#being raised religiously has its advantages sometimes <3 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

theworldbrewery · 4 years ago

Text

what does it mean to play with a high (or low) stat?

fun fact: “commoners” (i.e., your average unskilled random) have a 10 in every ability score.

they are the average of the average. the most middle-of-the-road we can achieve. and they will never reflect your Player Character’s reality.

but they are a great baseline for determining where your characters are outstanding, and where they will struggle.

An average person can lift 50 lbs comfortably, has enough hand-eye coordination to play a decent game of ping-pong against an equally-matched opponent, can fight off most communicable diseases, knows how to read, can tell when they need more information to be able to act, and is able to handle basic social contact when there is no reason for conflict.

***note--I’m using these “averages” to talk about what a non-disabled and neurotypical person will be generally capable of without training or honing a particular skill. Being within 2-3 ability score points of the average doesn’t necessarily require justification, but it might still be fun to explore***

so your barbarian with an 18 in strength isn’t just an outlier, it’s a major difference from what Jane Ordinary can manage on a typical day, and the sweet-talking powers of your 20-charisma sorcerer are going to feel supernatural compared with what the traveling horse salesman is used to. When you’re creating a character, whether that’s an NPC with class levels or a player character, consider why a character’s stats are the way they are.

If they were naturally gifted, is that why they felt called to the class they chose? Did they work hard to be where they are today, and let other abilities fall by the wayside? Did a higher power imbue them with strength, charisma, or wisdom to make a perfect vessel for their plans? Reimagining the reasons behind your statistics can help develop your backstory and even factor into your character arc down the line.

***Another note: be especially self-aware if you’re going to play a neuroatypical, mentally ill, or disabled character and you aren’t yourself a member of the group you’re representing. I love representation but don’t be insensitive---and if anything I mention here comes off as insensitive, let me know and I’ll adjust accordingly!***

STRENGTH:

At first level, a higher-than-average STR score is going to reflect a lot of training, whether intentional or not. The character may have grown up chopping wood and hauling logs around a woodland village, spent their young adulthood in a mine, or studied with bodybuilders in a remote bodybuilder monastery.

In contrast, a lower-than-average STR score might correspond to a pampered lifestyle, one where the character never needed physical labor to get by; or perhaps they have a disability, such as a bad back, or a chronic illness that leaves their muscles weaker than usual.

DEXTERITY:

A character with a high DEX is flexible and fast. They might have been an acrobat in a circus, flipping around on the trapeze. An urchin whose two options are move fast or get arrested is also likely to be dextrous, as much as a noble who, as a child, often crept around and hid in their family estate to avoid lessons or spy on the adults. They might be from a tree-dwelling community where leaping across platforms is commonplace, or use their dexterity on the rigging of the ship they made their home. A very dextrous person might even have EDS or another condition that makes them hyper-flexible.

A low DEX might, like low STR, match with a disability like arthritis or an old leg injury that never healed properly, or it could align with pressure to behave properly in polite company--never running, climbing, or skulking around. Low DEX could also translate to clumsiness, a fear of taking physical risks, or a tremor that makes Sleight of Hand difficult.

CONSTITUTION:

High CON is a matter of resistance to illness, poison/drugs/alcohol, and general hardiness or stamina. A high CON character might take vitamins and supplements to keep their peak physical condition, do exercises to increase lung capacity or practice running to build endurance. They may take small doses of poison to build up immunity, or maybe they’ve been a low-grade alcoholic for so long their liver is adept at filtering out toxins. They might have done charity marathons to raise money for good causes back home.

Low CON might therefore translate to an arrhythmia or other chronic illnesses such as asthma, POTS, or even severe allergies. The low CON character could have been trapped in a sheltered upbringing that never exposed them to disease or required them to stand and move for hours. Maybe they have never been exposed to drink or drugs and are an incurable lightweight.

INTELLIGENCE:

A high-INT character may have spent years under the tutelage of scholars, worked hard to get into an educational institution, or learned history and magic from the elders of their community with the intent to carry the knowledge into the next generation. They may have autism that helps with information recall, ADHD that leads to hyperfocus on a few specific topics, or another form of neurodiversity.

A low-INT character may have never had the chance to learn from their uneducated family, or be so without a community that no one bothered to teach them. They might have a learning disability, memory problems, or chronic fatigue that causes brain fog.

WISDOM:

A high-WIS character is generally observant, able to assess the intentions of others, clear-headed, and pragmatic--or at least practical. High Wisdom may come from being taught from a young age to pay attention to one’s surroundings, be a part of a community’s religious or ethical worldview, or be a necessary skill developed for survival in a world full of hazards or underhanded strangers. High WIS scores can also derive from anxiety or trauma that make characters more sensitive to information and more likely to observe patterns that otherwise go unnoticed.

Low WIS characters might have very little life experience, or be naive because of the way they’ve been taught to view the world. They might have issues with visual or auditory processing that affect their perception, have low empathy that makes insight a struggle, or experience depression, psychosis, or paranoia that leads to difficulty assessing what is real.

CHARISMA:

High CHA characters may spend months or years mastering the performing arts, honing their ability to lie or stretch the truth, or practicing their most intimidating posture. Or their Charisma may stem from being completely genuine and trustworthy, without any apparent artifice. Characters with sociopathy may know how to turn any social encounter to their advantage, and those with high empathy may be simply likeable. A high-CHA character could be funny, attractive, talented, or have a magnetic personality for any number of reasons, including trying to impress a particular social group or person, a career goal as a comedian or performer, or being raised with rustic hospitality.

A low-CHA character may have trouble with eye contact or even be compulsively unable to lie (or a compulsive liar that’s simply unconvincing); they might have sensory issues that make them sensitive to music or certain vocal timbres, or they might be brusque and businesslike. Low Charisma can stem from a roughshod upbringing, a cultural emphasis on stark honesty even when unsolicited, or a lack of awareness for someone else’s perspective. Even a speech impediment or a trauma that leads to skittishness can read as low-Charisma if you want to play it that way (though it doesn’t have to be).

Sometimes, a character is in the middle-of-the-road but you still want to include one of the options mentioned above. In that case, they could have multiple “conflicting” influences in their background. A character with ADHD might be very good with a specific subject but the ADHD also manifests as memory issues, reflecting a 12 Intelligence score and its ambiguity (and proficiency in specific skills will reflect the specificity of hyperfocus, for instance).

None of these are hard-and-fast rules. If you want to play a character with chronic pain that doesn’t have a matching low score, that’s also amazing! But if you’re starting from the stats and want to figure out the “in-game justification” for why someone’s abilities are where they are, I hope this little outline helps.

If you like our posts, consider donating to our Ko-Fi @ theworldbrewery. We are saving up for Volo’s Guide to Monsters (and I’m kinda looking forward to trashing Volo’s opinions)

#dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #rpgs #character creation

333 notes · View notes

vorta-whore · 4 years ago

Text

Transition of Power, ch. 3

The two of you go for a stroll.

Weyoun 5 x female reader

Chapter 1: An Introduction | Chapter 2: A First Date | Chapter 3: A Walk Together | Chapter 4: A Night on Bajor

---

You don’t consider yourself a particularly religious woman. You have always had faith in the Prophets, of course, and you attend weekly services whenever you can afford the time. But in all your years aboard the station, you can’t recall ever stepping foot in the temple outside of service hours simply to pray.

You’ve done so three times this week.

The silence and stillness of the shrine seems to help, for a moment. As you kneel onto an empty pillow and bow your head, your chaotic thoughts begin to subside, replaced by a single, focused prayer.

Prophets, you think, though you sometimes sense you’re talking to yourself more than to them. Please, guide me. I didn’t think I had a choice, at first, with this man. He wanted me and I could not deny him, for fear of what would happen to me. But the more we talk, the clearer it is that he isn’t forcing me into anything. I’m continuing it of my own free will.

You lace your fingers together and squeeze your eyes shut in concentration.

I know he’s a dangerous man. An evil one. He represents the empire that could tear the Alpha Quadrant apart. And I know he must have committed atrocities of his own as well. I shouldn’t want to be with him – I should be repulsed. But I can’t help it. When he leaves, I miss his presence. I think about him as I lie awake at night. I wonder what kind of a man he is, under that diplomatic persona. I want to get to know him. And I...I like how I feel around him. He makes me feel interesting. And wanted. Desirable, but respected. He treats me kindly, with a gentleness I never thought him capable of, that I’ve never experienced from another lover. And I know the right course of action is to end this before it begins, to reject his advances before they can go any further...but I feel in my heart that I would regret it forever.

A heavy sigh falls from your lips.

You gifted us with the ability to love so we could appreciate being bathed in your holy light. It is the purest, most powerful force in the world. So how could it ever be wrong? Would I...be a collaborator if I continued this? Is the only moral course of action to forget this affair? Or is this part of my fate – to capture the heart of a powerful enemy and help save his soul, and maybe some lives in the process?

You pause, your heart laid bare, and wait for a response. But you don’t really expect one. The Prophets have never spoken to you – not directly, at least – and you don’t expect them to start now. Even if you are in terrible need of guidance. For a moment you consider asking the vedek for advice, but you suspect he won’t give you an entirely unbiased answer when he realizes the object of your affections is none other than the station’s Vorta oppressor.

The musky scent of incense swirls in the air around you. Quieted but still frustrated by your own uncertainty, you take a moment to breathe and center yourself as best you can before heading back out to the Promenade.

The serenity you found inside the temple begins to fade away as soon as you leave it. You pause to survey the station inhabitants shuffling to and fro, their heads bowed, their faces weary. As much weighs on their minds as on yours.

A sudden call snaps you out of your reverie.

“Y/N!” comes the excited, familiar voice, and you turn with surprise to see Weyoun flanked by his Jem’Hadar guards. Caught off-guard, you gape for a moment as he approaches.

“Hi,” you manage. He beams at you in response.

“Will you walk with me for a moment?”

Your answer follows before you can give it even a moment’s thought: “Of course.”

The Vorta turns and you fall in tow as the four of you cross the Promenade. You’re not entirely pleased to be seen in public with Weyoun – you keep glancing about as though fearful of the judgmental glares you’re bound to receive – but the majority of people you pass seem entirely uninterested in your little rendezvous. Beyond, of course, the usual uneasy glances they direct at Weyoun.

“I really did enjoy our dinner last week,” he says with a hum. “I apologize for not contacting you sooner.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure you’re a very busy man.”

“Oh, you have no idea the extent of it. I’ve rarely a moment to myself, let alone time to enjoy the company of others. Which brings me to my point.”

He pauses in front of a window and turns to gaze out at the stars. You do the same, and a faint wistfulness tugs at your heartstrings as you stare at the space where the wormhole hasn’t opened in months.

“I’d like to see more of you,” Weyoun says softly.

You look over at him with such a panicked haste that he quickly adds an addendum: “If that’s alright.”

“I – you – yes, of course it’s alright,” you stutter, and feeling sheepish, you avert your eyes and tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ears.

You can hear the smile (and notes of what sound like genuine relief) in Weyoun’s voice as he replies. “I’m glad to hear it. As it happens, my meeting with Gul Dukat later this evening has been fortuitously postponed – and I can think of no greater way to spend my suddenly free time than in the pleasure of your company.”

You glance up to see he’s turned from the window to face you, and his wide eyes glimmer with anticipation as he awaits your response.

You hesitate. Something within you is begging to say no, to run away – but you can’t fathom the possibility of extinguishing the spark of excitement in those amethyst eyes...

“Unless...you have a prior engagement?” he prompts at your hesitation, and the way his eyebrows raise and his lips tug into a frown has you scrambling to comfort him.

“No! No, I’m free. I’d love to join you,” you assure, quite earnestly in fact, you realize, and Weyoun’s expression melts back into a pleased smile.

“Excellent. I was thinking perhaps a change of scenery this time; I’ve already taken the liberty of securing a holosuite reservation. I think you’re going to like the program I’ve selected.”

Before you can inquire, Weyoun reaches for your hands, and the feeling of his soft skin brushing against yours steals the words right out of your mouth. You find yourself helpless under his gaze once more as he strokes his thumbs over the back of your hands, and in that simple, paralyzing touch you completely forget the two of you are in the public eye.

“I’ll pick you up from your quarters at eighteen hundred hours. Dress for warm weather.”

He presses a quick kiss to one of your hands and then is gone, leaving you breathless by the window.

No one had been paying you much attention before. But after that public display of affection, you notice several pairs of eyes quickly dart away as you turn back toward the Promenade.

You suppose you’d better go find a dress.

---

The door-chime rings at eighteen-hundred hours exactly, and you wonder if Weyoun had perhaps been standing there waiting for the precise moment to strike. With one last glance in the mirror to straighten your hair, you answer the door, and the sight momentarily stuns you.

You hadn’t seen Weyoun in any outfit other than his typical – was it a uniform? That strange, asymmetrical garb he always wore. But as an ambassador, it made sense that he would have a variety of clothing suitable for multiple climates, and he had donned one such outfit here for the occasion. It resembled his usual attire, in all its intricately-patterned, multi-textured glory, but revealed much more skin than you were used to seeing on the Vorta. Lapels of thin leather stretched out to just barely cover his shoulders, leaving his arms completely bare. The pleated mauve undershirt (though you doubted it was its own garment entirely, more likely just a piece of fabric sewn into the vest for modesty) dipped down low to reveal both collarbones, and the asymmetrical hem of the garment jutted out just above his hips. His trousers – a shade more form-fitting than usual – were cuffed at the shin, revealing a sliver of calves between the hem and the ankle-high boots he wore.

