#also i apologize if anything is incorrect i used mostly twitter for this so it is all word on the street

[transition-with-the-torah]

Title: Jews Don't Count: How Identity Politics Failed One Particular Identity

Author: David Baddiel

Format / Cost: Audiobook (free via Libby). For reasons I don't know, my library only has access to the audiobook version, and it was approximately 2 hours and 48 minutes (categorized as 'nearly 3 hours'). It was author narrated and released at some point in 2021.

2021 wasn't forever ago, or anything, but also, it felt like recounting a slice of British Twitter from about 2015 to no later than October 2020 [and the release of a particular report about antisemitism within the Labour Party] happened so long ago. Granted, talking about antisemitism isn't exactly something that seems to not be relevant. The basic idea wasn't that hard to grasp - Jews are viewed by Progressives as not actually counting as a marginalized group - and unsurprisingly, a lot of the examples pull from British culture: that one football club and derogatory use of 'Yid', T.S. Eliot poems read on BBC that ignored antisemitic language, Roald Dahl and his estate's sort of apology over antisemitism while Roald Dahl Day is seemingly popular, casting non-Jewish people to play Jewish actors in specific theatrical productions (relating to BAME casting efforts), and the like.

(This has been tagged as #reviews for personal organization on my blog and may not be considered a complete or satisfying review by others. It continues under the read-more.)

It's not that Baddiel is outright incorrect about his examples and the message he's aiming for, but there's something about the method of delivering that message that seems annoying at times. It might be that one part really has a lot of Twitter and how some people have been Canceled (just not for antisemitism), which requires listening to tweets being quoted. (I really don't want to hear someone try to recreate a laugh like that again.) It might be that some textual phrasing winds up feeling very blunt and not that hard to interpret uncharitably. It might also be that post-October 7th, it seems odd to skip over antisemitism based on treating diaspora Jews as Israeli, loyal to Israel, or acceptable outlets for I/P frustrations because of Baddiel's 'I'm in the diaspora so who cares about Israel' approach.

Mostly, some parts feel like they're useful for non-Jews to get a sense of how antisemitism didn't magically stop with the Holocaust. The idea of a hierarchy of racisms - where the proximity to US based Black vs White racism is recognized as racism with racism against other groups descending in recognizability - might ruffle some feathers. On paper, the idea could work for some non-Black groups, particularly outside of the US with US ideas of racism taking up most of the oxygen, but the actual conversations Baddiel references about this seem to suffer from being Twitter based and may not feel reflective of Black experiences either. (To me, this idea of a hierarchy of racisms is about recognizing racism as happening, but the idea that different racisms are treated as more important than others may not feel true to lived experience.)

Overall, I think this book can be a conversation starter for some readers, but it's definitely not going to feel like it manages to cover everything. Viewing Jews as too rich, too socially powerful, and/or as too close to being White and therefore 'Jewish racism isn't a thing' can explain some aspects of antisemitism, but there were some moments where I thought looking at other conditionally-white groups and seeing similarities in not being 'fully white' might have worked better than contrasting with Black racism examples.

Posted: 18 March 2024.

[rinisbowen]

1/2About the hate that these characters get: people need to chill. All core 4 characters received so much hate. I will talk about s2 bc this is when I started looking for hsmtmts on social media. Ricky and Nini got hate for the actions that led to the breakup. People were so mean and calling them names. Ricky and Nini are not my faves but I felt so bad for the hate they got. EJ got hate for starting to like Gina and have been called names for that. Gina was called a homewrecker when she didn't..

2/2 do anything wrong. Especially on twitter, people's behaviour is so toxic. I know you are a Ricky stan and I am going to talk about him again. As I said, he is not one of my fav characters, but I like him (same goes for Nini). He really got a lot of hate this season and I felt really bad when I read those comments. I know these characters are not real people, but hating on them is so wrong, especially because none of them is a bad person.

--

People do need to chill, you're absolutely right anon! There's so much random hate in this fandom that's so overblown, and these characters face a lot of that hate. Season 2 is when I became like- properly involved in the fandom as well online, and I've seen very strong wording used for stuff that truly, at the end of the day, isn't meant to be that deep.

I've personally seen, out of the core four, the most love for Gina. Maybe that's because the twitter universe for this show is mostly full of rina shippers who all love gina. And then on tumblr, there's a lot of portwell shippers who also love gina.

The EJ hate with the Gina thing is so ridiculous to me ngl, I'm not going to get into it a ton, because it's truly not logical to hate on EJ for being interested in Gina. The show doesn't think the age difference is a problem, and so I think there's an understanding that we have to place on the characters. In the narrative, EJ liking Gina is fine, so that's how we have to read it in a character sense. Making EJ a senior in season 1 was probably a mistake in certain ways, but at the same time, this is just how it's shaken out. Disliking EJ for liking Gina and using certain words, (whether it's the stronger ones or just saying it's creepy), is fairly incorrect, frankly.

I will say really quickly, as someone who watched Girl Meets World, there's a lot more criticism to be held when it comes to Joshaya, as opposed to portwell. I don't want my answer read as me saying you're not ever aloud to dislike and criticize things that the narrative is telling us to be okay with. I'm just saying hating on EJ for this is just silly. With Josh and Maya though, he's a literal college student saying he wants to date this freshman in high school. That's weird. No one can tell me it isn't. (And no, the- we'll kinda wait for each other aspect does NOT make that any better). At least with EJ and Gina, it's two school years between them, not four or five... I think people can criticize the narrative of EJ and Gina due to that age difference and such, but I don't think it's okay to hate EJ for it. People just take things too far, that's the moral of this post honestly.

--

I feel like a lot of people online either think that Ricky's a horrible person or that Nini is, and I'm very much not of either mind, it's really not that black and white. They both can be selfish in their own ways, and their relationship was devolving at the fault of both of them. My main gripe with the situation is that the show treats it as though Ricky's the only one responsible (and he's the only one to apologize), so thus I'm more likely to try to defend him. I don't even know if he'd be so high up there on my list if not for how he's treated by portions of the fandom. I just feel protective over him? He's genuinely in the place he is because of how mentally shaken he is due to his family issues... Which makes it a lot harder for me to watch him get so many awful comments. His behavior is directly related to his experiences at home. One of my best friends irl really loves Ricky bc it's like- parental issues and also clear mental health issues and that resonates with her a lot.

--

At the end of the day, all of these characters are flawed. They've all made their mistakes, a lot of mistakes even. And that's fine. I'd argue that's good actually, it's how we move a narrative. EJ and Gina were even like- the antagonists of sorts in season 1, and they've grown a lot in their arcs since then. It's always good to remember that these characters are teenagers, they're children just trying their best. They're all meant to be good people, and they are. It's just that sometimes even with good intentions, things get messy. That's just how it goes.

