#glorification of war due to war effort

[fireheartedpup]

I need to point everyone who criticizes "American" food to a history book.

[a-vctlan]

𝘍𝘍𝘝𝘐𝘐 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘊𝘈𝘕𝘖𝘕 — SOLDIER program: enlistment OK to reblog.

PART I : PROPAGANDA EFFORTS

Shin-Ra's marketing efforts are a relentless success, a snowball effect that has since hit its peak, an avalanche that has overtaken and demonized all other possible militias. If you want to be an upstanding member of society, you join the Shin-Ra Security Division and are guaranteed respect and ample employee benefits (should you earn them).

But what about those that want to be more than yet another enforcer of petty laws and population control? What about those with greater ambitions, and a drive to prove themselves better than others? For that, you have the SOLDIER program, and Shin-Ra has spared no expenses at making sure that those susceptible to this message have heard it.

The desired demographic for voluntary SOLDIER sign-ups is 13-21, as the younger the subject in question is, the more likely are they to adapt favorably to the mako enhancements, still in their developmental phase.

And this bleeds into marketing: SOLDIER is primarily promoted through four different means, these being the news, sports sponsorships, school presence and media, set to target and groom the different stages of their preferred demographic.

NEWS: war glorification, consistent praise for SOLDIER Firsts, glamorization of Shin-Ra's conquests and scientific advancements.

SPORTS SPONSORSHIPS: SOLDIER branded sports equipment, potion themed energy drinks, team financing, big-game advertisement, SOLDIER-program training regimens .

SCHOOL PRESENCE: enlistment drives, Shin-Ra company presentations, school fairs and investments.

MEDIA: children's animation, television programming, movie financing, SOLDIER cameos in popular media.

The program is sold as an ideal way to achieve individuality and freedom, children allowed to sign up without parental intervention, and upon registration all underage SOLDIERs become children of the state, forfeiting their rights to bodily autonomy and leaving their families with no legal resources to turn to should they be against it.

There are recruitment locations on nearly every continent, with the main processing plants being in: Rocket Town, Costa Del Sol, Icicle Village, Junon and Midgar. By visiting any one of these locations, you are able to sign your life away - if you don't already happen to do it on impulse during a school fair presentation wherein active SOLDIER members sell you on how cool it is to have genuine enhanced capabilities and senses.

The process is entirely predatory, and it is only through Shin-Ra's control of the media that they are able to turn the horrifying implications of this into a feel-good story, mostly focusing on the social successes from the program, be it literal children being able to support their family financially due to Shin-Ra stipends, teens at risk turning their lives around due to the 'strict discipline' of the program, marketing efforts done to humanize the SOLDIERs in the program in an easily digestible way (they're quirky just like you!) or the average story of saving innocent civilians.

PART II : ENLISTMENT ORIGINS

A - voluntary sign-ups B - promotion from the security division C - turk scouting efforts, coercing people with notable skills, an example being promising the resolution of criminal charges in exchange for joining the program D - scouting done through the science department's access to all medical records stored in shin-ra licensed medical establishments

Points A and D are limited by a max age of 21, these SOLDIERs reserved by the science department for all future developments regarding the continued evolution of the program, and they are most likely to receive training in a controlled environment than to be sent out in cases that aren't an emergency - essentially, unless they prove themselves exemplar fighters, they are to be considered more lab rats than fighters.

However, points B and C are exempt from this limitation, and are expected be on the front lines no matter what, their pre-established skills having them be those most often sent out on hazardous missions. They are often those with the slowest mako adaptability rates due to most often being full adults by the time of their acceptance into the program, however, they do have a tendency to be promoted to Second Class faster, where in a majority will remain, with few exemplar individuals being promoted to First Class - and in turn being used for further propaganda efforts, because if they can do it, so can you.

As that's what the SOLDIER program propaganda is wrapped around in: meritocracy, where in only the best of the best make it into the program... but in truth a major part of it is purely arbitrary, dependent on any SOLDIER hopeful's adaptability to the mako process - you may be a great fighter, and still succumb to mako poisoning during the initial trials, just as you may faint at the sight of blood and still be a perfect subject.

Still, when it comes to branch changes from the Security Division to SOLDIER, when one such change does happen successfully, Shin-Ra is sure to sell the dream, taking whatever merits it can give to the SOLDIER in question and lavishing them with interviews and mentions in the internal company news cycle.

The knowledge questionnaires are in fact completely optional, but in order to select out better candidates Shin-Ra makes them seem mandatory — those willing to endure the study necessary are favored for their unquestioning loyalty and ability to follow orders only implied.

PART III : EXTRA NOTES

Due to the young age from which SOLDIERs can apply to the program, around 40% of new SOLIDER candidates have never entered battle, seen active combat or received proper training, and this brings to light the preferred use of swords and other bladed weapons per standard issue - as long as they can be taught to hit targets more or less reliably, their new gained enhanced strength would cut through the rest.

However, gaining skills beyond the most basic of training is placed entirely on the shoulders of every SOLDIER, the program is directly set up to be as competitive as possible in order to find notable specimens for the Science Department.

This leads to the presence of the leveling system, meant to compare new subjects to each other, and to keep track of the personal growth of every SOLDIER.

However… the high pressure of the field can have an adverse effect on those who were already uncertain about their position, found themselves coerced into it, or simply regretting their choice, feeling overwhelmed, be it by the violent nature of the job or the extent to which they feel their body mutating.

These SOLIDERs are most likely to avoid taking on extra missions, and are only seen when directly called to action - and for the most part, there are no repercussions for it... until there are. After a certain threshold of negatively received mission reports, there is a chance that the SOLDIER in question might disappear, often labeled either MIA or plainly KIA.

Most often than not, if they are repurposed by the Science Department, but there is a certain quota needed to fill of "successful" retirements in order to sell the image of the program being anything anywhere near humane. Those that are lucky enough to be allowed to retire from SOLDIER can expect a life of 24/7 surveillance without ANY of the resources granted by the Science Department. If they happen to develop signs of genetic instability and sudden onset mako-poisoning they are expected to rot and die - at which point the Turks will be expected to collect their corpses for the Science Department as their bodies are considered part of a highly classified science experiment.

[mariacallous]

The failure to “fully confront” war crimes and the root causes of the 1990s conflicts continues to have devastating consequences for respect for human rights, the rule of law and social cohesion in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic said in a report published on Thursday.

Almost three decades after the end of the Yugoslav wars, with victims, witnesses and suspects ageing and dying, and with less and less available evidence, criminal prosecutions for wartime crimes are becoming more difficult, Mijatovic explained in the report entitled ‘Dealing with the Past for a Better Future’.

“Time is running out to achieve effective justice, compensation and truth for the victims,” she said.

“The prosecution for war crimes, the search for missing persons and the provision of compensation to victims have recently slowed down or stagnated mainly due to a lack of political will,” she added.

She said that backtracking in the process of dealing with the past “coincides with negative trends in the field of human rights” such as an increase in hate speech, genocide denial and the glorification of war criminals.

“It ultimately threatens the hard-won peace,” she warned.

Mijatovic pointed out that “ethno-nationalist discourse” has been “reinvigorated” in the region, seriously hindering efforts towards reconciliation.

She accused politicians, media, religious leaders and public figures of spreading “harmful narratives”.

“Narratives and actions that cause division and hatred have become a general political strategy, including around elections, and are dangerously undermining efforts to prevent the recurrence of violence,” she said.

The search for missing persons, which helps to establish the truth about the 1990s wars, has slowed down in the last few years, even though 9,876 people are still missing, the report noted.

Numerous civilian victims of the war in the region are still without effective access to adequate reparations, and none of the former Yugoslav countries have adopted comprehensive reparation programmes in line with United Nations guidelines, the report said.

Mijatovic added that other key measures, such as establishing truth and reconciliation commissions, vetting public officials and inclusive memorialisation, have also not been implemented.

She argued that cooperation between ex-Yugsolav states is of key importance in dealing with the past, and called for a revival of efforts aimed at justice and reconciliation, with a victim-oriented approach and zero tolerance for denials of genocide and the incitement of hatred towards other ethnic groups.

She also stressed the intergenerational importance of dealing with the past, calling for more youth engagement and ethnically integrated education systems and history lessons.

“It is crucial to strengthen political and financial support for a strong and resilient civil society working on transitional justice. Civil society is currently the best hope for a better future based on human rights and the rule of law,” she said.

[hjet]

1/22/24

For this class, I was tasked with watching "Momotaro's Divine Warriors" and reading Otsuka's Unholy Alliance. Now, similar to "Norakuro" and its cartoonishly goofy nature, "Momotaro's Divine Warriors" is an elaborate and clever method of indoctrinating children and citizens into wartime culture and propaganda. The usage of cartoon anthropomorphic animals as the main characters is a common way to soften the horrors of war. Another method of softening war and glorifying the violence associated with it that is seen in this film is the glorification of soldiers and the military. For instance, whenever onscreen with children, soldiers are fawned over and regarded as the "heroes" of the country. The children are all over them, asking what the war is like, stating that they'll become soldiers like them and become heroes of their country. By showing children acting like this, the creators of this film are gently pushing the children of their country to have these same viewpoints and desires. This film was essentially a giant propaganda effort by the Japanese government to try and make the war seem like some great achievement that Japan is going to fix Asia and make the world better by taking control.

Now, Otsuka's Unholy Alliance traces where these cartoon animal characters really became popular with children and in animation. Otsuka claims that "an aesthetic unification of Eisenstein and Disney under conditions of fascism" is what brought about the modern day, or Otaku, culture that surrounds most anime and their enjoyers. For example, the stereotypical person who goes to conventions, cosplays, is obsessed with computers, and lacks standard social skills would be considered a result of this "union". He claims that in the 1930s Disney cracked the code on how to make a character that children and adults both loved near unconditionally. The Mickey Mouse effect, if you will. Stating that both Disney and the Soviet Union combined to put pressure on Japanese art to change and abandon its art form, Otsuka seems to believe that this was a coordinated effort to "Disneyfy" Japanese animation. However, due to the international success that Disney was quickly finding, Japanese artists and studios rapidly adopted the construction of mass appealing characters in their animation and manga in order to keep up and attempt to surpass Disney.

Here we see Mickey Mouse in "Steamboat Willie" and two characters from "Momotaro's Divine Warriors" as they provide two examples of the usage of the cartoon animal characters that have become a stable of children's animation.

[thatndginger]

Happy WBW! What role does music play in your world? Does it keep history and legends alive? What genres are popular? What situations do people sing or listen in? Are there concerts and stars or is it more localized? How has it changed over time?

First off, I apologize profusely for how late this is! I felt like this question deserved more effort than I’ve been able to really put into things lately ^.^||

That being said, I’m answering this for War Witch - since Shapeshifter’s music scene is almost exactly like our real world one - so buckle up!

In terms of sound, Aeterre [War Witch’s planet] is somewhere near our Romantic Period of music. It’s all acoustic - electronic instruments have yet to be invented - but highly varied in style depending on the region. Take Korin. In the main hubs, the typically ‘Koric’ cities and population centers along the coast, there’s a focus on modern music and keeping up with modern trends. ‘Good’ art - and by extension music - lays emphasis on emotion and a glorification of the past and magic at the current time.  Popular musicians tend to eschew traditional ideas of structure and convention when creating music, creating elaborate pieces that evoke intense emotion and imagery. Attending operas and concerts is a pastime enjoyed by both the upper classes and the growing middle class. Some of the most popular operas tell the tales of heroes from the Unshattered Age, when magic still lived in everything and “things were better”. A lot of these operas have fairly… loose interpretations of events. It’s primarily a form of enjoyment.

But for the lower classes, music tends to be a little ‘dated’. The poor aren’t able to easily access modern composers and musical trends, so their music tends to be from an earlier time, and simpler in scale. There are no grand orchestras in the poorer parts of Koric cities, after all. In these parts, music is usually found at festivals and dance halls, large celebrations or special events. An important addition: protest songs have always been important for the lower classes, and there is a well documented history of protest music especially in relation to the organized labor movements and industrial workers. 

If you move away from the coastal civilization centers, into the farmlands and areas that haven’t always been under Koric rule, music becomes much more ‘folksy’, but also much broader in variety due to a wide array of cultural backgrounds. Music tends to be more ‘useful’ for lack of a better term in these rural areas. It passes on knowledge, preserves history. Depending on the region, some songs may only be sung at certain times of year, during certain festivals. There are work songs, rhythmic melodies meant to keep workers moving in time with each other. Music is still entertaining, yes, but it feels much more like something that binds a community together in these rural areas.

In the Tirallfain Valley, music has a very unique sound. Because of the region’s geography - straddling the border of Korin and the Suaythen Empire - the music there has hints of both traditional Koric and Suaya sounds. But, because of the region’s general isolation, the music generally sounds unique from either. Most famous songs tend to tell the tales from the Unshattered Age - battles won and lost, heroes and villains, great witches and gods - or detail natural events and seasonal changes. In more 'modern' songs, there is a distinctive thread of 'fuck the Koric' that isn't always subtle, as many in the Tiraillfain valley resent Korin's colonization both during and after the Unshattered Age.

[molinaskies]

What do you think of Silver the Hedgehog?

Silver’s a pretty fascinating character! However, I’ve yet to do much of a deep dive on him.

One thing I can say is that I’m not a huge fan of the recent glorification of his naïveté, where it reads more like infantilization than anything else. Like, this child is a victim of war and a literal super weapon, so I’m not too sure as to how he’s portrayed now as overly goofy, it seems. That said, I see the argument where Silver’s as he is because he’s overflowing with joy and content with life, after everything he’s lived through. So, I’m a bit torn, on that front.

He gets very similar treatment to Knuckles, in my opinion, and I don’t think that’s exceptionally GREAT. These are characters who are naive and gullible due to their isolation from people—they’re not stupid.

Anyway, back on track, I think Silver is really interesting to look at from a trauma-informed lens. He has something I call “main character syndrome”, where he naturally assumes that he has a MUCH bigger stake in everyone and everything than he actually does—and this comes from the fact that, in so much of his life’s immediate conflicts, he actually HAS. Silver has spent so much of his existence fighting an unbeatable monster that ruined his world—he doesn’t even know what that monster has taken from him because he was born into this world, but he understands enough that it needs to stop. He wanted to save his world so much that he would do anything, no questions asked.