You had worried about feeling a little too dressed-down, in your flowing sundress and delicate sandals, next to the stiff and regal Vorta. But the casual outfit assuages your fears and you both grin – you a little giddily – to see the other in a new light.

“You look stunning as always, my dear,” Weyoun notes, “but especially so tonight.”

You hesitate as he offers you his arm, but the reality is that after this morning, the whole station likely knows about the two of you; there’s no point hiding this courtship anymore. You take his arm.

“I could say the same of you,” you tease, a little emboldened by the feeling of walking on the station commander’s arm. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you show quite so much skin.”

A smirk tugs at the corners of Weyoun’s lips, and you sense he’s debating saying something, but quickly decides against it. He simply chuckles.

“I’m glad you like it.”

A thought occurs to you and you voice it tentatively as the two of you (followed, as always, by the Jem’Hadar guards) make your way down the corridors.

“Weyoun – is it true your people don’t have a sense of aesthetics?”

“Yes. The Founders did not deem it necessary for our purposes.”

You think you detect a hint of bitterness. But he continues on cheerfully: “Personally, as a diplomat, I do see the advantages; every culture has its own unique sense of style and taste, and if I had my own personal preferences among them, I might find it more difficult to establish relations with races whose appearances or architecture I disliked.”

“I guess that makes sense,” you mutter, not really agreeing. “I just wondered – you always compliment my appearance…”

“Ah,” he chuckles, “yes. I assure you those are genuine.”

At your look of confusion, he furrows his brow, trying to find the easiest way to explain.

“...Allow me to illustrate it for you with an example. If you showed me two dresses – one horribly tacky, the other beautiful and elegant – and asked me to label which one was which, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. To me, they’re both slips of fabric in various colors and patterns woven together to make a garment. I cannot detect whether certain colors clash with one another, or if certain shapes are unflattering on one’s body. But what I can appreciate is the woman wearing the dress. Her whole demeanor often changes when she slips into a garment as beautiful as she is; she becomes more comfortable, more open, more in tune with her inner light. When I compliment her, I’m voicing my appreciation for things like...the way her smile lights up the room. The tinge of color on her cheeks and the spark in her eyes. The grace with which she carries herself. Her confidence in flaunting such a flawless appearance.”

He pauses to drive his point home by setting his free hand gently over the one you’ve laid on his arm and meeting your eyes with a suave smile. Your foundation does nothing to hide the blush that rises to your cheeks, and you to your horror a giggle bubbles up from your lips.

“Regardless,” Weyoun sighs, pleased at the response he’s elicited, “I can certainly appreciate the effort you’ve expended going out of your way to gild yourself for my enjoyment.”

Heads turn as you enter Quark’s, and for a moment you avert your eyes and stare to the ground in embarrassment – but Weyoun doesn’t falter an instant, and the sheer confidence with which he carries himself bolsters you. You lift your head with some effort, clinging just a bit more tightly onto his arm.

Quark has the data rod with your holosuite program in his hand as you approach the bar; his expression is unreadable. Weyoun thanks him and takes it, and you continue upstairs.

“I do hope you like it,” he says, a little more loudly over the noise of the bar, as he slots the data rod into the panel. “Having never been to Bajor myself, I can only hope it is a faithful reproduction.”

You turn to fix him with a questioning look, but he only bows and gestures for you to head inside.

“After you.”

The doors part and you immediately feel a blast of warm air, a welcome feeling on your bare, goosebump-prickled skin. You step inside – followed closely by Weyoun – and the Jem’Hadar take up post outside the holosuite just before the doors slide shut.

The program, to your wonder and delight, is a perfect re-creation of one of Bajor’s most famous forests. Your home planet is well-known for its natural splendor – sprawling mountains, rolling hillsides, breathtaking falls – and this woodland is a shining example. Impossibly high, purple-barked trees stretch toward the endless sky, their leaves casting a shimmering dappled shadow upon the needle- and moss-covered ground. A brook winds and weaves through the web of tree trunks and their gnarled roots, its water crystal clear, its shores adorned by smooth pebbles and stones. Small woodland creatures dart to and fro throughout the underbrush, and you watch with quiet fascination as one of them – a long-eared, round-eyed lagomorph – pauses to nibble at the bud of a crimson sunset-lily.

You’re sufficiently awed.

“I take it,” Weyoun says softly from behind you, and you startle a bit, having all but forgotten he was there, “the program passes muster?”

“More than,” you reply, and turning to face him, you offer a genuine smile of gratitude. “I feel like I’m home again.”

A warm smile touches his lips, creases the corners of his eyes.

“I’m pleased to hear it.”

As the two of you approach the trailhead, Weyoun slides a graceful arm around your shoulders. He holds you firmly, but not tightly, and his embrace – the tingling sensation of his soft skin on your bare shoulders, the feeling of safety under his grasp – transforms you into a blushing maiden, clinging onto your shining knight. You wrap a reciprocating arm around his lower back as you both begin down the dirt path.

“I’m glad to be able to see some of your homeworld,” he muses after a few moments of contented silence, interrupting the cheerful sounds of birdsong. “Even if it is only a facsimile. My occupation, unfortunately, does not allow me much vacation time.”

He says this with a chuckle, intending the comment to be light-hearted, but you can hear an undercurrent of bitterness – the same subtle tone you noticed in your earlier conversation. The polite thing to do would be to move on; talk about the places in Bajor he should visit if he ever gets the chance. But you know it would be an empty gesture. There’s an opportunity here, and you’d be remiss to let it pass you by.

“...Weyoun,” you start carefully, and he glances over to you, attentive at your sudden tone of concern. “Do you ever…wish things were different?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” he fires back, a little too quickly. His eyes slide back to the path in front of you.

“Yes, you do.”

Silence stretches out between you as Weyoun contemplates his answer. His arm around your shoulders has slackened a little and you aren’t sure if this risk is paying off the way you intended it to. After several long moments, he heaves a sigh, laden with a burden you sense he’s reluctant to acknowledge.

“Sometimes…”

He stops himself. You try to decipher the expressions crossing his face but they’re entirely unreadable. He glances back to you – looks down – sighs again. When he speaks, his words are deliberate, chosen with laborious care.

“Sometimes, I do harbor thoughts of what life might be like if circumstances were...different. There are many pleasures in this world unknowable to me; the taste of a home-cooked meal, for instance. Art in any capacity. Music, especially, I wish I could appreciate.”

“You can’t even enjoy music?”

“When I listen to a song, it’s as if I’m…” – his hand dances about in the air, searching for an apt comparison – “...looking at a sheet of mathematical equations. I can pick out the individual instruments, note the changes in their pitch, recognize patterns and motifs. But the whole of the song, the heart of it, escapes me.”

You both ponder this sad reality.

“I do think it would be nice to be able to carry a tune,” he laments after a long moment. “Or to dance. I’m a truly terrible dancer.”

The image of lovely, graceful Weyoun stumbling around a dancefloor elicits a burst of laughter from you, despite the heavy subject matter; Weyoun laughs along, relieved his attempt at cutting the tension was successful.

“That’s a shame. I don’t know how the Vorta usually woo their women, but on Bajor, dinner and dancing is usually part of the package at some point.”

“Well, I’ve managed to woo you without having to resort to dancing just yet.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” you retort, grinning.

Weyoun agrees with a hearty chuckle.

“Let’s hope not.”

---

The two of you make your way down the winding trail, enjoying the sights and sounds of the woodland as you go. Weyoun, ever the gentleman, leads you by a hand over the fallen logs and stepping-stones that serve as bridges across the stream, his grip a comforting assurance. He waits ever so patiently when you pause to beckon to the furry little creatures eyeing you from the underbrush, and he is adequately fascinated by your explanations of the various flora and fauna, even humoring you when you pick the occasional flower and offer it for him to smell.

“Do you even have a sense of smell?” you question him at one point, twirling the stem of a flower between your fingertips; those of your other hand are laced comfortably with his.

“I do,” he assures, a little amused by the question but understanding of its necessity. “Scent plays a pivotal role in making good first impressions; it’s one of the first things a person notices. I find it helpful, actually, to tailor my own scent to match the preferences of those with whom I wish to establish good relations. It’s a subtle enough gesture, but effective.”

“Is that why you always smell so sweet?” You give him a light jab to the ribs.

He grins at your playful tone, shoots you a look of mirthful defeat.

“You caught me.”

“How did you know I’d like that scent in particular?”

“Well…”

Weyoun trails off, and in the span of that one word the tone of the conversation has shifted to something decidedly less lighthearted. Your attention is drawn to him as he withdraws his hand from your own and clasps it with his other; you wonder if that might be a nervous habit.

“Being station commander has its...advantages. There is very little that goes on here without my knowing, and likewise very little information inaccessible to me. If I wish to know...say...a particular occupant’s work schedule...or shopping habits...”

“You stalked me!” you accuse, and although the offense rings clear in your voice, you can’t honestly say it runs all that deep. Either way, you aren’t surprised.

“Stalk is a strong word!” Weyoun insists, the pitch of his voice rising as he hurries to defend himself. “I merely – gathered some basic information – to give myself the best possible chance of ensuring the outcome I wanted.”

“Which was?”

He looks at you a little strangely. The answer is obvious, of course, but you want to hear him say it.

“To win your affection. Which, it seems, I have. Or am I mistaken?”

His turn to ask the obvious question. You smile and lower your gaze to the ground.

“You have.”

“Then the ends justified the means.”

The trail opens up into a clearing, and you come upon the shore of a vast lake. There’s a stretch of fence close to the shoreline and you lean against it as you take in the sight: the rippling surface of the water glimmers like so many gemstones, reflecting the deep orange and violet hues of the Bajoran sunset.

It occurs to you that your Vorta friend may not be able to enjoy this painterly scene to the same extent you can. You glance over to him – and startle to see his gaze is fixed intently on you. It doesn’t waver as you meet it, and the unabashed eye contact brings a sudden warmth to your cheeks.

“What?” you finally ask, a little sheepish.

Weyoun’s smile grows just a shade deeper as he answers.

“You enjoy looking at the sunset. I enjoy looking at you.”

The simplicity of the statement only excites the butterflies in your stomach. You smile nervously, self-conscious, as Weyoun studies your face with a sudden, urgent interest; his smile fades and his brow creases with concentration. He’s searching for something – and whatever it is, he’s desperate to find it.

You’re just about to ask what’s wrong when his hand lifts to your face, and the gentle hold he takes of your cheek steals your thoughts away completely. His palm is soothingly cool; his touch, comforting and still. You notice his eyes slide down to your lips and you realize with paralyzing clarity what it is, exactly, he wants.

The next few moments happen in slow motion.

You allow the hand cupping your cheek to guide your face upwards, and Weyoun’s head tilts to the side, making room for you. You spare a glance down to his lips, then back up to his eyes, tender and heavy-lidded; your lips part and you suck in a small, quiet gasp of air, the last you’ll get for the next several seconds. As Weyoun leans down to close the last inch of space between you, your eyelids flutter shut – and an infinite, breathless moment passes before you feel his soft lips press, tender and sweet, into yours.

He lingers there motionless for several moments, the pad of his thumb stroking your cheek, before beginning to pull away – but you don’t let him. The instant his lips leave yours, your hands shoot up to grasp the sides of his face and pull him back down for more, and he obliges, gladly; you press up into him with more force, mashing your lips together in a hungry bid for intimacy, and he exhales heavily into the kiss, returning every ounce of passion. His hand slips from your face and you feel his arms wrap tightly around your middle, pulling your body into his, and for several long minutes the only sounds around you are the distant calls of the waterfowl and the lapping of gentle waves at the shore.

Neither of you wants to end this perfect moment. But, inevitably, one of you must break for air, and of course it happens to be you. You pull back just enough to breathe; your eyes blink open to meet Weyoun’s, and as you relocate your hands from his face to rest upon his shoulders, you notice with some amusement the faintest tinge of purple in his cheeks.

“Wow,” you exhale, lightheaded.

“Wow,” he agrees.

His grip on your waist loosens and, self-consciousness returning, you turn back toward the lake and allow the cool breeze to soothe your burning face. Weyoun releases you to instead rest a hand on the small of your back, and you lean into him, heart aflutter.

A few minutes of silence – of perfect, serendipitous peace – draw to a reluctant close as the automated voice of the computer informs you your holosuite reservation is at an end. You release the fence posts just as they disappear from beneath your hands and frown as the beautiful expanse of forest before you gives way to the cramped and machinery-cluttered interior of the holosuite.

“A pity,” sighs Weyoun, turning to you and taking your hands in his own. “I was hoping that hour might break the rules of spacetime and stretch out just a bit longer.”

It’s a little cheesy, but you giggle anyway, and he grins to have gotten to you. Lifting a hand to his lips, he presses one of his signature kisses to the back of it, and you sigh, squeeze his hand in return.

Emerging from the holosuite on Weyoun’s arm once more, you cringe at the din of the bar, so cacophonous compared to the quiet of the forest. But nothing can shake the absolute serenity now instilled within you. You practically float down the walkway, and though pairs of eyes follow your progress as they did before, this time you find it quite easy to pay them no mind.

Weyoun notes your confidence with an approving hum. “Not so self-conscious now, I see.”

You grin a little, shrug your shoulders. He responds with a chuckle and teases you in that lilting, singsong voice of his: “I wonder why.”

The walk back to your quarters is shorter than you’d like it to be, and before you know it you’re standing at the entrance to your quarters. Frowning, you turn to face Weyoun, not quite ready to part ways.

“It was a pretty short hour,” you say.

“Indeed it was.”

“It doesn’t...have to be over so soon. You could come inside…”

“I’m afraid not, my dear,” he sighs, and there’s genuine disappointment in his voice as he cradles your hands in his own. “I’m due elsewhere on the station in five minutes’ time.”

