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emberkeelty · 2 years ago

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Gosh I have so many thoughts about the Sapphic Showdown discourse!

Personal bias disclaimer: I've never watched Supergirl and have zero interest in watching Supergirl. Meanwhile, Utena is one of my favorite stories ever that I consider a classic and a masterpiece. Under just about any conceivable context, if you were to ask me, "Which is better, Utena or-" I would cut you off right there and just say, "Utena." Okay? Okay!

I'm going to use this post as a jumping-off point. I'm linking instead of reblogging first of all because I don't want to make my followers have to read through OP's belligerence before getting to see whether I'm agreeing with or contesting it (I am definitely contesting it!) and second of all because I would rather if at all possible avoid dragging OP into a confrontation about this. I don't know anything about her beyond this one post that showed up on my dash via reblog. I have no reason to think she isn't a perfectly fine person overall. Also, just saying, she seems like she has good taste in anime. Anyway, that post is useful because it shows the brackets and also sums up what seems to be the central point of The Discourse:

this is just Exhibit A of Fandom People™ caring more about “shippable” characters and having “ship moments” than they do actual canon queer rep

First of all, I don't think the poll results actually mean much. For one thing, we know that paid bots get involved with polls like these. For another... as far as media that centers female characters goes, Supergirl is about as mainstream as it gets. It's live action, English language, and based on a corporate IP. Superheroes are currently fashionable and no longer even a little bit nerdy. Superman is the most timeless and well-known superhero of all, and most people have probably at least heard of his constellation of spinoffs. Supergirl winning a popularity contest over anything even a little bit more niche is just regression to the mean. All it says about the people voting for it is that they have basic taste, and I mean that in the least insulting way possible.

Second of all, let's say this is a demonstration of what the above sentence claims it demonstrates. In the context of a twitter popularity poll with zero real-world consequences... why would that even matter? What tangible harm is being done by LGBT people - and in the context of "Fandom People" who care either about f/f shippiness or actual canon queer rep (or both!), we are talking mainly about fans who are LGBT, many of them specifically queer women - getting more personal enjoyment out of something basic and mainstream than out of something politically important? How much impact is that really going to have on what media gets made going forward, let alone how LGBT women are treated more broadly on a societal level?

I would say it's actually the opposite of progressive to insist that the mere existence of LGBT people is so inherently political that we shouldn't ever get to relax and do normal, harmless human things like openly enjoying mediocre television, but must instead dedicate every moment of our lives to performing a political identity. The only actual utility value of a random LGBT person's personal enjoyment of media is the enjoyment itself. In this case, "let people enjoy things" isn't a cop-out, but a coherent ethical stance with the aim of maximizing utility.

I do think that some people who went for Supergirl over any of the other options might personally benefit on some level from broadening their horizons, and that personal benefit might in turn have some infinitesimal knock-on benefit to the broader community. But framing this as purely a matter of "supporting" the media with the "best" "representation" as part of a political performance is actively counterproductive to that goal, because it erases the possibility of joy in engaging with queer media and turns it into a chore - "eating your vegetables," as one particularly obnoxious old-school fangirl said in her infamous and widely mocked essay on engaging more with marginalized characters as an unpleasant but morally improving project rather than a labor of love.

Now, all of the above is pretty similar to stuff I've seen said before in the context of discussions about m/m fandom, which I have zero stake or interest in. What makes the Sapphic Showdown so interesting to me is that I have more specific in-depth knowledge and opinions on a lot of the media being discussed, so I'm going to get into some of my thoughts about that.

One thing that immediately jumped out to me was Alphyne from Undertale being held up as a canon ship that everyone should in every possible context care about more than whatever is going on in Supergirl simply because it is canon and therefore Actual Rep. Undertale is one of my all-time favorite games, and it means a lot to me that it contains a canon f/f couple, and I myself love Undyne and Alphys and have had way more intense feelings about them both as individual characters and as a couple than I will ever have about anything or anyone in Supergirl. BUT. It is worth mentioning that they are secondary characters whose relationship gets relatively little onscreen development. I think it is pretty understandable for audiences to get more emotionally invested in relationships that get more narrative focus, whether those relationships are actually canon queer or just shippy! Catradora is so compelling not just because they declare their love for each other and kiss onscreen, but because they do that as part of the climactic scene that the whole story was building up to. Catra's and Adora's love for each other and the thorny, difficult road they took to realizing it is the very heart of the show! And that "central relationship" element can be there even when the relationship in question isn't necessarily canonically romantic. I don't know how much that's the case with Kara/Lena, but one example I can point to is NagiHono from Futari Wa Precure. The show wastes an unfortunate amount of time establishing and maintaining plausible deniability about Nagisa's sexuality, but her het crush is only ever hovering on the margins of the story, where her ambiguously gay bond with Honoka is the very heart of the show. The two girls stand together against the end of the world, repeatedly putting their lives on the line for each other. To me as a lesbian watching this, it means something when Nagisa lies in bed with Honoka and says, "I'll be by your side forever, if you'll have me, even though I'm not good at domestic stuff," and when she calls her "my most important person," and the show's refusal to commit to this being what it looks like can't completely erase that meaning.

Another thing that needs to be said is that it's kind of hypocritical to be having this discussion over Utena in particular, given that the canonicity of Utena/Anthy in the tv series is... uh... complicated. Ikuhara was basically always treating it as romantic, but Saito was vehemently against that! In terms of what made it to the screen, the story only comes together thematically if you accept that they are in love, but it is possible to refuse to accept that without resorting to blatantly countertextual readings. Utena denies that her feelings for Anthy are in any way sexual as late as the third-to-last episode. It's clear that something big changes in the last two episodes when she regains her repressed memories and rejects her false prince, but she never has the chance to articulate that as explicitly as she articulated her earlier denials. And you know, I think any framework under which the Utena tv series could be treated as a lesser work than every and any show where two women explicitly declare their romantic love and kiss each other is not really a framework worth engaging with.

And really, the whole idea that the entire point of media as it relates to LGBT people is to have Good Representation is just a set-up for tearing down anything less than perfect - which is ultimately everything, because it's impossible for any one show to be all things to all people. We've seen this with people denigrating everything that came before She-Ra when Catradora kissed, and again with people denigrating She-Ra when Lumity got together mid-series rather than right at the end. Other people have explained how this is a really bad state of affairs for anyone who cares either about getting to see fictional LGBTQ characters on screen or about the well-being of the real-world LGBTQ creators who put them there, and I'm running out of steam, so I'll just point out that saying people's most important criteria in what ships they like should always be political purity feeds into it, and that's not good!

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adamwatchesmovies · 2 years ago

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Hackers (1995)

Hackers is on the cusp of being a good film. Even if you don’t like it, you can understand its appeal. A product of its time (for the better I say) it may in no way reflects what computer hacking is actually like but the picture’s got plenty of style.

Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) is a prodigal hacker who has finally gotten off of his no-computer parole (as per a judge ruling). Now 18, he befriends a group of hackers at his high school and, while proving his computing skills, stumbles upon a corporation's extortion scheme.

In reality, hacking more often than not consists of guesswork. Is the password their birthdate? The name of their first pet? They seem to have a strange fascination for Deep Blue Sea, so perhaps you should try “shark”? Hackers dips its toe in this reality but if you can operate a computer in this film, you’re basically a wizard. Turn traffic lights on and off? Sure. Alter someone’s criminal record? Easy peasy. Why not go all the way and pronounce them dead? No problem. You'll either cringe at the inaccuracies or appreciate the 90’s-ness on display. Today, hackers are stealing your credit card information or locking you out of your computer unless you pay a ransom. Back when the internet was a new thing, being a hacker meant you were part of this elusive group that was “In the know”. It meant you knew how computers worked and that - if you were stealing from anyone - it was from a big corporation that was probably up to no good. You were a criminal, sure, but really, you were someone who had a cheat code to life, a person to be admired. That’s the headspace you have to put yourself in while watching this Iain Softley picture. If you can manage that, you'll have fun.

Even for the time, aspects of "Hackers" are flimsy. The characters are flat. Aside from liking computers and having a certain disregard for authority figures, you don’t know much about Dade. Similarly, his new friends Ramon “The Phantom Phreak” Sanchez (Renoly Santiago), Emmanuel “Cereal Killer” Goldstein (Matthew Lillard), Paul “Lord Nikon” Cook (Laurence Mason) and Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford) are so thin they basically become generic hacker stand-ins. Angelina Jolie as Kate does a little bit better, mostly because she's the only female in the group and has more screen time than the rest, but even then, you wouldn’t know what to bring up in a conversation. At least they fare better than the picture’s villain, Eugene “The Plague” Belford (Fisher Stevens, looking an awful lot like Billy Mitchell). They all fit in this era of filmmaking, but there’s much more that could’ve been done with them.

One of the film’s most notable aspects has to be its visuals. “Wait, what? Isn’t this film about people typing on their keyboards?” Yes, but that’s not what you see. It’s not quite on the same level as Tron, which is really a fantasy film with a coat of “computer jargon” on top, but it’s getting there. When Dade and his friends hop online, the audience is treated to cool sights as city blocks turn into visual representations of what it would be like to navigate the web if websites where three-dimensional. We all know it’s nothing like that in real life, but it sure makes for some interesting images.

While Hackers does not reflect what breaking into a corporation’s server is really like, it does understand the mindspace of its people. It shows you that desire to stand out from the crowd, the need to create a new identity via handles, breaks down why someone would find it so exciting to spend hours (theoretically) pouring through code to find that one line that allows them access into a backdoor in a program. This is a wild exaggeration, but it has some distant ancestor that was the real deal. There are a few too many parts that’ll make you go “Come on, REALLY?” but I can still mildly recommend Hackers. (On DVD, May 4, 2018)

#Hackers #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Iain Softley #Rafael Moreu #Jonny Lee Miller #Angelina Jolie #Fisher Stevens #Lorrain Bracco #1995 movies #1995 films

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iceflame14rulez · 4 years ago

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Here's an idea, and, it may sound crazy, so bear with me... why don't we have an electoral debate where ALL the candidates for presidency are able to participate? There were at least four people up for presidency, not two in the 2020 election. There are at least four parties, if not more, in the United States, not two. Trump and Biden were up for presidency, obviously, but there were more people on the ballot.

To those of you who don't know, the libertarian candadate, Jo Jorgensen, had this platform, which the media covered very little of.

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Healthcare and social security

Jorgensen supports a free-market healthcare system financed by individual spending accounts that could keep any savings, which she believes would increase healthcare providers' incentive to compete by meeting consumer demand for low-cost services. She opposes single-payer healthcare, calling it "disastrous".

Jorgensen supports replacing Social Security with individual retirement accounts.[25] In the final debate of the primaries, candidate Jacob Hornberger accused Jorgensen of "support[ing] the welfare state through Social Security and Medicare". In response, she called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" and said she would allow people to opt out of the program on her first day in office. But she emphasized the constitutional inability of a president to unilaterally end the program without Congress's support, as well as the need for the government to fulfill existing Social Security obligations. Under Jorgensen's plan, those who opt out would put 6.2% of their payroll taxes in individual retirement accounts and receive prorated Social Security benefits for existing contributions as zero-coupon bonds for retirement.

Criminal justice and drug policy

Jorgensen opposes federal civil asset forfeiture and qualified immunity. She opposes the war on drugs and supports abolishing drug laws, promising to pardon all nonviolent drug offenders. She has urged the demilitarization of police.

Foreign policy and defense

Jorgensen opposes embargoes, economic sanctions, and foreign aid; she supports non-interventionism, armed neutrality, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad.

Immigration, economics, and trade

Jorgensen calls for deregulation, arguing that it would reduce poverty. She supports cutting government spending to reduce taxes.

Jorgensen supports the freedom of American citizens to travel and trade, calls for the elimination of trade barriers and tariffs, and supports the repeal of quotas on the number of people who can legally enter the United States to work, visit, or reside. In a Libertarian presidential primary debate, Jorgensen said she would immediately stop construction on President Donald Trump's border wall. During another primary debate she blamed anti-immigration sentiment on disproportionate media coverage of crimes by immigrants. She argued that immigration helps the economy and that the blending of cultures is benificial.

COVID-19

Jorgensen has characterized the U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as overly bureaucratic and authoritarian, calling restrictions on individual behavior (such as stay-at-home orders) and corporate bailouts "the biggest assault on our liberties in our lifetime".

Jorgensen opposes government mask mandates, considering mask-wearing a matter of personal choice. She argues that mask-wearing would be widely adopted without government intervention because market competition would drive businesses to adopt either mask-required or mask-optional policies, allowing consumers the freedom to choose their preferred environment. Jorgensen has invoked the analogy of dollar voting to argue that consumer preferences would shape businesses' policies on face masks in the absence of a government mandate.

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The Green party's candadate, Howie Hawkins, was ALSO up for presidency. This was his platform.

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COVID-19 EMERGENCY MEASURES FOR THE DURATION OF THE CRISIS

Medicare to Pay for COVID-19 Testing and Treatment and All Emergency Health Care. Defense Production Act to Rapidly Plan the Production and Distribution of Medical Supplies and a Universal Test, Contact Trace, and Quarantine Program to Safely Reopen the Economy. An OSHA Temporary Standard to Provide Enforceable PPE Protection for Workers. $2,000 a Month to All Adults Over Age 16 and $500 per Child. Loans to All Businesses and Hospitals for Payroll and Fixed Overhead To Be Forgiven If All Workers Are Kept on Payroll. Moratorium on Evictions, Foreclosures, and Utility Shutoffs. Cancel Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Payments; Federal Government Pays Those Bills; High-income People Pay Taxes on this Relief. Suspend Student Loan Payments with 0% Interest Accumulation. Federal Universal Rent Control. Aid to State and Local Governments Sufficient to Keep Essential Services Running. A 10-Year, $42 Trillion Ecosocialist Green New Deal for Economic Recovery through a Just Transition to 100% Clean Energy by 2030. Universal Mail-in Ballots for the 2020 General Election.

PEACE POLICIES

Pledge No First Use of Nuclear Weapons. Unilaterally Disarm to a Minimum Credible Deterrent. Negotiate with Nuclear Powers to Enact the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. End the Endless Wars—US Troops Home. Cut the Military Budget by 75%. Invest the Savings in a Global Green New Deal. Use Diplomacy and International Law to Promote Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy.

ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS

Job Guarantee. Guaranteed Minimum Income Above Poverty. $20 Minimum Wage. Affordable Housing for All through Universal Rent Control and Public Housing. Medicare for All—A Community-Controlled National Health Service. Lifelong Free Public Education—Pre-K through College. Secure Retirement—Double Social Security Benefits

POLITICAL DEMOCRACY

Ranked-Choice National Popular Vote for President. Proportional Representation in Congress. End Party Suppression—Fair Ballot Access. End Voter Suppression—Restore the Preclearance Provision to the Voting Rights Act. Right to Vote Constitutional Amendment. Automatic Voter Registration. Voting Rights for Felons. Auditable Paper Balloting. Full Public Campaign Finance. We The People Amendment to End the Corporate-Personhood and Money-Is-Speech Legal Doctrines. DC Statehood

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Had i known about this, about them, I would have proudly voted for Jorgensen or Hawkins, because, instead of being "the lesser of two evils", they actually sound like someone we genuinely need right now. We need to stand up for the people not getting their voices heard. I want a presidential election that has EVERYONE'S voice heard. To those of you who have been oppressed, beaten down, and learned to cope with being ignored just because someone didn't like what you had to say, you need to help the other candidates get their voices heard in the future. I don't know about you, but I want a United States that is concerned about the true freedom of speech, one which is fair and actually willing to hear what all our people have to say.

It's a dream that even Martin Luther King Jr. had. He saw the oppression of African Americans, and spoke out about having a dream that everyone could be heard.

When our country was founded, we were all immigrants. Everyone came from another place, even those we call Native Americans. Why is it that today, people are being rejected simply for needing to take refuge from a government abuser in some other country? We have lost sight of what our great nation is all about. We need to have our voices heard.

The next time there's a government position to replace, remember what I had to say. We are not sheep, who are to be headed toward the majority just because it's easy. We are human beings. We need to stop this suppression of the people's voices. We need to stand up to the government, to the media, to let everyone be heard.

Our nation is on the verge of a civil war, in part due to the oppression of the people. If you want to be heard, you need to stand up for what you believe in. Violence isn't necessary, but your right to free speech is. DO NOT LET THEM SUPPRESS YOUR VOICE.

EDIT: I would like to add, that in order for our POLITICAL voices to be heard, there is still something we need to change. If you would like to hear what is needed, there's a list of videos on the subject. If you really want to have your voices heard, we need to start here, with ranked voting. For more information, click this link.

#politics #human rights #free speech

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thejudgingtrash · 5 years ago

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Now hold up I would personally love to hear a full rant on this supposed adaptation I have never heard of until now. Like, legitimately, I wanna know what you have to say about this cause you seem to be one of the most valid PJO blogs

Uhhh what??? Me one of the most valid PJO blogs??? What kinda crack have you been smoking WHAT afahsgjskdh.

But still thank you 😊🥺🙈

Alright, you wanted a rant. You got a rant. Fuck the positives let’s just straight up jump into my aggression.

WARNING: Massive rant with a lot of swear words. If you can’t handle the heat, feel free to ignore this. I personally haven’t worked in Hollyweird, but I had some behind the scenes stuff here in Europe going on for a short period and also the trusty words of my college professors. So here will be a lot of prediction and speculation involved. Yes, I know that I’m a huge hypocrite for voicing my opinions based on stuff that hasn’t been pushed through in months and that I could be easily proven wrong in a few weeks/months. Still thank you should you actually take the time to read through this tomfuckery.

If things are wrong, please DO correct me!

Links to further reads will be included partially.

TL;DR: Keep your hopes to a low, stop harassing people online and mAnAgE yOuR eXpEcTaTiOnS!!111!!

Okay. First things first:

DISNEY

DOESN’T

GIVE

SINGLE

FUCK

ABOUT

YOU

Disney is a fucking multi-billion dollar corporation with many, many, many studios, stations, brands and franchises worldwide. The Percy Jackson franchise is a dime in a dozen. Disney doesn’t give a single fuck about the PJO fandom in general.

Disney doesn’t give a fuck about you 20-something year old with your 9 year old blog discussing which toilet paper brand Percy uses. And Disney also doesn’t give a fuck about you 16 year old, writing the worst fucking Solangelo fanfic I’ve read so far on this hellsite. Like goddamn.

Trust me, they know you are interested. They know they got you hooked. They see the numbers, they see the like/reblog ratio, they see the Twitter engagement. They see you with #disneyadaptpercyjackson. They see the petitions, they see how excited you were for the musical. You don’t get to be a gigantic conglomerate like Disney with playing stupid.

Also to you fuckfarts saying oH nO I wOn’T wAtCh It I dOn’T cArE aBoUt NeW sTuFf. Congrats dipshit. You are STILL alerting followers and people about what’s happening and creating more buzz, giving more awareness and adding to the transaction costs. You really cheated the system, you little edgelord. Again:

You are nothing but a number. You are a fucking walking dollar bill. You are a consumer waiting for a new shiny product to fill the void in your life for 45 minutes weekly or by two hours at some point.

The PJO movies 1. & 2 happened for a reason. Because Fox saw a popular book series á la Harry Potter, Twilight (and The Hunger Games) and wanted a piece of that action. They wanted your fucking money. Them entirely fucking up and ignoring Riordan’s advice is on them of course. But still. The movies happened. (And also saw people saying they were flops. Reception wise: hell yes. They are awful adaptations (not per se awful movies, there’s a difference). But money wise?? They made together over 245 million dollars in profit. Of course, that isn’t today’s Marvel level but it’s still fairly decent. Also don’t forget that the second movie still got greenlit. Interest was still there despite part one. You disliking something doesn’t turn it into a flop)).

Again, Disney doesn’t care about you. THIS is what Disney cares about:

1. MONEY

2. PROFIT

3. ENGAGEMENT

4. TOTAL GROSS

5. CONVERSION RATES

11. …. “Artistry“

So in terms of money, we gotta speak about the on-going woke culture. You know, lgbtqia+ stuff, poc representation and all the good shit we want and need in our life, right?

Well, I got bad news for ya. Disney being money hungry has its massive downsides. Because where is the money? In the east. Well and what happens if we include the woke stuff? Possible censorships (even retroactively! You know Gravity Falls went through that), bans, etc.

So all of you talking about representation and artistic vision and being bold and brave and blablabla… Throw that into the fucking trash. We can probably be glad if we get Grover back as the token black kid and a few other minorities sprinkled here and there. Open gay Nico? Doubt it. Your afro-latino Percy head canon? Definitely keep that but unlikely to be realized. And also, if you think that Annabeth wouldn’t get turned into the blandest whitest “I dOn’T nEeD nO mAn“ radfem, I got some bad news for ya…

The likelihood of everything being dumbed down, toned down with the exception of a few adult jokes or being even partially censored (depending on certain regions) is very, very high.

Also what makes you think we’re even getting close to the Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo saga? I doubt you will see The Seven for a long time unless Riordan really says fuck it and throws his final ace card into Disney’s filthy greedy mouth.

So if Disney doesn’t have the fandom’s interest at heart, what are they interested in? Well… MONEY. Also NEW engagement. They know your funky ass is going to tune in. They know people will pirate the shit (Me waving like a maniac), they all KNOW that. Again, they aren’t stupid.

So: MORE engagement. MORE money. How do we get even more engagement? By luring new people into the fandom. Who is most likely going to get lured into a family friendly show/movie series because let’s not forget that we’re talking about Disney+? The targeted audience of the books. Who is the targeted audience of the books? MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. 11 to 14 year olds. Disney wants those kids’ (well their parents’ hard earned) money. They want to sell products, in that case books + Disney Plus subscriptions + possible merch. There you also have the likely future rating for the fucking show. Sorry to disappoint everyone that was hoping for gritty Game of Thrones filled with 12 year olds (like seriously wtf?).

Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about the outlook on the show/movie and Riordan’s influence that you people clearly overestimate.

How much power or say does Rick Riordan actually have?

ZERO. ABSOLUTELY NONE.

He’s in the worst fucking lose-lose-situation you could imagine.

Disney owns the books and Fox owns the movie rights. Wait. Fox got bought. By whom you ask? DISNEY, what a coincidence! In Rick Riordan’s own words:

Disney has him by his fucking balls and could crush them at any minute. And if you think, that Disney is letting go of that sweet sweet intellectual property you are fucking mistaken. Riordan isn’t a J.K. Rowling who OWNS the Wizarding World. You have no idea what Disney are capable of with massive lobbying that goes so far to influence copyright laws in the States (LINK)

So you can stop harassing him about a fucking Netflix adaptation as well! Or petitions that do nothing but annoy people.

These negotiations take up YEARS to get the simplest stuff done. No need to shit your pants whenever Riordan’s tweeting stuff.

Still: would Disney be fucking mad to do this without him? Absolutely!

Should Disney involve him to prevent a PJO movie 2.0 scenario?

Yes, they definitely should!

But CAN Disney do this without him?

OF COURSE THEY CAN! THEY OWN EVERYTHING.

In Riordan’s own words:

Read carefully what he has written. He doesn’t say he’s going to halter productions, he’s saying HE WON’T BE A PART OF IT. This also makes me curious about WHO approached WHO in the first place (my guess Disney tried to make some amendments because Fox ain’t shit and trying to alienate the author again would be a goddamn stupid move). Disney has the fucking film rights. Of course they can pump out shit without involving him. They could pull a Fantastic Four (the awful 2015 version) just to keep the rights and for the fuck of it.

There are the following possibilities with Riordan’s involvement:

1. Riordan as a producer: Dude’s gotta be loaded. We know that. But backing the production costs many, many, many millions and I don’t know if he’s THAT loaded. Also film producing isn’t his forte.

2. Riordan as a screenplay writer: Now we’re getting closer to something. Yes, many productions these days have authors directly involved which is great! But also can go the other way around (J.K. Rowling and her Grindelwald fiasco. Author’s do NEED to learn when to stop intermeddling with their franchises, just saying) Book writing and screenplay writing are two very DIFFERENT disciplines. You don’t have the liberties of book writing when it comes to film. The screenplay is the guide for the entire production, the visuals, the set design, the whole atmosphere of the product, the very first thing that needs to be done so that directors, designers and lastly the casted actors know what they have to do. Everything has to come to a point in a very short time and there are many, many, many versions of a screenplay before a final raw draft gets handed out. If that isn’t in Riordan’s interest (which I can completely understand) then that’s simply not happening

3. Riordan as a guide: Directors, screenplay writers, etc. sit down with Riordan on a regular basis to show him the written screenplay, which actors they have in mind, the whole vision and he has a mini veto right.

If you ask me, a mix of scenario 2 and 3 is the most likely to be the most successful. That means, that Riordan needs to have a good faithful team, that sticks closely to the source material. That isn’t guaranteed! Again: look at the PJO movies. But of course, we don’t know the internals of these meetings.

So… now the final part. The whole fucking “Animation vs. Live action“ debate. Well, both sides have their pro’s and con’s. And both sides are filled with a bunch of fucking morons. I won’t try to get you to either side.

But to those that want are begging for a live action version with age-appropriate actors I have the following to say:

FUCK

YOU

PARTICULAR!

WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WANT CHILDREN TO GO THROUGH THE HELL THAT IS DISNEY AND THE SHADY SHIT GOING ON THERE SO THAT YOU CAN BE ENTERTAINED FOR SOME MERE MINUTES?!

Oh my god…. You people REALLY really want a fourth wave Me Too movement in 15-20 years. Not every Hollyweird kid has a helicopter parent hovering around them on set and many do get abused/robbed by their parents. And the people involved in the production! Of course, animation has still a chance of this happening but the risk is somewhat lower when it just comes to voice acting.

Tbh, I actually wouldn’t mind an aged-up cast again just to prevent this as best as possible. Unfortunately, child actors will always be needed.

I have nothing much to add to this, I’ll just drop a link to an old small post from me about that right here (LINK)

Personally I lean more towards animation but in the big picture I won’t care. (Also the whole animation is for kids and dumbs down the whole narrative for PJO is fucking stupid, boo boo the fool. You being in your late teens/twenties and grown out of the targeted audience is the cause of nature. Animation can be mature or would you show Attack on Titan or South Park to your 8 year old cousin?)

I’ll be just tuning in to see if this is as messy as I’d expect it to be or to be pleasantly surprised.

Also again: this process is a long one. It’s going to be exhausting, depressing, demanding, pushing.

From the meetings now that will take a very long time, to a screenplay, which can take YEARS in finalizing, to hiring staff, location hunting and set design (should they go the live action route), to casting, to costume design, to rehearsing/production, to filming, to dispersing, to editing, to fx, to finishing, to marketing, to publishing, NOTHING IS SET IN STONE! This is a very, very, very, wanky process despite contracts and everything on paper. Let’s not forget, Disney can afford some good lawyers.

And even if everything goes as smoothly as possible. Higher up people could see the final edit of everything with editors having scenes close to the books in an a/b/c/d cut and some producer says NO! I want an c/a/b/d version that again fucks up the dynamics of the books. Or something terrible: everything is shot and done and THEN it get’s postponed. Or even fucking worse: SHELVED to be NEVER RELEASED. Aka Henry Selick’s career after Coraline (Coraline from 2009 is STILL his latest release because of his fucked up Disney contract and them cancelling his shit). Millions of dollars wasted and we won’t get to see ANYTHING. This is all very possible and happens constantly in the film business AND at Disney. This is nothing new.

And there’s nothing we can do about it. No one cares about Riordan, no one cares about the books, no one cares about the fandom.

DISNEY holds the cards. DISNEY gets to decide. Neither Riordan, nor you nor me hold ANY power in this.

So kids… what have we learned today? In conclusion:

Keep your hopes to a low, stop harassing people online and mAnAgE yOuR eXpEcTaTiOnS!!111!!

That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say.

WHEW.

#percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson movie #percy jackson #percy jackson adaptation #disney #disney adapt percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #nico di angelo #rick riordan #riordanverse #my rants

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girlbookwrm · 6 years ago

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Avengers: Age of Art Movie? ART?? MOVIE

DAY ONE

the title for this chapter of the Mighty Pre-Endgame Rewatch comes from the fact that Joss Whedon apparently said, of Age of Ultron:

“I was trying to make a little art movie. Which is actually, a pretty shitty thing to do to a studio that gives you a lot of money.”

which??? ok?????

so we went into this looking for Joss Whedon’s Art Movie

It’s worth noting before we get into this that I’m a fan of a lot of things Joss Whedon has done over the years, as much as I give him crap sometimes, and actually, I don’t know that I hate this movie as much as is common. I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying it in the past? I go back and forth. I saw it in theaters and was like “actually I like this it’s pretty ok” and then I saw it again like “OH NO THIS IS AWFUL” and then again like “OH NO IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN I REMEMBER” and now I’m watching it again like “actually......” and I think it’s that the quality is very. uneven?

it is also worth noting that it took us TWO DAYS to watch this because we kept having to pause the movie in order to GO OFF which meant that this 2 hour 22 minute movie took us like SIX HOURS to watch. at first it was just me and The Roommate @goteamwin but on Day Two the Gal Pal @pegasuschick joined us.

anyway on with the rewatch (day one)

I STILL MISS THE OLD MARVEL LOGO! SO MUCH!

