#all I did here was explain the very basic mechanism of the cycle of violence and how it feeds on itself
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This cultural mechanism of denying humanity of certain individuals (most often villains) has a name. Rene Girard wrote about it in his book called The Scapegoat. I tried finding ANY reblog of this post which actually mentions this, but despite scrolling through at least half of reblogs, I couldn't find it, which means even if someone did point it out then it still went pretty much unnoticed.
We all know who or what a scapegoat is. It's that thing or that person, the root of evil, the source of chaos, the troublemaker, the trickster disrupting the long established safety and order (which is, ofc, the ultimate good). If you only get rid of the problematic individual, everything will be okay again. That's how it works. But there's a problem with it. There's never one scapegoat. After one comes another, and another, and another, till you get hundreds and thousands of them and you can't fit them in one neat grave or prison anymore. They keep coming and there will be more and more of them, this will never stop, because it's a cycle. A cycle of violence. If you really want for "things to be okay", you need to break that cycle, instead of finding YET another scapegoat, yet another villain to bury for all of our sins. By sacrficing another villain, another victim, another scapegoat on the altar of society, you only support the cycle to keep on going.
Yes, you heard me right. Villains are scapegoats. But victims ARE scapegoats as well. Anyone we forcefully silence and refuse to give agency to is the scapegoat. The homeless, the LGBT, the mentally different, any disabled people etc. Anyone who fits into a very broad category of "otherness". But here's the catch. Because this category is so broad it's very easy to become that "other". That's why people are willing to go to extreme lengths just to make sure no one sees them as "other". They will deny their disabilities, they will deny they're not like those "others", they will even deny their own struggles, just to fit into the safe mold of "normal". And if you silence yourself just because you're afraid you might be the next one victimized or villainized, you're also a scapegoat, btw. Your inner life and self-consistency is the sacrifice on the altar of society that doesn't care if you actually have a heart. All it cares about is for you to make sure you're "normal", which has a very murky definition too. Who's normal? The one who acts like the majority of others? The one who has the applause? (applause can be shortlived and depends on trends, it's dangerous, you're dancing on the edge). Every time we see someone as the "other" we judge, we're scapegoating them. Yes, all of us, by succumbing to our fear of being judged, contribute to this mechanism. Otherwise the seams of the society might fall apart and we can all turn against each other, we can rip apart the system, they warn us of anarchy, you might get killed in the middle of the street, there will be no police to guard the order, no prisons to keep the bad eggs away from you. Stay quiet, endure, it's for the safety of all of us.
No one should have to carry that weight of the whole world on their own shoulders. Not like this. But we do, every single day.
We're all capable of being bad people and often are. But we also all want to believe we're good. People think if someone didn't get love there's a reason of why they didn't receive it. That belief didn't come out of nowhere. It's internalized violence and judgemental mentality. You prefer to doom someone else as long as it saves yourself from being doomed. You're not only hurting others with it, but YOURSELF as well in the process. You get rid of your true empathy for others, you decide whose pain or suffering is the one "worthy" of acceptance and which is not and needs to be condemned. You can't afford that empathy for anyone else than you after a while, after all you live in constant, silent fear of "being next" if you just stop for a moment and look too long at the scapegoats buried around you. And what you fail to see is that you're also a scapegoat. If we all accept each other and ourselves as "others", if we're all just different people and no one is normal anymore, will this finally break the cycle?
You want to feel like a good person? Of course, we all do. But you can't achieve that if you're too afraid to look into the abyss/mirror and realize you also do bad things. You also need to redeem yourself. You can do better, but it's not easy. You know what's easy instead? Finding a scapegoat and blaming them for their own misery. Literally requires no work, the world will applause you and all you need to do is repeat same words after others. The mechanism works like a perpetuum mobile at this point, it will mostly do this job for you. Just take a stand, deem the villains, blame the victims, ignore the struggles and pain of others.
But here's the catch. If you're too cold, you're also gonna be judged and called a psychopath. That's also a no-no, you're becoming the unacceptable "other" again. You have to show, in specific, allowed circumenstances, that you feel sorry for others. That you know how to choose the "right" side. That you understand "good" needs sacrfices and sometimes you're even expected to cry for them. And if you see those sacrfices as not-human "others", it's easier to accept it all.
Many people claim how scary it is to face certain truths, like "victims can turn into villains too", but the real truth no one wants to face is actually this: we allowed this to happen. We allowed the villains to be formed, all of us. Every time we engage in judgemental actions, every time we police someone dealing with their pain "in wrong way", every time we call someone "born evil". Every time we point a finger and call someone a villain, a victim, a barbarian, the other. By doing that we trap them in endless world of pain and suffering and abuse. They also want to be out of that cycle, but we keep trapping them, by silencing them and adding our own narrative on top. They suffer for our sins. Because they're our scapegoat, the sacrifice we made to keep on going, thinking how good this world is and how much worse it could have been, just look in the right places. Just don't look at the scapegoats too long. They corrupt. Maybe their otherness is even contagious, so stay as far away from them as possible.
You're allowed to be mad about this, btw. Anger is a neccessary emotion, it points at injustice done to you. But the society wants you to throw that emotion away and supress it, so you're tamed and silenced. It might even create a "safe space" to vent it out, by encouragig you into physical activities or taking part in some entertainment, so you can lose your steam in a way that doesn't challenge the system. It's a distraction. (the point here isn't to condemn sport or popculture btw, it just serves as an example, ok?)
All communities work like this. We're all trapped in endless cycle of violence. We bury endless scapegoats under our communities, they become our foundations. After all, nothing unites different people better than finding a common villain, it's us (the good) vs them (the evil). Wait, did I just say "different people"? But we're supposed to be all the same! No, that's a myth. We were all always different. We just have to choose who is "more different than others", so we can unite ourselves against them.
You know what that reminds me of? "We're all equal. But some are more equal than others". Animal farm was about power structures. By accepting easy scapegoats, by abiding to this mechanism, we support the power system that oppresses us. Think about it. Our civilisation is build on this and it would not thrive the way it did without the scapegoats.
And all of you blaming christianity for this instead, you need to understand one thing. What Jesus taught was actually the reverse of scapegoating. âLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at herâ. This is literally Jesus telling people "you all have sinned, so why are you judging them if you don't judge yourself?". What you all mean by christian/puritanist beliefs is how christianity got distorted and institutionalized into a power abusing system called religion. Swallowed up by what it tried to fight against. Always identify the actual source of abuse, instead of doing more scapegoating. I'm in no way inclined to defend christianity (not in the form it exists now), but also if we keep on muddling the truth we will always make the same mistake, so, always dig deeper to avoid it. Thank you.
not to post even more Villains Discourse on main but it really bugs me how people read giving villains tragic backstories as inherently excusing their actions and/or demonizing trauma survivors.
the actual message of Tragic Villains is (almost) always âpeople who are never taught or given any healthy, constructive outlets for their emotions will often find unhealthy, destructive outlets.â itâs that people who are traumatized and never learn how to cope with that trauma can become a danger to themselves and others. the message isnât âtrauma makes you evil!!!!â or âgenocide is okay if youâve been sad before!!!!â itâs âpeople need compassion and help to recover from trauma instead of becoming increasingly angry and harming themselves and others in the process.â
this site takes an alarmingly behaviorist and punitive approach to everything and itâs literally the most annoying thing. yâall have this concept that âif we just punish people hard enough, if we just scare them enough, if we just make them feel guilty enough.â that people just Do Bad Things Because They Do Bad Things, I Guess, and Because We Didnât Threaten Them And Shame Them Enough. but humans are an innately social species. at our very core, we need compassion and kindness. we need healthy relationships with other humans.
you can keep looking at traumatized villains and being like âhaha this dumb pathetic sadboi thinks murder is okay because his parents diedâ but as a survivor myself, unaddressed/untreated trauma absolutely can make you ragey and destructive. i was lucky enough to have support and eventually get the treatment i needed. but itâs not hard at all for me to imagine how, if that hadnât been the case, that couldâve been me. obviously not on a movie-villain scale like murder or war crimes, but itâs so irritating as someone whose trauma has always manifested as anger to watch people on this site be like âthis is just bad writing!!! real survivors/good survivors donât end up like that the writers just hate survivors and want the audience to condone murder!â
#I have more thoughts about redemption boundaries consent prisons and power in general#but I just wanted people to know about the scapegoat mechanism and the cycle of violence so this post will have to do without#just please we have to understand one distinction here: just because someone hurt us doesn't mean we have to excuse that person#you need to draw that boundary but you can do that without scapegoating#and you don't actually have to forgive anyone#we don't have to constantly scapegoat someone in fear of not being scapegoated ourselves#we can understand someone did a bad thing because they were coping in bad way#and at the same time not villainize them and condemn them and deny them humanity and silence them#yet we're allowed to not want them anywhere near us at the same time#this can coexist. that's what boundaries are for!#scapegoat#cycle of violence#rene girard#power structures#anthropology#anthropology of otherness#philosophy#sounds like controversial conspiracy theory post? I'm not actually sorry for this#I'm used to the fact that lots of philosophical subjects sound like conspiracy to people lol#I could write whole thesis about scapegoating in cultures#there is just so much material and angles to it#all I did here was explain the very basic mechanism of the cycle of violence and how it feeds on itself#it's just the tip of the iceberg#I couldn't even touch on how the scapegoats get dehumanized for the sake of the system#yes victims are dehumanized as well which is why people try to change the discourse and use words like âsurvivorâ instead of âvictimâ#to reclaim the human status back#in summary: you choose people who stand out; ostracize them; and in time of crisis put the blame on them#no one will defend them but instead unite against them; the conflict gets resolved by cutting the scapegoat off#everyone is happy again (besides the scapegoats ofc)#I'm sure you saw this process repeated to no end (video games? blamed for making kids violent; abuser? provoked by the victim etc.)