He soothes away your dejection with another quick couple of kisses to the back of your knuckles – and then, with a coy smile, one to the very corner of your lips. You turn your head to try to catch it full-on, but he dodges you deftly – ever the tease. You understand the purpose behind this tactic of leaving you wanting at the end of each of your encounters, but it frustrates you all the same, and Weyoun grins infuriatingly at your pouting.

“Try not to fret too much. I promise I’ll be in touch again very soon.”

You can only swallow, nod, and linger on his gaze as long as politely possible before allowing your hands to slip from his and turning with great reluctance to enter your quarters.

Sleep hasn’t been coming easily to you these past few weeks. But tonight, it greets you kindly, and you drift into an easy slumber with a smile on your lips.

#weyoun #weyoun 5 #weyoun x reader #series #ds9 #fanfic #star trek #vorta #reader-insert

39 notes · View notes

newstfionline · 4 years ago

Text

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

‘Vaccine passports’ are on the way (Washington Post) The Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials—often referred to as “vaccine passports”—that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as businesses try to reopen. The effort has gained momentum amid President Biden’s pledge that the nation will start to regain normalcy this summer and with a growing number of companies—from cruise lines to sports teams—saying they will require proof of vaccination before opening their doors again. The passports are expected to be free and available through applications for smartphones, which could display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Americans without smartphone access should be able to print out the passports, developers have said. U.S. officials say they are grappling with an array of challenges, including data privacy and health-care equity. They want to make sure all Americans will be able to get credentials that prove they have been vaccinated, but also want to set up systems that are not easily hacked or passports that cannot be counterfeited, given that forgeries are already starting to appear. Other countries are racing ahead with their own passport plans, with the European Union pledging to release digital certificates that would allow for summer travel.

Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Manhattan May Never Be the Same. (NYT) A year after the coronavirus sparked an extraordinary exodus of workers from office buildings, what had seemed like a short-term inconvenience is now clearly becoming a permanent and tectonic shift in how and where people work. Employers and employees have both embraced the advantages of remote work, including lower office costs and greater flexibility for employees, especially those with families. Beyond New York, some of the country’s largest cities have yet to see a substantial return of employees, even where there have been less stringent government-imposed lockdowns, and some companies have announced that they are not going to have all workers come back all the time. In recent weeks, major corporations, including Ford in Michigan and Target in Minnesota, have said they are giving up significant office space because of their changing workplace practices, while Salesforce, whose headquarters occupies the tallest building in San Francisco, said only a small fraction of its employees will be in the office full time. But no city in the United States, and perhaps the world, must reckon with this transformation more than New York, and in particular Manhattan, an island whose economy has been sustained, from the corner hot dog vendor to Broadway theaters, by more than 1.6 million commuters every day.

Billions of Cicadas Soon to Emerge From Underground (NYT) A few months of quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic? That’s nothing for a swarm of cicadas that have been underground since 2004. In the time that the United States has seen the Boston Red Sox break an 86-year World Series drought, five presidential elections, a deadly pandemic and an insurrection, these creatures have been minding their own business, burrowed in the soil. Now billions of cicadas, from a group known as Brood X, are expected to emerge in the next few weeks, just in time to help orchestrate the soundtrack of summer. Brood X is expected to emerge in about 18 states, scientists say.

Against the odds, Cuba could become a coronavirus vaccine powerhouse (Washington Post) Cuban leader Fidel Castro vowed to build a biotech juggernaut in the Caribbean, advancing the idea in the early 1980s with six researchers in a tiny Havana lab. Forty years later, the communist island nation could be on the cusp of a singular breakthrough: Becoming the world’s smallest country to develop not just one, but multiple coronavirus vaccines. Five vaccine candidates are in development, two in late-stage trials with the goal of a broader rollout by May. Should they prove successful, the vaccines would be an against-the-odds feat of medical prowess — as well as a public relations coup — for an isolated country of 11 million that was added back to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in the final days of the Trump administration. Cuban officials say they’re developing cheap and easy-to-store serums. They are able to last at room temperature for weeks, and in long-term storage as high as 46.4 degrees, potentially making them a viable option for low-income, tropical countries that have been pushed aside by bigger, wealthier nations in the international scrum for coronavirus vaccines. If Phase 3 trials are positive, Cuban authorities said this week, they would move to a vast “intervention study” that would inoculate almost all the residents of Havana, or 1.7 million people, by May. By August, they would aim to reach 60 percent of the national population, with the rest getting doses by year’s end.

Ukraine wants to show Biden it’s serious about ending ‘oligarch era.’ That’s not so easy. (Washington Post) The word of the moment in Ukrainian politics is “de-oliharkhizatsia” or de-oligarchization: a renewal of the long-held goal—and sometimes only faint hope—to free the country’s political system of domination by the ultrarich. Whether President Volodymyr Zelensky can deliver may set the tone for relations with the Biden administration. “The threat from within [Ukraine] is corruption . . . a lack of institutions that can effectively manage the country,” said Antony Blinken, now secretary of state, during his confirmation hearing in January. “If that threat continues, [it’s] going to be very difficult for them to build a viable democracy.” But Zelensky, a 43-year-old former comedian, has made only limited headway against the oligarchs’ grip since his election two years ago. The oligarchs’ power in Ukraine reaches deep into areas such energy, mining and media—giving a clique of billionaires the clout to shape political and policy decisions. Ukraine is on notice that greater Western aid and international loans are contingent on trimming back their influence. A $5 billion loan deal from the International Monetary Fund is on hold as the Ukrainians try to convince IMF officials that they are serious about tackling corruption.

Inside Myanmar’s Army: ‘They See Protesters as Criminals’ (NYT) Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, which says it has a standing force of up to half a million men, is often portrayed as a robotic rank of warriors bred to kill. Since ousting Myanmar’s civilian leadership last month, setting off nationwide protests, it has only sharpened its savage reputation, killing more than 420 people and assaulting, detaining or torturing thousands of others, according to a monitoring group. On Saturday, the deadliest day since the Feb. 1 coup, security forces killed more than 100 people, according to the United Nations. Among them were seven children, including two 13-year-old boys and a 5-year-old boy. In-depth interviews with four officers, two of whom have deserted since the coup, paint a complex picture of an institution that has thoroughly dominated Myanmar for six decades. From the moment they enter boot camp, Tatmadaw troops are taught that they are guardians of a country that will crumble without them. They occupy a privileged state within a state, in which soldiers live, work and socialize apart from the rest of society, imbibing an ideology that puts them far above the civilian population. The officers described being constantly monitored by their superiors, in barracks and on Facebook. A steady diet of propaganda feeds them notions of enemies at every corner, even on city streets. The cumulative effect is a bunkered worldview, in which orders to kill unarmed civilians are to be followed without question. “They see protesters as criminals because if someone disobeys or protests the military, they are criminal,” said Captain Tun Myat Aung, an officer who defected to the ranks of the anti-coup demonstrators

Thai police vow more protest arrests after nearly 100 detained (Reuters) Thai police on Monday vowed to arrest more people participating in anti-government protests after detaining nearly 100 at a demonstration a day earlier, citing a law restricting gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Another protest demanding the release of jailed activists is planned for late Monday afternoon, raising prospects for another confrontation with activists calling for an end to military dominance of politics and reform of the powerful monarchy. Dozens of people have been detained at protests in recent months under disease control and public order laws, but Sunday’s protest represented one of the largest number of arrests at a single rally.

Metro Manila, outlying provinces go on lockdown (AP) Philippine officials placed Metropolitan Manila and four outlying provinces, a region of more than 25 million people, back to a lockdown Monday at the height of the Lenten and Easter holiday travel season as they scrambled to control an alarming surge in coronavirus infections. Only workers, government security and health personnel and residents on urgent errands would be allowed out of homes during the weeklong restrictions, which prohibited leisure trips and religious gatherings that forced the dominant Roman Catholic church to shift all its Holy Week and Easter activities online. The renewed lockdown brought President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration under fire for what critics say was its failed handling of the pandemic.

Lebanon could sink like Titanic, parliament speaker says (Reuters) Influential parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that Lebanon would sink like the Titanic if it could not form a government. Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Aoun have been at loggerheads over a new cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a reversal of Lebanon’s deepening financial meltdown. Parliament was due to discuss a $200 million emergency fund to pay for fuel for Lebanon’s electricity company. The energy ministry has said there are no funds to pay for imports beyond March. The Zahrani power plant, one of Lebanon’s four main electricity producers, has shut down after its fuel ran out.

Pleas for more aid to Syria (AP) At age 19, Fatima al-Omar is at her wits’ end. In the last year alone, she lost her home to fighting in Syria’s last rebel-held enclave and her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She became the sole breadwinner for her mother, three siblings and grandmother as they moved around between shelters. Then the coronavirus struck, aggravating conditions in northwest Syria just as new fighting had uprooted 1 million people—the biggest wave of displacement in the country’s 10-year war. By late 2020, al-Omar contracted COVID-19, costing her the last job she had picking olives. She hasn’t been able to find work since and is now at risk of another eviction. Despite the worsening humanitarian situation across war-ravaged Syria, it’s been getting tougher every year to raise money from global donors to help people like al-Omar. The aid community is bracing for significant shortfalls ahead of a donor conference that starts Monday in Brussels and is being co-hosted by the United Nations and the European Union. Pledges were already dropping off before the coronavirus pandemic mainly due to donor fatigue. Officials fear that with the global economic downturn spurred by the pandemic, international assistance for Syria is about to take a new hit just when it is needed most. Earlier this month, a U.N. appeal for aid to Yemen, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, was less than 50% funded, in what U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called a disappointment. According to the U.N., 13.4 million people in Syria, more than half the country’s pre-war population, need assistance. That’s a 20% increase from last year.

Whatever Floats the Boat (Foreign Policy) The Ever Given, the super container vessel that ran aground in the Suez Canal last Tuesday was successfully refloated in the early hours of Monday morning following days of excavation attempts. A team of high-powered tugboats appeared to have ultimately made the difference, after days of work from excavators and dredgers to free the ship after it became wedged in the Egyptian sand. The boat will now head north for further inspection. Meanwhile, navigation is to resume “immediately” afterward, according to the Suez Canal Authority. Mohab Mamish, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s adviser for the Suez Canal, said it will take roughly a week to clear the remaining ships out of the canal once the Ever Given is under way. Dealing with the backlog that has accumulated north and south of the canal will likely take more than twice as long. The refloating heads off more economic damage for Egypt, which was losing roughly $15 million in fees for each day the canal was not operational.

While the world tore its hair out over the Suez, Russia saw an opportunity (Washington Post) Russian officials are seizing on the Suez Canal blockage saga to promote its Northern Sea Route, an ambitious infrastructure plan being pushed by President Vladimir Putin that aims to capitalize on the polar ice melt from global warming by opening up Arctic shipping and development. Russia’s Energy Ministry said Monday that the days-long blockage of the canal by Rotterdam-bound Ever Given showed that its Northern Sea Route (NSR) and gas and oil pipelines were reliable, secure and competitive “in comparison to alternative routes.” Russia last year released a sweeping plan to open up the Arctic shipping route, which includes building a fleet of dozens of nuclear icebreakers and other ships, mapping natural resources in the region and developing airports, ports and railways in northern Russia. In 2020, Russia’s meteorological agency said the ice cover in the Arctic sea route had reached a record low.

As Militants Seize Mozambique Gas Hub, a Dash for Safety Turns Deadly (NYT) As gunshots rang out across a port town in northeastern Mozambique on Friday afternoon, nearly 200 people sheltering inside the Amarula Palma hotel confronted a devastating reality: The armed insurgents outside the hotel’s doors had all but taken control of the town and there was no one coming to save them any time soon. For two days, hundreds of insurgents in the gas-rich region had been laying siege to the coastal town of Palma, firing indiscriminately at civilians, hunting down government officials and setting buildings ablaze as security forces tried in vain to repel them. The violence sent thousands of people fleeing, with some rushing to the beach, where a ragtag fleet of cargo ships, tugboats and fishing vessels was ferrying people to safety. But at the hotel, with daylight hours dwindling, the local residents and foreign gas workers who remained faced an impossible choice: Either wait inside, defenseless, for a promised evacuation in the morning, or try to make it to the beach. In a desperate dash, dozens of people crammed into a 17-vehicle convoy and left the hotel for the oceanfront. Only seven vehicles completed the trip. Militants ambushed the convoy after it left the hotel grounds, setting on the occupants of the cars. Many arrived at the beach bloodied. Many never made it at all. American officials said 40 to 50 foreigners alone were feared dead in the attack. By Saturday night the insurgents had completely overrun the town, leaving scores of people unaccounted for and feared dead.

Tree mortality (The Guardian) Since 2010, 129 million trees are estimated to have died in California’s national forests alone. Around the globe, research has suggested that the tree mortality rate in some temperate and tropical forests has doubled or more in recent decades. While normally the life cycle of forests dictates that the ecosystem regrows after forest fires, this is no longer the case. Across the globe, researchers have found that large areas of trees and other plant life have stopped regrowing following wildfires. Forest mortality researchers say while this does not mark the end of the forests, it may well be the end of many forests as we’ve known them. Iconic species such as Giant Sequoias and Joshua trees are succumbing to the effects of climate change in remarkable numbers, while massive ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest and Siberia’s boreal forests are also suffering. The main factors for increased forest mortality include a hotter climate and increased vulnerability to insects and disease. Researchers have acknowledged ambiguity in their tree mortality predictions, but widespread health problems in forests are prompting a broad and looming sense of disquiet.

