#and what society does to teenage girls. the 'girls are natural leaders' theory is so weak compared to what is shown on screen

[cannotescape]

Gretchen's experiment is unsociological, actually

I'll try to explain to the best of my ability why Gretchen's experiment feels so off. Spoilers: it's because it's dumb af and could never have happened in real life. Let's begin!

Before anything, I would like to state that yeah, I'm aware that Gretchen's experiment is meant to be flawed because she's a villain, and the show wants to drive the point home. Were there subtler ways to do it without making her completely idiotic? Maybe. But I would have accepted it if the show hadn't try to pass this experiment as sociological, when it just... isn't.

Why the experiment couldn't have happened in real life:

- the funding: it's well known: getting grants to fund your research project is hell, especially in humanities or social science, where private investors can't make money on your results lol. So Gretchen being able to conduct not one, but probably two experiments on an island? excuse me while I laugh

ok to be fair, the funding is kinda explained: she obviously managed to convince private investors (but even that isn't really explained yet like... what did she promise them? that the results would be good for them? that they could use the results for their own interest? <== all of these are unsociological. you can't predict the results and absolutely can't convince someone of what results you're gonna get before the experiment even starts wtf).

- the ethics: like we all know this shit isn't legal anyway, but let's pretend it is for a minute. Is it ethical? the answer couldn't be more obvious. Why is it important in the sociological field though? Ethics in science has been an ongoing issue: how to treat the test subjects obviously, but also how people could use the results your research produces (hi Oppenheimer!). Among social science and humanities disciplines, sociological studies (and psychological studies) are more likely to be unethical, because you're directly studying humans and human interactions.

More and more ethical committees are created in universities and you can be sure that Gretchen's experiment wouldn't have been approved (is it why she's been fired in the first place?). Actually, having Gretchen be independant from any university kinda helps to remove the ethical question from the equation: she doesn't have to be approved by her peers ==> she can do all the unethical shit she wants and hurts young girls. great.

That being said, and because sociological studies are at risk of being unethical, we learn pretty early on how to make our studies ethical. the first rule being: you have to inform the participants in the study that they're being studied lol. you can't just go behind their back and do everything you want. And yeah, it can make them more suspicious and their behavior may change, but if you're a good sociologist, this is something you can analyze! First rule of sociology: everything is worth noticing. And after a while (or if your poll has a lot of respondents), the discrepencies disappear anyway. Also a very important thing: as a researcher, you're not here to help people or make them feel better (or worse for that matter), you're here to observe and draw conclusions. You have to try and have as little influence on the experiment as possible.

obviously, Gretchen failed all those rules. The "they're on their own" speech doesn't hold up because she influenced the study from the start by choosing the girls, which leads us to...

- the sample: this is probably the dumbest thing in the experiment lmao. Because... what is Gretchen trying to prove? that women are essentially better rulers than men or can create a better society if they're left by themselves (feel free to correct me on this one. my brain mysteriously shut down each time Gretchen started to talk). For one, removing girls from a patriarchal society won't make them forget what's been ingrained in them for years and how society has built them to begin with. As teenage girls, the unsinkable 8 have already suffered from primary (their family) AND secondary socialization (school, friends etc.) Their behavior, personality and aspiration in life have been altered by society, and we actually see it in the show! Removing them now and acting like what they're doing is in no way linked to the way society shaped them is???? astounding.

Side note but a scientifically better (but even more horrific) experiment would have been a group of girls, separated from the rest of society at birth, with the unsinkable 8 as a group control.

Even more ridiculous than that: Gretchen is trying to prove this... with 8 american girls... who obviously haven't been chosen at random... like... there's no way a real sociologist would do this. We learn in first year that we need to choose our analysis tools and our samples based on what we want to analyze. You want to analyze how patriarchy affect women and want to universalize your result? You can't choose qualitative tools, you'll have to use quantitative analysis lmao. And with a big fucking sample at that, a sample chosen randomly to display sub-groups if you want it to be representative. I'm talking thousands of people if it's only US centric. 8 fucking girls lol, give me a break.

To be fair, qualitative and quantitative works often complete each other, but Gretchen never mentions any quantitative analysis so I will take this as just another proof of her incompetence.

- Gretchen's theory: her theory itself is unsociological. It sounds a lot like essentialism which is... the opposite of sociology. Sociologists try to find social explanations (and not psychological or biophysical reasons) to an event or a behavior.

As stated, sociologists rarely try to prove things. They observe a phenomenon and ask themselves what could have caused it. One of the first things to do before a study is actually listing all the biases you could have about the subject (Durkheim's "prénotions") and letting them go or at least be aware of them so it won't hinder the results you could potentially find. The observation must be as impartial and non-judgemental as possible. In the show, Gretchen's prénotions are in full play: we live in a patriarchal society (this one is true, but you have to question it all the same), and women are better leaders than men. ==> unsociological

Again, I would have found the experiment part annoying but wouldn't have complained too much if the writers hadn't made it clear that they were trying to portray a sociological experiment lol. It was confirmed in an interview and the "field notes" are pretty telling. Actually, the field notes are a better sociological study than Gretchen's experiment, how sad. Beyond that, the method used by the characters in the show is also inspired by the sociological method:

- (so called) passive observation with the team watching and monitoring the girls from afar (but the team is still interfering so...)

- direct participative observation in Jeanette's case: you observe and take field notes while being immersed in the subjects' environement. Nora is doing this too actually: she's writing clear social facts in her notebook. "No one's cried for a while. No one even seems that afraid anymore. Still, it's been healing for some." This is sociological

- semi structured interviews in the bunker. They're probably the most sociological part of the experiment tbh. Ironic considering Faber is a psychologist but whatever. Toni's interview is the most representative of what a semi structured sociological interview looks like: the non-judgemental questions ("Why does seeing that make you smile?"), the follow-ups when the answer is unclear or could be more precise ("I'm wondering if you can expand on "cocktease"?"), the specific questions on what a subject thinks of a specific event and why they're thinking it in the first place without making assumptions ("Were any of you alarmed by Leah's behavior?"). It doesn't last long. When Toni answers evasively and doesn't cooperate, Faber drops the sociology charade: "It sounds to me like it was a pretty unsettling loss of control" lololol. neutrality who? You can also point out that something the subject said is at odds with something usually accepted, to better understand how they justify it (like when Faber says that Toni's "alone is safer" is not "the conventional wisdom"). All of this is sociological. Too bad the experiment is not. This interview is also a far cry from what Faber is doing to Leah in episode 6 (and there's 0 value to the "data" he pulled actually, sorry Gretchen).

- the fucking control group. It is a sociological tool. I know for a fact it won't be used well, for the same reasons the sample was a joke.

I don't know, I find it frustrating that the show is clearly trying to show Gretchen's experiment as flawed, while keeping a veneer of scientificity to hide behind. Gretchen is not, and could never be a sociologist,.

[missmarrypotter]

Ok my dear @you-gonna-break-my-heart-covey , i just finished the society and there is sooooo much to process. You probably did not expect this whe you said you were interested in my opinion but .. sorry i had to get my thoughts off my chest.

First things first - this show is complex and i like that.

Did anything happen like i wanted and expected it!? No. Hell no.

My thought to on the characters..

Allie. I do not partucularly like her - but i liked the way she handled things. She never wanted that kind of power but she did the best she could for a teenager!! She tried to be fair. She tried to be objectively. She did what she thought was best for everyone and not just for her and her friends. She even put Will aside for her duty. She loved and supported Cassandra even though she was dissapointed by her and like she said herself had always been in her shadow. I respect that.

Will. I really like him. He is quiet, does think before he talks and acts. He is so loyal and thoughtful. I do not really have any bad thoughts about him. Being torn between two people is a normal thing to happen. So no shame in that.

Kelly. At first i did not really like her. But when she left Harry she became such a great person. I love how caring she is. She even cares for Harry who clearly is some spoiled asshole. She did everything for everyone. She safed lifes! She noticed Beccas "condition". She is such a strong girl and an Angel.!

Harry. I hate him. He did not get shit about their situation and still thought he was something better. Because of what!? Because of the money his parents had!? Like i said, for me he is just some spoiled fuck. He never achieved anything on his own and clearly he's not planing on it. He is just weak. But to be fair he was quiet nice to Allie sometimes.

Campbell. You can hate me for that but .. i actually did not hate him. There are people there who made terrible decisiouns while having ectual feelings and empathy. He doesn't. I don't know how it is to be like him so i'm not in the place to judge him and his actions. Sure for a normal thinking and feeling person what he does is terrible and i'm so sorry for all the people he makes suffer but he does not know it better. Sometimes i think he is just bored and curious how people arw going to react like the time he almost drowned Elle. And sometimes i think he actually means well but he is just not able to do it right because he just can't be like a normal person. Ofcourse he knows somethings he does are not right because his parents told him but he does not know why because he just does not feel this way.

