#but with the boycott and the awful things happening in the world

[bandzboy]

.

[florisnemis]

A hope of brighter days ahead🍉🫒

Please don't turn a blind eye to cruelty and lose sight of humanity. Boycott, donate, spread the word, keep an open mind and heart, whatever is in your capacity to help, we shouldn't allow such awful things to happen in the world and have no reaction.

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Is it bad for me that I am still excited to make the friendship bracelets and go see Taylor when she comes to my city?

Because I do feel like I am betraying everyone by going but it’s also something I have been looking for for a year and it’s so unimportant that it shouldn’t matter

But at the same time, I genuinely have nothing else to look forward to and her music has been with me my whole life and every era is a part of me.

I feel so lost and I have no one to talk to about this.

I am an awful person I know, and shallow and probably the worst human being and small.

I am just tired of living int is world where I feel like I live two parallel lives and don’t know how to navigate that

You are NOT an awful person. The very fact that you are saying these things is a testament to your good conscience.

This is a challenging thing to navigate. I was literally introduced to English music via Taylor Swift when I was 6 years old. Speak Now was the first ever cd that I owned. 1989 was the first cd I ever bought with my own money by saving up. The 1989 tour was the first concert I ever went to by saving up. Folklore and Evermore got me through an earth shattering period of grief in my life. I cannot overstate how much meaning her music holds for me. I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been there. It’s not easy to boycott music that holds so much significance for you personally.

If you ever need someone to talk to about these conflicting emotions, please come to me. Do not denigrate yourself. You are a good person who is is struggling with an internal conflict like so many of us.

Personally, I only successfully detached from celebrity worship culture 2 years ago. I refused to buy celebrity related merch (small artists don’t count). And I unfollowed every celebrity on social media. I also stopped talking about celebrities like they were gods. However, in Jan this year, I did attend the Eras Tour. I guess I had it easier because her silence on genocide didn’t seem as loud back then. But even then, as a minority fan, I still felt conflicted.

I just want you to know that as long as you’re showing solidarity with the victims of genocide, it’s ok. You can show solidarity by spreading awareness, donating, volunteering or protesting. If you’re doing these things, then you’re using your voice and your privilege for good.

Additionally, it seems like you’re thinking critically about celebrity culture too. Detaching doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a process.

I hope you feel ok soon. I’m here if you need me <3

[missnobodymadness]

I have no idea if this is a thing with SzPD but if guilt is empathy, then why can't I feel empathy towards anything that happens around the world? Then I feel guilty for not being able to feel a thing because I know I should and I feel like the most awful person alive. I want to feel something, I want to feel bad for people dying, for the victims of genocide and flooding, I want to be able to cry, but I can't manage to. I boycott when I think it is the right thing to do, I donate when I can, but I am tired of doing these just because it is the morally correct thing to do, I want to bloody feel it, I want to feel empathy towards the people I am helping.

Could this also be a consequence of being exposed to all sort of stuff when I was just a kid? I have no idea, but I can't seem to understand how my mind works, maybe that's the actual problem...I think too much and feel too little. I always act on what I think is correct, never on my feelings, because the day I start acting on them, things will get very very dark as it feels like I am just holding a beast inside of me and it is growing, slowly, but steadily and I wonder for how much longer these bars will be able to contain it.

I am just so tired of fighting against it but I know I can't unmask, society wouldnt' accept my true self even if I haven't hurt anybody, even if I have the perfect control of the nothing I feel. I feel stuck inside myself. What am I? Who am I? I have no identity, thus I am nobody.

Is not it funny that I just had a therapy session a few hours ago and I am already needing my therapist again? Ahah...

[prosaicpedagogy]

//OOC Post - real world stuff + Fictional

Censored so it doesn't show up in tags

Normalized Behavior:

So with the current stuff happening in Pales/tine, and how closely I relate to it as a black American. With how Isra/eli people are treating Pales/tinian people across social media, if you have Twitter, TikTok,

or even go through the tags on tumblr. You have SEEN the horrible things happening right now. You have SEEN the boycotts, you are SEEING how HORRIBLE things are and how people are. It's been going around that Isra/eli content creators are posting tone-deaf, horrible, racist content. Making fun of Pales/tinian people who are being murdered and killed. In Isr/ael, it has been normalized. This behavior has been normalized. Back when Jim Crow laws were a thing, and lynching black people was normal, it was NORMALIZED, and the behavior of it was NORMALIZED.

What does this have to do with Fiction:

How does this tie into fiction? I need to speak on how people RP fantasy racism in Homestuck, and just general fantasy racism.

Please keep in mind the hurtful things you say to fictional marginalized groups, are things REAL PEOPLE say and do to REAL MARGINALIZED groups.

The lusting after other species or other blood colors, it's fetishizing. You see that happen to real minorities, Asians, Black people, Hispanics, etc. It's fucking weird! It's creepy, even when it's fictional. It's uncomfortable!