I 10000% agree when you say that these may be fictional characters, but that the vitriol against them still feels wrong. It's like- I think everyone's entitled to criticize these characters for their mistakes, they definitely make them. But being mean... is just not quite right. It's like- technically not a huge issue to be mean to fake people, but- it's not great either. If you're so comfortable saying such cruel things about fictional people, it's not a stretch to say that you'd begin to be more comfortable to think or say those things about real ones. And sometimes... it's quite out of pocket. It's not that I think these people who say these hateful things towards the characters are necessarily like that in real life, but it's an exposure thing, we get desensitized to certain behavior through fiction.

[ahgaseda]

Can I say something real quick? I have discussed the subject of Got7 renewing with JYPE and it is no secret I despise JYP the man, but also the company. I don’t want to speculate, but I wanna bring up some facts that I’ve seen a lot of discourse about mostly on twitter.

Full disclaimer I am not trying to start anything with this. I just wanna put some of yall at ease because I see baby birds getting worked up over some of these issues. I love my ahgafam always.

Yes, Got7′s contracts expire next year. There is a strong chance that they already conducted negotiations this year (all of the members’ parents were spotted in Korea and at JYPE in January) and the final decisions will not be revealed until the actual expiration month. This is due to how the announcement will heavily influence stocks.

Also, this argument that JYP is no longer CEO and is not to blame for Got7′s mistreatment is incorrect. He is still the largest shareholder of JYPE. He is on the creative board. He still directly manipulates Got7′s activities. He constantly meddles in their music. Keep in mind the members actively fought for Page to be the title track of Spinning Top and lost because JYP pulled rank. Don’t think for a second he can’t do the exact same thing for business decisions. Division two didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to poorly manage Got7. They got their instructions from the top.

Jackson stating he wants to move to Beijing next year does not mean he’s leaving Got7 or JYPE. It means he lives in hotels every time he promotes in China and maybe just maybe he wants to have a permanent residence while promoting there. He wouldn’t just drop a bombshell like that if it implied something more serious. He has more tact than that.

JYPE not renewing a contract in Japan for Got7 is not suspicious. Got7 can still go on tour in Japan. They just won’t have anymore Japanese releases. The smart move is for Got7 to work more into the Chinese market, considering how well Jackson and Mark do there. Or to push for more activities in the west. We’ve seen groups signing with American labels for promotions here.

JYPE renewing the Got7 trademark through 2024 is not the end of the world. If Got7 does not renew their contracts next year they can still promote as a group with new material. We all know Jaebum has a whole hard drive of rejected bops. Not to mention Yugyeom and Youngjae actively write songs with the group in mind. All that music they haven’t released would not fall under the trademark and would be completely owned by Got7 however they choose to rebrand themselves. Also the members would continue getting royalties for songs they produced while under JYPE.

Everyone likes to shit on Got7 for not being popular in South Korea, but make no mistake it is known how much money they bring in internationally. Got7 would not get blacklisted for leaving JYPE. They could very easily get snatched up by a smaller label that knows their worth. The more likely scenario is that they make their own label together.

This next part is my opinion based on what I’ve gathered, but it’s still an opinion so keep scrolling if you don’t wanna read it.

All this being said, I don’t want them to renew with JYP and I honest to god don’t think that they will. Go on Youtube and look at the videos of Got7 shading JYP and then the video of JYPE mistreating them. It’s also no secret how well artists have thrived after leaving that shit hole. Just look at Sunmi. The first rule of management is to keep your employees happy or they will leave.

Jaebum is not happy. He has made that abundantly clear. He is not given any artistic freedom though he has more than proven he has the ability to make great music. I personally think JYP is trying to stagnate Got7′s growth while also spiting Jaebum, because Jaebum does not willingly submit to JYP and his massive ego. The way JYP openly ridiculed them on Knowing Bros and his behavior toward Jaebum on Hyena on the Keyboard was very telling.

Mark is not happy. JYP has time and time again made it impossible for him to go home and see his family despite other members given the availability to go home. Mark is doing quite well in China, though JYPE keeps his activities to a minimum. He needs more freedom to promote there. We also know the infamous Papa Tuan tweet that eluded to Mark thinking carefully of what to do when it was time to renew his contract.

Jackson is not happy. Team Wang has thrived and Jackson has built it from the ground up, and despite JYP having zero aid or input still gets a huge chunk of Team Wang’s earnings. As hard as Jackson works I know he does not like having to cut a check to a company doing nothing for him and his employees. Also comparing clips of Jackson with JYP to now, you can see they no longer have the friendly relationship they once had.

Jinyoung is not happy. JYPE is closing their actor’s division. We all know Jinyoung is passionate about acting. It has always taken a back seat to his commitment to Got7, but it is still something he very much wants to pursue. He also enjoys making music so it doesn’t seem he wants to entirely abandon idol life for actor life. I won’t even get into how much shade Jinyoung throws at JYP. He’s not exactly shy about it.

Youngjae is not happy. Got7 has been debuted for six years and Youngjae is just now getting solo activities. A radio gig and soundtrack songs are not enough. He should have definitely had a solo album by now. Given what little activities JYPE has gotten for him, he’s had plenty of time to not only put an album together but also promote it. There’s simply no excuse. JYPE has completely dropped the ball in giving Youngjae activities.

Bambam is not happy. Of the other members Bambam has gotten the best deal thus far. He’s been able to thrive in Thailand and we know Thai ahgases carry this fandom on their backs. But still he apologizes to us. He tells us he’s sorry and how scared he is that Got7 will disappoint us. He apologizes for short promotions and the poor job division 2 does. He knows what’s going on and he always acknowledges how hard we work and how frustrated we are.

Yugyeom is not happy. Resorting to his soundcloud and constantly having songs rejected for albums. Not to mention his limited promotions. He killed on Hit the Stage. Also most importantly with the recent incident of sasaengs trying to call him while he was on vlive. Ahgases have reported sasaengs and antis and JYP has done absolutely nothing to protect the boys. They don’t even release a statement.

My suspicions are that JYPE is milking every drop out of Got7 with minimal promotion as they have done for years. From a business point of view, Got7 churns out maximum income for very little effort. In addition to that, I have always thought that JYP mistreats them to a) stagnate their growth, b) spite Jaebum and the other boys that don’t fall in line, and c) because he’s a worthless turd that gets his kicks ridiculing underage girls for their weight.

I recently had a discussion with my friend who is a business major and she said something interesting. The big question was why does JYP mistreat Got7 when they are their biggest money makers? She said that’s exactly it. They know Got7 is leaving. Got7 has grown beyond their control. Got7 heavily influences investor confidence. They are trying to undermine Got7, to slack their popularity so that Got7 does not have such an influential hold on the company and its business interests. In a way they are trying to lessen the blow when it comes next year.

