#every liberal who chooses not to vote IS actually voting. by not voting u are actively making it more likely that trump will win.

[toopsy]

all those "id get out and VOTE!" memes have genuinely brainrotted u all into thinking that voting doesnt matter bitch that was a psyop and u fell for it

[kuromi-hoemie]

here's my scattered, ranty, kind of shitty take on “vote blue no matter who”: i have been painfully aware of how fucked up our country is since Trayvon Martin was killed and the country just came together and said it was fine and deserved even.

We were the same age, he was a month older than me and they justified that boy's death through the media for doing mundane shit any of my friends would've been doing too.

And i have seen year after year, death after death, this country let's people get murdered by police or people who want to play police and they get away with it almost every time.

Most of white America doesn't give a single fuck about this issue because it doesn't affect them, they would prefer if we didn't have to see or talk about it at all because talking about race (or anything outside the “norm” for white people) at all is uncomfortable.

Now as shitty as he was, the silver lining I saw in Trump is that white people were no longer able to escape how evil this country can be. Like hey!! When the state sees YOU as undesirable TOO it really has a way of bringing people together - in resistance, solidarity, support etc. Trump was a trash ass president, but as A Country we were FINALLY having some real, honest open discussions about the way this shit works and what better options could look like - even tried implementing some changes so we're less reliant on cops in some places. Ironically, it's when leadership is at its worst that we choose to move forward collectively.

But then in the run-up to the presidential election all the vote blue no matter who liberals, the back to brunch liberals, all of them hounded anybody with even the slightest skepticism or dislike of our candidates and even now make it impossible to have any critical conversation without coming in like “do u want trump/ron/[whatever republican that applies] to win?? we HAVE to vote it's our ONLY choice the world is going to END”

THIS IS HOW IT IS LITERALLY EVERY ELECTION, IF THE STAKES ARE REGULARLY THIS HIGH SOMETHING IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN HERE.

Vote blue no matter who and back to brunch liberals have fucking brain worms and are the most useless helpless political group. I remember them saying we HAVE to get Joe Biden in then pull him to the left, just this one time bro just this one vote bro I promise. All of the solidarity we've had and all the support we've shown won't instantly vanish the second we're safe we promise we won't leave you behind again just one more vote bro-

maybe go to hell?? maybe we should fucking LOSE and have fear and suffering inflicted on us to make that solidarity an actual, real persistent thing that transcends presidencies. My shitty take is sometimes it IS helpful to have horrific leadership so the privileged class can see how it feels to be ANYONE ELSE for a change. And you would hope they fucking learn something but all the back to brunch liberals are hijacking posts speaking frankly about israel's ongoing genocide and the US's complicity in it, and making the conversation about having to vote for Biden or whatever Democrat anyways.

We don't even have elections coming up right now!! Read the fucking room!! Biden is greenlighting genocide and so are a bunch of other politicians on both sides of the aisle, but back to brunch liberals can't be bothered with ANYTHING. Any sort of valid criticism at all is shut down with "well, choices suck but you HAVE to vote” actually in my heart I think you have to suffer until we get some better fucking choices and you actually help advocate for them, instead of being this useless recurring presence that only shows up to shut down conversation instead of wanting to actually fix anything.

[ladyhindsight]

Love ur blog and I have something important to speak with u about.

Alec, Clary and Simon all specifically joined the Clave as high ranking members to change the system from the inside" often times when you discuss this with others on here I see this bit of information not spoken about but it is a constant talking point to excuse the negative behaviors and systematic oppression that the shadow hunters use to maintain power and control.

Clary refers to Shadow Hunter society as a police state in City of Heavenly Fire and then goes onto become a part of that police state.

What bothers me so much about this rhetoric is first of all look at our own world so many people have said you can't change systems of oppression by JOINING the system of oppression I mean look at what's happening with shadow hunter society they basically had another fucking war because of shadow hunter right wingers gaining control YET AGAIN.

It is so upsetting to read these books as a minority because it is so easy to see Cassandra Claire's White Liberal Mentality at play here. It's very reminiscent of JK Rowlings white liberal fantasy being that we don't need to change systems of oppression we just need to get out and vote actually!

Clary submits entirely to Jace and becomes a good little shadow hunter wife who never disagrees or removes herself from Jace's wants and needs. She is suppose to represent feminism and women in shadow hunter society but has only one friend outside of her husband's control (Simon) and Jace spends every waking minute undermining anything Simon says. Example: in Lord of Shadows Clary speaks about hoe bad her ptsd has gotten and was encouraged by Simon to go to a therapist, Jace tells her she's not allowed and he will be angry with her if she does go. So Clary dutifully listens to the man who controls her and does not go. She's been crushed under shadow hunter societies patriarchy.

Simon was a vampire and Jewish man who opposed many of shadow hunter societies ideas around mental health and racist values. He is indoctrinated by clary and the lightwoods under the guise of "being one of the good ones" a manipulation tactic often used on POC. Simon rejects any connection to vampire culture and instead remains as an outside viewer of shadow hunters because he wants to remain their uncle Tom. At the end he "transcends" his old culture and identity and becomes a white Christian man- I mean a shadow hunter and thus is accepted into society because he has completely conformed to their ideology and mind set. Simon is then delegated to the role of comedic relief where he is never taken seriously, must always sacrifice himself for the true blood shadow hunters who retain their status as his superiors and even his own girlfriend is viewed as his superior because she is a "pure blooded" shadow hunter. He's a good little minority who is allowed into the "right" culture because of his continual hatred of his own culture and identity.

Alec is a gay man who hated himself until he finally stood up and spat in the face of shadow hunter oppression. He basically said he won't be comodofied by shadow hunters and will choose to live as himself. Alec then goes onto become one of the heads of the police state and has done next to nothing to further gay rights and freedom of marriage for shadow hunters and down worlders. In fact he and many others allowed the cold peace to take place and then remarks that he is a good guy because hey his husband is a man of color I mean downworlder and there for he can't be racist I mean hateful to downworlders. In one of the short stories, book of the white, Alec goes on a huge diatribe towards Tian, a man working with a powerful demon because he wants the freedom to love a fey. Alec and Magnus take turns telling Tian how despicable he is for daring to do something wrong so he can love the person he wants to love. Meanwhile, Alec tried to turn Magnus into a respectable lover in the eyes of shadow hunter culture by essentially making Magnus mortal because in the eyes of shadow hunter culture a human mortal is better to love than a disgusting half demon. I mean Magnus literally recalls a time in the world where his kind were hunted by shadow hunters for fun and enslaved for fun... sounds an awful lot like chattel slavery which is something many real life black people speak about in regards to dating white people or having really any relationship with white people. And yet here we are with Magnus telling a man he's not allowed to break the law to be with his lover. Meanwhile Magnus use to be the closest thing to a chaotic neutral character we had and now he's completely conformed to the cultural morality of his lovers culture. Magnus isn't even accepted by shadow hunter society and will never be as "lucky" as Simon. Alec has basically become a gay for republican telling other shadow hunter downworlder couples that they're being oppressed because they're "bad gays" who need to learn to conform better if they want to be taken seriously.

I think about these morals being pumped into children's minds and you can tell me I'm taking this too seriously. But these are the same kinds of morals employed in JK Rowlings writing and we can all see now that those books promoted racist stereotypes and misogynistic values to young children who some of have gone onto adulthood to defend JKR as a good woman because they bought into her subliminal messaging.

