#and then people have the gall to wonder how i could ever ever ever sympathize with those ''savage arabs''. seriously??

[leroibobo]

really do not think people understand the extent to which palestinian sites/landmarks (especially muslim ones) were destroyed, beginning in 1948 until now, even in cities. the oldest extant mosque in jaffa (al-bahr mosque) was built in 1675, even though islam came there in the 7th century

[unofficial-sean]

I wish I had a supportive family. I can’t imagine how much more bearable life would be if the very people who feel entitled to my time and attention actually tried to listen and help me out. Instead, not even a minute after I get home from resigning, putting away my toolbox, mother enters the garage fully loaded to ream me out.

All she ever cares to do is point at problems instead of trying to fix them. Actually, fixing is not necessary; the very least positive thing she could do is ask me what was wrong and sympathize with me. But no, I can’t have that. My entire take on the world I experience--a world she doesn’t experience--is invalidated.

Even when I explain what happened, she digs in. She does “Why are you wearing eyeliner? You were wearing a skirt yesterday, too. You only do that when there’s something wrong.”  FUCK OFF. GET AWAY. She sees my femininity as a problem. Something I should “talk to my therapist about.”

No wonder I shut people like you out! You’re projecting your family insecurities on me just because my sister and I despise having to associate with entirety of our cursed conservative relatives, including you! “I don’t have access to those conversations.” And you never will! Because you never take me at face value, you never support me, and you never try to understand me! I feel so uncomfortable around you! The rare occasion I feel brave enough to express myself femininely and suddenly it’s armageddon. CUNT.

I have to deal with hypocritical managers, falling out with friends, and now I have to deal with YOU. You can’t even let me settle in before arguing with me. I can’t catch a fucking break. I’ll have my new, better job later this week, and in no time at all, I’ll be away from you and your toxicity; your venom; your disapproval!

You think I’m distant now? You’ve only scratched the surface. I’ll let your calls bounce and your letters go unopened. I’ll cut you from my bank account, get a new number, block your email. Every catastrophe, you always find a way to widen that divide, and you have the gall to say that I’m bad at resolving conflict?!

There is no one left I can console in. No net to fall back on. I let one drunken night out set fire to the last, good friends I had, and now I’m too ashamed to reach out. The world is so cold and dark and lonely, and not matter my attempts to better it, I always fall short. I don’t feel like talking, or going out. I feel tired, but I cannot fall asleep. I just. . . need to get out of here.

[blondeblackwidow]

S U R E F I R E: CH VII

summary: amicea has been a queen since her eleventh day of life. with the first order’s shadow beginning to grow, and with the love of her life joining on the opposing side, while thrown into in an engagement with the newest commander in the first order. she begins to feel her control on her own life spiral. 

pairings: poe dameron x original character x kylo ren

header made by the lovely @whirlybirbs​ !

Ch VII. the opposition (AMICEA)

The Queen’s meeting hall was a large room with stone walls, and grand windows. It was meant to seem larger than life, to intimidate, to inspire, even. The chairs at the main table were simple, nothing about them was special. The head of the table though, had a large velvet chair with gold adornment. It was a visual reminder that only one person wore a crown in this room. 

She felt like her neck was going to break from the metaphorical weight of it before this was all over. Kylo sat at her right, a few trusted advisors scattered around, and the vultures in recycled Imperial uniforms filled the empty chairs. One of them, pale and red haired, had worn his wool great coat and thick trousers, sweat was brewing on his brow already from the sun.

  Good. She thought. Let him be uncomfortable.

This meeting wasn’t one of happenstance or coincidence. First Order troopers have been scouring the outer mining villages for weeks. Amicea was waiting for them to have enough gall to ask for what they wanted. So here they were, troopers shifting in their boots, and officers standing as she made her entrance. 

She wore another white gown, her own act of rebellion against the wolves swallowing her palace in black. Her lords were first to rise, followed by Kylo, and then the generals who needed some reminding of their manners. She took a seat at the head of her table, and the room filled with silence as the rest of her guests sat. She waited, finally looking over at Kylo, before starting to speak.

  “Are we going to talk or?” She turned back toward the men. Her hands folded neatly in her lap. She felt like she should be nicer, but all she could think about were Kylo’s words in the gardens.

“Your Majesty.” Lord Vadik, spoke first. “The people in the capital have felt unnerved by the First Orders presence.” 

“I believe we talked about this?” She furrowed her brow and Kylo sunk in his chair. “They were supposed to pull out weeks ago.”

“The Supreme Leader thought it best to leave the troops in the Capital…” Kylo began

“The Supreme Leader isn’t Queen, Commander Ren.” Her tone was cold, and ice-like. The officers in the room were shifting in their seats at such a remark about their master. “Pull all marked troopers out of my city, please.” She cleared her throat. “Is that it?” They all blinked, wondering how to word their next comments. 

“The First Order needs access to the mining villages, your highness.” The red headed one spoke first.

“What is your name?” 

“General Hux.” He smiled with pride.

“Well, General, your highness is reserved for Princes and Princesses. And I haven’t been a princess since I was an infant.” She forced a smile back, quickly letting it fade. “I was also under the impression that the First Order was already in the mining villages.” She quirked her head. “Unless I have my facts wrong.” 

“We have sent out preliminary patrols to confirm…”

“Why wasn’t this told to me?”

“It was a secure project -”

“Security? You can’t possibly be doubting my loyalty when I’ve already agreed to marry your commander.” She scoffed.

“The mining villages have a rare crystal.” Kylo interrupted the banter. “We need them in order to continue operations. It’s nothing that your economy considers of value, you won’t notice it’s gone.” She nodded slowly. He was a breath of fresh air in this room, the dark robes and pointed glances felt like they would suffocate her. 

“There is one more matter.” Hux stood. “About the title of our commander upon marrying her Majesty.” She smirked at the correct use of her title.

“Prince Consort, as all husbands of Adroran Queens before him.” Lord Vadik responded and Amicea turned to a very uncomfortable Kylo.

“We believe that this is not suitable for a man of his achievement.” Hux smirked. “King consort is more appropriate.” Every lord in the room choked. The once soft and kind queen that was hidden during this meeting, truly died at that moment. 

“King?” She laughed, and stood. 

“We believe..” 

“You believe what, General Hux?” She tilted her head. “The was a Hux that was part of the Empire as well, if I’m not mistaken. And he only had one son, which was a bastard.” Her face fell flat. “I would rather burn then let a bastard boy lecture me on titles.” 

“Your Majesty.” Kylo gestured softly, offering his hand, as if to calm her. Maybe in the garden weeks ago, it would have worked. But now, here was a room full of vulturous Generals trying to take what was hers, and she couldn’t be calmed. “You were born to lead your planet, to protect it.” His voice rang in her ears.

  “In case you all are unclear, the title of King goes to the male monarch of Adrora. The title of Queen goes to his wife or the female monarch. The title of Prince consort is exclusively reserved for the husband of the Queen.” She placed both her hands on the table, leaning forward. “Whatever you believe in, whether it be some magic energy that binds us or your Supreme Leader. Being Queen is my birthright.” She growled. “You try to undermine that again, Generals, I will give the New Republic what they need to burn you to the ground before you can even blink.” She nodded and folded her hands back in their place, turning and exiting the grand hall.

= 

Amicea sat on her balcony overlooking the ocean, she had been crying for a couple of hours. Her family had ruled this planet for generations, her father held it strongly in the face of the Empire, and all she could feel was her grip on her people loosening the longer the Destroyers stayed in orbit.

She felt like she might lose it completely when she goes through this marriage. 

“If it helps, I didn’t know Hux was going to try that, I am sorry.” Kylo spoke from behind her, she jumped, only to relax when she saw his face. He pulled up the second chair next to her. 

“Considering that it’s not the reason I’m crying, it’s not much solace.” She half smiled and pulled her knees to her chest. She felt so informal, but she felt so lost, she just wanted to feel normal for once in her life. 

“Why are you, then?” 

She sighed, how does she put into words that her system is rapidly spinning out of her control, and she felt like the best shot she had feeling at ease in her life stormed out of her chambers months ago. “It’s complicated.” She finally responded. 

“I do apologize for any part I’ve played in it.”

“I’ve done it all to myself.” She sighed. “You should get back to your ship, I doubt your Supreme Leader would appreciate you associating with such a traitor.” She responded, staring at the shoreline. 

“Amie, I am sorry for the way I acted..”

“You had no right.” She snapped. 

“I think there was some justification to it all.” Amicea whipped her head to stare at him.