That said, to extrapolate that idea, now, to Silver in current canon (IDW, at least), he’s so prone to not only fatalistic thinking (as in, assuming the worst of every failure), but thinking that centres him as the only thing able to solve a problem, and thus, the real cause of continued strife. In short, he doesn’t like to ask for help because he’s not used to there being people to help him—he’s a LOT like Sonic, in this way.

I’m reminded of a scene toward the end of the Metal Virus arc, where he says “are my failures here the reason my time is doomed?”, or something to that effect. Eggman clowns on him, but that line speaks volumes to me about how Silver interprets problems. Yes, he’s the one who has time-travelled back to stop the bad future, but it’s a group effort in the fight against the metal virus. Everyone was fighting AND losing and yet, Silver only considers his own failures to be anything of significance.

And, again, the time-travelling world saviour thing gives a sense of “well, he’s kind of right, no?”, but he assumes that HE has to hold the solution—he NEEDS to be the difference, not anything else.

Silver has an inflated sense of responsibility for the world that it consumes his primary line of thinking, and I think this is such a strong facet of his character in ALL situations that I think a lot of people overlook. I imagine that this thinking bleeds into his relationships and his ability to relax and be a child, which is especially interesting and complex because of how emotive Silver is as a character.

So, Silver is fascinating!

[bopinion]

2023 / 01

Aperçu of the Week:

"You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face."

(Ian Fleming's James Bond)

Bad News of the Week:

"The Return of the Reconciler" headlines Der Spiegel, a renowned German political weekly, its article on the inauguration of Brazil's new (and old) President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He takes office in difficult times. The general conditions are anything but favorable, whether economically, socially or psychologically. Because the country is deeply divided due to the polarizing polemics of his predecessor in office; it is not for nothing that Jair Bolsonaro has been called "Tropical Trump."

It will be difficult for Lula, says political scientist Mauricio Santoro of the University of Rio de Janeiro, among others. Unlike when he first took office in 2003, Lula can now rely neither on a boom in commodity exports nor on a humming Chinese economy. "Today we have a polarized country with an extreme right that is well organized both in the streets and on the net. And we live in a world still suffering the consequences of the pandemic, plus the war in Ukraine and its impact on inflation, food prices and oil."

For this reason, among others, the problem will be that Lula will not be able to fulfill the hopes placed in him. Not in the short term, not in the medium term. But with such negative omens, no one could. What always suffers most in such constellations are projects that are designed for the long term. Because these cost money and effort now, but the result will only be noticeable in the distant future. Or supposedly not at all. At least locally. Like the set of issues that most western people are most concerned about Brazil: environmental protection, stopping the depletion of the Amazon rainforest, preserving biodiversity, protecting indigenous minorities, and so on.

When a Brazilian community has a choice between jobs and personal income from slash-and-burn forest clearing or nothing to eat on the table, but a clear conscience in the face of taking global responsibility, I suspect they know the choice. And can you blame them? After all, you have to be able to afford a clear conscience. In this respect, it will become all the more decisive if humanity still wants to have a chance that precisely this happens: to think globally. If people in Germany only think about protecting the bees in their own village, calming the traffic on their own doorstep and the eco-tariff on their own electricity bill, that won't be enough.

Good News of the Week:

This year, Germany will lead NATO's rapid reaction force. In view of all the negative headlines of recent times, one should really be afraid: the Bundeswehr is running out of ammunition, 18 of 18 modern Puma tanks failed during a training exercise, the troops are blind to the right, the procurement system is not working, and Defense Minister Christine Lamprecht is obviously hopelessly overtaxed by her job in technical, factual and personal terms.

And now Germany, of all countries, is taking over command of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in the face of a diffuse threat situation. In the event of a crisis, it is on the front line, responsible for the so-called spearhead, which is supposed to mobilize up to 20,000 soldiers within a few days, and perhaps even has to do so. A nightmare?

No. For two reasons. First, the task suits the quintessential German organizational talent coupled with a cool head. And second, the German military is a parliamentary army geared toward defense. It has no undemocratic claim to omnipotence like the United States. It has no glorification of a bygone past like France. It has not the instrumentalization of geostrategic hubris like Great Britain. It has not wounded vanity like Poland. It has no questionable loyalty to the alliance like Hungary.

Should it actually become necessary for the rapid reaction force to intervene quickly, it will work. Because neither national nor personal egos will play a role, only insight into necessities. The German mindset will neither unnecessarily pour gasoline on a fire nor dither in the face of real challenges. That lets me sleep reasonably soundly.

Personal happy moment of the week:

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If this were true in digital life, no one in our family would ever be sick. Because we're an Apple family: I bought my first Macintosh in 1988. Had the first MacBook. The first iPod. The first AppleTV. The first iPhone. The first iPad. The first AppleWatch. In the meantime, I can no longer afford to always be up to date - so I'm typing this text on an iPad Pro of the 1st generation, i.e. from 2015, which is ages ago. Nevertheless, my children have been raised to be Apple children with their mother's milk, so to speak. In my younger years, I always gave my old devices to my older daughter first, and then she gave them to my younger son. At some point, this became too "old fashioned" for them in a figurative sense.

First, my daughter put her first self-earned money into various iDevices and is therefore now more up-to-date than I am. And last week my son followed suit and invested his collected "Christmas income". The festive unboxing reminded me of me back in the day. There were new things to discover all day: His own Apple ID. The first scribble with the Apple Pencil. He also made his first phone call afterwards via his AppleWatch - with his grandparents, who ultimately sponsored the whole thing significantly. And Dad's eyes also lit up. Always beautiful. Just like the old days.

I couldn't care less...

...that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI - also known as "Papa Ratzi" in Germany because of his civil name Joseph Ratzinger - didn't make it into the new year. Firstly, he was allowed to turn a venerable 95 years old, all inclusive with his private staff. Which fits in well with the saying "weeds never die". For all his life he was a hardcore Catholic functionary dropped out of time.

Benedict covered up for pedo-criminals during his bishop days in Munich. In his 20 years at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he always refused even the slightest progressive development. Refused any German admission of guilt for the Shoa at Auschwitz, of all places. More than once, he has run afoul of his successor, most recently two years ago with a pamphlet in favor of celibacy. He seriously considered himself infallible. It is a pity that we here on earth will never know whether his supreme judge will let him go to heaven or to some place else.

As I write this...

...I am a little stunned. After each year, a balance sheet is drawn up, evaluations are made in every conceivable category, and winners are chosen. In the land of poets and thinkers, of course, this also applies to language. Among other things, the "cliché expression of the year" is chosen. And for 2022, the first place goes to "freedom." I beg your pardon? At this time of all times, this ideal, this noble goal of every democratic society is supposed to be just a cliché?

The official explanation is that "freedom" is not the subject of criticism or even a hollow phrase. But "egoistic misinterpretations" in the media have turned it into that. The term is "degraded by egomaniacs who ruthlessly undermine democratic social structures." In the name of freedom, they "self-righteously and unsolidaristically turn the essential values of a welfare state into the opposite - everything for their own benefit." Aha. If that's the case, we shouldn't take up this beating.

Post Scriptum

After Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 2020, Marcus Tullius Cicero in 2021 and Sigmund Freud in 2022, this year it is Aristotle whom I have chosen as a "symbolic thinker". The 4th century B.C. Greek polymath is undoubtedly one of history's best-known and most influential philosophers and naturalists. A student of Plato, he either founded or significantly influenced numerous disciplines: philosophy of science, political and natural philosophy, logic, biology, medicine, physics, metaphysics, ethics, the theory of the state, and poetics and poetry theory.

The statue shown is located in Aristotle Park on the east coast of the Greek peninsula of Halkidiki, about 100 km from Thessaloniki. For the first half of 2023, Aristotle holds a newspaper with the headline "Crises everywhere" and wears a peace button on his cape. One is an unfortunately ubiquitous inventory, the other a symbol of hope.

[coffeeandritalin]

Thoughts on The Song of Achilles

I just read The Song of Achilles, and while I have book club tomorrow to gush over this book, I think the level of deep I'm digging to will probably be too much for my club-mates. So I've decided to use Tumblr to offload instead.

This is the first book I actively annotated in since... probably high school (aka, it's been more than a hot second). This was probably the best and worst book to use to start annotations again. Best because it is so beautifully written. Worst because, of course, I no longer have a heart as it has been hollowed out to relieve me of the intense pain I suffered after reading it.

In the final chapter, Patroclus calls Thetis out, "You said that Chiron ruined him. You are a goddess, and cold, and know nothing. You are the one who ruined him." I definitely agree with Patroclus here. However, in today's TED talk, I will rant about how Patroclus' is also responsible for Achilles' ruin.

To start, I have to praise Miller for how masterfully she molds each character. In just four chapters, we have a complex understanding of who Patroclus is as a person and why he ticks the way he ticks. Patroclus' defining characteristic, confidence (or lack thereof), is first hinted at on the first page, "Quickly, I became a disappointment." This is the core trait Miller starts out with to flesh out the character. The low opinion Patroclus has of himself, heavily shaped by his father, becomes the source and shaper of all his other traits.

Patroclus' low self-opinion is his greatest gift and flaw. His entire life, he has been told he is worth nothing. He is emotionally abused, depressed, and hurting. Tragically, out of this comes his humility and humbleness. In a world that is hard and cruel, Patroclus chose to be soft and kind - the key to what makes the people around him love him so deeply. There is a whole separate soap box waiting to be stepped on for this topic alone. Today, we are focusing on how Patroclus' lack of confidence becomes his fatal flaw. Just as his gentleness is borne from his low confidence, so too is his self-contempt, and this is his ultimate undoing.

From the very first moment he lays eyes on him, Patroclus has always seen himself as second to Achilles. It originates from a place of envy but eventually comes from a place of love and admiration. Patroclus, believing himself only worthy of disdain, allows this to define him. Rather, he uses it to define himself - what value could he possibly have without Achilles at his side?

It is not just Thetis' misguided, motherly love and prideful scorn for mortals that fills Achilles' mind with the whispers of gods instead of the cries of his peers. It is not just the adulation of the masses and the glorification of war that lures Achilles into hubris and a madness that even Patroclus falls prey to. It is also Patroclus' self-contempt and core belief that he has no value beyond Achilles that fuels and enables Achilles' arrogance.

There was only one person Achilles was ever willing to put on a pedestal above himself. He believes Patroclus is worth extending the Trojan War and keeping thousands of families apart for ten years (a separate discourse on this). He holds Patroclus in the absolute highest regard. On multiple occasions, although Patroclus only consciously acknowledges two, Achilles defers to what Patroclus' wants. Despite his godliness, which he is fully aware of, Achilles is willing to submit himself to Patroclus.

Patroclus is always in awe of Achilles and in disbelief that he managed to land such a hot piece of a**. Through the first two thirds of the book, Achilles also repeatedly mentions how equally in awe he is of Patroclus and repeatedly tries to get Patroclus to stand by his side as an equal. However, Patroclus' self-contempt will not allow him to see himself as Achilles' equal. Achilles makes many attempts to put Patroclus' needs first, but Patroclus consistently rebuffs these efforts and insists his needs be second to Achilles'. Over time, Patroclus trains Achilles to see his (Achilles') needs above his own (Patroclus'). Due to a highly privileged upbringing, Achilles knows no better than to gradually accept this as fact and ends up taking it for granted.

The only person who could have taught Achilles to know better and to understand reason is Patroclus himself (and probably Chiron, but Chiron isn't the one who is constantly and seductively whispering in Achilles' ears for 20 odd years). Patroclus was everything that tethered Achilles to his gentleness and humanity. However, Patroclus dotes on and spoils Achilles far too much. He makes himself, and is grateful to be, the rug that Achilles wipes his shoes on (despite Achilles equal insistence to clean off Patroclus' shoes).

With all this pre-established cognitive wiring, can we blame Achilles for being the densest of all walnuts when it comes to Patroclus' feelings and needs? (The answer is yes, and I place equal blame on Achilles as I do Patroclus for all of this.) Until the last third of the book, Patroclus is the only person who could possibly force their will on Achilles. He loved and respected both his parents, but he was defiant even against them. Of course, Patroclus has neither parent's pride and does not ever seek to force his will on Achilles or anyone else (something which he is definitely loved for). He loves Achilles and genuinely wants everything that would make Achilles happy.

Most crucial to this whole rant thought, Patroclus also refuses to acknowledge (read: zero self-confidence) that he has the power to stay Achilles' hand. Patroclus forgets he has a voice. He forgets his opinions and feelings are worth of acknowledgement. He forgets to be selfish and fight for what he wants (outside of Achilles' survival).

In true Patroclus fashion (forever putting others before himself), he finally stands up against Achilles for Briseis' sake. Although he has secured Briseis' temporary safety, he is far too late and Achilles has already been swimming in the deep end for a good thirty minutes. Achilles is entrenched in the belief that he and Patroclus are of the same mind, that his wants must also be Patroclus' wants. While he is wounded by the betrayal, Achilles cannot and does not stay mad at Patroclus because he knows his immortal glory is also what Patroclus is trying to build and preserve.

This is as deep as Achilles' understanding goes though. Achilles' belief system has been shaped too perfectly. His cause is Patroclus' cause, any ancillary motivation is but an afterthought. The blinders are up and Achilles only has eyes for his immortal glory. He is blind to how much pain was necessary to provoke Patroclus into mutiny against him. He is unaware of the searing grief it caused Patroclus (in contrast, Briseis immediately understands how severely this betrayal affects Patroclus). Worse, Achilles is completely ignorant of Patroclus' true reasoning and displays blatant lack of concern to Patroclus' emotional wellbeing by immediately launching into how he and Thetis have concocted a plan to let thousands of more Greeks suffer for the sake of his honor. Patroclus is fighting (albeit too late) to bring Achilles back to his humanity and spare innocent people from needless brutality. He has literally and physically spilt blood to right the wrongs he finally opened his eyes to, and Achilles undoes it all in one, idle stroke.

Patroclus was the only person who could keep Achilles grounded, but his infinite love only made him wish to see Achilles fly free. Patroclus was the only person who could scold Achilles into seeing the wrong in his actions and beliefs, but his dotage stayed his tongue and he instead chose to maintain Achilles naivete. Patroclus was the only person who could raise Achilles to his best self and also utterly break him, but his self-contempt did not allow him to acknowledge that he had the power, and thus responsibility, to guide Achilles. Patroclus failed to take meaningful action earlier because he had little faith that his actions and words would matter (despite Achilles, Briseis, and Chiron repeatedly trying to convince him otherwise). He eventually builds up the confidence to believe he is at least worthy of dying for someone he loves, thus cursing grief upon those who love him.

