuals who have actually abandoned items in a shopping cart are prime potential customers. They have currently discovered your website, browsed your products, and made a choice about what they may desire. People abandon shopping carts for numerous reasons, however somebody who has expressed this degree of interest in your business ought to not be disregarded.

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For example, the craft website Craftsy used retargeting Facebook advertisements to promote products to people who had currently engaged with a product page on the Craftsy website. The project saw a 4.3 times return on advertisement invest and 33 percent increase in Facebook-driven earnings. It is constantly a difficulty for marketers to show return on financial investment.

Tools like Google Analytics and Hootsuite Effect track site traffic produced from social media, conversions, e-mail sign-ups, and ROI for both natural and paid social media campaigns. UTM parameters are another great tracking tool that will assist you see which social media networks are supplying the most advantages for your organization.

Why should your business be on social media? The short answer is that everyone else is your consumers, your rivals, almost everybody. According to We Are Social, 3.48 billion individuals around the world are active on social media and that number continues to grow every year. To reach your customers where they are and make sure that your brand's voice is heard, you require to be there too.

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Below are a few of the biggest. Having a presence on social media makes it easier for both existing and possible clients to discover and link with your brand name. With the large volume of individuals using social media today, your company has an opportunity to reach a substantial variety of new eyes and audiences.

[kerahlekung]

UMNO juga dikatakan terlibat, tapi LGE seorg yg didakwa...

UMNO juga dikatakan terlibat, tapi LGE seorg yg didakwa....

Pertuduhan yang dimaksudkan, untuk hiburan bersama. Duit pun tak bayaq lagi, untung celah bedah mana depa nak cari paper trail pun tak tau lah. This is gonna be quite amusing. LGE isnt that stupid to ask for bribe from an UMNO contractor. Zarul claimed Guan Eng asked for 10% kickback but not abt him receiving bribes. Zarul claimed he bribed so many other people -- his credibility might be shot if the rest deny. He also gave RM500k to Nazri Aziz, RM200k to Ismail Sabri, RM100k to Halimah Sadique, RM100k to Nur Jazlan, RM50k to Zahid Hamidi, RM50k to Zainal Abidin Rahim and RM500k to Rahman Dahlan. FMT said the said document below is real but leaked..

Najib's donor was supposedly the deceased King Abdulalh of Saudi. 

Lim Guan Eng's donor is confirmed to be King Hades of Hell.

Lim Guan Eng Charged Based On Hearsay – A Distraction To Satisfy Angry Pro-UMNO And Pro-PAS Supporters...

Get real. If backdoor Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wanted to, he could save the pathetic life of Najib Razak, the former prime minister who was the same man who had sacked him in 2015. But why should he? Allowing the judge to “do his job” – delivering a guilty verdict – would mean Najib cannot participate in the next snap general election. Now, Najib is out of the race. With Najib out of the race, Muhyiddin has eliminated his biggest rival, at least until the crook could convince the Court of Appeal to reverse the High Court’s verdict. If Najib fails, he can go to the Federal Court, the highest court and the final appellate court in the country, to tell the judges about his sobbing story. It would take up to a year for the appeals, if Najib is lucky. But the idea of sending Najib to prison comes with a price. UMNO and PAS supporters were not very happy that the prime minister “did not rescue” their beloved Najib. To prove that he was neutral, Muhyiddin has to balance his act. And the only way to satisfy supporters of his “Malay-only” Perikatan Nasional government is to dramatically send a Chinese opposition leader to prison. Sending Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of DAP (Democratic Action Party – the biggest party with 42 MPs), to prison will boost Muhyiddin’s popularity among the UMNO-Malay and PAS-Muslim voters. They would feel happy and satisfy with the perception that the chief of Chinese-DAP party who played a role in defeating UMNO in the 2018 General Election is going to jail. If Najib Razak is to go to prison, Lim Guan Eng must also go to jail. Only then it would be fair and the DAP haters can accept Muhyiddin as their leader. As expected, when Mr. Lim was finally charged today (August 7) for corruption in connection with the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project, pro-UMNO and pro-PAS supporters celebrate as if the country had won the FIFA World Cup. There were two scandals that DAP haters have always linked to Lim Guan Eng – the so-called bungalow scandal and the Penang tunnel scandal. When the former Penang Chief Minister was arrested in June 2016 over the bungalow scandal, the previous Najib regime had tried very hard to frame the popular DAP leader, but to no avail.