Cassandra Clare has said herself that she wrote the original series at a time when she was not the most politically correct. I think the fact that she continues to try and defend some of these choices are laughable. Clary should have friends and a job outside of Jace, clary should utilize mundane medicine and promote these medicines to shadow hunters. The fact that the only form of therapy shadow hunters have are silent brothers (all of which are cisgender men who cannot begin to understand the pain of being an incest rape survivor.) Is fucking ridiculous and disgusting. The fact that Cassandra Clare refers to a racist, homophobic and misogynistic society as being "chosen" by God is DISGUSTING. Simon should have connections to Judaism and Cassandra clare should understand this AS A JEWISH PERSON HERSELF LOL. Alex should spend every waking fucking second defending and fighting for down worlders BECAUSE GUESS WHAT HE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT MAGNUS. It's ridiculous to watch these characters become the very things they're suppose to hate and Cassandra Clare rewards them for this. It's so despicable and nobody ever discusses this and CC fans always try to sweep it under the rug but I won't fucking allow it anymore. Clary isn't a feminist until she actually does some real world feminism and puts herself before Jace end off there is no excuse. Simon isn't an advocate for mundanes and down worlders until he's taken seriously by other characters and is allowed to actually connect with his mundane heritage, and Alec isn't a gay icon until he starts raising up other gay people who aren't totally in agreement with shadow hunter morals.

My apologies for how long this is but it's something that ways down on me that I needed to say.

Thanks for the love, and rants and grievances with TSC are what this blog is also for. ;)

Jocelyn, for example, gladly left the Clave and did not return as active Shadowhunter even after Valentine’s passing because she did not want that harsh and cruel life for Clary, a society with rigid rules and ideas of supremacy over other people. Simon expresses same thoughts, the Downworlders express the same thoughts. The criticism against the Clave and the Nephilim as a whole exists throughout the series, but nothing is made of it. It is merely stated—as if that is enough—and done nothing about for the longest time.

Like you said, Clary and co. join the Clave with high positions (just like that anyway, and because making more sense with the hierarchy is not really what Clare was really into as to world-building), as if that alone sort of excuses it all. Because the Good Guys are trying to change things and in the end do it so effortlessly. As to Clary, she was barely a person to begin with. She had no life outside Simon, Jocelyn, or Luke. She had no friends, no memories of normal life that included anyone else than them. There is a brief mention about an art group Clary is angry to miss because Jocelyn wants them to move away from Brooklyn, to live with Luke. But there is no friends for Clary there, no concrete memories of any kind of having anyone else involved with her life.

The rule about not seeking out mundane medicine is never justified other than with general secrecy. Jace has no arguments for why Simon isn’t allowed, it’s just because it isn’t allowed. Diana has to hide herself and her past because she would be severely punished, but the underlying reasoning is never addressed. I think a lot of the rules exist just because law is hard but it is the law (because it’s more convenient for the story than coming up with reasons), and even though characters question laws and rules and norms that somewhat affect them, there are some they don’t challenge at all.

There is no consistency with the ideologies and values the characters have and hold. Like so many things and aspects in their interpersonal relationships that are left unaddressed and processed, the political aspect to the series is no different. For instance, sometimes the writing acknowledges Jace’s abhorrent behavior, but Clare seems to think it’s enough to say it but not make any corrective measures as to the character development even then. Similarly the Cohort rises while Robert as the Inquisitor (who knows the destruction of their ideology) and Jia as the Consul in addition to all the nameless faceless Nephilim who leave Alicante for Alec’s Clave are unable to push back in any way and fight them before it’s too late to stop others from suffering.

I think it really comes down to the same themes of everything in the series adjusting to the needs of Clare’s favorites, and in the grander scale of things, her favorite people that are the Shadowhunters. I’m sure there’s plenty people find to counter-argue this, find stuff in writing that says different—that Alec does fight for the Downworlders, that Simon still has his own connection to Judaism, that Clary does not conform to what the Clave was in Jocelyn’s time. But I also think that arguing over that is the same as arguing that Will and Jace are not the same character when all of it amounts to no change and the underlying narrative still serves Clare’s favorites.

Like great, the writing addresses some stuff in couple sentences somewhere for the sake of having it addressed, but the way it does nothing for the overarching narrative is the problem (just so it could be argued that all of it has been acknowledged, but it still holds no real substance). A lot seems to be discarded after that so we can return to the programmed schedule that is not about Simon's trauma or coping with it, his relationship with Judaism and having to abandon it because ThEy OnLy WoRsHiP rAzIeL, Clary fusing into the Clave she supposedly despised, and Alec doing everything and fuck all being Consul. I just don't think Clare is that capable an author or that she even realizes any of it.

[zelkam]

Sorry, I’m American. What is ***** ***?

(this is going to get long bc I am both angry and sad and woke up to very disappointing election results)

***** *** totally does not stand for JEBAĆ PIS, which translates to FUCK PIS. 

PIS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość = Law and Justice oh the irony) is the current ruling party of Poland. 

Yesterday we had the 2nd round of presidential elections and ***** *** was a meme to omit the election silence, since technically it doesn’t say anything, but everyone knows what it means. People were voting to to either reelect the current president, Andrzej Duda or to choose his liberal opponent, Rafał Trzaskowski, who is a mayor of Warsaw. 

To give you some more context, Duda is pretty much a puppet of PIS’ leader, Jarosław Kaczyński. The guy signs every document they give him, no matter what it says (not like he disagrees with any of them tho). 

PIS is an extremely conservative, religious, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, etc (you know, all the usual) party and it’s aiming towards making Poland not democratic anymore. So far, it’s succeeding very well, since this year Poland lost its status of full democracy. 

Some best-of:

One of main points of Duda’s campaign was the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, with our “beloved” president stating that “LGBT are not human, it’s just an ideology”. This played well with already existing anti-LGBTQ tension in Poland, since according to the reports, we’re the worst EU country to be gay in. Here is a summary by BBC of what’s been happening recently in this matter. 

PIS wants to push laws that will make firing/imprisoning judges that rule in a way that PIS doesn’t like possible. So far things are heading that way.

Government and Catholic Church BFFs for life <3333

Doctors protesting in 2019 to increase funds for healthcare - PIS: LMAAAAO FUCKING ENTITLED BASTARDS; PIS during the coronavirus crisis: LET’S CLAP FOR OUR HEROES WE LOVE U but also you’re still not getting the money, you should be grateful that we’re even clapping you fucks

One of fave ways of doing politics by PIS is to give out money instead of providing actually working solutions. The most popular program is giving out 500 pln (about $120) monthly for every kid you have. While the idea of helping families with children sounds good, this system is being extremely misused 

actually believing that Trump gives a fuck abt Poland so let’s treat hm like a god lkdajfhgdkfj

and many many many more

Well, this morning the more accurate results came in, Duda won with 51.2% of the votes. I guess $120 is the price of democracy.

You guys have your elections soon as well, good luck and I hope you don’t end up like this.

***** ***

[alltheselights]

Hey Emma, I feel like u can ease my confusion bc I'm not American. I'm seeing a lot of stuff about primaries (??) and that ppl aren't voting for Bernie, but ppl voted for him last time, right? Is there a particular reason for the decision change?

A lot of people did vote for him last time (myself included), but there are more contenders in this upcoming primary, so some people simply like one of the other contenders better than they like Bernie. In 2016, the two main contenders were the moderate Hillary Clinton and the progressive Bernie Sanders. This year, however, there are a bunch of progressive candidates in the mix, so liberal Democrats feel like they have more options to choose from. He’s also an old white man, and in a year with such diverse candidates, many of whom are younger, some people believe that the last thing we need is someone like him.

Another reason some won’t vote for him again is because now that Bernie has had national attention on him for a while, things have come out about him or the general public has at least learned things about him that they may not have known two years ago. For example, some people will no longer support him because they learned that he has voted against many gun control measures, he hasn’t released as many tax returns as most presidential candidates, he benefited from Russian interference in the 2016 election, and there was sexual harassment among staffers within his campaign that went unchecked.

Bernie is also an Independent. He caucuses with the Democrats and runs in their primary, but for people who want to strengthen the Democratic Party in the age of Trump and for those who just want another Democrat in the White House, they won’t support an Independent like Bernie right now.