Elle. First i thought she was kind of boring. But god help me she is so strong. Yes she tried to kill Campbell and then herself but getting your butt uo to do something is some hardcore shit. I think she sometimes even feels sorry for Campbell. And i totally love her for trying to keep the others safe even though they weren't even friends in school. She is really strong and dealing with Camp just to safe others and trying to stop him makes her a real fighter. You go girl. You can do it.

Gwen. I hated her for being kind of a bitch and telling her girlfriends she met someone new while still being with Clark. And the relationship faking thing .. but i liked that she went with Grizz to find land. And i even kind of like her reaction to him coming out. It was natural and she handled it pretty good. She has two faces - one i like and the one that annoyes me so fucking much.

Jason. He's not the brightest but i really liked him. He treated his friends and his girlfriend really good in my opinion. He was loyal to Allie and tried to do his best. And even after he joined Harry and Camp to bring down Allie .. i hates that but i think he is still a good person. Easy to manupulate but yeah ..

Clark. Same as Jason. Not bright but actually a nice guy who treated his girlfiend and friends good. Even though he said that about Grizz in episode 10.. but i forgive him. He did his job well. Like Jason sadly easy to manipulate but still not a bad person in heart . And he's a low key movie nerd - which i find rather cute.

Helena. Like Elle she bored me but became one of my faves. She was strict i what she believed and i respect that with all my heart. She's really good to Luke and so faithful. When Allie made her defend Dewey, she was so good. She was so neutral and did everything a Lawyer should do. She surprised me in so many ways. I love how quiet and straight she is. She is the most grown up in my opinion

Luke. A really good boyfriend and friend. He is loyal and soft, i like that. I love how patient he is. Not much guys would have waited for their girlfriend to be ready to sleep with them so long. AND THE WAY HE GAVE HER THAT RING WAS GOLDEN. Well the decision to help Harry, Lexie and Camp.. debatable. Not a good one but actually maybe better than what could have happened to him if he denied.

Lexie. No. Just no. I don't like her. I get that what Jason and Clark did to her was horrible for her. But who the fuck does she think she is to think she could do anything better than Allie!? I think She recognized that it was a shitty idea but well .. we will see how she manages her self made debacle

Grizz. Babyboy is my light. I love his friendship with the guys - he clearly is the smart one but he still does not make his friends feel dump. He is such a great friend and support. He thinks before he acts. He is rather quiet. He is friendly. He does not judge and he is willing to give and not just take. He knows how important it is that they can feed themselves by farming and he does have some balls to lead the expedition after what happened the last time. He is so precious.

Sam. He is so pure. He tries to do everything right. He grew up with Campbell and he still turned out perfect. And isn't he the best friend ever!? He puts Beccs wellbeeing and happiness before his even though it had not so nice consequences for him. I love him so much.

Bean. This girls is smart, funny, beautiful and just so awesome. Nothing more to say. Respect girl.

Gordie. He is such a pleasant person. He is smart and uses his knowlege helping wherever he can. I really like him, lovable fella.

Cassandra. I did not like or hate her. She was a good leader in my opinion. She was the most grown up athe the time she was still alive. She startes something great that sadly not everyone apriciared ..

Jessica. Just a minor character but when she showed up to the meating in her prom dress .. damn girl you are awesome! I like her!

Becca. I really respect her for beeing such a good friend to Sam and making the best out of a situation that would have been the most horrible thing for me. She is brave and smart. I really love her even though i think it's not fair to keep the fathers baby to herself. I mean .. Sam is her best friend, does she really think he would judge her!? I don't even think he would if itbis Campbell but everybody makes mistakes now and then.

Erika. She seems sweet and soft. She does not say much but i liked the few words she said and she seems to be a good girlfriend.

Looooong story short. I love the societ. I kept me interested and that's not easy.

The theory that they are all dead .. who knows!? Maybe. Maybe not.

A memorial wall seems kinda normal after not seei g your kids for month. Hard to not think they are all dead. Abd .. the bus driver .. was obvious. Kinda bugged me that they just realized him in the last episode but hey.. the had a society to build.! Or better drivers he couldn't have habdled all buses alone.

I have major maze runner feels!

I'm so happy Charly is alive!

Uhgh i'm so hyped i need a season 2 .. NOW 😭😭

[worryinglyinnocent]

My Thoughts on Star Wars Episode VIII

Opinions, observations on The Last Jedi and predictions for episode 9 below the cut. Naturally there are spoilers ahead.

Before I start, please be aware that whilst this post is not at all focussed on shipping, there are anti-reylo sentiments at a couple of points and the post is generally anti-Kylo. 

So, I saw Star Wars last night. Before we went, my friend and I were discussing some of the things we had predicted, or had seen predicted online, that would happen in this episode, our main theories being:

Kylo and Rey would swap places, with Rey being seduced by the dark side and Kylo moving back towards the light. It nearly happened and I’m incredibly relieved it didn’t.

Reveal of Rey’s parents as Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, with Kylo having killed Mara Jade in the massacre at the Skywalker training temple, and Luke having rescued Rey and taken her to Jakku for her own protection. I don’t know anything about the expanded Star Wars universe so I leave this one in Miran’s hands. 

Since neither of these actually came to pass, I’ll move on quickly to my thoughts on the film. 

I think this film can be summed up thus: “The Resistance spends 2.75 hours running away from the First Order in the universe’s slowest space chase.”

OH MY GOD THIS HAS TO BE THE LONGEST FILM I’VE EVER SEEN. Seriously the film was great but it was just too long. Every time I thought that they were coming to a logical ending point and thought I could foresee an ending taking shape, they tacked on another climax point. This film could have ended sensibly five times before it actually did. 

Five possible alternate ending points were:

Finn and Rose’s mission to turn off the tracking string is successful with various other mishaps along the way; Poe has to perform incredible feats of flight to make sure they get back on the resistance ship before it jumps to light speed and leaves them behind, as well as the three of them getting Rey from Snoke’s ship and getting her back as well. 

Everything proceeds as with the film, but the evacuation to the mine planet is done successfully and the film ends with them in hiding on the mine planet. 

Everything proceeds with the film as expected until the sonic boom cannon thing makes an appearance; I was honestly expecting Rose to shove Finn’s speeder out of the way and take the suicidal run to blow up the cannon herself. I didn’t want her to because I like Rose and want to see her in future films, but considering she’d already lost everything, it seemed like it was going that way. 

Resistance allies arrive and deal with First Order ground troops either before or after the cannon fires.

End on a cliffhanger with Luke appearing in the base and/or going out to meet Kylo. 

It just felt that every time they could have ended the film, they decided to add more on. 

Other observations:

 - ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS (well most of them) COULD HAVE BEEN SOLVED IF POE AND HOLDO HAD JUST FUCKING TALKED TO EACH OTHER!!!!! If they had actually talked to each other about their plans, then everything would have been solved. 

 - I loved how anticlimactic and ignominious Snoke’s death was. 

 - I am incredibly, incredibly glad that they decided to completely subvert Kylo’s redemption arc and not fall into the trope of ‘pretty white girl’s tender affection is what redeems problematic white boy’. They came so close and I was there with head in hands fully expecting it to go that way, but they didn’t. 

 - I almost feel sorry for Hux in that his leader is now basically a whiny teenager, only this whiny teenager has the ability to force-choke him whenever he gets angry. 

 - Does Kylo even have a plan moving forward? His only plan seems to be ‘wipe out the resistance’, but if he doesn’t have a plan for the resistance to resist... What’s the point?

 - Finn v. Phasma = two thumbs up from me. One of the best fights of the film. 

 - The entire thing with the codebreaker just jarred me. Maz told them to find the guy with the red buttonhole. They found the guy, and randomly decided to go off with another guy whom they had no idea who he was and who had not been vouched for by Maz instead. Sure, he got them out of jail, but they had no proof that he could do any of what he said he could, they literally met him two minutes before, and they were discussing delicate military tactics in front of him which ultimately cost them hundreds of lives. It just felt like the characters were making stupid decisions for plot purposes. They could have easily broken out, found the buttonhole guy they were meant to find, and still run into a whole ton of problems and ended up the same position, but it would not have been as a result of blindly trusting the wrong people. 

 - I am sure that there is more to Rey’s story than meets the eye, because why did she see her younger self being left on Jakku when she touched Luke’s lightsaber in Force Awakens? All the other images she saw were through Luke’s eyes, which is why I assumed that Luke had been there when she was left on Jakku for some reason. WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO JAKKU!

 - At first I thought they were setting it up for Poe to be the new Han, Rey and Finn together to be the new Luke, Kylo to be the new Vader and Snoke to be the new Palpatine. Now it looks like they’re setting up Poe to be the new Leia, Rey to be the new Luke, Finn to be the new Han and Kylo to be the new Palpatine, with Snoke as a red herring. 

 Major theories and predictions for episode nine. 

Miran and I came up with the theory that the final trilogy is mirroring the original trilogy, but in sort of in reverse, thus ending up where the series began (in chronological order of film release, not in actual film order)  and bringing the films full circle, with the prequels standing alone as a history. Fantasy and sci-fi sagas very often move in cycles (it’s a major plot of the Belgariad and Mallereon), and it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Star Wars is moving likewise and is on its second cycle now. 