For 2 years until the May 2018 General Election, the corrupt regime of Barisan Nasional failed to prove anything against Lim. Eventually, after the regime’s defeat, the corruption case against Lim Guan Eng was dropped on Sept 8, 2018 after the Penang High Court acquitted Mr. Lim. Businesswoman Phang Li Koon, who sold the bungalow to Mr Lim, was also acquitted. Of course, who can forget when the anti-graft agency MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) said it was shocked by the decision of the Attorney-General’s Chambers to withdraw the case, claiming that the decision was made by the Attorney General Tommy Thomas office and not the MACC. Then-PM Mahathir joined the bandwagon and mocked the MACC. Expressing his shock, probably made with tongue-in-cheek, Mahathir said – “They (MACC) have a right to be shocked. If they want to be shocked, they can be shocked. I am also shocked. If the court makes a decision which to me is wrong, I also never comment on it.” Amazingly, the MACC was not shocked at all when the infamous Cowgate scandal was dropped in the same manner in 2015. Why was MACC so upset that the prosecutor did not wish to pursue Lim’s bungalow case but was not upset at all that the prosecutor did not wish to pursue former UMNO Woman Chief Shahrizat’s corruption case, where Shahrizat Jalil and her family members had siphoned RM250 million of taxpayers money meant for National Feedlot Corporation (NFC)? If you wish to argue, we had already published an article 4 years ago about the difference between Khir Toyo and Lim Guan Eng’s bungalow scandal, which you can read it here. What is interesting is the RM6.3 billion Penang tunnel project being used by the Muhyiddin regime to charge the DAP leader. On the surface, the scandal appears to be as huge as Najib’s 1MDB scandal. But there seem to be too many loopholes and ambiguities with the MACC’s latest attempt to charge Lim. For a start, it doesn’t make sense that there is only “one charge” against Lim despite the value of the project (RM6.3 billion), when Najib was slapped with 7 charges on July 3, 2018, over allegations of plundering only RM42 million of SRC International money.

Today, Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi read out the charges – “That you, on March 2011, at a location near The Gardens Hotel, Syed Putra Circle, Mid Valley City, in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, during your tenure as chief minister of Penang, have solicited a bribe, namely a reward in the form of 10 percent of the profits that will be obtained later from Zarul Ahmad Bin Mohd Zulkifli, as a fee to help the company owned by Zarul Ahmad to be appointed to carry out construction of the main roads and tunnels in the Penang undersea tunnel project.” “Therefore you have committed an offence under Section 16 (a) (A) of the MACC Act 2009 which is punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same Act. Any person who commits an offence under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009 may upon conviction be subject to – a) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years and b) fined not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe which is the subject of the offence if the bribe can be assessed in the form of money or RM10,000 as the case may be.” – said the judge. Yes, Lim was charged for soliciting a bribe, whatever that means. Amusingly, no money has changed hands. As the judge mentioned, the bribe is to be obtained later from a company owned by Zarul Ahmad. So, it’s a “future tense” – not yet happen. This is perhaps the first corruption case in the country involving something that needs a “time travel machine” to prove. More amazingly, the bribe amount is 10% of the profits. But there was no mention of the amount of profits, not even a rough estimation. Why didn’t Lim make his life easier by asking for 10% of the Penang tunnel project (valued at RM6.3 billion) which will translate to RM630 million? Exactly how does the prosecutor plan to argue their case in the court without knowing the facts and figures? If the company makes a loss, the bribe amount is negative and theoretically, Lim has to pay Zarul instead. Lim must be the dumbest crook in the world for asking 10% of potential profits, instead of 10% of project value or just a fix amount of bribes, say RM100 million. Perhaps the 10% is to be based on the profits of toll collections after the Penang tunnel kicks into operation. However, a mega project like the 7.2-km Penang tunnel will take years to complete, and it could take many more years to turn profitable, if it ever happens. Lim Guan Eng may not be around to enjoy his reward. The corruption case is so ambiguous that it becomes comical. It would be more profitable and promising for Lim to solicit sexual favour instead.