[justforbooks]

Ernst Jünger was born on March 29, 1895. He was a highly decorated Imperial German soldier, author, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel.

The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Jünger was able to enlist in the German Army on the outbreak of World War I in 1914. During an ill-fated offensive in 1918 Jünger's suffered the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.

He wrote against liberal values and democracy, but rejected advances of the rising Nazis. In the aftermath of World War II, Jünger was treated with some suspicion as a possible fellow traveller of the Nazis. By the latter stages of the Cold War, his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Jünger ended life as an honoured literary figure, although critics continued to charge him with the alleged glorification of war as a transcendental experience in some of his early works.

Jünger came from an agnostic family and did not hold to any particular belief in God, yet shortly before he died he converted to Roman Catholicism. A year before his death, Jünger was received into the Catholic Church and began to receive the Sacraments. He died on 17 February 1998 in Riedlingen, Upper Swabia, aged 102. He was the last living bearer of the military version of the order of the Pour le Mérite. His body was buried at Wilflingen Cemetery. Jünger's last home in Wilflingen, Jünger-Haus Wilflingen, is now a museum.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[archer3-13]

Thoughts on Other Students in 3H

in no particular order

Hubert: evil snake boi, i kinda like you. i just wish there was more actual meat to ya then what there is. still, he does his role effectively and unlike edelgard plays into the whole evil empire thing with more gusto so i ironically find him more palatable because atleast the game isnt trying to pretend he isnt shady as fuck.

Dedue: oddly charming despite his straight laced attitude, he gets some interesting nuance in how well he highly respects (cough loves cough) dimitri and likes individual people from the blue lions, he doesnt have any particular fondness for faerghus as a whole which is definitely understandable given his history. hes essentially using the camus/murdoch aspect of undying loyalty and even borrows elements of the female camuses line of romantic interest in their liege however heavily implied it might be and applying that to a male playable character. Plus he just has some fun and interesting interactions with other characters in general.

Lorenz: I have difficulty saying whether i like him. on the one hand, he ended up being more multidimensional then i thought he was going to be with his internal conflict between keeping up appearances for the sake social status and societal order and his desire to pursue his own personal interests and ideals against the needs of his father and thus societal conventions. on the other hand, the game never really runs with this as much as it should and hes still treated as a bit of a joke character so... c+ to b? 

Ingrid: the token heterosexual of the blue lions whos still kinda gay anyways, her whole struggle with being a knight over a housewife seems a bit odd on the surface considering theres plenty of female knights and no one throws much of a fuss in universe, until you learn that it isnt so much that society expects her to do it as matter of course and more so that shes struggling with whether to pursue personal duty to her family or personal desires and ideals kinda like lorenz. in that respect she hits the mark a bit better then he does.

Raphael: kinda insubstantial but i liked him anyways, his sheer exuberance can be kinda refreshing in the games darker moments and hes got a few angles of his own such as his refusal to consider his parents deaths as part of a larger conspiracy so as to not hurt his friendship with ignatz nor ruin his own life and his sisters. plus hes just generally a nice guy. like a big huggable bear. just a shame that being a nice kinda dumb huggable bear is all thats really done with him.

Ignatz: his painting stuff and personal insecurities about wanting to do it over being a knight which his parents want him to do, more of that duty over desires and ideals thing again, is well enough and his probably misplaced guilt over raphaels misfortunes is definitely a highlight of him but he never really grabs as a character for some reason. probably because theres a lot of other characters in the game that hit those same marks and do it better then him.

Sylvain: has a lot of aspects that never really feel like they get proper follow up, his big thing is less womanizer and more so that he covers up his own mistrust and personal feeling by pretending to be a shameless flirt and philanderer. basically, maybe the emotional pain will go away if i flirt with girls and act the fool. but again there never really feels like theres any proper follow up for all this, others comment on it and then its more often then not dropped in story. hes fun enough but never really realized if that makes sense.

Caspar: shonen protagonist is kinda an apt word to describe him honestly, and that idealism of his clashes with the more grey on grey morality of the world hes within which is never a particularly bad direction to take the shonen bois in if done well like hunter x hunter. And he is done well, or at least satisfactorily to the point that hes another one i ended up liking more then i thought i would. his problem is more so that his interactions with most other characters in the main cast which feel duller then they should on most occasions.

Dorothea: probably gonna get a bit of shit for this, but i have no interest in her. her insecurities about her future and getting a good husband is well and interesting but manuela does that better honestly and outside of that dorotheas a bit... not shallow but hazy and insubstantial if you will. she obviously has appeal to people but like ignatz she failed to grab me in part because others did what she did and better within the game itself.

Ashe: soft boi chose to be soft instead of hard, one of the characters i found liking and one i expected to kinda like to begin with. in game he gets accused of being childish and naive a lot but i dont see it personally, hes not naive but more so tries to look for the best in people and in life like lonato did all those years ago for him. that said, the speed with which lonato dies damages his identity as a character a bit by happening before we really get a chance to feel for his relation to lonato, its not to big a bug bear as it doesnt hurt his character all that much but it does feel a bit frustrating.

Felix: teenage angst personified, his main gripes seem to be a distaste of warrior culture and its glorification of bloodshed and sacrifice but instead of approaching it with sadness or pacifism, he lashes out against what he feels is the unfairness of the world. hes not exactly wrong in his feelings and as a character it makes sense and works for his abrasive attitude, and its an interesting twist to the navarre type to have their isolation come not from stoicism nor sheer blood lust or a combo of the two but rather from a rage against the machine of society mindset.

Ferdinand: he got more interesting as i got farther along, and i personally feel he works the best as a character when going against edelgard since thats where more of his personal drama comes from. hes eager to succeed and prove himself worthy of his title over time and holds a chivalrous mindset very similar to others in the cast but his growth is less about learning how to hold onto those ideals in the face of reality for the sake of personal fulfillment but more so about learning to define himself by himself and not by societies needs. ultimately he comes to value chivalry not because its what people tell him to value but because he truly values it and i enjoy that. but its also why i feel he works better on other routes then edelgards since there hes still valuing himself not for himself but for the expectations society or edelgard in this case is placing him under, one tyrant for another in a sense. i admit i dont remember much about him on edelgards route though because i just like him more on the others.

Leonie: poorly timed support aside, she has an odd charm to her that a lot of modern fire emblem characters just dont have anymore. but knuckling past jeralt senpai shes an interesting blend of stingy and work effort that goes to inform itself and her relations to others. and like a lot of the golden deer she has a lackadaisical attitude of ‘i might not know what the fuck is happening, but i do know someone needs an ass whooping!’ and it works especially well in her case since her character is very attuned towards focusing more on her personal matters then the grand scheme of things because she has rent due in a few months. if she was in a more traditional fe set up she would definitely be a beowolf archtype that you need to pay to recruit. in fact im surprised thats not an option on other routes to begin with for her.

Hilda: honestly suprised me by not being a pure serra type. she has aspects of that on the surface with the selfish almost vain attitude towards life and others bur well serra is more about puffing herself up to hide insecurity and contribute towards a desperate desire for grand social status, Hilda downplays herself and her abilities due to living in her brothers shadow if unintentionally and seeing the stress it can bring. they’re both lazy and vain, on the surface anyways, always getting others to do their work for them but well serra seeks more social status to escape it hilda seeks less social status to escape it. plus it was kinda funny to see hilda act as claudes unofficial number 2 you could still recruit.

Lindhart: Sleepy boi needs a nap and thats kinda it really. exaggeration maybe but unlike a lot of characters in the game and the series as a whole he really doesnt have a reason to be there as a character. as a unit certainly but not a character, in terms of motivation anyways. He hates blood, fighting and violence, hed rather sleep or pursue personal interests then work or politics, hes insightful and intelligent but the important players in the plot have other advisers and hes not interested in stepping up in that regard anyways. his only real reason for being there is academic interest and even then a pin has to be put in that when war breaks out. hes not a bad character overall though, his sleepiness and insight make for an interesting double act along with his blunt mannerisms, i just have trouble pinning down motivations for him.

Mercedes: big team mom energy, which i suppose goes along with the whole being older then everyone thing. a bit dopey and airheaded at first glance shes one of the more receptive characters to how others are feeling and well she does try to nurture shes not above scolding if she feels it would help someone more then praise and reassurance. of course shes also very detached to events of the world mostly just there to help the people around her from the bottom rather then the top which is not an insult and more one of the things i find fascinating about her. it all makes for a very interesting character and one of my personal favorites of the cast.

Annette: overworker, issues with her dad, magic bubbly, and hits things with axes. a nice recipe of a character but it never feels as if the game can get it all to blend properly. more so to the point is that most of these elements work independently of each other and not to inform each other despite the games insistence. theres a lot of dramatic potential involving her father as well and though the game makes the best use of those aspects its not to the benefit of the rest of her character. it doesnt hurt her either though and she has some appealing dialogue with other characters.

Marianne: I had trouble getting to like her, perhaps more so then any other character among the other students. not because i hated her but because shes, well, very boring. alot of the characters in the game are into the self deprecation thing already and well her personality aspects of acting quite and submissive to fall into the background from a lack of self confidence it also feels like the game came up with two different explanations for it and couldnt settle on whether it was because of her adoptive fathers pressure or her families history and instead of weaving both together decided to use them interchangeably. Sometimes shes a wallflower because of her father and a lack of confidence to state her mind and self loathing over that lack of confidence, other times its because of her lineage and self loathing over her cursed history. never really at the same time.

Bernadetta: another odd favorite for me. recent support changes aside, the basic gist of her history remains the same in that her father was a tyrant in regards to her future which caused her to grow up with no confidence and a crippling fear of society, so shes already off to a good start as a character by basically doing mariannes schtik but better. well its hard for me to definitely say she ever grows past that as a character, thats fine in my opinion because her development is less stop being a recluse because society demands you dont and more so about making actual friends and learning that not all people are garbage fires just most of them. in most of her supports anyways. she just feels the most rewarding to interact with alright, and she was the one i always felt the most upset to mess up a speak thing with. Let us hug and stay inside watching cartoons together.

Petra: i went in wanting to like her and really liking her at first, but shes hit a middle of the road for me now. her speech gimmick wasn't particularly egregious and gets even less noticeable after the timeskip, but her actual character is a very straight forward ‘national pride demands independence’ package and doesnt really escape past that boundary all that much. its very understandable motivation, id even go so far as to say that shes the one with the best reasons to betray the empire of the black eagles characters, so like ferdinand i feel she works better outside of the black eagles in term of her own character identity and motivation/development as she finally stands up for her peoples right to exist on their own in an fe6 echidna kinda fashion. outside of that though shes... foreign to the other characters. thats kinda it.

Lysithia: as a unit she hits like a truck, as a character shes functional but hardly revolutionary for the series. i mean i did like her since i have a fondness for her archtype of weird magic prodigy poor social skills, but more so that she doesn't hit any particularly new notes in that regard. Shes a lot of lute, with some delthea childishness in her, some of sanakis sharper political wit and dark history, and a bit of miriels scientist on top. that said its all blended very nicely and she has some nice scenes for herself that got me to feel and care for her, some kinda adorable moments, and a history well woven into the games background and more so then most of the other deer and a lot of the other characters from across the houses in general. for a minor character anyways.

you may now all stone me to death.

[stairstab]

[EDIT: I wrote this a very long time ago, and I’d like to revisit it. I revised a lot of it and I’d appreciate if y’all took a moment to read it. I’ve added lots of paragraph breaks and font flourishes to allow for easier reading.]

On: Neoliberal Feminism and the Co-opting of the Struggle Under Capitalism

Note: I am drawing a dichotomy, for a moment, between ‘neoliberal feminism’, which represents capitalistic endeavors to co-opt and market a defanged, watered down version of feminism, and ‘marxist feminism’, which represents the historical revolutionary leftist movement to abolish both patriachy and wage slavery. 

The Marxist feminism I will discuss here will deal with the conglomerate, or as I like to call it, the hydra. By contrast, the neoliberal feminism I discuss here will view oppression in a more diluted, individualist sense and will market itself around ‘woke progressivism’ in an attempt to make money, create a cultivated identity, and/or general social capital. 

There is one subject that reveals the massive gap between mainstream feminist ideals and marxist ones, and that is: 

Ending the wage gap vs. ending wage slavery completely.

It is one of the most pervasive and widely discussed subjects regarding feminism today, and it so expertly shows the shallow, privileged lines of thought that go into neoliberal feminism. It is about getting what is yours, about being critical when it suits you, but not too critical. 

You can judge a makeup company for testing on animals or not using vegan or fair trade ingredients or for using a racist model in an ad and cause massive liberal outcry, but don’t you dare question the very foundation of the makeup industry. Don’t talk about how makeup is used to capitulate and objectify women, don’t talk about the effects that the industry has on womens body image and self esteem, don’t talk about how exploitative of an industry it is or how it relies on multiple different hierarchical power structures to even exist. 

So, when we see corporations using feminist/leftist imagery to appeal to liberal women, we aren’t seeing a shift in the overton window or a new horizon for progressivism, we are seeing the commodification of our struggles. 

When Cheerios has a multiracial family in their ad, they’re targeting a specific audience to buy their product. When McDonalds has a gay couple in their ad, they’re targeting a specific audience. It is the exact same as when their are elderly people or moms or athletes in a commercial. It is targeted advertising.

You are being convinced that buying a product is a revolutionary act. You are being manipulated into forming a cultivated identity around this product. 

It is Feminist(tm) sponsored by Sephora(c)!

We’ve learned to identify this useless form of feminism very easily, without having to view it in a very marxist way at all. We knew that Kendall Jenner handing a Pepsi to a cop was the dumbest shit we’ve ever seen. We know that appealing to our oppressors is just victim blaming horseshit, we know that corporations do not give a shit about civil rights and that they only do this shit to make money off of stupid neoliberals. But what happens when we go past what we know? How much deeper can we go into why this shit is stupid and doesn’t work? 

For starters, we need to realize something:

Companies will pat themselves on the back for basic human decency, when if you peeked behind the curtain, they are the orchestrators of our tribulation and we recieve scraps compared to what they have stolen.