#headlines #news

1 note · View note

wisdomrays · 5 years ago

Text

WHAT ARE THE GREATEST DANGERS AND PITFALLS THAT A BELIEVER FACES, WHAT PRECAUTIONS CAN BE TAKEN?

Humanity is being tested in this world. Life itself, from the beginning until the end, is full of tests that are different in shape and level of difficulty.

Let us take a look at these six pitfalls:

1-Desire for Rank and Position; Ambition for fame and acclaim and self-advertisement

“Present in most people is the hypocritical desire to be seen by people and hold a position in the public view; this is the ambition for fame and acclaim and self-advertisement; this desire for rank and position is present to a lesser or greater extent in all those who seek this world. To accomplish this ambition, the desire for fame will drive a person to sacrifice even their life.” If this desire is not satisfied through legitimate ways, it is almost certain that it will cause harm to those who have been captured by it and to the society they live in. Unfortunately, such harm, once it exists, cannot easily be removed.

2-A Sense of Fear

A person can tie down and enslave their freewill through the sense of fear. In today’s world, those people who mislead us scheme to oppress people through this sense of fear. Nursi has defined this pitfall, in particular for the servants of truth, as: “One of the most important and fundamental emotions in human beings is the sense of fear. Scheming oppressors profit greatly from the vein of fear. They restrain those who are weak or undecided through fear. The agents of the worldly and those who spread the propaganda of misguidance take advantage of this vein in the common people and of religious scholars in particular. They frighten them and excite their groundless fears.” A person who believes in God and the Truth can avoid this pitfall only by increasing awareness and faith and by thinking “If I have great honor, dignity, and pride, let them be sacrificed for my cause. Death is only in the hands of God.” The way to fear nothing is to fear only that being that is worthy of fear, God Himself.

3-Greed

Greed means: “an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves.” Prophet Muhammad has depicted how a greedy person is, saying: “If the son of Adam had two valleys full of gold, he would ask for the third. Only dirt will satisfy the greedy eyes. God will accept the repentance of those who are sincerely penitent.” To avoid this pitfall is only possible if one is guided by the following verse:

O children of Adam! Whenever you rise to perform the Prayer, (be not naked, or wearing your night or working clothes; instead,) dress clean and beautifully; and, (without making unlawful the things God has made lawful to you,) eat and drink, but do not waste (by over-eating or consuming in unnecessary ways); assuredly, He does not love the wasteful,” (7/31)

It is always possible that some ill-intentioned people may try to use believers for their evil purposes by luring them into the pitfall of greed. "Yes, ‘the worldly,’ in particular, the people of misguidance do not give away their money easily; they sell it at a high price. Sometimes something that may help a little towards a year of this worldly life can be the means of destroying infinite eternal life. And through that vile greed, a person draws Divine wrath on themselves and tries to attract the pleasure of those who mislead”

4-Nationalism

Nationalism started with Durkheim in Europe and has spread throughout the world from there. Islam opposes any nationalistic view that puts the nationality above religion, that is, a view that makes the nationality of a person more important than their faith. In Islam, it is the unity around faith that abolishes the clan and nationality-oriented concepts. It is clear that most of the companions were from different races, such as, Abu Bakr was an Arab, Bilal was African, Suhayb was from Byzantium, Salman was Persian. Despite the fact that they all were raised in different parts of the world among different nations, they all gathered around the unifying power of Islam and became brothers. The only means of superiority is defined in the verse:

O humankind! Surely We have created you from a single (pair of) male and female, and made you into tribes and families so that you may know one another (with the character and abilities of each to be able to build social relationships among you and help one another, not so that you may feel pride in your color and race and harbor enmity against one another). Surely the noblest and most honorable of you in God’s sight is the one who is the most advanced of you in piety, righteousness, and reverence for God. Surely God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.(49/13)

Islam only supports the positive aspect of nationalism; lineage, clan, nationality are real phenomena and should be recognized. As stated in the above verse, people are put into nations and tribes so that they may become acquainted with one another. “This idea of positive nationalism must serve Islam, it must be its citadel and armor; it must not take the place of it. For there is a hundredfold brotherhood within the brotherhood of Islam which persists in the Intermediate Realm and World of Eternity. So however strong national brotherhood is, it may be like a veil to it. But to establish it in place of Islamic brotherhood is a foolish crime that is like throwing away the treasure of diamonds kept within the citadel and replacing them with the stones of the citadel.”

5-Egotism

This is the weakest side of one’s self and must be removed from the character at once; it is not possible for those unfortunate ones who are caught up in the egotistical tornado to see the truth and to head toward the target without falling off the path in if they have been blindfolded by the ego. “Beware, do not let them strike you with egotism; do not let them hunt you with it! You should know that this century the people of misguidance have mounted the ego and are galloping through the valleys of misguidance. The people of truth have to give up the ego if they are to serve the truth. Even if a person is justified in making use of the ego, since they will resemble the others and they too will suppose that they are self-seeking, it is an injustice to the service of the truth.”

6-Laziness and the desire for physical comfort

The sincere, dedicated people who call others to truth and raise them to the true level of humanity, should never be entrapped by laziness, and should be ready to sacrifice their physical and spiritual comfort for divine purposes. The prophet Abraham had many flocks of sheep and he was one of the richest people of his time. Under the guidance of Gabriel, the angels disguised themselves as men and praised God with elegantly chosen words at a volume that Abraham could hear. Abraham was mesmerized by their beautiful praises. He did not hesitate to sacrifice his wealth, to make them repeat those lovely words. Gabriel then introduced himself to Abraham and noted that he did not need any of the wealth that Abraham had offered, and added that the Lord had wanted to show his loyalty to the angels and thus had sent them to test him. The voyagers of this pure path, without perishing in this pitfall, should walk only with the aim in their hearts that is “to please God."

In summary, in response to the infinite Mercy of God, one should never cease to hope and respect God, and our sight should always be turned toward Him; one should move on with the utmost care and respect. In this way, the spirit of action can be preserved; one will be able to avoid the six pitfalls, making it possible to be protected from the shame and discouraging effects of sins and to drink from the waters of the rivers of forgiveness, thus enabling one to reach the soothing and inspiring bounties of eternity.

7 notes · View notes

bstcanswerkey2020 · 4 years ago

Text

Challenges in Introducing Value Education at Higher Education in India

Valuation Education is the much debated and discussed subject in the plethora of education in India. Of course it can be true that the main purpose of any education will go with Value orientation. More concentration on Value education may be given at the primary and secondary level of school education than in higher education in India. Values may be effectively imparted to the young minds rather than to the matured ones. It may be the important reason for this prime relevance given at the school level. There are so many modules designed with the help of agencies like NCERT and others for properly imparting the value education to the school students. In this context, many innovative educational practices are being identified by way of the experts. Good number of experiments and studies are being conducted in the recent days on the effectiveness of showing value education at school level. Some schools have very innovative and radical course designs to help you impart the values. Effective teaching practices in imparting value education ranges from story telling, displays, skits, one act play and group discussions to various other formats. New methods have been evolved just by educationists to create an effective learning sphere. The usage of electronic gadgets also gains importance in the teaching-learning practices about value education. But at the higher education level, due to various reasons, the importance given to value education is not even though it is given at the school level. The curriculum and the teaching methods also could be subjected to scrutiny. It can be true that colleges are meant for a kind of specialization in some field of education. But in the Indian societal context, the youth require direction and counseling at this stage. They have been exposed to various challenges at this stage which necessitates the intervention of educationists for his/her betterment. His/her character building also strengthens at this juncture. Students' perception on various life factors and events are getting shaped at this stage. On the whole they evolve their own approach of life. Their sensitivity and knowledge are getting direction at this stage. Hence, an effective value orientation becomes certain to the students of colleges. Keeping this requirement in mind, States like Tamilnadu introduced a compulsory paper/course on value education to undergraduate students of all colleges in the State under the choice based credit program. Though this kind of effort is made with the good intention of imparting values to the youth, many limitations around bringing out the expected outcome could be identified. The problem mainly begins with the definition of values. Defining the concept 'value' poses a challenge to all scholars. The term value is loaded with varieties of meaning. Each meaning reflects its very own philosophical position. Generally the term value is spontaneously associated with religious values. It is believed by many Indians that values are nothing but the religious and spiritual guiding principles of life. Hence, it is thought that the path is already been laid for the life journey. But in the context of modernity and modernism there rises a fundamental question of whether value education is required at all in a modern state. There are people argue that modern life is based on science and technology, and both are value neutral. They see that the values are bugbear held out by people living in the past, glued to outdated religious basics that have no relevance to the 21st century. At this point, there is also another group of modernist who propagate the necessity connected with value education at learning centres in order to safe guard the democratic state and its values. The beliefs they wish to cultivate are modern secular values such as honesty, respect to other, equality, collectivity, democracy, improving the human rights, sharing equal space in the public sphere and so on. These values are considered as the solutions of enlightenment period. Hence, four positions could be arrived at on the basis of the above understanding. The are: 1 . There are actually religious values which are very much essential for every one and must be included in the curriculum. 2 . The religious values should never find place in the educational system. They may operate at the private sphere. 3. There are nonreligious secular figures and they must find space in the education. 4. There is no need for teaching value education in the academics as they cannot be cultivated through formal learning and such value cultivation will make the individual biased. In consequence so that you can these positions, following questions arouse. 1 . Whether value education should find place in the educational product? 2 . If it is required, then what sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum? 3. What is the importance being given to the religious values which are primarily developed on the basis of scriptures? 4. Can modern values alone are generally sufficient enough or is there any possibility of blending the values of modernity with religious values? 5. If religious values are to be given importance in the curriculum, which religion will find prime place? If there are actually contradictory propagation on a single virtue by two religions, then how are they to be handled? 6. Equally religions differ on the practices also. Right from eating patterns, dress mode, marriage systems, war tactics, destroying, punishments to various other aspects, religions differ on their outlook. In this situation, what sort of perceptions need to be taught? Furthermore these questions, another billion dollar question would be raised on the methodology of effectively imparting those worth. Then again as it is mentioned earlier, the school education can very well include this education easily because the model itself is advantageous for it to accommodate. But at the college level, the system finds it very difficult to work out. Which means this study could analyse the theoretical problems relating to the identification of values to be included in the curriculum with the one side and the problem of effective designing of the curriculum and imparting those values on the other side. II The necessity for imparting values to the students of all levels has been felt by everyone. The world today is usually facing unprecedented socio-political and economic challenges. Problems of life are becoming increasingly intense and complex. Standard values are decentered. 'An environment of strife pervades all countries and broken homes have become well-known. An insatiable hunger for money and power, leads most of people to tension and absence of peace of mind and a myriad of physical and mental ailments have become common place" 1 . In the present day context of frequent and often chaotic social upheavals, we have to look at the problem of restlessness of the youth, their frustration born out of futility health of their search for meaning of life and the purpose for which they are living, often leading to evil and wickedness. The following calls for a new approach to, and a new vision of education. It is obviously felt that the present educational procedure promotes rat race and keep the student community in a sense of insecurity. Educational institutions have become the pressure cookers building pressures in the minds of youth. Also a loft sided educational pattern which insists with instrumental and technical rationality for the successful life in terms of gaining money and power has invaded this educational system of India. The person who is deemed to be unfit for this survival race becomes disqualified along with ineligible to live in this market economy based life. The spate of industrialization and economic growth inside developed nations has brought about a perceptible change in this scenario. And developing countries including India are experiencing the ripple effects of this development. Values earlier considered essential by all societies have been eroded and get given way to unethical practices around the globe. Where honesty and integrity were loved and appreciated, greed, problem and red tapism have come in, bringing in their wake, unethical responses which have pervaded all walks for life and are thwarting efforts of a few enlightened individuals to promote value based society. 2 Hence, guidelines of well structured education is the only solution available with all states. With growing divisive energies, narrow parochialism, separatist tendencies on the one hand and considerable fall in moral, social, ethical and even national values both in personal and public life on the other, the need for promoting effective workshops of value orientation in education has assumed great urgency. Development of human values through knowledge is now routinely seen as a task of national importance. Value education though supposes to be the part not to mention parcel of the regular education, due to the market influences, it could not be so. Hence, it has become a particular inevitable need to include an exclusive curriculum for value education at all levels. Now the next question would be concerning nature of value education. What sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum is the prime problem inside introduction of value education. This problem surfaces because we can find varieties of values prescribed on the basis of various scriptures and theories. Sometimes they are contradictory to each other. This issue has been thoroughly discussed earlier. But the solution to the problem in the nature of value education is primarily dependent on the social conditions that prevail in the state. Truth be told there need not be an imported value educational pattern to be prescribed in India. The burning social factors would demand the required value education. Though India is considered to be the land of divinity and perception, the modern value system throws challenges to the ancient value pattern. Right from the Gurkula pattern to the varna ashrama values, all values are under scrutiny by modern rationality. Hence, the relevance of the senior values prescribed by the then society is questionable in the present situation. On the other hand, the so called modern character which have been listed earlier also subjected to criticism by philosophers like post modernists. They question the very dynamics of the rationality of the enlightenment period. Because critics of modernity strongly declare that the modern rationality 's the reason for the deterioration of human concern in the world and they paved the way for inhuman killing and escalation in values. The reason of the modernism is considered as the root of power politics which leads to inhuman behaviour of the electrical power system, according to them. Hence the modern values like democracy, civil rights, environmental ethics, professional ethics, concentration and all such values are found useless in bringing harmony in the society. The values like control, tolerance, peace bears the negative connotation in this context. Hence, what sort of modern values are to be included in the resume is a challenge thrown towards the educationists. At one side the fanatic and fundamentalist features of religious values and on the other side the modern values based on the market economy and other factors are to be excluded and a well balanced curriculum using genuine worthy values suitable to the society has to be identified and included in the educational system. In this context, the idea becomes obvious that there cannot be any universal pattern of values to be prescribed in the system. Each time a suitable blend of religious and modern values is to be done, the designing of such course demands some sort of unbiased, scrupulous, intelligent approach on the part of the academician who designs such course. Thus the spiritual principles of sensitizing the youth for happy world and rational values for a just world are very considerably required. Religious values can be taken but not with the label of any particular religion, democratic values need to be included but not with its dogmatic inhuman approach. Thus there need a perfect blend of both. This is the real test thrown to the Indian academicians. After the identification of these values, they need to be inculcated not to be informed to your students. Mostly listing the values is done very easily, but imparting them effectively requires genuine spirit and also innovative educational practices. In the Vedic period, the gurukula system prevailed in which the student has to thoroughly undertake a pattern life with the guru shishya hierarchy. Whatever the guru declares are the values of life. , in the modern context, which is supposed to be the democratic sphere, a sense of equality and freedom has to prevail the training situation. Also the values identified cannot be preached on the basis of the religious faiths. So the teacher has to see effective working module to internalize the values in the minds of the youth. The teachers' understanding for the values prescribed and his/her commitment in imparting them also play a crucial role here. How to sensitize the teacher before carrying the values to the students is also a challenge to the educationists. The value education category room, if it is dealt with full seriousness and sincerity would be very interesting and challenging sphere for scholars and teachers. At times they need to sail at the same level with the students. The hierarchy may get disappeared. Price education demands a total responsibility from the teachers. They become more accountable. On the other side, a teacher who is committed to a few values would always like to preach and impose them on the young minds. That extreme should also to become avoided with a balance of mind. Value education cannot be done by just delivering lectures and screening flicks. It requires a strong interaction between the students and the society. A lot could be experimented at this sphere. For which the better value 'integrity' is expected from the educator. It is observed that many modules of teaching values have been engineered and tested. Some are seemed to be very effective. In Tamilnadu, especially in aided colleges, with just about all good intention the government has introduced the value education as a compulsory scheme at the undergraduate level. But just about every university has its own syllabus for the same. The scrutiny of those syllabi also reveals a lot of variations for conceiving the value education. In some universities, some religion based institutions are given the responsibility of designing and even conducting the course. Similarly the teachers who have not been exposed to any such type of training in value education get the responsibility of teaching values. The introduction of value education for all under graduate courses is done for the cost of a core paper of that course. The teachers who have been handling their hardcore subject papers must meet the shortage of workload due to this programme and to solve this problem, they have been entrusted with the job of illustrating value education paper. This is done with the aim of avoiding the workload problem of existing teachers. The most vital and sensitive part of education has been made like a mechanical dogmatic part. At this juncture, the fate regarding value education at the college level could be imagined. How to solve this issue is again a challenge to the educationists of Tamilnadu. The same fate could be observed in many other states of India. Hence, two important problems floors here, one at the syllabus level and the other at the teaching level. As it is discussed earlier your syllabus could be designed by way of paying attention to all aspects but imparting the same requires not only innovative teaching options, but also innovative training method of the educators. It is as good as training the driver to drive the car; the educator needs to be trained in imparting the values. The technical education employs teachers with sound knowledge in the issue, similarly it is essential to have teachers with sound mind and creative teaching skill to teach value education. Significance education is definitely not to be dealt with compartmentalization but it should be taken as a part of the whole educational system. As Nietzsche puts it, the society requires masters to create and impart values, not the slaves who take all the values imposed on them without any critical understanding.