The fact that Dye promotions were bad, similar to YCMN, implies that Got7 did not renew if they did so already. If they had chosen to renew you can guarantee it was with the stipulation they would receive better support and promotion. JYPE in good faith would promote them better. Now if this next comeback supposedly happening in September has great promotions then I would change my mind. But I don’t think it’s likely. I know ahgases are hopeful that JYP will give Got7 their own sub-label if they renew but I don’t think his ego can handle that. He just has to have his hands in their music, getting a slice of that money.

In conclusion, I think it’s noble for ahgases to be campaigning so heavily for better treatment for Got7 but it’s a lost cause. There is absolutely no doubt that JYPE knows what’s up. They know if Got7 is staying or going, whether it’s already been renegotiated or not. It’s not like they sit in an office on contract expiration day and wait for the big decision. It’s like any other business. They make sure they know so they can prepare.

tl;dr: Got7 and JYPE already know if they are renewing their contracts or not. By the way Got7 has vocalized their disdain and how JYPE continues to mismanage their activities, it is likely Got7 are not renewing their contracts.

[shoezuki]

This is a post on the cheating accusations around dream mostly surrounding his response video.

If you don’t want to see this or any of these posts then blacklist the tag #discourse

SO I’ve been doing a lot of digging into what dream has said in his response to Geosquare’s original video and report, which was compiled and conducted by the Minecraft Java mods on speedrun.com. 

I won’t talk about that original report in detail, but basically: the mods came to the conclusion that Dream had a 1 in 7.5 trillion chance of getting the pearl bartering rates and the blaze drop odds that he did within the 6 streams he did. As in, someone would need that luck to replicate what dream got. Therefore, he cheated. 

I’m going to put this into a sort of ‘point form’ in according to topic, attempting to put it in chronological order.

Dream’s Initial Tweets

Ok so first like. these are bad. these tweets are what he said (on twitter, excluding in the speedrunning discord) directly after the video was Uploaded to Geo’s channel. 

worth noting he did apologize later, although i wanted to talk about these two instances so i felt the need to include it. 

there’s a lot of interesting wording in the apology tweet itself too. I personally find that when he apologizes he tends to still be very subtextually angry in them with the tone, but more specifically. where he says ‘although i have reason to be upset’, that’s kinda weak and really unneeded. Alongside the ‘intense criticism’, it reads as him trying to say he’s still in the right. kind of like “im sorry i was rude even though I had reason to be rude’. Its an apology sure but he’s not saying sorry for how he really reacted; its justified to him.

Dream’s Response Video

Dream posted a response on his side channel DreamXD on the 22nd, along with the report he had a supposed astrophysicist conduct. I’m going to talk about the report separately from the video for reasons I’ll explain. 

Frankly, the video doesn’t really summarize or explain the report in a meaningful way. At most, it takes some points from it but tends to twist the numbers around, misunderstand the probability and math, and also what the report itself concludes. 

Essentially, dream’s video insists that the numbers found by the mods are wrong and therefore he didn’t cheat at all, yet the report concludes that the numbers found by the mods weren’t entirely accurate, however they’re still extremely unlikely. This is also all under the assumption that the report is entirely correct (ill say how its not next)

His first point is that only his 1.16 run (that was at 5th place two months ago, would have now been 16th) was deemed cheated. This is true; the mods have said that he isnt banned outright and theres no reason to question the legitimacy of his 1.15 runs. 

He also concludes that Geo’s statement that Dream didn’t cooperate with them, and that he deleted 1.16 mod folders, was false. This one is a little more complicated. It could more be chalked up to a miscommunication, although it’s relevant. Geosquare posted screenshots of the specific conversation they had:

Essentially it wasn’t entirely clear, i can understand how geo and the mods interpreted it in such a way. Altho April added in a quote retweet thread that dream didn’t supply the folder she asked for, so he didn’t supply everything they asked for like he states in the video

Essentially: yeah, misleading and weird on both ends. I dont think this is really anything quantifiable, although dream talked about this in the video heavily. 

Out of this though, Geo DID correct himself in the description of the mods’ video. Dream shows this in his own response, but it crops out some of what geo says. here’s from dream’s video

that Update 2 is where he corrects himself. literally why the fuck would you crop it like this and put it in the video i mean this looks so weird and genuinely doesnt provide anything. Here’s what geo actually said

Dream specifically cut it before the line where geo mentions how he said he deleted his specific 1.16 speedrun profile. This one is just so dumb to me. I’d say ‘why not include that’ but either i feel its a) so there’s no potential for people to say what he had actually said could be interpreted otherwise easily or b) doesnt want people to know he got so upset he deleted files (ego wise yknow). Again, I dont think this is definitive of anything but god. it feels scummy lmao

The Video: Incorrect Representation of His Own Report

Dream straight up doesnt present the report’s numbers properly. In fact it makes the entirety of his visuals forfeit, i.e. the gold block analogy that goes on for like 20 minutes. 

The mods said his luck was 1/7.5 trillion. Dream’s report says its 1/10 million (with the addition of 5 other streams) or 1/100 million (only the 6 streams).

I’ll only consider the 1/10 mil odds, since its all dream really brings up. but Basically; there’s not much difference between 1/10 million and 1/7.5 trillion. 

Dream says that the difference is 7.5 trillion minus 10 million, aka 7.4999 trillion. This is what his entire visual with the gold blocks is based on. This is absolutely incorrect, i cant stress that enough. 

You can’t find the difference of fractions by subtracting only the denominators. Like. this is elementary school math. it just doesnt work. 

It’d actually be calculated as: (1/10 000 000) - (1/7 500 000 000 000) = (74999/7 500 000 000 000)

If the mods are wrong, they’re only wrong by 749999/7.5 trillion. that’s literally only  0.000000099999866666667. 

Dream no doubt saw the numbers, considered 10 million vs. 7.5 trillion, and used these big numbers to hold his own point. PROBABILITY DOESNT WORK LIKE THAT. I really think he was just taking advantage of the seemingly big numbers here and wrote it out in a way that favoured him. The gold block analogy in the video played throughout the entire video practically, jokes were made on it, and he made a point of it being ‘so big the game crashed’. 

It’s just plain wrong. even so a difference in the odds doesnt prove shit. He’s downplaying his own odds that he found too. 1/10 million isnt a small number. Even though the legitimacy of that calculation is in question, it is still significant enough to proclaim he cheated. 