Penang Undersea Tunnel Project 

The best part is the tunnel project, initiated 9 years ago in 2011, hasn’t started yet as the state government is still reviewing the feasibility study. Najib Razak, then prime minister, had even attended the project’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony back in April 2011. Therefore, the previous regime, with whom PM Muhyiddin is working now, was very well aware of the project from the beginning. Unlike Najib’s 1MDB corruption case, where his luxury apartments were raided by the police, leading to the confiscation of RM117 million cash and RM1 billion worth of 12,000 pieces of jewellery, an eye-popping 567 handbags consisted of luxury handbags from 37 different designers – including Chanel, Prada, Hermes and ultra-luxury Bijan, the authorities did not even bother to raid Lim’s residence. And unlike the MACC’s raid of UMNO Supreme Council member Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim’s house in 2018, leading to seizure of RM500,000 in Malaysian currency and another RM400,000 in other currencies as well as 20 watches and several pieces of jewellery, the MACC probably thought it was not worthwhile to raid Lim’s house as it would not yield any treasure. Rosmah Mansor 12000 Jewelleries VS Imelda Marcos 1220 Shoes So, the MACC basically has zero money trails, unlike Najib’s intricate web of financial fraud that crossed continents. More importantly, Lim did not receive a penny, let alone any sexual favour from company owner Zarul Ahmad. Besides, the project was conducted based on open tender, not by direct award as practised by previous Barisan Nasional government. Unless there’s an authenticated voice recording of Lim Guan Eng demanding for the bribe, the charge is purely based on hearsay, hence only “one charge”. It would be more productive for the MACC to investigate missing RM20 million originally allocated for “flying car” project. Obviously, PM Muhyiddin, under pressure to call for a snap election, is using the tunnel to divert attention. Muhyiddin is also under siege as his powerful ally – UMNO – was only interested to work with his PPBM (Bersatu) party until the 15th General Election, after which UMNO plans to ditch the prime minister and grabs all its traditional Malay-majority seats. Therefore, to entertain unhappy Malay voters, he needs a bogeyman – Lim Guan Eng – as his WMD (Weapon of Mass Distraction). The backdoor government wanted to cook up the Penang tunnel to make it looks like 1MDB scandal. Muhyiddin’s divide-and-rule strategy is to split the Chinese voters by creating a perception that Lim Guan Eng is a big corrupt crook like Najib Razak. But it could backfire and all the Chinese voters may rally behind DAP once again because the half-baked charge is simply too ridiculous. - FT

cheers.

Sumber asal: UMNO juga dikatakan terlibat, tapi LGE seorg yg didakwa... Baca selebihnya di UMNO juga dikatakan terlibat, tapi LGE seorg yg didakwa...

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): FiveThirtyEight alum Harry Enten found that former Vice President Joe Biden’s average lead of 6 percentage points over President Trump is the steadiest lead in a race with an incumbent running since at least 1944. In other words, Biden has led, on average, by 6 points since the beginning of 2020, but he’s also led by 6 points since the beginning of 2019.

Biden also has a decent lead in a number of swing states according to some early polls, yet many Americans don’t believe Trump will lose despite the many, many polls showing Biden ahead. How do we explain this disconnect? Are voters overreacting to Trump’s win in 2016? Then, let’s discuss how to make sense of the polls at this point in the cycle.

OK, first: What’s up with voters giving Trump such high odds of beating Biden — 55 percent said they think Trump will win in November according to an average of recent polls. That’s been relatively consistent over time, too. Do you think that will change, though, if Biden remains in the lead?

perry (Perry Bacon Jr., senior writer): Trump’s standing might be stronger in perception than in reality for many voters for two reasons. First, the polls had Clinton as the likely winner in 2016 and Trump won — so, of course, some people are wary of the polls again. Second, I think the possibility that Trump might take extralegal, unethical or norm-violating steps (like trying to have the Ukrainian government investigate the son of one of his rivals) to win the election makes people a little less confident that the election will take place in a traditional way. (Basically, if some people already think Trump will cheat to win, they will likely not find the polls much comfort.)

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): I think people are clearly overcorrecting for what happened in 2016. There’s a natural human bias to not want to make the same mistake twice, and for a lot of voters, that mistake in 2016 was, “Donald Trump can’t win.”

I think there’s also a sense that Trump is Teflon politically.

And I get that, since opinions of him are so baked in. But it’s also not reallllly true, since some events (like the government shutdown) have hurt his popularity. And regardless, he is still quite unpopular, so even if those attitudes are baked in, they’re not good for Trump.

That said, people are correct to be uncertain about the election. We are still six months out.

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): These numbers on how many Americans think Trump could win reelection could also still shift — for instance, they already have in Fox News’s polling over time. After the 2018 Democratic wave in the House, only 39 percent said Trump would be reelected compared with 52 percent who said he wouldn’t. Since then, Trump’s standing has improved, but it’s bounced around some too. How things play out in the next few months and what coverage of the race looks like will shape public opinion.

perry: Another problem is the reporting that Trump staffers X or Y or various senators or GOP strategists think Trump is in trouble tells us little. I read those stories from May to October 2016, and they often turn out to be wrong. The best information we have is what we have already mentioned: 1. Trump’s consistently weak approval ratings; 2. the fact that those weak ratings correctly foreshadowed a huge Democratic wave in 2018; 3. the head-to-head polls showing him behind Biden.

nrakich: Yeah, totally, Perry. Political insiders are subject to the same kind of bad punditry that the rest of us are.

sarah: But, as Nathaniel said, the idea that nothing Trump does will negatively impact him does seem, at this point, to be baked in. I’m curious, though, what can we point to as signs that Trump might be in trouble — aside from Biden’s 6-point lead?