There are also a lot of people (myself included tbh) who won’t vote for Bernie in the primary again because we’re not happy with how he or his supporters behaved after he lost the primary in 2016. I’m actually pretty disgusted by how his supporters continue to behave, as they’ve been endlessly attacking every candidate running or even thinking about running for months now. After you lose a primary, the expectation is that you will unequivocally support the winning candidate to avoid dividing the party. In a year when Donald Trump was on the ballot, that was more critical than ever. However, Bernie didn’t really do that and instead, he spent a lot of his time attacking Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, which, deserved or not, probably did contribute to Trump getting elected. I’m not trying to remove the blame from Hillary or any other number of factors that caused Trump to be elected, but at the end of the day, every vote counted, particularly in certain states, and Bernie and many of his supporters did not do what they should have done to help Hillary beat Trump.

I haven’t made a decision on who I’ll vote for in the primary yet - I’ll probably wait a while because there are people who still haven’t joined the race yet and we’re still months out from the first debate - but I personally don’t think I’ll be supporting Bernie. Obviously I would 100% support him if he got the nomination, but at least during the primary, I’m weighing my options carefully.

[nothingman]

South Park turns 20 years old this summer, meaning that if those foulmouthed, crudely fashioned 8-year-olds that were first introduced on August 13, 1997 followed the rules of linear time, they’d all be adults farting down the barrel of 30. Similarly, there’s now an entire generation of people—spanning high-schoolers to middle-aged people who remember watching its early seasons in college, and who can’t believe they’re reading/writing 20-year retrospectives on it now—who were actually raised on South Park.

The show celebrated this existential crisis-inducing fact last year with a tongue-in-cheek ad, depicting South Park as a sort of benevolent guarantor keeping reliable watch over a girl from infancy until her first trip to college. It was a typically self-effacing joke, but it’s true: Our world is now filled with people for whom South Park has always been there, a cultural influence that, in some cases, is completely foundational to their point of view. The ad doesn’t end with the girl logging onto Twitter to complain that social justice warriors are ruining the world, but otherwise, spot on.

After all, for most of its 20 years, South Park’s own point of view has more or less been this: “Everything and everyone are full of shit—hey, relax, guy.” It’s a scorched-earth, deconstructionist approach steeped in equal-opportunity offensiveness that’s made South Park one of the funniest satires ever produced, and particularly potent in the time in which it debuted. “When we started, [it was] Beavis And Butt-Head, and us, and in some ways The Simpsons, and Married With Children—shit like that,” Matt Stone told Vanity Fair last year, putting the Comedy Central cartoon in the company of other ’90s series that diverged from the “bland… shitty sitcoms that were just so lifeless” Stone and co-creator Trey Parker were reacting against. But South Park has now lived long enough to see the experimental become the conventional. And it’s outlasted all but one of those series not just by subverting formulaic TV, but by feeding directly off current events. As a result, for many of those raised by South Park, the show has functioned as sort of a scatological op-ed—in some cases, maybe the only op-ed they’ve ever been interested in.

To these acolytes, Parker and Stone have spent two decades preaching a philosophy of pragmatic self-reliance, a distrust of elitism, in all its compartmentalized forms, and a virulent dislike of anything that smacks of dogma, be it organized religion, the way society polices itself, or whatever George Clooney is on his high horse about. Theirs can be a tricky ideology to pin down: “I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals,” Stone said once, a quote that has reverberated across the scores of articles, books, and message-board forums spent trying to parse the duo’s politics, arguing over which side can rightfully claim South Park as its own. Nominally, Parker and Stone are libertarians, professing a straight-down-the-middle empathy for the little guy who just wants to be left alone by meddling political and cultural forces. But their only true allegiance is to whatever is funniest; their only tenet is that everything and everyone has the potential to suck equally. More than anything, they’ve taught their most devoted followers that taking anything too seriously is hella lame.

So while they’ve advocated, in their own fucked-up way, for stuff like the right to abortion, drug legalization, and general tolerance for others, they’ve also found their biggest, easiest targets in liberalism’s pet causes, those formerly rebellious ideals that had become safely sitcom-bland over the Bill Clinton years—all of which were steeped in actually, lamely caring about stuff. Taking the piss out of the era’s priggish, speech-policing, Earth Day-brainwashed hippies was the most transgressive—and therefore funniest—thing you could possibly do. And so, South Park joked, global warming is just a dumb myth perpetrated by “super cereal” losers. Prius drivers are smug douches who love the smell of their own farts. Vegetarians end up growing vaginas on their face. “Transgender people” are just mixed-up, surgical abominations. The word “fag” is fine. Casual anti-Semitism is all in good fun. “Hate crimes” are silly. Maybe all you pussies just need a safe space.

“Did South Park accidentally invent the alt-right?” Janan Ganesh asked recently in the Financial Times, articulating a theory that began gaining traction as an entire political movement seemed to crystallize around the show’s “anti-PC chic” and general fuck-your-feelings attitude. Way back in 2001, political blogger Andrew Sullivan had already coined the term “South Park Republican” to describe the supposedly emerging group of young people who, like the show, were moderate on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, but also rejected the stuffy doctrines of diversity and environmentalism. They also believed, as Parker and Stone would soon illustrate in Team America: World Police, that the world needed American dicks to fuck assholes, over the objections of liberal pussies and F.A.G. celebrities. That voting bloc never actually materialized—though to be fair, the show was only four years old at the time. It would take at least another decade of people with Cartman avatars just joshin’ about hating Jews before the South Park generation would truly come of age.

Let’s be real, though. South Park didn’t “invent” the “alt-right,” even accidentally. The “alt-right” is the product of lots of things—disenfranchisement; internet echo chambers; aggrieved Gamergaters; boredom; the same ugly, latent racism that’s coursed beneath civilization’s veneer for millennia; etc. The growing, bipartisan distaste for Wall Street-backed career politicians and the epically bungled machinations of the Democratic Party certainly didn’t help, nor did the frustrating inability of the social justice movement to pick its battles—or its enemies. Furthermore, it’s always dangerous to assign too much influence to pop culture, even something that’s been part of our lives for this long. And as South Park itself derided in “The Tale Of Scrotie McBoogerballs,” you shouldn’t go looking for deep sociopolitical messages in your cartoon dick jokes. (Then again, only three years earlier, it also argued that imaginary characters really can change people’s lives and even “change the way [you] act on Earth,” making them “more realer” than any of us—so you decide.)

Still, it’s not that much of a stretch to see how one might have fed the other, if only through the sort of intangible osmosis that happens whenever an influential artwork spawns imitators, both on screen and off. South Park may not have “invented” the “alt-right,” but at their roots are the same bored, irritated distaste for politically correct wokeness, the same impish thrill at saying the things you’re not supposed to say, the same button-pushing racism and sexism, now scrubbed of all irony.

There’s also the same co-opting of anti-liberal stances as the highest possible form of rebellion: Parker and Stone used to brag that they were “punk rock” for telling their Hollywood friends how much they loved George W. Bush; Parker even told Rolling Stone in 2007, “The only way to be more hardcore than everyone else is to tell the people who think they’re the most hardcore that they’re pussies, to go up to a tattooed, pierced vegan and say, ‘Whatever, you tattooed faggot, you’re a pierced faggot and whatever’”—a quote that may as well have been taken from 4chan’s /pol/ board this morning. “Conservatism is the new punk rock,” echoed a bunch of human cringes a decade later. Whatever, you faggot, a dozen Pepes tweeted a few seconds ago.