“You cannot be serious, justifying going through my things, reading notes that were personal to me, from someone who came long before any proposal was ever suggested..” Her volume was going louder with each word as she stood.

“The Order would have laid waste to your planet if they had caught you.” He began to yell to match her.

“Why?! He’s just a republic pilot, who cares what his opinion of the First Order is?! It’s the same as everyone else on Hosnian Prime.” 

“Because he’s not just a Republic pilot anymore, he’s a commander in Organa’s Resistance.” She felt all the air escape her lungs. Poe Dameron was her grey area, her neutral zone and he had officially stepped over the line. “This is so much bigger than you realize. Snoke has a plan, and he will crush whoever is in his way. I know you love your people, and I care about you, so please, get rid of the notes, and anything else you have. If you are named a sympathizer your life will become so much harder.

“Like it’s already so easy? Your troops are going to land in the villages tomorrow. I am not naive, Ren, they are not going to be courteous to my people. They will take what they want and leave them to die.” She pressed a finger into his chest. “I am trapped in a life I cannot control, and am losing more and more of my planet everyday, because you and your precious order have your sights set on me and my people and no one will tell me why.” Kylo opened his mouth to speak and she kept going. “Unless whatever you are about to say is the entire truth, I suggest you take your leave, and do not come back until I call for you.” 

He simply bowed his head and left the room, too struck to speak. 

Amicea stared out at the sea. She turned to her glass cups on the outside tea table and threw them against the stone, and she screamed. 

A queen's life is never her own. Her mother’s words rang in her ears. It will always belong to her people.

[the-nerktwins]

There’s more to “Another Day” than meets the eye…or, ear…

Sometimes the most interesting thoughts are captured during discussions. I recently began a thread in a Beatles forum I’m a member of, about Paul’s song “Another Day” and the deeper meaning I personally found within it. The conversation veered into two different directions. One was the concept of the lyrical content being overlooked for a few possible reasons, not the least of them being that the protagonist was a woman. The other branch of this conversation veered towards was the musical anatomy of the song and how it serves to add texture to the story the lyrics are telling.

It’s with regret that I report that some participants completely overlooked the musical complexity of this track. To illustrate, here are a couple of key quotes from respondents in the thread I started:

“In contrast to 'Eleanor Rigby, 'Another Day' is cute and perfect instead of full of contrast and dynamics. The cozy comfort of the music itself reflects the bland predictability of the protagonists' life, as depicted in the song. I'm just not sure that's the best approach to take. I think John and George's (Martin) influence would have added some dimension.”

“Yes it's typical of McCartney to wrap a dark story in a cute song. He likes to hide things (even from himself).”

I was left wondering if me and these posters were even listening to the same song! I was also reminded of how ready people are to default to and parrot the (false and grossly oversimplified) talking points that the fandom has been spoon-fed about Paul’s songcraft since the 1970’s. Paul is hardly ever regarded as a valid artist in his own right outside of the Beatles collective, that is terribly, truly wrongheaded in every imaginable way.

I find it galling that many fans still want to hear his early, solo work with a “Lennon filter” applied to it. I’ve seen people saying things like, “This song is good, but if he’d done it with John it would’ve been GREAT!” I completely disagree. McCartney’s compositional abilities by 1967 had evolved to the point where he could “hear” in his head almost exactly what he wanted his final product to sound like. He was adept at articulating his vision to producers, engineers, and bandmates rather early on.

It also hasn’t escaped my notice that certain fans resent his abilities within the confines of the Beatles’ collective since it did contribute to some friction within the band during their late period, and then they turn around and completely ignore his competency when it comes to his solo work (and lament that he couldn’t collaborate with Lennon or George Martin on particular solo songs). It’s a paradoxical mentality and I’m not shy about denouncing it. It gives me whiplash, if I’m quite honest about it!

Since I don’t know (and didn’t ask) the participants about whether they’ve had any experience as musicians, I can make some allowance for the fact that people who’ve played music can hear things in a piece that non-musicians may not pick up on. The thing is, there exist a fair number of sources which could at least illustrate what’s going on musically in “Another Day.”

As for me, since I have a musical background, and I can HEAR what’s going on. To me there are “contrast and dynamics.” The song builds, crescendos, and comes back down again.  There's a lot going on in terms of time signature changes, and decorative elements which add texture to the story being told.  It’s brilliant! I realize that someone who has little to no musical experience could miss it.  There are musically-inclined people out there who can explain it, however, and I went looking online for just that. I conducted two simple Google searches: “Paul McCartney Another Day Musical Analysis,” and “Paul McCartney Another Day Sheet Music.”

With the second search, I found a website which allows the user to play a midi file of the song (with the lead vocals, backing vocals, and every instrument) while the user is taken through the sheet music. The parts being played highlight what’s going on in the song as it’s playing. If someone is inexperienced as a musician, it can serve as a nice, visual aid to see just how complex a composition is, and how much is going on within it. Here’s a screenshot of the site, and a link to “Another Day” for illustrative purposes.

"Another Day" by Paul and Linda McCartney on MuseScore.com

To me this is proof-positive that "Another Day" isn't just a cutesy, fluffy song.

For some further argument in the favor of the musical merits of this song, I stumbled upon comments from fans in the Steve Hoffman music forums, in a thread called "Paul McCartney 'Another Day' Appreciation Thread"

After the bit ".... leaves the next daaaaayyyy..." there's this descending run on the guitar that is perfectly placed, but very difficult indeed to play. – Edgard Varese

yeah, another day is an absolutely killer track. to me its really the perfect song: catchy as hell, yet imaginative and really far more complex than a casual listener would ever realize. i also agree with the thoughts on the rythym guitar. great song to learn for any guitar player, not just for the rythm, but for the chords also. i believe it starts with a g to a b7 with an f# bass and really you've got me hooked from there – andyw676

Listen to the bassline...amazing. – Stateless

I've always loved this song, everything about it really. The undertone of Rigby-esque sadness was obvious to me from the get-go, and the yearning in the "sometimes she feels so sad" bit as the music shifts up and down chromatically always put a lump in my throat. Paul's very good at getting some of the more delicate emotional shadings in his songs. Great song. Thanks for the thread! -- Gardo

That song has some crazy chord changes, and lots of em. Makes it special. – Dave D

To diverge just a little bit into lyrical territory, there were some nuggets of push-back within this Steve Hoffman thread against the typical appraisal of this song, namely it being labeled as “lightweight” or “trite” by certain critics or fans.

Similarly, on "Another Day" if you read the lyrics carefully you may come away feeling not uplifted by a catchy little ditty but a mite saddened by the sometimes crushing loneliness of the modern grind. Personally I love the "At the office where the papers grow..." and "Alone in her apartment she'd dwell..." parts, some of Paul's best lyrics. Remarkable concision. – Dr J

I don't consider it quite as light as I did. It's almost a social commentary on the way women's lives were in the 70s, although not a knock at anyone specific. I admit I'm stealing a little of my wife's analysis. – kevinsinnott

I find it interesting to note that the second poster needed some assistance from a woman regarding his appraisal of the lyrical content. It’s another reminder of the depressing reality that this song is likely written off as superficial and lightweight, and not much analysis applied to it, but because the protagonist is a woman. Just as a lot of our struggles as women are ignored or ridiculed, a song written by a male who sympathizes with our plight is written off as “silly” and “fluffy” by male fans, even if the lyrics have a dark subtext.

To me, the song speaks of something dark and existential going on within the protagonist's psyche, and Paul himself is simply a narrator, imploring the audience to empathize with her as much as he does. And by empathizing with the plight of a woman, Paul unfortunately gets labeled a superficial square who creates “Muzak” and isn’t “Rock N’ Roll” enough. And that’s not right any way you slice it.  Even more ironic is that not long after "Another Day," Lennon at the behest of his wife would be singing and talking about Women's struggles for equal rights and the injustice of it all.  He glibly missed his former songwriting partner's intent in this song.  That's not unlike John at all, however, and that's certainly not the point of this essay.  It's just an observation I found interesting.

"Another Day" also speaks to me as an acknowledgement that people who are highly functional can and do suffer depression; people are coached to wear a mask of being “OK” because it’s not socially acceptable to admit you are not OK. Just keep your head down, go to work, do what you’re supposed to do, get on with it, and don’t tell anyone about your problems…

“As she posts another letter to the sound of five People gather 'round her and she finds it hard to stay alive.”

To go back to the song being marginalized as a little bit of radio-friendly, pop fluff, when to me it clearly is NOT for a moment, I want to acknowledge something. Fans were less able to access opposing literature and materials in the early 1970’s, and McCartney himself wasn’t talking much to the press (and unless you’re a brand-new fan, you know why), so I can see why people sort of accepted this viewpoint at the time.