As such we’re predicting various events of episode nine based on events of episode four. 

This is just our personal theory and we’re probably reading way, way too much into it, but we’re having a lot of fun with it. Also, it made us see just how similar in plot New Hope and Return of the Jedi are.

So far, Force Awakens mirrors New Hope in various ways (find a jedi on a desert planet, escape in the Falcon, droid in charge of delicate information vital to rebellion etc), but also mirrors Return of the Jedi thus:

 - Junkyard/scavenger society on Jakku sort of mirrors Hutt society on Tattooine. 

- Resistance base in TFA is on a planet very similar to Endor in RotJ.

-  In TFA  they know what they’re up against (Starkiller) and pretty much know already how they’re going to defeat it. It’s a huge space station that destroys planets. In ANH, the Death Star was something new, the likes of which they had not seen before. By RotJ, they know what they’re up against and how to defeat it: It’s a huge space station that destroys planets.

 - A very well-known and pivotal character dies - Vader in RotJ and Han in TFA. Arguably Han’s death mirrors Obi-Wan’s in ANH, but at the time of release, Obi-Wan was not as well-known and pivotal as he later became. 

The Last Jedi mirrors Empire Strikes Back thus:

- Ahch-To mirrors Dagobah. Complete with sunken x-wings!

- Rey learns from Luke mirroring Luke learning from Yoda.

- In both, the hero (Luke/Rey) is tempted by the dark side but chooses the light (Luke throws himself off a radio tower, Rey chooses to fight Kylo).

 - In both we meet the big bad and find he’s not actually all that impressive close-up.

- Both begin with an evacuation and end with the rebels on the back foot. 

- Both have major parentage reveals, but here’s where the reversal starts coming in - Luke’s parent who was assumed to be no-one particularly special turns out to be Vader. Rey’s parents who were assumed to be important are revealed not to be. 

- ESB starts with the rebels escaping a white planet and ends with them drifting in space. TLJ starts with them drifting in space and ends with them escaping a white planet. 

So based on these parallels and reversals, our predictions for episode 9 mirroring and reversing New Hope. 

- Mentor figure will die - Obi-Wan in ANH, naturally this will be Leia in Ep9. I think it likely that she will die off screen between the two films and her passing will be referred to in the opening text scroll. 

- They will face something they have not faced before. The Death Star was something new in ANH; they were ready for it by RotJ. They were ready for Starkiller in TFA, so they’ll face something brand new and even deadlier in Ep9. 

- We’ll end up back on Tattooine, where it all started. Or, if Jakku is now standing in as resident desert planet, we’ll end up back on Jakku, where this particular story cycle started.

- ANH begins with Luke losing his family;  we predict Ep9 will end with Rey getting closure about her own, I am sure that we’ve not heard the full story. 

- ANH opens with the government being disbanded, we predict Ep9 will end with government and democracy being restored. 

Unrelated to the story cycle:

 -  We also think that the distress signal that went out to the resistance allies that was ignored was not in fact ignored - the resistance allies knew that if Leia was using her personal call then pretty much all hope was lost to the main resistance band, and instead of helping that little core group that would most likely be lost by the time they arrived, they used Leia’s signal as a rallying cry for the rest of them to come together and form a much larger resistance elsewhere.

 - Linked to this, I like the idea of the Resistance not having a major base somewhere but actually being based out of the Falcon, able to pack up and move on at a moment’s notice, but just with little outposts here and there where they store munitions, supplies, fighters, fuel etc. I also like the idea of the Falcon being a decoy figurehead, with the Resistance still mobile on a different ship, but Chewey flying the Falcon all over the galaxy sending Kylo on a wild goose chase, whilst the Resistance move on in another direction. 

Only another couple of years to wait to see if we’re right! 

[apateditor-blog]

empire-rp task ↳   one   (   pt. i and pt. ii   )

                           (   the social hierarchy in high school is brutal. i’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that, unless you were homeless in your teenaged years and couldn’t afford the oh-so-wonderful experience that came with being shoved in to lockers and whispered about behind your back   -   not that that ever happened to me, of course. you don’t need me to tell you that i, by some miracle, landed a seat with the social elite. they looked at me and saw a pretty girl with an unfortunate upbringing [ note, my upbringing was awesome so fuck you very much, casey van houten ] - but people liked me, which was their own mistake. all it took was a smile, or a nice word, and i had them literally eating out of the palm of my hand... it just made apate’s job a hell of a lot easier. you wouldn’t believe the shit teenagers in new york city get up to. they’re a journalist’s wet dream, except legal..   )  -  pg. 97, what a cliché

character alignment

neutral evil - a neutral evil villain does whatever she can get away with. she is out for herself, pure and simple. she sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. she has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any better or more noble. on the other hand, she doesn’t have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has. the criminal who robs and murders to get what she wants is neutral evil. some neutral evil villains hold up evil as an ideal, committing evil for its own sake. most often, such villains are devoted to evil deities or secret societies. the common phrase for neutral evil is "true evil." neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents pure evil without honour and without variation.

four temperaments

you are chloric

four elements

you are fire ! fire is the element of will-power, courage, and vision. fire is an active, focused, goal-oriented element. it is courageous, bold, strong-willed, passionate, ambitious, and fiercely dedicated. fire insists on always moving onward and upward, always boldly going somewhere. it needs a goal, a direction, a dream to pursue. when given a noble goal, nothing is more majestic than fire as it breaks through all obstacles, transcends all boundaries, and forges ahead through all hardships to make dreams into reality. fire has a strong sense of justice, honour, and integrity. fire is the spark of inspiration, flashes of deep insight, and bold visions for the future. it is creativity, plans, goals, intuition, patterns, archetypes, and the sense of a cosmic driving purpose. fire is passion, so apathy is a foreign concept to it. fire has strong opinions and beliefs about pretty much everything. this passion carries over into all areas of life, whether it is work, school, hobbies or personal relations. there is no more fiercely dedicated friend, lover, or enemy than fire. fire can be the warm-hearted fireplace to give warmth to the weary, the torch to give light and direction in darkness, the sun that brings life and light to the world, the promethean fire that inspires invention and science, the forge that drives industry onward, or the raging fire that annihilates every enemy in its path. it has such tremendous mental and emotional energy that other elements often feel overwhelmed. however, just like physical fire without fuel turns to ash, so fiery people sink into deep, restless depression when they lose their drive and have no dream and no goal to pursue. also, fire’s single-minded zeal can at times turn into arrogance and a tendency to belittle and devalue anything or anyone that stands in the way of fire’s goal. immature fire can also have issues with anger, harshness, being judgmental, bossiness, hasty decisions, and being excessively competitive. intellectually, fire is goal-oriented. so long as the learning in question is related to one of fire’s goals or passions, fire devours knowledge like kindling. fire always asks “why.” it quickly grasps deep and complicated concepts, easily integrating the new information into its mental structure for how the world works and how best to achieve its goals. of course, if the information is viewed as useless, then it is quickly disregarded and forgotten. it is drawn to big ideas, grand theories, and deeply desires to understand why the universe works the way it does. also, fire is essentially structured and task-oriented. it loves order and efficiency. fire’s only intellectual weakness is its great focus. in its single-minded desire to accomplish what it sees as good and worthwhile, fire can easily miss important things that it erroneously consigned to the “irrelevant information” pile. however, no element is more intelligent than any other. it is merely a different pattern of thinking. emotionally, fire is definitely extroverted. fire has strong feelings, but also is very much concerned with honour and reputation. fire likes to think of itself as strong and as a leader. so fire may often hide and bottle-up any emotions it sees as “weak.” for instance, fire rarely admits to being sad, hurt, afraid, lonely, or depressed. this can cause those feelings to intensify and cause more problems. happiness, confidence, and anger on the other hand are emotions that fire is much more likely to express. that anger, of course, is fire’s negative emotional tendency. fire can’t stand anything it views as evil or unjust, but often is equally angered by inefficiency, stupidity, or weakness.

functions ;- extroverted thinking, introverted intuition, extroverted intuition, and introverted thinking core strengths ;- fire is brave, bold, ambitious, strong-willed, energetic, charismatic, honest, loyal, just, honourable, dedicated, idealistic, independent, creative, and passionate. weaknesses ;- when immature, fire might be arrogant, angry, harsh, have judgmental tendencies, be hasty, impulsive, restless, bossy, rebellious, excessively competitive, and too focused. traits ;- fire might be curious, adventurous, communicative, socially skilled, orderly, structured, strong, fair-minded, rational, and dependable.

hogwarts house

congratulations! you have been sorted into slytherin, the house of ambition, determination, and cunning

IF THEY KNOW ABOUT THE SUPERNATURAL ;- victoria does know about the supernatural world. as the editor of BITE. mag, she was brought in to the loop by noah bordeaux himself after she accidentally stumbled across his secret several years ago. she doesn’t think much different about the species themselves, though she is obviously aligned with the vampires due to her involvement in BITE. inc - since victoria is a human, she is unable to tell the difference between another human and someone supernatural, unless she’s previously met them before. since she’s closer to the vampires, she has picked up on some tells but she wouldn’t outright ask someone if they’re not-human. that would be weird.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER’S THOUGHTS ABOUT IMMORTALITY? ;- she doesn’t really have much of an opinion about immortality itself. it’s an interesting concept and she wouldn’t be opposed to taking it if offered. it does intrigue her though, all that history experienced first hand. but other than that, she’s indifferent.