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the many faces of tom riddle, part 2
 -you dislike frank dillaneâs portrayal of tom riddle only because you donât think heâs attractive-
FULL DISCLAIMER THAT THIS IS JUST MY OPINION OF A CHARACTER WHO DOESNâT HAVE THE STRONGEST CANON CHARACTERIZATION, AND THUS ALL THIS IS BASED ON MY CONCEPTUALIZATION (and this time, featuring a bit of armchair child psych from a student).
Wait, donât clutch your pearls just yet. Compose yourself.
I am about to explain why itâs not actually that bad, and Dillaneâs portrayal is vastly underappreciated.
I definitely agree that his portrayal comes off as âcreepierâ. Itâs not helped by the stylistic decisions in the scene -- the smeary, green filter gives the scene a sinister quality.Â
Even Slughorn looks suspect here, which is somewhat appropriate, given that he is complicit in this crime.Â
Again, this scene is very much intended to be slightly off.
Youâll notice (and Iâll discuss this again when I talk about Coulsonâs portrayal) that Dillane is almost always shot from at least slightly below, which makes the lower third of his face look bigger (and thus more menacing). The lighting also makes his eyes glow in a really unnatural way. Thereâs an echo-y effect to make his voice (and not Slughornâs) sound unnerving.
People talk about how Coulson would have looked in this scene, and if he was filmed in the same way (monotone, smeary/shadowy filter, and always from below), heâd look a bit creepy, too.
But all of this, imo, is for a pretty good reason. Slughorn isnât the POV character. Harry is. Harry is learning about how a young Lord Voldemort wheedled the secret of Horcruxes out of an unsuspecting teacher. Unlike in COS, he expects Riddle to be evil. And, so, Harryâs new perception of Tom Riddle literally colors how we perceive him.
Take this shot, for example: he does that head-tilt thing that Coulson does, and itâs actually... kind of... cute???
Imagine Dillane filmed from slightly above, like Coulson usually is, and it looks even more innocent. (I mean, come on, he does not look like heâs killed four people, does he?) Itâs not hard to imagine teachers being taken in by this kind of act.
Even that little smirk he does when the camera (aka, Harryâs gaze) pans in, is for Harryâs benefit. No one else noticed that.Â
However, I still fail to find this creepy, like, at all. Yes, itâs a fake smile, but heâs portraying a different side of Tom Riddle to Coulson. Whereas, in COS, heâs in his vindictive, murderous element, where heâs free to express himself, in this scene, Tom Riddle is doing what he does best -- manipulating and managing appearances.Â
This entire scene is an act. And because Harry knows itâs an act, it should look a bit stilted.Â
From the Hepzibah Smith scene in the books:Â Voldemort smiled mechanically and Hepzibah simpered.
So, Harry is pretty adept at parsing Tomâs fake expressions.
But just look at the expressiveness in his face: he goes from brooding, he blinks, and his entire face changes to this charming (fake) smile.Â
At the risk of sounding elitist, Iâm a bit tired of seeing the word âpsychopathâ, which is not an actual medical diagnosis recognised by any psychological or psychiatric institution, being tossed about, especially with reference to Tom Riddle (and from a neuroscience perspective, itâs doubly annoying). Thereâs no such thing as âinsanityâ or âpsychopathyâ or being âcrazy.â
-although I use it too a shorthand in conversation to distinguish âcanonâ Tom from his âsofterâ OOC counterparts, I really shouldnât-
Unfortunately, Iâve seen the âpsychopathâ comment used time-and-time again as an excuse or a full explanation of âwhy Tom Riddle went evilâ (JKR in fact, has made a weird comment in an interview, basically saying that âpsychopaths canât be redeemed or learn adaptive coping skillsâ or whatever), which really just goes to show the lack of understanding and compassion when personality disorders, especially, are concerned.
But what I like most about the opening of this scene, actually, is that first, listless expression. And this is where we get slightly into headcanon, but Tom Riddle is the opposite of a happy, mentally healthy teenager. By Dumbledoreâs own admission, he has no real friends. He has no parental figures, no real attachments. Yes, he might derive some pride or enjoyment from being good at magic and top of his class and all that, but I really donât think even Tom finds that truly fulfilling. There is nothing that makes him happy.Â
In fact, although some might perceive it as âcreepyâ, I think that listless expression is an accurate window into Tomâs psyche.Â
I know people arenât big on Freud, but I think that he does make some interesting points (also, cut the guy some slack for being relatively open-minded for the Victorian Era, and inventing psychoanalysis and while yes he did say some sexist stuff, good luck finding a field of science that isnât male-focused and makes crazy generalizations about women, especially back in the day) about the possible origins of thanatophobia, the fear of death.
According to Freud, thanatophobia is a disguise for a deeper source of concern -- he did not believe that people were capable of conceptualizing their own death to that extent. Instead, he believed that this phobia was caused by unresolved childhood conflicts that the sufferer cannot come to terms with or express emotion towards.
Now, I know Freud almost always attributes mental distress to childhood experiences, but I think in this case, it really has some merit.
According to attachment theory, the basis of how we form attachments in adulthood is dictated by learning it from experiences with caregivers in the first two years of life. We know Tom was born in an orphanage, and that he didnât cry much as a baby, and subsequently, probably received very little attention. Compounded with possible genetic factors and his caregivers being afraid or wary of his magical abilities, he later struggled to form attachments because of this -- I would actually go so far as to say that by the time Dumbledore meets him, Tom Riddle is severely depressed.Â
And that flat affect and anhedonia, I think, comes over very well in Dillaneâs portrayal. Thereâs kind of this resignation -- a very deep sadness and loneliness to his character.
Of course, he doesnât derive any comfort or fulfillment from human interaction, because (to borrow the description from the Wikipedia article on âReactive attachment disorderâ, which Tom meets all the criteria for) he has a âgrossly disturbed internal working model of relationships.â In other words, he is unresponsive to all offers of attachment because of this unacknowledged trauma.
(You could arguably class Tom as having an avoidant attachment style, but I think in his case the trauma and its effect on him are severe enough to call it disordered.)
RAD isnât particularly well-characterized (especially neurologically) and quite new in the literature, but here are some links if anyone is interested in doing a bit of digging: Link 1 | Link 2Â | Paper 1 | Paper 2
And, instead of trying to resolve this conflict in a healthy way, or at least recognize that this is why he canât be happy and try to learn how to cope from there, he (a) represses the desire for human attachment and (b) funnels that negative emotion into being the fault of Death, the Grim Reaper (again, to borrow Freudian terms).Â
And we all know how that turned out...
(And now, this should go without saying, but psychoanalyzing fictional characters has nothing to do with assigning a morality to mental disorders. Mental illness is neither a cause nor an excuse for criminal behavior -- in the same way that the cycle of violence is a phenomenon, not an excuse. Tom Riddle did not become a genocidal murderer because, in common parlance, he was a âpsychopathâ -- he was not necessarily âpredisposedâ to evil and could just as easily chosen to not follow the path that he did -- instead, he willingly made poor choices. This is a descriptive analysis, not a justification -- a âhowâ, not a âwhyâ)
Hereâs a Carl Jung quote that articulates it better:
âI am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.â
Yes, heâs a bit stiff (and a lot more formal than in COS during his *conversation* with Harry). But, and here comes the controversial bit, this is appropriate for a portrayal of a schoolboy in the 1940s. The upright posture is accurate -- respectful, polite -- everything Tom Riddle would have been expected to be (and even Coulson, in that scene with Dumbledore in COS, is quite stiff). Even the way he looks at Slughorn and maintains eye contact is very *respectful.*
And, Dillane (I think heâs seventeen or eighteen here) actually looks like a believable sixteen-year-old. Iâm sorry, I love Coulsonâs portrayal as well, but he looks around nineteen in COS; so in HBP, he probably would have looked at least twenty-two or so. (Sorry, not sorry).