As Erin Torkelson-Weber has pointed out in interviews and on her blog, “The Historian and the Beatles,” Paul’s relative lack of response to the talking points being pushed by John and Yoko within their post-breakup PR campaign, as well as Paul choosing not to give too much weight to the unfair critical appraisal of his work that was tainted by rock music “journalists” essentially siding with John and Yoko, really created a vacuum, allowing for the fandom’s appraisal of Paul’s work to be dominated by this narrative. Therefore, it’s natural that many, if not most fans in 1971 would buy into these sentiments.  

What I find annoying is that this tendency continues to persist within the fandom, even among younger fans! This is despite having a considerable amount of evidence available at our fingertips that can serve to point out how very wrong this narrative truly is, up to and including the damn sheet music!

With the ability we now possess to access contemporaneous source material and examine all of it objectively, and the ability to listen to virtually all of his music for free via the major, online streaming services, it demonstrates laziness when people within the fandom choose not to think for themselves regarding McCartney’s genius and artistic merit separate from the other Beatles (namely Lennon).

“Another Day” isn’t the only McCartney work I’ve seen suffer under-appreciation by fans, but it’s an excellent example to illustrate my point, since it was specifically singled out by Lennon and early 70’s rock critics and used as a device by Lennon and the prominent rock critics of the day to publicly mock McCartney and call his integrity as an artist into question.

A lot of McCartney’s solo work is written off in a similar fashion, and what a terrible shame that is. Quite frankly, I think people are depriving themselves of a lot of pleasure by simply dismissing McCartney and avoiding his music (or sticking to his “greatest hits” without delving into his catalog and giving everything a thorough listen), based on these antiquated appraisals of his work.

In conclusion, I hope this essay didn’t come across too harshly. I just hope it may inspire people to listen more carefully to Paul McCartney’s solo work and give him the credit as an artist that he duly deserves.

[mrneighbourlove]

Kindled Passion: Ch 5. Hatred to Suffering

As soon as Kahli was in the cell and restrained properly, Ralnor dragged over a chair on the outside of the bars and sat down with his legs crossed. There were several guards in the dungeon, eyes everywhere. Sipping on a glass of wine, the younger prince thought it was highly amusing that Kahli threatened Covarog. Not everyone had the balls to do such a thing.

"You were either brave or stupid according to my guards, but probably both."

"I'm realistic. As well as having no tolerance for ignorance."

Kahli had his belongings laid out on a table behind him. A knife, a locket, and strange ruby held by gold bands.

The Waku did his best to not look interested by the items.

"You know full well of Hyrule's history with the Hasai." Ralnor noticed that Kahli was trying his best to put on a stoic expression. His body language, however, was a dead giveaway of tension, ready to spring into action. The prince wondered if the Hasai would listen to Zizi and remain docile or if he would react. "I was surprised when you had the gall to cross our border and even more so when you made friends with the queen's younger sister. We all believe you have some ulterior motive... except for the queen, but seeing that she's not here at the moment," Those cruel eyes flicked upward at Kahli. "That means I have you all to myself."

"I'm not into whatever games you want." Kahli growled a low thum. "You honestly think you can keep me for long?"

"I think I'll be able to keep you long enough, Hasai." Ralnor had been instructed to use whatever means necessary to obtain a confession from Kahli. Covarog was sure that the man had an ill intent. He was not going to let his family get hurt a second time. "Tell me, Hasai... why are you here?"

"To leave my enemies behind."

"So your own people are your enemies? That is hard to believe." Ralnor stood from his chair and ran his fingers over the items on the table. He stopped at the ruby and selected it. "This whole idea of genocide could be a lie to simply get everyone to let their guard down, to gain the sympathy of Zizi..."

"My tribe was wiped out. Legend says we strived to use the power of Dragons. Other say it was Demons. Some believe the Emperor was just angry our tribe could produce potentially equally powerful blood." His orange and black eyes burn at him. "I thought the Gerudo would understand that."

"The Gerudo can sympathize easily with those who have lost their tribe, their family, their friends, however, you made the mistake of making an enemy of us." Ralnor tossed the pendant to one of his guards, who had a rather large sledgehammer. He would start small, then use more drastic measures. "The Gerudo tribe was at war with Hyrule until my mother sought for peace. The Hasai refused to entertain such a notion, therefore we are still wary... now, tell me truthfully..." Ralnor held up his hand to signal the destruction of the ruby if he did not like the answer. "Why are you here? Did you deliberately target Zizi?"

Kahli was grateful he choose the ruby. The jewel would not shatter. But someone like Ralnor did not need to know that. It would only bring new questions Kahli wanted to avoid.

"My tribe didn't take part in the war because we were already nearly extinct. I came here because I heard Hyrule was fortified, that it had Dragons. Zizi was a random coincidence....but not unwelcome."

So he really was looking for a safe place from those assassins. Ralnor decided that answer satisfied him for now. However, there was still the lingering idea that Kahli could secretly be a spy. Maybe the assassins were an added touch to make it believable. There was the fact of Kahli becoming too close to Zizi. Covarog mentioned how the Hasai held her closer, and was displaying very strong signs of protectiveness. Hasai guarded their mates closely, and hated to be apart from them. His brother intended to keep the two of them away from each other before something happened.

"Are you spying for the Empress?"

"No. And that is the only answer you will get."

"Why stay?" Ralnor decided to press further. "You must know of the dangers here. Why not leave? Why stay in a nation that is seen as your enemy?"

"Because I'm trapped here now. And I like it."

"Trapped? You had the chance to run after Zizi attended to you." Ralnor's spies had reported every single detail. “No one likes a cage. Why are you really staying?"

"You aren't going to get an answer that will give you the clearance to hurt me."

"Who says I need clearance to hurt you? You threatened my brother, the king of Hyrule... that is treason." Ralnor put the ruby down and then selected the locket. "Normally, it calls for immediate death. Though Covarog was nice enough to waiver your death until I received answers."

Kahli furled his brow. "Your brother threw me racist remarks, wanted me taken by blunter hunters to be slaughter later. He insulted me multiple times."

"An insult is nothing compared to what your people did to my poor little sister." Ralnor was not interested in opening the locket. "I'll ask you again. Why are you staying?"

Kahli felt his angry rise. "I told you! What do you want me to say?!"

"You and I both know there is another reason. I'm beginning to believe your intention is to get close to the queen's sister." Ralnor frowned darkly, dangling the locket over a fire, heating up weapons of torture. "Why are you staying?"

"Stop that." Kahli rustled his chains.

"Last chance." Ralnor let the locket slip a little further down his fingers. "Why are you staying?"

Kahli growled. "To gain secrets I need to protect myself. Stop!"

"Elaborate."

"Stop it and I'll tell you!"

"It doesn't work that way, Hasai. I'm the one in control here. Whether or not you die is of no concern to me." Ralnor had the piece of jewelry dangling by one finger now. "What secrets?"

"Don't. My mother...." Kahli just watches the locket dangle, the last of piece of evidence he had connecting him to family. As trained as he was in discipline for most scenarios, he was still young, and torture was only shattering his concentration. "I'm not an enemy to Hyrule!"

"And how would we know this for sure? It could all be a ploy. What I think is this," Ralnor knew he had the upper hand since the locket obviously was a treasure of Kahli's. "You knew who Zizi was, you're simply using her kindness to get close to her, therefore get close to her sister, get the queen close, and harm her to get to the king."

"NO!!! I am not! I'm not a psychopath like you, like your brother! I like Zizi because she is a good person. I don't know anything about the Kikai Empire that's of use! Let me go!"

One of Ralnors assistants let him silently know the fiery marking poker was ready.

"Psychopath? Oh, I'll take that as a compliment." Ralnor had a demented grin on his face. "I don't think I could ever compare to those who hurt my innocent little sister. And unfortunately for you, I don't believe your words. If you were truly not an enemy of Hyrule and simply wanted to leave behind your enemies as said, then there was always the option of seeking asylum. Or even running to a different kingdom than this, one you knew would hate you for your actions in the past. I say... you burned us once, blindsided us with goodwill nature and then got us to drop our guard." He then dropped the locket into the flames. "And now, we have you exactly where we want you."

"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Kahli screams with pure rage. Once was done his voice grew more deep with wrath. "I'll kill you.  I'll gut you like rat and watch you burn."