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER’S OPINION ON MAGIC? ;- it would have it’s uses, but victoria doesn’t know much about the craft beyond what the bordeaux’s have shared. as such, she hasn’t developed much of an opinion on it right now.

HERE’S A SCENARIO ;- the most obvious choice is clearly “vampire” - it’s already an option that she’s considered but only if it were offered to her, otherwise she’s more than content to remain human. it would just be both easier and make the most sense, considering her affiliation.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

So jan is most likely way darker than she seems but why? And I feal like she would connect with Mal in some way over it?

One: Jane is incredibly maladjusted and has never sought professional psychological help for it, no one in Auradon ever thought it was a serious problem, or both.

Two: yes, yes she would.

Generally speaking, Ben and Lonnie are about the ONLY two examples of happy, well-adjusted, mentally healthy AK’s we have–which is frightening, to say the least. This could be attributed to the natural exaggeration in fiction, but even still, you could have quirky characters with massive flaws but still have them act as normal, well-adjusted people who can in fact do without professional psychological intervention.

Jane is not one of those characters. As we can see from the movie, she:

Suffers from incredibly low amounts of self-esteem, tied largely to her physical appearance, as her confidence increases dramatically after the Better Hair Spell;

Is completely, absolutely remarkable in every way, but being a fairy, and the daughter of the Fairy Godmother. She is, literally, a “Plain Jane,” and for ANYONE, especially a teenager struggling with identity, that is a horrific fate;

Is utterly terrified of any form of rebellion and possibly her own mother, as shown by her “My mom’s going to kill me!” line after tearing a tiny, barely perceptible rip in her dress skirt

Is very, very, very quick to let power, external influences, and superficial values change her dramatically; aside from being prone to becoming a total bitch, if you’ll pardon the phrase, as she doesn’t seem to have much of any idea of WHO she is if there’s no one around to tell her that

The Rotten Four aside, Jane is the series’ poster girl for the kind of maladapted, mental-illness prone person an abusive family life/childhood will likely produce.

Theories/explanations for this below.

As we’ve seen all throughout the movie, Auradon is HEAVILY Conservative in most of its beliefs; Ben is about the only person we can call Liberal and/or Progressive.* They have preserved a lot of their power structures from before the Great Uniting, and have actually just instilled a farther reaching, slightly more democratic version of it for their primary form of government (an Elective Monarchy, to be specific). They are heavily for tradition and honouring the past, as seen in the Jewel-bilee, Parent’s Day, and that godawful “Be Our Guest” rap which is their version of remixing folk ballads. And you bet your ass the ideal citizen is one that does not rock the boat, that keeps things the way they are, and does whatever their “lot in life” is.

Jane, I feel, suffers heavily from “Small Town Girl” syndrome: she doesn’t fit in with the culture around her; knows that she is different, consciously or unconsciously; but does not have the resources nor the opportunity to move to somewhere where she might be a better fit, or even learn about cultures, lifestyles, and identities different from her.

A melting pot Auradon City is, but unfortunately, a LOT of the non-European/American AK’s have become highly Westernized and only superficially represent their home states.

Worse still, she’s alone in her suffering–none of the other AK’s seem to be having any crises about who they are, what their place in the world is, and whether or not they want that fate for themselves–her mother appears to be oblivious to her suffering and assumes that her daughter will just become a younger, slightly different version of her, and any type of deviating from the norm will (actually, or she assumes will) be met with punishment, shaming, and ostracizing from the community.

And as much as it’s terrible to feel alienated by your immediate community and pretend to fit in, it’s even WORSE to be completely alone AND alienated by your immediate community.

If she has seen psychological help–which I seriously doubt she has–there’d be little they could do to help her. Traveling wouldn’t be as effective as it is here, as the governments and cultures are largely the same across the entire USA; no one would suggest her getting into Tourney nor is she the athletic type, as evidenced by her being the school mascot; and there’s really not much in the way of deviant, alternative, or just “different” ways of life and identities she can adopt–”Goths” and “Punks” just aren’t a thing in Auradon, or a VERY small, quiet minority she’s probably never heard of.

Speaking from personal experience, my teenage years and my current life today is shaped heavily by adult entertainment communities. In layman’s terms: I watch, read, make, and comment on a lot of porn, interact with their very polite and nice communities, and proudly identify as a “pervert” if that means I am open-minded, respectful of other’s beliefs, and am able to enjoy the things I love without shame or guilt, so long as it’s not actively harming other people.

Back on topic:

I’m not saying that Jane will find herself much happier as a goth girl or a punk rock chick (though I will say I’m 500% on board with the latter), but trying on different identities, seeing what does and doesn’t fit, and putting herself in situations vastly different from what she’s used to can go a seriously long way to her growing as a healthier, happier, and much less anxiety prone-person than she is now.

See: The Breakfast Club.

But again, she doesn’t have that luxury. In Auradon, you’re a princess, you’re a fairy godmother, you’re the daughter of the working class, and that’s all you can ever aspire to be or the society will let you be.

Enter the VK’s.

They’re exotic. They’re new. They’re the almost polar opposite of everything Jane has ever been taught is just the way things are, and are a living example that one can deviate HEAVILY from what is “Good” but still (mostly, and in some senses of the words) be happy, healthy, and satisfied with your life. If nothing else, she’s jealous of how strong their personalities are, how confident they are, how unafraid they are to be them.

After all, the Isle doesn’t value conformity beside bowing down to Maleficent as Queen of the Isle.

Both because of the novelty and the fact that, in a sense, the two of them are both outsiders, I can see Jane getting along famously with the VK’s, after some initial awkwardness. Mal would indeed be the person she can relate to most, and vice versa, because they are:

Both magic users, who are rare

Both fairies, or half-fairies, who are even rarer

Are outsiders in their own groups, but for different reasons. Mal is the “leader” of the group and much more emphatic and “Rotten” than the other VK’s, Jane is a lot less confident, a lot more anxious, and and even more maladjusted than everyone else.

If nothing else, they can bond with the two of them being outsiders–and believe me, being fellow strangers in an even stranger land is a powerful bond indeed.

* Someone better versed in Political Science and its terminology, feel free to school me on my possibly misusing these terms, I’m aware they’re often interchanged when they shouldn’t be, but can’t exactly tell WHAT camp Ben fall into, if it’s not both or neither.

[newstfionline]

Russia’s Journey from Orthodoxy to Atheism, and Back Again

By Gene Zubovich, Religion & Politics, October 16, 2018

A Sacred Space is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism By Victoria Smolkin Princeton University Press, 2018

In Russia, there is a religious revival happening. Orthodox Christianity is thriving after enduring a 70-year period of atheistic Soviet rule. In 1991, just after the collapse of the USSR, about two-thirds of Russians claimed no religious affiliation. Today, 71 percent of Russians identify as Orthodox. One can now see priests giving sermons on television, encounter religious processions in St. Petersburg, and watch citizens lining up for holy water in Moscow. Even Moscow’s Darwin museum features a Christmas tree during the holidays. President Vladimir Putin has encouraged this revival and he has also benefited from it, both at home and abroad. Last year, he explained that Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war was designed to protect Christians from the Islamic State. Not only has the Orthodox Church supported this “holy war” but so have some American evangelicals, who are likewise concerned about Christians in the Middle East and praise Putin’s socially conservative policies.

Russia was transformed from a bastion of conservative Orthodoxy in the nineteenth century into the world’s leading promoter of atheism in the twentieth. This historical backdrop of Russia’s remarkable journey from Orthodoxy to atheism, and back again, is chronicled in Victoria Smolkin’s A Sacred Space is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism. It is the first full account of Soviet atheism, from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. This engaging book is full of striking analysis and counterintuitive insights. And Smolkin, associate professor of Russian and Soviet history at Wesleyan University, has two big arguments to make. The first is that the meaning of Soviet atheism has changed drastically over time. The second argument is even more surprising: Today’s religious revival in Russia began before 1991, she argues, and was promoted by the very organs that were meant to rid the USSR of religion.

When Vladimir Lenin came to power in Russia in 1917, he held to the Marxist view that once capitalism was abolished, religion would likewise wither away. It was a slight twist on classic secularization theory, which held that as societies modernize, people lose faith. For Lenin, and for his successor Josef Stalin, atheism was not something that required much thought. It was simply the absence of religion and would come naturally in due time as the Soviet Union developed into a modern society. More pressing for Soviet leaders was the political power of the Orthodox Church. One by one, rival political parties were outlawed, and ideologies were banned but private piety remained legal in the USSR. So did churches, mosques, and synagogues. As one Soviet official pointed out, “religious organizations are the only legally existing counterrevolutionary organizations” in the Soviet Union.