One thing that’s stood out to me is Trump’s lost points among voters who don’t like either candidate running. In 2016, Trump won these voters by a large margin, but here in 2020, they’re breaking overwhelmingly for Biden.

geoffrey.skelley: For me, it’s hard not to connect Trump’s standing in the polls with his approval rating. It’s been consistently stuck between roughly 40 and 45 percent in most polls. And, overall, he’s at about 45 percent in FiveThirtyEight’s tracker of registered or likely voter polls, with about 52 percent of voters who disapprove of him (his approval has generally been a little better among voters than adults, and voters will determine his future).

I’d argue that this had real repercussions in the 2018 midterms, too. Just look at the exit polls — 88 percent of voters who approved of Trump voted for the GOP, but 90 percent of those who disapproved of him voted Democratic. So, if many more people continue to disapprove than approve of Trump, I think it’ll be challenging for him to win.

nrakich: Sarah, to your point about the “haters” bloc, I agree that that seems important. But I also am wary of that turning into the new “working class voters in a diner,” a.k.a. the type of voter who dominates coverage of the election to the exclusion of the (equally important!) voters who don’t fit that description.

sarah: For sure. I’m just curious how much evidence we have that Trump is in trouble and how that reconciles (or doesn’t) with voters’ belief that we shouldn’t underestimate him here in 2020, and I think if he continues to do poorly with this group of voters that could be telling.

Of course, one point in Trump’s favor is that there’s little evidence that Biden has made progress in winning back the white voters without a college degree who supported Obama in 2008 and Trump in 2016.

perry: I’d argue that Biden’s lead is not particularly solid — so voters thinking he will not win makes a lot of sense to me. Basically, I agree with the voters.

nrakich: Wait, really, Perry? Not to put words in your mouth, but from my conversations with you, I thought you believed that the election would be competitive — that either side could win. But I think voters think Trump will definitely win.

perry: Fifty-five percent of voters thinking Trump will win is not 90 percent.

Voters saying they think Trump has a very good chance of winning reelection seems entirely consistent with the data, too.

Say the election were today — I would expect Biden to win Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and no other states Trump won in 2016. Yes, Biden would win the election, but this is not exactly a landslide.

sarah: Ah, so could it also be that we (the media) are overestimating how much voters are overcorrecting for 2016?

nrakich: Pundit-ception!

sarah: That is, a majority think Trump will win, but to your point, Perry — it’s 55 percent of voters saying this, not an overwhelming 90 percent majority.

nrakich: I think that is fair. I have probably been guilty of that so far in this chat.

sarah: Same.

geoffrey.skelley: Pundits don’t want to look stupid — and after 2016, they probably felt pretty foolish, so they may be doing more overcorrecting than the public is.

Then again, there are weird, small disconnects among election watchers — PredictIt’s markets, for instance, make Biden a favorite in enough states to win a majority in the Electoral College, but the overall market for the election winner still favors Trump.

sarah: Yeah, it’s an unsatisfying answer, but I think it’s a combination of the two. That is, we definitely risk overestimating how much voters think Trump is “Teflon Don” and can therefore weather every scandal. But, at the same time, I think there’s a real phenomenon happening here, where voters overall are less likely to take the polls at face value.

This was another stat in Enten’s article, but it stood out to me that in 2018, despite many indicators pointing toward a Democratic wave, many voters didn’t think Democrats would take back the House. According to Gallup polls, 50 percent of Americans said they thought Republicans would win the House compared with 44 percent who said Democrats would. What stood out to me, though, was that this apparently was the first time in Gallup’s polling when Americans incorrectly forecasted who would win the House!!

geoffrey.skelley: I guess people had to see it to believe it. It might also help explain why Fox News’s polling on whether voters thought Trump would win reelection took a sharp tumble right after that election — because voters saw the GOP in the Trump era actually lose the House.

perry: People are wary of polls after 2016.

nrakich: With little justification, it should be said. The national polls were spot-on in 2016 (it’s just that the national popular vote doesn’t pick the winner of the election). And the polls were great in 2018.

perry: Nathaniel’s right that the polls were actually pretty good — but it’s also the case that media coverage didn’t seriously entertain the possibility of Trump winning.