"Oh? And what would your precious Zizi think of that?" Ralnor extended his arms in a dramatic flair. "You must think me ignorant. My men have told me how you fancy her. Hasai males are extremely protective of their mates. You think I haven't noticed the small touches and constant desire of yours to be near her?" He gestured to the guard with the hot poker. "Again... what secrets?"

"Once I burn your flesh, your soul can burn in Hell." Kahli spat on the prince’s face.

"Ah, Hell is too afraid to take my soul." Ralnor chuckled as he simply wiped away the spit. "You'll talk after a bit of pain."

With that, the guard shoved the hot poker against Kahli's back.

Kahli grounded his teeth together, incredible moans of pain vibrating his mouth.

"It seems like we have a stubborn one, men." To Ralnor, this was nothing new. He had assassins and mercenaries, spies and traitors, all men in the past that refused to talk. Yet, all of them broke after a bit of pain. "Again, what secrets? You have the power to make this pain last or have it cease at any time."

Kahli said nothing in return.

"Very well, have it your way." Ralnor waited for the guard to select the next weapon. With a whip in hand, the guard twirled the cat-o-nine tails and slashed it across the Hasai's back.

Kahli groans in agonizing pain. Huffing and puffing as each lash drew blood. "I-....won't confess."

"Oh, you won't? Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way." Ralnor did not cease talk as the guard continued his creal administrations with the whip. "Perhaps I should bring Zizi down here."

"Kill you."

Another guard let Ralnor know the magic electric spears had been charged for use.

"Hmm... it seems you need a touch of reconditioning." Ralnor returned to the chair in the middle of the dungeon, taking a seat. "Go ahead and have your fun." The prince said to the guard. "He'll talk sooner or later."

The guard nodded, and with a wag of his reptilian tail, shocked Kahli.

The Waku screamed at the top of his lungs.

~

Meanwhile, in the blink of an eye, and scaring the shit out of Zarazu, Skull Kid appeared suddenly in front of her as she was making her way slowly back to Hyrule. He wore Majora's Mask to amplify his powers; as while it held no demon, it still had dark magic that could be of use. Zizi came to him, worried out of her mind. She begged him to try and find Zarazu as fast as he could to bring her back to Zizi.

"Come with me. Now."

Grabbing her hand forcibly, he teleports her back through darkness to reach Zizi in the blink of an eye.

Zarazu was in the middle of reading while riding in a carriage through a town on the outskirts of Danjur. Business took a little longer than usual. The lord and lady of Danjur were having trouble trying to find new trade routes ever since a giant earthquake had shifted the tectonic plates.

As soon as Skull Kid appeared in front of her, the queen nearly jumped out of her skin. She was ready to call for Ba'puu who was flying nearby when she realized it was just Skull Kid. Before she could even ask what was going on, he teleported her to one of Zizi's greenhouses. The queen of Hyrule was looking a little pale in the face from the sudden magic, her stomach flip flopping terribly.

"...? I..." Zarazu bleched from feeling nauseous and tried to will away the feeling of sickness. "I assume... something is important?"

"Zizi. I found her." Skull Kid left to take the mask off. It was a useful tool, but it brought him great paranoia, as if he were to wear it for too long, he'd snap back to his wicked ways.

"Oh, thank the spirits!" Zizi rushed over to her sister, having been pacing back and forth the entire time. "You have to do something, please! Ralnor took Kahli to the dungeons!"

"...?! What?" Zarazu figured there would be any possible excuse to throw Kahli to the curb, but to put him in the dungeon was highly unlikely. The man wanted to stay here and live in peace. There was no way he would try to jeopardize this possibility. "Why?! What happened?!"

"He and Covarog were arguing and he threatened Covarog and they just dragged him away---"

"Okay, okay, calm down, calm down..."

Skull Kid tilted his head right before taking his mask off. He listened for a moment, his senses having been tuned up to unnatural levels. Turning to them, with those burning orange eyes on the Purple Heart, his next words held a terror for Zizi. "He's being tortured right now."

"He didn't do anything!" Zizi felt her heart sinking, knowing that Kahli was innocent. "Zarazu, I swear, I'm not trying to make you pick sides and I'm not trying to make you challenge your husband, just please, please believe me when I tell you this!"

"Zizi, I believe you, I believe you, just give me some time to sort this out." Zarazu assured her sister, putting her hands on Zizi's shoulders. "I doubt anyone even knows I'm back here yet. I'll put a stop to this, I promise, all right?"

Skull Kid leaned back in his chair. "You better hurry."

~

Kahli was crying, spitting up blood, and moaning in pure suffering. His hatred had been stamped out from all the pain. "S-stop. I beg you."

Covarog and Zarazu exchanged heated words. He was sure the Hasai was up to no good. She wanted peace between the two, not hatred. Arguing of her people forgiving Ganondorf, Covarog insisted this was different and Zarazu demanded the reasoning of why. Revenge was revenge, plain and simple in Zarazu's book. Covarog wanted to see the Hasai wiped off the face of the earth for what they did to Kanisa. Zarazu countered that she felt the same way about Ganondorf and his kin before she met him. The two were debating for nearly an hour before Covarog finally relented, letting Zarazu go into the dungeon. The king followed behind his queen, and Zarazu felt her stomach lurch at the sight of Kahli. The queen was not going to let her sister into such a vile place, seeing her heart was pure with good intentions. This was a place of darkness, not for the faint of heart.

"Ralnor," Covarog's voice rang through the dungeon. "The queen demands an audience."

"Does the queen not see that I am working to get answers for the safety of our kingdom?" Ralnor jested. "She doesn't want to dirty her hands with this one, brother."

"I want an audience with Kahli. Now." Zarazu was leaving no room for argument. "This has gone far enough."

Kahli took a few briefs to try and catch his breath. Barely lifting his head up, his orange eyes burned with primal feelings. Fear, pain, hatred. "Help me."

"You honestly don't think I'm going to leave you alone with this filth?"

"I'm not asking, I'm ordering you as your queen." Zarazu's expression promised a stern lecture later, perhaps even a punishment. Pointing to the exit, she commanded. "Take your guards and leave. I'm not asking again or lest you'll be the one behind those bars."

"Hm... testy today, is she not, Covarog?" Ralnor walked to the door with his hands behind his back, clasped together. "Do let me know if you need anymore of my famous interrogation techniques."

Saying nothing, Covarog trailed behind his brother, the two of them heading to a conference room to talk. As soon as the men were gone, Zarazu yanked open the cell doors and started to undo the chains with the keys. Kahli was struggling to breath and needed serious medical attention.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I had no idea they would do this." Zarazu apologized softly as she carefully undid one arm and then the other. "I'm so sorry..."

As soon as his magic sealing bonds were off, he grabbed her weakly by the collar, flames burning out his mouth and cartelizing his lashings. Fire burned up the chamber in small sparks. He looked her deeply in the eyes, contemplating what he should do. "You let them do this to me. I just wanted to be left alone."

As soon as Kahli's fingers touched her, Zarazu's instincts were in overdrive. Before she thought, ice covered the entire dungeon and nipped at the Hasai's hand. She should have expected a reaction like this. He was hurt, scared, and felt alone in this kingdom. Trying to keep her cool was not easy.

"I stopped them from hurting you further. Do you think I would simply 'let' them do this? Do you truly think I am that kind of queen?" Zarazu questioned him with a stoic expression. "I argued on your behalf, for your sake and my sister's. Do you believe I want you to suffer for a past indiscretion that I know little of?"

Kahli's face burned fury at her. However, tears feel from his face. "He took the last piece of family I had left and destroyed it. My mothers locket Zarazu. You let me suffer by not taking action over your husband. I-" He slinks to his knees, his wounds overbearing him. "I want to have peace, but instead you only fuel my hatred more."

"... do you think I can control what he does, Kahli? If you do, you're sorely mistaken." Zarazu did not let the emotion she felt get the best of her. "Covarog has many faults, but he is my husband. I have to stand by him, but I do not have to agree with him. We argue and squabble like any other couple, however, the one thing I cannot do is control him." As Kahli slumped to the floor, the queen took a slow breath. "... if you only feel hatred it will eventually consume you. I hated Ganondorf and the Gerudos for what they did to my old home. Yet, if I had acted on that hatred, then I would not be where I am today." Slowly, Zarazu bent down onto her knees beside of the man. "I am sorry that Ralnor did this to you and that Covarog turned a blind eye... if you are truly so unhappy and so full of nothing but spite, I will arrange for you to leave Hyrule and live elsewhere with us far behind you."