"I think this blood color sucks for xyz" Is just RACISM. "Purplebloods are violent, aggressive and they do a bunch of drugs" Do you literally not hear yourselves???

These are things said about REAL PEOPLE and REAL MINORITIES. It's uncomfortable!

I get some characters are just racist and awful and horrible people, but a lot of RPers have normalized this behavior and we see characters improve or grow but they're still racist! Or in this case Hemoist.

Comments like: "Trolls are all like this" and "humans are a disease" is deeply troubling to me. It's so normalized, these deeply eco-fascist, and racist ideologies.

I KNOW that not everyones muse is black-coded or POC-coded like my own are. However, there ARE POC-coded characters, and sometimes you guys are just being racist.

When POC talk about being uncomfortable and go to you, it's not drama it's dangerous.

I am not calling anyone racist btw. This is literally just a vent/rant.

[dojae-huh]

I'm going to write a sad and serious post, so if you are still in the mood to celebrate NY, please skip it and read later.

Doyoung looked happy during the end of year concert, so, touch wood, he wasn't too affected by the MC scandal. I hope he learnt how to withstand and wait out personal attacks by now. He has been an idol for a long time, and had many a trouble.

I was a bit surprised that only 3 people unsubscribed from me in the past days. Either few subscribers read me regularly, or I successfully weed out the weak ones (I have a high subscribe/unsubscribe rate).

I'm not very eloquent with my words. I often come off too harsh and don't deliver my point of view well. I'm coming back to the topic of online virtue-signalling, "do good" pressure, witch-hunting of idols as I need to clarify a few points.

On the first glance it might seem like I'm behaving like a fan who protects one's bias. Actually, I would defend any idol who is accused of things he/she didn't do/that weren't proven. My opposition is to the mob, to the cancelling culture, to the people who use nice pretext to be awful humans. Their power is strong, they crush not only celebreties, but grind in the mix other fans as well. And I want more people to learn how to withstand this type of bullying into complience with the mob's POV.

The masses are often wrong. And a minority often looks like it represents the opinion of the majority, when in reality media and socmed algorythms just favour loud confrontational people and people who earn being "spokepersons". You don't have to pick a side if you don't want to. You don't need and you actually can't have an opinion on every subject. You can and should hear out people you disagree with or who has bad sides to them (like being a homophobe). A person possessing a bad character or view still stays a source of information you can learn from.

You will be pressured by "well-meaning" people into action "for the cause". Not just pressured - bullied. You won't be given a chance to question the cause, its revelance to you, whether there is a point to it, will the associated campaign bring any positive change really. Swear words, accusations of lacking morale, empathy, threats of being cancelled would be thrown at you if you won't comply. So the task is to learn to see through the wall of trigger words and mass histeria, to be able to ask questions and think and decide for oneself.

I didn't follow the Korean fans vs Indonesian fans fanwar. I don't know the specifics. Still, I can comment on absurdity of (some) Indonesians cancelling a Korean idol over a fastfood brand boycott that has little to do with their country. Indoneasia has an ongoing conflict of their own. Papua wants to become independent and is not allowed to. Killing or rebels - check. Denial of self-identification - check. Indonesians from other islands, other ethnicities, coming to the land and using its resources, starting to live there - check (Indonesia populates Papua with other peoples deliberetely, selling of mining and logging rights to foreign companies is rampant). When I went to YT to look for a video on the conflict, I came across the fact that Indonesia has a migrant issue as well. Rohingya refugees, a muslim minority fleeing Myanmar.

It is the truth that athrocities and injustice happen all over the world at the same time. And not only man-made conflicts. Poverty, ilnesses, nature destruction. People suffer and die constantly. People following online mobs that get into a frenzie after media shines light on a particular issue and bully everyone to do the same are hypocritical. The world is big, people in one part of the world deserve peace and to be preoccupied with their mandane lives, celebrate, even if something bad happens in another part of the world.

When Russia-Ukrainian war started I followed it closely. I listened to commentators from both sides and I was watching the videos from the battleground with burnt corpses in tanks, Ukranian drones releasing explosives on the heads of Russian soldiers, child graves dug on playgrounds, leveled to the ground cities (before and after airial photos), as well as humanitarian and volunteer campaigns, etc. I also read comments and observed the wave of hate Russians were getting online from "well-meaning" people. I was stripped off of the ability to use credit cards abroad, ability to enter several European countries, and other issues. It was a very unstable time when everyting changed every day, I was afraid to be locked in Russia like Soviet people were locked in USSR (it's a real concern among Russians, a new iron wall). Back then I constantly switched between reading about the war and writing silly stuff here on this blog. I didn't write about the war not only because I wanted a space to escape to, but also because it was a local problem. Yes, huge, and affecting the whole world (oil, gas, vegetable oil, wheat, more refugees, the disraption of the "peace" in Europe, etc), but still a conflict people in Indonesia, Thailand, India, South America and so on had the right to avert their eyes from.