But well beyond the “alt-right,” South Park’s influence echoes through every modern manifestation of the kind of hostile apathy—nurtured along by Xbox Live shit-talk and comment-board flame wars and Twitter—that’s mutated in our cultural petri dish to create a rhetorical world where whoever cares, loses. Today, everyone with any kind of grievance probably just has sand in their vagina; expressing it with anything beyond a reaction GIF means you’re “whining”; cry more, your tears are delicious. We live in Generation U Mad Bro, and from its very infancy, South Park has armed it with enough prefab eye-rolling retorts (“ManBearPig!” “I’m a dolphin!” “Gay Fish!” “…’Member?”) to sneeringly shut down discussions on everything from climate change and identity politics to Kanye West and movie reboots. Why not? Everything sucks equally, anyway. Voting is just choosing between some Douche and a Turd Sandwich. Bullying is just a part of life. Suck it up and take it, until it’s your turn to do the bullying. Relax, guy.

Again, it’s a world that South Park didn’t create intentionally, just by setting out to make us laugh, or by Parker and Stone trying to get rich off a bunch of farting construction paper cutouts. But even Parker and Stone seem slightly, if only occasionally uneasy about the overarching life lessons they’ve imparted—often expressing that anxiety in the show itself. In “You’re Getting Old,” South Park’s most moving half-hour, Parker and Stone grappled directly with the cumulative effects of perpetually shitting on things—of allowing a healthy, amused skepticism to ossify into cynicism and self-satisfied superiority, then into nihilism, then into blanket, misanthropic hatred. That dark night of the soul later formed the through-lines of seasons 19 and 20, where South Park wryly, semi-sincerely confronted the series’ place as a “relic from another time” by putting the town under the heavy thumb of PC Principal.

Then—after hooking its red-pilled fans with an extended critique of the emptiness of neoliberalism, epitomized by a sneering, “safe space”-mocking character that was literally named Reality—it tried confronting the audience who had most embraced their ramped-up anti-PC crusades. Last season kicked off with Cartman admitting to Kyle, “We’re two privileged, straight white boys who have their laughs about things we never had to deal with,” a confession rendered only slightly tongue-in-cheek by the fact of who was saying it. And it culminated in Gerald, who’d spent the year gleefully harassing people online, squaring off with the Danish prime minister, a stand-in for every troll the show’s ever nurtured:

I want to stand here and tell you that you and I are different, but it’s not true. All we’ve been doing is making excuses for being horrible people. I don’t know if you tried to teach me a lesson, but you have. I have to stand here and look at you. And all I see is a big fat reflection of myself.

Ultimately, of course, Gerald comes to a familiar conclusion: “Fuck you, what I do is fucking funny, bitch!” he cries, before kicking the prime minister in the balls. Fair enough. South Park is, and always will be, funnier than any of the maladjusted creeps who have spent decades internalizing the show’s many false equivalencies and ironic racism, then lazily regurgitating them in an attempt to mimic its edginess—or worse, by treating them as some sort of scripture for living. And to be certain, there are millions of Poe’s law-defying viewers for whom South Park really is just a comedy, one that satisfies the most basic requirement of saying the things you shouldn’t say, in a far more clever way than you could say them. But regardless of their satirical intent, or the humanity that grounds even their nastiest attacks, it’s clear that even Parker and Stone sometimes question the influence they’ve had on the world, and who is and isn’t in on the joke.

Which brings us (as all 2017 articles must) to Donald Trump, the ultimate troll, and one that Parker sees as a natural outgrowth of South Park’s appeal to a nation bored with politeness. As he recently told the Los Angeles Times:

He’s not intentionally funny but he is intentionally using comedic art to propel himself. The things that we do—being outrageous and taking things to the extreme to get a reaction out of people—he’s using those tools. At his rallies he gets people laughing and whooping. I don’t think he’s good at it. But it obviously sells—it made him president.

Trump’s blithe offensiveness, rampant narcissism, and faith that everyone but him is stupid makes him a natural analog to Eric Cartman. But instead, South Park made him into Mr. Garrison—a decision that makes some logical sense (Mr. Garrison is of constitutional age, hates Mexicans and women, and doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself), though it also felt a bit like dissembling. Nevertheless, as the election wore on, South Park again seemed to acknowledge its role in helping to create a world where someone like Trump could seem like an exciting, entertaining alternative to conventional blandness. And it made a real, concerted effort to stymie any suggestion of support by having Garrison declare repeatedly that he was “a sick, angry little man” who “will fuck this country up beyond repair,” all while openly mocking those who still loved him anyway as nostalgia-drunk idiots.

“Is it just me or has South Park gone full cuck?” wondered fans on Reddit’s The_Donald immediately after that episode aired, and probably not for the first (or last) time. But in the aftermath of Trump/Garrison’s election, those same, vigilant cuck-watchers were back to crowing over how South Park had really stuck it to politically correct types in a scene where Trump/Garrison tells PC Principal, “You helped create me.” That South Park positioned this as less of a triumphant comeuppance than a suicidal backfire didn’t seem to matter. And the show more or less left it there—portraying Trump/Garrison as a dangerously incompetent buffoon, but also as the ultimate “u mad?” to all those liberals they fucking hate.

All of which makes Parker and Stone’s recent declaration to lay off Trump in the coming 21st season a real disappointment at best, cowardice at worst. The duo is, of course, under no obligation to tackle politics—or anything else they don’t want to, for that matter. They’re also right that mocking Trump is both redundant and “boring,” and also that everyone does it. For two dyed-in-the-wool contrarians, Trump comedy feels every bit as bland, lifeless, and sitcom-safe as an episode of, say, Veronica’s Closet. Furthermore, Parker’s complaints of the show just “becoming CNN now” and not wanting to spend every week endlessly restacking the sloppy Jenga pile of Trump-related outrage is completely understandable. Believe me, I get it.

That said: Man, what a cop out. South Park has already spent the past 20 years being CNN for its CNN-hating audience. Meanwhile, Parker and Stone have proudly, loudly thumped for a “fearless” brand of satire that’s willing to mock everyone from George W. Bush to Scientology to Mormonism to Muhammad, even under death threats. To shrug now and say, as Parker did, “I don’t give a shit anymore”—right when, by their own admission, the influence of the show’s worldview has reached all the way to the White House—feels especially disingenuous, and suspiciously like caving to the young, Trump-loving fans with whom they have forged such an uneasy relationship. (“South Park bends the knee on their fake-news-fueled portrayal of President Trump,” one The_Donald post gloated, followed by many, many more.) If they truly believe that those trolls in the mirror are “horrible people” who are helping to “fuck the country up beyond repair,” it would be truly fearless to tell them why, with no hint of ambiguous, everything-sucks irony that can be willfully misinterpreted.

Instead, Parker now says he’s eager to get back to “the bread and butter of South Park: kids being kids and being ridiculous and outrageous.” Which is great! South Park is absolutely at its best when it focuses on that stuff, and I look forward to watching it all on my hurting butt. Still, after 20 years, even they seem to realize that many of those ridiculous, outrageous kids for whom it’s “always been there” have long since grown up—and some of them have gone on to do some real, destructive adult shit. Like their inspirations, South Park’s generation of trolls are tiny but loud, and they’ve had the strange effect of changing the world. It sure would be nice if South Park would grow up as well and take responsibility for them.

Or, you know, maybe I just have sand in my vagina.

via A.V. Club

[theprinceregent]

Historical Fave Tag

I was tagged by: some bih who follows my blog idk (; (luv u @decadent-empress!)

1. Who’s your historical person? i LOVE how myself and my lovely “Set” of fave mutuals all love Prinny, but whether by accident or by design, have all chosen different people from each other whilst still covering Prin himself, so i’m going to continue that by choosing:

Her Grace, Georgiana Spencer-Cavendish, 5th Duchess of Devonshire.  aka G/Gee, “Mrs Rat”, The Empress of Fashion.