(water bottle companies “sponsoring” Flint is one example)

When we apply a magnifying lens to basic feminist ideals, what should we find but a deep trench where we once saw a crack in the pavement. Take, for instance, abortion. In mainstream feminism, abortion is heralded as a tool of freedom that is necessary for true bodily autonomy. Perfectly agreeable. But let’s go deeper. How is the pro-choice movement funded? How is it affected by capitalism? By racism? How do poor and/or marginalized women get access to these abortions? What about the deep history of eugenics that’s tied to it? What would abortion care look like under Socialism and how would that be different to how it is now, under Capitalism? These are all questions we need to ask in order to look deeper into these problems.

We talk about the glass ceiling, we talk about the wage gap. We pay lip service to ideas like equality and justice and the destruction of conservatism and fascism. but thats as deep as it ever goes. And it’s another problem altogether that a lot of so-called feminists are barely left-leaning at all, and often converse with, empathize with, or even believe fascist ideals

(And by the way, this includes TERFs. anyone who looks past the curtain of transphobic reactionary ideology can see they hold no actually radical beliefs. They abuse hatred of neoliberal mainstream feminism to pull people into a just-as-shallow iteration of it with a spicy transphobic twist. They are neoliberal feminists in their own right, with superficial explanations for profound problems and a lack of actual materialist analysis.) 

Neoliberal feminism is the form of feminism that took hold in the mainstream because it poses very little actual threat to the status quo. 

The mainstream movement does everything it can to ignore and even actively avoid the very foundations of its cause. Much like how unions and other leftist institutions ousted the reds and pretended shallow reformation and centrist garbage was responsible for their great feats, feminism has cut any ties with any actually revolutionary ideas and is now pretending that twitter hashtags about pink lattes or commercials for Gay Rights or ANYTHING having to do with hillary clinton have changed or helped anything. and anyone who does manage to make feminist news with any sort of actual revolutionary ideas has those ideas hidden away or watered down. 

or, god forbid, made into merchandise.

we’ve become comfortable with critiquing certain aspects of neoliberal feminism, like the glorification of the “female drone operators”, but we need to fundamentally understand that nothing that comes from neoliberal feminism is worth putting weight behind. every aspect of it can be improved by changing its very core focus to the root causes of our struggles. 

capitalism being the most important one of them all, the one that binds us not by nation or creed, but by our subjugated position among the exploited masses and below the tyrannical hand of the bourgeoise. 

There are other heads to this hydra though, of course. Nationalism and xenophobia, white supremacy, historical negationism, patriarchy, etc. Any hierarchical structure is a friend to capitalism and that all of these structures are heavily weakened with the abolition of capitalism. Racism, ableism, transphobia and homophobia are all friends of capitalism. and you cannot diminish or destroy these things without eliminating the greatest generator of their power structure.

But there are other institutions that uphold cruelty and injustice. Emma Goldman once wrote:

“Religion, the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the stronghold of man's enslavement and all the horrors it entails.”

Here, she represents her own version of the hydra. Religion, property, and the government. They all work together, each a heel in our collective spines. She goes on to explain that religion (specifically Christianity in America) works to quell rebellion and skepticism, property is capitalism, and the government represents unjust law and the American governments monopoly on violence. Goldman knew that oppression is not just one beast, that it exists as a conglomerate of ideas that each work with hierarchy of power.

These are fundamental understandings that one cannot achieve within neoliberal ideas of feminism. Capitalism is not good in any capacity, it is not morally justifiable. Ayn Rand did not have ‘girl power’. Benevolent corporatism will not save us. Yes, you can criticize things within capitalism in a feminist context without criticizing capitalism itself, but it takes a certain amount of privilege, bigotry, and/or ignorance to do so. (And remember that ignorance is a weapon of oppression)

-

TL;DR: more good could be done on a massive scale if we shifted our focus away from petty neoliberal feminist critiques of society and into more fundamentally widespread and damaging structures such as capitalism, which neoliberal feminism by definition either supports or ignores. 

Stop letting corporations co-opt our struggles. stop letting the privileged few speak for the marginalized many. stop treating the symptoms, and treat the cause. 

There is no true freedom for women under capitalism.

[ivy72376]

BIBLE REFLECTIONS, SEPTEMBER 1-30, 2021

God is our saving health... This Psalm on Neginoth feels prophetic and oddly written for our time; and because of that, it feels strongly powerful and timeless... May we find confidence and hope in the Psalmist's words; as we heed his encouragement to sing for joy unto our Great Healing God, The Saving Health of all the nations; and in holy fear, humbly live our days in obedience to His Way...

#HappySeptember30midnight

Praise is joyful, and worship is solemn... Both are our expressions of thanks and testimonies about the goodness of our God, and His abundant mercy... No matter how we do it on a Sunday or in communal worship, the most important thing is that it reflects in our everyday lives... For how can one keep silent, when God has been so good to answer our prayers... No need to brag what specifically, though, because most assuredly people will know; what should remain our duty is by giving praise and honor, we direct recognition to God's grace and mercy, rather than our own limited efforts and capabilities...

#HappySeptember30

Because God uses a different tape measure... Some people, who find their confidence from the affirmation of others, and who believe that only in becoming thin and "sexy", can they feel satisfied of their own bodies, might have a hard time accepting that fatness is a blessing... But in the Word it is, especially as stated here by the Psalmist (v. 11)... And so, may I suggest that many of us should expand our vocabularies further, because being fat is not quite exactly the same as being obese; the former means more fleshy and curvaceous, while the other is most often a debilitating medical condition... If one is fat, but physically active, eats nutritiously, sleeps well, and has a generally sunny disposition in life, that person is healthy compared to thin, slim and wiry people who lounge around or drag their feet while walking, binge on junk food or doesn't eat at least three balanced and complete meals per day, sleeps badly, grumpy and moody and most often depressed, a host of health syndromes and allergies, and has gone through several surgeries to remove inflammations, cysts, stones and whatnot (no offense meant to the latter group, some of whom with which I am personally related by blood, extended families and work)... May we take the perspective of the Psalmist, that it is only by living lives of humility and obedience to God can we have true good health, both physically and spiritually... To aspire to be thin just to fit that beautiful dress in the store rack is ungodly and an act of conforming to the world; but a life of prayer, faithfulness, honesty and thankfulness to God that He has made us wonderfully and well--flabs, aches, warts and all--so that in all moments of our lives, we can give praise and glory to Him, not just with our words, but with our actions and motivations, is true higher and heavenly level lifestyle indeed...

#HappySeptember29midnight

In the war of words, God's justice reigns... Especially because evil people, more so now in the social media age, craftily and cruelly abuse this as their most destructive battleground and strategy; at every turn, honing their skills to put down, insulting and abusing, harassing and oppressing people who are humbly living and doing the best they can to live peaceably and honestly, and even so far as attacking and striking those who seek to bring life, right knowledge, wisdom and peace to all... But when the latter put their faith in God, trusting Him to uphold their cause and bring them justice and fairness, He will always hear and protect, deliver and save them from the evil machinations, psychological, mental and emotional impact of the wicked people's words and actions... May we wisely consider our motivations and assertions, our thoughts, speech and deeds, so that like the Psalmist, we can confidently declare, "And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of His doing. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory."...

#HappySeptember29

Many times in the lives of those whom God loves and cares for, there are wilderness moments: when wealth, achievements, careers, endeavors, positions, status and relationships are seen and felt as worthless... They may not actually be so, but it is in these moments that God makes His beloved people realize that He is all that they need... Yes, the apostle Peter prophesied that all the elements will melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10-12), and Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37)... But, like the Psalmist, they too believed that if we but trust in and have faith in Him, follow His will and leading, God will restore everything, to more than their former glory and goodness; and especially so, because in the Bible, fatness is a result of blessing and praise (Genesis 27:28), while thinness (leanness, or slim-ness) is associated with cursing and punishment (Isaiah 10:16), so that may we sing along with the Psalmist, "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips" (v. 5)...

#HappySeptember28midnight

Openly, greatly... This Psalm is to be sung by Jeduthun, one of the chief singers in the temple, and his group... By name and lifelong function, the Jeduthun are called to be lead lauders or praisers of God, and everything He is in the lives of His people: our rock, our salvation, our deliverer... What should be noted well is that with this trust and hope, God's people can be confident that in all the uncertainties and troubles of human life, we shall not be moved (v. 6); and even if we should be moved, He will be there to strengthen, equip and support, so that we are not moved greatly (v. 1), in order that we are not weakened and lose heart... What is truer and more sure instead is that in openly praising God, in sincerely and transparently dedicating our lives and efforts to Him, He can and will move greatly and mightily in and through us...

#HappySeptember28

This Psalm is another Neginah, to be played on stringed instruments... But it is not a sad song, because it doesn't reflect despair or distress by the Psalmist... What it seeks to show us though, is that no matter the ups and downs and turbulence of life, those who put their trust and hope in God (not on wealthy foreign sponsors, supporters, bureaucratic backers, or influential connections), though they may not rise to the high echelons of power and status in society, can rest secured and be at peace; because God is the only help and covering they need, their hiding place, their sure hope, the inspiration of their obedience, their strength and the substance of their confidence... May we not boast of what we have, what we have attained, how secure we are because we are well-connected, and how steady and rich life seems to be because of whom we know; for God can destroy all those things (that have become our idols) in one snap... But may we humbly live and glorify God and His abundant mercy and goodness, as we seek to live out His peace to all, His life-giving spirit flowing like mighty rivers from us, to a darkened and fearful world...

#HappySeptember27midnight

This song is titled Shushaneduth, for as biblical translations say, "the lily of testimony", it is to be played on the cymbals that are shaped like the lily-flower, and therefore every word is a strong declaration... It is also a Michtam, as written, for it is an eternal proclamation... Indeed, in the life of God's people, many enemies abound, those who--out of envy and greed-- oppress, harass, bully, and abuse others, in order to promote themselves, and to try to deprive them from learning the truth, to be truly saved, to receive the grace and goodness due to them... Yet, as narrated in the song, God's people never lack the talent, the skill, the strength and help in times of oppression, tribulation and trouble; even in the face of hypocrites, pretentious and duplicitous, evil and wicked people, God's people will be saved and upheld... And in whatever challenge they may face, even if struck and put down, stomped upon, those who truly fear God, who remain humbly obedient to His call to bring life and peace as His children, will have the upper hand and the victory, as the Psalmist said in verse 12, "Through our God we shall do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies"...

#HappySeptember27

Even in physical, verbal, and spiritual ambush, God is our defense... And this lament by the Psalmist, in this third Altaschith and Michtam, still holds true in the life of God's people today... Not only with evil people outside of the faith and normal culture, but even within the body of Christ: some pretend to have been saved and surrendered their lives to God, yet are still driven by materialism and envy, worldliness, and glorification of "slim and sexy" body size, body-hugging and revealing clothes (unless one has a mental disorder, that is), rather than the growth and maturity of their spirits (because honestly, if one claims to be a child of God, proclaiming themselves to live in holiness and not conforming to the lusts of the world, yet still says "oh, it is good to be sexy", or "hey, aren't you sexy?", isn't one being lustful and worldly, a hypocrite of the faith by which he calls himself, in direct disobedience to what our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:28? Hmmm... I think I have just borrowed some of Lewis and Tolkien's words...)... Anyway, as the Psalmist said, these people belch out their words, showing us by the stench of their speech, what are inside their minds and bellies... Their words are swords, acting to be sweet and diplomatic talkers, yet are full of insults, put downs and insinuations... They lie in wait that the faithful make one mistake, and like hungry vultures, attack by becoming judgmental, hurling insults and slander, puff up their pride and prejudices, and claim themselves more holy, more righteous, more knowledgeable, wiser and right... The Psalmist only has harsh words for them, in imploring God for their downfall... But because our Lord told us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), we can only pray that we be delivered by the traps, bullying, harassment, abuse and oppression of such people... For truly, for those who hold on to their faith and trust in God, who live in humility, and those who strive to live peaceably with all, no matter how disagreeable they may be, we "can sing: God is our defense, and the God of our mercy"...

#HappySeptember26midnight

This Psalm is a continuation of the previous one, both an Altaschith and a Michtam, so that we may not forget that God's deliverance and preservation are true and timeless... May we learn to set our lives, our words, our actions and motivations in order, because surely, "there is a reward for the righteous, or those who do right; because God is not only Creator and Lord, He is the Supreme and Great Judge of the earth too" (v. 11)...

#HappySeptember26

God's anointed one shall not be destroyed... This psalm is both an Altaschith, "do not destroy", which means that both the song and the people for whom and by whom it is sung, are sealed for preservation... It is also a Michtam, a golden or precious writing, again doubly referring to the song itself, and the heart behind it... During the days when he was persecuted by King Saul, David declared and claimed this song, both to preserve himself and that of King Saul... Many of us have yet to attain that level of forgiveness and understanding, but that is actually the heart of God... May we learn to grow into the spirit of the song, as we go through difficulties and calamities; for surely, no matter how hard life may be, we can take cover and find refuge under the mighty wings of our God (v. 1)...

#HappySeptember25midnight

King David killed Goliath during wartime... Which even in their times and cultures that maintain a sort of unwritten Articles of War, should have merited no consequential punishment after... Indeed, there wasn't, because David became anointed... But then, he wasn't king at the time, because King Saul was still on the throne, so the Philistine people and relatives of Goliath exacted their vendetta, while David was on the run for his life, and helpless... We realize that even then and until now, war doesn't pay; because the spark of hatred, insult, offense and affront will always remain in the hearts of surviving families, brethren and comrades, fuelling another conflagration of attack and war... For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ came and proclaimed, "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9), to declare that wars and conflicts are normal human experiences, but the ones who accept their calling to attune their lives vertically to the One who created and rules over all, must abandon all feelings of hatred, rage, resentment, vendetta and vengeance, leaving these all up to Him (Deuteronomy 32:35)... Then, we can have this hope: to not take offense at slights and insults (Matthew 5:11), at persecutions, threats and assaults (2 Corinthians 4:8), because "what time we are afraid, we can trust in God" (v. 3, 4), for He is for us (v. 9) who humbly submit to His will; and so we need not fear what man can do to us (v. 11, Matthew 10:28)... May we find strength and peace in this...