This may be influenced by my own interpretation of the character (because I imagine Tom always looks young for his age, and Dillane fits that archetype, but I donât think thatâs very popular), but I think young Tom Riddle is supposed to be *cute* and a bit stiff/shy/awkward (being charming and awkward is very much possible), if you consider the way Dippet and Slughorn treat him.Â
To support this, he says very few words to Hepzibah Smith (in the book, that sceneâs not in the movie), and is very... bashful and coy during the whole interaction? I think yes, heâs charismatic, but heâs not loud, suave, openly flirtatious or particularly verbose. Tom Riddle should have a quiet magnetism, and to me, that came across in Dillaneâs portrayal.
"I'd be glad to see anything Miss Hepzibah shows me," said Voldemort quietly, and Hepzibah gave another girlish giggle.
...
"Are you all right, dear?"
"Oh yes," said Voldemort quietly. "Yes, I'm very well. ..."
Even the âugly, greedy lookâ described in the books, when Slughorn starts spilling his secrets, is there. This is how heâs supposed to look! Slughorn glimpses it, but doesnât understand its significance. Harry does.Â
âSlughorn looked deeply troubled now: He was gazing at Riddle as though he had never seen him plainly before, and Harry could tell that he was regretting entering into the conversation at all.â
Remember the context of this moment, as well: Heâs just discovered how to create multiple Horcruxes. Excuse him for looking a bit creepy (if not now, then when?).
Hereâs two direct quotes of Harryâs impression of Tom Riddle in that scene:Â
âBut Riddle's hunger was now apparent; his expression was greedy, he could no longer hide his longing.â
âHarry had glimpsed his face, which was full of that same wild happiness it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wizard, the sort of happiness that did not enhance his handsome features, but made them, somehow, less human. . . .â
Tom Riddleâs Horcruxes are a direct metaphor for his refusal to allow himself to heal from his trauma -- instead, he continues to inflict destruction on himself and others.
His desire to continue creating more Horcruxes sort of resounds with the fact that self-harm can also become a compulsion.
Iâd also like to digress a bit to discuss the Gaunt Ring, while weâre at it. While weâve talked about his attachment issues in general, this discussion is particularly pertinent to father figures. And while Tomâs attachment issues are extensive, I think thereâs ample evidence that as a child, he craved acknowledgement and acceptance from a father figure -- the man who gave him the only thing Tom truly owned -- his name. He would have had a vaguely defined mother figure in Mrs. Cole, perhaps.
"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was.... He didnât like magic, my father ... He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage ... but I vowed to find him ... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name ... Tom Riddle. ..."
We know that by June of 1943 (COS flashback) Tom has already uncovered the truth of his parentage; he knows he is the Heir of Slytherin via the Gaunt line, and he describes himself to Dippet as âHalf-blood, sir. Witch mother, Muggle father.â
In Part 1, I discussed the high probability that as a presumed âMudbloodâ, Tom Riddle was treated rather poorly in Slytherin House. But by this scene in the fall of 1943, he is surrounded by a group of adoring hangers-on. Why?
In my opinion; the Gaunt Ring. We know that Tom stopped wearing it after school, so its sentimental value couldnât have been that great. We know he likes to collect objects (which I believe stems from his attachment issues -- he seeks comfort in things instead of other people).
Signet rings (such as the one belonging to Tutankhamun seen above) were used to stamp legal documents and such, in order to certify someoneâs identify -- like an e-certificate, if you will. Like Tutankhamunâs ring, the Gaunt Ring bears an identifying symbol -- Marvolo Gaunt tells us proudly that it bears the Peverell family crest.
By the Middle Ages, anyone of influence, including the nobility, wore a signet ring. Rings in antiquity were auspicious -- they signified power, legitimacy, and authority. And so, I believe that all the Sacred Twenty-Eight families would have worn these, too.
And so, bearing the Gaunt Ring would have established Tom Riddle, symbolically and in the eyes of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (his future supporters and followers), as the legitimate heir to the House of Gaunt. This is why, I believe, Tom coveted the ring as soon as he saw it -- not just because it was a family heirloom, and not just because he thought it was a pretty toy for his collection.
(He curses it so that no one else but him can wear the Gaunt Ring safely.)
This is why, to make the legitimization literal as well as symbolic, Tom murders his father and grandparents. Itâs not just an act of vindictive, murderous rage due to his perception of being rejected by his father (although it is that, too). And so, Tom, abandoning his search for a father figure (and possibly also giving up on the possibility to allow himself to heal from his own personal trauma rather than continue to inflict it on others), âcleansesâ his bloodline, to make himself truly legitimate. Itâs rather telling that instead of affirming his legitimacy as a Riddle, which would have put him in line for a nice inheritance, and hey -- money is money -- (thus accepting his half-blood status), he simply kills them all. He has done all the murdering he needs to become immortal (and he hasnât had the discussion about multiple Horcruxes yet); but yet, he does it again. Frightening stuff.Â
(Just look how the others look at Tom. All but the one to his left -- possibly Nott, Rosier, or Mulciber -- have their torsos turned towards him. Their attention is on him, while he knowingly regards the viewer/Harry. Tom seems a little uncomfortable with the attention.).
âAnd there were the half-dozen teenage boys sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them, Marvolo's gold-and-black ring gleaming on his finger.â
...
âRiddle smiled; the other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.â
...
âTom Riddle merely smiled as the others laughed again. Harry noticed that he was by no means the eldest of the group of boys, but that they all seemed to look to him as their leader.â
The âgangâ are true hangers-on; Tom doesnât seem to pay them much attention.Â
So, if not via careful flattery or charisma, the attraction must be status.
And perhaps yet more telling...
"I don't know that politics would suit me, sir," he said when the laughter had died away. "I don't have the right kind of background, for one thing." âA couple of the boys around him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke, undoubtedly about what they knew, or suspected, regarding their gang leader's famous ancestor.â
That, in my opinion, is as good as weâre going to get as proof that Tomâs shiny new signet ring (and by extension, his new status) made a big impression on his fellow students.
So, when he returns to Hogwarts, he is âpurebloodâ. He is cleansed of his Muggle roots, and becomes the legitimate heir of the House of Gaunt, now well on his way to becoming Lord Voldemort...
Watch the scene again, with a critical eye, and imagine Slughornâs perspective, instead of Harryâs. Thereâs nothing creepy about Tom Riddle... unless you know what he is...
Strip away all the effects of Harryâs gaze (and notice, here heâs still looking at Harry), and heâs quite the charmer, actually.
(I will concede that I donât like the promotional images where they have him looking like heâs up to no good. And I do wish he blinked once in a while.)
My challenge to you: Rewatch the scene with an open mind, and let me know if you agree that Dillaneâs portrayal comes off as depressive rather than âcreepy.â And if not, why do you dislike his portrayal?
#tom riddle#character analysis#character study#the many faces of#tom marvolo riddle#frank dillane#i literally could not find any pictures other than these#literal crumbs i swear#i know this is unpopular#people really dislike him i guess#watch the scene again with an open mind i promise you'll like it#i seriously do think he did a good job#tw: mention of child abuse#tw: mention of self-harm#i'm not trying to oversimplify things but you can't deny that maybe if tom was hugged as a child it would have helped#say it with me: psychopathy is not an actual medical diagnosis#it's actual more of a legal/criminal justice term#and people just use it as a synonym for 'evil' at this point so the original meaning is pretty much obscured#and personality disorders should not be moralized#people with personality disorders are not 'evil'
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The 100 S5 AU Where Luna Runs the Bunker Instead of Octvia
Can someone explain to me how s5 is the season of âending the cycle (of violence)â, but Luna kom Floukru -- who was practically brainwashed as a child to kill and revel in violence, just like all the other grounders, but especially like all the other nightblood children, and despite all this she still found a way out of that and ran away to create a refuge for those who were tired of the violence -- is somehow NOT in s5???
Tell me again it would not have made more sense for her to have killed Octagon in the conclave. Not only is she the best warrior who ever lived, so itâs bad writing that Octagon snuck up on her at all. BUT ALSO, narratively, having a character like hers to teach everyone that thereâs a better way?? To have this girl who yes, did admirable things by running away, but would now be forced to lead as she was destined to and she finds a better way??
So, after six years, when everyone emerges from the bunker, anything that happened in the Dark Year would stay there and Luna wouldnât use that as an excuse to have her people fight an unnecessary war. She would 100% be against going to war, but hereâs where the conflict comes in: the grounders in the bunker wouldnât be.
These people were already part of a cult (Octagon is basically Cadogan 2.0, and Cadogan was the original cult leader of the grounders, even before Becca became their first commander) and would probably resort back to violence upon realizing that thereâs only one valley left on Earth.
