#but also please do see the deep & fundamental racism that surrounds this issue. that's what fairuzfan was getting at

[nottesilhouette]

re: your tags - yeah Ukraine trended for days on end.

Palestine has been trending continuously since early october

what point are you trying to make

Palestine has been trending on & off since October 7th — in large part due to multiple messages sent to @staff as users requested the trending tag be re-instated (since it has gone down multiple times).

On November 4th, we saw protests across the world (with over 300k people just at the protest in Washington D.C., USA)... yet the tag went down on Tumblr the night before & has yet to be re-instated. #palestine has not lost traction, yet we continuously have to request for @staff to promote this issue.

As far as I know, & please correct me if I'm wrong, Ukraine did not face this issue. The tag was able to trend without interruption, without threat of deprioritization. (To be clear, if Ukraine also had to fight for visibility, that is not better! They should not have done that!)

Tumblr needs to do fucking better. Pro-Palestine videos & posts have been taken down; users have been deleted entirely. This is part of a pattern in which @staff not only fails to take a stand but engages in active censorship in order to support a genocidal Israel as they commit multiple war-crimes in full view of the entire world.

[traitor-boyfriend]

paragraphs-long episode 2 thoughts/comments/concerns incoming:

- this episode certainly felt more disjointed than the last, where the two concurrent story lines really don’t meet in a cogent way until the near-end of the episode, but with that said i didn’t hate it. there are some pacing issues, but while i certainly don’t think it was bad, but i hesitate to say it was great? i’d call it maybe average, i feel pretty neutral on it right now -- it has a lot of high moments despite that. though, this episode is really fascinating when we’re talking about character development. trey parker must’ve seen all the bitching and moaning i’ve done as of late about the lack of kyle-based plot lines and gave us a twofer (trey parker i know you read my blog please call me).

- ike crying as it cuts to the queen’s splayed dead body in the casket got a deep chuckle out of me. it’s funny how even ike sounds more adult now, too.

- kyle and ike fighting over the computer gave me the worst mid-aughts flashbacks to the “computer room” and fighting with my own brothers for screen time.

- butters has become SO conniving and i’m kind of into it… i have come to love butters’ progressive degradation as a character into something that is much. i don’t believe he’s intentionally trying to fuck with kyle but i do think that he picks up quickly on kyle’s affect and wastes no time in recruitment. bebe kicking the shit out of butters was also wonderful; it’s been a while since bebe’s had more than a nominal bone thrown her way so it was nice for her to have a couple speaking lines.

-it's inevitable given south park's role in television specifically to mock and parody american culture and celebrity that they will get it wrong sometimes in who they choose to go after and how hard. the case could easily be made given the public reckoning there's been over the public treatment of female celebrities specifically that someone like paris hilton is one of those people, or sarah jessica parker, or even someone like bono if you're so inclined; people had this conversation a lot surrounding britney spears and the dissolution of her conservatorship, though that's a fundamental misunderstanding of the message of that episode (and in a minor way, south park acknowledging its own role in that phenomenon.) i've been waiting to come back to this post because i wanted to see the response from a u.k. audience toward the worldwide privacy tour as well.

this, to me, is not one of those moments. this is absolutely an occasion where i’m on the side of south park and the tone of their mockery. sorry but i can’t even pretend to have sympathy for the richer-than-god failson of one of the oldest monarchies in the world. please keep in mind this in no way a defense of the royal family in any shape or form. this does not change that prince harry and meghan markle are extremely annoying opportunists; i did find it amusing to see the ways in which they cause disruption in the episode because it doesn’t feel that far off. the mention of all these interviews, books, tv shows and appearances, podcasts rehashing the same information over and over etc. are all set up for... what, exactly -- to garner support for meghan markle’s inevitable bid for some form of public office, probably something CA state-level? prince harry’s shitty, condescending advertisements hawking online therapy that both prey on vulnerable people who don't know how vastly unregulated and predatory these telehealth outlets are and cements his public image as a deeply sensitive & misunderstood victim? barf.