Some quick points before I move onto the report; these aren’t as significant in my eyes but it adds to the picture

there’s been criticism of his joking manor throughout the entire video, very specifically the Bill Nye joke. Considering he doesnt actually have a name to provide for his astrophysicist, this joke doesnt feel right

the mod he had a voice clip from (willz) even believes that he cheated and has agreed with the mod team the whole time. 

Dream never has a name for the mod who is apparently on his side (more understandable), the minecraft developer he quoted, or the astrophysicist (most damning)

Dream states that fabric is used by most speedrunners which is true, but fabric and fabric API are different; dream also had the latter installed. my knowledge of how theyre different is limited, all i really know is the API is what can enable editing of the code while fabric is more a modloader. im not entirely sure on this

Dream has said at the end of the video that all funds will go to the mod team so they can make a client that will regulate cheaters. this has been noted as feeling manipulative or like a ‘bribe’, but it definitely puts the mods in a bad position. 

either they accept it and look like they ‘gave in’ to dream and therefore acknowledge him in the right

they deny it and look selfish/taking dream’s kindness for granted

geo said they would insist it goes to a charity instead

Dream constantly disregards the mods as young, inexperienced, ‘just volunteers’ etcetcetc, despite the fact that theyre analysis has been discussed by people with confirmed PhDs without much criticism

Dream’s Report

The report itself is extremely interesting, in that it’s very questionable, but even so it doesn’t come to the conclusion that dream didn’t cheat. The tone between the video and the report is drastically different. 

This is from the “3. What are the goals of this document?” section:

It essentially says this isnt intended, from the very beginning, to completely exonerate dream of cheating. Also note that the author says the mods’ report was mostly correct. 

This is at the end of “9 Conclussions”:

It does notably say cheating isnt the only explanation, but it doesnt actually go as far to say that it’s not possible that he cheated. 

But this can be argued to not matter if we consider the validity of the report as a whole

Dream’s Report: Criticisms

Possibly the first and most known debunking of the report is by u/mfb on reddit, although there’s been much more such as this programmer criticizing the code provided at the end of the report (partially due to how the author of it stated that piglins barter 4-7 pearls, which is incorrect: it’s 4-8), Andrew Gelman, an actual statistician professor from harvard, commented on the original mods’ report as ‘impressive’ while Dream’s report is being regarded as something funny in the comments, and even analysis of dream’s behaviours and his argument by a law student

But what u/mfb posted is what i’ll focus on. Some background into the user; he’s a particle physicist, is moderator in subreddits like r/cosmology and r/astrophysics, he’s regarded as a reliable source on r/askscience and r/askreddit. Basically, multiple other people have vouched for him and before all this he had many posts in these fields. 

that’s already better than the unnamed astrophysicist. 

The post is better speaking for itself but here is a few exerpts from it;

Essentially, the report’s methods are debunked by u/mfb-, alongside that a moderator of r/statistics regarded the report as ‘nonsensical in its application of statistics’ and linked to u/mfb-’s comment. 

i’m going to end this here. Partially because severe backpain or whatever,.

but I want to say at this point its practically definitive that dream cheated, that he lied to us, and that he continues to do so. Much more could be said on his video such as his tone, intentions, the overt emphasis on the ‘biases’ of the mods. 

I havent even mentioned that the ‘astrophysicist’ themself may be a scam; they are sourced from a website that is extremely sketchy, has no names attached to it, and was created less than a year ago (with practically no traffic on it until maybe a month ago). 

But i hope this is coherent. I have interest in this so if theres questions im always open. 

[deltastorm101]

So, I tried to calculate Control...

... and its Epic Games deal, with the help of my certified smooth brain™ and probably incorrect sources. I started this last night hella tired and with a headache, I have finished it up today hella tired and with a headache, and this is what I produced: bullshit! :D But hey, at least double checked bullshit that’s open for discussion and contribution and expansion. Also, I probably won’t list the sources because a) I’m lazy and b) I didn’t have to dig thaaat deep down to find all this so if you really wanna know you could probably hit google with it as well. Anyhow here we go lol So, the initial thought which got all of this rolling was the 2020-wrap-up-post Remedy linked on their twitter, and Epic’s linked publishing announcement in it: studios Remedy, Playdead and GenDesign will release their next next-gen games with Epic. Now, we all know Remedy are working on some sort of Alan Wake-ish thing as we speak (right? right?? god I hope so), which meanssss our boy will most likely be an Epic exclusive. Which makes me kinda sad because, well. I’m deep in Steam’s ass. Hell, I waited for Control for a full year before I played it because they can pry the Steam version from my cold dead hands. So I asked myself... was it worth it for them? How much money did they throw at Remedy (and 505 Games) to have them play along? Would they have reached more people from the get-go if they had released it on Steam right away? Did the individual programmer, designer, writer, artist, person behind it profit from this at all? (Also, like, about the rights and copyright thing,,,,, you’d think they could have learned from Alan Wake and its IP belonging to Microsoft and so not really being able to do anything more with it because they don’t ‘own’ it and shit) buuut anyway that’s not the point of this post, now it’s time to do some MATH BABEY

Ok, let’s start with some things we know. Facts. Figures. Data. Turns out my initial question, how much money was involved, could be answered by doing one (1) google search: according to Wikipedia, Epic gave Remedy and 505 Games €9.49mio. The total budget for the game was €26.9mio over the course of 3 years of development. We know that as of December 2020, over 2mio copies of the game were sold, with November 2020 being the best-selling month ever since its initial release in August 2019. This is where question 1) comes into play: how many of those 2 million copies were sold in 2019 and how many in 2020? Stay tuned, I think I found out.

We know that Remedy gets to keep 45% of the revenue, which, I assumed, means that 505 keeps the remaining 55% (probably a lot more going on there but shhh). We know that Control’s sales cooked up €17.84mio in 2019 (so months September – December), €17.7mio of those in the first month alone (O.O). Side note: because it came out at the very end of August, I’ll ignore that month and declare September the first sales month.

We know that 60% of sales in 2019 were digital ones (aka Epic Store, mostly), 40% physical ones (consoles PS4 and XB1), while in 2020, only 10% of sales were physical and a whopping 90% digital; which is people on Epic who wanted to get their hands on the first DLC and – you guessed it – the Steam release of the Ultimate Edition in August 2020.

Which begs question 2): what’s bigger, 60% of 2019 sales because ‘ooh shiny new game’, or 90% of 2020 sales because ‘yay steam release’? The answer may look obvious, but you have to take into account the dropping price, which I also researched for your pleasure and enjoyment.