AND WHILE WEâRE AT IT, in this AU Jasper lives, and the way that Luna had run things down in the bunker -- when he sees this upon returning to the ground, heâs impressed with how she managed to create a peaceful society down there. Because he thought humanity wasnât capable of stopping the cycle. Then when the grounders start to rebel against Luna -- because she would no doubt have taken up Diyozaâs terms for peace and surrendered in a heartbeat, which would be a sorta callback to how L/xa surrendered at Mount Weather and the grounders saw her as weak for this (these situations are quite different, but itâs still a slight parallel) -- Jasper would be on her side along with Monty, Harper, Bellamy and Clarke of course.
The Madi becoming commander conflict could stay the same. Because upon learning that Luna is not the last nightblood, some of the grounders might want to replace Luna with her, in hopes that they could convince her to lead them to war.
The only difference is that Bellarke would not be at odds over this. Because Bellamyâs main reason for being in support of Madi taking the chip is that she could accept Diyozaâs terms for peace, but if she had to fight Luna -- the best warrior who ever lived -- Bellamy wouldnât have her fight. Thereâs no way she wouldnât die because sheâs a child and Luna is, as I said, the best warrior who ever lived and she would also be in her twenties. Thatâs not exactly a fair fight. Not to mention Luna is the one who killed Octagon in this AU, so Bellamy would definitely have PTSD over that and not want the same thing to happen to Madi. Also, in canon, Madi becoming commander is a potential threat to her life, whereas this would be lead to her DEFINITE death in a conclave.
So, instead of Bellarke being at odds like they are in canon, they would be on the same side, and this is how they would find their way back to each other. Because six years and a girlfriend is enough distance between them for the drama, letâs be honest. We didnât need a betrayal and then Clarke leaving Bell to die. We just didnât.
Speaking of Bellamy having a girlfriend, I would not have him be with E.cho in this because E.cho would not have made it into space at all. I think that she had potential, but she would have to either stay an antagonist or become a protagonist, neither of which really work.
If she had stayed an antagonist, it wouldnât make sense. Six years and you still havenât learned to like the people youâve been living with? If she became a protagonist (the route that the show DID take), itâs not that it wouldnât make sense but that thereâs something kind of missing here, as everyone knows. Very few people care about her because we didnât see her develop, and thereâs no way for the writers to have accomplished that even if we had gotten space flashbacks.
A story of redemption for an antagonist takes longer than just a few flashbacks. So anyways, the writers should have left her back in s4 where imo she belongs. I think that her character has run its course and itâs honestly just weird every time I see her on my screen.
As for Bellamy having a girlfriend, I would just have him be with Emori because in this AU Memori have been broken up for longer. I just really think Bemori would have been so cute, and it would have been a natural progression from s4 to 5 because thereâs no baggage between Bellamy and Emori before the six years.
Then when Emori stays with Murphy in the woods, they would start to work through things in a very similar way to how it plays out in canon (just without the kissing because Emoriâs not a cheater!). She would realize that even though she and Murphy canât be together right now, itâs only because he needs to work through some stuff before they can be. She would realize itâs not fair to be with Bellamy while she still has feelings for Murphy, and a similar realization would happen with Bellamy because of Clarke. So, when Bemori reunite, they would break up, and by the finale, weâd have Memori and Bellarke getting together.
Wow, Iâve really gone off on a tangent here, BUT GOING BACK TO LUNA, I would have Jaha survive the bunker too and have Kane and Abby die over the time jump. Heâs far more interesting than those two, and I think Jahaâs political relationship with both Luna and Diyoza would have been really interesting.
Speaking of Diyoza, things would be so much different with Eligius. Like I said, Jaha would be there instead of Kane, but also, it would only be Raven, Murphy and Emori. Murphy could take E.choâs place with the âwe have to kill Zekeâ thing and so instead of Raven and E.choâs friendship being threatened (which we never got to see form in the first place), weâd have Murvenâs being threatened. And we actually saw Raven forgive Murphy last season, so this would be a far more interesting conflict.
Raven would eventually convince Murphy that they need Zeke alive to escape and then, like in canon, theyâd start the war as a distraction so they could do so. I would keep Zaven in this, but Iâm torn because if Luna is alive, then I would have to have Sea Mechanic happen at some point. So, maybe Zaven this season and then Sea Mechanic in s6 or something. Like, Luna and Raven reunite by the end of the season and start to rebuild the friendship that they had in s4, and it would be a slowburn kind of thing through s6 and 7!
Which, by the way, would be in space/ on another planet. I think thatâs the route the show is taking, so I would definitely keep that as a thing. Thereâs not a whole lot more to do with Earth at this point.
Going back to Eligius, things would also be different because Abby isnât there. I would just replace her with Jackson or something. Problem solved. And yes, I know heâs not addicted like Abby is, so Diyoza wouldnât be able to make him cure them in the same way, but I think the writers could come up with something. Either that, or just scrap the whole disease thing. I donât know how everyone else feels, but itâs the one thing about Eligius that Iâm kinda bored with. I just donât really care because there are no characters with the disease for us to care about. Zeke and Diyoza are the only two weâre supposed to feel for, and neither of them are sick.
Without the disease, there would have to be something else to divide Eligius, but then again, McCreary is already a psychopath. There could still be a conflict with just McCreary being McCreary and not wanting to share the valley, just like in canon.
Oh, and going back to the bunker for a hot sec, Miller would still be like the guy we know and his characterization would make sense. He would be backing Luna along with Monty, Jasper, Harper, Bellamy and Clarke. Because heâs always in support of whatâs best for his people (and fighting an unnecessary war, the very opposite of whatâs good for his people, makes no sense in canon). Side note: Minty would definitely be a thing in this!
Anyways, this has become far longer than I intended, but the message remains the same: Luna kom Floukru had so much potential and s5 would be fixed with her in it (among a few other changes -- no E.cho, Jasper lives, and Jaha lives instead of Abby and Kane), but mainly because of Luna.
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The Sisterhood Training In Detail
~The Sisterhood will continue to expand and refine The Sisterhood Training, with the goal of sharing it with as many women as possible. It is essential to understand that after The Pentavalent itself, The Sisterhood Training is the Most Important Element of The Sisterhood. To use a rather fevered metaphor, The Sisterhood Training is the womb from which the New Matriarchy will be born. Without the efforts and actions of properly trained and motivated Sisters, all the preceding concepts are just so much 'sound and fury'. Because of that I shall go into a considerable amount of detail regarding The Training itself. I have been through a number of Large Group Awareness Trainings [LGAT's] These LGAT's were for the most part beneficial and positively transformative for me and for others. And I did see where they had their own internal problems. The problem that was most apparent to me at the time was that LGAT's tend to 'crack you open' without much proper follow up except more trainings and workshops. They did try to form some kind of community of support â there would be a lot of talk about Relationship and the such â but since the focus was almost exclusively upon Individual Empowerment, that effort usually failed, a few times with tragic consequences. Another issue was the utter lack of any type of Spiritual foundation. A trainer of mine once addressed this with a statement that they, the LGAT, 'were willing to except the possibility that here was something greater than The Universe.' That's a pretty thin metaphysical soup. But the Key Issue with every single one of them is this; they are all ultimately 'part of the problem'. As has been said before in these pages, a primary Operating Motto of ours is a quote from Jiddu Krishnamurti, "It is no measure of good health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." In the final analysis, the primary outcome of all the LGAT's I have ever encountered is to support you becoming 'more well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society'. They are after all, capitalist operations and, for all the good they might do, they are in business to sell a product and to make money. This also contributes to the first two problems mentioned above, the cracking open without follow up and the lack of Spiritual foundation. Many of their graduates become 'more effective' in expanding the reach and power of Modern Corporate Marketing Culture, the producer/creator of the hologram that now holds most Americans â and many around the world â in its thrall, where we are no longer citizens, or even humans, but merely Consumers of Product and the entire focus of this is to Sell Product. LGAT's are a part of that mechanism. They cannot be otherwise. And their models facilitate the perpetuation of Modern Corporate Marketing Culture. Why do you think so many corporations send 'their people' to these trainings? They make said people more Effective etc, not more Aware. If they really became so, they'd leave the corporation. Some do, but usually only to start some other type of corporation, not to exit the paradigm. The very first thing that will make the Sisterhood Trainings different is that they will be non-profit. That way the entire financial focus is devoted solely to getting the Trainings into the reach of as many Sisters as possible and in the optimum fashion. The final overall structure as presently envisioned would first be the Workshop Series, staring with a Guest Event to provide an enrollment mechanism for the two preliminary extended weekend workshops, a Basic that would run Friday through Sunday and an Advanced that would run Wednesday through Sunday, each designed to be preparatory for the Long Training itself. They each would have benefits in and of themselves, even the Guest Event. For many Sisters they may be the only direct experience