Under Lenin and Stalin, new atheist organizations like the League of the Militant Godless waged war on religious institutions. Although churches and monasteries were technically legal, officials found ways of shutting them down, and they transformed some of them into cathedrals of atheism. The Donskoi Monastery became the Moscow Antireligious Museum and the Kazan Cathedral in Leningrad (today, St. Petersburg) became the Museum of the History of Religion. In 1931, Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral was blown up in a public display for all the world to see. “At the end of the 1930s, the party came as close as it ever would to eradicating religion,” Smolkin observes.

Despite the public spectacle and the very real repression of the Orthodox Church, however, religious belief and practice remained a part of everyday life and officials often tolerated religious practices, especially in the countryside. As Smolkin shows, even rank-and-file communists struggled with managing religious questions in family life. “What should a Leninist do if his family is still religious, does not permit taking down the icons, takes children to church, and so on,” a party member asked a Soviet newspaper’s advice column. The response “suggested a softer and more gradual approach to family disagreements over religion,” Smolkin writes. “Rather than break with his family, a Leninist should strive to enlighten.” It was common for male party members to marry religious women, the columnist noted, and they should be patient with their families.

By the eve of World War II, religious organizations had ceased to be a political threat to the Soviet state. In 1927, the Orthodox Church had pledged support for the communist government, and by 1941--when Germany invaded the Soviet Union--the vast majority of churches had been closed down and thousands of priests had been arrested or executed. In 1917, there had been more than 50,000 churches in the Russian empire, but less than 1,000 remained in 1939. It was because of his success in neutralizing the political challenge of the Orthodox Church that Stalin welcomed it back into public life during World War II, seeing it as a tool to promote patriotism at home and to earn good will of allies abroad. As Orthodoxy became politically useful for Stalin, he no longer wanted atheist organizations around. “With the start of the war, atheist periodicals and publishing houses were shut down, most antireligious museums were closed, and most of the institutions charged with atheist work were dissolved,” Smolkin writes.

Stalin felt that he had control of the Orthodox Church, which he used to bolster his domestic authority and foreign policy. But religious beliefs and practices outside the church, in everyday life, were not as easy to control, and they caught the attention of Soviet officials after Stalin’s death in 1953. Feast days and pilgrimages to holy sites could not always be managed by the Orthodox Church or the Soviet state. Nor could miracles. Smolkin relays a widely reported story from 1956 of a young girl who was turned to stone for blasphemy after shouting, “If there is a God, then let him punish me!” The location of the alleged incident in the industrial town of Kuibyshev (today, Samara) drew hundreds of curious onlookers and became a destination for pilgrims. By 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev came to power, unofficial, extra-ecclesiastical religious practices became suspect and were targeted. So were private beliefs. The persistence of religion in everyday life--56 percent identified themselves as believers in the last census to ask about religion in 1937--encouraged Khrushchev’s officials to revive the atheist apparatus that Stalin had shut down and to focus on eradicating religion in the private lives of Soviet citizens.

Khrushchev was the last true believer in communism. And when he was ousted in 1964, his immediate successors ushered in an era of stagnation, when fewer and fewer believed that socialism was fulfilling its promises. It dawned on Soviet officials that getting rid of religion, in both public and private life, was not enough to create atheists who believed in the communist cause. Getting rid of one faith did not mean it would be replaced by another, as Lenin had predicted. Party leaders recognized that “it was also necessary to fill Soviet Communism’s sacred space with positive meaning,” Smolkin argues.

In its final phase, the meaning of Soviet atheism was transformed from a mere absence of religion--and a commitment to science and rationalism--into something spiritual that would satisfy the souls of Soviet citizens from cradle to grave. This shift took some experimentation. Leningrad’s attempt to replace baptisms with newborn registration rituals that awarded medals to the children proved popular. Teenagers turning 16 were eligible for passports and went through a passport ceremony at institutions like the Moscow House of Scientific Atheism. As Smolkin describes them, marriages had previously been simple bureaucratic affairs but beginning in the 1960s, they increasingly took place in wedding palaces, where grooms and brides would don formal clothes, and the officiant spoke solemnly in ceremonial dress. Afterwards, many couples celebrated by taking part in photographic tours of the city’s parks and Soviet monuments.

But it became clear to the atheist establishment that it was failing to create true believers in communism. “Which is more useful to the party,” a Soviet official asked rhetorically in the twilight years of the USSR, “someone who believes in God, someone who believes in nothing at all, or someone who believes in both God and Communism?” He was signaling that apathy and indifference, not religion, had become the main enemy of atheism. “Soviet atheism was not secularization or secularism but instead conversion,” Smolkin writes. “Soviet atheism was not secular because secularism can tolerate indifference.”

Mikhail Gorbachev welcomed back the Orthodox Church into public life in 1988, in a belated recognition that atheists and the clergy had a mutual enemy: indifference. Just before the fall of the Soviet Union, Orthodoxy once again became state-sanctioned and atheist institutions were encouraged to find common ground with the Orthodox Church. Ironically, atheist organizations began popularizing religious ideas. The House of Scientific Atheism became the House of Spiritual Heritage. An atheist journal changed its name to Science and Religion and became “the first Soviet periodical to give voice to religion,” according to Smolkin.

In post-Soviet Russia, Orthodox Christianity gives the country a legitimacy that it was “an ancient polity with a millennial pedigree that gave it moral legitimacy,” according to Smolkin. Putin can tout Orthodoxy as the state religion but the reality is just as damning for Orthodoxy’s official status as it had been for Soviet atheism. Most Russians identify as Orthodox but only 6 percent of them attend church weekly and only 17 percent pray daily. Russians are largely unchurched and often don’t conform to the doctrines of the Orthodox Church. The Soviet Union had been the first country to legalize abortion in 1920, and the rate of abortions in Russia is more than double compared to the U.S. and enjoys widespread support despite strong objections from the Orthodox Church. And contrary to Orthodox teaching, attitudes toward divorce and pre-marital sex remain lax.

Smolkin’s book helps us appreciate that in Russia today, as in the Soviet Union years ago, official state faiths mask a more complicated reality.

[wikidz-blog]

 Fandom

 We see the word ‘fandom’ often. To some people a fandom is merely an attraction to something or someone – but there is a far deeper meaning of fandom than meets the eye. To some people, fandom is a beautiful thing – they are given the opportunity to express themselves freely in communities formed of similar and the same interests.

 To me, fandom does not necessarily mean an obsession. Everything has a fandom and there are many different interpretations to it. Jensen argue that “these respectable social types could also be defined as ‘fans,’ in that they display interest, affection and attachment, especially for figures in, or aspects of, their chosen field.” (Jensen, J 1992).

  Raves and good music play a big part in my life – it is not a cliché when I say you could not ask for a better community to be a part of, the vibes and the people make your experiences a million times better than they would be in an ordinary top 40, disorderly environment.

 It’s more than just the top tracks of the month, it’s about the togetherness music instills on someone. Not only shared between friends but extends to strangers brought together through mutual appreciation, therefore to some extent extending friendships that you never previously had. “Rave culture intensified the commitment to an underground ideology in dance music.” (Bennett, Shank and Toynbee, 2006) there is a shared mentality of positive energy amongst everyone involved – usually.

 The scene which I can call home is dominated by males without a doubt and this is an issue, when female producers are constantly accused on social media and in real life of not producing their own music.

 Jackmaster who is a highly recognisable name in the industry even recently picked up on the misogyny and addressed it on Twitter – “Tonight was the 1st time that the plight and/or prejudice surrounding females in the music industry truly hit home and resonated with me” (Source: twitter.com/Jackmaster, 5 February)

He continues with a series of tweets and one of them stating that ‘’some of the things (he) I heard tonight about women in industry are fucking unacceptable” (Source: twitter.com/Jackmaster, 5 February)

 Even though nightlife and raves have the mentality to unify people, there are subtle ways which oppose that idea – and it is no secret that the scene is still male ruled. Festival line ups recently and previously can only verify that fact, which is the sad truth.

 Although this particular fandom has some flaws, it is only natural that as someone who loves the scene would want to continue to spread awareness and instead of tarnishing it educate others and work for a better future for everyone.  

 Bibliography:

 Bennett, A., Shank, B. and Toynbee, J. (2006). The popular music studies reader. London: Routledge.

Jensen, J. (1992) ‘Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterisation’. In Lewis, L. A. (Ed.) The Adoring Audience. London, Routledge, pp9-15.

   Exploring subcultures

  The word culture is something often related to ‘higher’ culture – for example the theatre, classical music and literature etc. and can also be interpreted as the idea of certain behaviours and patterns amongst a community. Another word to describe culture would be something of a tradition which continues to pass through generations as part of their upbringing.