Right before New Year Russia (nothing sacred for Putin) sent rockets to several large Ukranian cities. You can see Ukranian k-pop cover groups filming dance covers for YT and think that everyrhing has calmed down, that it's only soldiers who fight on the perifery. Well, no. And Ukraine also sent rockets into a Russian town. On both sides civillians died in the buildings during explosions.

Instead of a NY conglaturation, a political oppositioner on YT I watch released a video with information about a couple of people that died. Turned statistics into stories about individual human beings. You can watch it here, it has English subs. The author asked to forgive him for not being in a celebratory mood, so many commented how they too couldn't celebrate the holiday.

The attack angered me, but I didn't dwell on it. I personally did congratulate all my friends with positive words. And I celebrated. War or not war. I want to live. I want my friends to be successful next year despite actually not knowing their onlook on the conflict (I was hesitant to discuss with some). I don't want Putin and his desire to stay in power to ruin more lives than he already has and will continue to do. Certainly not mine. I have my lane, nature conservation. It is as important as other "fields to do good". And to have any positive impact on the world, firstly I need to stay sane and happy myself. And my friends need to stay sane because they will outlive the dictator and be the part of people who will push for democracy.

To sum it up. Don't fall to the mob's pressure on the internet and don't be quick to judge people, cancel them. Don't delegate thinking and decision making to others. Form your own informed opinions. And don't waste your time on trivial things. Fanwars online don't help anything and anyone. It's action in real life that matters. Even if all you do is being kind to your family and people around you, you still do more good than justice-warriers.

Be kind in 2024.

[jayflrt]

alice oh my i just saw the craziest debate on my tumblr tl like im very strongly pro-palestinian but for wtv reason my blr showed me some post like 4 rbs deep of continued debate between a fucking "proud zionist" and some hindu supremacist abt whose people had it worse ... the hindu supremacist was saying they were an ally bc of the "mughal conquering" of india but the zionist wouldn't accept them or wtv i honestly didn't understand but i was just staring both in anger and bafflement bc im not sure that they can be compared ... the nakba is such a recent thing but the mughals conquered india in the 1500s and how is that any reason to support fuckass modi's entire anti-muslim propaganda ughh i want so badly to be more educated on the history of both what's going on in palestine and also everything else that's happening in the world but it keeps making me so upset to see how blinded people are by their own hate and wtf are politicians corrupt almost everywhere ?? do they genuinely have no compassion ?? im so sorry for dumping in ur inbox :( i feel like the blr community has kind of adopted u as part of our wise counsel of elders lol bc i always feel like everyone including me goes straight to ur inbox to talk ... maybe its the psych degree but ur so comforting to talk to <3

omg WHAT that's so :(( i'm so sorry you had to see that,, what a weird thing to argue over. i don't think people realize that fighting over who had it worse only benefits the oppressors..... we're ignoring the true problem at hand while we go back and forth. that's just a general statement btw i am not supporting either of who you mentioned and they should not be using such awful historic events to defend the atrocious acts israel is committing against palestine 😭 supporting modi of all people too..... FUCK THAT MAN!

i do wish things were different and i wouldn't have to say this but i'm afraid most if not all big politicians with influence have lost sight of what's important and are mostly driven by greed and power. most people see the career path of a politician and have high hopes that they'll create change and make a difference, but when you enter that world you quickly realize the best way to keep your seat in the government is to align your political views with whoever pays you more to push your campaign forward :( sure there are probably exceptions, but it would take a lot more than exceptions to flip the current political climate. that's why it's so so important for us regular citizens to create change ourselves!! all these protests and boycotts may not seem like they're doing much from our perspective, but we're all exercising our free speech in a way our governments can't suppress. educating ourself, spreading awareness, donating, sharing information—they're all ways for us to reclaim the power of the people

i'm answering this somewhat half asleep so i hope this made sense!! omg pls i always think of that tweet that says psych majors are either chill or the worst people you've met 😭 but you're too sweet, i'm so glad you feel comfortable enough to send an ask in my inbox! feel free to drop a message whenever 💘

[firespirited]

As much as I've tried to take this to heart, it has been excruciating these past few days to watch (mostly USamerican) people learn about white phosphorus, mass punishment, illegal detention, the Geneva convention, hostage exchanges and not even bother to stick those terms in wikipedia.

The excitement at seeing people discover something you've been yelling about for years turns to ash when they have no curiosity about it, the outrage isn't going to turn into long-term struggle it's a flash in the pan emotion that'll be apathy from burnout within a few years.

Something REAL you can do with your anger is join up with groups in your country who are working to eventually get the USA to even be slightly accountable for those crimes (ongoing btw) like the rest of the world, for small gestures like closing Guantanamo: the 20 year torture prison without trial. Just having the talk about moving those men to american prisons, let alone release, or with compensation.

Right now one of the local (to me) issues is people imprisoned for terrorism being given the option of psychological care instead of isolation as we begin to dismantle the idea of the evil mastermind and see that for every charismastic sociopath there are dozens of groomed young men and women from vunerable backgrounds. Folding in what we have learned about gangs and cults instead of good and evil thinking. This is legislation that will totally be crushed under the current government of course but deserves to be formulated anyway so we can bring it back later and at least start the seeds of discussion.