So the opening shot of this movie is from the twins’ POV and this was the first point that we paused the movie to fully Go Off because goddamn

can you imagine how much better this battle scene would be from the twins’ pov?

like: there’s all these explosions and shaky cam and a monster roaring and you’re like “oh god is it aliens? it must be aliens? and these soldiers dying everywhere and the city is getting destroyed etc etc

and then you realize it’s not aliens, it’s not HYDRA, it’s not some terrible overpowered terrorists

it’s the Avengers.

now THAT would be an art film

anyway back to the rewatch

Steve Rogers: IT IS 2015, I AM NINETY SEVEN YEARS OLD AND I AM STILL FIGHTING NAZIS I AM T I R E D

this is all looking real fake it has not aged well and it wasn’t that great to start with

“they’re the avengers” he said, sounding so confused and so so tired

aaaaaand here we paused the movie AGAIN to talk for twenty minutes, mostly about how if this whole “”’”art movie”’’’’’’’ had been shot from the Twins perspective, that would have been a better set up for Civil War and also super interesting

“We are here to help” why is the Iron Legion speaking Very American English in an eastern? european? city

Old Man Dad Clint

there’s two weirdly different movies happening here and they do not sit well together: like, a dark spooky serious one and a quippy Joss Whedon action movie

and don’t get me wrong, one of my favorite things about Joss Whedon is how he uses humor to really give his sad moments Extra Punch he’s a master of that

but this is just jarring

“please be a secret door please be a secret door” followed by the world’s tiniest and most adorable “~yay~” is the most endearing thing Tony has ever done in his life I would die for him

The Problem Is Not Brucetasha.

THE PROBLEM is that the BruceTasha dynamic doesn’t just come out of left field, it comes from a different sport entirely. it comes from another planet.

I think there’s potential for an interesting dynamic here but we get ZERO buildup to it

like in the last movie, Natasha is scared of the Hulk, like, literally shaking in shock TERRIFIED of the Hulk, but we see nothing of her deciding to run directly at the thing that scares her most

and we get ZERO explanation of like -- Natasha likes Bruce AND the Hulk, and Bruce AND the Hulk both like Natasha and that’s an interesting dynamic too, but we get NONE OF THAT

it’s very frustrating

also, where does Wanda’s horror movie aesthetic go? is it the same place her accent goes?

Tony’s dream sequence is... p badly shot, given that it’s his driving motivation for THE REST OF THE SERIES

Me: this is weirdly shot, right?

The Roommate, A Professional: Yes. *in a very fancy voice:* ~From a cinematic perspective~

Me: *starts cracking up*

The Roommate: But seriously, they’ve gone for a weirdly wide angle in this very emotional moment and it would make more sense to do tight shots here, but--

Me: *still cracking up*

The Roommate: really?

Me: ~from a cinematic perspective~ trolololol

AND LITERALLY HERE IS WHERE WE GET THE TITLE CARD. THAT’S HOW LONG, SPIRITUALLY, THIS OPENING IS.

Why was Bruce NOT expecting a Code Green? like? It’s HYDRA, of COURSE they’re gonna pull out all the stops??

We get like two minutes of Thor&Steve&Tony being bros, for the purpose of exposition here, and then the party sequence, and literally the rest of the movie is them all arguing with each other

and we stopped the movie again to talk for ten minutes about how much more Impactful AVENGERS: CIVIL WAR would be if we had even one (1) movie of the Avengers actually being a team

this is exactly why it took us two days to watch this movie

“Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler.”

And again, we stopped the movie (seriously, it’s our own fault this took so long to watch) because LET’S UNPACK THIS

TONY PAYS FOR EVERYTHING?

TONY MAKES ALL THEIR SHIT?

TONY DOES THEIR DESIGN WORK?

AND LET US NOT FORGET THAT SHIELD RECENTLY FELL APART

WHICH MEANS THAT THIS IS STARK INDUSTRIES PRESENTS: the avengers

and that is A L A R M I N G

legally speaking

and also morally speaking

like goddamn.

no wonder ppl freak out about it? let’s jump on THAT for CW

(also, when we recapped this for the Gal Pal’s benefit on Day Two, she pointed out that Tony puts his name on everything and he probably got that from his daddy -- like in TFA, they’re doing this experiment for the Army but LITERALLY EVERY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT has the Stark Industries tag on it

Steve probably has the SI logo tattooed on his ass

he doesn’t know it

tony knows it

and wishes he didn’t)

all that aside, this is an A+ On Point Steve and i Strongly Disagree with anyone who says that Joss Whedon doesn’t get Steve Rogers.

Like, we very clearly get three distinct Steves in this movie -- we get Captain America, Captain Rogers, and Steve, and they’re all a little different but they’re also all perfectly executed and they’re all STEVE. eg:

the look that he gives Maria, like english please and then after her explanation he says “well they’re going to show up again.” - Captain Rogers.

“Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country” - Steve

“They are.” - Captain America

let’s just. let’s just acknowledge that Thanos had a stone. in his possession. and he gave it away. to L O K I.

“I'm going to live forever”

ah geeze he actually is tho

*CLINT FEELS*

They talk about AI like it’s this Great Forbidden Thing, and the Roommate looks at me with the Tiredest Eyes

Everyone is working on artificial intelligence, she says.

e v e r y o n e

seriously “the man was not meant to meddle medley” is a very impressive tongue twister that Tony definitely practiced in the mirror that morning

but it’s also nonsense

the military, corporations, academia, everyone -- everyone is working on AI.

Ultron: What is this. What is this, please.

The Roommate: Me. Every morning.

Also, it’s worth noting that when Ultron goes through all the files on the Avengers and shit, he looks at Steve AT LEAST twice.

The Roommate: To be fair, so would I.

RIGHT RHODES IS THE REAL HERO OF THIS FILM

“Where are the ladies,” said Maria Hill, a Known Lesbian.

Sam and Steve’s whole everything is A+ Great, as usual

Rhodey’s face after everyone laughs at the “Boom, you looking for this” line is just

*kissy chef fingers*

and then this happens

the “flirting”

this is the weirdest “flirting” i have ever seen

it’s like the uncanny valley of cute flirting

it’s like they’re both actors pretending to be characters who are acting out something they’ve only ever seen in film

why is it like this

“What Are Your Intentions Towards My Daughter?” - Steve Rogers

no I kid

Captain America said that

Steve said “as maybe the world’s leading authority on “waiting too long”, don’t.”

and then suddenly they’re all teens hanging out in their dad’s basement

honestly this scene is the best scene in the movie, possibly the franchise, and it’s well worth all the bullshit we’ve put up with so far.

let’s also take a moment to pour one out for both Steve and Thor’s #looks in this scene because

goddamn

Steve and that blue button down

Thor and his hoe v-neck + pop collar maroon jacket

much fashion very hnnnngh

like it takes WORK to make these two look better with their shirts ON but you did it, AoU costume department. You Did It.

Also, James Spader as Ultron is just

i love it

gurl u r LEAKING

u CHOSE this body

u could have taken any iron legion body, you probably could’ve taken a SUIT if you wanted but instead you’re here in this janky ass leaking melty faced body with wires hanging every which way and the arms and legs on backwards

you are such a drama queen

truly his father’s son

so when Tony pulls out JARVIS’ broken corpse, how were they all supposed to know this was JARVIS? do they all get to meet Jarvis at some point? like at what point was Captain America introduced to the holograph representation of JARVIS’ “body” that he just IMMEDIATELY knows that this abstract yellow humpty dumpty is JARVIS

Team Dr. Cho Was Underutilized 2k15

Tony laughing because he’s about to be in so much trouble is very much a #mood

We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the end game.

I’m just going to present this bad phone picture of my notes because I feel like it does a better job summing up how I feel about this line:

remember when Wanda had an accent?

I’d say “good times” but I’m not sure they really were

seriously the Maximoffs have a great origin story this should’ve been theirs and Clint’s movie that would’ve been better

God Bless The AoU Costume Department

I have no idea what happened in this scene because of Steve’s smedium shirt

and that said he has to compete, visually, with Cobie Smulders in a sheath dress, and he does so with effortless grace

*distinguished golf clapping*

I actually really like the set up of Wakanda and Vibranium here it’s just nice and it gives all the background we need without really feeling like exposition and it reveals character dynamic between steve and tony it’s just nice is all

SALVAGE YARD AFRICAN COAST

Andy Serkis giving 112% AS USUAL

So Ultron steps into this scene like

and tbh it is a sexy leg good work Ultron

“I’M NOT MY DAD” -Ultron, definitely in Denial

Pietro talking to Tony in this scene like Tony was personally there when the bomb blew up his family and almost killed him and his sister

he wasn’t

u r drax in this scenario, and Tony is Ronan

he doesn’t remember ur family, dude

“pretending you could live without a war”

are we just going to ignore that Ultron gets inside Steve’s head right here right now and then Wanda exacerbates that 200%

and Steve just decides “yup that sounds right”

“i guess I’ll just be at war for the rest of my unnaturally long long life”

is anyone? going to talk about that? bring it up to him maybe?

no?

coooooool coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool

i just ~love~ (and by love i mean HATE) that natasha romanoff (A SPY) decided to upgrade her suit (HER BLACK STEALTH SUIT) with glowing (GLOWING!) stripes

much stealth very in character wow

(negative 200 points costume department what the hell)

pietro don’t hit senior citizens that’s rude

these dreams are actually totally fascinating and I really like them don’t @ me they’re great

“I Am Mighty.”

“only the breakable ones. You are made of marble”

“We can go home. Imagine it”

aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Natasha, I could really use a lullaby”

natasha isn’t here right now please leave a message after the beepbeep

this is such a fucking nightmare, could be a callback to that opening fight scene IF IT SUCKED LESS

Tony. Your green son has a special need. maybe instead of trying to turn him back into Bruce, you should try to accommodate his needs. because he’s special.

Clint MacDonald Had A Farm

“These are... Smaller agents.”

“Sorry For Barging In.”

Captain America is here from the 40s and Ready To Apologize

Thor’s Extremely Dramatic Exit

Steve: looks at the house

(very softly in the background, Peggy’s “we can go home.”)

The Roommate: nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu steve don’t think thaaaaaaaat

I honestly love Old Dad Clint. *shrug* sorry not sorry

and now we’re here. at That Scene.

YOU KNOW WHICH ONE.

it makes no FUCKING sense for EITHER OF THEM to be having THIS CONVERSATION at THIS TIME. SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK.

Honestly, the only way this makes sense is if Bruce and Nat are both ace af and think the other one is allo af

just two hopeless asexual babies, adorably in love with each other

both of them awkwardly being like “BUT. YOU WANT THE SEX. RIGHT?”

and neither of them realizing that the other one also does not want the sex

that’s the only way the scene makes any kind of sense. If Natasha is putting on a performance and Bruce is too and neither of them realize that the other is putting on a performance

BUT EVEN THAT DOES NOT EXPLAIN WHY NATASHA FEELS THE NEED TO BRING UP HER UTERUS

THERE’S NO NEED FOR IT IN THIS CONVERSATION

AND THE WAY SHE BRINGS IT UP IS B I Z A R R E

and when i saw it in theaters, I was like “oh clearly this scene is missing some important dialogue that clarifies that Nat doesn’t mean she’s a monster for not being able to have kids.

BUT I WAS WRONG.

UGH ANYWAY MOVING ON.

god bless the AoU costume department for Steve in a Smedium shirt and Dad Jeans. A+ work i can almost forgive you for putting glowing neon on Nat’s stealth suit

but honestly the whole rest of this movie is worth it this one interaction:

Tony: Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the "why" we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?

Steve:

Captain America: *externally* something something end a war something something people die something something

Steve: *internally* I SWEAR TO FUCK IF ONE MORE PERSON TELLS ME THEY WANT TO GO HOME, IMMA MCFREAKING LOSE IT.

YOU WANT TO GO HOME?? Y O U WANT TO GO HOME??? B I T C H

oh hey Tony ur dad is here

“watched my friends die” ok but

a) are you and Steve friends?

b) if this has been eating at you, why wasn’t it shot better ~from a cinematic perspective~ and why don’t we get more of you being haunted by it and less of you talking about reinstating prima nocta

Actually this is a good time to talk for a hot second about Why We Don’t Hate AoU As Much As Some:

it’s very hard to judge AoU as a standalone film

because a lot of the things it does best are not standalone

it does a good job setting the stage for Civil War

it does a good job foreshadowing Infinity War and Endgame

and on that note, it’s actually hard to judge it without having seen Endgame

it does a BAD job setting up the Avengers as a cohesive unit that works well together

it does a BAD job building the BruceNat dynamic

it does a BAD job making us believe that the Avengers are actually friends and not just coworkers who tolerate each other and sometimes hang out and drunkenly try to pick up thor’s hammer

that isn’t friendship, actually. you know what friendship is? look at Steve and Sam talking about Important Things That Matter, look at Tony and Rhodes’ dynamic. those are friendships.

anyway

The Roommate says it feels like AoU skipped some steps. Like, Avengers (2012) brought us in at the ground floor of this building and then we got shoved into one of those really fast elevators and dumped directly into some game changer meeting happening on floor 44 and then it kicked us directly out the window to our deaths

i’m maybe elaborating slightly upon what she said

the point is that AoU is not a good movie because it’s not a good standalone movie

the character dynamics aren’t Bad or Wrong they’re just not properly built up to.

It feels like we missed a movie

maybe there’s an alternate universe where we got an Avengers 2 that made sense, and this is actually Avengers 3

maybe we just need to find Joss Whedon’s secret file of fanfiction and then everything that happened in this movie will make sense

ALL THAT SAID, THIS IS WHERE WE STOPPED THE MOVIE ON DAY ONE AND MY FINGERS ARE TIRED SO THIS IS WHERE I’M STOPPING TOO. AGE OF ART MOVIE DAY 2 WILL BE UP WHEN I FIND THE ENERGY TO DO THAT.

#the mighty pre endgame rewatch #age of ultron #avengers

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venus-says · 5 years ago

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Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 27

How can a show do so many great things and still manage to make me feel angry as hell?