"Then I will act not out of hatred, but self preservation." Standing up, every step burned as he took a step, melting the ice underneath so he would not slip. Grabbing his ruby and his dagger, he started walking away. "I'm going to see your sister. If I see your brother in law within 15 feet of me, I will kill him. If anyone ever again tries to hurt me due to my race, I will kill them. If you let your husband torture me again, I will kill everyone. Now leave me alone." With that he limps his way back to the plantations.

"I understand how you feel, Kahli.. Yet as a queen, I have an obligation to protect my family," Zarazu reminded him quietly as he started to exit the dungeons. "My friends, and my kingdom... I urge you not to act upon those feelings. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to see my sister sad, however, I will do what I must."

“As…will I.”

[80srockher]

Yuri on Ice Rewatch and Live-Commentary, Episode 1: Easy as Pirozhki!! The Grand Prix Final of Tears

*There are spoilers throughout.  I also make assumptions that anyone reading has already seen the episode or has a grasp of the content.*

Source: http://yurionicescreencaps.tumblr.com

The opening scene is so pretty.  Really sets a tone.  I went in knowing nothing about the anime first go-around, so I found Yuri and Victor’s grow/glow-ups montages interesting.  

This theme song is… not my favorite.  Maybe it’s the French horns?  That and too much synth.  I usually skip over it but want to give it a chance this go-around.

Heh, Victor and his gold blades to match his gold medal.  And his European af haircut.  Can’t remember the last time I saw an American past the age of 12 with bangs. No mistaking him for anything other than Eastern European.

Also, the poster on the left is for Victor, I believe.  Can he pull his leg that high in the air?  Was that featured and I forgot?  I’ll be on the lookout for it.

Also, looks like Jean JACK made it to Sochi and placed third here too, lolz.

Yes, please listen to your coach, Yuri.  Don’t poke the wound.  Stay off the internets.  ESPECIALLY the figure skating internets.  What little I remember from when I used to follow the sport is that it’s dramatic, to put it nicely.

I keep getting distracted by the utter Euro-ness of the Europeans in this show. The cut of Coach Celestino’s suit is so Italian I weep. He’s too smooth.

Yuri’s name tag has his name in Cyrillic as well?  Cute.

My first impression of Yuri was that he looks about 18 and that impression hasn’t changed.  Perhaps it’s the glasses, but he def looks youthful. I’m also someone who’s been accused of looking a decade+ younger than I actually am, so I can sympathize.

Speaking of sympathy – Yuri caved to pressure, binged ate before the competition while mourning his dog, then bombed his first trip to the Grand Prix final.  All in front of his idol.  Damnity damn damn.  Sorry, kid.

Is Cao Bin ever introduced on the show?  Something else I forgot, maybe?

Now, when I first saw this poor child crying in the bathroom, that’s when I knew the series was going to be much different from the light-hearted anime about figure skating I expected.  It got real deep real quick.

Yuri Plisetsky “The Russian Punk”.  Is this something the in-universe media refers to him as?  Because I only recall (JPN) Yuri saying it and only this once.

This screencap is during the scene where the journalist Marooka (sp?) is hassling Yuri about his future plans and instead of answering, Yuri can only stare at someone else’s puppy that reminds him of his dead Vicchan.

This baby is crying. Cry.ing.  This has been a tough day for poor Yuri, overall.

And he talks down to himself so much.  It’s all his fault he caved to pressure. He was an idiot to think he could meet his idol on the same playing field.   He’s come so far and still thinks so little of his accomplishments.

So, I understand this “one year later” is not really accurate, lol.  It’s just the new  year following the previous season.  I was confused initially about a number of soon-to-happen events before Yuri’s mental alter ego cleared it up.

So, per Minako’s voice actress, Yuri really is pronounced YOO-RI.  Cute.

Four Continents is… not a Grand Prix competition?  My figure skating knowledge is all rust now.

LOL, Minako does. Not. Play. And she wears a pinky ring.  My God, that death grip on poor Yuri.

It’s snowing outside the train station when Yuri and Minako leave.  So, it’s not unusual to snow in this region in March, but it’s highly unusual a month or so later. Man, hard to believe Yuri sat around for almost an entire month before the infamous video became viral.  More on that, later.

So, based on everyone’s interactions with Yuri so far, the only person who cares that he didn’t make it to the World Championships is him.  And he should care since he’s worked basically his entire life towards that goal.  But, he doesn’t appear to have let anyone down but himself, though he doesn’t act that way.

So, the fact that the family hot springs is named “Yu-topia”… did that influence Yuri’s name at all, I wonder?

Ha!  I wish I could have recorded the Japanese actor’s voice when he says this line.  He makes Yuri sound so done with it all, lol.  It’s the best.

Ok, so a number of very interesting and entertaining things happen in succession that I don’t feel like screencapping.  No hug between the littlest Katsuki and the senior Katsukis, even though he hasn’t been home in 5 years.  Fascinating. No doubt cultural (I’m guessing) but fascinating.  

Yuri’s mom basically calls Minako a drunk.  To her face. LOL.  But I imagine no one can get mad at this sweet lady.

Minako calls Yuri out on his weight gain in front of God and everybody.  Though, I think it’s more of a matter of his clothes no longer fitting due to said weight gain.  

But, his parents don’t care. Eat more pork cutlet bowls, Yuri! Welcome home!

Vicchan’s shrine is where they also store the unused treadmill.  Want to bet the only person to use it was Yuri?

Then older sis Mari-neechan appears with frosted tips.  I can appreciate a character that doesn’t beat around the bush (a trait she inherited from her mother, I imagine).  Welcome home, Yuri, but don’t sit on your ass.  Start thinking about your next move.    

Actually *loads headcanon* I suspect Mari doesn’t want Yuri to give up on skating.  The longer he stays at home, the more quitting becomes a possibility.

So, the Katsuki family hot springs resort (Inn?  Restaurant?) is the last one standing in town.  Very OT, but I wonder if the hot springs are still an attraction at all and are perhaps, government-owned?  Protected, used by tourists for a fee, perhaps?  I think about things like that.

Having never visited a hot spring, and based on the setting around Minako while she watches the World Championships on TV, it appears to be a place for people to come, soak, and lounge and grab a bite to eat if the mood strikes.  So, the Katsukis wait on people basically all day long.  Gotta be exhausting work.

Yuuuuuko!  The Madonna of Ice Castle Hasetsu!  Yuri’s crush on her is hella cute.

A slight segue to Yuri’s perceived attraction to Yuko and what it could imply about his sexual identity.  Per his labeling of Yuko as a “Madonna,” I figure Yuri considers Yuko untouchable, perhaps even “too good” for him.  Yuko, just like Victor, is “ideal”.  For someone as self-conscious as Yuri, comparing any romantic prospects against his two ideals was probably a convenient excuse not to get *too* close to anyone, male or female.  That being said, he didn’t pursue Yuko.  Alcohol loosened enough of Yuri’s inhibitions to eventually openly flirt with Victor, but this is still an important distinction, IMO.  He pursued one of his ideals (in more ways than one, even going so far as to leave home to in hopes of becoming Victor’s equal) and left the other one behind.

Yuri idealizes/d Yuko, and comes to love Victor.  He’s gay.  Bi, at the least.  

I don’t feel confident in applying any other labels, because I’m a straight.  Yuri could fall under any number of categories as long it they include, IMO, same-sex attraction.

In actuality, Yuko is “introduced” to the audience as Yuri’s straight love interest, but that doesn’t last long.  Cute and clever, show creators.  Cute. And . Clever.

Then we find out, via flashback, a) how adorable they all were when they were little kids and b) Yuko wanted to see Yuri compete against Victor.  Yuko has been a profound influence on Yuri.

So, Victor.  This guy is in a class by himself.  The animators obviously invested a lot of time in his movements.  You can see why he leads the field even at 27.

Also, the creators had the nerve, the audacity, the unmitigated gall to compose an original opera aria for a cartoon.  That was my next indicator that this was more than a cutesy figure skating anime.  

The song really is beautiful, too.  Probably my favorite in the soundtrack.

Who’s the last IRL skater to win 5 consecutive World Championships?  Michelle Kwan, maybe?  Who is Kwan’s male equivalent?  Back then, probably Alexei Yagudin?  May research. May not. 

Anyway, Victor is the Michelle Kwan of YOI-verse lol.

Hmm.  Here come the three brats.  Good God.  Poor Yuko and Takeshi lol.

So sweet to see Yuri’s childhood bully is his biggest fan now.

Sooo, Yuko’s triplets secretly record Yuri’s private performance, post it online (sometime before April 10, when Victor shows up), and things progress rather quickly from there...