of The Sisterhood they are able have at that point in their lives, so these workshops have to be able to be as positively transformative as we can safely make them in that window. Ultimately however, their primary outcome is to recruit Sisters for the Long Training. As such the Guest Event and the two Weekend Workshops would all take place within a roughly thirty day period preceding the beginning of a new Wave in the area in which that Wave was to be based. This would also intensify the experience of those Sisters who can only do the Workshop Series. These workshops will be fully run by the Central Training Operation, a stand alone non-profit educational corporation whose sole purpose is to coordinate, guide and refine the Sisterhood Trainings. It will have a core professional staff which would be augmented with volunteers from the Trainings themselves. The Long Training â which is called a Wave â is the actual Amazon Warrior Priestess Training mentioned above. Each Wave would consist of a dozen to two dozen Trikonai, a bond group of three Sisters which would be formed during the two weekend workshops and would be a mandatory element. [A dozen to two dozen Trikonai would come out to 36 to 72 Sisters.] The only way to enroll in a Wave is as an already formed Trikona, optimally one that formed and bonded during the Workshop Series. The next section, Part Six: The Trikona, will explain why this is necessary. The Central Training Operation will provide support, networking, feedback, guidance, etc. But each Wave will be functionally autonomous. Its own members will run the Wave's specific scheduling and be almost entirely self funding, doing whatever is is needed to make sure that every Sister in that Wave is able to achieve all the goals and complete the Training. Each Wave with be given an overall operational plan and a specific set of goals to achieve. Each Wave can also establish its own unique set of goals and outcomes as long as those do not interfere or contravene the overall plans and goals. Incorporation: To begin with a Wave will establish itself as a Corporation of the type that best suits the state within which it is primarily operating. That will give the Wave a heft and a flexibility that enhances its ability to pursue its goals that no unofficial group could match. Corporate Personhood is the Key to Power in modern America. Note that this is essentially an Event. It happens once and is done. The rest of the below are Process. They will unfold and change as the Wave proceeds. Each Sister in the Wave will be a Voting Member of its Corporation and will be required to have a working understanding of it functions. At the end of the Training Cycle, the Corporation can be dissolved and any assets leftover divided equally among its Members. Or it may continue on as a sub-collective of The Sisterhood, engaging in The Work as its members so choose. Majickal Working: Sisters would not be Witches without it. Operating with The Pentavalent as a guide, all aspects of each Wave will be Ritualized and conducted with some manner of Majickal and Goddess frame-working, starting with the above Incorporation and then through all the various goals and outcomes listed below. This should be done in a reasonable fashion, with Focus and Efficiency in Balance. It will not be about 'getting it right', but about making it work. The goal in this is to use the collective and individual Majickal Talent of the Sisters in any given Wave to create a Tulpa, a manifested thought form that embodies the Wave itself, one that helps propel the Wave forward to a successful and fulfilling conclusion. This will likely be the first real test of a Wave's ability to work as a collective and set the tone for what follows. NLP: [Neuro-Linguistic Programming] Each Wave will complete an entire NLP Practitioner Certification Training over the course of its Cycle, with each Sister therein getting an individual NLP Practitioner Certification. NLP is both a powerful Behavioral Change technology and a very effective Personal Communications technology. It should be self evident how such can be useful for The Temple's long term goals. Impact Self Defense: This is a company that provides a type of self defense training for women that allows them to punch and kick full force, thereby providing a 'body memory' of combat training. Each Wave will contract with ISD to provide a full training to all its Sisters. The purpose of this is to lay the foundation for a real Warrior Spirit, one based upon actual physical violence, not merely some hypothetical exhortation 'to be a warrior'. That is also why this will be undertaken at the beginning of the Wave Cycle. Warriors Fight. Sisters need to Learn that Lesson from the very start or my brothers will break you. Yoga: It is likely that many Sisters coming into The Sisterhood Training will already be Yoginis of one school or another. Each Wave will seek their experience and guidance in embedding Yoga into the fabric of the Wave. Over time the Sisterhood Training will develop its own school of Yoga that best serves the needs of a Wave Cycle. Yoga and Meditation will be the 'off-set' to the Martial Vigor of the various Warrior Disciplines a Wave will undertake. It also will provide a Centering and Grounding Discipline that can used by the entire Wave, a single Trikona, or the individual Sister, thereby providing Harmony and Connection throughout the Wave. 12 Step Work: The 12 Step modality is one of the best I have ever found to examine one's own Self. Though primarily used in addiction programs, it has a universal application. Its key is that with a methodological step by step structure it works upon discovering one's true thinking, which is largely how we get to wherever we are at any given point in our lives. It is crucial for each Sister to understand who she is, what motivated her to do what she has done and how she got to whatever point she is in her life. These are Essential Elements of Self and the work of The Temple requires a deep understand of Self. Each of the comforting illusions that every Sister harbors must be uncovered, discovered and discarded. This work will be done individually, within each Trikona and by the Wave in group sessions. There will a lot of pain in this work, so it must be done with vast Compassion for both one's Self and one's Sisters. Sexual Domination Of Men: As the Greater Goal of all of this work is a New Matriarchy, the practice of a genuine Female Supremacy is at the core of an Amazon Warrior Priestess Training such at this. And at the core of all intra-gender relationships is Sex. Therefore each Wave must learn the art of The Dominatrix. Given its intimate nature, most of this will be done via the Trikonai. Each Trikonai is to engage a professional Domme to teach them the nature and practice of Domme Work. Each Trikonai will acquire male slaves who will support the work of its Wave in whatever fashion said slave in capable of. Becoming Sexually Dominant, even as a 'exercise', makes a profound shift a Sister's basic nature. As with a training like Impact Self Defense, this work 'imbeds' that shift in a Sister's consciousness on a deep and atavistic level. And it is down in those places that Patriarchy has its strongest hold. Dakini: This is the name I have given to a hypothetical mixed Female oriented martial arts system that is still to be developed. What is proposed is a blend of Eskrima, a Philippine martial art that uses simple weapons, sticks and knives, along with hand and foot fighting, Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art which ritualizes it's fighting as a form of dancing and Parkour, a French urbano-centric running and jumping sport. I chose those forms because of their simplicity and their flowing motion. The idea is for more than just an 'effective fighting system'. If that was the goal, we'd just go with Krav Maga. But as with all of this work, there needs to be a Spiritual aspect, one that shifts Sisters all the way into their core. And as this would be a martial art that originates within The Temple, it is also something that The Sisterhood owns completely. Body Work: Due to the rigorous nature of the Sisterhood Training, each Sister is going to need body work done to help them heal and renew. Much of this will utilize skilled outside professionals. But between these sessions, each Sister will be required to learn a basic massage/ body work technique so that she can work upon other members of her Trikona on a regular basis. This will also deepen the Bond within each Trikona. Rock Climbing: This is a perfect all body training and is an outdoor sport can be first learned indoors. It also favors the Female as leg and hip strength is more important than upper body strength. It will support and enhance all the physical training. Weapons Training: Each Sister in the Wave will learn the use of the Staff, the Bow, the Sword, the Handgun and the Rifle. Teachers and training organizations will be engaged to teach the use of each of the weapons over the course of the Wave's Cycle. You're to be Amazons and these are the essential weapons. Sports: Each Wave can pick and choose most of the sports they wish to, but Baseball is strongly urged and Paint Balling is mandatory. Baseball is about Patience, Focus, and Strategy. It can be an excellent 'team builder'. The basic lineup of nine members is perfect for Trikonai. And as America's National Pastime [once upon a time at least] it has deep propaganda and nostalgia value. Paint Balling is an obvious choice, hence being mandatory. It is a high impact form of mock warfare. The skills, gear and much of the equipment are easily transferable to The Sisterhood's security needs. The Trikona is an organic structure for a Fire Team. And as a serious bonding ritual, at some point each Trikona should be hunted by the rest of the Wave simply to see how long they can survive. Equestrian Training: Each Sister in the Wave will learn basic horseback riding skills. There is no need to go for competition level training, just the feeling and ability to be at home upon a horse. Again, this is about being an Amazon. Horse Culture is in the Amazon's Soul. Outward Bound: During the Wave's second year it will engage the organization Outward Bound for a vigorous group 'nature experience'. This will be a bonding experience that the Wave itself does not need to control and a useful place to utilize much of the training and skills acquired in the previous ex-number of months. So, looking back upon these goals one can see that the Sisterhood Training as outlined here is very demanding, especially on a physical level. And that only a small group of Sisters would be able to complete such a Training. They would be fairly young, say 20 to 40 years old, in good physical and mental condition to begin with and be willing and able to commit their time to totally participate in and finish a full Wave Cycle. This will obviously seem unfair and exclusionary to those who are not in that category. And it is. The entire Purpose of The Sisterhood Training is to create an elite of Sisters