the most condemnation i've seen regarding this episode has to do with the idea south park is downplaying the role racism both within the royal family and the broader public of the united kingdom exhibited toward meghan markle, which is cited as one of the major reasons for the animosity between prince harry and the royal family. the episode seems to address this through one line specifically -- the line "he's ignoring me because i'm an ethnic woman!" and prince harry's "wait, you're ethnic?" i'm not going into depth about racism and meghan markle and the british royal family, but i do know from passing conversation i've had with lots of (american) people around the time of harry and meghan's wedding is that a lot of people did not know meghan markle was biracial until it became a prominent talking point. this wades into tricky waters about the american idea of the one drop rule, racial identity and racial perception, accusations of "blackfishing", racism in america and racism in the u.k., etc. i'm not going into great detail about that, but I can say that line from my own observation was a sentiment I heard pretty frequently, so I don't think it's pulled "out of thin air" as I've seen critics suggest. again, this is not me saying the british royal family is not racist -- just for clarity (it would be an insane thing to say regardless given that racism is interwoven into the structural history of the british monarchy) the question moreso how much this played a role in meghan markle's integration into royal life -- and this is matt and trey's answer from an american perspective. whether you find this astute or offensive depends on your inclinations when it comes to racial poststructuralism i suppose.

the only reservation i have in their portrayal is the implicit suggestion that prince harry is simply helpless to the whims of meghan markle as a gold digger and could be a halfway decent person outside her influence, which is far too charitable an olive branch to extend his way. my mother had a mild fascination with princess diana and thus both william and harry as they grew up and i remember a time where prince harry's various shenanigan's -- some innocuous, some significantly more egregious -- made for occasional fodder on the news, and this split from the royal family has been some of the best PR of his life considering he is now in a position to reap all the material benefit and privilege his life apart of royal lineage has awarded him (and continues to do so) yet distance himself as the moral black sheep and the more unsavory aspects of his family. though, the interview regarding his book (appropriately re-titled "waaagh") is a good dig at him.

- kyle, oh kyle... i think it’s a common fan interpretation of kyle to be sort of “above” more human pitfalls like self-consciousness or concern with what others think, and it made me glad to see the very opposite in this episode. i think kyle is less overt about these traits than someone like, say, stan or cartman has been in the past, but it’s very clear that kyle cares deeply about what people think of him and can easily become something of a fixation. we saw this pretty clearly in s21; in fact, self-image has been something of a recurring theme with kyle. he’s having a moment and much of that revolves around the constant existentialism in who am i? am i who i think i am or am i who others think i am? how much of people’s perception of me plays into who i actually am? is there any real delineation between the two? these are all very serious and philosophical questions that are at the heart of any discussion about identity; the battle between self-perception and being perceived, individual vs. group, man vs. himself.

there is SO. MUCH. to say about butters and kyle's entire conversation on the stairs about kyle's "brand"

Butters: Some kids call it your credibility or your reputation, but those things are just little parts of something much more important... Your brand. Think about it, Kyle. Who are you? Kyle: I'm just... I-I'm just me. Butters: See? You don't know what your brand is. So how is anyone else supposed to know? It's like a commercial for Kyle, but you're not putting a label on the jar. Kyle: Butters, this seems very out of character for you. Butters: That's because I've been workin' on my brand.

the importance placed on 'identity' has become such a huge conceptual restructuring in how we see ourselves and how others see us. i felt myself acutely in touch with kyle's confusion in stating that he is simply "just me" as this has been my own qualm in a lot of these discussions. but butters pitching it to him as that -- a jar without a label -- effortlessly puts it into simple terms that there needs to be an apparent, visual signifier that screams xyz adjective into public perception.