 Subcultures are easiest defined when taken away from the bigger picture of culture. In short terms, subculture is a more in depth version of the generalized idea of culture, often not as widely recognized or accepted by what society sees as the ‘norm’ in cultural behaviours and events. Fischer defines subcultures as ‘relatively distinct social subsystem[s] within a larger social system and culture’ (Fischer 1975, 1323)

 The first time I had an experience with subculture was when I discovered Tumblr as an early teen. My interest only grew closer to it the more I felt isolated from certain situations and people at school – it was almost like a getaway.

 I have never felt compelled to follow the lead of people in school, therefore having been introduced more closely to Tumblr, I started discovering new music, different fashion and I started developing interests. This was the gateway to my adventure with social media and discovering the different sides to the internet.

 Like with all social media, Tumblr’s popularity grew and then plummeted, leaving some people remembered as almost celebrities of the internet. Having the largest social following they were seen as the ‘leaders’ who would organize meet ups in different cities.

 There would many friendships and relationships formed just through that community and it felt almost as though if you knew about it and you had something in common with it, there was a sense of relief that there was far more to do and see than be stuck in the boring reality of school.

 A lot of the Tumblr famous, despite being loved by some, there was a lot of bullying involved towards them by those who felt almost offended by the way they acted and were portraying themselves on social media.

 A lot of people did not accept it but as an early teenager sometimes you are more attracted to things that are out of the norm, as it you a platform to express yourself in different ways, albeit through clothing, music, hair styles etc. It felt almost ‘cool’ to have it, to the point where almost everybody even those who hated the idea at the beginning, would turn up to school wearing what I would now call them ‘edgy, Tumblr’ outfits – the Primark vest top and cardigan style was no more.

Communication amongst subcultures particularly through style allows them to form and display an identity (Hebdige, 1979) Some people opted for bright hair, different styles – some went more urban some went more ‘scene’ and people received a lot of backlash.

Subcultures are often targeted negatively by outsiders because they are something new and others perhaps don’t understand it.

 In every generation there are emerging subcultures, like for example when Acid House first emerged into mainstream media and was seen as an enormous threat, whereas now that environment is very much socially accepted.

 Bibliography:

 Fischer, Claude S. 1975. ‘Towards a Subcultural Theory of Urbanism.’ American Journal of Sociology 80: 1319–41

Hebdige, D (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge

    Researching cult media and cult fandom

 Cult media in film and cult fandom are what can be described as more ‘hardcore’. According to Austin “Cult films may be uniquely characterized by the repeated attendance of a group of individuals” (Austin, B 2008). However Hills talks about the dangerously close perceptions of those who in a fan cult are to those in a religious one and states that “disparate fan cultures may well use religious metaphors and devotional discourses…but all these fan cultures nevertheless deny their ‘religious’ status in order to avoid a stigmatization” (Hills, M 2002) suggesting that some could depict cults as a negative thing.

 Austin uses the example of The Rocky Horror Picture show, and he talks about the “its generation of a cult phenomenon” (Austin B).

 I chose Dirty Dancing to as a topic of discussion, with this dominating in the 80’s, as someone who is part of the female however not original fan base.

 The film is a classic and one of the reason why it became such a hit is because of how relatable Baby was to everyone. It was a film which any girl could relate to and therefore made you feel a connection to the characters and storyline.

 Having watched this film when I was younger, it made me almost feel like I wanted a similar thing to happen to me when I grew up. The passion and empathy you are able to feel whilst watching this film is the reason it became so infatuating for many. The different social situations of the characters and the social hierarchy portrayed in the film (when the famous quote “Some people matter, some people don’t” came from) seemed to be relevant then and still is to this day.

 What made the film ‘cult’ is the response it received and the longevity of this response which has carried out over many years and still in current day and age ceases to amaze people if they are first time viewers.

 At the time of its release, the film could have come across as quite exciting and naughty, having displayed an obvious sexual chemistry at a time when people were only just getting used to the idea of sex as before it appears to have been quite a taboo subject for many years prior. The idea of falling pregnant at a young age, pre-marital could have also been frowned upon.

 Based on this, I believe that it is hard for a film to actually qualify for its cult status. Many productions in the past have aspired to match the standard and at the time, innovatively. “Cult status can be defined by the ways in which texts are classified in consumption” (Jancovich et al, 2003: p.509) which again examines the challenging criteria such as public responses and the aftermath of the release and what effect it has had on audiences, before the film can get the cult title.

 Hills argues that “Cult fandom is a project of the self which is primarily and significantly emotional; cult fans create cultural identities out of the significance which certain texts assume for them, rather than out of textual signification and hence out of rationalist or cognitive mechanisms of interpretation.” (Hills, M 2000)

   Bibliography:

 Austin, B. (2008) ‘Portrait of a cult film audience: The Rocky Horror Picture Show’. In Mathijs, E. and Mendik, X. The Cult Film Reader. Berkshire: Open University Press.

 Hills, Matthew. "Media fandom, neoreligiosity, and cult(ural) studies." Velvet Light Trap, 2000,

 Hills, Matt “Fan Cultures” 2002, Routledge [Electronic book]

       Taste, Capital and Fan Identity

 Bourdieus belief in social identification and what ones status could gain them in terms of power and wealth is very good food for thought. (Jenkins, 2002).

 Normally I would be against into segregating people into social hierarchies in order to draw conclusions from them as a person, however in working and everyday life, the status which a person holds can actually influence many situations and can impact what for one person could go well, for the other wouldn’t.

Thornton argues that it is impossible to avoid getting caught up in judgement and ideologies when analyzing the way social groups are formed “it is important to maintain analytical distinctions between: empirical social groups, representations of these people and estimations of their cultural worth. (Thornton, 1996).

  However, there is always going to be a sense of superiority, when a fan has been invested in something for a while over someone who has just ‘arrived. It is almost a sense of protection away from what would be described as ‘mainstream’ although Thornton highlights the fact that there is no way of defining mainstream, because mainstream has different meanings to different social groups.

  “Hebdige’s multiple opposition of avant-garde-versus-bourgeois, 146 subordinate-versus-dominant, subculture-versus-mainstream is an orderly ideal which crumbles when applied to historically specific groups of youth” (Thornton, 1996)

 For me, there always is and will be a sense of hierarchy in any fandom. To those who belong to a fandom, the knowledge and desire to keep their interest close to them can cause negativity towards someone who has only just discovered a given fandom.

 A good example to back Bourdieu’s theory would be the sudden fascination with dance music. The annoyance of fans who identify themselves within the scene, when someone who would have squealed at the sound of an old school funky disco song - because they were too invested in The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys (because that is what was ‘cool’ before) - suddenly Snapchats every single song on a night out, played by a DJ who has a ghost producer, showing their lack of knowledge in the field where it is important.

 When certain fandoms have something they are so invested and interested in Fiske states “the distinction between acquired and inherited cultural capital becomes more important as we move northwards in the social space” (Fiske, 1992)

With this scene it is also hard to tell what people are in there for – “music and drugs are two products which by their very success, indicate the spread of behaviour previously reserved for the elites: the right to explore one’s interior or social space. They are tied to the growth of the industries of dream and relaxation” (Mignon, Redhead p176, 2000)

 Bibliography:

 Exploring the meaning of the mainstream (or why Sharon and Tracy dance around their handbags)” in Thornton, S. (1996) Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge: Polity Press

 Fiske, J. (1992) ‘The Cultural Economy of Fandom’. In Lewis, L. A. (Ed.) the Adoring Audience. London, Routledge, pp30-49. 

 Redhead, S (1993). Rave Off: Politics and Deviance in contemporary youth culture. Aldershot: Avebury 176.

   Gender in subcultures and fandom

 According to Lawrence Grossberg (199, 52) “fans have ‘a different sensibility’ and relationship with their favourite media products. For Grossberg the fan relationship is positive, immediate and based on an emotional process of identifying or investing. (Duffett, 2013).

 This is a very interesting way of looking at how I became almost addicted to ITV’s ‘Love Island’ after swearing to myself that I would never watch any shows like that because they are a waste of time.

 I am a girl who is massively into house and techno, I cannot relate to the girls in shows like Love Island in terms of music taste, fashion or even outlook on life so at the time it seemed extremely pointless to get into. (Gramsci 1971:324) argues that “in acquiring ones conception of the world one always belongs to a particular grouping which is that of all the social elements which share the same mode of thinking and acting.” This would suggest that I already in a sense belonged to this fandom in some way.

 After such a long process of putting it off my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to see what the hype and fuss was all about. I am still of the same opinion, that the show is just another way of getting people glued to the TV and brainwashed into buying personalised Love Island bottles however I can 100% understand how people get so addicted.

 The contestants on the show are of similar age to the target audience meaning they are going to be able to relate and empathise with the characters. Camilla who was renowned the nation’s sweetheart got into a situation with Johnny who was always going to be worlds apart from her.

 I felt the backlash Jonny received for simply telling her how he feels truthfully was out of order and unfair. It is as if suddenly as soon as there is a favourite, it does not matter what the situation is as I am sure if tables were to turn the reaction would not have been the same and all the people who were in favour of the two completely switched against him.