There might be a few people asking for "nuance" who just want to not think but an awful lot of people asking for nuance are asking for curiosity: for you to put in the reading, the dialectical reading of things you may disagree with or may be outdated to have a fuller grasp on a situation that is also playing out in so many other ways close to home that you can actually act on.

Examples for me is that many Syrian refugees are also Palestinian refugees from earlier wars but the rhetoric about them is to not even call them refugees but invaders like they're not doing our care and janitorial work! We also have islamophobia and antisemitism in local schools: in my own half muslim neighbourhood. We also throw taxpayer money at weapons manufacturers and take pride in our civilian killing inventions: that's places we can blockade and boycott, we can expose who took their money and gifts.

Nuance is kind of like when the Black Lives Matter movement asked people to do some basic reading before turning up to protest and saying something wack. It doesn't mean "hey this is too complicated for anyone except scholars to parse so let's all shut up"

Nuance means let's learn what led us here, what we can do right now with our anger, how we could turn current impotence into future accountability, how to stop this from happening again, how do I protect and build in my own community where land and blood feuds are lurking under the surface.

[slidewhistlebj]

I think there is an issue for some people with the speed of the ICJ. It takes time to rule on something, it’s not effective at immediate critical interventions, and it is hobbled by its lack of enforcement capabilities. These are all absolutely true. That is where pressure on governments to step in and aid group are crucial to achieving ceasefires for Palestine.

But some people are talking about this ruling like it isn’t crucial and I think it’s important to look at this from a wider lens. This case will move forward, now evaluating evidence of genocide and eventually ruling on Israels guilt. It will take a long time but we will see the leveling of consequences on the war crimes zionists have committed. This matters. The protests, boycotts, and pressure we have built up is important now but in the long term view it disappears. Documents are lost, social media platforms disappear, the sense of informed public opinion fades.

This court case acts as a crucial bookmarking step in history so that no one can claim that they were unaware of what was happening. We can see what Israel is doing. We weren’t silent and continued to not be silent until an international body stepped in to rule Israel as already in a violation of many of these terms of genocide. We will continue to document and preserve these awful things so that Israel and the world can never run from it. This might feel small but this is one of the crucial steps in preventing this from being brushed aside, it’s real and it shouldn’t happen to anyone, ever

[cloudy-squid]

Jesus fucking Christ I showed my sister a jigsaw/saw movie meme that wasn't even grotesque or bad or bloody or anything and it was no more "out there" than a lot of our humor we have with each other and she sent me such a mean look and went on about how "we already live in world where people do awful things to each other" and like you won't even speak about a genocide that been happening for months, boycott anything, or do anything but you're going to be snotty about a movie series????? Granted I'm not really interested in them but I know we've sent each other memes about them so. I'm reaching a point where I don't even want to be around her you know?

[sweatyluminaryqueen]

16.05.24

Eurovision ended few days ago and I still cannot stop thinking about it. Fuck Israel btw. I'll just pretend they were never there. But fuck Israel. Yeah. I would never boycott it tho, I love this silly little show too much and I have too much stress in life to not watch one of the very few things that give me so much joy. Congratulations Nemo!! Congratulations Baby Lasagna! Congratulations to everyone! Except Israel ofc, fuck them. But!! My heart will always belong to Ukraine. Teresa & Maria was the best song period. Jerry Heil had the best vocals. I actually got extremely addicted to her songs.

Speaking of Jerry Heil... She literally noticed me 😭 I commented on her post on Twitter with my art of her. And first, she liked it and I was already like OMGOMGOMG QUEEN I LOVE YOU. Two hours later she commented "insanely talented 😳😍" and then I literally started screaming. Like..... Jerry my beloved... And that's not all!! She screenshoted my art and posted it on her group on telegram 🥹. My soul evaporated from my body y'all... It was the happiest moment of my fucking life. I still can't believe it happened. I love Jerry Heil so so so so very much 🤍.

But let's not be so overly optimistic. Let's just say that Jerry Heil made me the most happy in years. Well, excluding my dog, but he's the only reason I'm still alive so he's kinda above it all. But literally everything else is awful. My eating disorder is getting worse and worse. I ate basically nothing for last two weeks but for the last few days, I ate way more than I should. I hate myself for that.

And everything hurts. As always. And smallest inconveniences make me so stressed I feel sick in my stomach. There's no way I'll make it in the "adult world". I'm an fucking adult already, I'm 23. It's pathetic. Everything is pathetic lmao.

If my back weren't hurting like crazy, I would probably try to write something. But nooo, the pain is all I can think about.

Gosh I'm really tired of all this.