who are capable of driving The Temple's efforts forward to build a New Matriarchy. Be aware that in the long run some of them will die doing that work. This is not a child's game we are playing here. That said, we also cannot simply write off entire groups of Sisters who do not have the ability to do the above type of Training because they are not 'the above type of Sister'. That is more than merely unfair; it is utterly foolish and totally contrary to our Purpose. Therefore, besides the Maximum Impact Training [MI-1] outlined above, there will also be a Medium and a Minimum Impact versions of the Sisterhood Training. The Medium Impact Training [MI-2] will be for Sisters who could probably handle the physical and emotional demands, but whose lives and/or personal inclinations do not allow for the type of time and energy commitment required by the Maximum Impact Training. How each of these Waves operates will largely be determined by their members. The Central Training Organization will set some basic goals, but from there the specifics will be worked out 'in group', which I have found is often an 'interesting exercise' in and of itself. The Minimum Impact Training [MI-3] is for those Sisters who simply cannot handle the physical and emotional demands of either of the first two versions. They may be too old. They may be disabled. Some could find it all too emotionally intense and need something gentler. Each of these Waves too will determine most of its goals and plans 'in group' along with guidelines from the Central Training Organization. The Trikona will still be the required basic unit however and for the same reasons in each Wave. It is hoped that after a Guest Event and a Workshop Series that one of each of version will manifest. That may not always be so. But whenever there would more than one version underway, the key is that they are all Sisters and intramural support is essential. It is likely that many issues would come up, such as the 'feeling less' and 'popular girl' paradigms that may have plagued some Sisters since their teens. That would be some tough work right there. Some will look at all this and proclaim loudly, and likely hysterically, all this to be a 'terrorist training scheme' and/or an effort to 'build a revolutionary army', so let's address that noise right out of the gate. The Sisterhood utterly eschews Terrorism. Such is the desperate strategy of the weak and the dis-empowered. And terrorists almost always wind up as pawns in someone else's political game plan. Our goals and plans are our own. The Sisterhood also rejects Revolution. History shows that it tends to merely replace one set of grasping oppressive bastards with another set of grasping oppressive bastards, ofttimes a worse collection. And note they're usually all Males, too. We won't play that game either. The essential purpose of The Sisterhood Training is two fold; One, to train a cadre of Sisters to protect themselves and the rest of the Sisterhood. The goal of a New Matriarchy will terrify some into violent reaction and The Sisterhood must be prepared to deal with that. As I have said many times, my brothers will not give up their power without a fight. Two, any Sister who can commit to and complete such a rigorous regime as outline above will never again be intimidated by anything. She will still see how Patriarchy oppresses her, but she will never ever again be a 'victim' of anything. Victim Feminism is a handmaiden of Patriarchy and it will take a Sisterhood of Amazon Warrior Priestesses to truly extirpate such a deeply embedded and self defeating paradigm. And all this is still totally hypothetical. The very first Wave will have no Guest Event or Workshop Series. They'll be a handful of Sisters, maybe only two or three Trikonai, who will work from the above outline to build what will become the Central Training Organization. One day their work will be legendary because of what was stated at the very top of this section; âThe Sisterhood Training is the womb from which the New Matriarchy will be born.â From Part Five: âBuilding a New Matriarchy â Tactical Initiativesâ
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2016 Favorites
1) Rihanna- Anti
Before Anti, I thought the best thing Rihanna would put her name on was Rebâl Fleur, a perfume I tried out at Sears once (okay, her last three moments had fleeting moments of greatness that were undoubtedly the result of no quality control and rushing to get them out quickly). This campaign didnât get any help at all from the bad pre album singles and the messy Diary whatever. I honestly thought Rihanna was just exhausted and wanted a break, explaining moments like making fun of a fanâs Rihanna inspired prom outfit in 2014 (I know it was a long time ago and a single incident but for me, that sticks out as especially messy). When this album came out, and I heard that Tidal was giving it away for free, I was confused, rolled my eyes, and downloaded it anyway. I was in shock by how much I liked the album when I listened to it on my commute the next morning. Although very little was immediate, you could tell there was way more focus and effort on this. Even months later, awkward duds that couldâve sink Loud or Unapologetic like Sex with Me have grown and become enjoyable. I think what makes this album work the most, without a doubt, is the variety. I didnât have to swap it out at all at any point in the year. While most of the songs are either about relationships or professional growth, the genres are everywhere. Dancehall, dub, doo wop, acoustic, psychedelic, 80âs power ballads, regular ballads, and neo soul all are found throughout the album, even on the same song.
2) Kristin Kontrol- X Communicate
This is the best of the 80âs inspired indie albums post Emotion. Sheâs probably between Carly Rae Jepsen and Kitten on the âdance vs indieâ scale (so maybe Tegan and Sara?). Sure, Kristin is a Sub Pop musician with a background in indie rock, but this solo album has all her pop influences shining through. I can listen to the album constantly without getting bored. Also, if you have a chance to see her, you should definitely go. Iâm biased because I did see her (lol) but we met her after the show and talked and sheâs so nice and cool. It was my first meet and greet (can you call it that if thatâs the merch stand?) but she talked with us and was enthusiastic and helped count my change lol. The title track, Skin Shed, and White Street (aka the Tomâs Diner of our generation) are my personal favorites.
3) Jessy Lanza- Oh No
Electronic whisper queen. Reinvents her sound through minimal 80âs inspire arcade noise bops. Itâs hard to describe all the songs individually but this time she skipped the ballads and downtempo for something with more of a pulse. The title track, sarcastic VV Violence, and It Means I Love You are my personal stand out tracks.Â
4) Tinashe- Night Ride
My fall 2016 professional album. It chronicles her struggles at RCA throughout the making of Joyride with edgy, dark, electronic R&B. Lots of people say this but this is genuinely for her fans. Someone pointed this out on PopJustice, but the first track is named Lucid Dreaming, aka the process of learning how to control your dreams. This is a callback to her 2015 post Aquarius mixtape Amethyst, which started with a song called Dreams Are Real. This album consists of Tinashe coming to terms that combining artistic integrity and success will be more difficult than she initially imagined, through songs like Câest La Vie, Sunburn, Sacrifices, and You Donât Know Me. She managed to find a home for all of the fake lead singles over the last year, like Party Favors, Ride of Your Life, and Company, but updated them to make it more relevant and at least serve us something a little more fresh (all the instant grat single people can learn from Tinashe). I even love High Speed Chase (she needs to make a full length version as a lead single for the next Teen Dystopian movie soundtrack. Maybe even Passengers?). There are still more (somber, electronic) bops like Spacetime and Touch Pass. This wonât be the album to end Tinasheâs commercial problems or get her into RCAâs priority promotion agenda, but at least fans are reassured that even after songs like an insipid Chris Brown duet, she can still make great music that stays true to herself.
5) Solange- A Seat at the Table
My taste in Solange was informed by others. I never knew she put music out until 2014, maybe, and I just assumed it wasnât worth listening to so I never did. Last year, I really got into True, which she somewhat doesnât like because Blood Orange overshadowed her during the creative process and has the flack of being her âhipster albumâ instead of the ârealâ Solange (okay, but if none of your albums are that similar and you take 4 year breaks in between each cycle, itâs too hard to notice a trend). I didnât expect another album from her for a while and I was surprised when it came out. Obviously, itâs a little similar on its first listen, but each song has a lot of weight to it. Cranes in the Sky, a song about coping mechanisms, is the stand out single, but my personal favorites include Donât Wish Me Well, a song with fuzzy guitars (are they guitars? I never was good in music class. Iâm calling them guitars) that alludes to people who are unhappy with you growing and changing in your life (aka us Blood Orange hipsters), and Borderline, a song about taking time off for your own sanity. (Also, to avoid speaking over Solange, Iâll avoid what Iâve seen every reviewer do so far and not try to interpret the albumâs racial message in my own way)
6) Garbage- Strange Little Birds
Strange Little Birds was true to its advertising of dark, creepy,and cinematic music. Besides Empty, nothing is a first time listen. Really, I think it was a smart strategy to have the most generic song as the lead single so people would be shocked by how it turned out to be. I donât think their first album could happen today because of how expensive recording is and that style of production with heavy sampling and mixing everything possible being expensive/outdating, but this was basically an album full of more downtempo stuff (I guess more generic versions of Milk and Queer). Magnetized is probably the happiest song on the album. Night Drive Loneliness feels like a Halloween soundtrack song that lives up to its title. Teaching Little Fingers to Play, another random favorite of mine, can be used for any supernatural show that has a Wizard/Witch/Slayer academy. Sometimes feels like a lost film noir intro that becomes into a heartbeat noise.
7) Kilo Kish- Reflections in Real Time
Left wave alternative R&B. Reinvents herself from âbasicâ alt R&B (Locket is still iconic though) to spoken word minimalism. Her lyrics reflect a lot of existential, unique, and personal insights. Titles like âThe Fears of a Dilettanteâ, âExistential Crisis Hourâ, and âAge + Self Esteem: Fun House Mirrorâ let you know youâre in for a ride not unlike The Bell Jar. Hello, Lakisha is the only name song Iâve heard that isnât gimmicky or celebratory.