For this I used a German website called idealo.de, which focuses on looking for the best deals for basically anything you can buy on the internet, and it also gives you diagrams that describe at which point in time the product was at which exact price. This is what it gave me: - release price: €60 - December 2019: €41 (PS4)/€44 (XB1) - mid-2020: €30 - Ultimate Edition release: €30 - December 2020: €14 (PS4)/€18 (XB1)/€30 (Ultimate Editions) At this point I was like “lol hold on i need chocolate for this cuz i’ll be here for some time *sweating*”

To continue this mess™, I see more questions: 3) How many employees does Remedy have, which positions do they work in and what are their salaries? 4) How many employees does 505 have, which positions and salaries do they have? 5) What’s the total revenue that Control has generated so far?

And also some more stuff like, are my numbers accurate, am I even grasping these concepts correctly, are there even more people involved or am I just trying to explain complete crap (yes) but let’s just ignore all of that shall we. At that point I went “oh shit what have i gotten myself into, this screen does not get my point across, i need pen and paper” and you know shit is gonna go DOWN when I do math on paper.

My paper math birthed the following calculation:

Following this up, we can calculate the end-of-2019 sales, if we set the price for September and October to €60, for November and December to approx. €45:

Now, you might notice that one of those numbers is big and the other is HUGE. Why might that be? Well...

- Covid19: everyone stayed at home and needed video games to play - More sale months of the year, naturally - dropping price: why get it for €60 when you can get it for 20 - Ultimate Edition: why buy it in June when you get more content in August aaaand... - it comes out on Steam.

With this in mind, let’s see what questions we can answer: 1) 661,110 copies in 2019; 1,338,889 copies in 2020 2) 60% digital sales in 2019 means 396,666 Epic copies; 90% digital sales in 2020 means 1,205,000 copies – most of it from Steam? Some of it? A good chunk? The bigger chunk? There’s no way of really knowing for sure but... you could read this into it. I definitely am. 3) Google told me Remedy had a little over 250 employees at the end of 2019... 4) ... and 505 has less than 100. I found no good sources for this, I think linkedin said 37, someone else said 50. I’ll just use the 50 figure, idk. No idea man. and for 5) I’ll contradict my point that the Steam release is what knocked the sales out of the park and assume that the number of sold copies stayed the same across all 12 months of 2020, which gives us this:

Ok and now we’re getting into the most dangerous of danger zones because I have no idea how companies or capitalism work, so for educated people™, the remaining calculations might read like a toddler wrote them; I apologize profusely and hereby present last night’s brain vomit:

As stated earlier, development took 3 years, but everyone wanted to get paid in 2020 as well so let’s use 4 years to find out the salaries, which is 48 months. Let’s assume the utopian idea that every employee on the line here gets the exact same amount of money (LOL ikr but shhhh, let’s live out our dirtiest equality fantasies for a second ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)). Which would mean...

And now without the Epic Deal™:

Quod erat demonstrandum. Remedy has been selling their souls to Epic for €350 a month since 2017. (I don’t mean this as maliciously as I’m making it sound, don’t worry xD)

OKAY SO, O B V I O U S L Y, I have not the slightest idea what on earth I’m talking about so read this like you’d read a good fanfiction. We don’t know the different salaries across the different positions (and genders HAH), we don’t know if other parties were involved, I’ve completely ignored the sum that Epic themselves get, I have ignored taxes, I don’t know if my numbers are accurate (they’re definitely not I mean 505 must have more employees than 50), if I made mistakes (yes), and also somewhere along the way I forgot to use the €26.9mio budget figure because, uuh, I have no idea where to use it, what it means, where did it come from, where did it go, cotton eye joe - but oh well, I’m not starting over, take it or leave it.

So... I can now officially say I have written hot steamy economics fic xD Man I put waaay too much time into this but damn was it fun. Good three-hour-deep-dive (two of them spent munching on chocolate half-asleep listening to psytrance to keep my brain twitchy). Real-life-theorizing. Fuck capitalism. Don’t do drugs. Pet a cat. Wear your mask. Call your grandparents.

If there’s typos in this I’m sorry but also I’m not, I can’t be bothered to proofread again lol. Goodnight imma catch up on the sleep I lost. Gotta love full moons

[officialthiamlibrary]

Welcome to another profile on Behind the Screens, giving you personal insight on who your favorite creators are and what they do when they aren’t wowing you with their creative ability.

This week, I’m excited to bring to you our first artist, Dalyane, or Da-Smiley99. Although, in her case, a more appropriate title would be jack-of-all-trades. As our resident fic writer, song-inspired pic spam creator, and incorrect quote aficionado, she shares her inspiration behind incorrect quotes, her writing persona, her meta-author plans to dictate Thiam’s relationship, and much more! Take a look :)

So, Dalyane, let’s ease our way into things. Tell us about yourself. The catch: the word count should be equal to or less than the number of letters in your two favorite Teen Wolf characters’ name. 

Stiles Stilinski + Theodore Raeken = 25 : My name’s Dalyane, I’m a ray of sunshine in human form. What I want the most is to make people happy with what I do.

And, how did you find the Thiam pack? What about Theo x Liam drew you in?

To be honest, I don’t have the slightest idea. It just came smoothly to me. When I saw Theo and Liam interacting, I was just drawn into it. I was drawn by the silent conversations in their eyes, every word that came out of their mouths that sometimes meant something else or something they haven’t said, their mutual violence towards each other. (I absolutely hate violence, but I don’t know why I’m deeply hypnotized by their banter and their complicated Like/Hate relationship). 

I’m like the most oblivious person ever, I wouldn’t even know if somebody is hitting on me, but there’s something romance-worthy (Is that even a word?) about their complicated relationship that drew me in the Thiam fandom. 

Not mentioning Theo’s past, Liam eventually learned to trust him at some point even if he was still a little hostile towards Theo. A little part of himself learned to forgive him, so he could fight alongside him. In the entire sixth season, I felt like they developed a whole new relationship based on building trust. Apart, Liam and Theo are quite strong alone, but together they cooperate, fight and act like they were a “whole”. Liam may not trust Theo yet, but I felt like his body, his own being told the opposite. I was extremely glad to see their relationship grow with their characters. So long story short, I just basically just dived into it. And it’s without a damn shame that I can say that I don’t even regret liking them together. And it’s also not because of the amazing, beautiful and breathtaking gifsets on Tumblr...Not at all.