[to-the-moon-angel69]

can i just quickly rant about kpop bcuz if i do in another platform *coughinstagramcough* i feel like i would get murdered??

yes

ok

fuck

kpop is amazing at first for me. it all started in 2018 and i don’t regret it. some of the songs are soulless, but how many songs are, y’know? But the ones which do have depth are just amazing. I recommend Stray Kids, Ateez, Nmixx and Gidle.

the problem is the fandom is horrendous. i fucking hate them and constantly hate on each other. which becomes a problem for me to try to find friends without them judging my opinions. My opinions could be controversial but they are not borderline illegal like bro what??

-Stop bullying the ‘bully’-

Many idols have been falsely accused for bullying. some for not “opening a door for someone”, some got randomly accused and some even got kicked out of a group bcuz of misunderstandings and false accusations. People start crying wolf when it finally happens. When they get kicked out or announced as innocent. But guess what they were doing during all of that? Bully the shit out of all of these idols. like bro. stop being a fucking hypocrite and start acting logically, unless that’s too fucking hard for you. I’m not a Blackpink stan and stopped being a BTS stan. i don’t hate them nor love them. they’re music is good but some artists are better. The fact that some kpop stans are fucking shitting on them day and night as if it won’t hurt them?? like, you don’t like them, good but stfu. They are real people. If you were a public figure, you wouldn’t want death threats being thrown at you and your family, insults on dead relatives and being called a slut?? like come on. this is why so many idols are going on mental health breaks or even unalive themselves. Reason one why i hate stans

-Kpop idols are not fucking babies-

One thing that i’ve seen being told is that “they’re korean, they wouldn’t know about this” NOT UNTIL THIS IDOL IS FUCKING HALF AMERICAN AND 24/7 ON THE INTERNET!! like, Somi who is half korean and half canadian promoted starbucks during a boycott. She can do whatever she wants but people will also think that she’s a Isreal supporter. She didn’t apologize and just took out the video. like fuck, people and so many people were excusing her action and it would be time to “educate” her. Many of these idols aren’t fucking babies. Good exemple could be RM from BTS and his knowledge of the world. Like bro, it’s not that hard to make a google search.

Another scandal that could be in this category is when some idols have done some racist stuff. I don’t excuse it at all but i saw a video of japanese citizens not even know what the n@zi symbol looks like. So korean people who you barely hear about when it comes the WW2, how would they know. Yet still, some idols do some horrible racist shit and some get away with it. Like BTS, Twice, Jessi and more. Some are babied thinking that “aw they wouldn’t know” but guess dafuq what? THEY STILL SAY THAT SHIT ABOUT THE FUCKING ENGLISH SPEAKING MEMBERS. When i say english speaking, 9/10 they are from a western country. I’m saying it, my favourite group Stray Kids have done some shit but have said sorry immediately. without batting an eye. One of them even put it as there messaging app bio so that the company wouldn’t alter their response. This is what they should do. Educate themselves and understand why they are getting the hate. not babied or bullied.

there’s a balance. they should understand what they did was wrong and understand the consequences of their actions. you don’t know how many fans they lost and futures haters they got.

fuck the kpop stans cuz i can’t even have a fucking convo with them.

anygay, have a nice day.

[b4nanaa]

AMERICAN HISTORY NOTES 11/9

9 black students going to class at Little Rock high on September 5, 1927

They were met with violence

Mayor of Little Rock had personally contacted Eisenhower (president) and said he wanted military help because the governor asked for the national guard to prevent any black people into entering 

The army trumps the national guard 

Orville declares he will fight segregation anywhere he goes and will not allow for racism in any state (against his power)

George C Wallace, governor of Alabama, awful man

Doctors did not need to tell women what was wrong with them, but would tell the men

Irene Wallace had cancer, but George didn't tell her. She ended up figuring out herself and was upset at him, which confused him. DUMBASS

George C Wallace stood on the balcony of Alabama and that balcony is a famous location

He declared a speech of segregation now and forever!!!!!!

He said the same thing over and over again

That's all he said for the 1960's

Later in life, he came to Jesus moment, and apologized publicly towards the end of life for being racist and tried to make amends with African Americans in Alabama. Some even forgave him.

In the end he tried to make things right, but the consequences remained

Emmett Till, 1941-1955 (only 14 years old), he was beaten and then killed by two men after apparently 'whistling' at someone's wife. Everyone knew who it was. The FBI knew who did it.

The two men were arrested and were found not guilty from an all white court. They laughed and joked as they left about doing that to a fourteen black boy.

He paid the price for white supremacy and his mother insisted on an open casket for the world to see

White America finally went what is going down on the South: What is this, why is this happening?