#HappySeptember25

Another Maschil on the Neginoth teaches us again of a timeless truth: that God's people are not immune in a world of suffering and oppression... Like King David, God's people are normal human beings, who oftentimes get desperate and seek a way out... But that is never a good way, because as the king realized with his own troubles, no matter how difficult life gets, God will always sustain those who look up to Him, and surrender their cares and burdens to Him (v. 22, the same words his root and offspring Jesus Christ promised in Matthew 11:29)... Yes, if we but trust God enough, not be proud of ourselves and feel entitled, if we are able and as long as it is within our power and good conscience--to accept the help and support of others, whoever they may be (because no matter from which direction it comes from, all help, whether we think the people offering them are sincere or not, are actually gifts from God), then we will feel our burdens become easier and lighter... They do not disappear though, but God will give us the strength to manage them; and we will gain the confidence that in this life's journey, we are not alone, because of God and the people He sends our way; and we are not pressured to feel and act like the world revolves around us, because it doesn't; but that its every moment should be lived for the One who created us and set us free to enjoy eternity with Him...

#HappySeptember24midnight

On this chapter, another Maschil of eternal truth, to be played on the Neginoth, or stringed instruments, we are sobered by the Psalmist's realization of King David's predicament: how that strangers who don't even know much about him, and to whom he had only shown respect, could sell him out to his enemy, and endanger his life... This situation is not new, because throughout history, many more people are that selfish and greedy, who, without even lifting a finger to help, would gladly betray others to save their own skin, or for a profit... And even in our social media age, groups of people abound, who destroy other people's reputation, or slander and shoot down the truth and good message that they bring, just to make themselves appear knowledgeable, and feel good, and for the very crafty, earn some bonus points, or even financial rewards for trolling... Yet, King David's words are timeless too: for God will not have mercy on liars, slanderers, blasphemers and evildoers... He will strengthen His faithful ones, deliver them and give them justice, and will accomplish His desire on His enemies, and those that harm His people--whether that be for their good or destruction, is out of our hands, for God shall deal with each person, according to the measure of their words and deeds... May we be humbled, may we be more circumspect, may we be more respectful and true...

#HappySeptember24

 Today's psalm is a Maschil, a song of eternal truth, specifically instructed to be played on a Mahalath, a lute or lyre or a guitar, because it is a sad song... And we realize why: because for the God who made us, and who has such glorious plans for our future; to not be acknowledged, to be ignored, whose presence and love are to be denied, is the saddest realization of all... Who are we to think that the world revolves around us; and to believe that we are entitled to comfort, convenience, favor and grace, without being humble enough to acknowledge our dependence on God, and the help and community of other people... If we hadn't grown into that learning yet, this pandemic should have made us realize that we could get sick and die any moment, but for the favor the Lord grants us when we humbly pray and implore to be given yet another day: to work, to earn our keep, to realize our dreams, to help and to love and cherish the people He sends our way... May sad songs remind us of the One who loves us truly, Who will never leave us when we cling on to Him in faith, and who daily showers us with new mercies every morning He so graciously wakes us up to until the end of our days...

#HappySeptember23midnight

 Evil people are consistent: doing mischief, being proud, abusive and oppressive, greedy and materialistic... Yet this Maschil reminds us of an eternal truth: their hope and trust in themselves, their positions and connections, and their wealth will come to nothing... Because the only One truly worth trusting in is God; for He will come to the rescue of His faithful ones, and will always be a source of strength and hope for them...

#HappySeptember23

 The ultimate repentance Psalm... Which many of us like to preach about and try to parrot after, especially as it was penned by the king who was after God's own heart himself... What many people don't realize and explore more is that first, this Psalm was addressed to The Chief Musician, which Jewish and Bible scholars understand to be God Himself... And with such tall appeal to the highest authority in the universe, one should be humbled and shamed enough not to sin again... Hence, it was but right that in his later years, King David indeed reformed himself and lessened his cavorting with his harem, especially since his double crime of adultery and murder went unpunished by the Law of Moses as mandated in the Ten Commandments, yet resulted in the death of his newborn son... And we learn too that even in his last days, he reaped the consequences of his sin by being impotent enough to stop his daughter from being raped by her half brother, and his beautiful son and then-heir Absalom murder his rapist-half brother, and organizing a rebellion, which led to his death... It was to King David's memorial that we learn that even the seemingly holiest and favored people can sin most depravedly... However God is merciful, for when they repent, they are forgiven and renewed... Unfortunately however, or fortunately if we take the perspective from the Word, forgiveness is a lifetime process where the repentant sinner must bear the evil and tragic consequences of the past... Being forgiven doesn't mean getting away scot-free for life; it simply means that when vengeance and justice are demanded, the offender must and can actually pay the price with confidence and faith, no matter how painful and devastating it may be... For the grace given by forgiveness as what this Psalm wants us to learn, is not being freed from the responsibility of owning up to our faults; but because God has forgiven us, we now have more grace to weather the aftermath; and so be able to face the future with trust and faith in Him, Who can create in us clean hearts, and renew a right spirit within...

#HappySeptember22midnight

 Asaph and his sons declare in this psalm what is most important to God: it is not offerings or flattering words that are not matched by disobedient and prideful living, but thanksgiving and praise, humility, making true our promise to live for Him, and calling on His Name... May we be humbled and convicted, as we set our words, our motivations, and our deeds consistently and right...

#HappySeptember22

Here is another pragmatic song for the performance of the sons of Korah, rubbing in the wisdom that dependence on earthly wealth, status, position and possessions are nothing without God, particularly since we cannot bring them with us to the grave... Even if places, buildings and monuments are named after us, still what counts in the afterlife are not these but our relationship with a physically intangible God, whose work in our lives can be made manifest through moments lived in humility and selfless service and generosity to others, in not flaunting our wealth even if we say we have worked hard to earn it, but to share with and bless those less fortunate than us... Truly, if in this pandemic we believe that lifting ourselves up is one way to thrive, then we must get down from our high horses, for a life that truly matters is one where the will and the love of God matters more, and where the care and benefit of the weaker and oppressed ones matter more than our reputation, our fame, our image, our body size, and our convenience...

#HappySeptember21midnight

Setting our hopes in the right places... And may our visions not be misaligned too... As what this Psalm from the sons of Korah reminds us of... That we must worship and serve the One True God, Who commands His loving kindness then from the physical Mount Zion and even now and in the future, from the spiritual Zion of His kingdom, if we are to live meaningful lives... This is not a matter of compulsion, because the Word says that even kings and leaders of the earth who would like to have all glory to themselves are threatened by this faith, and they and those they put their hope in are destroyed; which means that many of our world and religious leaders of today may mandate some form of religion or faith, but we know it is false; for as it is laid bare, it only serves their own selfish and greedy purposes, to enrich themselves and hold on to power and authority at the expense of others... But we still can hope and trust in God, who ultimately has the upper hand, and declare the creed as what the Psalmist proclaims, "this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death"...

#HappySeptember21

Worshipping with understanding (v. 7)... Is what the sons of Korah, some of the premier lead singers and musicians in God's temple, remind the people then and even until now... God did not make us stupid automatons compelled to render service through praise and worship; because though His laws rule the universe, but our God is never a dictator... The sons of Korah encourage us to remember His greatness, His goodness and mercy, and that we are nothing without Him... Incidentally, today is the start of Jewish Sukkot, the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles; in which the chief aim is to remind God's people that we are all pilgrims and foreigners here on earth; that when it is our time to go, no matter how rich we are, or how high in society we may rise to, that we can never bring with us, even a penny of our wealth beyond the grave... And so with this understanding and full awareness, we worship and praise our God Who gave us life and breath, Who gave us strength and skill, Who gave us wisdom and choice, and Who daily showers us with mercy and grace, no matter what we may have done... May we be humbled, may we be constantly reminded, and may we not lose our hope, trust, obedience and awe...

#HappySeptember20midnight

This chapter starts off one of the higher-pitched songs, probably because it is upon Alamoth, young maidens or virgins, and therefore normally of soprano voices... In here, the Psalmist emphasizes in high voice, that no matter what happens, even if literally the world around us is falling or coming to its end, we can still trust and have hope because, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"... May we take this to heart, stop living stubborn lives in disobedience, so that even if life's troubles overwhelm us, we can be confident of God's words, when He declares, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth"...

#HappySeptember20

Well, what do we know, the Psalms contain a Maschil that is a love song too... Maybe this is one reason why biblical scholars, most of them men obviously, choose to interpret this as referring to the Messiah and His bride, the church; because the verses contain undeniably sensual (that is, ancient versions of fan-girling, a willing harem and concubinage) and therefore a bit inappropriate, innuendos for the Holy Book... Yet, we cannot deny that such high adulation hinting at joyful affection and passion is both a manifestation of God's desire that His people feels for Him, and for married men and women to their spouses too... One need only look at social media feeds to discern that in many cases, husbands and wives seem to adore each other so much even unto the high heavens, second only to God Himself... It is a lifetime truth also, and we need not feel shy when the word of God so plainly tells us of it: that in the same manner that we can so deeply and possessively fall in love and fawn over our significant others, and our offsprings, is actually the same kind of love our God has for us, however physically intangible He may be... For He is truer than most fickle human affections and connections; and even if the ties that bind us to our loved ones get severed at death, yet even beyond and through all eternity, for those who have given their lives to Him in worship and service through living His Word and will, they will never fail to have Truth, His mercy and grace reign throughout their physical lives, and His kingdom and the glory of His presence forever...

#HappySeptember19midnight

A precarious privilege... How the Israelites settled in the holy land, when God made them go to war and drive out the inhabitants that have been living in the land long before them, is still a contentious issue even until this very day... And from the time the Psalmist penned this Maschil and until now, he reminds us of one eternal truth as exemplified in the lives of the Israelite nation, that they still get to experience even just a few days ago: the privilege of being called a holy nation by God is something very precious and vulnerable, for its debatability by people who were left out since they believe that presumably they were not initially included, and how it is always the spark that fuels wars and acts of terrorism around the world... And for us, Gentiles who believe that our Lord Jesus Christ have grafted us into the same promise and blessing, may we be reminded of such precious and dangerous gift too: in a world where the love of many has increasingly gotten cold, which declares that Christianity is now in decline and being abandoned by an increasingly disillusioned and darkened body; now is always the best time to stand up and live our faith, so that the failures of leaders and past generations that have tarnished the faith left to us may be overcome by a better testimony... That yes, nobody is perfect, and no one can gain holiness by our own efforts, church and man-made traditions, creeds, principles, philosophies and traditions alone, but only by lives personally surrendered to God, and in meekness and humility with godly wisdom, lived for His Word and will every day... May we become those better witnesses, those more worthy members of God's family, whose lights shine for all the world to see...

#HappySeptember19

This chapter is a continuation of the previous one, a Maschil, where the Psalmist talks to himself, not to get so disappointed and depressed because he will yet praise God... May we listen in too, and learn; that in spite of the lies and darkness that pervade earthly life, we do not lose heart, because the God we believe, hope and trust in, will always shower us with His truth and light... He gives us life and health, HE IS our life and health...

#HappySeptember18midnight

In this chapter which is another Maschil, or lesson of eternal truth, the Psalmist illustrates for us that depression, or in his term, his soul was 'cast down', can set in for the believer, when even though we praise enthusiastically with the crowd of God's people and pray unceasingly, yet sometimes God seems to not grant our petitions; so that our enemies and even some of our fellow brethren ask and wonder if we are doing right and okay, and where is God in our life if He has not answered our prayers... Yet the Psalmist would have us remember that even in such times when it is emotionally difficult and spiritually draining to go on, if it seems that God is not being favorable to our situation, we still must hope in, praise and bless God; for He will yet save and deliver, and hear us, maybe not immediately when we want it, but in some future time, in His perfectly good time... May we not forget that when it is too painful and difficult to continue, we must not give up if only to take the chance to praise, to hope, to expect and to be able to receive more grace from Him in the future... Because life is not a gamble, these are definitely worth living for...

#HappySeptember18

In this chapter, the Psalmist reminds us of his experience with fair-weather friends who, in his times of illness and sorrow, only wish the worst for him, not bothering to support him in any way, nor lift his spirit up... We should learn from this too: to wisely associate with people who do their best to do good, and to bring out good in others... Good thing for him, the Psalmist has God in his life, protecting him, saving him, healing and blessing him as always... And this God is our God too, and He will do the same for us, when we humbly follow His will in whatever relationship and connection we establish with other people, whether at work or in our personal lives... Let our friendships and communion with others then, be subject to His wisdom, His will, His blessing, and His grace...

#HappySeptember17midnight

In waiting patiently, there is grace and mercy... And this is what the Psalmist wants us to remember; that though we can give all that we can, out of what we have, out of what we can do, out of the time given to us on earth; but it is our trust and hope, our patient endurance and never-ending prayer, conversation and appeal to God that He inclines His ears to... Yes, we can show our love of Him by giving Him out of what He has given us, but elsewhere He said, He "desires mercy (love) and obedience (out of love), not just sacrifice, nor offering" (Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13, 1 Samuel 15:22-23)... God desires that more than speaking about and giving for Him, that we live for Him, and be guided by His will and word each day... May we have the minds to understand and the hearts to humbly obey...

#HappySeptember17

Probably bewildered by all the trouble the world is experiencing right now, even given the fact there are so many well-meaning people praying, giving, helping, sacrificing, but seemingly to no avail for an ever- darkened humanity that steps closer and closer to the edge of destruction, somebody asked: "how does one know if the troubles we are going through are mere trials, or punishments?"... Deep question indeed, but the honest answer is: we don't know, because only God knows and understands what we are going through, how we might get through them, and what will the future hold for each and everyone of us... Indeed we have seen throughout the whole of human history, that good and nice people suffer along with the bad, and more often experience more tragedies than wicked ones... Yet, goodness never dies out, faith never gets snuffed out, and hope never fails; simply because God is good, and He is true to His promises and prophecies... and like the Psalmist here who went through much hardship and tribulations, so that he eventually asked God to make him know and understand when he will die, we too can feel frustrated at times... It is worth remembering however that no matter what we go through, even if we don't understand the why and how, yet we can rest assured that our "now" and our "tomorrow" are in the hands of our God... The important thing is, we don't let these hardships pass without us learning, maturing, becoming better... May we all grow in the grace and knowledge of Him who loves us so much that He gave His Only Son, so we may be able to spend eternity with Him, when we believe, and live the rest of our lives in pure obedience to that faith...