1 note · View note

sosuitglitter · 5 years ago

Text

PRICING OF ARTWORKS: AUCTION VERSUS EXHIBITION

Author: Dr. Stephen Achugwo, Ph.D. Painting, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria,

Artistic Splendor, Abuja Nigeria. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

When an artist is trying to sell his work through an exhibition or an auction, the selling price may end up being different from his intended price. In 2013, one of the four versions of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, a pastel on board painting, according to Vogel (2012), fetched $119.9 million at Sotheby’s auction in New York. In 2014, Ben Enwonwu's Princes of Mali, sold for $138,870 at Bonhams in Lagos, and El Anatsui’s Mask, sold for $78,375 at Arthouse (Castellote & Fagbule, 2015). El Anatsui’s works sell for millions of naira, yet works of another artist struggles to sell for thousands of naira. Auction and Exhibition play major roles in the pricing of works. Why does one work sell for ₦70,000, another for ₦500 million, and yet another for ₦17 billion? In establishing selling price for a work, is exhibition more beneficial to the artist than auction? Does the price of a work go higher in auction than exhibition? These inquiries would build and buttress the concentration of this paper. This paper uses a review of reports on marketing structures and operations of art auction and exhibition to discuss their impact on pricing of artworks. It also examines the certain benefits accruing to artists on either channel of distribution and sale of their artworks.

Keywords: Price, Artwork, Exhibition, Auction, Argument

Introduction

This review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of auction over exhibition, in relation to pricing of artworks. According to Wikipedia (2017), “An art auction or fine art auction is the sale of artworks, in most cases in an auction house”. In England this dates back to the latter part of the 17th century. At that moment the names of the auctioneers were mostly repressed. Prior to the date of an art auction, an auction catalogue, that lists the art works to be sold, is written and made available. An art auction is one of the most glamorous way of collecting art for many people. Some of the most famous auction houses are Christie's and Sotheby's, based in London and New York. The oldest auction house, according to Wikipedia (2017) is Stockholm Auction House (Stockholms Auktionsverk), which was established in Sweden in 1674. In Nigeria, the most prominent auction houses include Arthouse Contemporary, Bonhams, Sogol and TK.MG, all based in Lagos. Art auction is a new development in the sale of artworks in Nigeria. Castellote & Fagbule (2015) observes that Nigerian art auction is still at the ‘embryonic stage’. The history of art auction in Nigeria is barely two decades old. Onwuzulike (2015) opines that “The young history of art auction in Nigeria reveals its steady growth and appreciable impact in the visual art sector, locally and internationally.” He discovers that the first art auction in Nigeria, entitled Before the Hammer Falls, held in 1999 was organised by The Nimbus Art Gallery Lagos, run by Chike Nwagbogu. Onwuzulike (2015) narrates that “The auction was historically timed and the result was revolutionary in the history of art and art market in Nigeria. With the record sale of Bruce Onobrakpeya's Palm Wine Women for ₦2 million, the auction brought art to the front pages of the newspapers”. The first auction yielded a total of ₦22 million in sale of artworks.

Another prominent way that artists can market their artworks is through an Art Exhibition, show or fair. Wikipedia (2007) states that “An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience”. The exhibit of artworks lasts for some temporary period unless, if it is a permanent exhibition, as in the case of Art Museums. Art exhibition may present pictures, drawings, video, sound, installation, performance, interactive art, new media art or sculptures by individual artists, groups of artists or collections of a specific form of art. The works of art might be exhibited in historical centres, museums, art halls, art clubs or private art galleries, or at some place, the chief business of which is not the show or offer of artwork, for example, a cafe. An art exhibition can likewise be organized out on a particular event, including a birthday, commemoration, remembrance, festival, celebration or jubilee. Any of these occasions offers the artists great chance to deal their artworks.

Whether a work of art is going to be exhibited or auctioned, the artists and dealers make so much efforts in establishing a price for a particular work. The efficiency of these basic marketing structures is a key determinant of the cost of creating and distributing works of art. There are artists who are creating works for academic purposes, yet some are producing works as hobby or for emotional, religious or spiritual purposes. But the artist who must earn a living for their creative endeavours, must be vast in their marketing strategies. They should acquaint themselves with exhibiting skills as well as regularly exhibiting their works.

This writing dwells on the benefits accruing to professional artists in selling their artworks through exhibition at galleries, trade fair and show booths, or auction at auction houses. Some of the major art galleries and museums across the world include Christy’s and Sotheby’s auction houses of London, Tate Gallery Britain, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York and the Louvre of Paris. In Africa, there are the Johannesburg Gallery, University of Johannesburg Commercial Gallery, the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa. ArtHouse and Signature Galleries in Lagos, the National Galleries of Art in Nigeria, among others. The auction system and major exhibitions are central in the determination of the incentives for artistic work.

Price of Artworks

The price of an artwork is the monetary or economic value of the work. For a coherent discourse about the advantages and disadvantages of auction over exhibition, it is very necessary to find out the factors that determine the price of artworks. Sometimes the artist, in collaboration with a gallery, decides on the price of his artwork. Kathleen (2014) observes that “There's no easy method of determining a value for a painting except perhaps going by market value, and still that's not an easy way to calculate”. Various possible reasons that can affect the price of artworks are enumerated as follows:

1. Authentication

The price of an artwork can be affected by authenticity. If the potential buyer is worried about the authenticity, he may place a low asking-price or decide not to buy the work. The process of authentication varies, depending on an art period. Contemporary art is the easiest to authenticate, especially if the artist is alive and working, and if the production of the work is documented. If this is not the case, documentation must be verified, as well as the artistic traits of the work itself. The most challenging cases of authentication involve a laboratory. This entails analysis, investigative research and material dating. The experts face the challenge of meeting a deadline to decide the authenticity of an artwork. Laboratory authentication can take several weeks to be completed. According to Art Expert (n.d.), “Our normal turnaround time for a full authentication report is two to four weeks”. Nowadays, many contemporary artists issue certificates of authenticity for their works, so obtaining it at the beginning is crucial, since forgeries are common.

2. Artist’s Name

Price of artworks of artists with big names may be exorbitant. A Jeff Koons’ work cannot sell for a small amount of money after the auctioning of the legendary Orange Balloon Dog for $58.4 Million at Christy’s in New York (Waxman, 2013). But the work of emerging artist cannot be valued exceptionally high. However, there are new rising artists in art market, who tend to contradict this notion. Oscar Murillo and David Ostrowski are good examples. Prices of their works have risen relatively quickly in the past few years, from widely affordable to exclusive (Kostov, 2017), but completely unexpected surprises don’t come around often in the market.

3. Fashionability of the Artist

Changes in fashion can affect price of artworks. Artists go in and out of fashion, but there are broader shifts in taste that affect the market. Forty years ago the highest prices were achieved by Old Masters. Today a lot of glamour and demand is focused on Modern and Contemporary art. Even ten years ago the highest auction price for Francis Bacon stood at $8.5m, but in November another Bacon’s work sold for $143 million (Vogel, 2014).

4. Importance of the Artist in History of Art

Artworks of ancient artists are highly priced. Some artists are legendary. Hook (2014) observes that “It is hard to imagine art history ever downgrading the importance of Rembrandt or Rubens, Leonardo or Raphael, Picasso or Matisse. They will always be valuable”. However, over the past few years, artists such as the Surrealists and the German Expressionists have become more expensive as their art historical importance has been re-affirmed. Art lovers are now appreciating the beauty of the works of art. Likewise, if an artist has just featured in a major exhibition, like the Tate, then that kind of high-profile exposure can also raise the price of his works.

5. Positive Romantic Baggage

The price of an artwork can be influenced by a back-story to an artist’s life. Such a story affects the appreciation of him and the works he produced. It is a romance made up of the glamour and myth of his artistic creation. Other positives in an artist’s life story include unhappy love-affairs, rebellious behaviour and even spells in jail. Reminiscing such remarkable difficult moments can also add value to the works of the artist.

6. A Desirable Phase in the Artist’s Development

The price of an artwork can be affected by periods of an artist’s career, which was more desirable. Hook (2014) finds that “Late Van Gogh is more expensive than his early work. A Renoir from the 1870s will be worth more than a late one. Any Picasso is desirable, but one from the early 1930s particularly so”.

7. Signature Artwork

The price of an artwork may be affected by unique characteristics of works of a particular artist that market prices highly recognize. For instance, after purchasing a Monet, one would obviously want his visitors to see the painting as Monet’s work. “Thus a painting showing water lilies or Rouen Cathedral will be more expensive than a less typical portrait or still life by the artist.” (Hook, 2014).

8. Condition of a work

The price of an artwork can be determined by the condition of the work. Having a Damien Hirst’s work does not mean that the work can be priced like another Damien Hirst’s work. The condition is important whether it is a painting or a drawing, an original, or an edition. Irrespective of the medium, condition is the first thing that is assessed. The assessment takes cognisance of the effects of retouch, restoration or any damage or change of the physical integrity. Works of art suffer and age over time, some more than others. Like human beings, some are subjected to cosmetic surgery, through restoration. Where this has been too extensive, the price of the painting will be affected.

9. Wall-power

The price of an artwork can be influenced by wall-power. Wall-power include such factors as composition, colour, and emotional power. Thus, blue and red, tend to be good news for most people. Hook (2014) posits that "Surpassing artistic quality (difficult to define, but you know it when you see it) is always reflected positively in the price a work of art realizes, sometimes by an astonishing margin.” A good example of an artist’s work may fetch 400,000; but with such effects as Wall-power, it could make 1,000.000.

10. Subject of the Artwork

The price of an artwork can be determined by the subject. Some subjects are more desirable than others: portraits of pretty women will always sell better than those of gloomy old men. Sunny landscapes are more attractive than dark ones, and calm seas are preferable to rough ones. Animals and birds are generally preferably being depicted alive, because most people regard death in a painting as a bad news. The theme depicted can affect market. Nudes, sell well if the models are beautiful. On the other hand, nudes are not favourably received by most Islamic buyers.