So, you have conservatives who are generally distrustful of the media and are always disinclined to believe polls covered in the media and, as is often the case, conducted by media organizations. Combine that with liberals who felt the polls gave them a false sense of security in 2016 and you have a sizable bloc of people who are going to be skeptical of 2020 polling.

sarah: Right — and also to be clear, even though the overall accuracy of the polls in 2016 was only slightly below average by historical standards, the state-level polling wasn’t as accurate. And because it was off in a few key swing states, I think that colored the overall accuracy of the polls for many folks.

nrakich: Yeah, I think you have a combination of Democrats having very low self-confidence in their ability to win an election due to post-2016 trauma and Republicans being overconfident because they keep getting told not to listen to the media or polls.

perry: News consumers in America weren’t really presented with an accurate assessment of Trump’s chances of winning in 2016 — and I say that as someone who was covering the election in 2016.

FiveThirtyEight did better than others, but FiveThirtyEight is not the entire news media.

geoffrey.skelley: And, as Nate Cohn at The New York Times wrote on Tuesday, there may be reasons to remain cautious of state-level polls this year, too. On the one hand, there are fewer undecideds and more pollsters are weighting by education, but on the other hand, there are more online state-level polls with questionable methodologies, including some that weight by how people said they voted in 2016 — a suspect choice partly because people’s memories are fallible.

perry: Are we even sure the markets are wrong, though, and that Trump is an underdog?

geoffrey.skelley: Trump has consistently trailed Biden by 4 to 6 points nationally, so I would say yes. Obviously, the smaller that edge is by Election Day, the greater the possibility for Trump to lose the popular vote but still win the Electoral College, if he still has an advantage there (and early evidence suggests he may).

perry: But couldn’t Trump lose nationally by 6 points and still win? Or say the polls are a bit off and Biden is really leading by only about 4 points nationally, isn’t that about even odds if Trump’s Electoral College advantage holds?

geoffrey.skelley: If he loses the popular vote by 6 points, I would be surprised if he still won.

perry: Sure. What about 4?

geoffrey.skelley: It’s possible, but again, this is assuming he still has a notable edge in key states in the Electoral College.

perry: Isn’t it obvious that Trump has an Electoral College edge again?

He is stronger in Wisconsin and Florida than he is nationally, for example. He is stronger among white working-class voters than among other blocs.

geoffrey.skelley: Right, but I think the size of that advantage is debatable — some claim it’s bigger than in 2016, but I don’t think we know that yet.

nrakich: Let me see if I can thread this needle… Yes, I strongly suspect Trump will have the advantage in the Electoral College again for the reasons you cite. But past attempts to predict who has the Electoral College edge before the election have very frequently gotten it 180 degrees backward. And who has the Electoral College advantage bounces like a ping-pong ball between the parties from cycle to cycle.

geoffrey.skelley: Also, while the national polls could be off by a couple of points again, it’s worth remembering that the direction of that error varies from cycle to cycle. So it’s also possible for that error to go in Biden’s direction too, in which case the race might not be that close.

Campaigns are also dynamic. Just ask Clinton — there’s reason to think that the release of James Comey’s letter less than two weeks before the election may have moved the needle just enough for her to lose. And, remember, we’re still roughly six months out — so things can and probably will change in different ways. What if the economy continues to go sideways over the next few months? Voters may start to say, well, Trump is more likely to lose than not.

perry: I totally agree with that. But the tricky thing is that while campaigns are dynamic, views on Trump are very undynamic.

So that’s why I tend to think that events don’t really matter this cycle. My main question is really, “Are the swing state polls accurate this cycle?” And I don’t feel confident I know the answer to that question, so I am as confused as the voters are. So, like voters, I might be overstating Trump’s chances because I am overcorrecting based on what happened in 2016 — and I am probably overstating Trump’s chances based on perhaps also overcorrecting for what happened in 2016.

geoffrey.skelley: Maybe it will boil down to how voters view Biden as an alternative to Trump. If the election is truly a referendum, that’s not good for Trump. But if there’s increasing doubt about Biden’s candidacy, it could reduce Democratic turnout or maybe even push some of those “hater” voters into Trump’s camp. After all, Biden’s lead isn’t insurmountable. As Enten recently noted, there’s even been a downtick in Biden’s lead across national polls from about 6 points to 4 points, which line up with the allegation of sexual assault made by former Biden Senate staffer Tara Reade gaining traction.

In other words, events still matter at the margins, and the margins could be decisive, considering Trump won because of about 78,000 votes in three states in 2016.