Yes!! That sums up their relationship perfectly and worded so well. Let’s keep that going for a moment. Say this was a ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ situation and you could alter their relationship, their lives with your writing. How would they live through the following scenarios:

a. Their First Date: 

Oh, they would know for sure they’re on a date, even if it’s not a date. Theo and Liam would hear my annoying voice every five minutes. Like Liam would ask Theo to hang out at his place, it’s just two dudes hanging out, nothing extraordinary really. But I would still break the nice atmosphere by saying random things that comes from their heads. Like -Wow, Theo’s ass looks great in those Jeans, Liam thought- or -Had Liam’s lips always been that pink?- and God, they would be as red as tomatoes. Awkward much.

b. Their child’s first boyfriend/girlfriend

Theo would absolutely refuse to admit or say out loud that he doesn’t like his child’s significant other. It would hurt his pride, but he doesn’t want to hurt his small bean and his husband, Liam. Of course it’s my job! Theo would be outraged, but it would be so worth it.

c. Their first conflict as an official couple

Because of me, their fight would last for 5 minutes maximum. They would be in a situation where Theo would get jealous because he thought some random guy was flirting with Liam, when in fact he was just being super friendly. So Theo was being an asshole out of jealousy. Liam would start getting angry at him, asking what was his problem but Theo wouldn’t respond. I would just whisper in the air: “Hey, he was jealous you dummy.“ Then they would apologize to each other, followed quickly by a make out session. Yeah, you’re welcome Thiam. 

Haha, honestly, they’d be lucky to have you running the show! Piggy-backing off the craziness you’d put them through, sometimes, characters  find themselves in situations they aren’t sure they can get out of. In your life, is there a time you found yourself in a situation like that and what did you do?

Oh god. Almost nothing happened to me in my life. But I will share this particularly embarrassing moment of me. So one day I was going to my high school, I was inside the school bus. But suddenly the bus stopped at my old middle school, then our chauffeur turned to us saying our high school was closed because of the snow. 

So we went inside the middle school to call our parents so they can pick us up. But that day my mom was working, so she wasn’t available. My grandma didn’t pick up the phone either. So I was like “I can’t stay here anyway, what should I do?” Then my stupid old self just got out of the school, walking all the way to my home. Yeah, I was pretty stupid back then.

 I was freezing and couldn’t see a damn thing in front of me because I was in the middle of a snowstorm. A random guy slowed his car close to me and asked me if I want to get in. Then I remembered what my mom said about getting in a car with a stranger, Oh hell no. I lied saying I was close to home, so he would leave me alone. It worked. 

30 minutes later I think, another car stopped close to me and a woman speaks to me, “Get in, I won’t let you freeze on the road.” I hesitated, obviously. Until I saw my friend in the passenger seat. Finally, I got home safely! I was incredibly embarrassed and horrified; I felt like an idiot. I never thought that I would get home. Holy molly, that was terrifying. When my mom asked why I was home early, I lied to her saying that the chauffeur brought all the students home in the morning. Well, I’ll never ever do that again.

Oh my goodness! Girl, I’m glad you got home ok and didn’t freeze to death! Before we jump into your work, who would be on your ultimate paintball/laser tag team. Any five characters from Teen Wolf. Also, Why?

I would have Stiles on my team, because he’s extremely smart and no doubt he would make up an excellent strategy on the field. I would have Theo, he’s also smart, but he’s a bit reckless and surely takes risks a lot so it can come in handy. I would have Malia, she’s a badass and would dominate the field with some girl power! (You go girl!) I would have Corey, he’s very subtle, doesn’t make a sound and he definitely would blend in the background and that is definitely handy for sure. What a great sneaky sniper. 

For the last member of my team, I would take Mason, he will probably use his charm and his charisma to lure the opposite team’s members. Or just make jokes and references to his favorite Tv shows. That kinda does the job too.

Perfect! And now your work! *Rubbing my hands together in anticipation*

You do a little bit of it all when it comes to creating for Thiam: fanfiction, fanart, edits, incorrect quotes. Which would you say is your favorite art form? And how do you balance creating them all? 

I guess my favorite form of art is writing. I had a talent for writing since I was a kid. I could express myself better on paper than with my voice. Many people had a hard time to believe that everything I wrote came from my mind, because I can’t express myself properly when I talk. For me, writing is an art and fanfics are masterpieces. Writing has been a way for me to escape the real world, my problems and my worries. Writing is a way for me to talk indirectly to readers and expressing my feelings to them through my writing. 

It’s kinda hard to balance my creativity in my posts, because I always do something different. If I see something I like on Tumblr, Instagram or Twitter, I tried to include it in them. I always try to get better. I’m trying to find my own style and keep it. I’m saying it again, I want to make people happy with what I do and when I get positive comments on my works, that makes me want to get  better. A part of me does all of this for my followers, to put a smile on their faces or make them laugh. Seeing them happy makes me happy too.

And, if your process was a person, describe them. What do they do? Wear? Listen to?

Well, she’s pretty thoughtful. She always paces back and forth in her room, trying to find a title to her work. She bases her work mostly on the title, that is most of the time based on a song. She’s always in PJ’s and some good old crocs. She just sit on her bed, listening to her favorite songs, TV shows, movies or her favorite YouTubers. She’s a little lazy girl, I guess. I can’t really blame her, it’s how she is. :)

What would you say is both your (and her) Writing Kryptonite, haha? How do you fight it?

It’s really strange, but I can’t write anything if I don’t listen to some music. Music always has been the source of my imagination, I just didn’t realize it until a few months ago. If I don’t have my phone and headphones on me, I can’t do anything. I need music to write. Depending to the meaning, the lyrics and the beat of the songs I listen to, my works change. If I write something sad, I listen to songs about heartbreak, death, breakups, etc. If I write something fluffy and happy, I will listen to songs about happy endings, falling in love, weddings,etc. 

When I know exactly what to write (theme, feeling expressed in it and other minimal things), I know instantly what song to listen to. Every time there’s music in my ears, I get in my own writing world and my hands just start tapping on my keyboard on their own. This is pretty unique, huh? Music gets me really emotional and I can’t do anything about it. It’s very strange. Since Music is the source of my creativity and imagination, it’s very rare that I have writer’s block.                  

To get rid of my writer’s block, I simply sit back on my couch and close my eyes, listening to some soft music. I take a break, because I can’t write something for a whole day, I would get a huge migraine. I would just relax and let everything come to me.

Your love for writing with music. Is that what inspires your song edits, like this one? What makes a song shout Thiam to you? How do you choose images that embody both the song, their relationship, and your writing for it?

I always choose a song that reflects their complicated relationship and what they’ve been through. I choose songs that are very specific for them, that express their banter, their problems and their backstories. Depending on the songs I choose for my edits, the colors, the pictures and themes are different with each one. For example, for a sad song, the colors and pictures of my edits will be darker, the theme of the edit will likely be sadness, sorrow, breakups,etc. For a more happy-go-lucky song, the colors and pictures will be clearer and brighter, and the theme of the edit will be happiness, calmness, comfort, etc. 

Everything I do in my edits will change with the song I choose. I chose pictures very carefully, they have to call to me (my creative style, I mean). When I find something perfect for my edits, I just know it. It’s hard to explain it, but I can feel it in my gut when I got something good. I’m a weird phenomenon.