FUCK THE KILLERS RAHHHHHHHHHHH

This dumb bitch admitted he never whistled and was respectful. Fucking dumb whore THAT DONT CHANGE SHIT

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, 1929-1968

Rosa Parks, 1913-1992

Started the bus boycott

Refused to give up her seat and was arrested

This wasn't a spontaneous thing, she had volunteered to do this and worked with the leadership of the Civil Rights movement to do this

Bus boycott continued for 1 year and 10 days and not one person got on the Montgomery bus and amazingly, a lot of white people too

Bomb in church on Sunday (hoping to hurt or kill people)

According to MLK, one of the most vicious crimes that's happened in the Civil Rights Era

Once again, everyone knew who did it, but this time they did nothing

No one was arrested even till 1977

The bomb killed 4 girls under the age of 12 and injured 22 more

Edmund Pettis Bridge, Selma, AL

By 1965, the right to vote was something the South didn't like and the bridge was used to get to the polls by African Americans

Selma had a 35% black population

By '83 of that year, people started a confirmation to 400 unarmed black people

Black man was even shot in the gut and died

MLK and others planned a peaceful march and had to crossed this bridge

Bloody Sunday, March 7 on 1965

Armed troopers attacked peaceful demonstrators who were walking across the bridge in numbers. Started in the sidewalks, then moved to the street when there were no cars, but they couldn't see what was waiting for them till they reached the top of the bridge. They saw the police and upon seeing them, were terrified.

Asked one if they knew how to swim

They continued and then were beat and shot by the police

Major networks were there too, therefore leading to televised footage of this

The marchers were bloodied and were severely injured

Worked against the plan of George C. Wallace and the troopers

17 marchers were hospitalized

April 1968, Lorraine Hotel, Memphis, TN

One of MLK most impressive speech, the Temple of the Mountain, and he was in Memphis when he gave the speech

He concluded he knew he was going to die (many death threats and most were credible)

He knew his time was limited

Its the poor white people

Some of the why us and not you?

If you're poor, you're constantly attacked and made to feel less human. But it doesn't excuse shit bitch

Two of the worst schools in Boston because they were the poorest

Football season got canceled because parents were throwing rocks due to black students

Black and white students had to enter through different entrances

Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR), this didn't include black people

[thessalian]

Thess vs Other TTRPG Systems

So every time the big cheeses at Hasbro / WotC do something stupid, the immediate response is, "Play another system!" Which I somewhat get - after all, there's no sense in giving them money when they're being up front about trying to con you. And some other systems are really enjoyable. I personally am a fan of White Wolf's WoD.

I think my problem is that the solution of "Play another system!" is a) not really addressing the core issue and b) is actually feeding into the core issue. Because the issue at its core is: all of this is just getting us to spend more money.

Now, if you really want to say, "D&D is for chumps, I won't even touch it", more power to you. Not everyone can do that, though. Some systems are a little difficult to get to grips with, and some people are playing multiple campaigns and might struggle to code-switch between systems every other session. And ... for example, if you already have 5e, why not just ... keep playing 5e? Honestly, that fucks with Hasbro / WotC worse, and gets the point across better - namely, "You were better than this. See us still playing with what you produced when you were better than this? See us still enjoying the IP without paying you a penny more? You can stuff your 'recurrent user spending' and 'AI is the future' up your ass; I have physical sourcebooks and not even you have the money to hire enough Pinkertons to bully me out of those".

And yes, buying and playing another system shows support for actual human beings creating this stuff ... but so does buying third party content for 5e. Given what happened when they tried to rewrite the OGL to get in on that sweet, sweet third party content money, they can't afford the ill-will that trying it again would get them - not for another few years at least. If people are still writing content for 5e (and there always will be some), wouldn't it just stick in Hasbro's collective craw if DMG did a boom in business on third party 5e materials while their stupid "OneD&D" or whatever the fuck they're calling it now just went bust?

By all means, boycott D&D's new whatever they're calling it. I certainly am. It doesn't exist, as far as I'm concerned. (Seriously, those of you in my campaign - do not even bother asking if we can just borrow this one thing, because ... borrow that one thing from what? I see nothing to borrow from. 5e is where they stopped, and any attempt to convince me otherwise will be met with my patented Death Glare.) But I can't swap to Pathfinder because I don't have the spoons and neither do at least some of my players. I have built my homebrew world around 5e and I am going to run another campaign in that world when this one finally ends, and trying to rebrew it all for Pathfinder is just not something I have time to do.

When you stop giving money to one corporation, you don't have to start giving money to another. You can just enjoy the legacy the one corporation went behind before they went full Monty Burns and ... keep your money? Maybe? Spend it on another thing? Although given how many entertainment companies are cramming AI into every aspect of themselves (EA and Lionsgate being the loudest so far), the boycotts are going to save us all so much money...

Like I say - I have nothing against other systems. And most people on Tumblr have been good about it, focusing on what they plan to do instead of insisting that everyone else take their preferred course of action ... unlike Reddit, where you get an awful lot of people shitting all over D&D in general because they love Pathfinder but hate how much attention D&D takes away from it. Just ... some people can't just switch systems, and others don't want to, and that's fine. Hell, some people are even probably going to buy into what WotC is selling, even as they grumble about it, same as happens in the AAA space. I guess I just wish people would stop judging others on how - or if - they choose to boycott a thing.

But like I said, WotC stopped publishing D&D material with 5e, as far as I'm concerned. I won't acknowledge any PBH beyond the 2014 one. End of.