2. What is it about them that draws you to them like a magnet? how “human” she still is and how relatable i find to her to myself even though she died 211 years ago. i love her determination to succeed and prove her worth among the men in a time when woman literally had no rights. i adore and admire in equal measure her strength of spirit, her kindness, sensitivity, eagerness and a very clear love for those in her Devonshire House Set and her children. she had immense power and influence, especially for a woman, with every big name aristocrat having a tie to her and/or moving in and out of her Set, she was even in correspondence with Marie Antoinette (whom she called “Mrs Bourbon” and even met in person too). Although she had her dislikes (Maria Fitzherbert and Lady Jersey anyone?) she still overlooked her friends faults (Prinny’s debts and family affairs, Lady Melbourne’s multiple-children-by-multiple-fathers situation, i could go on...) and even let Lady Bess Foster into her home to live and sleep with the duke (in both senses of that word) for 15 years! Her heart was vast, warm and kind and i still feel that even today. I have read the Amanda Foreman biography on her three times now.

3. Favourite thing about them? her “get up and go” attitude, how she helped Fox and Grey with their political campaigns although there was little in it for her as women couldn’t then vote, how she became the unspoken Society leader of the Whig party, but imo didn’t let this go to her head too much, instead focusing on pleasing others around her (as well as the gambling and the laudanum lmao but we’ll touch on that later) and how she used fashion and clothes as a way of both expressing and empowering herself, earning the nickname “The Empress Of Fashion” because of this. also how she just kept on going through incredibly difficult times, through the slander and libel and the insults and the addictions and debt and banishment/isolation, i cannot dream of how anxious and depressed she must have been at times, but yet she kept on going, and still kept helping her friends too where she could. i have so much respect for her it makes me teary eyed at times. what a hun! we’d have been the best of friends if i was alive in the late 18th century.

4. Least favourite thing about them? she does seem like a bit of a glutton for punishment??? like her debts were paid off on two separate occasions by the Duke of Devonshire (the second time her debts were so great that he actually had to sell off Devonshire assets to help him out), and yet she continued to rack up more gambling debts (second to only Prinny i believe) and seemed not to listen to the advice, which imo was genuinely well meaning, which her friends tried to provide her with. also, she could have “picked her battles” as the saying goes, a little better e.g. knowing when to open her mouth to the duke, but also knowing when to keep it shut.

5. If you could fix one thing for them? i would have been there to stick up for her when the papers and certain men were doing shitty things to her and her reputation, and given her some comfort and reassurance in the cases where she very clearly needed some, but with was provided with nothing.

6. If you could change their history, would you? If so, what? i think it’s important to let history run its course in a way, but i would have liked to have contributed towards her personal happiness more, by allowing her to be with Earl Grey (who legit did treat her very well until she was forced to break off contact with him) and by persuading her well-meaning-but-incredibly-encroaching-and-full-on mother to back off of her a little, and to have given women the vote. Georgiana and the ladies would have changed the course of politics if they were all allowed to vote i’m sure of it.

7. What is the first thing you would say to them? i would just give her the biggest hug.

8. Bring them to 2017 with you, what does that look like? i think Georgiana would be DELIGHTED with social media, allowing her to keep in constant contact with her children and her friends from her Set and to organise those big Devonshire House dinner parties & balls much easier as well! i cannot picture G wearing 21st century fashions, but i think because of how interested she was in fashion, i think she would find it amusing and strange how much things have changed. she was also a fan of the liberal arts, and i don’t think she would like modern/contemporary art and the new styles of architecture either.

9. What wouldn’t you tell them about the future? That the Tories have been in power for nearly ten years and likely will be for another ten as well lmao. I think the threat of nuclear war would scare her, and she would be deeply saddened that people are still homeless and going hungry in a very rich country.

10. Favourite story about them? - that Beau Brummell persuaded her to pay off one of his tailor bills lmao - during one of Prinny’s overdramatic pledges of love to Maria Fitzherbert, he was said to have stabbed himself and that his dying wish was to see Maria one last time, she was frightened to go alone so asked Georgiana to accompany her, Maria was then told her his other dying wish was for her to be his wife, and i believe under the pressure and stress of the circumstances, she relented and said yes. however, Prin wanted to “seal the deal” with a ring, and neither party was in possession of one suitable, so Georgiana took one off her own finger and used it to help them undertake an illegal marriage lmao what a babe. - several Society ladies bribed Georgiana’s chief dressmaker for the pattern of the dress that she would be wearing to the next calendar event, the seamstress was loyal to Georgiana, so fobbed all the ladies off with the same pattern, but telling each of them it was unique, so when they all arrived at the party, each of them had an identical dress on whilst Georgiana was wearing something completely different and arguably much nicer lmao

11. Share your favourite picture of them.

I tag: @spoutziki-art, @beau--brummell, @scopesandskullties & @therepublicofletters!

[yourmoansareasymphony]

1. Do you bite or lick ice cream? I like to eat ice cream with a spoon. If I can choose between a cup and a cone I always pick a cup.

2. What is home to you? Might sound like a cliché but is true. Pixie.

3. What was the last lie you told? I lie to my cat often. Tell him I’m going to take him out or give him shrimps later but forget. He probably doesn’t trust me at all.

4. Does everyone deserve the truth? Of course not.

5. What is the creepiest toy ever made? Baby dolls.

6. Describe a moment in which you did something unacceptable in a bad situation. I borderline odeed on xans like a weasel.

7. List two things that are more easily done than said. (No, I didn’t mix them up.) Loving and hating.

8. When was the last time you worked really hard to achieve something? PhD.

9. How organized are you? Very. Organised and prepared.

10. If humans didn’t evolve to laugh or smile, how would we express our happiness instead? I don’t know.

11. How many romantic “things” or “flings” have you had? Just this one.

12. What is your favourite background noise? (Ex. Water dripping, people talking.) Heavy rain.

13. How many hearts do you think you have broken? A few, I’m afraid, but not intentionally. Some people just take sex as a promise of something more and perhaps those have been the moments when people have been disappointed.

14. What is the most annoying thing someone can do to you? Interrupt me when I speak.

15. Do you overexaggerate? The word “over” is unnecessary here? Yes, I do, sometimes when I’m angry. Or sometimes for comedy value.

16. Have you played any instruments before? Which instruments? I can play the piano. I’ve taken cello and guitar lessons. I have an ukulele but I’m not allowed to play because it’s annoying, apparently.

17. Do you like taking selfies? Why or why not? No. Because of my face.

18. Do you have what it takes to raise a child? Why or why not? I think I’d have everything concrete that it takes: time, money, maybe intellect. But what I don’t have is unconditional love. I can’t love a person just because they’re family. I might easily hate my child if he or she was an idiot or grew up to be a UKIP voter. I want to choose the people in my life.

19. How do you cheer yourself up after a bad day? I play with my cat.

20. When was the last time you felt awkward? Gary slept with us in our bed last night. I was in the middle and they were both more or less leaning on me and they both smelled like old booze.

21. Are you introverted or extroverted? Or a mixture of both? Introvert.

22. What constitutes a good friend? I was just asked what I love about my best friend.

23. Would you rather have a lot of friends to hang out with or just one best friend? I like having a best friend. Quality over quantity.

24. In a regular day, what do you not want to hear? “Bark bark bark the liberal elite moo moo moo unelected bureaucrats.”

25. What is your dream job? Prime Minister.

26. What is a truth about yourself that others find hard to believe? My followers don’t seem to believe that I don’t masturbate. I think the last time I did was in 2012 or 2013. It is true, you wankers!

27. What have you always wondered about the other gender? Why they don’t murder more.

28. Which fantasy world would you like to visit the most? The post-apocalyptic world of the film The Road, to see how long I’d survive.

29. Imagine that you have switched bodies with someone you don’t know. You can’t switch back. What do you do? Go on with my life. Celebrate. I’d probably look a lot better.

30. If you found the recipe for immortality, would you sell it or would you burn it? I most definitely wouldn’t sell it. I would keep it and hide it and give myself at least a decade to think about what to do with it.