And, incorrect quotes. How do those come to you too? Are they inspired by things you see of hear in everyday life? 

Most of them are inspired by my favorite YouTubers: Game Grumps. It’s a gaming channel, where two grown men play some video games while sassing each other, telling semi-bad jokes, swearing 95% of the time and saying perfect incorrect quotes material. Most of them came from the mouth of these awesome guys. Is it the time when I say you should check their channel out? Yeah, go check it, please. :)

Oh wow, one of my roommates watches their channel religiously!! I’ll have to join her sometimes, when I hear them blaring from her room haha. You’ve recently started a new multi-chapter fic, Catch & Release. Can you give us a quick summary, for anyone unfamiliar. 

The story happens one year after the events of season 6. A mysterious girl come knocking on Liam and Theo’s door, seeking their help. Her name is Skye Andrews.She’s a true Alpha who’s fighting against an hostile pack that plans to take Canada. When they saw that she wasn’t a threat and saying the truth, Liam and Theo accepted to help her, also accepting coming to Canada.

And did something inspire the concept?

I don’t even know. It just weirdly came to me just like that, while I was listening to the song “Catch & Release” by Matt Simons.The story made itself when I listened to the lyrics of the song. Now you know where the title came from.

Finally, you know I have to ask. Are there any spoilers you can slip us? 

Eventually you’ll get to know all of my original characters I included in the story. I can’t give any spoilers, because I still don’t know where this story is going. But here’s something I know for sure: Nolan/Alec and Thiam will be canon at some point in the story, I just don’t know when exactly. But if you want some precise informations, my ask box is always open.

Hahaha, fair enough. I guess we’ll have to read along and see. Ooh--perfect question segway. Bonus Question-if you could read only one author/fanfic writer for a whole year, who would you read? And what story of theirs would you horde?

Without hesitation, I say Captainmintyfresh (@Thiamfresh on Tumblr). I just adore her writing so much. It calls to me and her writing style absolutely hypnotized me. She’s incredibly talented and I just can’t stop reading her works. “Airplanes” is by far her best work. I think everyone should read it; it’s a piece of art, a masterpiece. I’m not even exaggerating. Her writing is truly amazing; it gives me the chills. I really wish I could write like that. She can capture the personality and the dynamic of the characters in the Teen Wolf universe. The way she writes their interactions is truly a treat. Seriously, If I could read her works forever, I would. She’s incredibly talented.

I share that sentiment, wholeheartedly. You’re not alone! Before we wrap, I want to ask about advice because I think it’s amazing when we’re given the opportunity to learn from one another. What’s the best writing/drawing/edit-creating advice you’ve ever gotten? Is there any wisdom you could gift us?

I didn’t get any advice in writing, but I would like to give some. If you are struggling with your writing, just take a breath and lean back to look at your work. If nothing comes out, it’s useless to work endlessly and working your brains out. Just take a break and work on it later. There’s no need to be rushed, take the time you need. Writing can be hard and demands a lot of concentration and creativity. Just take the time you need, take breaks and write everything you like. You are the creator of your story.

What’s next for you? Both in life and the creation world?

Well, I’m taking a year off of college. It was becoming too much for my brain to handle so much anxiety every day. In this year, I will eventually think about where I want to go and what I want to do. Maybe it will shorten my time for writing, but I want to do the most I can. I guess there’s nothing next in the creating segment, I’m just going to continue writing and drawing. But there’s nothing huge specifically.  

Any creating is always a perfect amount, so I’m sending you all the luck and inspiration juice in the world! Anything else you’d like to share, in general. The floor is all yours! :)

This concerns anybody reading this. I’m saying this for the third time now, but I’m writing fanfictions, doing edits, drawing fanarts and writing some incorrect quotes for you (all of you). I’m doing this to bring a smile on your faces, make you laugh and make you feel so many different emotions with my work. Seeing you guys happy, makes me incredibly happy. On everything that I do, don’t be shy and comment on my works. If you like my writing style, if you like how I make aesthetics, if you like my incorrect quotes or just quotes in general and if you like my fanarts, go ahead and tell me about those things. I probably won’t respond, because I have a social life outside of Tumblr and I’m actually pretty busy.I want to get better not just for myself, but for all of you. I don’t want to let anybody down and I don’t want to disappoint anybody. I really hope that I meet your expectations. I love each one of you (I’m definitely not crying right now).

Awww! And so with that, BTS presents Dalyane, Da-Smiley99! As always, you can keep the conversation going; respond to any of her thoughts, ask more questions, send a prompt, or simply swing by for a chat with Dalyane anytime. To quote her, she would be “absolutely thrilled” to receive your thoughts! If you’d like to dive into her works, check out both her AO3 and Tumblr.

Tumblr: Da-smiley99

AO3: Dasmiley99

Ask Box: Da-Smiley ask

A huge thank you to her for being so excited about our chat and sharing us piece of her life with us! 

Have a Thiam Creator you fan over, from any platform (AO3, Tumblr, Wattpad, Instagram, FFN, etc). Definitely drop us their names. Bonus points if you include any questions you’re dying to ask them. 

Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

Mic drop!

[gyrlversion]

Castro and Booker Brought Trans Issues To The Debates — But Is It Enough?

By Mary Emily O’Hara

For the first time, transgender equality is a presidential debate topic — but what does it mean when there are no trans candidates to weigh in?

On Wednesday, June 26, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro became the first 2020 Presidential candidate to raise the issue of transgender equality at the Democratic primary debate. The question was about abortion: “I don’t believe only in reproductive freedom, I believe in reproductive justice,” Castro said, but he also fumbled when he elaborated. “What that means is that just because a woman — or, let’s also not forget, someone in the trans community, a trans female — is poor, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the right to exercise that right to choose.”

At the moment, it was unclear whether Castro meant to say trans men (who can, and do, get pregnant) or whether he was confused about what it means to be transgender at all. That evening, Castro’s team tweeted a slightly-less-awkward version of his comment that still managed to conflate trans women with access to abortion. The candidate later clarified further, when he retweeted Human Rights Campaign (HRC) rapid response press secretary Charlotte Clymer. “Last night I misspoke. It’s trans men, transmasculine, and non-binary folks who need full access to abortion and repro healthcare. And I’m grateful to ALL trans and non-binary folks for their labor in guiding me on this issue,” he wrote.

Clymer herself is trans; she praised Castro for bringing up trans rights in response to a question that didn’t ask about trans people. For many in the community, it was one of those “good enough” moments. “At least he cares enough to talk about us,” became a familiar refrain on Twitter moments after the debate aired.