8) Childish Gambino- Awaken, My Love!
I didnât even know this album was dropping until I decided to listen to it while procrastinating for finals and I loved it. It sounds like itâs right out of the 70âs with Baby Boy, Zombies, and other songs. I never listened to Childish Gambino (The Community fandom was insufferable and it took me until early 2016 to stop rage scrolling any mention of Childish Gambino. Itâs weird because I almost entirely forgot about this when I started watching Atlanta in September) before but this is a pastiche album that Iâll listen to for a while
9) Britney Spears- Glory
Just like Obama, Glory had the unfortunate placement of following an extremely mishandle mess and needing to bring it up to speed with its Scandinavian counterparts. Fortunately, Britney did everything short of reinventing herself as an IDM queen (although I still stan the fan made album Bare from last year) to deliver a solid album that takes risks. Is every song on it perfect? No, but thereâs like 18 tracks from this era so you can have a solid 10-12 track album regardless of your tastes. Critics might say itâs a Justin and Julia by the numbers abum. Just like Revival, it has lots of vague tropical house and club bangers, but unlike Revival, Glory is aware of Britneyâs vocals and donât subject her (or us) to such humiliation. Just stay away from unaminous flops like Private Show, Clumsy, and What You Need and youâll be set. Thanks to Karen Kwak for having more musical taste than Will.I.Am.Â
10) Beyonce- Lemonade
Hereâs a disclaimer, I went from being anti Beyonceâs stans to appreciating and recognizing her talent after her self titled. I like songs by her, but letâs put it this way. Lemonade isnât on Spotify and I waited until December to rent it from my local library. I listened to it and itâs definitely the best performance of 2016, musically and visually. That being said, I donât care for the ballads so it knocks the album down for me. Is it still great? Yes, the uptempos (and All Night and Love Drought) are all at least 8/10âs for me, so thatâs still good. My favorite parts of her self titled are the experimental (**for Beyonce) moments. After 2 albums of ballads and midtempos, songs like No Angel, 7/11 and Haunted (does Partition count?) stood out to me as courageous and bold, and Iâm glad you can see that in Six Inch, Sorry, Formation, and Donât Hurt Yourself. I realize this is more of an âitâs okay I GUESSâ review and I have it more here for fear of backlash but yeah. Iâm sure Sorry and Donât Hurt Yourself will supply my next FOMO induced rage, while Six Inch will sound great while I shovel. Â
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The Sisterhood Training In Detail
~The Sisterhood will continue to expand and refine The Sisterhood Training, with the goal of sharing it with as many women as possible. It is essential to understand that after The Pentavalent itself, The Sisterhood Training is the Most Important Element of The Sisterhood. To use a rather fevered metaphor, The Sisterhood Training is the womb from which the New Matriarchy will be born. Without the efforts and actions of properly trained and motivated Sisters, all the preceding concepts are just so much 'sound and furyâ. Because of that I shall go into a considerable amount of detail regarding The Training itself. I have been through a number of Large Group Awareness Trainings [LGATâs] These LGATâs were for the most part beneficial and positively transformative for me and for others. And I did see where they had their own internal problems. The problem that was most apparent to me at the time was that LGATâs tend to 'crack you openâ without much proper follow up except more trainings and workshops. They did try to form some kind of community of support â there would be a lot of talk about Relationship and the such â but since the focus was almost exclusively upon Individual Empowerment, that effort usually failed, a few times with tragic consequences. Another issue was the utter lack of any type of Spiritual foundation. A trainer of mine once addressed this with a statement that they, the LGAT, 'were willing to except the possibility that here was something greater than The Universe.â Thatâs a pretty thin metaphysical soup. But the Key Issue with every single one of them is this; they are all ultimately 'part of the problemâ. As has been said before in these pages, a primary Operating Motto of ours is a quote from Jiddu Krishnamurti, âIt is no measure of good health to be well- adjusted to a profoundly sick society.â In the final analysis, the primary outcome of all the LGATâs I have ever encountered is to support you becoming 'more well-adjusted to a profoundly sick societyâ. They are after all, capitalist operations and, for all the good they might do, they are in business to sell a product and to make money. This also contributes to the first two problems mentioned above, the cracking open without follow up and the lack of Spiritual foundation. Many of their graduates become 'more effectiveâ in expanding the reach and power of Modern Corporate Marketing Culture, the producer/creator of the hologram that now holds most Americans â and many around the world â in its thrall, where we are no longer citizens, or even humans, but merely Consumers of Product and the entire focus of this is to Sell Product. LGATâs are a part of that mechanism. They cannot be otherwise. And their models facilitate the perpetuation of Modern Corporate Marketing Culture. Why do you think so many corporations send 'their peopleâ to these trainings? They make said people more Effective etc, not more Aware. If they really became so, theyâd leave the corporation. Some do, but usually only to start some other type of corporation, not to exit the paradigm. The very first thing that will make the Sisterhood Trainings different is that they will be non-profit. That way the entire financial focus is devoted solely to getting the Trainings into the reach of as many Sisters as possible and in the optimum fashion. The final overall structure as presently envisioned would first be the Workshop Series, staring with a Guest Event to provide an enrollment mechanism for the two preliminary extended weekend workshops, a Basic that would run Friday through Sunday and an Advanced that would run Wednesday through Sunday, each designed to be preparatory for the Long Training itself. They each would have benefits in and of themselves, even the Guest Event. For many Sisters they may be the only direct experience of The Sisterhood they are able have at that point in their lives, so these workshops have to be able to be as positively transformative as we can safely make them in that window. Ultimately however, their primary outcome is to recruit Sisters for the Long Training. As such the Guest Event and the two Weekend Workshops would all take place within a roughly thirty day period preceding the beginning of a new Wave in the area in which that Wave was to be based. This would also intensify the experience of those Sisters who can only do the Workshop Series. These workshops will be fully run by the Central Training Operation, a stand alone non-profit educational corporation whose sole purpose is to coordinate, guide and refine the Sisterhood Trainings. It will have a core professional staff which would be augmented with volunteers from the Trainings themselves. The Long Training â which is called a Wave â is the actual Amazon Warrior Priestess Training mentioned above. Each Wave would consist of a dozen to two dozen Trikonai, a bond group of three Sisters which would be formed during the two weekend workshops and would be a mandatory element. [A dozen to two dozen Trikonai would come out to 36 to 72 Sisters.] The only way to enroll in a Wave is as an already formed Trikona, optimally one that formed and bonded during the Workshop Series. The next section, Part Six: The Trikona, will explain why this is necessary. The Central Training Operation will provide support, networking, feedback, guidance, etc. But each Wave will be functionally autonomous. Its own members will run the Waveâs specific scheduling and be almost entirely self funding, doing whatever is is needed to make sure that every Sister in that Wave is able to achieve all the goals and complete the Training. Each Wave with be given an overall operational plan and a specific set of goals to achieve. Each Wave can also establish its own unique set of goals and outcomes as long as those do not interfere or contravene the overall plans and goals. Incorporation: To begin with a Wave will establish itself as a Corporation of the type that best suits the state within which it is primarily operating. That will give the Wave a heft and a flexibility that enhances its ability to pursue its goals that no unofficial group could match. Corporate Personhood is the Key to Power in modern America. Note that this is essentially an Event. It happens once and is done. The rest of the below are Process. They will unfold and change as the Wave proceeds. Each Sister in the Wave will be a Voting Member of its Corporation and will be required to have a working understanding of it functions. At the end of the Training Cycle, the Corporation can be dissolved and any assets leftover divided equally among its Members. Or it may continue on as a sub-collective of The Sisterhood, engaging in The Work as its members so choose. Majickal Working: Sisters would not be Witches without it. Operating with The Pentavalent as a guide, all aspects of each Wave will be Ritualized and conducted with some manner of Majickal and Goddess frame-working, starting with the above Incorporation and then through all the various goals and outcomes listed below. This should be done in a reasonable fashion, with Focus and Efficiency in Balance. It will not be about 'getting it rightâ, but about making it work. The goal in this is to use the collective and individual Majickal Talent of the Sisters in any given Wave to create a Tulpa, a manifested thought form that embodies the Wave itself, one that helps propel the Wave forward to a successful and fulfilling conclusion. This will likely be the first real test of a Waveâs ability to work as a collective and set the tone for what follows. NLP: [Neuro-Linguistic Programming] Each Wave will complete an entire NLP Practitioner Certification Training over the course of its Cycle, with each Sister therein getting an individual NLP Practitioner Certification. NLP is both a powerful Behavioral Change technology and a very effective Personal Communications technology. It should be self evident how such can be useful for The Templeâs long term goals. Impact Self Defense: This is a company that provides a type of self defense training for women that allows them to punch and kick full force, thereby providing a 'body memoryâ of combat training. Each Wave will contract with ISD