[banghwa]

what do you think about jk performing at the world cup opening ceremony in qatar? i mean seeing as the whole situation regarding the organisation of the event was what it was and many people died building the stadiums... idk, what are your thoughts? should people support it?

hi my loveeeee <3 full disclosure i haven’t really been up on the news with jungkook and fifa so im a little out of the loop. i personally am not a huge sports fan so the world cup isn’t something that’s particularly interesting to me, but it’s also been something that i try to avoid interacting with since everything that came out about fifa in brazil a few years ago. these kinds of event organizations like the world cup and the olympics have all sorts of awful implications for the people who live in the host countries, especially those in the most precarious conditions. what’s happening in qatar has happened before and will happen again unless changes are made and people show they care. obviously i cant tell other people what to do and im not gonna pretend im better morally placed or more or knowledgeable on the subject, but these sort of event organizations are difficult for me to justify so i tend to avoid them. and as happy and proud as i am for jungkook, i think it would be hypocritical of me to be invested in this world cup just because he’s involved in such an indirect way.

ive also see a lot of people mention qatar itself and lgbtq+ rights which. i get where the concern is coming from but i feel like that’s the wrong conversation to be had. it’s not so much about qatar being a "bad country" especially since that sort of framing consequentially implies a "good" country and, thus, islamophobic/nationalist/etc discourse. the issue is that the most vulnerable people on the planet are treated like pawns for these kinds of events.

and obviously it’s hard to boycott something of this magnitude (see activists calling for a eurovision boycott that went largely ignored), and again i cant tell people what to do, but it’s worth a great deal enough to just simply evaluate what the implications of supporting this kind of thing is, and if you would if your favourite singer wasn’t involved in it, before you decide what you will do.

[only-johnny-deppp]

“Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...” 

 Johnny Depp’s NEW INTERVIEW!

Last saturday, August 14, The UK Times, released a new interview with Johnny for the Sunday Times section. It was realized sometime earlier this month, in London, probably on the same day he and Andrew Levitas were recording for the Q&A for the “Minamata” release in UK. This is Johnny’s first interview since the UK trials in London last year, and released three years after Johnny’s major interview for the British GQ Magazine. Here Johnny and Andrew Levitas speaks about “Minamata”, his future as actor and a thing or two about his personal life, although he cannot talk about the court case.

For those who couldn’t read yet, here is the FULL interview:  Enjoy.

***

“I’M BEING BOYCOTTED BY HOLLYWOOD”

Johnny Depp has a new film out this week. In the opening scene his character, the real-life photographer W Eugene Smith, says, “I’m done. I’m tired. My body is older than I am. I’m always in goddam pain. I can’t trust my f***ing dick any more. Constantly in a foul mood. Even the drugs bore me.”

I ask Depp if Smith’s despair resonated with him. Depp stops. Rocks back and forth. “That’s interesting,” he replies with painful hesitation.

“I didn’t approach playing Smith in that way… Although you bring your toolbox to work and use what is available. Having experienced...” He stops again. Depp takes any questions that might refer to his calamitous libel case last year slowly, in a mumbly, croaking drawl. “A surreal five years…”

In the film Smith needs to revive his reputation. In real life Depp’s task is even more daunting. Thanks to the judgment, everyone can call him a “wife-beater”. Now he must convince a Hollywood still convulsed by #MeToo that he’s not toxic — and that any attempt to rebuild his career is a risk worth taking. This is Depp’s first interview since the case.

We are speaking over Zoom, Depp in his London home, in front of a gold-framed painting. The 58-year-old is wearing a lot of clothes. Earrings. Floppy hat. Sunglasses. Bandana. Scarf. Checked shirt over a T-shirt with an indiscernible slogan. If you saw him on the Tube*, you might think he was off to work at the London Dungeon*, to play most of the characters.

PS. For those who are not familiar with British words: * Tube = British slang for London Underground, the subway trains. * London Dungeon = is a walk-through experience that recreates scenes from London's scary history in a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides.

Depp resumes, talking in broken sentences about the new film, Minamata, in which Smith, via Life magazine, exposes the brutal mercury poisoning of Japanese villagers in the early 1970s.

“How do we do this?” he asks rhetorically, meaning how to speak about the elephant in the Zoom. “Well, there’s no way one can’t recognise the absurdity of the mathematics.” He grins. “If you know what I mean?” No. “Absurdity of media mathematics.” He talks in riddles. “Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...”

He trails off again. He is holding a big brown roll-up of some sort. “What the people in Minamata dealt with? People who suffered with Covid? A lot of people lost lives. Children sick...Ill. Ultimately, in answer to your question? Yeah, you use what you’ve got. But what I’ve been through? That’s like getting scratched by a kitten. Comparatively.”