31. What is the most important, applicable class you have ever taken? Maths.

32. Name the last book you read. I’m reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

33. When was the last time you made the first move? 9,5 years ago.

34. What is your opinion on electronic music such as dubstep or trap? I don’t listen to it. No opinion.

35. What was the last movie you watched? Star Wars: The Force Awakens

36. Do you like and appreciate your life? Yes.

37. Do you like and appreciate yourself? Appreciate, yes. Like, not always.

38. When was the last time you cried? Christmas.

39. What are you scared of? Babies. Well, not scared of but they creep me out.

40. What is the most embarrassing, cringe-worthy thing you have ever done? I’m still mortified about the wedding.

41. What is a superficial yet annoying mistake you constantly make? Our London house is a “smart” house, this is a very stupid one. I close the bathroom door and stand in the dark for a few seconds until I remember that there’s no motion sensor and that I have to switch the lights on myself. Sometimes I forget to switch them off.

42. Are you a good friend? What makes you a good friend? If not, what makes you a bad friend? Loyal but clingy.

43. Do you honestly learn from your mistakes? Honestly, I’m not sure.

44. What have you learned the hard way? Pixie doesn’t want her nipples touched.

45. What is the most important thing to have in order to attain happiness? Statistically, money. And I agree with the statistics.

46. Which medium do you use for expressing your artistic emotions? (Singing, writing, etc.) Dance.

47. Are you a creative or a logical thinker? Both, I’d like to think. Why do people always assume that these are mutually exclusive? I think these are often found in the same person.

48. What is the smartest thing you have ever done? Left home the way I did.

49. What is the worst thing someone could do on a date? Pay the bill without asking? Murder?

50. Do you like animals? Which kind is your favourite? Kitty.

51. If you could turn one legal thing illegal, what would it be? Voting, if you’re stupid. There should be two pages on the ballot. First page: 1 x 1, which party/parties form the government at the moment, what is the EU? All 3 answers must be correct and if they’re not they will discard your ballot without counting it.

52. Do you have any guilty pleasures? Pimple popping videos.

53. What is the best thing that the internet has ever created? Human connections for introverts.

54. Are you a morning person? When do you usually wake up? Not a morning person at all. I’m physically unable to smile before noon.

55. Do you have a favourite Disney movie? Character? Dumbo. Got stuff done without talking.

56. Would you rather live in the city or in the countryside? City.

57. Would you rather live near the ocean or in the mountains? Mountains.

58. What are the best things about winter? Heh, I just talked about this with someone. I like it when my nose hair freeze when I inhale. It’s satisfying.

59. What scares you most about the future? Nothing really scares me. Stupidity depresses me.

60. What makes you feel old? My Tumblr followers.

61. How many hours do you spend on the computer or phone on average? 2-3 hours?

62. What bad habits do you do? I clean my ears with cotton buds.

63. Most prominent childhood memory? Oh boy, maybe not.

64. Imagine if you had an older brother. If you already have one, what is it like? If you don’t, how would this change your life? I have two older brothers. One’s a twin, the other one I haven’t seen since I was 18 and do not care to. Having a brother is nice, because he’s nice.

65. Do you believe in horoscopes? Of course not.

66. What is the worst advice you’ve ever been given? I rarely take advice but all these “everything happens for a reason” blaa-di-blaas are really irritating. (I don’t think they mean determinism.)

67. List the 3 most important people in your life right now. Pixie, Gary, Aaron.

68. Do you have a role model? Why or why not? No, because nobody’s perfect.

69. What is your opinion on social media? I’m not on Facebook or Twitter. It’s aggravating how everyone has the chance and the right to post whatever they wish, true or not, and there’s a constant terrifying false balance in these conversations. On the other hand, it’s a great tool to detect which one of your friends or acquaintances is actually a moron and therefore you can avoid them in future.

70. Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Still, realist.

71. List some things that you think are overpriced? Pink hygiene products.

72. What is your worst memory or creepiest experience? Amba’s death and what lead to it.

73. What are some things you did as a child that you no longer do? I don’t put so much sugar in my tea.

74. What languages can you speak? BSL, English, Finnish.

75. Favourite food? Raw beef.

76. What is the most terrifying dream you’ve ever had? I had raped Pixie, didn’t remember doing it and couldn’t understand why. I was trying to find a building high enough but every time I got on the roof the building had shrunk.

77. When was the last time you got seriously angry? Christmas.

78. What was the last friendship you broke? I haven’t broken any. Some of them just dry out.

79. Do you have any pet peeves? Yeah, don’t interrupt me when I’m talking.

80. Who was the last person you gave a hug to? Gary, when he left earlier today.

81. When was the last time you got seriously stressed? Last September.

82. What did you want to be when you were little? Dancer.

83. What are some things that you are good at? I’m getting good at knitting socks.

84. What is one thing you want to be good at? I’d like to be a better driver. I’m not bad but the reality is that I’ve driven all my adult life in central London and it doesn’t take much skill. Just don’t kill cyclists or pedestrians. I look up to Pixie (and she looks down on me). We were in her home town one Christmas and she was driving. We were looking for a parking space and saw one on the other side of the street. I thought we’d go around the block and then parallel park like normal people but no, what followed was a handbrake U-turn on ice and a neat drift right into the spot. Her spatial orientation is excellent in general. She knows instantly whether a piece of clothing will fit, whether a large object will fit in the car. We haven’t competed but I think she’d beat me in Tetris and I’m really good. And I know I’m a good driver as well but her mad skills just make me feel inadequate. She gets frustrated if I need to adjust when I’m parking.

85. What distracts you the most, especially when you’re trying to work? My own thoughts. My mind wanders so easily.

86. How important is privacy to you? Essential.

87. If you could create one social norm, what would it be? I’d like to end the greeting fascism. We all have to say hi to people we haven’t really been in contact with in years. People from school, your previous neighbours, current neighbours, your best friend’s aunt, the cousin of your childhood geography teacher, fucking everyone. One of the greatest things about moving here is that I don’t know many people. In London walking to work was always hi, hi, hello, hello, morning, yes, it’s you again, hello.

88. What’s the craziest lie you’ve ever told? I’ve lied to children. I told the Greek kid that my iPad doesn’t show cartoons because it’s an adult iPad and made her watch Brian Cox and she believed me. I told a kid once that I can forge bank notes by drawing them. That my wife is a witch. That there are pirates buried under our house. All sorts of crazy things. Children are idiots!

89. What story do you like to tell about yourself at parties? I don’t tell stories about myself.

90. What is the stupidest thing you’ve done to impress someone? Acrobatics. It starts with me and Pixie, me saying “hey, watch this!” and then I break a bone.

91. What is your morning routine? Pee, brush teeth, feed the cat.

92. If karma was coming back to you, would it help or hurt you? Help.

93. What is your opinion on playing “hard to get?” If you think it’s attractive, fine. But it might not get you the result you want.

94. What are the pros and cons of straightforward? Getting things said and done efficiently. People getting upset.

95. Are you the friend-zoner or the friend-zoned? Such thing does not exist. There are just dicks who think that being nice should be awarded with sex.

96. What is your opinion on “going with the flow?” Don’t. 

97. Do you enjoy talking or listening? When the topic is interesting I enjoy both.

98. When was the last time you had a deep conversation with someone? Yesterday, with Gary.

99. Do you have any self-restraint? Lots.

100. What advice would you give to yourself 5 years ago? I would advise myself to take care of myself because by not doing so I’ve caused a lot of sorrow.

I’m going to try and drop this bomb on @my-wanton-self, @theklicker, @nirhauma​, @cherrytintedmusings, @agythi, @nakedbutterfly​ and @cherrypies​.

[igiveanf]

Say NO to Resolutions and Be Liberated...

A new year means that it’s resolution time again. By definition that means, “to make a firm decision to do or not do something.” Many people will resolve to quite smoking, quit overeating, quit over spending, lose excess weight, start exercising and on and on it goes. For every 10 people who make a resolution, roughly 9 do not keep it. In fact, after just 17 days, all bets are off. So I vote this; DO NOT EVEN MAKE ONE THIS YEAR!