Or do they?  It appeared to me that Yuri caught up with Yuko at the rink the same day he returned home.  Did he skate Victor’s routine for her that day, as well, or did it happen later?  Perhaps the triplets waited a few weeks to post the video, or else it took a few weeks to go viral.  Did Yuri turn off his phone for *weeks* to avoid the world?

Maybe he got home on March 30 and then the whole month of April just went to hell for him?  The possibilities...

LOL, I’m so SO mad the title of the video is “Katsuki Yuri TRIED to Skate Victor’s FS Program”. Those brats.

This might be the most unattractive Victor’s ever looked.  Severe close-ups aren’t flattering on anyone.  Welp, down the rabbit hole now.  

So, in the next scene it snows in April which doesn’t stop anyone from stripping naked to bathe in a hot spring, apparently.  Or it just doesn’t stop Victor.

#moneyshot

I like this ending theme much better.  It’s a head-bopper.  The Instagram reel kills me.  

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through this stream of consciousness!  No idea how long it may take me to get through the rest.  I tip my hat to those who regularly and passionately participate in fandom.  It’s a lot of work!

[silver-and-ivory]

I think the antifa perspective on liberals is something like this:

Liberals think that they’re defending freedom of speech, but really they’re turning a completely blind eye to the way that mob violence has been perpetuated by white suprematicists and Nazis. Instead, they react without context or thought to antifas, who they see as having “started it”.

Nazis want to attack liberal democracy- why aren’t liberals upset about that? If they really cared about liberal democracy, they’re be more concerned about Nazis.

I wonder if a lot of this is simply a factual dispute.

For one, a lot of antifa rhetoric and theory seems to be talking from a perspective of belief in Nazi/fascist/etc. prominence. The fascists have already attacked e.g. queer bloggers. The fascists have already destroyed the sanctity of institutions. The fascists have already eroded the liberal order of nonviolence. And so on.

This, then, provides the foundations of response: which is that, instead of futilely upholding that which has already been destroyed, antifa seeks to respond in kind. Antifa is not a cause of the destruction of the liberal order, but instead a result.

As for the other side, a lot of liberal rhetoric assumes that Nazis/fascists/etc. aren’t very powerful at all, and instead antifa is Really Powerful. The fascists are basically weird Internet dudes who are almost all ironic who you’ll never ever meet, and the government will step in and protect you if you’re ever attacked violently, which you rarely are.

I don’t really like “privilege” as a memeplex. But I do see why the liberal perspective would come off as galling and perhaps as coming from a place of relative ease.

To be more charitable to the liberal position, I guess that I’d say that they (we) think that antifa often creates its own enemies- that for example Trump was accused of being a fascist, but that he actually isn’t; or accusations of libertarians being fascists; or so on and so forth, and that antifa feels more scared than it has to be.

Then again, Type I errors trade off for Type II errors. And in a world filled with threats it makes sense to model most things as threats.

And if liberals are so concerned about antifa, why don’t I try to stop the destruction of the liberal order at its source- with fascists? It seems not only wrong, but also counterproductive and directly harmful to minorities to try to stop antifa, when really fascists are the source of the issue.

My thought-out position here is that people live in really different circumstances, and they shouldn’t apply things they know about their life to other people’s lives. Maybe “fuck all fascists and I’m nailing their heads to the wall” is a reasonable and incredibly liberating thing to say for some people. And simultaneously for other people it erodes the safety they need.

I think there’s a compromise position here, where antifa recognizes that not all fascists are violent, and says “fuck all violent fascists and I’m nailing their heads to the wall”. That’s still somewhat worrying for me, but at least it nominally agrees that violence is the thing that gets violence in return, rather than subscribing to an ideology of fascism.

Antifa refutations of the liberal position would ideally include things like “lmao fascists actually are??? already??? destroying our liberal democracy? and like antifas are literally just responding in kind to a taboo on violence that’s already been broken????? fuckng liberals”

Because that recognizes that, at least in principle, it would be nice to have a taboo on violence, which fascists are not only advocating against in ideology but which fascists are actively breaking. That’s a good, solid argument, and it’s not one I necessarily disagree with.

Note what I’ve specified here: I don’t think that ideology which hates liberal democracy is sufficient for retaliatory violence. Only the acting-out of that ideology is sufficient- actual, literal fascist violence.

Antifas should consider that Communism also has been formulated as inherently opposed to liberal democracy, as well as all of anarchism. Ideological threats to liberal democracy must not be met with bullets unless individual adherents or groups of adherents have already broken the violence taboo; and then the retaliation should be against those specific groups of adherents.

What I am still concerned about is that the weirdness of online spaces means that people who live in situations where there aren’t many fascists will end up feeling really scared of fascists. Or that sensationalistic claims - like “fascists took the White House” - will make people think they’re surrounded by violent fascists, whereas really America elected a (horrible, racist, xenophobic, murderous) president who is not a fascist.

Moreover, I’m really worried that the cure will be worse than the disease- that antifa doesn’t seem to recognize the force it’s unleashed.

What I see as the culmination of antifa is the establishment of masked vigilantes who are Defending Liberty and that kind of thing.

And that’s not necessarily bad! I’m onboard in principle with people stepping up to form their own policing organizations when the government abdicates or proves untrustworthy in its duty to serve and protect them.

But let’s be clear: this establishes a quasi-governmental police force. This means that they must be accountable to the people and they must have protections against violating people’s rights.

Like, the American criminal justice system is shit, because it’s racist. It would be even more shit if we didn’t have 1) the right to an attorney 2) jury trials of our peers 3) a code of laws that’s well-known with consistent penalties 4) (at least nominal) protections against unreasonable search and seizure 5) presumption of innocence, 6) the Miranda rights, 7) protections against self-incrimination, and 8) protections against cruel and unusual punishment. That’s clearly not enough because there are still abuses by the government; and these of course aren’t applied equally to everyone.

But the point here is that when you’re taking control of policing, it’s really important that you have structures in place that guarantee fair trials, good attorney representation, non-arbitrary penalties, and accountability to citizens.

Masked vigilante violence of the sort that Internet antifa seems to want doesn’t, as far as I can tell, have any of these restrictions.

Instead, some Internet antifas are very trigger happy with the fascist accusations. As I’ve explained before, these accusations spread not only from the accused person, but also to the accused person’s defenders. Do you see why this would worry me, in light of the right to attorney?

The obvious comparison here is McCarthyism. I want to be absolutely clear that I don’t think Communists are comparable to fascists, or that antifas are comparable to anti-Communists. That’s not the point. The point is the patterns.

McCarthy saw Communists everywhere, and all Communists were seen as equally bad. The presumption of innocence was ignored. People’s political and personal histories were investigated, and if they didn’t submit to investigation they were fired.

Spurious evidence led to more and more convictions. Anyone who tried to defend Communists was branded as a Communist as well. All measures, including illegal ones, were deemed acceptable to root out the Communist threat.

This is bad because not all Communists are violent, and because Communism ought to be a viable political ideology. Communists should be able to say what they want even if it is treasonous and even if it involves things like guillotining the bourgeois. (There are somewhat complicated laws surrounding that, but suffice it to say that you are allowed to advocate for people’s deaths as long as it isn’t direct incitement to violence.)

It is also bad because it means that even non-Communists could be accused of being Communists, and that would make them Indefensible. In fact, this structure makes Communists Indefensible, which is bad.

This obviously impedes fair trials and the right to attorney.

It is also bad because all actions, no matter how evil or illegal, were justified against suspected Communists. This is how America ended up with the My Lai massacre and committing evil acts towards Martin Luther King Jr. and the other civil rights activists. This is how the PATRIOT Act was passed.

— Because this is what happened with terrorists as well. The threat terrorism posed against America was severely overestimated, nations that were accused of terrorism or terrorist collaboration were attacked; and anyone who was accused of terrorism could be detained and therefore tortured.

The police and surveillance state became larger and anyone who disagreed with Bush was labelled a terrorist sympathizer. All terrorists were seen as violent; they were preemptively attacked to Protect America.

Again, terrorists =/= fascists and Bush =/= antifa. Look at the patterns. The same dynamics apply to antifa. The same dynamics apply to any government.

Despite what you might think of rationalists, Eliezer Yudkowsky has written against the Bush administration’s views on and treatment of accused terrorists here:

Nonetheless, I did realize immediately that everyone everywhere would be saying how awful, how terrible this event was; and that no one would dare to be the voice of restraint, of proportionate response.  Initially, on 9/11, it was thought that six thousand people had died.  Any politician who'd said "6000 deaths is 1/8 the annual US casualties from automobile accidents," would have been asked to resign the same hour.