#HappySeptember16midnight

This day incidentally, is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest (and some say, the truest) holiday of the Jews, and the only one of its kind the world over and among all cultures; for unlike other holidays which are usually celebrations, this one is a memorial of prayer, fasting and repentance, in order that the sinful man may get closer to the Holy God... There is much to learn from this holiday, and even from today's chapter, as King David declared... We realize that sometimes due to our sins, sometimes due to life's circumstances, and sometimes due to the cruelty of evil and wicked people, we all undergo suffering and pain... Yet God is gracious; He waits for us to seek forgiveness, to repent of our wrongdoings, and to appeal to Him for help out of the midst of our difficulties... For just as King David believed and experienced His goodness, so too He remains consistent, and will still listen to, commune with, and eternally be a Savior and Deliverer of all those who trust and depend on His mercy and goodness all throughout time...

#HappySeptember16

In this chapter, King David seems to be laying bare his beef against the wicked--those envious people, who clearly manifest their schemes and machinations against those who do what is good, just, fair and right... He also repeatedly presents the marks and benefits of the righteous--people who are humble, who are merciful and generous, peace-loving, promoters of life and justice, who are blessed abundantly yet are always delightedly content with God, His will and Word, and His way of living--and of how God will save and deliver them each time they are in difficulty... Indeed, it takes faith and trust to take the great king at his word; yet, as surely as we believe religious myths and traditions, all the more strongly should we heed this great Psalmist and Israelite King, whose life and reign are recorded in the annals of history and archaeology, as much as his humanity and faith are detailed in the Word... May we have hearts and faith such as his...

#HappySeptember15midnight

It is the height of wickedness to believe that in spite of our deceitful and cruel, yet hypocritical words and actions, we are good, we are doing fine, we are strong and invincible, and God will not hold us accountable... Because God always sees and hears, He will call to account, He will dispense justice and put us all in our proper places and rightful ends... Yet for those who humble themselves and trust in Him, this Psalm of King David declares for us that out of the abundance of God's mercy and grace, they shall be abundantly satisfied... May we have the eyes to see, ears to hear, and humility to conduct our words and actions right...

#HappySeptember15

 For many of us powerless humans, it is natural to appeal to a higher power when we are wronged, oppressed, violated or abused, especially by those people with more power and influence... But King David, a man after God's own heart, had the right attitude: he appealed to God Himself, Creator and Ruler of all... And it would be wise for us to follow his example, for then we would experience true joy: "And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in His salvation." (v. 9)...

#HappySeptember14midnight

 God's blessings and grace starts first of all in the mind and the heart... Those who fear and love Him, who do their best to live His will and Word in their lives, who guard their speech and actions not to oppress and abuse others and instead be generous and gracious, are kept safe, given courage and sanity, and a proper perspective in the face of the world's ridicule, rejection, persecution... For as many as His promises as declared and claimed by King David in this chapter, so indeed will God's provision, protection, peace, wisdom and discernment be poured out on those who continually praise Him, and who trust and hope in Him...

#HappySeptember14

 To be truly blessed is a reciprocal act: whom God calls and chooses as His inheritance (also, John 17:1-26), and those who, even if they might not be physically part of the chosen, yet, made the decision and accomplished the deed of making God their Lord, King and Master; for they are grafted to the True Vine, and brought to the One Fold (John 15:1-8, 10:16)... For indeed, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance." (v. 12)...

#HappySeptember13midnight

In this first Maschil, or instructional Psalm, the Psalmist starts us off with our basic instruction in life: that we are to trust God, Who instructs and teaches us in the right way to go, and Who guides us Himself with His eyes... And we can know for certain if we have obeyed well, because His sure promises will be clearly manifested in our lives: that unlike the wicked and stubborn who will encounter many sorrows, the one that trusts God will receive abundant mercy, and will be glad and rejoice...

#HappySeptember13

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, how careful we may be, however much we give our best, because of the selfishness and greed of some, we still encounter tragedy, suffering, and pain... Yet, we can always count on God's faithfulness, "our fortress and rock (v. 3)", the "keeper of our spirits" (v. 5), "Who has our times in His hands" (v. 15), "Who lays down and grants great goodness to all those who fear Him" (v. 19), and "Who shows marvelous kindness even in a strong and fearful city" (v. 21)... May we heed the challenge of the Psalmist, as he encourages us to love God, to be faithful, and not to boast but be confident inwardly that we can and will do our best for Him as a manifestation of what we believe (v. 23)... And as we derive good courage from His sure promises and constant provision, may we receive from Him strength--physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually--and hope...

#HappySeptember12midnight

For those who have put their trust in God, it is not always sunshine and roses; for the worries, cares and sorrows of life may trouble us even through the night... But God in His mercy, gives us joy in the morning, in the grace that He gives us by keeping us alive... And so, may we not trust in our own prosperity, relying on it for security, for it is only God who can help us, give us strength and enable us to stand strong... It is only Him who can turn our mourning into dancing, that He may be glorified through our lives...

#HappySeptember12

Here one can know if they have their priorities straight, and their hearts in the right place; when, in times of honor and recognition, we give glory to God instead of promoting ourselves; when, in times of suffering and pain, we can still give glory to God, and worship Him, not because we are worthy, or we feel good and righteous, but because God alone is worth lifting up and worshipping, in the beauty of the holiness which He alone can give... And then we reap what is the real reward: through trials and tribulations, even in sorrow, He will give us strength, He will bless us with peace...

#HappySeptember11midnight

We are such needy creatures, and rightly so, for without God, we are nothing... All that we have, all that we do, can only find meaning and fulfillment with His strength, His anointing and saving grace...

"Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him. The Lord is their strength, and He is the saving strength of His anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever." (v. 6-9)

#HappySeptember11

Even in the midst of persecution and hardship, we have a true partner and companion...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?...For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock...Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." (v. 1, 5, 14)

#HappySeptember10midnight

In these times of tragedy, suffering and pain, it is not a soul-searching that we need, as if our souls have been lost, but rather, an examination of our hearts, our motivations, our principles, and our ways of life, measuring them against Truth, and against the will and the Word of God... Maybe then God will hear, He will heal, and He will save; because He does, in fact, but only those whose hearts humbly seek Him and obey His call... May we have the wisdom to heed His Word...

#HappySeptember10

 Even though we are sinners, with such weak resolve in life, but because God is good, He helps and protects those who trust Him; and leads through the right and secure path, those who humbly submit to His leading... May we all make the right choice today, and for the rest of our waking days...

#HappySeptember09midnight

 The Lord, the King of Glory, actually owns everything we see around us... It is but right that we prove ourselves responsible stewards, not be greedy or selfish or clingy of these things because we can not bring them with us when we die, and to give Him the glory, honor and praise...

#HappySeptember09

 "le Seigneur est mon berger"... The first line of the twenty third Psalm, as translated into French, evokes images of being in a lush pasture or forest garden, on top of a hill or mountain, because that is precisely what 'Berg' means (pasture on top of a mountain or hill, and 'berger', meaning shepherd or gardener)... An apt description of the inner peace and confidence of one who can truly yet humbly declare the words of this Psalm, as engraved in our hearts... So that no matter the floods of problem or despair, we feel secure in the knowledge that our God keeps our spirits safe... That even if our physical bodies get sick or exhausted, He is always with us to refresh, restore, heal especially inwardly, and make us dwell in His presence, if we so choose, forever...

#HappySeptember08midnight

 The Messiah's passion Psalm... Teaches us humility in the face of hardship, patience in the time of affliction, trust in the time of difficulty, hope in the time of trouble... For God hears those who come to Him in faith, and in meekness depend on Him for help and deliverance... Even to a generation of descendants, a people yet to be born, He will still do mightily, and pour out and declare His glory, His power, His mercy and grace...

#HappySeptember08

 Whether King or High leader, poor country man or miserable slum dweller: whoever trusts in the Lord, by His mercy, they shall not be moved... Those who humbly ask God for life, will be given eternal life and more - - healing, deliverance, salvation; while their oppressors become God's enemies, and will be destroyed, along with their descendants... May we have the wisdom and courage to choose the right side...

#HappySeptember07midnight

 Though we have nothing, though we are nobody, yet we can trust in our God, who hears and saves those who trust in Him...

#HappySeptember07

 Yes, indeed, from our atmosphere up to the cosmos beyond, God's glory is revealed... And even in the strongest and darkest storms, we can have hope, we can learn patience and endurance, we can gain wisdom and understanding... For we know that whether those that govern all creation, or those that must be used in the administration of human relations and the affairs of people, His laws and ordering are perfect and complete; and His promises of provision, care, protection and security, are true...

#HappySeptember06midnight

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies."... When God is our defense and shield, our victory, there is nothing to fear against the enemy...

#HappySeptember06

 May we behold God's countenance in righteousness, unafraid, confident, full of hope and joy, even if the whole world should turn against us, or turn its back on us... For we have a God who rejoices in making us the apple of His eye, who delivers and heals, all those who trust in Him alone...

#HappySeptember05midnight

 We can always strive to be in company with, and be surrounded by the people we love and care about; but the only affirmation we need is God's, who preserves and restores those who trust and worship Him alone, and in whose presence, there is fullness of joy...

#HappySeptember05

 The person who lives in integrity and fairness will abide by God's presence, and not be shaken by the storms of life...

#HappySeptember04midnight

 Unlike what unbelievers and atheists think, God is not just an abstract concept or convenient cause of those who could not plumb the real essence of life... For even the full height, extent and depth of human philosophy and understanding could never fathom His being... He is real, and He rules the affairs of those who live right by Him: in justice and fairness, in deliverance and restoration, in grace and power, in mercy and love...

#HappySeptember04

 Sometimes, like the Psalmist, we also think that God is taking too long in answering our prayers... Yet, like him, we can realize too that God will always do things in His proper timing... As He had given us so bountifully in the past; so will He not fail to give us the healing, deliverance, breakthrough, growth and advancement we deserve, at the right time, and when He believes we are ready for it...

#HappySeptember03midnight

There will soon be a fitting end to all liars, flatterers, and wicked abusers and oppressors; for the Lord will rise and defend the poor and needy who humbly appeal to Him for help...

#HappySeptember03

 We are all tried and tested... And while the Lord hates those who remain prideful and ignorant; He watches over those who repent, reform, and humbly obey His guidance...

#HappySeptember02midnight

 Even wicked and cruel, rude, oppressive, abusive, and offensive, people have Psalms dedicated for them... But only to remind us that no matter how much harm they inflict on the innocent, the poor, the humble, God will hear the cause and cries of the latter, save and strengthen them, and punish the evildoers... So, however difficult the situation and unfortunate the circumstance, there is no reason to give in to our baser nature and lash out at others, verbally or physically, because God always hears, and dispenses right judgment...

#HappySeptember02

 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed and the humble... And it is not something to brag about; nor a license for complacency, abuse, or feel superior of and be entitled to; but one that we should be deeply and meekly eternally grateful for...

#HappySeptember01midnight

 We thank God that for the glory of His excellent Name, He has given us stewardship of His creation... May we prove ourselves responsible and worthy...

#HappySeptember01

[larktb-archive]

Whenever I go to block a racist I've been seeing a post that claims that revolutions dont work and peaceful protests do.

These are the examples said post uses:

These are all fucking terrible examples to use and I'm gonna go in order of worse to best which isn't saying much.

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace

Yes this did in fact end the civil war. But no one denied that peaceful protests can make momentary symbolic changes such as ending a war or gaining a country its independence. This does often happen and you can list off dozens of countries wherein there has been a peaceful response to violence which has seemingly brought about an end to that violence I should know this because after all I come from the best known example of that happening aside from India (and I'll come back to my home country eventually). The problem with saying this is that it ignores the aftermath of the "peace" and whether or not it made enough of a difference in peoples lives for it to matter; even though external visible violence has been quelled, other covert forms of violence stay in place.

Liberia is a good example of this because of one major issue in Liberia: Corruption. Millions of USD are lost every year due to members of the government pocketing the money for themselves to the extent where, according to Transparency International, Liberia is 137 out of 180 and 53% of public service users had paid a bribe within the year of 2019. Interestingly enough the OP of that post calls China and Cuba corrupt despite the fact that Cuba is 60th and China is 80th. But I guess what happens after the revolutions is successful only matters when you're talking about places you dislike.

This corruption has lead to protests in 2019 and 2020, wherein police used tear gas to disperse peaceful protesters. Something to note is the minister of informations accusation of the protests being caused by outside elite forces. Rings a bell but I'm not sure from where.

Now one of the reasons Liberia is so corrupt is because of the lack of punishment against the main actors of the civil war, in spite of the trc listing out 100+ perpetrators and recommending that they be dealt with.

Then president, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, was on this list and has admitted that she backed the civil war. She went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Jasmine Revolution

Around 79% of people in post revolution Tunisia think the country is "going in the wrong direction", 29% of people would not vote with 48% not knowing who they would vote for, 81% said they don't feel close to a political party, 57% said they aren't interested at all in elections, only 20% believed elections would be free and fair, 45% said they disapprove of the current president, 71% said the government isn't addressing the needs of the youth, 50% of people said the government struggles with preventing political violence and I could go on and on.

But this is only 1 study with a very small sample size so by itself it's not a lot.

But when you compound that with a corruption index of 74, an unemployment rate of 15% (compared to Vietnam and Cubas horrible 3% rate and Chinas 6% rate), ~100,000 skilled workers leaving the country and a slowly increasing number of asylum applicants leads me to think that the data is not unfounded.

Suicide and murder rates also increased after the revolution, with cases of self immolation increasing threefold, such as with the case of Abderrazak Zorgui, who's death sparked protests which turned violent after the police were sent in to quell them.

At least 800 Tunisians went to fight for Isil and that's only counting those who came back from Syria. For comparison 900 returned to Turkey and 760 returned to Saudi Arabia.

Much like Liberia there has not been any justice, with the government instead introducing a law granting amnesty to former members of the dictatorship in Tunisia. A constitutional court was supposed to be set up in 2014 to speed up this process. 6 years on it still hasnt been set up.

Rose Revolution

Now this one is interesting. Georgia has a corruption ranking of 44, its unemployment rate of 11%, although higher than the corrupt, evil nations of Cuba and Vietnam isn't terrible and its Gini Coefficient is 36.4 which is pretty average.

So what's wrong with this one?

Well for starters four years after the Rose Revolution, Georgian protestors once again took to the capital to protest against the increasing amount of power, President Saakashvili, who led the Rose Revolution, was gaining.

To be more specific in 2004, legislation was passed to give him the right to dissolve parliament and in 2006 local elections were manipulated so that the government would dominate local legislatures.