I'm gonna be honest with you all here, I feel so defeated. Zero-One is starting to make me tired. As I said in the tagline there is interesting stuff happening, there were good moments, but also the stupidity of this show, dear God.

I've been saying this for at least three weeks now and what has started as a pretty decent arc now is just throwing sand in our faces and calling us dumb.

Like, there were a lot of instances proving foul play for ZAIA's part, they saw Gai destroying evidence right in front of their eyes in this episode, there should be no reason for this dumb competition to still be going. Especially not in this episode where real people's lives were at stake. Aruto should've called quits right at that moment, like what's more important to him his company or saving people? Because I can't see a reason for him to just let this dumb thing continues. Yeah, he has faith in his humagear and he believes he's doing the right thing, except that by letting this thing go on he's being no different from any other representation of an eccentric rich corporative man playing with people's lives. And to worsen it all, in the end, who'll decide this whole thing is a referendum which means the past 8~9 episodes were practically useless.

You know, it is interesting that the population will vote and everything, but if you wanted to do something like that shouldn't it be easier to state this at the beginning of the arc and instead of making a competition out of this have these past episodes be some sort of campaigning for each cause. Heck, this would solve almost every problem that this arc had and would also be very interesting to watch, they could even let go of the two-parter format and showcase more humagears, this firefighting case would actually serve as a great example for Aruto's side since it was a human and a humagear working together. But no, they decide to pull this out now and it just feels dumb.

Zero-One makes me feel so defeated that at this point I'm sitting with the villains, go ahead Jin, free the humagears, kill all the humans, we don't deserve to be on this planet especially if we keep doing dumb shit like that.

And it saddens me to have to say these things because this episode actually did what I wanted to happen, when it came to it the firefighter guy and 119nosuke worked together by their own means without an external pat in the shoulder of the main character, and it was a freaking great moment. It was so powerful, the image of 119nosuke holding up that stone and the fire slowly burning away his "human coating", his words to the captain saying that what he's doing may be crazy but that's what he has taught him, and the aftermath when the fire has been put out and Aruto goes there to bring 119nosuke's body back, everything in this was so emotional, it was a great closing for these two characters, it even made me remind of the beginning of the season where almost every single case with the humagear of the week made me feel things for the one-off characters. Imagine if this had been the ending of the last episode instead of a stupid fight happening, it would've made for such an amazing piece of media.

And this can pretty much be said about a lot of episodes in Zero-One I feel, when I started watching Kamen Rider I thought the idea of each episode being a two-parter was actually pretty good, but now I see that this only works for certain shows, and Zero-One is definitely not one of them.

Another thing that makes me really sad is seeing Yua under Gai's wings, at the end of the episode when they're having the discussion about who won or not, she says something and Gai completely shuts her off and she was so sad, I was so heartbroken. I wanna do what Fuwa did and grab her by her wrist and run away with her because what this show is doing to her is not fair, she deserved more, she deserved better. I hope we're walking on a path where Fuwa will try to get her back and actually succeeds so she can finally be free, which I feel like I'd still have a few problems, but it's way better than keeping her with her hands tied just leading her in a similar path as her female Rider predecessors.

And that's it for now, if you have anything else to say please write down in the comments. I feel so sad I need to go watch a bunch of cat videos to lighten my mood after writing this. I'll see you all around.

#Kamen Rider Zero One #kamen rider

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dillydedalus · 5 years ago

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september reading

i read some things i guess! open for the last (almost) of robin hobb, more mountaineering disasters, and …. dungeons & dragons?? (i completely forgot i had this in my drafts lol)

the nickel boys, colson whitehead idk man this is really well-written, well-paced, an important story based very much on real history, the characters serve their purpose very well, the violence and abuse is written in a way that is chilling without ever being gratuitous and with the exception of a twist that i thought was a little too predictable, there’s nothing i can really criticise. it just really lacked some spark for me, and maybe it’s just that after underground railroad (which is also didn’t particularly like, but damn that had spark) it feels a lil conventional. still good tho! 3/5

the adventure zone #1: here there be gerblins, various mcelroys & cary pietsch my brain Does Not Do podcasts but obvi i’ve been hearing A LOT about the mcelroy boys & i’m like. vaguely interested in d&d* so when this was made available on overdrive i was like okay why the hell not. it’s a fun, quick read, and while i don’t really know anything about d&d the trappings of the game were included in a fun way. nothing mindblowing, but a good time. 2.5/5

assassin’s fate (fitz & the fool #3), robin hobb y’all this is it… it’s been over a year & now i’m done with the realm of the elderlings (actually i still have the piebald prince novella & the short stories). i have some criticisms of this one (the timeline & the main climax seemed a lil muddled to me) but to be honest??? loved this, had all the feelings, was superhappy to see my cursed shores kids again, fitzy & bee were heartbreaking all the time, the paragon conflict was great, when fitz got to the quarry i literally immediately started uglycrying & pretty much didn’t stop until the end, so: 4.5/5 (series rating 4/5 i guess bc fool’s assassin was a drag & a half)

die nebelkrähe, alexander pechmann this is a speculative fictionalisation of a little episode in the spiritualist movement where medium hester dowden claimed she had communicated with/been briefly possessed by oscar wilde, which is pretty fun. unfortunately, pechmann chose to focus on his version of mr v., a pretty boring mathematician and skeptic, rather than the absolutely wild shit going on with dowden, which includes oscar wilde’s ghost dunking on james joyce (who responded by making fun of the whole thing in finnegans wake) and claiming he’s like totally straight. 2/5

oval, elvia wilk a neoliberal corporate hell/psychotropics/eco-punk gone wrong dystopia in berlin so you know i’m here (i.e. in berlin lol) for it. this is about a berlin in the not too distant future where finster corp (real subtle) is buying up everything, driving up rents through ecological redevelopment, artists mainly work as consultants for corporations, and our protags anja and louis live in a finster-sponsored zero-waste eco-commune on an artificial mountain in the middle of berlin. everyone’s jobs are nda-clad bullshit, everyone parties all the time without ever enjoying themselves, homelessness and income inequality are ignored with the barest twinge of guilt, and louis is developing a party drug that chemically makes you generous. oh and the nature on the mountain (the berg -.-) seems to be eating itself. the concepts are great, the writing is pretty good even tho it tries a bit too hard sometimes, wilk, while also suffering a lil from Expat Gaze, really knows berlin. the execution isn’t perfect, the pacing is a bit off, too much time is devoted to anja and louis’ boring relationship, and look, some of the dystopian elements are a bit obvious. neoliberalism bad. okay, we know. but there’s a lot of good here, and the ending is pretty great, if a bit underdeveloped. 3.5/5

travelers, helon habila a novel about the african diaspora in europe, told thru 6 inter-connected stories, all focusing on one story of migration. these are important stories well told, and i liked how they all linked up in the end. while berlin is the central hub these stories revolve around, not all are set in berlin and the setting really isn’t as central as i’d hoped (this is obvi very personal to me & my research interests so it’s not really criticism). i’d recommend this if you’re interested in the representation of african migrants and refugees. 3/5

the uninhabitable earth: life after warming, david wallace-wells shit’s fucked: the book. starts with ‘it is worse, much worse, than you think’ and doesn’t really get much more cheery from there. good if you want an idea of what the effects of global warming might be (a pretty pessimistic one, which is the point - when does pessimism become realism?), and how we (& how we might) respond to them. 3/5

the girl from the other side, nagabe (#1-5) spooky-yet-wholesome manga series about a snazzy demon who’s adopted a little human girl who has been abandoned/cast out by her human community, which is like 100% my jam. the central relationship is super cute & wholesome, the demon designs are amazing, the worldbuilding is really spooky & intriguing (if you touch a demon you’ll be cursed & also turn into a demon & tbh who doesn’t want to turn into a weird tall slightly monster with cool horns), and a lot of it is just the demon like. badly baking pie to cheer the girl up.

girl woman other, bernardine evaristo somewhere between a novel and a collection of short stories written in a somewhat unconventional but highly readable style. the 12 stories each focus on one woman (and one nonbinary person), most of them black, examing black womanhood in britain throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. i enjoyed many of these stories, but the observational style and the way we quickly cover whole lives left me a bit detached. there’s also a lil corniness throughout, which comes out in full force in the epilogue, and while it’s cool to have trans rep, it honestly came across as a bit clueless. 3/5

dark summit: everest’s most controversial season, nick heil did someone say high-altitude mountaineering disasters? because i’m always here for some high-altitude mountaineering disasters. this is about the 2006 season which was p disastrous in terms of deaths even tho it didn’t even have a storm (cf the 1996 season aka please just read into thin air), just people walking past dudes who were dying bc rescues are extremely difficult & dangerous. anyway this ain’t into thin air, but it’s a good one & pretty wild bc all mountain climbers are fucking nuts. 3.5/5

sense & sensibility, jane austen really enjoyed this! the pacing is a lil weird & none of the men really is all that, but it’s all very charming & witty & i love sisterhood narratives (poor margaret!). as in (tho not as much as in) mansfield park, there’s a lot of attitudes that just don’t really track but in contrast to mp i found them interesting rather than frustrating, mostly - brandon/marianne is very uncomfortable especially when you realise that he’s projecting his tragic dead first love/sis-in-law onto marianne and that we don’t really see their courtship at all, but w/e. i especially enjoyed the ferrars family drama and the hilarious resolution to it, and i gotta say: lucy steele really did that & good for her. 4/5

anyway, i’m about halfway thru alasdair gray’s lanark, which is a great big pomo brick, half portrait of the artist as a young glaswegian, half weird visions of hell in the city of unthank & i’m into it but it’s not a quick read. in october uni reading is also going to start, perhaps for the last semester ever :(

#the only podcast i ever semi-successfully followed was welcome to nightvale #and only because it was the kind of story where it didn't matter if you spaced out several times in between #and even then i kinda had to stop once they started having an overarching plot #*lmao rereading my lil review for adventure zone where i say i'm vaguely interested in dnd is a trip #after i spent the whole last month mainlining critical role and most of my dreams now involve dice stuff i barely understand #like i really had three separate dreams about dnd last night & i've never played it & know nothing about it that isn't in critical role #really just want to be a tiefling that bad huh #the books i read

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pass-the-bechdel · 6 years ago

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Continuum season one full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

80% (eight of ten)

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

30.6%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

One, episode 1.05, “A Test of Time” (41.18%)

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-two. Seven who appear in more than one episode, five who appear in at least half the episodes, and one who appears in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Forty-four. Fifteen who appear in more than one episode, eleven who appear in at least half the episodes, and three who appear in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Perfectly average, with nothing terrible, but nothing of note, either. (average rating of 3.0)

General Season Quality:

Solid. It attempts to merge police procedural element with a more serialized narrative, and generally succeeds at both. It is also clearly a series that realizes the potential of its premise and is interested in exploring it in depth.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Let’s talk about heroes.

Heroism, in stories set in versions of Earth that are meant to resemble ours—see: the MCU, Supergirl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, earthbound Doctor Who stories not set in the future—tends to be associated with maintaining the status quo. As disruptive as heroes often are by nature and necessity, they generally don’t work to change things for the better in a general way, but rather, to ensure things don’t get worse. Society, by implication, becomes “good enough”—something worth keeping around as is. This tendency is occasionally questioned—not surprising, given all the ways the status quo isn’t actually good for many people—but the story’s internal rules mean that the conclusion is often a half-hearted “eh, what other option is there?” with the occasional “but that way lies tyranny!” While this stance isn’t entirely without reason, it’s also often frustrating. Inaction and tyranny aren’t the only choices, so why pretend that they are?

This right here is one of the main reasons why I really appreciate Continuum, and why I would probably do so even if the show weren’t as consistently solid as it is. It is a show entirely built around the idea that the status quo is untenable, and that trying to keep things as they are can only bring about the destruction of the human race at the hands of the 1%. While it’s far from the only series with a social conscience, it is one of the very few to declare that what is needed is massive, widespread and disruptive social change. That it does so while also being a police procedural, a genre that tends to be almost inextricably tied to conservative politics and an affinity for the status quo, is all the more impressive.

I’m fascinated by stories about people vs. the future—it’s the absolute impossibility of the struggle that gets me. I mean, how do you fight change? Sarah Connors’ battle wasn’t just about deadly people-killing robots; it was a fight against progress, a refusal to acknowledge that humans will continue to advance technologically no matter what you do, and “winning,” in those terms, meant undoing the previous fifty years of existence. Team Machine’s battle against Samaritan hit the same points: in the end, if didn’t matter whether one particular artificial super-intelligence was atomized, because another would take its place—maybe not soon but eventually.

While Liber8’s struggle has some similarities to these fights, it is, in the end, fundamentally different. The Corporate Congress and the mass demotion of actual people to second-class citizens isn’t inevitable the way the advent of artificial super-intelligences is. There’s no reason why humanity can’t continue progressing technologically AND choose not to bring back indentured servitude. If the terrible future happens, it’s not because the arc of humanity inevitably bends towards corporate dystopia, but because the people in positions to change things…didn’t. Also, while artificial super-intelligences are still years away, Continuum’s apocalyptic future isn’t really the future at all. Corporations aren’t going to wait fifty years before they choose to actively reduce people’s freedoms in order to obtain ever greater profits; it’s what they’re doing at this very moment. Liber8’s battle is much more urgent and immediate, and that ups the difficulty level of the storytelling immeasurably—it would have been very easy for the series to fuck it all up.

Fortunately, Continuum, for the most part, hasn’t. It’s not perfect—its theory of oppression largely ignores the role of marginalized identities, and how these shape the way oppression is performed and perceived (and no, making most of Liber8’s members people of color isn’t enough to address this)—but the series’ heart and storytelling instincts appear to be where they need to be. They actually care about the issues at play, and that’s mostly evidenced in the fact that it treats Liber8’s fight as legitimate. It could have been the easiest thing in the world for Continuum to be the story of cop vs. terrorists FROM THE FUTURE!, and for Liber8’s motives to be nothing more than the motivation to get the story going, or a cover for more traditional nefariousness. Instead, it is the whole point. Continuum is a series about getting from point A to point B, and about just how complicated things can get.

Speaking of complicated: Kiera Cameron.

While Kiera is very much a genre show protagonist—Continuum is very much a genre show—she actually reminds me more of a character from an entirely different sort of story—The Good Wife’s Alicia Florrick. This is a good thing, since Alicia is one of the best protagonists on television and I love her for many of the reasons I love Kiera. I love that she’s an introvert who doesn’t make friends easily. I like that she likes systems, and feels most comfortable inside them. I like that she is fundamentally selfish. I like that neither she nor the series is exactly concerned about her being approachable or cool. Perhaps most importantly, I like that while the series is never short of sympathy for her, it is also very clear that her goal is completely incompatible with the good future.