 As an audience who watch reality television we are still slightly limited to the full information we are getting – of course things are going to get manipulated in order to make the show more interesting, but it really struck me when another pair Olivia and Chris called it quits.

 Every human has a right to feel confused. It appears that when a female on the show has an outburst of emotions, she’s automatically a ‘bitch’ and becomes disliked almost instantly. These expectations and interpretations of gender norms are something many people seem to share, which is an issue because it creates tension inside these fandoms when equal and non-biased analysis is required. Women should not be portrayed negatively merely for showing emotions and men should not be bullied for being upfront about their feelings.

 Bibliography:

 Hills, M (2002) Fan Cultures. Taylor & Francis

 Mark Duffett (2013) Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture. Bloomsbury

 http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2007/07/h3introduction_kristina_i_have.html

     Researching digital fandom

 Before the digitalization of media, fandoms remained much more private and much less accessible in terms of meeting people who are within your fandom and also enabling others to discover it. In current day and age, the internet allows almost everybody to be able to see, comment and interact on the majority of social media platforms.

 The internet has given me the ability to meet new people, discover new events, artists and become a part of a nice community. For many people, the era of digital fandom has opened many doors and opportunities, like for myself, to become a part of that community in more than just a fan sense, but also in terms of getting involved in helping out at events and assisting with promotion, almost like a family except everyone is essentially strangers to an extent.

 To carry out ethnographical research (Cooper et al. 1995) suggests the ability to “use active engagement with the internet as a reflexive tool to a deeper understanding of the medium.” (Hine, C 2000).

 Digitalization of media has also allowed me to stay in touch with people who I met prior to any sort of social media interaction. I am able to share videos which I think are good and I know there will be other people who will enjoy them as well. Generally, for me personally digital fandom is a great thing however I can also distinguish how it could be stressful for some people.

 There are people who get anxious about even potentially seeing somebody they befriended online in real life. The problem is that people are not always themselves and social media allows them to be someone they want to be but maybe not. That can become very unhealthy and it is almost a trap because on one hand there are lots of people to interact with, but interaction with others in real life is far more important than behind the screen. This is also an issue to concern when researching digital fandoms – there is not really an accurate answer all the time. Hine suggests that reflexivity can be a “strategic response to the silence of web surfers and newsgroup lurkers.” (Hine, C 2000). This essentially suggesting that the fan identity portrayed online is not necessarily the true identity.

  I personally can talk about festivals, events and music to anyone, at any point. I feel that the environment which I am in is generally a very positive one, there is not a lot of room for negativity so in that sense it has made me open to conversations with new people. This fandom also makes it easy for those involved to share their music, fan art, experiences etc. with artists as well as other fans.

 Bibliography:

 Hine, Christine (2000) Virtual Ethnography pp53 -55

 https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_and_the_Internet

   Crowd funding

 Crowd funding is a the process of gathering small donations from large numbers of people (who of course belong to the fandom of which the crowd funding is organized by).  It is a “participatory culture is one where ‘members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another’” (Jenkins 2009:7). It is a way for fans and organisers to come together in order to create something beneficial for both sides.

 Indiegogo is one of the most known crowdfunding organisations. They allow the majority forms of crowdfunding, from music to personal and charity with the exception of investement. There are some risks associated with crowd funding and it all depends on the cause.

 For example, YouTube personalities could use crowd funding as a way and plea to sponsor something like them going travelling – and the idea of fans is that they want to see more of this person, and will therefore go forward with helping this personality out.

 Crowd funding is all about the campaigning and by directing fans and involving certain people it will become easier for them to receive that funding and eventually reach the set goals. The Guardian released an article regarding crowd funding however and warned charities that it may not be the quickest way of raising money as it requires a lot of preparation and a lot of issues need to be considered.

  In ‘Crowdfunding: A Spimatic application of digital fandom’

Paul Booth talks about “The successful Kickstarter campaigns for Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell’s Veronica Mars film and Zach Braff’s film Wish I Was Here, and the failed Kickstarter campaign for Melissa Joan Hart’s film Darci’s Walk of Shame” (Booth, P 2014)

The investigation of both of these depict how the organisers did or did not fail in terms of acquiring the support they reached out for, in their own fan base publicity.” These campaigns ultimately illustrate the consequential powers of the fan at multiple nodes within the production process.” (Booth, P 2014)

 Further into his research Booth goes on to say “Crowdfunding campaigns that successfully engage their fans in a more participatory manner – acknowledging previous fan work, noting the saliency of fan activities in the past, appealing to fan attention in the future – highlight the temporal existence of a fandom.”

From this we can learn that it is important to make sure that the fan base who is being involved, actually exists and is reliable enough otherwise it is simply a set up for failure. I feel like for crowdfunding to completely work there needs to be a really good fan to artist interaction.

A duo like Solardo for example, would have a really good fan base to start up crowdfunding. They are always interacting with fans on social media and at their shows whereas I feel someone who does not really engage with social media that much, who is a TV personality and does not have that direct contact with audiences, would have to work a lot harder to get the funding in place.

 Bibliography:

 Booth, P. 2015, "Crowdfunding: A Spimatic application of digital fandom", New Media & Society, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 149-166.

 Hills, M. (2014) “Veronica Mars, fandom, and the ‘Affective Economics’ of crowdfunding poachers”.  New Media & Society (OnlineFirst)

 https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2014/sep/17/crowdfunding-charities-essential-advice-fundraising

 http://www.tradecraftfilms.com/TCFDocuments/Top_10_crowdfunding_sites_May_2013.pdf

[repwinpril9y0a1]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[repwincoml4a0a5]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[chpatdoorsl3z0a1]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[rtscrndr53704]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[stormdoors78476]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[grgedoors02142]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[exfrenchdorsl4p0a1]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=59386331e4b0c5a35c9b9490,59383f42e4b00610547ea348

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[pat78701]

The 'March Against Sharia' Protests Are Really Marches Against Muslims

An unholy alliance of Islamophobic hate group members, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and armed anti-government militia members will rally against the nonexistent threat of sharia, or Islamic, law in the U.S this weekend. 

The “March Against Sharia” rallies are set to place on Saturday in 29 cities across 21 states, and are being organized by Act for America, the nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group. Act for America has billed this weekend’s events as some kind of noble stand against “atrocities” it attributes ― wrongly ― to sharia.

But a quick look at the group’s origins and its members’ statements reveal that pretext to be a ruse. Saturday’s marches are against Muslims and Islam itself, and they’re attracting some of the most dangerous elements of the far right.

“They are calling them ‘Anti-Sharia’ rallies, but let us call them what they are: ‘Anti-Muslim’ protests,” Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “If your definition of Sharia was defined by an anti-Muslim bigot, you might want to rethink it and ask a Muslim who actually follows the religion of Islam.”  

What You Need To Know About Act For America

Act for America is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Christian immigrant from Lebanon. She has said that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and that Muslims are a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.”

Although the “March Against Sharia” event page claims Act for America believes in religious freedom, Gabriel has also said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Quran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Gabriel and Act for America have worked for years not only to spread fear of Muslims, but to strip Muslims of rights afforded to the followers of other faiths.

Act for America has also long pushed the conspiracy theory that sharia law ― the deeply misunderstood legal or philosophical code of Islam, interpreted differently by Muslims across the world ― poses a threat to the U.S. Constitution. (It does not.)

Still, Act for America has successfully lobbied state legislatures across the country to introduce, and often pass, bills banning sharia law in state courts. The “true aim” of these bills, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2011, is to “denigrate an entire faith system.”

Years ago, it was easier to brush off Gabriel as a fringe, far-right leader of a hate group. But that was before Donald Trump was president.

In recent months, Gabriel has bragged about having a “direct line” to the president, has been photographed having a meeting in the White House, and claims to have been dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Trump decided to bomb Syria in April.  

Very productive day at the White House! #actforamerica #makeamericasafeagain #protectionoverpolitics http://pic.twitter.com/LOrV9A7f0b

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 21, 2017

Yet Act for America’s veneer of legitimacy hasn’t prevented its members from blatant displays of bigotry. In February, member Robert Goodwill was recorded talking to a man who argued that all American Muslims should be killed.

“We’re not there yet,” Goodwill told the man.

The official Act for America “March Against Sharia” Facebook page is also rife with vile memes and comments denigrating Muslims.

‘March Against Sharia’ Rallies Draw Diverse Hate And Extremist Groups 

The convergence of anti-Muslim groups and other fringe organizations is a growing phenomenon, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted. 

SPLC trawled through all the local “March Against Sharia” Facebook groups and compiled an extensive list of extremist groups and white supremacists who said they will be showing up at the marches on Saturday.

They found a slew of armed anti-government militia groups, some with histories of threatening government officials. The groups claim they’ll be providing “security” at the rallies, which means they’ll likely show up with guns. Often called “Patriot” groups, they include the Oathkeepers, the III Percenters and American Civil Defense.