11. Provenance

The price of an artwork can be affected by provenance. The history of the painting itself can make a difference to its value. Provenance refers to whose collection it has been in, where it has been exhibited and which dealers have handled it. (Hook, 2014). A Cezanne from the great Paul Mellon collection is worth more than the same painting with an unspecified provenance. Similarly, an El Anatsui’s work owned by a celebrity will worth more than another Anatsui’s work, which its provenance is unknown.

Advantages of Auction over Exhibition

The auction system and exhibition are essential in determining the incentives for works of art. Their effectiveness is a major determinant of the cost of creating and distributing artworks. However, Ashenfelter and Graddy (2003) finds that “The value of most important works of art is established by public auction, either directly, by an actual sale, or indirectly, by reference to other sales. How the auction system works is thus a critical determinant of how the public’s preferences are translated into the evaluation of artistic work”. The following are among the conditions that can affect the pricing of artworks in auction, which could be of significant benefit to the artists.

1. Seller request estimate

Price of an artwork can be established through seller request estimate. Agarwal, et al (2014) finds that “Estimates are given for all lots and can be based on prices recently paid at auction for comparable property”. Thus the auction house can estimate a price for a particular artwork going for auction based on the price reached on related works sold.

2. Subjective private value

Price of artworks in auction depends more on the subjective private value to the bidders than an objective common value. Sooke (2011) notes that the competition among bidders to acquire a particular artwork leads to increase in the price of the work.

3. Uniqueness, scarcity and genre differences

Price of artworks can be influenced by the uniqueness of each work, the scarcity of the work along with genre differences among the artists. Onuzulike (2015) finds that works of art that are unique and rare are valued higher at auction than those that are easily available.

4. Past value of an artist's work

Price level can be affected at the beginning of the auction by past value of an artist’s work. Ebay (2016) finds that “Artists who have been featured or discussed in various catalogues or books are likely to be well established. Pieces that are high priced usually come from a respected and well-established artist”. Castellote and Fagbule (2016) discovers that price level of works of some notable artists in Nigeria (El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, Yusuf Grillo, Kolade Oshinowo and Bruce Onobrakpeya) remain higher in Nigerian auction than similar works of other artists practicing in Nigerian.

5. Established artists

Price of artworks can be influenced by the reputation of the artist. Agarwal, et al (2014) find that “Established artist show a positive relationship with price at the beginning of an auction.” They observe that the rate of price change, when buyers are bidding for a work of an established artist, rises towards the end of the auctions. EBay (2016) stresses that “The price of artwork largely correlates to the reputation of the artist”.

Advantages of Exhibition over Auction

Exhibition is essential to an artist due to the following advantages: promotion, meeting other artists and industrial colleagues, inspiration and selling of works.

1. Promotion

It is necessary for artists to promote their works at exhibition as it provides opportunity for them to meet people and share with them what they do. Exhibition enables the artist and his work to become more popular and attract more clients. For upcoming artists, who are trying to establish themselves, exhibition is better and more cost effective way than auction. If an artist or his work is not known, he will not succeed (Fleskes, 2014). There is no better way to make an impact with another person than a face to face encounter. Shows will help make him better known. Promotion at events builds a growing awareness of him.

2. Meeting other artists and industrial colleagues in person

Having a booth at a show makes an artist accessible. It is a location where fans and industry people can find him and solicit commissions and artworks. He can pick up jobs at shows. An artist can receive calls a few months later from someone that met him at the show, who is following up a request. If the artist did not make money at a show, he might make it down the line. (Fleskes, 2014). This goes to show the advantages an artist enjoys from exhibiting.

3. Inspiration

Walking around a show and seeing what others are doing is an inspiration that can last for a long time in the memory of the artist. Most shows are networks of booth after booth of artists who paint, draw, sculpt, hand-craft and use technology to create several imageries. Variety of styles, materials and techniques broaden the artist’s creative mind. (Fleskes, 2014). The analysis of artworks displayed by other artists at show could help the artist resolve many technical issues concerning his work.

4. Selling of works

A show enables an artist to attract buyers who are looking to purchase artworks directly from him instead of buying from a dealer. It helps the artist to sell his artworks at the price he wants. A show aids an artist to know the kind of artworks that are in vogue. It acquaints him with the business of art with fresh ideas and sells strategies that are necessary in marketing his artworks.

Conclusion

In comparing auction and exhibition regarding price of artworks, the reputation or popularity of the artist plays a vital role. For emerging artists that are not well established, exhibition is a better way of getting better prices for their artworks than auction. For well established artists, auction is a better way of getting better prices for their artworks than exhibition. With public auction most valuable artworks are sold at the highest possible price. Sometimes the eventual price is more than the expected selling price. In a documentary of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on art, Alastair Sooke found that price of artworks is very subjective. A renowned art dealer, Arne Glimcher in Sooke (2011) observes that: "The whole thing of art and money is ridiculous. The value of a painting at auction is not necessarily the value of a painting. It is the value of two people bidding against each other, because they really want the painting". They want the artwork desperately, not because of its beauty, but to enhance their social status. On the other hand, auction is a big disadvantage for emerging artists, as the rich people who come to bid are oftentimes seeking for works that were produced by legendary artists, most of whom are dead. Auction can destroy the business of the emerging artist, if his work did not get a bid. Auction houses prefer to avoid such artists than to reduce price. This sort of transaction can destroy the price of the artist’s work or even his career. Most emerging artists want to be successful in their art business. To attract bids and good price for their artworks, emerging artists need to do several exhibitions, some of which has to be mounted at high profile galleries or art fairs. Works of a Nigerian artist, Chris Ofili went from affordable to exclusive, immediately after his exhibition at the Tate Gallery London. Now his works can sell for high price in most auction houses.

References

Agarwal, B., Ali, F., P Kolli, P., & X Yang, X. (2014). Predicting the Price of Art at Auction. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from

https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/591/final_projects/art_acution/Team4_Final_Report.pdf

Ashenfelter, O., & Graddy, K. (2003). Auctions and the Price of Art. Journal of Economic Literature, 41(3), 763-786. doi:10.1257/jel.41.3.763

Aspire art auctions, historic modern and contemporary. (2016). Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://aspireart.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Aspire-Catalogue.pdf

Castellote, J., & Fagbule, T. (2015). Nigeria art market report 2014. Retrieved from Foundation for Contemporary and Modern Visual Arts (FCMVA) website: http://networks.h-net.org/system/files/contributedfiles/namr14.pdf

Castellote, J., & Fagbule, T. (2016). Nigeria art market report 2015 (2). Retrieved from Foundation for Contemporary and Modern Visual Arts (FCMVA) website: http://content/uploads/2016/03/Nigerian-Art-Market-Report-2016.pdf

Ebay. (2016, March 3). Understanding prices for paintings and artwork. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.ebay.com/gds/Understanding-Prices-for-Paintings-and-Artwork-/10000000177628199/g.html

Fedderke, J. W., & Li, K. (2014). Art in Africa: market structure and pricing Behavior in the South African Fine Art Auction Market, 2009 - 2013 (466). Retrieved March 1, 2017, from https://econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_466.pdf

Fleskes, J. (2014, January 4). The importance of exhibiting at shows & why exhibit at Spectrum Fantastic art live? Retrieved May 16, 2017, from

https://fleskpublications.com/blog/2014/01/04/the-importance-of-exhibiting-at-shows-why-exhibit-at-spectrum-fantastic-art-live/

Hook, P. (2014, September 30). What makes art sell? 10 questions that establish the value of a painting. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-hook-/ten-questions-that-establ_b_5884762.html

Kathleen, G. (2014, April 23). What determines a painting's cost? Retrieved May 17, 2017, from https://www.quora.com/What-determines-a-paintings-cost

Kostov, A. B. (2017). How to value an artwork. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.widewalls.ch/how-to-value-an-artwork/

Onwuzulike, O. (2015). Art auctions in Nigeria: A contemporary Critical Interventions, 9(1),3-2, doi: 10.1080/19301944.2015.1012901

Sooke, A. (2011). What Makes Art Valuable? - Top Documentary Films. Retrieved from http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/what-makes-art-valuable/

Vogel, C. (2012, May 2). 'The Scream' is auctioned for a record $119.9 million. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/arts/design/the-scream-sells-for-nearly-120-million-at-sothebys-auction.html

Vogel, C. (2014, January 15). Buyer of $142.4 Million Bacon triptych identified as Elaine Wynn. Retrieved May 18, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/arts/design/buyer-of-142-4-million-bacon-painting-identified-as-elaine-wynn.html?_r=0

Waxman, O. B. (2013, November 14). Jeff Koons’ $58.4M Ornge Balloon Dog and 10 Other Cool Balloon Pieces | Time.com. Retrieved June 20, 2017 from http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/14/an-orange-balloon-dog-sold-for-58-4-million-here-are-10-cool-jeff-koons-balloon-pieces/

Wikipedia (2017). Art auction. Retrieved June 15, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_auction

Wikipedia (2017). Art exhibition. Retrieved June 15, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_ exhibition

1 note · View note

patriotsnet · 3 years ago

Text

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-makes-more-money-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans

Volunteering In The Us

This data comes from detailed time logs that statisticians ask householders to keep. In less strict definitions like phone surveys, more like 45 percent of the U.S. population say they volunteered some time to a charitable cause within the last year.

Current estimates of the dollar value of volunteered time range from $179 billion per year to more than twice that, depending on how you count.Volunteering is closely associated with donating cash as well. One Harris study showed that Americans who volunteered gave 11 times as much money to charity in a year as those who did not volunteer.

An interesting pattern emerges if one studies giving by income level. As incomes rise, more and more of the people in that bracket make gifts to charity. The sizes of their gifts tend to rise as well. However: if you look at average donations as a fraction of funds available, they tend to level off at around 2-3 percent of income.

Religious faith is a central influence on giving. Religious people are much more likely than the non-religious to donate to charitable causesincluding secular causesand they give much more.

Among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike, almost exactly half of the group averaged $100-$999 in annual charitable donations at the time of this 2005 poll. There was virtually no difference among the parties in the size of that moderate-giving group, so those results were not included in the graph to the left.

Americas Top 10 Richest Families

Walton Republican The family owns the Walmart corporation. The Walton family fortune is estimated to be about $130 billion.

Koch Republican Businessmen, owners of Koch Industries, a manufacturing company. Koch brothers have a net worth of about $41 billion each .

Mars Republican Own the Mars candy company. The three children of founder Forrest Mars are worth about $78 billion together.

Cargill-MacMillan Republican The Cargill-MacMillan family owns 90 percent of the largest privately-owned corporation in the U.S. The family, as a whole, is worth about $49 billion.

Cox Democrat The Cox family owns a number of auto consumer sites and services . They have an estimated net worth of $41 billion.

Johnson Republican The Johnson family is known for their cleaning products and hygiene products. They are valued at $30 billion.

Pritzker Both Founders of Hyatt. The family has a combined value of $29 billion in 2017.

Johnson Republican Overseers at Fidelity, ensuring the cash of millions of Americans. The family has a combined net worth of $28.5 billion.

Hearst Republican The Hearst family owns one of Americas largest media companies. The family is valued at $28 billion.

Duncan Republican The Duncan family works mostly with oil and pipelines. The family is valued at about $21.5 billion.

Presidential Campaign Spending Is Overwhelmingly On Tv Ads In Swing States

Data: Kantar, Analysis: John Sides, Washington Post

Presidential campaign money goes overwhelmingly to purchasing TV ads in just a few swing states. This map shows where ad spending was heaviest in 2012: Florida, Virginia, and Ohio, where more than $150 million was spent. Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada saw more than $50 million each. But most of the country saw nothing at all. Presidential campaigns have become a quadrennial stimulus bill for purple states funded by donors in red and blue states.

Drug Addiction Has Impacted Gop And Democratic Groups Alike

Drug addiction has touched the lives of millions of Americans. Overall, nearly half of the public say they have a family member of close friend who is or has been addicted to drugs.

Among typology groups, Market Skeptic Republicans and Disaffected Democrats are most likely to say a friend or family member has been addicted to drugs.

But this experience is relatively commonplace even among affluent typology groups 46% of Core Conservatives and Solid Liberals report they have a friend or family member who has been addicted to drugs.

When it comes to another public health issue, cigarette smoking, relatively large shares of the two groups with the lowest family incomes Devout and Diverse and Disaffected Democrats say they smoke at least sometimes. However, about as many Market Skeptic Republicans say they smoke that often.

While some right-leaning groups are less likely to be current smokers, many report being former smokers. Just 16% of Country First Conservatives say they are current smokers, but 40% of this group say they used to smoke regularly. And while just 10% of New Era Enterprisers say they regularly smoke now, another 32% say they used to smoke.

Military Service Union Membership

One-in-ten Americans have served in the military. This is more common among Republican-leaning groups like Core Conservatives , Country First Conservatives and Market Skeptic Republicans . By contrast, all four left-leaning groups have lower shares of veterans, with only 5% of Solid Liberals reporting they previously served in the military.

While labor unions have traditionally been more Democratic-leaning institutions, many in right- and left-leaning typology groups report being members. Sizable shares of Country First Conservatives , Solid Liberals and Market Skeptic Republicans say they are members of a labor union. By contrast, just 6% of Opportunity Democrats say they are union members.

The Richest Politicians In Congress

Another financial question many voters want to know involves the 116th Congress. Who are the richest politicians in Washington? Are there more Democrats or Republicans who top that list? The answer may surprise you. In fact, the top 10 richest politicians are fairly evenly distributed across the aisle. Furthermore, nearly half the members of Congress are millionaires. Based on reported numbers from May 2019, the median net worth of Congress members is just over $1 million. Listed below are the 10 wealthiest members.