No, 9/11 wasn't a good day.  But if everyone gets brownie points for emphasizing how much it hurts, and no one dares urge restraint in how hard to hit back, then the reaction will be greater than the appropriate level, whatever the appropriate level may be.

This is the even darker mirror of the happy death spiral—the spiral of hate.  Anyone who attacks the Enemy is a patriot; and whoever tries to dissect even a single negative claim about the Enemy is a traitor.  But just as the vast majority of all complex statements are untrue, the vast majority of negative things you can say about anyone, even the worst person in the world, are untrue.

When the defense force contains thousands of aircraft and hundreds of thousands of heavily armed soldiers, one ought to consider that the immune system itself is capable of wreaking more damage than 19 guys and four nonmilitary airplanes.  The US spent billions of dollars and thousands of soldiers' lives shooting off its own foot more effectively than any terrorist group could dream.

If the USA had completely ignored the 9/11 attack—just shrugged and rebuilt the building—it would have been better than the real course of history.  But that wasn't a political option.  Even if anyone privately guessed that the immune response would be more damaging than the disease, American politicians had no career-preserving choice but to walk straight into al Qaeda's trap.  Whoever argues for a greater response is a patriot.  Whoever dissects a patriotic claim is a traitor.

This is why I make a point of trying to defend accused fascists: because I know that no one else will, and because if there’s no devil’s advocate how will we check our own power?

Right now might be a good time to note that McCarthyism also targeted fascists:

3. The Loyalty Review Board shall currently be furnished by the Department of Justice the name of each foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons which the Attorney General, after appropriate investigation and determination, designates as totalitarian, fascist, communist or subversive, or as having adopted a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny others their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means.

You might say that antifa isn’t nearly so powerful as the American government. And you’re right.

But if you don’t have checks on your power before you come into it- and that is the goal, right? Becoming powerful? - then when will you ever have them? If your movement doesn’t encode the idea “I might hurt someone innocent” -

or “I might go overboard fighting fascism and I don’t want to violate the civil liberties of fascists”

or “Not all fascists are inherently violent, and certainly not all accused fascists” 

or “People who defend accused fascists and doubt accusations of fascism aren’t necessarily my enemies”

— if you don’t have a movement that recognizes the damages it might be able to do, then all of a sudden you’ll find that it’s become powerful. And now you have a lot of people willing to accuse anyone of being a fascist, to slander the accused with all kinds of evil deeds, and then accusing anyone who defends the accused of being a fascist too.

I don’t want Internet antifa to be powerful, because I’m worried that it doesn’t recognize the very real harms that it could do. If Internet antifas seemed to recognize that their actions and ideology can hurt others, and they had plans for establishing limitations on their own power, then God, I would support antifa.

But I can’t in good conscience. Not right now.

[dunt-luz-blog]

How To Win Friends and Influence People

I quote it from Dale Carnegie’s book entitled “How To Win Friends and Influence People” Hope it works for you all.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. Human nature does not like to admit fault. When people are criticized or humiliated, they rarely respond well and will often become defensive and resent their critic. To handle people well, we must never criticize, condemn or complain because it will never result in the behavior we desire.

Give honest and sincere appreciation. Appreciation is one of the most powerful tools in the world. People will rarely work at their maximum potential under criticism, but honest appreciation brings out their best. Appreciation, though, is not simple flattery, it must be sincere, meaningful and with love.

Arouse in the other person an eager want. To get what we want from another person, we must forget our own perspective and begin to see things from the point of view of others. When we can combine our desires with their wants, they become eager to work with us and we can mutually achieve our objectives.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

Become genuinely interested in other people. "You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you."[4] The only way to make quality, lasting friendships is to learn to be genuinely interested in them and their interests.

Smile. Happiness does not depend on outside circumstances, but rather on inward attitudes. Smiles are free to give and have an amazing ability to make others feel wonderful. Smile in everything that you do.

Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. "The average person is more interested in their own name than in all the other names in the world put together."[5] People love their names so much that they will often donate large amounts of money just to have a building named after themselves. We can make people feel extremely valued and important by remembering their name.

Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. The easiest way to become a good conversationalist is to become a good listener. To be a good listener, we must actually care about what people have to say. Many times people don't want an entertaining conversation partner; they just want someone who will listen to them.

Talk in terms of the other person's interest. The royal road to a person's heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. If we talk to people about what they are interested in, they will feel valued and value us in return.

Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. The golden rule is to treat other people how we would like to be treated. We love to feel important and so does everyone else. People will talk to us for hours if we allow them to talk about themselves. If we can make people feel important in a sincere and appreciative way, then we will win all the friends we could ever dream of.

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. Whenever we argue with someone, no matter if we win or lose the argument, we still lose. The other person will either feel humiliated or strengthened and will only seek to bolster their own position. We must try to avoid arguments whenever we can.

Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say "You're wrong." We must never tell people flat out that they are wrong. It will only serve to offend them and insult their pride. No one likes to be humiliated, we must not be so blunt.

If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Whenever we are wrong we should admit it immediately. When we fight we never get enough, but by yielding we often get more than we expected. When we admit that we are wrong people trust us and begin to sympathize with our way of thinking.

Begin in a friendly way. "A drop of honey can catch more flies than a gallon of gall."[6] If we begin our interactions with others in a friendly way, people will be more receptive. Even if we are greatly upset, we must be friendly to influence people to our way of thinking.

Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes. Do not begin by emphasizing the aspects in which we and the other person differ. Begin by emphasizing and continue emphasizing the things on which we agree. People must be started in the affirmative direction and they will often follow readily. Never tell someone they are wrong, but rather lead them where we would like them to go with questions that they will answer "yes" to.

Let the other person do a great deal of the talking. People do not like listening to us boast, they enjoy doing the talking themselves. Let them rationalize and talk about the idea, because it will taste much sweeter to them in their own mouth.

Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers. People inherently like ideas they come to on their own better than those that are handed to them on a platter. Ideas can best be carried out by allowing others to think they arrived at it themselves.

Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. Other people may often be wrong, but we cannot condemn them. We must seek to understand them. Success in dealing with people requires a sympathetic grasp of the other person's viewpoint.

Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires. People are hungering for sympathy. They want us to recognize all that they desire and feel. If we can sympathize with others, they will appreciate our side as well and will often come around to our way of thinking.

Appeal to the nobler motives. Everyone likes to be glorious in their own eyes. People believe that they do things for noble and morally upright reasons. If we can appeal to others' noble motives we can successfully convince them to follow our ideas.

Dramatize your ideas. In this fast paced world, simply stating a truth isn't enough. The truth must be made vivid, interesting, and dramatic. Television has been doing it for years. Sometimes ideas are not enough and we must dramatize them.

Throw down a challenge. The thing that most motivates people is the game. Everyone desires to excel and prove their worth. If we want someone to do something, we must give them a challenge and they will often rise to meet it.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

Begin with praise and honest appreciation. People will do things begrudgingly for criticism and an iron-fisted leader, but they will work wonders when they are praised and appreciated.

Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly. No one likes to make mistakes, especially in front of others. Scolding and blaming only serves to humiliate. If we subtly and indirectly show people mistakes, they will appreciate us and be more likely to improve.

Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. When something goes wrong, taking responsibility can help win others to your side. People do not like to shoulder all the blame and taking credit for mistakes helps to remove the sting from our critiques of others.

Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. No one likes to take orders. If we offer suggestions, rather than orders, it will boost others confidence and allow them to learn quickly from their mistakes.

Let the other person save face. Nothing diminishes the dignity of a man quite like an insult to his pride. If we don't condemn our employees in front of others and allow them to save face, they will be motivated to do better in the future and confident that they can.

Praise every improvement. People love to receive praise and admiration. If we truly want someone to improve at something, we must praise their every advance. "Abilities wither under criticism, they blossom under encouragement."[7]

Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. If we give people a great reputation to live up to, they will desire to embody the characteristics with which we have described them. People will work with vigor and confidence if they believe they can be better.

Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct. If a desired outcome seems like a momentous task, people will give up and lose heart. But if a fault seems easy to correct, they will readily jump at the opportunity to improve. If we frame objectives as small and easy improvements, we will see dramatic increases in desire and success in our employees.

Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. People will most often respond well when they desire to do the behavior put forth. If we want to influence people and become effective leaders, we must learn to frame our desires in terms of others' desires.

[thesinglesjukebox]

EMINEM - DARKNESS

[2.20]

We’ve come to talk about Em again...