And what's that? The president of Georgia blamed outside Russian influence on the protests and sent in police with tear gas and water cannons? That seems weirdly familiar familiar. Where have I heard that one before.

Here is a quote from a leader of a peaceful revolution after peaceful protests against him took place: "Everyone has the right to express disagreement in a democratic country. But the authorities will never allow destabilisation and chaos".

Interesting how after he was put in power, suddenly peaceful protest is the work of Moscow and needs to be controlled by police. Funny that. But this is totally a successful revolution guys!

And how many protests happened after this one? 3, not including the anti-homophobia protest. I think if you need to protest against the government every few years to the point where people keep calling each new protest, the Rose Revolution 2.0, your 1st revolution wasn't that successful.

Womans Suffrage

But before I talk about the relatively well off post-Soviet nations let's just do a assessment of the absolutely dumb as fuck idea that the Suffragists were more effective than the Suffragetes despite the Suffragists making no progress in the 40 years they existed prior to the branching off of the Suffragettes.

Now some historians do agree that the Suffragettes more violent methods did begin to turn men away from granting womens suffrage during their later years. Less concrete is the idea that this outweighs the net positive they had on the movement for womens suffrage.

In fact heres a contemporary source from 1906 praising the suffragette movement:

"I hope the more old-fashioned suffragists will stand by them. In my opinion, far from having injured the movement, [the Suffragettes] have done more during the last 12 months to bring it within the region of practical politics than we have been able to accomplish in the same number of years"

Who said that? Millicent Fawcett? Oh clearly she's just biased towards suffragettes?

But even if I gave evidence that the Suffragettes were indeed more effective than the Suffragists, you could easily find an opposing argument and vice versa. Ww1 happened and in the end that swift change of culture is what gave women their rights to vote (or at least the wealthy).

What can be argued is the historical reasons of why the Suffragettes became even more violent in 2nd decade of the 20th century leading to more guerrilla warfare like tactics being deployed such as arson.

Black Friday happened. Was a protests against the government caused by then Prime Minister Asquith, reneging his promise to put a bill granting womens suffrage through parliament. This protest started off as peaceful and ended up with women being physically and sexually assaulted by the police and counterprotesters with there being accusations of plain clothes police officers inciting this violence. Do I even have to say it?

In order to avoid further molestation, the Suffragettes stopped doing large gatherings with each other and went "underground" so to speak getting more and more violent.

What we should recall is the fact that prior to this Emmeline Pankhurst told the Suffragettes to stop all operations and renewed them after this traumatic event.

Prior to the suffragettes emergence the fight for women's rights had been by in large ignored by the public and it was only after their emergence that this became an issue in the forefront of the public's mind.

For a more nuanced view:

"Viewing the militant movement from the second half of the twentieth century, it is difficult to argue that violence does not ‘pay off’.   [The history of independence of the colonies, and Civil Rights campaigns in the USA shows that violence can succeed.]   It may be that suffragette violence after 1912 fell between two stools, being inadequate to force the government but sufficiently destructive to antagonise public opinion.  This writer [i.e. Constance Rover] is of the opinion that, as the events turned out, militant tactics helped the women's suffrage movement until 1912, but after that date were harmful.   This does not mean that militancy was necessarily a foolish policy.   With hindsight, one can conclude that militancy failed in the last two years before the war, but with the experience of rebellion we have had since, one cannot conclude that militant tactics are an unsuccessful means of obtaining an objective such as enfranchisement..."

- Constance Rover 1967.

I use the quote in specific because it calls the civil rights movement violent. And was written a year prior to the end of the movement. It's almost as if the movement has been whitewashed by liberals to be a completely non-violent effort or something.

Singing Revolution and Velvet Revolution

I'm putting both of these together as these states are all former Soviet nations who have became arguably more successful than others like Moldova, Bulgaria and the aforementioned Georgia.

Now in the post-Soviet Baltic states, there are a large list of things i could talk about. The high suicide rates, the mass exodus leading to a quarter of the population in each nation leaving them, the large amount of people at risk of poverty, high incarceration rates, the gutting of labour laws, the rise of anti-semitism and the glorification of Nazis within their societies all come to mind. Some of these also apply to Czechia and Slovakia.

I could talk about specific events such as the Gorilla scandal, the murder Jan of Kuciak literally everything concerning Czech prime minister Babiš and the large proportion of Soviet Nostalgia in both Czechia and Slovakia (1/3 in the former and 1/2 in the latter).

I could mention protests that have taken place after these revolutions leading to the usage of rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters who were acting non-violently. But I'd be repeating myself so I'm leaving it at that.

"But Lilly" you might say, "that doesn't necessarily disprove OPs point that these protests were successful, they did after all achieve their goals of 'political revolution/ending war/gaining womens suffrage".

And that's true. But...

TL;DR

OP used these as examples to contrast against so called failed violent revolutions with OP using violent revolutions like Vietnam, Haiti, Cuba, China, the USSR and the French Revolution as examples of failed revolutions. Anyone with a brain knows these revolutions absolutely succeeded in their short term goals of political change. There is no Tsar anymore, Cuba and Vietnam are still socialist, the aristocracy of france were decapitated, Haitians arent slaves and China has no emperor.

So where does the problem with these revolutions lie? Well according to OP:

... of course as we've just seen the so called successful peaceful revolutions are also poverty-ridden, corrupt and unstable with problems years later so what's the actual difference? There is none (aside from the historical revisionism of socialist states but that's beside the point), it's just hypocrisy and an incredibly silly gotcha to those currently arguing for violent protest.

I could continue and talk about how Haiti collapsed because of sanctions from racist countries who wanted to punish Haiti for fighting against their white masters, how Vietnam was practically always in war throughout the 20th century and how its stabilized since the end of the Viet-Khmer war, how Cuba infinitely improved the lives of all Cubans and was far more humanitarian than any western nation at the time, how the USSR and communist China turned Russia and China from poor feudal states to economic powerhouses which were far more equal in nature than the US.

But this post is way too long and I don't want to have to read through another dozen sources written by anti-communists liberals again.

Edit: the conclusion didnt save properly (thanks tumblr)

To end I'll say that the major problem with non-violent protests that is shared by every single one of these examples (apart from womens rights) is the lack of punishment towards those who caused the problems the people were protesting against. This means that said people can become president or a member of the government without any impediment and those people continue to be corrupt. From Ellen Sirleaf Johnson to Mikheil Saakashvili to the Tunisian government to Andrej Babiš. On the other hand violent revolution makes sure that those who war complicit in the crimes of the past are not able to usher in the crimes of the future, even if others eventually do.

The thing about that is progress has still been made, and even if they begin to reverse some of the gains that had been made they cant reverse all of them. With non-violent revolutions there is no change except for the ways that those in power step on the working class being more covert than overt.

You can decide which you prefer.

[isayeed-blog]

Masculinity and Indian Fascism

1857, the year of the Sepoy Mutiny, was a watershed period in South Asia. Despite the civilising efforts of the evangelicals and the Utilitarians, the Indians persisted in and insisted on barbarism. The (alleged) sexual violence against “the angel in the house”, the defenceless British woman, around a sexualised and racialised hatred of the dark-skinned Hindus and Muslims. After the Mutiny, some 50 novels were written on the subject in the century. The novels focused on the mutineers' desire for white women for the harem: The harem served to symbolise the lack of masculine restraint among orientals. The “treacherous” massacre at Kanpur, where the well had been stuffed with the mutilated bodies of British women and children despite a promise of safe passage, was a sign of the unmanly character of the natives (Peter Van Der Veer, Imperial Encounters (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2006), p 86 - 87).   

For Flora Annie Steele, author of On the Face of the Waters (1896), the brutal suppression of the Mutiny was “the epic of the British race”. According to The Guardian, Charles Dickens said: “I wish I were commander-in-chief in India ... I should proclaim to them that I considered my holding that appointment by the leave of God, to mean that I should do my utmost to exterminate the race.” 

At the time, the Mutiny was viewed as a satanic uprising against the forces of justice. Public opinion howled for blood, and it paved the way for hanging prisoners and blowing them away from the mouths of cannons without trial. The earlier Christian view of war as God’s punishment changed to one where war was regarded as rightful action for a just cause.

In short,  divine violence. 

Evangelicals were not inclined to hero-worship or the glorification of war, which they regarded as divine retribution for sin. This opened them to charges of disloyalty during the French revolution. They located their heroes in missionaries like Livingstone, instead of men like Nelson. The latter were objects of nationalist hero-worship by the Victorians. However, the evangelical temper became more bellicose over the course of the nineteenth century. “Like the rest of the British nation, they came to see warfare as a kind of police action, to quell unrest, to prevent injustice (p 85).” Christian heroism came to be celebrated in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.  The latter gave rise to the image of the brave Christian soldier, especially in the person of General Henry Havelock. Havelock, Edwardes, and the two brothers John and Henry Lawrence were all devout evangelical Christians. Havelock attributed British victory to British artillery and “to the blessing of Almighty God on a most righteous cause, the cause of justice, humanity, truth, and good government in India”. 

Even before the Mutiny, the charge of effeminacy was being levelled against Indians - and the most Westernised, and most loyal of them, the “babus”, the  brown, Anglicised gentleman (indeed, in Bengali today, babu is used both for infants and the delicately refined). Thomas Babbington Macaulay wrote in his essay on Warren Hastings (1843): “The physical organisation of the Bengalee is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapour bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs delicate, his movements languid. During many ages he has been trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities to which his constitution and his situation are equally unfavourable. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body. It is weak even to helplessness for purposes of manly resistance ....”

Hindus lacked world-ordering, masculine rationality. According to Hegel, Hindus were guided by “feminine fantasies and imagination rather than by masculine reason” (van der Veer, p 95).  Their very subjugation by Muslim tribesmen and then by the British testified to their effeminacy. Ultimately, however, the test of the “real” man came to the question of “honour” - which in British India, meant loyalty to Britain. The pan-Islamic Muslims failed the test, as did all Indians, whose languages, according to Robert Baden-Powell had no equivalent for the word - “izzut” was dismissed by Baden-Powell. “When in India I asked one or two Scouters what word they used for ‘Honour’ in teaching their boys character and they said ‘Izzut’. I asked two or three other men what was the Hindustani for ‘Honour’ and they could only suggest ‘Izzut’. But Izzut does not convey the idea of Honour (p 94).” When Baden-Powell remained intransigent on the matter, in 1937 the Boy Scout Association of India broke with the mother organisation. The writer observes: “That ‘Izzut’ was the central concept in Indian masculinity could not have escaped him in the years he had been an officer in the colonial army in India. This denial of the masculinity of the colonised was a central theme in British colonialism. Indians were seen as effeminate and weak in character.” Notions of British masculinity went hand in hand with the feminising of the colonised. However, muscular Christianity echoed in the rise of muscular Hinduism. 

The firestorm of protest around the Age of Consent Act revealed the threatened masculinity of the Indian psyche. In 1891, the age of consent was raised from 10 to 12 years for Indian girls (and from 13 to 16 by the Criminal Law Amendment of 1885 for British girls). No other piece of colonial legislation in the nineteenth century so roused public opinion as this law. It was a dead letter, thanks to the strenuous opposition of the antireformists, who argued that it was an interference with Hindu religion and custom. “The law’s real effect was a reassertion of Hindu patriarchal control over the domestic sphere as a nationalist cause (p 96).” The reformists were accused of being Westernised. 

The British regarded premature sexual intercourse as a sign of effeminacy. It was held to lead to masturbation and diabetes, among other things: A guiding notion behind the law was an eugenic one, namely, to improve the Indian race. The opponents described and decried the law as a deliberate British attempt to emasculate Hindu men. What riled them even more was the marital rape clause, which argued that sexual intercourse without the wife’s consent was rape - especially when the law in Britain gave the husband sexual access to the wife, always. Even reformist nationalists regarded this as an attack on the honour of the Indian man.  

That there was a striking difference in discussion and debate about the twin laws in the metropole and the colony is due to the secure self-perception of the British regarding their masculinity and the precarious self-consciousness of Indians in this regard: the latter, reeling from accusations of femininity, were resolute to at least stay master in their own house. 

Bankim Chandra Chatterjea asked and answered thus: “Why are Bengalis not courageous? The reason is simple: the physical is father to the moral man (1874).” The charge of effeminacy had been particularly galling for the Bengali elite, who sought redress in martial arts and physical culture. “It is paradoxical that both the colonosing British and the colonised Bengalis saw ‘Westernisation’ as a main cause for this emasculation (p 98).”

Most of the educational institutions were in the hands of Christian missionaries, whose aim was not the strengthening of the Hindu race, but its proselytisation. In response, Hindus, Mulsims and Sikhs initiated their own educational institutions, within an Anglicised curriculum. A similar trajectory of physical activity marked both the metropole and the colony. Football and cricket were eagerly taken up. “Cricket was a quintessentially masculine activity and expressed the codes that were expected to govern all masculine behaviour: sportsmanship, a sense of fair play, through control over the expression of strong sentiments by players on the field, subordination of personal sentiments and interests to those of the side, unquestioned loyalty to the team (Arjun Appadurai, quoted by van der Veer).”

Nationalist masculinity required the morphing of martial ascetics into fervent sportsmen. Traditionally, ascetics were mercenaries as well as traders and moneylenders. Prior to British colonial expansion in the second half of the nineteenth century, they dominated trade and money-lending in North India. The Fakir-Sannyasi Rebellion (circa 1770 - 1780)  saw the end, under the Pax Britannica, of the world of the migrant ascetic trader-soldiers who serviced a network of pilgrimage-cum-trading centres.  The advent of roads and railways transformed trade. In the subsequent half-century, the militant asceticism was laicised into martial arts and wrestling. 

Lay wrestlers follow in the religious footsteps of the fighting ascetics. For instance, their mutual devotion to Hanuman, the monkey-god, is based on a connection between divine power (shakti) and physical strength (bal). Hanuman’s divine power stems from his devotion to the god Rama and his wife Sita. Shakti is feminine power that men can acquire through celibacy. The disciplines of wrestling and celibacy lead to self-control and the realisation of inward feminine power, enabling them to attain another female capacity: selfless devotion.  “With Hanuman, this is a selfless devotion to the divine couple, but this devotion can, for fighting ascetics and wrestlers, be transformed through nationalist discourse into a selfless devotion to the cause of the nation (p 100).” 