Unfortunately, none of the show’s other female characters manage to equal Kiera, or even come close. While there’s no glaring missteps I can identify in the show’s female representation—aside from the usual ones—there’s no real revelations, either: Sonya, Garza, and Betty, are, for the moment, just alright. Somewhat ironically, the one-shot female characters do better than the more promising ones, in part because they’re more numerous and varied, and in part because the series can’t afford to punt their development to a future date. While this feels like the result of circumstance rather than intention—with so much to cover and so little time to do so, something had to give—that’s really just an excuse. There’s no reason why the characters who got prioritized this season had to mostly be men.

If there is something noteworthy in the way Continuum approaches gender, it is in Kiera’s relationship with Carlos, which is my favorite dynamic in the show. While I tend to look askance at calls for more purely platonic relationships between sexually compatible characters—I’m not often confident they’re made in good faith—I do like the idea in theory, and this relationship is an excellent proof of concept. Kiera and Carlos could get together. There’s tons of evidence that they’re compatible, and he’s a better person than Kellogg or—ugh!—Alec. Heck, there’s absolutely no evidence here that they aren’t going to get together in the future. But it’s not happening now, and neither the characters or the show think there’s anything wrong with that or that it makes their relationship somehow lesser. It isn’t that romance isn’t important or it’s incompatible with depth or great storytelling and character development; the elements of the relationship that I like— push and pull, between people who disagree on a lot but respect each other and are more than willing to meet each other halfway—could easily still be there if they were together. It’s just that sometimes, it doesn’t need to be there.

(I’m team Kiera / no one, myself.)

Kiera’s relationship with Alec, meanwhile, is not nearly as compelling, in large part because Alec is the element of the show that least works. I understand his place in the narrative, and I can totally see how a character like him would end up eventually helping create the corporate dystopia, but this doesn’t make the present-day version of the character and his immaturity any easier to take (his future self is fine). He’s not intolerable, and I like the family drama that surrounds him—the best episode of the season is all about the Saddlers and Randols—but he’s also not great, and given just how many characters and concepts are fighting for attention, that’s something the series can’t afford.

To mix metaphors, Continuum is a high-wire act, juggling so many balls that it is in constant danger of collapse. There’s a let’s-prevent-the-terrible-future time travel narrative, with all the usual complications of time travel stories. There’s a good half-dozen fish-out-of-water narratives. There’s a traditional police procedural, except that it also involves future technology. There’s an exploration of class warfare and capitalism, and the evolving roles of activism and terrorism within it. There’s family drama. Taken together, it’s arguably more than can be properly explored in ten episodes, and that the series did as well as it did is genuinely surprising. While I’m not sure it can keep up the balancing act indefinitely as it continues, I’m interested in seeing how long it lasts.

#Continuum #Continuum Season One #Bechdel Test #Female Representation #MimeParadox

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lafortis · 6 years ago

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oops *social programs. like increasing class sizes, cutting bursaries, cutting library funding, cutting OHIP drug coverage. that kind of thing

so like

idk this is a topic i feel like i should say more about but i’m tired rn so this is what u get

increasing class sizes, presuming you could link that directly to a decrease in quality of outcomes in education, is dumb and short-sighted. education, especially in k-12, is one of the safest and best long term investments and state actor can make, no questions asked. in cutting it, presuming class sizes actually do actually cause disengagement or worse outcomes (not a huge leap), you run the risk of increasing crime rates (delinquent youth - in-class engagement, extra-curriculars, and economic opportunity brought about by success in education all have been show to decrease crime rates [iirc, citing things when ur hunched on a roadcase is a little beyond me rn but if u want citations i can provide]) and decreasing flow of graduates to jobs that require ppl with higher education, either stymieing broader economic growth or forcing them to look elsewhere and bring ppl in either interprovicnially or internationally, which i get the impression isn’t the outcome foug dord seeks, were he asked.

cutting bursaries falls under the same category in my opinion; it is, broadly speaking, a good use of gov’t money to offer money for higher education. the increased income tax revenue over the person’s lifetime would likely more than pay for it, even in a zero sum game where the gov’t doesn’t also benefit from a more educated overall populace/workforce (which they fucking do). again, long term substantial benefit being sacrificed for short term gain in the name of deficit reduction (which i’ll... get to)

library funding is just a kick in the fucking teeth tbh, but if i have to address it seriously, libraries’ benefits are similar to that of higher school engagement; lowering crime rates as otherwise delinquent youths, poor families etc have a place for their children to spend time safely and productively. besides their use as a repository for local history (which i’m sure ford’s rural base would approve of if they realized it was there, but he’s from etobicoke and therefore doesn’t give a shit), they host events, help educated local children, represent the most freely available source of learning to low-income individuals, and offer a safe space to the public during business hours. for how much money they consume, cutting them is almost always a bad idea, regardless of province or country.

cutting OHIP coverage is dumb. single payer pharmacare is good. for reasons why see the folllowing:

suck my dick

for real tho i know my man wants to privatize health care in this province i done seen it in his eyes IRL.

and as a serious answer: those whose drugs you know longer pay for will likely burden the system in another way later down the line, and that’s usually much more expensive. unless he plans to defund ERs as well (which doesn’t exist anywhere, even private systems, which is why private systems are dumb; you turn people away until they’re literally dying, do an extremely expensive procedure to save them because you’re practically ethically obligated to, and then hit them with the bill, which they can’t pay any of, or they would’ve fixed it earlier. they go bankrupt, but you can’t squeeze blood from a stone either. everyone loses) preventative care, even ancillary care like non-essential pharma, is cheaper long-term than waiting for someone to be more expensive and more necessary to fix. you could split hairs about which are necessary and which aren’t or what have you, but quite frankly those administrative costs plus the quality of life downgrade ppl get from an obtuse pharmacare system means that it’s probably easier to just pay for it all. and THEN GUESS WHAT

you’re fucking single payer now. congratulations. want access to a market of 14 million? gotta negotiate with OHIP on drug prices now. fuck you.

it’s literally more economically efficient for everyone except drug manufacturers, whose profit margins are so economically aberrant that they can kinda go fuck themselves. like it’s the exact kind of thing taxes exist for: something that can be accomplished better, cheaper and more consistently under a single entity than individually. federal liberals are threatening to move this way and if they get re-elected i’ll personally suck trudeau’s dick to make it happen. it’s just fucking common sense.

so that just leaves us with uhhh,,,, one thing left, which is the provincial gov’t’s assertion that ontario’s debt is out of control, way too high, etc. as the reasoning behind austerity measures like these. which is like, it sounds good on paper? to the layman, sure, it holds up. their $343bn number is intimidating, there’s the “highest sub-sovereign debt” factoid floating around always, wynne was unpopular, liberals spend too much, so therefore spending was too high in the eyes of the ppl. whatever. economy doesn’t exist solely in political ads and the heads of those they’re targeted towards.

governments are made to hold debt. more than an individual, or a company, or a mega-corporation or conglomerate, governments are debt-holding entities. the actual amount is rarely important, as long as it’s payment has been earmarked over the time agreed upon. the interest over time is weighed against the economic growth that that spending is projected to create. actual cost of the debt is minimal. ontario’s interest payments appear to amount to about $4bn LESS than quebec’s, despite quebec having about 2/3rds of our debt. their debt to gdp ratio is 52% to our 39%.

the reason our debt is so much higher than other comparable sub-sovereign entities (i.e. american states) is because our provinces bear MUCH more spending burden than their peers. if you average out provincial and federal debt to get a more even representation of debt per capita, ontario is SAFELY in the black compared to other similar economies (which, to be fair, is partially because america’s federal debt is so high, but state debt’s and spending are so low that it’s not even a comparison otherwise). the only concerning stat in our entire economic portfolio is that economic growth

further research on their direction on the topic actually leave me less angry than before in a broad sense; their fiscal policymakers seem to generally agree that the best way to reduce debt is to spend at current levels rather than increase. it’s mostly i suppose the specifics you brought up as well as their rhetoric and political ads that i vehemently disagree with as short-sighted.

as usual canadian politics is a watered down version of american, so even their post-trump candidate actually still staffs genuine fiscal conservatives who don’t make obvious and easy to avoid mistakes.

vic fidelli can still suck my dick tho. this statement is dumb and obviously not true. “hey economic winds are blowing well so our long term strategy is obviously ALREADY WORKING”. fuck you. fuck off. stupid bitch.

so yeah

tat’s me onion

#high school anon #star emoji anon #canpoli #long #sorry #Anonymous

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foodramblings · 3 years ago

Link

“Transcript of Jeffrey Sachs' full speech, 26 July 2021, at the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit: What we’ve been hearing is how the system actually works right now and I want to emphasize we have a World Food System. It’s based on large multinational companies. It’s based on private profits. It’s based on a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people, sometimes none at all. It’s based on extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment, and it’s based on a radical denial of rights of poor people, as we just heard. It’s interesting we ask . . . we heard from the minister of DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) . . . “What’s wrong with your country?” Well we don’t even start by saying: The King (Leopold II) of Belgium created a slave colony for 30 years. The government of Belgium ran the slave colony for another 40 years. The CIA assassinated your first popular leader, Mr (Patrice) Lumumba and then installed another dictatorship for the next 30 years and then Glencore (corporation) and others now suck out your cobalt without giving you tax income. We don’t reflect on that. We say, “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you govern properly?” And so we have a system, but we need a different system. We cannot turn this over to the private sector; we already did, about a hundred years ago. Not only to the private sector (but) to the private sector with the US military behind it. With the defense of these property rights in the Minister of Honduras’s country where United Fruit ran the country for a long time and their attorney was the Foreign Minister of the United States, Secretary (John Foster) Dulles; and his brother (Allen Welsh Dulles) was the head of the CIA, and overthrew the next door neighbor, Mr (Jacobo) Arbenz, (Guatemala), to make sure that United Fruit could have its property. So we have a system, but we need a different system. And the different system has to be based on principles of human dignity, in the Universal Declaration (of Human Rights), principles of sovereignty, principles of economic rights, because these are not Nice Things To Do. In 1948 all the governments said that food is a right, social protection is a right, not A Nice Thing, not A Pleasant Thing, a right. That was 73 years ago. The SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) are nothing more than our generation’s attempt to honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I come from a country that not only doesn’t care about the world’s poor; it doesn’t even care about its own poor. One in seven Americans is hungry right now . . . and they DON’T CARE. The poor people care, but one political party, all it cares about is cutting taxes for the rich and filibustering any solution. So we’re in a world that’s really tough. The private sector’s not going to solve this problem. I’m sorry to say to all of the private sector leaders, “Behave, pay your taxes, follow the rules! That’s what you should do.” And what the governments should do is the following; they won’t, but they should: First the G20 should become the G21, by inviting, systemically, the chairperson of the African Union and the African Union to be the 21st “country”. The European Union is a member of the G20, as the EU. If you add the AU as the 21st for the G21 you add 1.4 billion people to representation at that crucial event. That will change decisively the discussion, because 1.4 billion people are not at the table for finance right now, and they need to be. So my first recommendation is the G21. I love the G20. Add one seat! 1.4 billion people, with the AU represented. Second. We need an order of magnitude change of development finance. The rich countries just borrowed $17 trillion for COVID. The poor counties, NOTHING, because the rich countries can borrow at 0% and the poor countries pay 5% or 10% coupon rates or have no access at all. So the world exposed its grotesque inequality this past year and a half. Rich countries didn’t say, “We tighten our belts, why don’t you?” My country spent $7trillion of emergency funding. Not one penny for anybody else, by the way. $7 trillion! It didn’t even cross the imagination of the US Congress to include a few crumbs for the rest of the world. But the poor countries cannot borrow. That’s what we should have heard from the World Bank. I didn’t hear that from the World Bank. I didn’t hear real numbers. Real numbers are in $trillions right now because the world economy is $100 trillion a year. But we don’t talk about real numbers, but my job, all I know in this world is long division . . . divide by $100 trillion and then see whether you’re talking about something real or not. So, that’s the second thing. We need massively to increase the lending and borrowing capacity of poor countries at near zero interest rates like the rich countries have. Then they could get something done. By the way, for COVID vaccines what we really need is for the United States to sit down with China, with Russia, with the European Union and the UK one day around the table and allocate these vaccines, rather than hoarding them. That’s all it would take. And then we’re going to have national pathways. This is a wonderful idea, but they’re going to need financing and so everything that I’ve been saying, I know the numbers; that’s all I do for 40 years is add up what’s missing. You want electricity? It has to be purchased. You want digital access? It has to be purchased. You want safe water, irrigation? It has to be purchased. This is what I do for a living is add up these numbers … and then find out that then somebody makes up something and names one hundredth of what’s really needed. It’s not even hard! By the way the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has done wonderful studies in the last 2 years showing that we have a financing gap of about $400 to $500 billion a year for the basics for the SDGs. They show the gap, but nobody comes up with the number, the solution, which wouldn’t be so hard because that’s just not a big number. It’s 0.5% of world output. So if we really care we wouldn’t have the G7 saying “We love education, therefore we’re going to give $3 billion for education.” That’s what they said at the summit, but what UNESCO has show is that you need at least $30 billion a year, minimum, but nobody looks at numbers; they just make up nice “check-the-box”. So we need the real numbers of finance to back the national pathways. The final thing is, we need the UN as the core and central institution of this world, because this is the only way we’re going to have a civilized world is a strong UN. And it cannot be that the whole UN budget is less than my neighborhood’s budget in New York. The UN core budget this year is $3 billion. New York City’s budget is $100 billion. And then we say why don’t things work well? Because the rich are hoarding everything. Final point: Rather than our 3 billionaires going in space, well they could go into space and stay there and leave their money behind. That would be one idea. Another idea is we have 2,775 billionaires on the current list. Their combined net worth is $13.1 trillion. Now I have it on good authority you don’t need more than $1 billion to be comfortable, but they have an excess of $11 trillion over just the $1 billion. So we should be taxing that and having a civilized world. Thank you. Jeffrey Sachs SDG Advisor”

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jonboudposts · 4 years ago

Text

1990s

My reasons for hating the 1990s as a decade are intertwined across a number of fields; the personal, the political and the cultural sum it up best as categories.

On the personal note, this was a time that gave me a great deal of mental trauma that I have never really fully reckoned with.