Alfred Soto: Good lord -- an Eminem single called "Darkness," surprised yet? The Simon and Garfunkel interpolation and sound effects come off as cheap contexualizing for the sake of a bait-and-switch in which Em unmasks himself as Stephen Paddock. With critics paying renewed attention to the complexity of his flow, it's also worth stressing that ability tethered to self-pity deserves scorn. [4]

Brad Shoup: I swear to Christ I saw the title and knew he was gonna interpolate Simon and Garfunkel. But I also knew he and Royce were making their own "Six Feet Deep," and I was way off. Turns out it's a creative-writing assignment designed to keep the grader's pen dangling forever. What do you do with something detailed so painstakingly and painfully? The parallels Em draws are clever enough linguistically. (Has any song ever flattered Genius annotators more?) But the only ones that feel legit involve substance abuse. This is a megalomaniacal idea presented bashfully -- I should be grateful he isn't trying to do voice acting -- and framed thoughtlessly. The gunshots and screams are ghoulish enough without considering how the rest of his catalog uses them as cartoon gags. A fantastically bad idea that I will be thinking about for at least as long as the song's excruciating runtime. [5]

Kylo Nocom: Em forces the audience to endure his balladry, only to reveal that they were, like, empathizing with the Las Vegas shooter the entire time! The set-up is... intriguing (to call it "well-executed" feels like making another lame pun he'd squeeze in) yet it still sucks in many ways that don't even require public moral outcry: the sound effects spoil the twist way too early, his singing burps out remnants of emo rap, the beat samples fucking Simon & Garfunkel, and I still hate the sound of this guy's voice doing anything. To write any more on this feels like losing a game that Eminem will win -- a point he makes annoyingly often and remains true. But it's a shame that something meant to be poignant from the guy comes out as weak shock humor. [3]

Julian Axelrod: In theory, I'm not mad that Eminem is still trying to pivot to Social Commentary Anthems. I guess I'd rather hear him use his platform to wrestle with knotty issues than peddle stale punchlines about killing Honey Boo Boo or whatever. But what's really frustrating is Eminem's refusal to drop his gimmicks when it matters. You can't make a song about real life survivors and reference Saturday Night Fever. You can't condemn gun violence at festivals and condemn festival-goers concerned about gun violence. And regardless of the subject matter, you cannot punctuate a belabored alcohol-as-gun metaphor by muttering "Double entendre" like a sadistic, self-satisfied SparkNotes. That's the worst part: No one outside of Eminem's stanbase will be swayed by this, and very few within it will either. When will his reign of terror end? When no one cares. [0]

Isabel Cole: Oh, fuck you: for being tacky enough to open a limp-pulsing track called "Darkness" with a phrase that's been memed into meaninglessness and then marrying it to our particular American plague so that I feel irrationally bad about dismissing it with a flippant joke. But, fine, Eminem has put on his (boring, ill-fitting) big boy clothes, so let's do this. Being a grown-up, like being an artist, means being accountable for your choices, beginning with not just the choice to rap from the perspective of a mass shooter (although it's hard to imagine a level of artistic merit or political efficacy that would justify that decision), but specifically the choice of this shooter, this tragedy. It's easy to imagine why this particular incident would call to Eminem, from the infamy of the body count to the anxiety he must feel about the possibility of a similar event striking one of his own audiences. In choosing a mass murderer who remains so enigmatic, Eminem gets to dwell in the alleged mystery of violence, emphasizing its senselessness even to those who commit it. But it's more than the scale that makes that massacre unusual (although the scale also bears on the irresponsibility of his selection: come on, dude, how can you profess concern and not see yourself laying the groundwork for some other asshole to think "if I kill enough people someone famous will write a song about me?"); the perpetrator had no known history of domestic violence, but the majority of such men do. You can't talk about American violence without talking about American misogyny, and selecting a narrative that enables you to avoid the connection between the two marks you as someone with nothing to contribute to the conversation; implicitly generalizing this genderless narrative by layering news audio clips of shooting after shooting brings it from stupid to evil, emphasizing the pervasive danger of American culture now that men are dying too. This is of course particularly galling coming from goddamn Eminem, who has profited so handsomely from the commodification of violence against women. Galling partly because it retroactively dims whatever insights on the topic he may have laid claim to: rather than the inscrutable, almost mystical lost soul portrayed here, most of these men are something more like the narrator of "Love the Way You Lie" plus a couple years on the wrong parts of Reddit. He could have chosen to bridge that gap for his long-time listeners, to make the connection between hating the bitch who ruined your life and being self-centered enough to want to watch the world burn, but he didn't. Making me wonder what exactly he thought he was rapping about all those years, if he finds this form of violence so novel. [0]

Will Rivitz: I see Lin-Manuel's done away with his orchestra's string section. [2]

Andy Hutchins: The distance between "Hi, kids! Do you like violence? / Wanna see me stick nine-inch nails through each one of my eyelids?" and a three-verse double entendre that doesn't exactly strain itself to not sympathize with one of history's most nefarious mass murderers is not as far as one should probably walk in 20 years of life. A less clever rapper would not have found as many ways firearms buttress our vernacular; a cleverer one might have made this song about that instead of a five-minute trigger warning. A wiser one wouldn't have attempted this at all: Noble though the aim may be, there is no target audience here. [3]

Will Adams: Eminem stepping into the mind of a mass shooter is not surprising. Punctuating said narrative with in media res sound effects (shower curtains! pill bottles! loading clips! screams!), turning "The Sound of Silence" into a Talkboy sample, and making this shit five and a half minutes long? That takes extra chutzpah. [2]

Katherine St Asaph: I suspect the efforts to prevent copycat shootings were doomed ages ago, if not after Columbine then definitely after Rodger. Even if every mass shooter permanently closed off his chosen inspiration to all future comers, there are still enough sprees strewn throughout history -- hell, just through this millennium -- to produce years of trauma; and even if every media outlet declined to report shooters' names or manifestos, all of that would still circulate on chans and Discords (where they probably originated anyway) that any given proto-shooter is far more likely to read than the Associated Press, and infinitely more likely to trust. It's a failure of imagination: far easier to high-mindedly decline to acknowledge shootings than to reckon with them, to dissect and understand what makes them happen and more importantly what doesn't, and thus learn how to stop them. As a certain folk duo sang, silence like a cancer grows -- which brings us to Eminem's "Sound of Silence"-sampling, presumably cautionary foray into the Vegas shooter's mind. If your average caustic millennial isn't reading the mainstream news, he's definitely not listening to Eminem in 2020, and yet "Darkness" crumples under the burden of needing to not inspire anyone. The rapping is low-energy, the rhymes distractingly stiff or goofy -- trigger/convictions, booze/snooze -- the flow lumbering and often just bad. Where Disturbed heightened "The Sound of Silence" to Game of Thrones grandeur, Em and Royce -- perhaps building on a popular mashup -- desiccates it. The arrangement is the midpoint of Alex da Kid and "Teardrop": a smothering quicksand, meant to drag listeners into inertia and keep them there. (For all the gunshots-and-cussing masculinity of this, the piano loop reminds me most of Sarah Brightman's cover of "Scarborough Fair": delicately hypnotic.) Eminem conveys neither Slim Shady's glee nor "Love the Way You Lie"'s visceral anger, nor much but a morose slog, but give him this: It is mostly impossible to imagine someone hearing "Darkness" and buying a gun. Mostly. Why, if you're aiming not to inspire, would you musically accompany the killing-spree verse by finally moving past line two of "The Sound of Silence," to where the melody gratifyingly blooms upward? The vodka bottles in the video -- the lyrics' metaphorical gun, shown in appealing product-placement close-up -- are thankfully fake prop brands -- but then why do the close-ups at all? Most tellingly, Eminem chooses one of the few shooters with no manifesto to disseminate and few known motivations. Whether that's out of a desire to avoid spreading the truly hateful shit (which would be a recent development), to avoid the issue in general, or just to play the guy with the biggest body count, it means he gets away with lines like "you'll never find a motive, truth is I have no idea" instead of engaging with the specific kind of nihilism shooters are all too happy to tell you about -- a nihilism that is, in some part, his creation. When will this end? When enough people care what "this" is. Begrudging point for the part where, after Eminem says "magazines," the video cuts to actual magazines, like the glossy paper kind: the best trolling he's done in years, specifically of the sort of gunfuckers who were already halfway through a comment about him saying "clips." I suppose it's not the bleakest way he's made people laugh. [3]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: At one point Eminem had the capacity to make jokes. He's way funnier here, his faux-double entendres and sampha-soundalike Simon and Garfunkel interpolation adding up to something so maudlin and obvious that it's almost impossible to listen to as serious political rap. It's not even disgusting. [0]

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