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

Dr Doom Back Bashing Bitcoin: ‘BTC is Worth Less Than Zero’

Most of the serial critics had fallen silent during the crypto winter of 2018 as Bitcoin and its brethren fell out of favor in the mainstream media. Now that BTC has surged over 200 percent, breaking into five figures again, they have started crawling out of the woodwork, full of vitriol as usual.

Dr Doom: A Broken Record

Speaking at the Asia Blockchain Summit in Taipei, serial permabear Nouriel Roubini wasted no time bashing Bitcoin and all of those in the crypto industry. Using the same old tired rants he has spouted since BTC was priced at double digits, the economist clearly hasn’t changed his mind as the digital asset recovered back to within 45 percent of its peak.

Dr Doom is of the opinion that nearly everyone associated with crypto is a criminal or scammer. What he failed to acknowledge was the long list of banks that were embroiled in money laundering scandals over the past couple of years.

“Indeed the crypto space is full of criminals, con men, carnival barkers, conflicted insiders talking their book 24/7, whales screwing retail suckers, fraudsters, snake oil peddlers, price manipulators. 100X the amount of fraud and criminality that you find in traditional banks”

Indeed the crypto space is full of criminals, con men, carnival barkers, conflicted insiders talking their book 24/7, whales screwing retail suckers, fraudsters, snake oil peddlers, price manipulators. 100X the amount of fraud and criminality that you find in traditional banks https://t.co/XoDrFQ2OOe

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) July 2, 2019

The bitcoin bile did not stop there, following the public address Nouriel, clearly pumped full of hatred, took to Twitter to continue his crypto tirade.

“Bitcoin is now down below 10k. Has lost a third of its value in less than a week. Still a long way to less than zero as its true value is negative not zero given its toxic externalities! It will get to zero in due time.”

Indeed Bitcoin is now down below 10k. Has lost a third of its value in less than a week. Still a long way to less than zero as its true value is negative not zero given its toxic externalities! It will get to zero in due time. https://t.co/Ek87DvRq6t

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) July 2, 2019

‘CZ Is a Snake Oil Peddler’

Dr Doom was pulling no punches and went straight on the attack labeling the Binance boss a snake oil peddler after being called out for attending too many crypto conferences when he clearly loathes the industry and everyone in it.

“For a guy who doesn’t see the future of #crypto, but yet, spend days attending crypto conferences.  This is the 2nd conference in Asia I overlapped with him this year.  Does he have anything to do?  Maybe he is the disguised Satoshi???”

The most pathetic critique I have heard about me is from this jerk @cz_binance; I was chosen as the 3rd most influential person in the world in the crypto space coz I am the only honest critic of this shitty space who isnt talking his book 24/7 the way you do snake oil peddler https://t.co/t3BlZ2aGpH

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) July 2, 2019

BitMEX boss Arthur Hayes also came under the hammer but countered calmly, telling Bloomberg that he Dr Doom is simply a ‘hater’ and a ‘no coiner’. He added that price action and volumes clearly shows that there is something going on in crypto and it is set to continue.

When he was questioned why you should invest in Bitcoin rather than gold, Hayes made a good point that gold is analogue and extremely difficult to transfer in large amounts whereas Bitcoin is digital and highly suited to a future of digital finance.

Those that despised digital assets to start with are unlikely to change their tune as they increase in value. Roubini’s vitriolic ranting has now become a source of entertainment to the tens of thousands of people that are now involved with this emerging yet still embryonic industry.

Image from Twitter

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How to Get a Friend Out of an MLM

How to Get a Friend Out of an MLM https://ift.tt/2CWgEwB

Elle Beau didn’t know much about makeup when she started selling it in 2015. As a college student, she was having trouble finding a job that worked with her busy school schedule. So when a friend began posting frequently on Facebook about a new business venture, Beau thought she’d found the solution to all her problems. After paying a start-up fee she couldn’t really afford, Beau was pulled into the cult-like world of Younique. “You’ll definitely make your money back in your first month, easy peasy,” her friend assured her.

But Beau didn’t make her money back. During the seven months she spent as a Younique presenter, she was pressured into buying more and more product, into posting constantly about her “business” on Facebook, and into recruiting friends and family to join her team and buy her products. Although she was hemorrhaging money, she was encouraged by her “upline” (the woman who recruited her and that woman’s superiors) to act like she was flourishing—uploading photos of orders that she’d made, pretending they were from customers, and writing out long testimonials about her love for the products and the company.