Senator Rick Scott R Florida $259.7 million

Senator Mark Warner D Virginia $214.1 million

Rep. Greg Gianforte R Montana $189.3 million

Rep. Paul Mitchell R Michigan $179.6 million

Senator Mitt Romney R Utah $174.4 million

Rep. Vernon Buchanan R Florida $157.1 million

Senator Mike Braun R Indiana $136.8 million

Rep. Don Beyer D Virginia $124.9 million

Rep. Dean Phillips D Minnesota $123.8 million

Rep. Nancy Pelosi D California $114.7 million

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans

Juni 12, 2021

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans. Which party has the best plan to fix social security? Democratsclinton, carter, johnson, kennedy and truman reduced the federal debt.

Whereas, republicans believe they should have more choice in spending their own hard money rather than let government increase taxes and make. Former republican congressman jason chaffetz’s new book, power grab: Once you know which party you belong to, it will be easier to decide which candidates to vote for during elections. Many issues seem to divide democrats and republicans, and new research has found one more professor schervish, who was not involved in the study, reviewed the research at the request of the more republican a county is, the more its residents report charitable contributions, the study found. Rather than meaningless political banter, research shows the following:

This Is My Reasoning:

The main thing is that Democrats raise taxes. All types of tax, Including income tax. Now, Republicans are people who are able to produce many jobs for people. If the money that people work for go to people who didnât work for that money, Then the person who was taxed on will stop working, So then other workersâ income tax will go to care for them. If jobs are offered and income taxes are lowered, Than the economy will thrive with workers and the people who are successful will be the people who work. However, If income taxes increase, Everybody will simply stop working, And the pattern that I mentioned earlier will repeat. Then what would happen with a low amount to no workers?

How Trumps Team Spent Most Of The $16 Billion It Raised Over 2 Years

Biden and Trump spar in final presidential debate

President Donald Trumps reelection team kicked off 2020 with what seemed like an unbeatable cash advantage, boasting a massive fundraising operation, bolstered by the joint efforts of the Republican Party.

Fast-forward 10 months and theyve burned through a whopping $1.4 billion of the more than $1.6 billion raised over the last two years, struggling to keep up with former Vice President Joe Biden, more than what former President Barack Obamas reelection campaign and the Democrats had raised and spent by the end of the 2012 cycle.

The revealing figures, released as the two presidential candidates debated on stage Thursday night for the last time before Election Day, came after the campaign blew through $63 million in the first two weeks of October alone a critical time when it only brought in $44 million. The vast majority of the money spent during that time nearly $45 million went to television and online advertising, according to the latest disclosure report filed to the Federal Election Commission, as Biden and pro-Biden efforts ramped up his ad spending.

Questions about staff payments

More Democrats Than Republicans Sit On 10 Richest Members Of Congress List

Stephanie Merrick

While Republicans often get the reputation for being “the party of the rich,” seven of the 10 richest members of Congress are Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics .

CRP compiled a of the 10 richest members of Congress using 2012 personal finance disclosure information, the latest available.

These wealthy Democrats are not afraid to use their big bucks and high-powered connections to get ahead.

Here are the seven Democrats in the top 10 list:

Where People Prefer To Live And Where They Actually Live

When it comes to the types of communities where people want to live, Americans are divided between wanting to live in a community where houses are larger but farther apart and one where houses are smaller but closer together.

These preferences are divided along partisan and ideological lines. Large majorities in the two most conservative groups in the political typology Core Conservatives and Country First Conservatives would prefer a community where there are larger houses that are farther apart, even if it meant schools, stores and restaurants were several miles away.

An equally large majority of Solid Liberals say they would prefer a community where houses are smaller and closer together, with stores and restaurants within walking distance. Other typology groups are more divided, with Democratic groups generally opting for smaller houses in walkable communities, and Republican groups preferring larger houses in communities that are more spread out.

When it comes to communities where people actually live, more people live in a suburban area than in urban or rural areas and this is true across most typology groups. However, among Solid Liberals, nearly equal shares live in urban and suburban communities. And while among Republican groups about half or more live in the suburbs, Country First Conservatives are most likely to live in rural areas .

Who Makes More Money In Office Republicans Or Democrats

When both political parties run away from the rich, when we have a political culture that assumes progressive taxation is the moral high ground, we run the very real danger of throwing out the baby of wealth creation with the bathwater of conspicuous consumption. For example, the World Bank estimates that climate change could send 1. President Franklin D. President Lyndon B. Republican affiliation in cities with populations over , is only 39 percent, compared with 52 percent in suburban areas and 59 percent in rural areas. Within a few hours, several Facebook users posted screenshots of the tweet, which claims that Republican presidents have been more responsible for contributing to the deficit over the past four decades.

A Partisan Divide On Handling Money Too

Partisanship is not confined to the voting booth or your bumper-sticker collection it also works its way into your wallet. Overall, Democrats have a much sunnier view of their personal finances than Republicans. The FSI measures how Americans are feeling about their overall finances by polling them about indicators of financial well-being, such as their level of savings, compared with a year ago. A score of over means that people are doing better than they were last year, so you can see the split:. Democrats are feeling substantially better off compared with a year ago, while Republicans are not. He recalls research done in the period leading up to the election, when Republicans had negative views on the economy even as GDP and median income were clearly on the upswing.

Interesting Republican Vs Democrat Demographics

Brandon Gaille

In the United States, although there are multiple parties present, there are two primary political parties. The Republicans and the Democrats have been battling each other on social, domestic, and international issues for more than a century.

In the 2012 election cycle, more people registered as independent voters then as Republicans. Democratic supporters accounted for 35% of the electorate.

Privilege And Entitlement Starting On Third Base Is Deserving A Home Run

The elites of certain churches, universities, private schools or ethnicities may unconsciously accept their position as any crowned head assumed the divine right of kings. Growing up inside such an elite seems natural and right; those in power enable others like themselves. If they studied hard and played on the football team, compared to their classmates who did not work as hard, they know they are deserving. For one in that position, its a forgivable failure of imagination to not consider that the student across town who also worked hard and perhaps did not achieve the same SAT scores, may have often gone to bed hungry, may have surmounted far greater obstacles to achieve a lot capacity and determination which should be counted in. The privileged may not see the distortions that benefit them. This is not confined to one party, one class, one ethnicity, one gender. Some of us simply benefit from a surfeit of privilege.

Off with their heads is not an answer. Possible answers include: wealth tax; higher marginal inheritance taxes; and crediting overcoming the privilege deficit, without demonizing people who won the birth lottery a 21st-century rework of affirmative action.

Looking to make a difference? Consider signing one of these sponsored petitions:*Rantt Media may receive compensation from the partners we feature on our site. However, this in no way affects our news coverage, analysis, or political 101’s.

6. Their life experiences open the corruption door.

Democratic Party Committees Raised More Money Than Republican Committees In 2013

Paul Blumenthal

WASHINGTON The three major Democratic Party committees raised $16 million more than their Republican Party counterparts in 2013.

The Democratic committees raised $193 million for the year, compared with $177 million for the three Republican committees, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The fundraising success for the Democratic committees stems from big numbers posted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DCCC raised $75.8 million, the most of any party committee, while the DSCC pulled in $52.7 million. Both committees topped their Republican counterparts by more than $15 million.

Our substantial fundraising lead is the result of one major dynamic: Americans are ready to replace this broken Republican Congress with leaders who have the right priorities and who will focus on solving problems, DCCC Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee, however, beat the Democratic National Committee in head-to-head fundraising for the year. In 2013, the RNC raised $80.6, almost $16 million more than the $64.7 million pulled in by the DNC.

The money raised by these committees will finance large advertising purchases in battleground House and Senate races, among other things.

Percentage Of Us Donations Going Tovarious Causes

Nonprofits have grown faster than government and faster than the business sector over the last generation, even during boom periods.

The figures charted here actually underestimate the fraction of American manpower that goes into charitable workbecause they show only paid employment, while volunteers carry out a large share of the labor poured into these groups. Various calculations of the cash value of donated labor suggest that at least an additional 50 percent of output by charities takes place invisibly because it is produced by volunteers. Youll find more statistics on American volunteering in Graphs 8 and 9.

Charitable activity is becoming a bigger and bigger part of Americas total economy. For perspective, consider that annual U.S. defense spending totals 4.5 percent of GDP. The nonprofit sector surpassed the vaunted military-industrial complex in economic scope way back in 1993.

How Democrats And Republicans Differ On Matters Of Wealth And Equality

A protester wears a T-shirt in support of Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is part of … a group of Democrats looking to beat Trump in 2020. Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg

If youre a rich Democrat, you wake up each day with self-loathing, wondering how you can make the world more egalitarian. Please tax me more, you say to your elected officials. Until then, the next thing you do is call your financial advisor to inquire about tax shelters.

If youre a poor Republican, however, you have more in common with the Democratic Party than the traditional Wall Street, big business base of the Republican Party, according to a survey by the Voter Study Group, a two-year-old consortium made up of academics and think tank scholars from across the political spectrum. That means the mostly conservative American Enterprise Institute and Cato were also on board with professors from Stanford and Georgetown universities when conducting this study, released this month.

The fact that lower-income Republicans, largely known as the basket of deplorables, support more social spending and taxing the rich was a key takeaway from this years report, says Lee Drutman, senior fellow on the political reform program at New America, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

J. Scott Applewhite/ASSOCIATED PRESS Evan Vucci/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Some 67% of Democrats said people are poor because the economic system is unfair. Only 17% of Republicans think so.

Republicans Winning Money Race As They Seek To Take Over House In 2022

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Wednesday that it had raised $45.4 million in the second quarter of 2021, the most it has ever raised in three months of a non-election year, as Republicans seek to take over the House in 2022.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

Democrats Want Billions To Pay For Elder Care Republicans Say The Price Tag Is Too High

JEANNETTE, Pa. At 90 years old, Ray Newbaker broke her hip and has dementia.

She upended both her adult childrens lives, moving in with her son, Jay, when she could no longer take care of herself. Her daughter, Paula, moved in, too, to help with the caregiving.

The Newbakers arent alone.

As the baby boom generation gets older, families are trying to figure out how to keep their parents out of nursing homes which became even less attractive when Covid-19 ravaged assisted living facilities while dealing with their growing and expensive needs. And theyre about to become the center of a political fight in Washington.

Republicans are digging in, painting the Democrats elder care proposal as reckless and too expensive. Democrats think its a fight they can win with voters, in parts because the Newbakers arent an anomaly.

Ray Newbaker needs round-the-clock help to make her meals, cajole her out of bed, assist with her personal hygiene and calm her when her dementia causes hallucinations, which are worse at night. Add trips to the doctor, sorting her insurance claims and ensuring she has a social life.

Its the hardest thing Ive ever done in my entire life, Paul Newbaker said. It’s just the stress of taking care of her in the proper manner, which is so hard to do as an adult child, and then the financial burden is always ticking in the back of my head.

Jay Newbaker worries that its not sustainable.

Us Democratic Fundraising Arm Outraises Republican Counterpart In July

Jason Lange

Supporters of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden gather with their cars for a socially distanced election celebration as they await Bidens remarks and fireworks in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 The fundraising arm of the U.S. Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee.

The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates campaigns and pays for ads and polling.

Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Bidens agenda.

Soros, a famed investor and a bogeyman of conservatives due to his status as a major donor for liberal causes, gave the DNC at least $250,000 in July.

Democratic Party Enters 2021 In Power And Flush With Cash For A Change

The Democratic National Committee has a roughly $75 million war chest, raising the partys hopes of keeping power in 2022 and accelerating a Democratic shift in the Sun Belt states.

After years of flirting with financial disaster, the Democratic Party entered 2021 not only in control of the White House, the House and the Senate but with more money in the bank than ever before at the start of a political cycle.

The Democratic National Committee will report to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday that it ended 2020 with $38.8 million in the bank and $3 million in debts, according to an advance look at its financial filings. In addition, there is roughly $40 million earmarked for the party, left over from its joint operations with the Biden campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. This gives the Democrats a roughly $75 million war chest at the start of President Bidens tenure.

This is a number that is unimaginable, said Howard Dean, a former party chairman.

Party data, resources and infrastructure undergird candidates up and down the ballot, and Democratic officials are already dreaming of early investments in voter registration that may accelerate the political realignment Democrat are hoping to bring about in key Sun Belt states.

We had to juggle who we were going to pay, Tom Perez, who until earlier this month was the chairman of the D.N.C., said of the early part of his tenure, which began in 2017.

Like This Story Sign Up For Our Newsletter

You can see the steady increase in the Democratic vote as the percentage of adults with college degrees increases. There is a 28 percentage point difference in the Democratic vote in 2020 between the most educated group of counties and those counties with the lowest percentage of people with college degrees.

That gap widened by 4 percentage points from 2016 to 2020.

Trump won 63% of the vote in the counties with the lowest percentage of people with college degrees this year. The Presidents percentage dropped 28 points in the counties with the highest percentage of college graduates.

0 notes

bardiccircle · 3 years ago

Text

Resh Chapter Two Self-Exegesis

Over the past two weeks, we have gone through the second chapter of Resh, so here is a reposting of the updated chapter with the full analysis, for anyone who would like to revisit or catch up, beneath the “Keep reading” link.

Chapter Two

1. The practice is, at its core, individual. Communion with others is advisable, as individuals may empower each other through the collective, but this fact should not be forgotten.

2. Any organization which seeks to limit or restrict the individual, barring cases in which said limitations or restrictions prevent the encroachment on the rights of others, should be dismissed.