Seriously! And here’s why; if you don’t make one, then you won’t risk not keeping it and therefore, on day 18 of 2018 you will not be beating yourself up for having a smoke, spending too much money, overeating or skipping that gym workout! 

Yes, me that goal setting, fitness person is actually telling you to not even think about what your goal is for 2018!!! Now before you think I’m weird (anyone who likes burpees and does them for fun probably is a bit weird so it’s okay if you think that), hear me out for just a second. I have a different approach....

1. Reflect - Take some time to have a good solid look at this past year. What went well and what didn't? What could you have done a bit better? What did you do great? How can you continue to do whatever it is you did great? How can you improve on what maybe isn't going so great? What healing needs to happen for you from this past year? What celebrating needs to happen? Reflection is the foundation for change but it’s important to review the past and then leave it where it is, BEHIND YOU - don’t hold on to it, it’s gone!

2. Learn - Once you’ve reflected, it’s time to walk away with some usable information; what can you learn from what went well? What can be learned from what didn't go so well? Seriously dig here, what kinds of lessons can you learn? What things did you learn about yourself this year? What information did you acquire this year that will help you in the future? What will you never do again? You likely do not even have to write this stuff down because I have no doubt all the important lessons are right there, etched into your memory! Learn from the past and then move forward!

3. Look Ahead - a new year is certainly a nice time to start fresh but for me it’s simply a matter of a chance to continue moving forward with my eyes ahead but doing so equipped with the lessons this past year has taught me. What am I moving forward towards? My DREAMS!! The ones that remain ahead of me and that I have always been moving towards. These dreams have not changed, they remain the same and as I continue to move forward, I continue to get closer and closer to them. These dreams are not resolutions. Instead, I know where I want to get and I try my best to focus my efforts on getting there. I’m certain that once I get there, and I will, I will have a new horizon to move towards. 

What I love about having a dream focus as opposed to a resolution is that there is much less pressure on me to meet time frames or expectations and I am never failing at it, I am always working at it because instead, I KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Trust me it is liberating to nix the resolutions!!!

You may need to DIG in order to clarify what your dreams are. You may even need to START dreaming because not everyone has a dream or even knows what their dream is. What I can tell you is that many dreams exist inside your heart and if you take the time to examine your talents and desires, I would bet you have some pretty amazing dreams laying in that beautiful heart of yours just waiting to be discovered. Time is precious. DO NOT WAIT TO BEGIN DREAMING! Get started now and discover what it is you have always wanted to do and then of course TAKE ACTION!

So there you have it...DO NOT MAKE RESOLUTIONS, instead I ask you to dream! Do not resolve to lose weight this year or quit smoking or stop spending too much money or start exercising but do DREAM and DREAM BIG my friend because you really can do amazing things! So long as you are here, you have the ability to achieve whatever it is you were meant to achieve! 

If you have a dream to get in better shape or have more money or start a new career or be healthier or whatever that dream is, you will need to make choices that align you with that dream. You will also need to take action but doing so will not feel like work if you know in your heart that it’s your dream you are moving towards. Choices and action will give you that forward momentum that propels you closer to your destination.

Last, but far from least I will say this; there are some things I refuse to take with me into the new year because these things will only hold me back and prevent me from realizing my dreams. You may have a similar list and it is important to let it all go. For me, I refuse to move into a new year holding on to any unforgiveness, anger, hostility, bitterness, grudges, a limiting mindset, a voice in my head that tells me I cant, anyone or anything that makes me feel like I am less than what I am, anyone who does not wish me will, people who try to drag me down, negativity, complaining, ungratefulness and anything that limits the unlimited possibilities I have in my future! Hanging on to any of this will only hold me back so I will choose and then do my very best to leave all of this in 2017, behind me, exactly where it belongs.

Best in health, the new year and all your dreams ahead,

Alison Brown & your team at New U Personal Training Studio

www.newustudio.ca    Phone: 226-430-2175    Email: info@newustudio.ca

[ibloggingkits-blog]

New Post has been published on Blogging kits

New Post has been published on https://bloggingkits.org/an-investigative-journalist-and-a-blogger-attacked-in-russia/

An investigative journalist and a blogger attacked in Russia

Ny, April 27, 2017–Russian government have to very well investigate assaults towards reporters the day went by and convey the ones responsible to justice, the Committee to Shield newshounds stated nowadays.

An unfamous assailant threw a green antiseptic–Zelenka, which includes a dye which could take greater than a month to get rid of–at investigative journalist Galina Sidorova, who was within the city of Yoshkar-Ola, kind of 770 kilometers (480 miles) east of Moscow, to teach neighborhood journalists on behalf of the Russian School of Investigative Journalism. A few hours later, the window of the constructing where she and her colleagues have been making plans to maintain the training changed into smashed, and a useless rat become left on the ground, media said. Sidorova suggested the incident to nearby police, the reviews stated.

In a separate incident the day before today, unwell-known assailants also threw Zelenka, eggs, and flour at Ilya Varlamov, a 9aaf3f374c58e8c9dcdd1ebf10256fa5 blogger, and contributor to the impartial radio station Ekho Moskvy, as he arrived at the airport of the North Caucasian town of Stavropol. When he stepped out of a vehicle in crucial Stavropol, a set of guys once more threw Zelenka at him, Varlamov wrote. Varlamov writes approximately cities and infrastructure and frequently criticizes nearby authorities for alleged negligence and corruption. Varlamov wrote on his weblog that he had also filed a document with local police.

“The green tinge of dye might also last for weeks, but the intimidating effect on Russia’s independent reporters could remaining far longer,” CPJ Europe and central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “Russian government must unexpectedly and correctly investigate the attacks towards Galina Sidorova and Ilya Varlamov and produce those accountable to justice.”

In step with the Russian carrier of the U.S.-authorities-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which has broadcast Sidorova’s freelance contributions in the beyond, the College of Investigative Journalism’s workshops were obstructed earlier than. Most recently, in November 2016, police ordered individuals in a workshop in Syktyvkar, more or less 1300 kilometers (800 miles) northeast of Moscow, to vacate the building because of a bomb chance. No bomb was found.

Following the incident concerning Sidorova, Grigory Pasko, a veteran investigative journalist and the head of the School of Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit, wrote on his Facebook page that the organization was “beneath the risk of closure once more” because of the everyday assaults on its workshops.

In September 2016, Pasko himself became significantly overwhelmed and threatened in Barnaul, the capital of Russia’s southern Siberian republic of Altai, in which he deliberate to organize every other journalism schooling, CPJ stated at the time.

While Persnickety Younger Bloggers Attack Good Spirited Parents Online We have a big trouble in our society and it has to do with the entire incivility Online of bloggers and discussion board posters who exchange barbs On line. What ends up taking place is that a new comer to the group brings forth applicable facts or a sparkling perspective after which others who participate on boards for the game of one-, make persnickety remarks, and say mean-Spirited things. Generally, it’s miles a Young blogger, a X’er who acts out in this way, however not constantly.

There are lots of Toddler Boomers who suppose it is worthy to have interaction in this sort of detracting talk. Curiously enough, no longer lengthy in the past, I had simply one of this gal from Chicago, condemn me Online. She referred to as me a pompous ass and told me to get a lady pal. She Typically tried time and time again to call names. Now what become thrilling about this, each time her profiling become further and further off the mark.

Now then, this takes place ways too frequently and you could log on everywhere and spot this stuff on nearly any discussion board or blog. Worse, all too frequently the folks being attacked did not anything incorrect. And once this occurs sufficient instances they tend to prevent taking part, having been chased away by awful behavior. but, once they leave they take their expertise too. In reality, a number of the greatest individuals I have ever met, a pinnacle in their fields and industries not participate On-line.