On a cultural note (and also a personal), I thought the culture of much of the 1990s was dire (and for sometimes/always deeply political reasons). Even the alternative was always trying to prove itself; how clever it was written and underappreciated in it's smartness – like Brian the dog from Family Guy, a classic 90s archetype who is 'smart' for no reason, as it does not change anything.

On the political front, we saw the take over of our daily lives by management culture. There was no more ideology we were told; just 'what works'. This showed itself in the crushing of working class representation and power and all that would happen now is the present order would be managed in mildly different ways, which were in fact only surface value. Politics became a performance that you were excluded from and had no ability to influence.

To protect from this political wasteland, irony became a weapon and a shield of protection. Individuality was emphasised but the removal of real creative opportunities and no alternative to the economic status quo meant everybody became the same. Today, we see a virtual inability to produce anything original; everything is a variation of the same in culture and until the recent resurgence of the left (and vicious attempts to suppress it), in politics and power. This suppression and attack is characteristic of the left overs from this era; claiming to be beyond ideology but seeped in it to the point of immobility. Their hatred of the left so severe they character assassinate one of the most moral politicians Britain has ever seen; their inability to see their times have passed, they live in constant nostalgia.

Everything in the 1990s was managerial and performative and carried no real power. Feminism became corporate on one end and reduced to behaviour traits on the other; individualised in other words. Now you could drink and fuck like the boys but still lack economic independence or fair pay. Neo-liberalism dominated and destroyed everything. Now Blair could display a half-female cabinet to the press, but they were all ideology-checked so none were going to cause him problems and little interest was shown in real equality, just representation. Exploitation was not challenged; public participation shrunk; unity was cheapened at best to 'patriotic' crap that gave us nothing.

Now how you chose to review this time can be varied – you could just put it down that this was a decade full of shit music, smarmy culture (smarmy because it was powerless) and things that look like no one bothered while slapping themselves on the back for their originality and cleverness. There was still great stuff and artists who knew how bad it was; many produced art that reflected and satirised this; low-stakes action by people unlikely to last into the next era, if there was one. But certainly it was not universally embraced, but resistance was mostly de-toothed. The everyday reality culturally in The End of History was we ground to a halt and slowly rolled backwards.

Britain in particular acted like it really had reached the end of everything, so the only thing to do was pilfer the past and present it in flashy ways like you invented it. The 1960s was raided to prop up the present times and hope no one noticed how little was happening. While there was still possibilities for working class people to get a foothold, this era laid the groundwork for our times now where we have been all-but removed completely from cultural production that is allowed entry into a wider sphere. Meritocracy was sold; you could only get to the top if you tried hard enough and harder than the next bloke – and if you changed that accent, kept your opinions to yourself if they did not fit the mainstream and made sure you embraced a notion of manners that must never, ever be broken.

The 1990s seemed to be the first decade of over-educated people working in crap jobs at best and feeling rather lost and wasted in their educational endeavours. This is something that has been normalised today. Also the notion that working class people were well represented in the 1990s is a lie. At best people were laughed at (Lad Culture, the emergence of the nasty 'Chav' caricature). At worst, we had middle class people pretending they knew what hard times were and dressing in expensive copies of cheap clothing, while everyone pretended to be hard.

From the 1980s until around five years ago, we have been subject to the complete hegemonic dominance by one way of life, with no options to break the stranglehold. Our ability had been removed from us and the culture reflected that. The 1980s was the assault; the 1990s was the cementing of the damage done; where the vicious abnormality of the previous decade was solidified, made the only reality. Disagreement and protest was dismissed, could be dismissed and overlooked. The 1980s made it possible to remove so much history of resistance and alternative, but not everyone was willing to go quietly. The 1990s used all these new cultural powers to wipe out even the resistance you had lived through and commodify the output.

The last meaningful youth culture was (still is) rave, which had upset the establishment to the point of making laws against it. Of course, they realised it was better to take it indoors and charge a fee, then let a gaggle of record flippers become 'superstars'. This de-toothed manner ran into politics, where everything became too much of an ask, even basic needs and decency. Our working rights were curtailed and our lives sold the the lowest corporation to abuse at will.

The 1990s was so intolerant of difference and ruthless in attack that it became difficult to even like the good stuff while it was happening; instead feeling in a constant state of siege. In the early 2000s, I was only just getting into Elliott Smith and realising that Public Enemy's Muse-Sick-N-Our-Mess-Age was actually a really good album (where it had sounded tired in 1994 to those of us suffering the dredge of the decade). For all the new film makers of the 90s I loved, it was still their older work or older film makers I loved more (and return to occasionally today).

That state of siege I describe culturally is now the economic life of the majority; zero hours nowhere-life of bullshit jobs that make it impossible to even build the most basic human needs (like housing) or desires (like bands worth listening to that get played somewhere that allows you to find them). It seemed like at least the terrible decade had a little less of the intense stifling of the 'end of history' but again, this is a product of that time – not the good, but the less-terrible.

Not everything I did like then I hate now however, nor is diving back into older culture – like musicians you missed the first time perhaps because you were not born – is inherently bad; far from it. It has as much relevance as anything that can still inspire someone to make great work themselves and is just plain enjoyable, which is never a bad thing. I also enjoyed loads of stuff at this time. I watched a lot of films, listened to quite a bit of music (again, mush of it old).

I must admit that many things from this time do have a triggering effect on me. The 'wrong' song can send me into a spiral that effects my mental well being for some time. I forget so much that has happened since this time; forget I have managed to keep employed for twenty years or have maintained some meaningful relationships. I immediately return to being the unemployable loser from suburbia who knows nothing of any worth and cannot function properly.

This was the decade directly after the working class had seen a terrible war waged upon us. Deindustrialisation was so extreme there is a case to argue it caused PTSD to entire communities. The places referred to in Britain as 'left behind' were purposefully deconstructed and desecrated.

In the US, the deindustrialisation was no less savage. Bill Clinton sided up to Newt Gingirch in the House and they preceded to cut welfare, attacking the poorest and most vulnerable people. They bragged about kicking so many people off the welfare roles, while no one seem to ask where they went next.

They privatised the airwaves, giving us a model for endless terrible music to be pumped out all day with no alternative. This was a model wholly embraced by Britain, where today the majority of radio pap is an endless cycle of shit (and cheep) songs from the 70s, 80s and 80s and 90s that attempt to lull you into a living coma. This is the sound of the end of history; Heart FM and Magic tell you there is nothing better, so just put up with this.

The 1990s was a decade of self-aggrandisement and ignorance; looking back and failing to look forward. The arrogant ruled with zero talent and this was reflected in what was produced. Nothing was ever really new – even the good stuff. Everything was horrible, yet was determined to force you to see it all as 'nice'. All of this is true and yet most of it can be over-ridden and ignored.

We get lost in a downward spiral and cannot moor ourselves with the one identity that best described us all in some way – class identity; because it was eviscerated during the 80s and 90s while everyone was telling you to have a good time. Now when a white cis man gets angry about his life, he has less options to turn to except those on the right doing the worst kind of performative politics – pretending to be the victim when they have all the power; pretending to be the outsider when they are the centre.

The 1990s was a decade that denied the future. Everything we suffer from today comes from the great terror of the 1980s and the inertia of the 1990s and 2000s. Britain is a moribund culture and while it seems to be the opposite of the times I discuss here, Brexit makes perfect sense as the final conclusion to all this. A country ignoring it vile history and puffing itself up as the great imperial power of a new era, while in fact it is a broken, bitter land of spiteful failures incapable of imagining the future.

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maswartz · 7 years ago

Link

“

Last fall, a fellow disability activist and close friend of mine introduced me to Bernie Sanders. From the moment I first heard his platform, I was hooked. After living abroad several years in a country with socialized medicine and heavily subsidized education, I was thrilled an American politician was proposing these policies here. Due to my own disabilities, the cost of healthcare has become exorbitant and becoming chronically ill forced me to leave my career in public service litigation to collect meager social security benefits. So, Bernie’s message resonated strongly with my own personal experience of being in the 99%.

I was so moved by his message that I began volunteering for the campaign, be it through phonebanking, texting or simply bringing his message to everyone I knew. I believed so strongly in the change he could effect that I even donated more money than I could otherwise afford to help his campaign succeed. And I quickly became part of the Bernie or Bust movement, believing his campaign’s message that Clinton didn’t care about anyone other than her special interest donors.

____________________________________________________________

But I often struggled with his rhetoric on and lack of inclusion for people with disabilities in his stump speeches, acceptance speeches, debate performances, advertisements and campaign literature. Despite discussing issues that affect our daily lives like healthcare, income inequality, social security and criminal justice, he almost never mentioned the disabled population, which makes up 20% of the American electorate. He harped daily on how the Donald Trumps of the world try to divide us up based on our minority status but never even included disability as one of those dividing factors.

Meanwhile, I became more frustrated because Hillary Clinton was including us in every speech, ad campaign, debate performance and even intersectionality graphics of disabled people of color in her literature. She issued press releases supporting the Disability Integration Act, which requires Obamacare plans to cover long-term care for people with disabilities, and talked about sub-minimum wage, a construct by which employers can legally pay the disabled less than minimum wage. Bernie either never did this or lagged behind, as if he was only doing it because Hillary was. I sincerely felt as though Hillary was just paying lip service to us and that Bernie was simply uninformed.

So I began contacting the campaign as early as the fall to advise them on their disability outreach failures, as well as to communicate grave concerns the community was having with some on his policies. I tried every possible method of communication from emailing the campaign through the website and contacting them through social media, to direct emails and text messages to top political directors, including Jeff Weaver, BEGGING them to respond. I also discovered that I was not the only disability activist experiencing this very frustration with the campaign.

_____________________________________________________________

After weeks of being ignored, the day after the New York elections, I sent one final message to the campaign saying that I was going to withdraw my support and advise the community to do the same if they didn’t care enough to even respond to our pleas for representation. Finally, his political director, Billy Gendell, a non-disabled male, responded by scheduling a phone call with me. I was finally hopeful once again, but what came next was personally devastating. I began the conversation about the issues the community is having with his lack of rhetoric and lack of inclusion for people with disabilities, as I delineated in my emails. I sincerely wanted to help the campaign improve.

However, he quickly interrupted me from giving them advice, despite knowing my credentials and insisted that I get to my policy questions. But he asked that the answers remain “off-the-record” so that I could not share them with the community that was asking them. His answers provided no new information or specific methods by which to initiate these broad ideas. The only policy answer that wasn’t “off the record” was Bernie’s official statement on the opioid issue, sent to me via email. It said that chronic pain sufferers should seek yoga or guided meditation to ease our suffering.

I was shocked. These recommendations are ones given to chronic pain sufferers by uneducated individuals with zero medical understanding of pain and the neurological system. I immediately responded back to his email that he cannot expect an amputee with phantom pain to do yoga when in such dire pain that it causes his heart rate to soar and his blood pressure to plummet. I told him that it’s insulting to even insinuate such a thing. But, as, unfortunately, I expected, he never even replied, and I simply gave up trying to reach out.

____________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, none of his policies for people with disabilities changed, and he made little to no effort to include us in his speeches, other than to occasionally discuss all disabled people in the context of social security, rather than his typical inclusion of only disabled veterans, as if only they matter because they became disabled at war. (And I gave him credit on facebook for doing this once at the Washington square speech and emailed the campaign to thank them for it, which went unanswered) But he continued to fail to mention or depict us in any of his speeches or ads.

The feeling of devastating disappointment and betrayal sank in. The thought of considering Clinton felt hypocritical of me. I told myself, “How can I support someone who probably cares more about Wall Street than me?” But I certainly couldn’t consider Donald Trump, who mocks disabled people and assumes we’re stupid enough to think that’s not what he was doing. So, begrudgingly, I told a Hillary supporter with a disability that I was now considering supporting Hillary. He immediately introduced me via email to a blind Clinton staffer. Within literally minutes, she emailed me at 9 p.m. saying she would like to speak to me about the campaign. I was so encouraged by how quickly they responded, after the months I was ignored by Bernie.

She didn’t treat me like a nuisance like the Bernie campaign did but rather an asset. She wanted to know my legal and advocacy opinion on disability policy. She explained in detail how Hillary planned to initiate change for us with sophisticated, legal political strategy. And, then she asked me to come on board and help the campaign best meet the needs of the disability community through, inter alia, writing for the campaign after they were able to officially vet my credentials. (Which has not yet occurred, and I, in no way, am writing this on behalf of the campaign) I soon realized that the Clinton campaign didn’t just care about the disability community; they hired us and treated us like the intelligent people we are.

_____________________________________________________________

My conversation with the Clinton campaign regained my hopefulness but also made me incensed that Bernie is maliciously lying to democrats about Clinton’s uncaring regard for the 99%, while destroying the party from within. Bernie is adamant that Hillary only cares about corporate interests and not the typical marginalized American. But, in fact, the opposite is true. If he cared about his supporters’ interests, his campaign would respond to these communities, listen to their issues and modify his platform accordingly.

His speeches never change for a reason. It isn’t because, as his supporters allege, he’s authentic and always on the right side of things. It’s because he doesn’t care to adapt, to research issues other than income inequality and the environment, follow up on his lofty ideas with solid policy initiatives or to make any compromises to achieve his goals. Rather, he just plays the blame game, pointing out everything that’s wrong with this country and proposing no specific plans to achieve his goals. He prides himself on being so honest and trustworthy while lying to the electorate about his concern for our well being and Hillary’s lack thereof. In reality, I see now that he doesn’t care about anyone’s well being but his own ability to rise to power.

What’s worse is that he is riling up his base to believe that the system is rigged, corrupt and rife with election fraud, based on theories grounded in conspiracy rather than fact. He’s excusing their violence and death threats on constituents’ frustration, rather than explicitly denouncing such vile behavior. The superdelegates are voting for Hillary, and some are starting to shift support from Bernie to Hillary, which I suspect will continue to occur, because they are experienced policy makers who recognize that Bernie has proposed no actual comprehensive policies to achieve his goals. They realize that, in the year he’s been running for President, he hasn’t created one single concrete plan. Superdelegates are in place to prevent dangerous politicians, like Trump, from achieving power when they don’t have the capabilities to effectively use that power and, thus, make things much worse in the end.

Coming to terms with these realizations was very difficult for me. I literally grieved and cried when I discovered that I had been so maliciously misled by someone I believed to possess such a high moral compass. I recognize that his supporters are frustrated and angry over income inequality, because I am too. But I plea with his supporters to wake up to HIS fraud and ask yourselves why he answers every question on every topic, from ISIL to our broken public school systems, with concepts of income inequality. It’s not because that issue is the root of all things wrong with our country but because he doesn’t care to research and be advised on any other issues, despite having the time and resources to do so.