“I’ve always been very honest and open about everything in my life,” said Beau, who now runs a blog devoted to warning others about Younique’s toxic culture, and requested VICE not use her real name to avoid harassment from those still devoted to the product. “Finding myself pretending to try and make a sale or trick someone into signing up under me was really difficult. I was doing crap, and so were a lot of the other girls on my team, but we were told to lie.”

If Beau’s story sounds familiar, it probably is. In 2017, more than 18.6 million people in the U.S. were “employed” by a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. According to the FTC, two recent and unrelated studies both found more than 99 percent of people who join MLMs ultimately lose money.

But that hasn’t stopped the MLM model from infiltrating every section of international consumer culture. From colorful leggings and essential oils to supplements and powdered coffee spiked with literal viagra, MLM products like Younique and Herbalife invoke a bizarro world rule 34: if it exists, you can pay money to sell it.

At first glance, it might be difficult to see the problem with the MLMs. Sure, it’s annoying to have acquaintances slide into your DMs and try to sell you weight loss wraps, but is it really hurting anyone? Unfortunately yes, says Rick Alan Ross, an expert cult deprogrammer who founded and serves as executive director of the Cult Education Institute.

“I receive complaints on a regular basis about the destructive nature of MLMs,” Ross told VICE. “They hurt families and relationships, destroy people financially and really do a great deal of harm.”

Over the years, Ross has helped deprogram more than 500 cult victims, and MLMs pop up so frequently in Ross’ line of work that an entire chapter of his book, Cults Inside Out, is devoted to an Amway intervention.

According to Ross, most destructive cults and MLMs share three defining characteristics, initially popularized by Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton: 1. A charismatic leader who is worshipped and revered. 2. A culture of coercive persuasion or thought reform, in which all members of the group are taught to think alike and isolate themselves from anyone who questions their devotion. 3. Sexual, economic or other forms of exploitation of group members by leaders.

Using these tactics, MLMs overwhelmingly prey on vulnerable populations—the poor, single mothers, retirees, and even people with chronic illnesses—and promise them the world. Yes, they tell them, you have to invest a little money. But that’s normal when you start a business! If you work hard, you can can live a life of leisure, raking in cash while staying home with your kids.

When you’re desperate and someone you trust is providing you with what looks like a way out, it’s easy to take the bait. And those decisions, made under pressure and false hope, can end up costing a whole lot more than the joining fee. We talked to Ross and members of the growing anti-MLM community to find out what steps you should take if someone you love is drinking the MLM Kool-Aid.

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Don’t buy anything from them, and don’t join their “team.”

“One of the most common mistakes people make when their friends are in an MLM is that they buy products from them,” the manager of the anti-MLM site Botwatch, who goes by ‘Bot’ or ‘Ms. Bot’ for reasons of privacy, told VICE. “They feel like they want to support their friend but don’t realize they are feulling false hope.”

Along with Elle Beau and several other anti-MLM bloggers, Bot runs mlmtruth.org, a site dedicated to exposing MLMs and providing support for people whose loved ones are in too deep. She says that when a newbie MLMer starts off, their main source of income is going to come from either selling or recruiting their friends and family, and the people who love them may feel obligated to support their “business” by buying their product or signing up underneath them.

“If they have some initial orders, they think they can make it work,” said Bot. “So they invest in it a bit more and keep chasing sales, harassing their friends and family and making relationships awkward.” If no one makes those initial purchases, the newbie MLMer is likely to drop the habit before they get in too deep.

Be positive.

When you see a friend starting to fall for an MLM scheme, your first instinct might be to shake them by the shoulders and yell at them about pyramid schemes. But all the experts we spoke with agree this is actually the worst possible thing you can do.

Like cults, MLMs often have a strong culture of positive thinking that’s centered around blocking out any and all negativity. From the top down, every new recruit is told again and again that they will encounter a lot of people who don’t understand or don’t believe in the mission. They are told these people will attempt to talk them out of the dreams, that they don’t want them to succeed, that they’re jealous and bitter. “Haters” may bring up lawsuits against the company, show evidence that the product they’re selling is of poor quality, or gently point out that the revered founder of the company once ran a scam cancer clinic and drowned his newborn daughter in a fucking hot tub. But recruits are assured all of these things are lies, and the people who tell them are toxic.

“When it comes down to it, if you don’t want to push your friend away, the most important thing you can do is not be negative about the company,” said Sasha Zazzi, co-host of the podcast Sounds Like MLM But OK. “For every one person they have telling them this is a bad idea, they have five more in their upline telling them to ignore the haters, and giving them false examples of people who have ‘made it’ to prove they can too.”