Of the 10 candidates who were on stage debating that night, just one other presidential hopeful brought up trans rights: Senator Cory Booker. “We do not talk enough about trans Americans, especially African-American trans Americans and the incredibly high rates of murder right now,” he said later. (A few candidates mentioned LGBTQ+ rights, including Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who stumbled through the acronym.)

None of the 10 candidates who appeared on the second night of debates mentioned transgender people, though Senator Bernie Sanders, and Representative Eric Swalwell, and former Vice President Joe Biden mentioned the LGBTQ+ community. (Their comments were mostly embedded in statements about diversity and civil rights in general, or in Swalwell’s case, about gun violence.) Yet two brief mentions still constitute the most debate time ever spent on the topic of transgender equality, ever in the history of televised presidential politics. And many LGBTQ+ advocates seemed happy enough; to go from blackout invisibility to a couple quick blurbs was at least a step in the right direction, right? 

While other candidates have previously addressed the crisis of violence against Black trans women (Elizabeth Warren named 10 Black trans victims of murder in a June 15 tweet), Booker’s comment stood out. He is one of the few presidential candidates who explicitly includes LGBTQ+ issues as a detailed platform point on his campaign website. If elected, he will “immediately end the ban on transgender servicemembers from serving in the military” and “rescind the Trump Administration’s ‘refusal rules’ that allow people to be denied necessary health care because of a provider’s personal beliefs.”

It matters that trans people were discussed at all on the debate stage; 15.3 million people watched Wednesday’s debate across NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo combined. And those numbers shot up the next night, when 18 million viewers tuned in. That candidates centered trans people, even for a brief few moments, means that the message — and the issues trans people face — reached millions of people on a national level.

But it also matters that at first mention, trans representation was a mess. For Castro to confuse trans men with trans women so easily is indicative of a larger problem; there were no trans candidates on stage to chime in and correct him, no trans debate moderators to ask follow up questions. (Castro’s campaign did not respond to an MTV News request for comment asking whether the candidate had any transgender members of his campaign team.) And it wasn’t clear at first (until his Twitter apology the next day) whether he had accidentally misgendered transgender men, or whether he thought that transgender women can have uteruses and get pregnant. If an incorrect pronoun falls out of a candidate’s mouth and no one moves to correct it, does it make a sound?

Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd, the executive director of the leadership building nonprofit Trans United, told MTV News Castro’s misgendering of trans men during the debate was “toxic,” and warned that, overall, candidates might be “trying to find something to jump on the bandwagon about because they need folks to vote for them.” But she also highlighted the importance of speaking to trans issues — and directly to trans voters — during the debates.

“A lot of trans people feel like our votes don’t matter, so a lot of us don’t vote,” said Duncan-Boyd. “We need to get a lot more involved around civic engagement, to know how important it is for us to vote. So there’s a need for them to include us within the debate, and to provide additional education and literature around the topics.”

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For Gillian Branstetter, spokesperson for the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund, Castro’s comment was a “milestone.”

“Secretary Castro made clear the need for an inclusive vision of reproductive justice, one that recognizes the significant overlap between the fight for reproductive rights and the fight for transgender rights,” Branstetter told MTV News. “Transgender people know very well the reality of having a lawmaker step between our doctors and ourselves, and having this recognized on a national debate stage is a transformational moment for transgender people nationwide.”

Mistakes aside, the fact that a candidate brought up transgender equality in healthcare but has yet to mention the issue on his campaign website, introduces the possibility of transpandering. NPR’s Shereen Marisol Meraji has written at length about political ‘hispandering;’ the phenomenon in which candidates bust out their high school Spanish (like Beto and Booker did on Wednesday) and quote Che Guevara (as Bill de Blasio did, with excruciating results, at a Thursday rally) in order to gain clout among Latinx voters, even though not all Latinx people speak Spanish. Such conflation tactics can end up hobbling a well-meaning, but ultimately misguided candidate. It’s vital for any candidate to consider the needs of growing minority voter bases, but candidates who don’t belong to those groups sometimes fail to do that outreach without embarrassing themselves or crossing a line. Transpandering threatens to place straight, cisgender candidates in a similar quagmire, as Castro’s flub so perfectly illustrated on Wednesday.

That Castro later apologized for his mistake helps — now comes the work of doing better by and for that community, and including them in further conversations. For his part, he has shown that he is willing to listen; he asked for a nonbinary person’s pronouns prior to addressing them at a recent forum. And while Castro doesn’t highlight a specific LGBTQ+ program on his website, LGBTQ+ needs are explicitly included in the candidate’s housing, education, and immigration platforms. Such efforts speak to a larger trend: That this may very well be the most inclusive and progressive presidential race we’ve ever seen, even if the leading Republican candidate has spent years trying to dismantle the rights of trans, and other LGBTQ+ people in unprecedented ways.

But the work is far from done. While all of the Democrats that took part in the first round of debates have stated support for the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to federal civil rights law, less than half of the candidates have actually introduced LGBTQ+-specific platforms in relation to their campaigns. That includes former Vice President Joe Biden, who has said that passing the Equality Act would be his first priority as president, but also stumbled on Saturday, June 29, with a claim that homophobic jokes would have been acceptable five years ago. (His website does not list LGBTQ+ rights in his platform.) And activists have both praised and questioned Senator Kamala Harris’s history with LGBTQ+ issues, and have been especially critical of her past treatment of incarcerated transgender people in California while she served as the state’s Attorney General; her website calls out both homophobia and transphobia in a policy dedicated to protecting LGBTQ+ rights.

Thus marks a crucial turning point: the debates are a good start, but now they’re over. The fight for LGBTQ+ rights isn’t, and it’s up to the candidates to prove that they are advocates for everyone affected by homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination. Saying you will fight for marginalized people is one thing; showing up and doing the work after the broadcast ends is another. Otherwise, voters may have little reason to believe the talking points are anything other than empty promises, or in President Trump’s case, outright lies.

Between Wednesday’s nods to trans rights and Thursday’s competitive showing by an electable, openly gay candidate in Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the crowded kickoff to the 2020 debate cycle brought more LGBTQ+ content we’ve ever seen. And it seems increasingly necessary that any viable Democratic contender eventually does roll out a concrete plan for expanding LGBTQ+ equality. HRC National Press Secretary for Campaigns Lucas Acosta said the debates reflected the growing power of the LGBTQ+ vote.

“From touting the Equality Act to highlighting the epidemic of violence facing the Black trans women, candidates made it clear that LGBTQ+ voters are crucial in the path to the Democratic nomination,” Acosta told MTV News. “We look forward to continuing to discuss the issues affecting LGBTQ+ people and how we can make our country more fair and more equal for everyone, regardless of who they are or who they love.”

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