Those of you who are Bernie or Bust, like I was, please, I beg of you, consider my personal experience. Google me. Find me on Facebook and Twitter. See for yourselves that I was Bernie or Bust, that I’m not some Wall Street attorney rolling in money. I am a disabled woman, struggling to make ends meet and to pay my medical bills. But I now recognize that Clinton is the only candidate willing to make the effort to effect the change we need. We cannot afford Trump or Bernie in the White House. They will only be given enough power to destroy what fragment of the American Dream we have left.

(For those who seem hell-bent on believing that my having lived in Israel somehow makes me biased: Bernie also lived there, I dislike the right-wing government there, and I continued my support for him after he criticized Israel in NY)

@barker_ariella

Ariella Barker, Esq.

Ariella has a BBA and JD from Emory University. For many years, she represented the City of NY and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in employment discrimination and labor law claims. She currently sits on the Council for Disability Rights for the Mayor’s Office of the City of Mooresville, NC and works as a disability advocate since being crowned Ms. Wheelchair NC 2014.

“

#bernie sanders

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firefighterkingdom · 4 years ago

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#12 – General President Harold Schaitberger | Special Edition – 2020 Election & More

SPECIAL EPISODE – We have General President Harold Schaitberger with us today! General President of the International Association of Firefighters since 2000. Harold A. Schaitberger is the ninth president in the IAFF’s 100-year history, and was the first to have been elected by acclamation in 2000. And in 2019 the IAFF endorsed Joe Biden for President – hear the reason why General President Schaitberger believes Biden is the best person for the job.

Robert Sanchez: All right. So we’re back with, FireFighter Kingdom. I’m your host, Robert Sanchez and my co-host, Vince Trujillo is here and we have a very special guest, a real treat for firefighters, which really needs no introduction. We have General President Harold Schaitberger. Thank you, Mr. President, for being with us today.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Robert, it’s great to be on your podcast. I’m looking forward to it.

Robert Sanchez: You know, we were just talking, sir. I’ve always thought of you as a great leader, how you always pick up the phone and talk to your locals across the United States and Canada. With 300,000 members, that’s amazing and I truly appreciate it. And I think that’s what makes you a great leader and second to none.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, I appreciate that, but I really feel like I’m the one blessed and privileged to be able to be part of the leadership team of this IAFF and every day, again, it’s just a joy to be able to work with all of our leadership, like yourself, all across 50 states, nine Canadian provinces, 3,600 local unions. So yeah, I look forward to it every day, to be able to engage all of you that are really doing the tough work out there in the field.

Robert Sanchez: Right. And I appreciate that, sir. So on this camera, we’re on the Zoom thing, where this COVID-19 really has us doing everything Zoom-wise, and so that camera, we put a better lens on there so I look skinnier from the last time I seen you. What do you think?

General President Harold Schaitberger: I think you really look very svelte.

Robert Sanchez: So real petite, right?

So, I did some driving on my way into this podcast this morning. I was just thinking, how amazing was you growing up and you working for Fairfax County, and just real quick? How did you get into even being a union leader in Fairfax County, starting at a young age?

General President Harold Schaitberger: I’ll try to make it a quick story, but it’s a it’s a long journey. It really started, Robert, when I was in my junior year in high school and not to be overly dramatic, but I had some challenging environment at home, and being raised by a single mom. And there was a gentleman, a friend of hers, that was a firefighter, Thomas A. Gaines Jr. And he gave me what became the opportunity of a lifetime. He gave me a chance to come to the firehouse, Station Eight, Annandale, Virginia, and live, and finish out my junior and senior year in high school at the firehouse. And it was an incredible experience because I got to be around all of you, and around that kitchen table. And it was at that point that I knew that’s all I ever wanted to do.

And I had had to wait till I was 20 years old. So I waited a couple of years working in a grocery store, then to go on the job in Fairfax County on August 1st, 1966. And it was the greatest moment in my life at that point. But it was a county in Virginia, that’s in the South at the time, still in the South, but really the deep South in those days, very anti-union, the department was run the old way, my way or the highway, there were no contracts, collective bargaining was actually illegal. There were really no grievance procedures. And so in a department of five or 600 firefighters, a handful of us decided in 1970, I’m four years on the job, watching the local unions in Washington, DC and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, that we realized, “You know what, we should have a union.”

And in 1970 we did our work. The IAFF came in with a couple of staff members and we organized local 2068. And it was chartered in July of 1970, and I became the first president of that local. And that’s when I really began my IAFF journey, back in 1970, now some almost 51 years ago. I got a chance to run that local. I became, as you are, president of your state of New Mexico, I was three years later, elected president of Virginia, hopefully helped to build that state. And then in 1976, I was asked by the General President at that time of the IAFF, Howie McClennan, if I’d consider coming over to headquarters and helping to build a political and legislative operation. And that’s what I did. I started here, I’m in my office now, but I started this building at the IAFF International on June 1st, 1976. So that’s the Schaitberger journey into this wonderful union of ours.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah, that’s interesting, especially being that when you first started it, wasn’t a union department at all and you just turned it around. We all know, for those of us who have dealt with that for a little bit, we know how it is and how it can be tough. So I’m sure it was tough during that time, and I appreciate it. Even being, you’re 20 years as president now, roughly right. And just amazing how we have over 300,000 members, or 322,000 members and just, what was the driving force? How were you so successful in getting that many members in IAFF?

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, Robert, as you know, no one person is responsible for any of the great success of our locals or our States or this international, but we all get to play an important role. And year 2000, when I was first elected General President, we had just about 200,000 members, and we wanted to continue to look for ways for firefighters all across the United States and Canada, not to try to get them into our union, but to provide the kind of representation to work and improve their careers, to make sure their benefits were strong. That if we built a successful union, that firefighters will want to be a part of the IAFF.

And in simple terms, that’s what we did. We built a number of very successful programs. We had a very successful legislative operation. We had built a incredibly important research operation, and education, and all the different components that made IAFF not just successful, but really improved the lives and the livelihoods of those men and women out there that are on the frontline every day. And that is really the simple truth to how we have grown over 120,000 members in the last 20 years.

Robert Sanchez: Right. Well, speaking about, like you just mentioned, some of the great opportunities that you’ve had for our members. Just even E18, the financial corporation, my God, we have the Center of Excellence, that’s been a huge success for firefighters across the nation. I personally know firefighters that went there and was very successful, helped them and their families, it helped their careers. And I think frankly, sir, I think it saved some lives, to be honest with you.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, and I think about some of the major programs that, again, that we’ve had success with, probably many of our members who rely on NFPA standards, for example, NFPA 17- 10, right? The stacking stamp. We passed that in 2001, and we had to organize and brought a thousand leaders to the NSFA convention in order to mandate and pass NFPA 17-10, that now became the standard to require adequate and safe staffing throughout the fire departments in the United States and Canada.

We created what’s called the Guardian Program. Many of our members wouldn’t particularly have a reason to know of that term, but our leadership understands that that Guardian Program we created was to guarantee and protect our leadership, that if they had an adverse action taken against them for doing their constitutionally guaranteed work as union leaders, that this union would bring its checkbook and its lawyers, and make sure that our members’ rights were protected. That terminations were put back to work, that demotions were given back their ranks, and to make sure that they would uphold, and more importantly protected, so they could continue to provide union leadership at the local level.

That was an incredibly important program for our union, that gave local leaders the confidence to know that, “If I step out on behalf of my members, and unfortunately I get a chief, or a city council, or a mayor who wants to take actions against me for doing my union work, that I know I’ve got this IAFF behind me.”

As far as the financial corporation, Robert, it was simply an idea to do three things, one, to provide good financial services to our members, good deferred compensation opportunities. It was to, quite frankly, take a little bit of bite out our adversary, ICMA. ICMA Retirement, International City Management Association, was managing our members’ money, using the profits to work against us on every single standard, code and legislative proposal. So we decided we’ll stand up our own company. Good services, take a hit at our, quite frankly, our enemy, and create a revenue stream for this IAFF. And it was 18 years ago that we started with zero participants and zero assets, and today we have $10.8 billion in assets and 160,000 participants, and generating millions of dollars every year into this IAFF of ours, and those dollars not coming out of our members’ paycheck. Another way to grow this union. Another way to grow this unit.

The Center of Excellence was our work to recognize the behavioral health challenges so many of our members face, the post-traumatic stress and to understand that they always used to be, “Hey, if you’re going to be tough, stuff it down. If you can’t take it, you’re on the wrong job.” Well, the fact of the matter is that our members have silent injuries. Our members have difficulty often time, at work, with family because of their emotional and their mental health challenges.

So yeah, this union said, “We’ve got to do more than just talk about it. We got to create something to really help our members.” That was the idea behind creating the Center of Excellence. Now, it’s been an unbelievable success. 2000 of our brothers and sisters coming through their treatment and being sent home to be able to enjoy their careers again, to keep their families together, and fortunately to stay alive, knowing that too many of our members find such despair that they decide that taking their own life is their only way out. No, this union created this structure opportunity and a benefit to save our members and to serve our members and to help them heal. It’s been an incredible success.

Robert Sanchez: It has been. I’ve had the distinct honor to actually tour … I made a special trip down there that actually toured to see where some of our members from New Mexico had benefited from the Center of Excellence. I went to tour it because I want to see where our members are going and what’s going on over there, just so I can come back and be an advocate for it. It definitely is a state of the art facility. I know members who went there and I could honestly say it saved their life because they told me it did. They come back or to their career in the fire service and to their family. As you know, General President, it’s not the firefighters that are the only ones suffering. All their families also do, at no fault to their own.

General President Harold Schaitberger: That’s right. Well, just know this, Robert. Take comfort knowing that we are in the negotiations right now for a facility property in Southern California because we’re going to be opening up our second Center of Excellence-

Robert Sanchez: Very nice.

General President Harold Schaitberger: So that we can better serve our members in the western part of the United States.

Robert Sanchez: Very nice. That’s good to know. What date do you think that might be coming or what year?

General President Harold Schaitberger: I think that probably … this whole COVID-19 environment is thrown some roadblocks in our work, but I’m going to say that I’d like to think the center will be up and actually running probably in about a year. Maybe late summer next year. We’re looking at the facility, we’re in negotiations with ARS, who’s our partner in these facilities, and I’m confident that we’ll be securing that property, but then we have to build it out and then we have to staff it. So I’m going to say, hopefully, it will be up and running in about a year.

Robert Sanchez: Good. Very nice. Just talking about helping out some of our New Mexico members, I can’t help but to mention everything that you and the IFF have done for New Mexico. I know that you take pride in making sure that your members have a seat at the table, especially the leadership in our state and across United States, but in New Mexico in particular because we have political action and what we’ve learned from the IFF and we use it in the state of New Mexico. And just what you’ve done for our legislature, making sure that we have a seat at the table. I appreciate that. We have a great governor here, Michelle Lujan Grisham, as you know, and she loves the IFF and she loves working with you so we’re real fortunate and I want to thank you for that.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, I appreciate that and I’m not trying to be facetious here, Robert, but I always ask our leadership, even though I know how it’s meant, but you don’t have to thank this IFF for what we do. You’re entitled to what we do. You’re a part of our union and you should expect this IFF is going to back your play, invest in your political opportunity, support your legislative efforts. That’s why we exist. I always recognize that no matter how largest the IFF is, here, Washington DC, big headquarters, where the real work is done is out there. Where the real work is done is out on the ground at our state legislatures and our city councils and our county governments.

General President Harold Schaitberger: This IAFF is responsible to provide every resource we can to all of you, the leadership out on the ground, to help make sure that you win many more victories than the few that you may lose and that you make use of every opportunity and defeat every challenge that comes your way.

So New Mexico is a kind of special place for me. I’ve had a lot of great friends. I go back a long time in your state, and it’s always been a pleasure to watch the growth and the success that you’ve experienced there in New Mexico.

Robert Sanchez: Well, thank you very much. I can’t help but mention, talking about the whole COVID thing. I mean, it’s down our throats every day and talking about politics, there in Washington, I know the IFF was able to assist in politics quite a bit for the COVID-19 stuff. I mean, we’re talking about money, protections, waivers that the IFF has done a great job doing. I mean, I know we were successful, but how was that working with politicians during this COVID 19-

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, you have those that really are supportive and you have those who are difficult. For example, you mentioned the waivers, and I know you’re referring to the waivers for our SAFER program, which is basically the federal government grant program that we created, by the way. This IAFF passed back in the early 2000s. It’s simply as resources provided to local governments or keeping firefighters working and to hire more firefighters. The waivers came about because the original program required city governments to match the federal funds that required certain performance standards. It only lasted a certain period of time. We learned during the recession of 2010/11, that we needed to dispense with all those bureaucratic requirements and rules, that what our local governments needed was resources. Get the money out there to be able to bring firefighters back to work who were laid off, to prevent firefighters from being laid off that are being threatened by pink slips. And in those cases where departments really can grow, to help them grow.

Well, it took a pretty aggressive meeting with the acting secretary of Department of Homeland security, Wolf, to finally get him to agree to put the waivers in place. Most of our members will never fully understand. I understand that. What that means or how that even affected them. But we as union leaders know it was critical.

Robert Sanchez: Absolutely.

General President Harold Schaitberger: As far as the COVID moment, we worked with the federal reserve in order to make sure that 500 plus billion dollars was put into a local municipal liquidity fund to help our local governments that are going to experience a reduction in their revenues, to be able to meet their needs so that we don’t have to have firefighters threatened with losing their jobs. We work with Congress to pass the First Heroes Act. Excuse me, the CARE Act, which provided $150 billion out of local governments. Provided an additional a hundred million dollars for the SAFER program, and now working with Congress on this fourth COVID package called the Heroes Act that will provide possibly up to another $500 billion to local and state government.

All of this is to keep our governments up and running, to keep our governments that more times than not have to operate on a balanced budget. They can’t run a debt. So if revenues are down when the economy shrinks in so many ways as it has and businesses close up, people are losing their jobs and tax revenues shrink up. Well, governments have little choice, but find where they can cut. Too many times those cuts affect our members. So yes, we’re using Congress, we’re using the administration, we’re using all of our tools in order to try to help underpin the financial challenges that our local governments are beginning to face and will face over the course of the next many months.