The SPLC also found avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists eager to take part in the rallies across the country. 

In Texas, members of the group Sons of Odin will be attending the Houston event.  (Sons of Odin describes its beliefs as “closely aligned” with those of the Soldiers of Odin ― a white supremacist, anti-refugee vigilante organization.) And the neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter is set to attend the rally in Austin. 

In Batesville, Arkansas, prominent neo-Nazi Billy Roper announced that he was organizing a “March Against Sharia” rally there. Earlier this week, when SPLC wrote a report about Roper’s involvement, Act for America was quick to distance itself from him and withdrew its affiliation with the Arkansas protest.

In a statement to HuffPost, Act for America organizer Scott Presler said “hateful individuals sometimes latch onto others in a parasitic way in order to elevate themselves, or a completely unrelated cause.” 

Presler added that Act for America’s alleged diversity shields it from being grouped with white supremacists, noting that Gabriel is an Arab-American and that the head organizer of the marches is gay.

Still, that doesn’t preclude the group from rabid Islamophobia, as Gabriel’s statements in the video below make clear:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED #MarchAgainstSharia #MarchForHumanRights #MarchForAmerica http://pic.twitter.com/M1HUiWTSd5

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 7, 2017

Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, says anti-Muslim hate is a great unifier among far-right groups, and especially militia groups, however disparate or seemingly opposed their beliefs may be.

“Alliances have been building for some time between anti-government and anti-Muslim groups, and Saturday’s events are another concrete example of this disturbing trend,” Beirich said.

The Backlash

AFSC stands in solidarity with Muslims against hate marches https://t.co/C19BVDcoIx #RamadanSolidarity2017 #CounterACTHate http://pic.twitter.com/lDGhhJZshG

— AFSC (@afsc_org) June 9, 2017

Interfaith protesters across the country are planning counter-demonstrations at the “March Against Sharia” events. 

On Friday, 129 organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International and the Center for New Community, sent a letter to mayors in the 29 cities where the marches are scheduled, calling on them to “reject” Act for America’s “bigotry,” and to “issue an official statement to reiterate to the people of your city that every person is welcome.”

March organizers canceled one rally in Portland, Oregon and relocated it to Seattle in response to pressure from Portland’s mayor, who worried about the rally’s effect on a city already reeling from two recent hate-fueled killings.

Late last month, a white supremacist aboard a MAX train in Portland screamed anti-Muslim threats at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He then stabbed three men who stepped up to defend the girls, killing two of them.

One of the biggest rallies is happening in New York, but Rosemary Boeglin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, told HuffPost that the event doesn’t represent New York City.

“To host an event, particularly during Islam’s highest holy month, with the explicit intention of reducing an entire community to inaccurate and hateful stereotypes is not what we stand for in New York City,” Boeglin said.   

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

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from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rLNWr7

[intersectionalfemmesurgence-blog]

PART 1: THE INVESTIGATION

Examining SKAM through the intersectional femmesurgence theory.

SKAM is a Norwegian drama series that focuses each season on a specific teenager at Hartvig Nissen School. Its fourth season places a spotlight on the experiences of Sana Bakkoush, a strong, independent, Muslim girl who struggles to balance her Islamic values with the values of her peers in contemporary Norwegian society.

1. Questions to develop and focus examination:

How does the artifact challenge or promote stereotypical characters or relationships?

Challenges the stereotype of the “oppressed” Muslim woman

Displays parts of Islam that promote feminism and empower women

How does the artifact deal with cultural diversity?

Displays cultural diversity almost as a casual reality

Sana and her family are not social pariahs; they blend into society well

Despite how well integrated they are into Norwegian society, they still face microaggressions in society that make them feel alienated on a daily basis

How does the artifact promote, distort or challenge western values?

At a time where nationalism is the name of the game for many political leaders in Western society, Sana’s prime role in SKAM highlights the humanity of first, second, or third generation immigrants who benefit from multiculturalism

Sana’s interactions with her peers and other people in her community highlight the flaws and limitations of Western society when racism and intolerance exist

Positive experiences with her friends also promote modern Western values of tolerance

SKAM recreates the experiences of a new generation of multiethnic women who promote western values while subsequently preserving their cultural values

What values are promoted or denigrated?

Despite being a Norwegian show, SKAM attempts to display both Islamic and Norwegian culture from an unbiased, objective perspective

Promotes and denigrates various aspects of Norwegian culture

In doing so, captures the realities of any culture; culture is not perfect, it is ever shifting and is shaped by societal values

What is the essential morality that is promoted?

The show’s overall messages promote drawing one’s own boundaries of where morality lies

Messages like these are crucial in contemporary society, where the morality and values of various cultures clash in multicultural communities

What fears and anxieties or hopes and desires are promoted?

Sana experiences the quintessential challenges highlighted in intersectional femmesurgence theory (conflicting cultural gender expectations that elicit anxiety in women of multiethnic backgrounds)

Her fears and anxieties attached to xenophobia in Norway (and arguably, any Western society) are justified in season four of SKAM as comments of subdued racism and sexism are directed towards her by both her friends and family

However, these justifications of fear are also combatted by messages of hope and acceptance (ie: Isak and Sana’s interaction - will be explained and explored in the analysis in stage 2)

What is the political climate?

Like much of the Western (and largely non-Western world), Norwegian culture is highly influenced by current events in America

Images of US President Donald Trump in as early as the first scene of the season set the tone of the political climate (xenophobia is common)

In a sociopolitical environment shaped by xenophobia, terrorism, and multiculturalism, women like Sana who physically display their loyalty to a culture outside of the Western sphere face the brunt of societal judgment

What are the standards of beauty and sex appeal?

Despite being a regular teenager with the same desires and emotions as her peers, Sana’s friends often (wrongly) suggest that she does not have to “worry” about boys like they do

Underlying messages suggest that because Sana wears a hijab, she does not conform to their standards of beauty; she is not viewed as desirable

In contrast, if Sana were to remove her hijab to conform to Norwegian standards of beauty, she would be alienated from her heritage culture and would inevitably lose a piece of her personal identity (she draws strength and confidence from her hijab- unlike what Western society often suggests, she is not oppressed by the hijab. Instead, she is empowered by it.)

What are the standards of normalcy or deviance that are depicted?

Normalcy in Norwegian society is depicted as hyper-sexualized, fast-paced; Sana’s peers are deeply involved in partying, drinking, and sexual relationships

In contrast, Sana is expected to carry herself with modesty; her mother constantly reminds her to be careful and hold on to her cultural values despite the norms of stereotypical Western/Norwegian youth culture

Sana, like many women of multiethnic backgrounds, sits at the crowded intersection of two cultures with conflicting gender expectations and values. Unable to conform to both, she is labelled as a deviant in both Islamic society and Norwegian society

She does not completely conform to either culture, and therefore, she is labelled as a deviant in both

2. Read the literature on Generation Z to get a sense of how your generation is defined, as well as how a social scientist approaches pop culture artifacts.

Through the Eyes of Generation Z (Globe and Mail)

Ideas of hyper political correctness are explored in SKAM, when Sana and a friend discuss the importance of asking questions about other cultures at the risk of appearing racist; the conversation reinforces that, in societies where multiple cultures clash, questions and answers can lead to a genuine understanding. By having open conversations about culture, individuals in a multicultural society can avoid dangerous and racist assumptions that lead to social fragmentation.

Riverdale and Twin Peaks Question Whether America Was Ever Great at All (Vanity Fair)

At surface level, Sana’s experiences at the intersection of being a modern Norwegian youth and a devout Muslim seem smooth and problem free; similar to America’s white picket fence + green grass persona;

One can consider and question whether Canada, America, or any other multicultural society is as great and accepting as it seems (when many hybrid youth often feel detached from the culture that surrounds them)

The Oversharing Economy (Walrus)

Similar to ideas in the article about an individual’s outward “mask” (element of symbolic interactionism theories), SKAM explores Sana’s “mask” as a coping mechanism of not fitting into her social community

Notably, lipstick (stereotypically female; perhaps a symbol of her femininity?) can be seen as a projection and defence mechanism related to how comfortable/alienated Sana is feeling in a particular scene; she wears harsh, dark lipstick in situations where she wants to appear strong and unaffected by the judgment and social pressures that surround her; This can be compared to Kelly Oxford’s “jerk mom” online persona; (afraid to be vulnerable?)

Move Over Millennials, Here Comes Generation Z (New York Times)

A social scientist can instantly see that SKAM genuinely attempts to capture life as it is for teenagers growing up in western society in 2017; not only does it capture overarching themes of sexuality, politics, and peer pressure that are ever-present in the lives of modern teens, but it also explores personal issues such as identity, morality, and culture in today’s complex and diverse globalized world.

Technology is an incredibly large part of the characters’ lives in the show; captures the “wired” nature of youth that is investigated in the article

The show explores the inherent struggles of multiculturalism  and depicts it from both sides (Sana’s internal struggle to conform to both culture’s expectations AND her friends’ struggle to understand her culture)