Instead of coming at them armed with statistics and horror stories, Zazzi, Bot, and Ross all recommend asking polite questions about the company’s mission, the amount of work they’re doing, and their financial goals. Be supportive of their decisions without actively supporting the business, and don’t argue with them.

“[Confrontation] in many cases results in the immediate termination of the friendship,” said Bot. “If the MLMer does this to a few people, they can quickly find themselves isolated from genuine friends and they become surrounded by MLM people, who are all encouraging them to keep putting in their money and isolating themselves further.”

Show them the money.

While Beau was selling Younique, her sister implored her to keep a detailed spreadsheet of her expenses and sales. She didn’t want to hear it at the time, but when she finally sat down to calculate how much her new business venture had brought in, she was shocked to see herself deep in the red. That realization, coupled with her growing unease over lying about her life on social media, ultimately pushed her to leave Younique.

“If you’ve got any accounting skills, one of the biggest things you can do to help a friend in an MLM is to set up a basic spreadsheet to show them how much they’re actually bringing in,” said Beau.

People in MLMs might think they’re doing well because they’re netting a few thousand dollars a month through sales and recruitment. But they’re often discounting the difference between revenue and profit, and they also may not realize that as independent contractors, a large chunk of their untaxed income will need to be paid out to the IRS come April.

Additionally, MLMers often have large business-associated costs they don’t even think to factor into their earnings. In addition to being constantly pressured to stock up on new products to sell, MLMers are encouraged to attend large, out-of-state conferences hosted by their companies.

For example, the 2018 annual conference for the essential oil MLM doTERRA just wrapped up last week, and tickets to the event were priced between $125 and $169. Attendees could go to the official doTERRA gala for another $75, take a campus tour for $10, and attend an “EMPOWERED SUCCESS TRAINING” session for another $20. Couple in the cost of flying or driving to Salt Lake City, the cost of a hotel or Airbnb for the week, and meals, “networking” drinks and gala-appropriate outfits, doTERRA consultants who made the trip could easily drop thousands on the experience.

If you want to help a friend see the light, Beau recommends sitting them down with the numbers. Take what they think is their net income and subtract what they’ll owe in taxes, the amount they spend on product, and their travel expenses for conferences and training sessions. Watching their money disappear before their eyes could be the wake-up call they need to stop.

Stage an intervention.

It’s one thing to know someone who’s casually shelling It Works products in addition to her full-time gig. According to the FTC, an estimated 50 percent of MLM recruits will drop out in the first year, and are hopefully able to minimize their losses as a result.

But it’s quite another to watch a friend, spouse or family member spiral into debt and financial ruin, and show no signs of giving it up.

“In many ways, MLMs can be as addictive as gambling,” said Zazzi. “You’re constantly told that you have to pay money to make money, and that you’re just a few months’ hard work away from crazy success. So you keep putting money down, thinking this time will be different, this time you’ll make it back.”

When a loved one is in this deep, it’s not enough to be positive and ask gently probing questions, says Ross, who has seen first-hand families and lives ripped apart by the destructive nature of MLMs.

“I get calls like this all the time,” he told VICE, describing conversations with desperate husbands and wives who have been watching in abject horror as their joint checking accounts are drained, their garages are filled with piles of unsold merchandise, and their spouses become unrecognizable. In these extreme cases, Ross says an intervention can be a loved one’s last resort before cutting off the MLMer completely.

When planning an MLM intervention, Ross first advises the spouse or loved one of the MLMer to start educating themselves on the concepts of thought reform and brainwashing. Once they have an understanding of what has happened to their spouse or loved one, they should reach out to other friends and family members for support during the intervention.

Ross recommends putting together a team of no more than four people – siblings, parents and close friends – who can help to anchor the MLMer and prevent them from walking out when they realize what’s going on. These people can also help attest to the harm they’ve seen caused as a result of the person’s involvement with the MLM.

Ross says an intervention usually takes several days, and he asks the person in the MLM to abstain from contacting anyone they work with during that time. The next step involves educating the person on both the fundamental flaws in the MLM business structure, and the cultural similarities between MLMs and cults. In his book, Ross cites an intervention with an Amway seller who began crying upon realizing he’d been brainwashed into believing the promises made by his upline.

Of course, interventions don’t always work. For every person who is willing to listen and leave, there’s another who refuses to see the light.

When asked if the process used to extract someone from an MLM was the same as the one he uses on victims of cults like Scientology, Ross laughed. “It is. It’s exactly the same process.”

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via VICE https://ift.tt/1fnaWnB October 22, 2018 at 05:42PM