to provide a full training to all its Sisters. The purpose of this is to lay the foundation for a real Warrior Spirit, one based upon actual physical violence, not merely some hypothetical exhortation 'to be a warriorâ. That is also why this will be undertaken at the beginning of the Wave Cycle. Warriors Fight. Sisters need to Learn that Lesson from the very start or my brothers will break you. Yoga: It is likely that many Sisters coming into The Sisterhood Training will already be Yoginis of one school or another. Each Wave will seek their experience and guidance in embedding Yoga into the fabric of the Wave. Over time the Sisterhood Training will develop its own school of Yoga that best serves the needs of a Wave Cycle. Yoga and Meditation will be the 'off-setâ to the Martial Vigor of the various Warrior Disciplines a Wave will undertake. It also will provide a Centering and Grounding Discipline that can used by the entire Wave, a single Trikona, or the individual Sister, thereby providing Harmony and Connection throughout the Wave. 12 Step Work: The 12 Step modality is one of the best I have ever found to examine oneâs own Self. Though primarily used in addiction programs, it has a universal application. Its key is that with a methodological step by step structure it works upon discovering oneâs true thinking, which is largely how we get to wherever we are at any given point in our lives. It is crucial for each Sister to understand who she is, what motivated her to do what she has done and how she got to whatever point she is in her life. These are Essential Elements of Self and the work of The Temple requires a deep understand of Self. Each of the comforting illusions that every Sister harbors must be uncovered, discovered and discarded. This work will be done individually, within each Trikona and by the Wave in group sessions. There will a lot of pain in this work, so it must be done with vast Compassion for both oneâs Self and oneâs Sisters. Sexual Domination Of Men: As the Greater Goal of all of this work is a New Matriarchy, the practice of a genuine Female Supremacy is at the core of an Amazon Warrior Priestess Training such at this. And at the core of all intra-gender relationships is Sex. Therefore each Wave must learn the art of The Dominatrix. Given its intimate nature, most of this will be done via the Trikonai. Each Trikonai is to engage a professional Domme to teach them the nature and practice of Domme Work. Each Trikonai will acquire male slaves who will support the work of its Wave in whatever fashion said slave in capable of. Becoming Sexually Dominant, even as a 'exerciseâ, makes a profound shift a Sisterâs basic nature. As with a training like Impact Self Defense, this work 'imbedsâ that shift in a Sisterâs consciousness on a deep and atavistic level. And it is down in those places that Patriarchy has its strongest hold. Dakini: This is the name I have given to a hypothetical mixed Female oriented martial arts system that is still to be developed. What is proposed is a blend of Eskrima, a Philippine martial art that uses simple weapons, sticks and knives, along with hand and foot fighting, Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art which ritualizes itâs fighting as a form of dancing and Parkour, a French urbano-centric running and jumping sport. I chose those forms because of their simplicity and their flowing motion. The idea is for more than just an 'effective fighting systemâ. If that was the goal, weâd just go with Krav Maga. But as with all of this work, there needs to be a Spiritual aspect, one that shifts Sisters all the way into their core. And as this would be a martial art that originates within The Temple, it is also something that The Sisterhood owns completely. Body Work: Due to the rigorous nature of the Sisterhood Training, each Sister is going to need body work done to help them heal and renew. Much of this will utilize skilled outside professionals. But between these sessions, each Sister will be required to learn a basic massage/ body work technique so that she can work upon other members of her Trikona on a regular basis. This will also deepen the Bond within each Trikona. Rock Climbing: This is a perfect all body training and is an outdoor sport can be first learned indoors. It also favors the Female as leg and hip strength is more important than upper body strength. It will support and enhance all the physical training. Weapons Training: Each Sister in the Wave will learn the use of the Staff, the Bow, the Sword, the Handgun and the Rifle. Teachers and training organizations will be engaged to teach the use of each of the weapons over the course of the Waveâs Cycle. Youâre to be Amazons and these are the essential weapons. Sports: Each Wave can pick and choose most of the sports they wish to, but Baseball is strongly urged and Paint Balling is mandatory. Baseball is about Patience, Focus, and Strategy. It can be an excellent 'team builderâ. The basic lineup of nine members is perfect for Trikonai. And as Americaâs National Pastime [once upon a time at least] it has deep propaganda and nostalgia value. Paint Balling is an obvious choice, hence being mandatory. It is a high impact form of mock warfare. The skills, gear and much of the equipment are easily transferable to The Sisterhoodâs security needs. The Trikona is an organic structure for a Fire Team. And as a serious bonding ritual, at some point each Trikona should be hunted by the rest of the Wave simply to see how long they can survive. Equestrian Training: Each Sister in the Wave will learn basic horseback riding skills. There is no need to go for competition level training, just the feeling and ability to be at home upon a horse. Again, this is about being an Amazon. Horse Culture is in the Amazonâs Soul. Outward Bound: During the Waveâs second year it will engage the organization Outward Bound for a vigorous group 'nature experienceâ. This will be a bonding experience that the Wave itself does not need to control and a useful place to utilize much of the training and skills acquired in the previous ex-number of months. So, looking back upon these goals one can see that the Sisterhood Training as outlined here is very demanding, especially on a physical level. And that only a small group of Sisters would be able to complete such a Training. They would be fairly young, say 20 to 40 years old, in good physical and mental condition to begin with and be willing and able to commit their time to totally participate in and finish a full Wave Cycle. This will obviously seem unfair and exclusionary to those who are not in that category. And it is. The entire Purpose of The Sisterhood Training is to create an elite of Sisters who are capable of driving The Templeâs efforts forward to build a New Matriarchy. Be aware that in the long run some of them will die doing that work. This is not a childâs game we are playing here. That said, we also cannot simply write off entire groups of Sisters who do not have the ability to do the above type of Training because they are not 'the above type of Sisterâ. That is more than merely unfair; it is utterly foolish and totally contrary to our Purpose. Therefore, besides the Maximum Impact Training [MI-1] outlined above, there will also be a Medium and a Minimum Impact versions of the Sisterhood Training. The Medium Impact Training [MI-2] will be for Sisters who could probably handle the physical and emotional demands, but whose lives and/or personal inclinations do not allow for the type of time and energy commitment required by the Maximum Impact Training. How each of these Waves operates will largely be determined by their members. The Central Training Organization will set some basic goals, but from there the specifics will be worked out 'in groupâ, which I have found is often an 'interesting exerciseâ in and of itself. The Minimum Impact Training [MI-3] is for those Sisters who simply cannot handle the physical and emotional demands of either of the first two versions. They may be too old. They may be disabled. Some could find it all too emotionally intense and need something gentler. Each of these Waves too will determine most of its goals and plans 'in groupâ along with guidelines from the Central Training Organization. The Trikona will still be the required basic unit however and for the same reasons in each Wave. It is hoped that after a Guest Event and a Workshop Series that one of each of version will manifest. That may not always be so. But whenever there would more than one version underway, the key is that they are all Sisters and intramural support is essential. It is likely that many issues would come up, such as the 'feeling lessâ and 'popular girlâ paradigms that may have plagued some Sisters since their teens. That would be some tough work right there. Some will look at all this and proclaim loudly, and likely hysterically, all this to be a 'terrorist training schemeâ and/or an effort to 'build a revolutionary armyâ, so letâs address that noise right out of the gate. The Sisterhood utterly eschews Terrorism. Such is the desperate strategy of the weak and the dis-empowered. And terrorists almost always wind up as pawns in someone elseâs political game plan. Our goals and plans are our own. The Sisterhood also rejects Revolution. History shows that it tends to merely replace one set of grasping oppressive bastards with another set of grasping oppressive bastards, ofttimes a worse collection. And note theyâre usually all Males, too. We wonât play that game either. The essential purpose of The Sisterhood Training is two fold; One, to train a cadre of Sisters to protect themselves and the rest of the Sisterhood. The goal of a New Matriarchy will terrify some into violent reaction and The Sisterhood must be prepared to deal with that. As I have said many times, my brothers will not give up their power without a fight. Two, any Sister who can commit to and complete such a rigorous regime as outline above will never again be intimidated by anything. She will still see how Patriarchy oppresses her, but she will never ever again be a 'victimâ of anything. Victim Feminism is a handmaiden of Patriarchy and it will take a Sisterhood of Amazon Warrior Priestesses to truly extirpate such a deeply embedded and self defeating paradigm. And all this is still totally hypothetical. The very first Wave will have no Guest Event or Workshop Series. Theyâll be a handful of Sisters, maybe only two or three Trikonai, who will work from the above outline to build what will become the Central Training Organization. One day their work will be legendary because of what was stated at the very top of this section; âThe Sisterhood Training is the womb from which the New Matriarchy will be born.â
Liber Sorores: Part Five: âBuilding a New Matriarchy â Tactical Initiativesâ
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