The British preoccupation with national degeneration has its equivalent in India. However, here the preoccupation is focused on the body, bodily fluids and food intake. The degeneration of the Indian people, according to the wrestlers, is due entirely to Westernisation and the decline of India’s ancient martial arts. 

“It is especially the articulation of the notions of gender and sexuality with notions of race that strike me as typical of this period,” writes the author. “In the early twentieth century the articulation of physicality and morality under the aegis of nationalism develops into fascist forms of xenophobia both in Europe and India (p 101).”

Unlike in Britain, where masculine notions were interwoven with empire and the German threat, Hindu discourse on masculinity focused on the Muslim threat to Mother India (“the rape of the motherland”). Muslims were perceived as excessively masculine and militant. Being able to have four wives seemed extravagantly pleasurable and aroused masculine envy. The threat of “Muslim lust” to Hindu women appeared magnified during the age-of-consent controversy when  Hindu masculinity felt threatened. 

Race came to play a major part in this “paranoid nationalism”. From Europeans, Hindu ideologues took up the idea of the “Aryan race”, “to racialise the Hindu community and make the religious difference between them and Muslims into an immutable, racial one (p 101)”.  The militant Aryans were extremely masculine and appealed to the need for national regeneration. The idea of a common Hindu race would serve to unify a disparate society. “As in Germany and Britain we find in India in the 1920s the combination of an ideal masculinity and a racial superiority connected to a heightened nationalism and an extreme fear of a minority within the population.” 

The most disturbing culmination of the focus on youth, masculinity and militant nationalism was the founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the National Volunteers Corps,  in 1925 by K. B. Hedgewar. “This is Hindu India’s most violent youth organisation with an ultra-nationalist and strongly anti-Muslim message (p 102).” Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s murderer, was a former RSS member. In his statement to the court in 1948, Godse explicitly stated his fear that Gandhi’s ideas “would ultimately result in the emasculation of the Hindu community”. On several occasions the RSS was banned by the Indian government, led by the Congress Party, for its alleged role in communal violence.

Like the wrestlers and fighting ascetics, the RSS also espouses a religious emphasis on masculine celibacy and Hanuman as the paradigm of selfless devotion and physical strength. However, unlike the former, the RSS is a centralised organisation with an overt political purpose, the remaking of multicultural India into Hindu India.  

Hedgewar’s influence was the writings of the Hindu nationalist ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (aka Vir - great hero). He coined the term Hindutva in his book, written in prison, called Hindutva: Who Is A Hindu? (1923). Today, Hindutva is a major nationalist ideology.

Savarkar was implicated in the murder of Gandhi, but he was acquitted in his subsequent trial because of insufficient evidence. It is not surprising that Savarkar was strongly attracted to European fascism and that he admired Hitler.

The battle against Muslims displaced the battle against the British - and long before the departure of the latter. “The myth that Hindus lost their masculinity “under foreign occupation” first by Muslims and later by the British underlies much of Hindu nationalist discourse (p 104).” The excessive Other are two-fold: the hedonistic Westerner and the lustful, wily and hedonistic Muslim. 

“They are fantasies produced by a lack of self-esteem.” 

The Economist article Orange evolution: Narendra Modi and the struggle for India’s soul, with the suggestive subtitle How India’s prime minister uses Hindu nationalism, notes that in return for throwing its full weight behind Narendra Modi’s electoral campaign, Modi has inserted RSS men, or like-minded ones, into every part of Indian politics. The accompanying chart shows the level of infiltration as of February 2019: the president (Ram Nath Kovind), vice-president (Venkaiah Naidu), prime minister (Narendra Modi), speaker of lower house (Sumitra Mahajan), cabinet (12 of 25), other ministers (11 of 49), state governors (15 of 33), state chief ministers (8 of 31). “But RSS influence also extends to university deans, heads of research institutes, members of the board of state-owned firms and banks (including the central bank) and, say critics, ostensibly politics-proof promotions in the police, army and courts.”

[mattexellunit10books]

The Glorification of the military.

Many people confuse glorification with remembrance, in that although they seem similar, they are in fact, very different. Remembrance allows people to pay respects to the soldiers of the First and Second World Wars, whereas glorification makes the military seem as though it has no downsides.  

Glorification of the military is something that is seen regular throughout the novel as well as the film. The glorification can be seen in two ways, which is essentially that it is good and that it is bad. On one hand, Glorification is good. A prime example of this would have to be during both of the World Wars. Cinemas would show the best things about the war effort but also how everyone could help . Children were filmed picking up scrap and placing it into wheelbarrows, and were then told that they were helping with the war effort. Even the Hitler youth can be seen as glorification of the Nazi party. This is due to the fact that Children were easily indoctrinated and believed that the army was the perfect job for them. They were taught to turn people in who didn't believe in the Nazi party, even if it was their own parents.

However, on the other hand, Glorification of the military has its downside. One major problem would have to be that war was made out to be successful, and essentially all the men that signed up, were just signing up to their deaths. This also feels as though the Government just lies to the public.

[socialcoldstreams]

Should we respond to Portland riots with even more violence?

Who are Proud Boys?

In August of 2019, a group called Proud Boys traveled to Portland, Oregon with the purpose of instigating a conflict. The Proud Boys are described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist, anti-Muslim, misogynistic hate group. Other, lesser known groups with potentially similar philosophies joined them in Portland.

Please read the lengthy SPLC description above – Proud Boys is not a nice group. Their only purpose in coming to Portland was to incite violence and a riot. The Mayor said “they could not articulate why they were here” although it seems obvious: to incite a riot. They did not get a riot because Portland provided 1 police officer for every two protestors, costing local taxpayers millions of dollars in direct costs, and a significant drop in economic activity as downtown businesses closed and the city’s mass transit system was completely disrupted. The Mayor says Proud Boys intended to economically hurt the city.

In response, other groups that fall under their own self described banner of “antifa” engaged with the Proud Boys in civil disturbances (the official term used by the Portland Police).  Both groups – Proud Boys – and Antifa – are violent groups, contrary to how each attempts to spin themselves as peaceful or only responding to attacks.

Who is Antifa?

Antifa is not a particular organization nor does it have a specific ideology other than a preference to apply violence towards those they disagree with. Antifa is short hand for “anti fascist”.

CNN describes “Antifia” as assemblies of people with an often far left agenda and belief that violence is justified. As CNN quotes,

“Antifa activists feel the need to partake in violence” ….

“And so we go to cause conflict, to shut them down where they are, because we don’t believe that Nazis or fascists of any stripe should have a mouthpiece.”

The author of the Antifa Handbook and co-organizer of Occupy Wall Street writes in the Washington Post that Antifa is:

“a radical pan-leftist politics of social revolution applied to fighting the far right. Its adherents are predominately communists, socialists and anarchists who reject turning to the police or state to halt the advance of white supremacy.”

….

“Antifa are autonomous anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis. They expose them to their neighbors and employers, they conduct public education campaigns, they support migrants and refugees and they pressure venues to cancel white power events.

The vast majority of anti-fascist organizing is nonviolent. But their willingness to physically defend themselves and others from white supremacist violence and preemptively shut down fascist organizing efforts before they turn deadly distinguishes them from liberal anti-racists.”

Antifa did not begin with Trump. The same groups took part in the 1999 Seattle “World Trade Organization” riots and six days of rioting and property damage (to Portland businesses) after the November 2016 Presidential election, shutting down a city where 74% of voters selected Clinton, not Trump.

Those riots were over issues not involving white supremacist hate groups (the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, which many social media posts cite as justification for 2019 violence, occurred in 2017).

Time Magazine writes that “antifa” is said to lack a coherent message – some times it is about fascism, sometimes it is about capitalism, or globalism, or climate studies, or gender issues or something else.

Antifa appears to be – mostly – people who are angry at many different things and “will employ militant tactics or violent means such as vandalism”.

In other words, vigilante and mob justice from angry people – using other violent groups as an excuse for more violence.

A symbiotic relationship has formed between violent white supremacists and violent Antifa, with the former intentionally instigating conflict (by picking Portland, Oregon where there would be a large antifa response), and Antifa then responding.

What is a Fascist?

(Do also read the SPLC summary above to understand what the Proud Boys and related hate groups are about.)

The Washington Post explains fascism and notes attributes of Trump programs (“Muslim ban”, for example, or autocracy) and similar features of Mussolini’s fascism. (Many of the features apply to other political leaders, past and present too.)

What Trump “… offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence.”

These are traits also exhibited by Mussolini and Hitler (and other leaders).

“Fascist” As Defined on Social Media

“Fascist” as seen on social media, however, is much simpler, as Michael Kinsley explains:

“it means no more than “somebody I don’t like.” It is an all-purpose epithet, usable by anyone against everyone from university deans to Fox News anchors.”

Antifa is primarily a group of angry people. In that context, it is easy for angry people to name call others as “fascist” (or a Nazi, as the two terms are used interchangeably on angry social media posts). Once the enemy is delineated as sub-human, any response goes.

Antifa, itself, adopts some of the methods of fascism (see #3, “Glorification of violence and readiness to use it in politics”, #4 “Fetishization of youth” and appeal to youth, #8 “Self-definition by opposition” and #10 “…tendency to purge the disloyal” as elements adopted by Antifa, but note they do not associate with other elements of fascism.)

How Does This Relate to Social Media?

A review of tweets during and after the incidents in Portland shows that, frequently, “fascist” is, as Michael Kinsley says, name calling of someone you think you disagree with. And once you have labeled the target, anything goes. The terms “fascist” and “Nazi” are intended to dehumanize the target, thereby justifying violence against them.

This item was shared into my social media feed:

I noted that as someone who has had multiple traumatic brain injuries, I found this advocacy of violent head injuries disturbing (and violates the terms of service on most social media platforms). I was then accused of being anti-Obama (confusing my 1000+ hours working to fix defects in the Affordable Care Act as “anti-Obama”) and then implied that if I was unwilling to (violently) respond to the Proud Boys in Portland, then I was a Nazi and a coward. (See #10 above, I must be purged!)

Wow.

As I reviewed hundreds of tweets on these Portland protests, I found many advocating more violence. Many, if not most,  –  contained factually incorrect information and were frequently from people with uncontrolled rage and little logic.

Many antifa supporters on social media cite the example of Portland local and white nationalist Jeremy Christian as an example of right wing murderers and violence – he is accused of murder and goes to trial in 2020 – as justification for violence in Portland. But Christian supported Bernie Sanders for President in 2016, illustrating the difficulty in categorizing targets, plus the propaganda methods of cherry picking and assertions. Some cited the mass murderer in El Paso, Texas as justification due to the shooter leaving behind a hate fueled, racist manifesto and his support of eco-fascism. There were mentions of the Gilroy mass shooting and that murderer’s alleged right wing ideology – but the FBI says reports of his alleged right wing ideology were wrong.

Others said Proud Boys kills people, citing Charlottesville (2017) but say Antifa has never killed anyone (injuries and property damage by antifa are acceptable). The families of those killed by mass murderer Connor Betts in Dayton, OH may have a different view as he supported Antifa, Sanders and Warren.

Social media is filled with “What You See Is All There Is” evidence – by leaving out conflicting information, you can pretend to prove your point, whatever it may be.

Related: Hate groups like Proud Boys are labeled “right wing” and groups like “Antifa” are labeled left wing. In reality, neither are right or left – those labels are applied for political purposes, to denigrate others and fuel more outrage.

The factually incorrect information (all sides of this) gets shared and soon becomes a “fact” (even though not true). This is, in effect, propaganda that encourages others to adopt the agendas of the parties in the conflict. Because so much of it is emotional, it leads to outrage, which in turn leads to more conflict, more anger and more violence.

Social media is ground zero in the activities of these groups espousing violence (Proud Boys, etc, Antifa).

The extreme level of rage present in many of these posts are not mentally healthy for the poster or the drive by targets.

As someone whose brain has been bashed many times, conflict and rage, like that exhibited in these posts is upsetting and causes anxiety and significant discomfort for me. Undoubtedly, this occurs to others as well. This is not healthy nor is it leading to productive solutions – these posts are causing more targets to become emotionally enraged and off balance.

Social media has become a conduit for the expression of rage – and in some cases, encouraging others to actively engage in violence – often based on falsehoods passed along on social media as truth.

Rather than seek meaningful solutions, these outrage festivals lead to ever increasing violence and the spread of more (factually incorrect) propaganda messaging on social media.

Is it any wonder that Proud Boys and movements like antifa are filled with angry people?

Returning to the item above, about the accusation that I am a Nazi and a coward for not being willing to engage in violence – I am old enough to remember when progressive thinkers advocated non-violence (and were opposed to wars). Today, we have self described left wing groups saying violence is not only justified but essential. As 1999 and 2016 showed, violence is justified against anyone you disagree with, not just hate groups. It’s just angry people being violent.

If you don’t subscribe to this call to violence, then you too are a Nazi. That sounds like hate speech coming from those who oppose hate speech.

Do violent protests work?

Not often. In fact, non-violent protests are twice as effective as violent protests. Most people abhor civil violence. Protestors who engage in violence turn the public against those perpetrating the violence. Violence has not been an effective strategy, and as demonstrated empirically since 1999, has led to more violence – not workable solutions.

The violence is often misplaced – and even targets those sympathetic to their cause. Who then become less sympathetic to their cause.

If you have read this far, you hopefully see the lack of logic in social outrage. Its akin to middle school name calling and problem solving – just beat’em up and let’s beat the crap out of those who don’t join us too.

This, sadly, is the state of social media. The noise to signal ratio is high when it is flooded with such garbage and the promotion of hate and violence. Twitter, Facebook, etc, are the enablers of both right wing and left wing hate speech.

None of the actions of Proud Boys or Antifa are leading to de-escalation or solutions. Instead, each engages in activities that lead to more violent outbursts. Both groups have failed to achieve their goals. So what do they do? Engage in more outrage and more violence.

Are Their non Violent Ways to Address Racist Groups like Proud Boys?

I once lived in a town where an “Aryan Nations” group of racists obtained a parade permit. The community responded by holding half price movie showings at local theaters, half price ice skating at local ice rinks, big family events in local parks, and tremendous sales at local retailers and malls. This strategy literally sucked the oxygen out of the racist parade. There were more press people present to cover their parade than there were bystanders.

They were ignored and lacking attention they eventually faded away.

This is one way that racist hate groups can be addressed without resorting to violence. There are undoubtedly others.

Should we respond to Portland riots with even more violence? was originally published on SocialPanic