Last July, I went to the High Court in London to watch Depp on another screen — a video from the socially distanced court where the Hollywood star was losing a libel action against The Sun after it called him a “wife-beater”. It was the grottiest showbiz trial of the century. There were photos of the actor passed out in a foetal slump, socks on show. One lengthy exchange involved faeces. Another urination, inside or outside a house, after a violent night with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

This had all been going on for a while. In 2016 Heard applied for a temporary restraining order against him. The couple had long endured a narcotic, booze-filled, childish relationship, but that does not matter — 12 incidents levelled against Depp were proved, said the judge, and abuse is abuse, regardless of how badly they both behaved. Depp wanted to appeal, but the court said no. Next April in the US he has a $50 million defamation case against Heard relating to an opinion piece she wrote about being the victim of domestic abuse. It may be his last roll of the dice.

In the 1990s Depp was a sensitive heart-throb. Cooler than DiCaprio, edgier than Pitt. In this past year he has been stripped of his status and dignity. On day three of the trial Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, asked Depp about daubing a penis on a painting. He could not remember. “That would be quite a big thing, painting a penis on a picture?”  Wass asked. “Quite a big thing?” Depp asked.

It was a well-delivered line, but Depp was on show. Performing. Now he is more timid, less lucid. His people say he cannot talk about the court case given the looming US trial, yet it hangs over everything. The director of Minamata, Andrew Levitas, is also on our call — as a pub trivia aside, Levitas is married to the Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.

The two men clearly get on. “With regards to journalism, it was important for us to put across in the film the power of truth,” Levitas says. Depp nods. “The responsibility of journalists to look after citizens of the world. [Our film] coincided with the moment important publications had to put Raquel Welch on a cover to get enough eyeballs to sell enough ads in order to put something meaningful inside. A result of that is clickbait — it’s destroying the purpose of journalism,” Levitas continues.

“You said it beautifully,” says Depp, one of the world’s most pinned-up men, who built a career on magazine covers. “I couldn’t say it better than that.”

Last month Levitas wrote to MGM, which bought Minamata for the US market but decided not to release it. He accused MGM of being concerned that “the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them”. Then the letter got really strong. Levitas accused MGM of failing in its “moral obligation” to release the film and said it needed to explain to the victims “why you think an actor’s personal life is more important than their dead children”. He then attached Smith’s photos of ghastly deformities that shocked the world 50 years ago.

“It’s important that the movie gets seen and supported,” Levitas says. “And if I get an inkling it’s not going to be, it’s my responsibility to say so. Where it goes from there? I don’t know. But we have responsibility to these victims . . .”

You can see why he’s passionate. The film is good. MGM bought the film because it is good. Depp is good too. He disappears into the role, far from his more recent pantomime parts. It’s being released worldwide, just not in the actor’s homeland.

Depp, who also produced the film, interrupts. “We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs.”

“Some films touch people,” he adds. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything…” He pauses, as he does. “For Hollywood’s boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?” He trails off. “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that…” Again, he trails off. “To bring things to light.”

The fact, as I think Depp knows, is that for his career, the court that matters is not one of law, but public opinion. On social media, where a lot of minds are made up, Depp’s good reputation will always outweigh the bad, thanks to his frequently blinkered fans.

Outside the High Court, as Heard arrived, I saw Natasha, 30, yell: “Get hit by a truck, Amber!” She is extreme, but the persistent way his fans demand that others think their idol is a saint shows a career revival will happen. After all, most filmgoers do not follow his private life at all. To them, he is Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands. To them, he is a star — and a star can take an awful lot of heat before it burns out.

“They have always been my employers,” Depp says of his fans. “They are all our employers. They buy tickets, merchandise. They made all of those studios rich, but they forgot that a long time ago. I certainly haven’t. I’m proud of these people, because of what they are trying to say, which is the truth. The truth they’re trying to get out since it doesn’t in more mainstream publications. It’s a long road that sometimes gets clunky. Sometimes just plain stupid. But they stayed on the ride with me and it’s for them I will fight. Always, to the end. Whatever it may be.”

Depp will talk like this for ever — about his “truth”. Minamata is the last film Depp has listed on the industry site IMDb, where actors usually have half a dozen in development. So, yes, fans of the actor can see Depp in a new role now — it is a return, but is it a relaunch? The film was finished in 2019, way before last year’s court case. Is that it? His last film? He thinks and looks off to his bookshelves, at biographies of Betjeman and Olivier.

“Er...no,” he says, eventually. “No. No. Actually, I look forward to the next few films I make to be my first films, in a way. Because once you’ve...Well, look. The way they wrote it in The Wizard of Oz is that when you see behind the curtain, it’s not him. When you see behind the curtain, there’s a whole lot of motherf***ers squished into one spot. All praying that you don’t look at them. And notice them.”

I would ask him to explain, but I am not sure he is an explainer. Watch this space, I guess, but he is already taking a first step back. After we speak, it is announced Depp is getting the coveted Donostia award at the San Sebastian Film Festival next month. Some people are just too famous to fail.

~ Interview by Jonathan Dean, in London, for The Times UK (released on August 14, 2021)