3. Freedom and community, in pursuit of knowledge, is the joy of communion.

4. Simplification to negation is a trick; organized on shared love and values above hate and opposition.

5. Shared responsibility denies hierarchy. Discuss ideas, not idols.

6. Individuals become community through volition. A fox gnaws off its leg to escape the trap.

7. Perfect agreement is not necessary, as members learn more from each other while growing in different directions, but consistency in agreed practice is needed for healthy engagement. Policy may shift as the group grows, but caution must be employed to avoid chaos and tyranny.

8. The individual must always be able to raise concerns. Discomfort is cause for examination.

9. There is a distinction between debate and argument, namely respect and curiosity. All ideas profit from discussion, none from competition.

10. The rights of the individual supersedes organization and tradition.

11. Do not let any outside source dictate your worth. Self-worth is above all, sourced from love and compassion as with any other.

Verse One

The practice is, at its core, individual. Communion with others is advisable, as individuals may empower each other through the collective, but this fact should not be forgotten.

First and foremost, what is “[t]he practice” being referenced? The text is a collection of principle ideas, analysis of fairly universal concepts; the closest it gets to “practice” is merely principles for gathering under this interpretational framework. “The practice is, at its core, individual”, ergo it is not defined by the text, it is defined by you. It may seem strange to generalize about a concept defined individually, but regardless of the spiritual or religious practice it will differ based on the practitioner. As explored in Resh Chapter One, our perspectives are unique to ourselves and influence how we behave in the world.

“[T]his fact should not be forgotten” suggests that this verse goes beyond identifying the individual variance in how a practice is considered and carried out. Even if you have never been a solo practitioner, even if your only engagement with your practice is through others, your relationship to it is still your own. The practical end of this consideration is that how you practice is volitional, it should be based in what is beneficial* to you, not what is the status quo. This brings us to “[c]ommunion with others”.

Rooting “[t]he practice” in the individual does not discount the benefit of gathering with others, nor does centreing the empowerment of individuals make it a transactional affair. This simply dismisses the idea of the group being anything else than a collection of individuals, in the sense that the focus is on empowering the individuals around you rather than getting lost in the abstract idea of The Group. Keeping the consideration of “[t]he practice” on an individual level defends against dogmatism and groupthink.

*It is worth clarifying that this should be in no way construed as simply meaning material gain; in many practices the beneficial aspect experienced by the practitioner is emotional or spiritual rather than material.

Verse Two

Any organization which seeks to limit or restrict the individual, barring cases in which said limitations or restrictions prevent the encroachment on the rights of others, should be dismissed.

This verse is fairly common sense, but is worth saying and expounding. Humans are social creatures, to the point that being separated from others can be physically detrimental. Beyond the social aspect of gathering, it also allows us to find power in numbers, take care of each other and be taken care of, to learn from individuals whose path of research differs from our own. Unfortunately, some will take advantage of this human inclination, so it is important, especially in esoteric practices, to know the signs of a noxious cult.

The characteristics of a noxious cult are (source):

The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.

The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

The group is preoccupied with making money.

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).

The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity).

The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.

The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations).

The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities).

The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them.

Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.

Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.

Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

A large number of these can be boiled down to limitation or restriction: isolation, the dictation of thought, the dictation of action and expression, etc. There is a reasonable exception to this warning against restriction: “prevent[ing] the encroachment on the rights of others”.

“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression” (Unknown), ergo it is important to make the distinction between restriction for its own sake versus creating guidelines to ensure the protection of every individual’s rights.

Verse Three

Freedom and community, in pursuit of knowledge, is the joy of communion.

The idea of “communion” is the foundational aspect of this verse, so let us start there. It is a coming together, a sharing of something. This can differ based on your practice, but in the context of The Bardic Circle (Vau Chapter Two) it is coming together to share music, food, and, most importantly, knowledge. This is the crux of “community, in pursuit of knowledge”, so in terms of joy let us start there.

While it is undoubtedly a venture of learning, The Bardic Circle is in no way dry academia. The benefit in being unfettered by the sentimentalism of blasphemy is crafting a joyous pursuit of knowledge. We still respect the ideas of others, but they are just ideas. It is ridiculous to get together “in pursuit of knowledge” and deny the human element of joking, sarcasm, satire, etc.; the point is the ideas, not how they are expressed.

In this community we can find freedom to think, feel, and express ourselves without judgement. And that freedom, that relief from the burdens of posturing, is joy. There is a balance to be struck, however, as the legitimization of bigoted talking points naturally attracts bigots. This can be addressed through the application of Resh.2.2 and Lamed.1.1.

Verse Four

Simplification to negation is a trick; organized on shared love and values above hate and opposition.

The meaning of “simplification to negation” can be seen in the last part of the verse. The “trick” is boiling down an ideology or organization to what you are against. It is easy to parse being against something, easy to feel like you are doing something positive because it is easy to act against something in the negative. That is the “trick”: presenting a simplified worldview where the answer is stopping one particular thing.

The key to stopping this is “organiz[ing] on shared love and value”; it may be hard to reach that point, and it will likewise make it hard to direct said organization to positive means. This is why “The Bardic Circle is of singular pursuit” (Lamed.2.1). Despite this difficulty, when members come together for a cause they know they are acting out of love and for their values.

Verse Five

Shared responsibility denies hierarchy. Discuss ideas, not idols.

The threat of “hierarchy” is the threat of power. Having a de facto leader creates a power dynamic, and beyond creating a status quo it attaches undue weight to the words of just another individual. However, having leadership allows for direction and structure in group proceedings. The solution is “shared responsibility”.

The way this plays out in practice is down to the group, but Vau.2.4 suggests it work on a rotating basis. The main goal is avoiding discussions over who said something rather than what was said.

Verse Six

Individuals become community through volition. A fox gnaws off its leg to escape the trap.

It is important to stress that the “volition” referenced is an active willful engagement with the community. The “community, in pursuit of knowledge” (Resh.2.3) is formed through communion, ergo said communion requires the continual consent of the individual. Naturally, community will develop amongst members outside communion as well. Here is where volitional engagement with community becomes the most important.

It is a common tactic to use social bonds as leverage in order to keep someone within a group, or even as a way to quash dissent. Certain cults common in the USA, for example, have policies in which members are barred from community with outsiders, especially those who have left or have been expelled from the group. This verse recognises the painful sacrifice which must be made to escape such groups, and the fact that said sacrifice is a matter of survival. As in all things, prevention is the best antidote. However, as well prepared as you may feel, it is foolish to assume you are immune from said “trap[s]”. If they were obvious, they wouldn’t work.

Verse Seven

Perfect agreement is not necessary, as members learn more from each other while growing in different directions, but consistency in agreed practice is needed for healthy engagement. Policy may shift as the group grows, but caution must be employed to avoid chaos and tyranny.

The avoidance of dogma necessitates disagreement. Without disagreement communion would not have discussions, but exercises in reaffirmation. As members explore ideas “in different directions”, they can offer alternate perspectives which may help others suffering from academic tunnel vision. However, some baseline agreement is necessary in practical matters for orderly proceedings.

As the group grows, either in number or in spirit, proceedings must accommodate. This must be a time for caution, as any transitory period is vulnerable to abuse. This is in no way applicable only to giant changes in policy, as it is often a slow road to the breakdown of order, either through stagnation or inattentiveness, or to the warping of egalitarian standards to the vision of the power hungry few.

Verse Eight

The individual must always be able to raise concerns. Discomfort is cause for examination.

Beyond blind acceptance of the status quo, the dismissal of concern provides ample ground for tyrants to rise. Due to the internalization of capitalist dogma, we tend to place too much emphasis on productivity and efficiency. This can cause an ostensible pressure to keep moving, to keep the conversation fresh and exciting. This is the impulse to watch out for.

If interrupting the flow of conversation is the objection, keep notes and the main thread can be resumed. It is the duty of all to stand against bigotry and abuse, ergo when concern is raised or discomfort expressed everything else must be put aside to examine the machinery and ensure our values are being upheld.

Verse Nine

There is a distinction between debate and argument, namely respect and curiosity. All ideas profit from discussion, none from competition.

Many supposed proponents of “debate” merely argue; they seek not perspective, only victory. This is weakness, to be so bound up in an idea to close your mind. These people will waste your time and suck the very life out of you. Don’t play their game, there is nothing to be gained.

The nature of social media inundates us with this reductive, combative way of engagement. The exceptions only prove the rule. We would be better off to cultivate a community from the ground up with a common understanding of “respect and curiosity” than trying to inject that standpoint into a toxic environment. Competitive rhetoric has leaked out into the real world, causing further polarization.

Verse Ten

The rights of the individual supersedes organization and tradition.

The appeal to tradition is a common thought ending cliche. Somehow, the rights and sanctity of the individual gets positioned as secondary to the organization, but “[t]he collective is a beneficial illusion formed to empower the individual” (Vau.1.1). “The sure sign of a dead tradition is an inability to adapt to modern times” (Vau.3.3), but some would rather oppress their members than acknowledge this fact.

Verse Eleven

Do not let any outside source dictate your worth. Self-worth is above all, sourced from love and compassion as with any other.

It feels good to be validated by others. We are social creatures and it is in our nature to desire approval in our communities, an affirmation that we belong. However, it is easy to tie our self worth to this social affirmation, especially when social media makes it a quantifiable metric.

A large part of the social approach in The Bardic Circle is the idea that love and compassion is fostered internally, then applied externally (Resh.3.2). Once we learn to accept ourselves as individuals, we can seek to internalize the fact that others are individuals in the same way and extend that love and compassion for ourselves to them. This is why “self-worth is above all”, as it gives us solid ground for our self-love. Likewise, the understanding that worth is not externally dictated both prevents us from devaluing ourselves and from applying the same misapprehension to others.

1 note · View note

statetalks · 3 years ago

Text

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans

Volunteering In The Us

youtube

Religious faith is a central influence on giving. Religious people are much more likely than the non-religious to donate to charitable causesincluding secular causesand they give much more.

Americas Top 10 Richest Families

Walton Republican The family owns the Walmart corporation. The Walton family fortune is estimated to be about $130 billion. Koch Republican Businessmen, owners of Koch Industries, a manufacturing company. Koch brothers have a net worth of about $41 billion each . Mars Republican Own the Mars candy company. The three children of founder Forrest Mars are worth about $78 billion together. Cargill-MacMillan Republican The Cargill-MacMillan family owns 90 percent of the largest privately-owned corporation in the U.S. The family, as a whole, is worth about $49 billion. Cox Democrat The Cox family owns a number of auto consumer sites and services . They have an estimated net worth of $41 billion. Johnson Republican The Johnson family is known for their cleaning products and hygiene products. They are valued at $30 billion. Pritzker Both Founders of Hyatt. The family has a combined value of $29 billion in 2017. Johnson Republican Overseers at Fidelity, ensuring the cash of millions of Americans. The family has a combined net worth of $28.5 billion. Hearst Republican The Hearst family owns one of Americas largest media companies. The family is valued at $28 billion. Duncan Republican The Duncan family works mostly with oil and pipelines. The family is valued at about $21.5 billion.

Presidential Campaign Spending Is Overwhelmingly On Tv Ads In Swing States

Data: Kantar, Analysis: John Sides, Washington Post

Drug Addiction Has Impacted Gop And Democratic Groups Alike

Drug addiction has touched the lives of millions of Americans. Overall, nearly half of the public say they have a family member of close friend who is or has been addicted to drugs.

Among typology groups, Market Skeptic Republicans and Disaffected Democrats are most likely to say a friend or family member has been addicted to drugs.

Military Service Union Membership

The Richest Politicians In Congress

Senator Rick Scott R Florida $259.7 million Senator Mark Warner D Virginia $214.1 million Rep. Greg Gianforte R Montana $189.3 million Rep. Paul Mitchell R Michigan $179.6 million Senator Mitt Romney R Utah $174.4 million Rep. Vernon Buchanan R Florida $157.1 million Senator Mike Braun R Indiana $136.8 million Rep. Don Beyer D Virginia $124.9 million Rep. Dean Phillips D Minnesota $123.8 million Rep. Nancy Pelosi D California $114.7 million

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans

Juni 12, 2021

Who Makes More Money Democrats Or Republicans. Which party has the best plan to fix social security? Democratsclinton, carter, johnson, kennedy and truman reduced the federal debt.

This Is My Reasoning:

How Trumps Team Spent Most Of The $16 Billion It Raised Over 2 Years

youtube

Biden and Trump spar in final presidential debate

Questions about staff payments

More Democrats Than Republicans Sit On 10 Richest Members Of Congress List

Stephanie Merrick

While Republicans often get the reputation for being “the party of the rich,” seven of the 10 richest members of Congress are Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics .

CRP compiled a of the 10 richest members of Congress using 2012 personal finance disclosure information, the latest available.

These wealthy Democrats are not afraid to use their big bucks and high-powered connections to get ahead.

Here are the seven Democrats in the top 10 list:

Where People Prefer To Live And Where They Actually Live

Who Makes More Money In Office Republicans Or Democrats

A Partisan Divide On Handling Money Too

Interesting Republican Vs Democrat Demographics

Brandon Gaille

In the 2012 election cycle, more people registered as independent voters then as Republicans. Democratic supporters accounted for 35% of the electorate.

Privilege And Entitlement Starting On Third Base Is Deserving A Home Run

6. Their life experiences open the corruption door.

Democratic Party Committees Raised More Money Than Republican Committees In 2013

Paul Blumenthal

WASHINGTON The three major Democratic Party committees raised $16 million more than their Republican Party counterparts in 2013.

The Democratic committees raised $193 million for the year, compared with $177 million for the three Republican committees, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The money raised by these committees will finance large advertising purchases in battleground House and Senate races, among other things.

Percentage Of Us Donations Going Tovarious Causes