As a result, plenty of what is left is just a bunch of commotion from those who revel in being smartasses and prefer to choose fights. Properly, perhaps they deserve each different, however, as for the relaxation people, they’re losing our perception. Perhaps, there’s no purpose to head on blogs and forums anymore, and every day fewer and less human beings persist, and everyone, all of the humanity loses. Reflect consideration on that subsequent time you act like a like a bit Faculty woman Online.

Foreign Bloggers Assault US Regulations Online These days Foreign bloggers had been saying very nasty things approximately us Online in forums. lots of this is echoing the bad media hit on us but a number of those Folks aren’t so harmless and actually Net Psyche War Insurgents attempting to turn People in opposition to every other and make us lose our resolve inside the Struggle on International Terrorists.

recently in sticking up for my u. S ., President and our troops, I personally turned into attacked by means of someone claiming to be an ECU Citizen; British in reality. So I needed to ask him after listening to his vulgar language and mean Spirited private assaults;

“I see so While a state or citizen of a state needs to Shield their country and their state’s honor, they are considered Banana Consuming Mindless Apes? interesting spin?”

You notice the Iranian insurgency in Iraq is a practical disruption of fledgling authorities, which has voted for self-destiny? but he had a completely exceptional viewpoint and stated; “Kill innocent humans and break matters. That is what you and Maximum different People are first-rate at!”

Of course the longer this debate went on it become obvious there has been no desire and we had been each losing our time, as I advised him; “You’re an anti-American individual who believes the whole thing the liberal media, BBC and Al Jazeera says.” Yet he would no longer stop and stated; “by using the way…tell me how you felt While humans from some other u. S . determined enough became enough and determined to present America a taste of their own remedy on 9/11”

I’m now thinking oh no, no manner he isn’t always getting away with this at the Net as god is aware of how many human beings are analyzing this thread on an excessive traffic political weblog.

What You are pro-Global Terrorist and you wish to debate with me? Is that it? You help International terrorism and also you label me one million yr old evolutionary branch offshoot banana eater now? Surely? So you accept as true with that 911 is an ok event? So, they what do you suspect of the Spain Bombing? Bali, Philippines Ferry, Egyptian Inns? I assume you assist The Worldwide Terrorist Birthday party of these within the Palestinian region of Jordan too? You agree with Hamas is justified too? I think you agree with that we ought to allow similarly Worldwide terrorism? and also you name yourself a discovered guy and me a Banana Eater? Genuinely.

Talking of Insurgents, we defeated the British Insurgents; Purple Coats. So what’s your factor? I assist the united states of us, its President, its navy and prevailing the War against any enemy Overseas or home. Do not add yourself to the list by assisting Global terrorism in opposition to this exquisite country. Keep in mind While collaborating in Online Blogs who You are Honestly speak to, due to the fact after reading some of these threads, I doubt many of them are who they say they are.

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Jailed Vietnamese Blogger Venerated through US

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Jailed Vietnamese Blogger Venerated through US

Mom Mushroom, who started blogging under that call in 2006, is a founding member of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network. It’s far one of the few unbiased running a blog organizations in a country in which the ruling Communist Birthday celebration tightly controls the media and writers.

She was charged under the article 88 of the 1999 penal code for “spreading propaganda towards the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” The government has now not set a tribulation date, and Mom Mushroom faces the most prison term of 12 years. The vaguely worded law has drawn global denunciation for the power it gives the government to suppress dissent.

The united states recognized Mom Mushroom for “her bravery for raising civil society problems, inspiring peaceful trade, calling for more government transparency and get entry to to fundamental human rights, and for being the voice of freedom of expression,” stated Grace Choi, a spokeswoman for the Kingdom Branch’s East Asia-Pacific Workplace.

U.S. Diplomats in Hanoi and Saigon published information of Mother Mushroom’s reputation to Fb, attracting lots of “likes” earlier than the reliable right.

Foreign Bloggers Attack US Policies Online

Currently, Foreign bloggers were saying very nasty things about us Online in boards. A lot of that is echoing the terrible media hit in America but some of those folks aren’t so innocent and actually Net Psyche Battle Insurgents trying to turn Individuals against every other and make us lose our remedy within the War on international Terrorists.

Currently in sticking up for my u. S ., President and our troops, I personally changed into attacked by way of someone claiming to be an EU Citizen; British in fact. So I needed to ask him after paying attention to his vulgar language and imply spirited non-public attacks;

You notice the Iranian insurgency in Iraq is a practical disruption of a fledgling government, which has voted for self-future? But he had a totally distinct point of view and said; “Kill harmless people and damage matters. That is what you and most other People are first-class at!”

Of route the longer this debate went on it turned into apparent there was no desire and we had been each wasting our time, as I advised him; “You’re an anti-American individual who believes the whole lot the liberal media, BBC and Al Jazeera says.” Yet he could now not forestall and stated; “with the aid of the way…inform me the way you felt while people from every other united state of America determined sufficient turned into enough and decided to provide The use a taste of their own medicine on 9/11”

I am now questioning oh no, no way he isn’t always getting away with this at the Net as god is aware of what number of people are analyzing this thread on an excessive site visitors political weblog.

What You’re pro-worldwide Terrorist and you desire to debate with me? Is that it? You assist international terrorism and you label me a million 12 months old evolutionary branch offshoot banana eater now? Definitely? So you consider that 911 is an k event? So, they what do you observed of the Spain Bombing? Bali, Philippines Ferry, Egyptian Resorts? I think you guide The global Terrorist Birthday celebration of those within the Palestinian location of Jordan too? You consider Hamas is justified too? I assume you trust that we ought to allow further global terrorism? and also you call yourself a discovered guy and me a Banana Eater? Genuinely.

Speaking of Insurgents, we defeated the British Insurgents; Pink Coats. So what’s your factor? I assist us of us, its President, its army and winning the Warfare towards any enemy Overseas or domestic. Don’t upload yourself to the list with the aid of helping international terrorism towards this terrific kingdom. Recall whilst taking part in On-line Blogs who You’re Actually speaking to, due to the fact after reading some of these threads, I doubt a lot of them are who they are saying they’re.

Bloggers Ethics – Fact and Fairness Numerous social medias and blogs perform a very crucial element in gift-day journalism. It’s a useful supply of the media people in accumulating Numerous information. they are now the bridge between newshounds and the people. reporters very frequently choose severe and vital issues from the weblog and confirm the moral standards of Equity, accuracy, truthfulness, transparency and independence whilst using social media as you do on air and on all virtual and revealed news platforms.

All information amassed from social media like blog posting, their remarks must undergo scanner before their posting. Furthermore, their source of statistics, correctness must additionally be supplied even as posting and the reader must not be left guessing on misleading statistics.

In lots of cases, it has experienced that wrong information results in an outcry in a few places, Kingdom or within u. S . A .. All postings inside the social media are live and are to be had to everybody at any time. It is consequently essential to correct any mistake can also it genuine or with the aid of omission, in order that even as It’s far information reader can go through the correction.

Whilst any content or video being used from the blogs or social media, earlier than their use some logical query must be asked, like what’s the truthfulness of the content material, what’s the cause in their posting and the proper of the character of the posting and the image. Does the individual has the legal right of the photo or is it his/her personal shoot? frequently it was seen that picture or video been manipulated, so earlier than It’s the use of meta-information ought to be checked.

Freedom of speech and expression is a constitutionally assured essential proper of the Indian people. Article 19 (1; a) ensures the implicit freedom But Article 19 (2) qualifies this in explicit terms. The Parliamentary Court cases (protection of Ebook) Act of 1977 and the Prevention of Booklet of Objectionable Be counted (Repeal Act) of 1977, in addition, enhance and restrict these freedoms.whilst constitutional guarantees make sure freedom of the press and expression, press and media are obligated by way of a self-regulatory system of ethics that defend people and corporations from defamatory conduct.