Robert Sanchez: Oh, great. We’ve talked about before, we help those who … whoever helps us, we help them. As firefighters, we make sure if you’re not going to help us, we’re not going to have your back. So speaking to that, I mean, I want to bring up, in April, 2019, we endorsed Joe Biden for president. I hope it works out and he seems to be a great man and I know he works for firefighters.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, first of all, we’re never overconfident, but we’re very confident that Joe Biden’s going to be the next president of the United States.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: There’s no question in my mind that that’ll be the case. But why Joe Biden? I understand our membership, Robert. I know our membership. That’s why I said, I’ve been a part of this for 51 years and I’ve always said it. Our membership is like a perfect reflection of the political landscape in our country. We have Republicans, we have Democrats, we have conservatives, we have some progressives. We have independents that choose not to identify with a party and to be real honest, we have a lot of members that don’t like politics at all. They think it stinks.

Robert Sanchez: Absolutely.

General President Harold Schaitberger: But our responsibility is to know that everything ultimately is dictated in the political arena. Every decision that affects our country, our citizens, our children, our work, everything ultimately comes from-

Our work, everything ultimately comes back to. You can follow that thread, that everything comes back to a decision made by someone elected out of that political arena. Local government, state government, federal government. And so our job has always been to get into that arena, knowing that we’ve got a membership, that’s not going to universally agree with any single decision, but to do as a union what our principal is, and that is supporting those that support firefighters, supporting those who have a history of supporting us, yes, as a union, and then returning that loyalty. And it was a simple, easy decision for our executive board because Joe Biden had been supporting this union for 44 years. Joe Biden has led the charge on our behalf going back to the original enactment of the Public Safety Officers Death Benefit Program in 1976, and every program since. Every step along the way. He has not just signed on bills, but led the charge.

Our members make a lot over time, hundreds of billions of dollars. The fact of the matter, it took a guy named Joe Biden in 1986, to help change the law so that we were covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Because prior to that, firefighters weren’t.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: So he’s just got a solid track record of loyalty of this union, but more importantly to our profession. And it was on that basis that yes, we were proud to not not only offer our support and endorsement, but to be the very first to do so.

Robert Sanchez: Absolutely.

General President Harold Schaitberger: And the truth of the matter is, in that early January, this last January in Iowa, things got a little dicey, and followed by New Hampshire where things looked-

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: … like maybe we’re in a little bit of trouble.

Robert Sanchez: It sure did.

General President Harold Schaitberger: And a lot of people were poking at us. I got a lot of friends that called and said, “Hey guys, get ready to go down the tube.”

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: But we kept our faith and we stood tall. And the truth is, that we were part of keeping Joe Biden on life support.

Robert Sanchez: I agree.

General President Harold Schaitberger: And then South Carolina takes off and the rest is history. And now this week, probably it may be in a matter of hours, we’re going to find out who his vice-presidential pick is.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: And most of them in the running are very good friends of this IAFF.

Robert Sanchez: Nice.

General President Harold Schaitberger: So we positioned our union to help elect someone who’s going to be a great president for the nation, but is going to be a terrific president for firefighters and our profession.

Robert Sanchez: Right. That’s very good that with the IFF has endorsed Joe Biden, and was saying that is if you talk to other unions across the country, which we do, I’m a member of other union organization groups here, we’re pretty much the most diverse union as far as political wise anyways. I mean, like you said, we have the most Republicans, the most Independence, of course we have Democrats, so that’s definitely unique about the IFF.

General President Harold Schaitberger: I know I’m repeating myself, but I just think it’s almost like a perfect reflection of the political landscape in our nation. I mean, we have a very politically diverse union, and which is challenging at times, Robert. I suspect you experienced that yourself in New Mexico. That you’ll back a politician and you’ll probably have some members that are not in agreement with that decision.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: But that’s the great thing about our nation, right? And it’s the great thing about our union. And that is, everybody has a right to hold their own position and to support who they choose, but this union has a responsibility as a union to do what’s right on behalf of our profession.

Robert Sanchez: Absolutely. I mean, and with that said, I mean, I can’t help to mention about the COVID… I mean, I’m sure the George Floyd stuff that’s going around, the unrest that’s happening across our nation, and the men and women in the IFF and how they’ve done great serving the community, like always, never seem to let us down, and they’re going through the riots and trying to put out fires, or structure fires, and having people rioting right next to you. So I just want to give a shout out to the men and women in the fire service in the United States and Canada, just all the great work they’ve been doing for these with these unrest and riots.

General President Harold Schaitberger: They deserve that shout out. I tell you, they’ve been on the front lines. So many places they have faced great challenges, sometimes with their own safety threat, but they never blink. We always say, they never back down, they never back out. They do their job and it’s just such a joy to be part of this union that represents such honorable people that are out there doing the work that they do on behalf of their citizens every single day.

Robert Sanchez: That’s right.

General President Harold Schaitberger: I want to give a shout out too, Robert, if I may, on the show.

Robert Sanchez: Sure, absolutely.

General President Harold Schaitberger: A shout out to the staff of the IAFF. We’ve got about 180 of, I think, like the very best. Each in their own skillsets, each in their own professional capabilities. And when COVID-19 hit, we had to shut… I’m here basically by myself, except for a couple of construction workers, in this eight-story building because we had to send our staff, basically, out to work remotely. And there was a lot of question, whether how is it going to work? Was it going to be effective? Would we get all of our programs service? We would get everything out to our locals that they need, the challenges they’re facing. And I have to tell you, I am so amazed and so proud of our staff. They haven’t missed a beat.

General President Harold Schaitberger: We were transitioning from a headquarter operation to a remote operation seamlessly. They’d be able to set up so that they’re actually operating like they’re sitting at their desk here in headquarters, and they have been pushing out all the programs, and the services, and the resources, and the tools and the education, and certainly all of the toolkits related to COVID-19. Both the health and safety toolkit, as well as the economic toolkit. So yeah, we have a great union, but part of the heart of this great union also is an incredible headquarter staff. They’ve just been doing extraordinary work under pretty challenging situation

Robert Sanchez: Times. Yeah, I mean, I haven’t seen much at all, so I’ve always been amazed how responsive they are to all of our members. We have the local presidents call and assist a great operation that they’re still operating there in Washington remotely from over there operating. So that is good. Again, thank you for, for your leadership sir, especially in the 10 District. And we have Frankie Lima one of the great leaders in this 10 District and they can’t forget to-

General President Harold Schaitberger: He’s amazing.

Robert Sanchez: … mention him.

General President Harold Schaitberger: I tell you, Frankie is amazing. That guy has done extraordinary work in this first term of his as a international vice president, and I don’t have tell you that the 10th District is operating at a very high level. He works to assure that all of you get everything you need to do your work, and he’s a great leader on our executive board and selfishly a great friend of mine,

Robert Sanchez: Right. I mean, we can stop to mention that the diversity that he makes happen in his 10 District. I mean, you have diverse DFSRs, and presidents, and diversity in California, Mexico, Arizona, and Hawaii. I might be biased, but 10 District is doing great.

General President Harold Schaitberger: It is doing great. You better be biased.

Robert Sanchez: Right. Well, thank you Mr. General President. So always have a community segment here on this IFFA Firefighter Kingdom podcast and we have Vince Trujilo. He helps out, and so he’s going to ask a few questions if you don’t mind.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Okay.

Robert Sanchez: So how are you doing Vince?

Vince Trujillo: Hey, good. Thank you so much for having me on, and especially in the special episode we have General President Schaitberger. And listening to everything that you’re doing over there, I appreciate that so much. It just seems that the history that you bring, what you’re doing to vie constantly for your membership and helping everyone out just seems like it trickles down to everyone that Robert’s been on. Just quality people that are being created out of some of the support they get from you, so I appreciate that. But I have a couple of questions.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Sure.

Vince Trujillo: So from a public’s perspective, I loved to hearing everything that you’re doing, the funds that you have, the foundations and all of the endeavors you’re going, and how you vie legislatively for everybody. And you said since you were in the 70s and you got started up in the unions, I was just going to ask, what was one of your favorite early memories of being in the union and kind of starting out then in the 70s?

General President Harold Schaitberger: I’ll tell you, one of the… We’re on air, so I’ll say it, but I usually try not to talk about myself too much because this union is a combination of so many leaders, and souls, and experiences. But to your question, Vince, I mentioned that when I helped to organize Local 2068, it was in a Southern environment, anti-union environment, no collective bargaining permitted. One of the first things we did as a new young local was able to pass a local ordinance that establish collect bargaining rights. And I, as a 25-year-old, relatively new-

Vince Trujillo: Wow.

General President Harold Schaitberger: … union president of a relatively new local union, was able to sit at the table across from our employers, the county government, and negotiate our first contract, the first public employee collective bargaining contract in the state of Virginia. So that was 1971, and so for everything, I’ve been privileged to be a part of and-

Everything I’ve been privileged to be a part of and to have some role in helping to move forward, that’s certainly a great memory, an achievement that I take a lot of pride in going back now almost 50 years.

Vince Trujillo: Wow. That’s impressive. I wouldn’t even want to compare to what I was doing when I was 25 years old and you’re getting the first collective bargaining agreement in Virginia. So congratulations on that. That’s amazing. Another question for me is that given what all you’ve seen in the landscape change over this last 40 years plus, what do you see the digital age having to play in how you connect with your members, how other presidents connect with their members and how it can keep members and the community involved?

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, Vince, I think you know and sometimes I take a journey to answer your question, but we are very focused on how to better communicate, connect with our leadership, with our members, with the general public. That’s why we have such a comprehensive, strong, complex communication and media department. It’s one of the reasons why we decided as one of only two unions in North America to build and create our own broadcast quality studio, to be able to have our communication field staff that really is trained in how to utilize all of the new emerging, digital, social media platforms to create our communication training academy, where we bring in 50 leaders every year to give them the strong skillsets to understand how to be that voice back out in the field to their members that need to be better informed always, to the citizens that need to be informed on the various issues and challenges that our members are facing.

And then to create that training academy now at the state level. In the last 16 months, we’ve established our communication state and provincial training academy. So to your question, we’re trying to use everything from broadcast quality studio, our own production media team. We bought a media company, a union media company. So now this IAFF, you, our members own their own media production operation. They own their own broadcast quality studio.

We have a significant and a campaign strategical department that understands and is helping to expand the use of all the various platforms that are out there and how we have to understand how to deliver information and connect whether it’s our members, the politicians, or the general population.

Vince Trujillo: Oh, that’s great. Thank you so much for that. And we’re getting out there too. We’re like trying to learn and we’re getting Robert, got his podcast launched and we’re doing a really good job so far. I know that you have a podcast too. Do you want to give a shout out to that one?

General President Harold Schaitberger: Well, we do. And I give a shout out to Mark Truglio and Doug Stern who do a great job with our podcast, and trying to, again, provide this opportunity to select the various subjects that we think our members would be interested in. And as you’re doing, pushing it out, it’s just another vehicle. Another way to hopefully inform and connect with our members.

Vince Trujillo: Yes, that’s great. So we’re going to post links to that in our description and what we’re doing when we post this on our channels as well as when the YouTube videos come out as well. So thank you, General President Schaitberger for this and learning about everything you’re doing for your members. One of our couple of important points with our last question is that the public really needs to know in supporting.

You talked about endorsing Joe Biden because of all of the… I mean this goes back 40 years with Joe Biden too, so that was really an important note to know. And I think we’re going to take time to kind of pull that out into our website and our blog to say why this was important to support him. What does the public need to know right now based on the environment that we have with some states, some national politicians constantly seem to be fighting unions and talking about that. And as it gets into affecting first responders, teachers, some of our more basic… People in the public service that you should be supporting, what is important that the public knows going forward right now, especially with the election coming up, that we need to be educated for. And it doesn’t really matter, your political stripe. It shouldn’t matter as much when you’re supporting people like firefighters. So people like me and the public, what do we need to know that can be nonpolitical?

General President Harold Schaitberger: Let’s talk about… If we’re going to focus on it, it’s always a lot of things start at the top. It starts with the president of the United States. But it’s more than just Joe Biden being the president of the United States. It’s that, that is the person who will help to establish our entire federal government, the 13 federal agencies that are so responsible for every aspect of our nation and our citizens’ lives and future.

So when you’re talking about making this decision, I would want to make sure that the public knows more and more. Joe Biden really is middle-class Joe. It’s not just a title or a nickname, but he understands the challenge of working families. He understands what it’s like to be in a job where you got to come home and wash your hands and take a shower after work.

He’s had a lifetime of supporting our children in a strong education system. And he is a politician that has never shied away from using the word union. He’s proud to be supportive of union. It’s Joe Biden that you’ve heard so many times over so many years that the middle class built this country and the unions built the middle class. So what people need to understand is this is somebody who has faced his own personal tragedy. So he has real empathy for those that have a challenging environment or life, or have a sick child or parent.

So I think that’s the message that is getting out and that is connecting, but certainly for us in communicating, Joe Biden is going to support middle class, strong middle class, working families, workers, and believes that everyone should be organized by a union.

Vince Trujillo: Great answer. Thank you so much General President Schaitberger. I appreciate that. It was great getting to know you better and as a community member, I think so many of our community are going to benefit from learning about what you do and how you support the firefighters in a little bit more detail into that. So I appreciate that.

General President Harold Schaitberger: I appreciate it.

Vince Trujillo: I’m going to turn it back over to Robert. Thank you so much for being on our podcast.

Robert Sanchez: Well, thank you again, General President Schaitberger. It’s always an honor and a treat to have you on and always nice to talk to you and thank you for your leadership, sir, and the IAFF.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Thank you for what you do, Robert. You do a great job.

Robert Sanchez: Thank you, sir.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Our members in New Mexico are really benefited by your strong work.

Robert Sanchez: Thank you, sir.

General President Harold Schaitberger: So know that I’ve got your back.

Robert Sanchez: We appreciate that. We know you do. So again, thank you.

General President Harold Schaitberger: So let me thank everybody for listening to Firefighter Kingdom on Apple and Spotify podcast.

Robert Sanchez: Perfect. This is our podcast. We have a couple of firefighters on from Allie from Hawaii. We have Dennis Lawson from Washington. So great IAFF supporters and members that are out there supporting this. So again, thank you again, sir.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Okay.

Robert Sanchez: And have a good day

General President Harold Schaitberger: All the best.

Robert Sanchez: Have a good day.

General President Harold Schaitberger: Stay safe out there.

Robert Sanchez: We will. Also, thank you, sir.

The post #12 – General President Harold Schaitberger | Special Edition – 2020 Election & More appeared first on The FireFighter Kingdom Podcast.

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