especially with the predominance of social media, this a huge issue for a lot of people now. a small example that captures this perfectly that most people can probably relate to is spotify wrapped! how many posts (especially on tumblr) do you see of people lamenting that they did not listen to enough 'cool' or 'obscure' music this year, or joking about leaving their spotify playing only 'cool' or 'obscure' music in the last few months of metrics gathering in the hopes of bumping this music into someone's top 5, half-hearted -joking-but-not-really anxiety about people seeing their "true" top artists and making fun of them or not thinking they are Deep or Serious or High Brow enough when it comes time to flood social media with a million different multi-colored cards distilling your personality down into a handful of songs and musicians? it's a nice idea in theory -- but what it culminates in practice is fostering a level of anxiety and self-policing into people who are so dependent on validation and positive affirmation through the internet, having to suppress a private self in favor of a public persona that is carefully cultivated and crafted for the sake of communicating "this is who i am" as opposed to just 'being.' this is not meant to ridicule these people, either -- it's an entirely normal human impulse to want to be understood our peers and community, for there to be concordant harmony between what we think of ourselves and what others think of us. if you considered yourself a generous person, would it not hurt you to hear, say, a loved one describe you as "selfish"?

if kyle does not know how to label himself, how will anyone else?

and it does not work to simply vocalize these traits -- they need to be exhibited in a nonverbal, aesthetic manner. you cannot tell people who you are lest they deem you a tryhard or disbelieve you. we see this when kyle approaches the guys after meeting with the man at cumhammer, where he tells them that he is a, "reliable, fun-loving, punctual, victim." kyle then declares that he's working on himself and that they'll like what they see, cue sad piano music. this is reiterated again by the brand manager who tells him that, "people can't see inside you. they can only see what kind of drink you're drinking."

at first i thought the whole idea of “branding” was going to lead into more about-face commentary on south park re: identity politics (every last identity trait being "victim" in particular i think alludes to this), but i think ‘brand’ itself is a more apt way to describe the manner we as a society are tacitly being encouraged to conceptualize ourselves as Things to be consumed rather than People meant to be experienced. social media specifically encourages people by a variety of means -- bombardment with advertisements, insidious interfaces and design functions designed to entice our baser, easily impressionable impulses not unlike casinos and front-end grocery check lanes, constant access and reminders to categorize ourselves -- to train our brains to monitor our own behavior to this insane degree.

we see just how desperate kyle is to be understood by his peers. more overtly than any other character i think, kyle hates to feel left out. we see how hurt he is in an episode like south park is gay -- the sense of betrayal that accompanies cartman, kenny, and stan dropping kyle for not following the fad and thus not being "cool," when the town issues a moratorium on his speeches (speeches being kyle's primary mode of communication with others and a way for him to process his own beliefs), wieners out etc., and that this isolation is extremely difficult for him to deal with. he is a very people-oriented person, whether those people be townspeople, friends, or family. so he begins to craft an image he thinks will make people like him more by exhibiting what he thinks they want to see from him: "i'm not going to complain about things, i'm more thick-skinned, and I want people to think I'm stronger mentally than I probably am."

but this is the problem -- kyle isn't any of those things, and he knows this! kyle is easily agitated, he is sensitive, and he does not hide distress well. so the only solution is to suppress his natural inclinations and project his cool Brand. It is extremely unnatural to see him saunter in to school as Cool Guy and the other boys show as such; they're confused mostly by kyle's behavior and find it odd. he thinks this is an improvement until he see butters' being beaten on the playground for the sake of his Brand.

his speech at the end that this discordance and suppression of our true selves leads us to be performers as opposed to people is a profound emotional revelation. i do truly love the ending of this episode -- with kyle initially upset with ike for not getting over his emotions and quickly accepting that this is who ike is -- "things get to you, it's who you are" -- in a way that is also a conscious acceptance of who *kyle* is. he walks forlorn out into the living room to hear a knock at the door and see his friends all there, wanting him to get out of the house as he's going through a lot, with kyle thanking them as they go out to play, inviting him to get out of his own head and be present with them as a group. a very touching thought to end on.

I missed the episode last night and I'm stuck at stupid work so my paragraph long post about the new episode is late but forthcoming.