#hashtag illiteracy

[livvyofthelake]

jesus sorry for my favorite lancelot being from the shittiest movie ever made. show me YOUR favorite lancelot and see if you can do any better. yeah that’s what i thought

[shgark]

i misread 77,000 as 7700 and ended up reading fanfic until 1.30 in the frickin morning ughhh

[vorbarrsultana]

the vampire lestat reread, pt. 1 (lestat and nickistat)

also known as "i decided to reread tvl after the season finale because some takes i've seen online give me the impression i read a completely different book two years ago". i've finished it two days ago, and turns out i have more than 5000 words of notes that significally exceed tumblr character limit. so, i had to split them into three parts.

here is part one, all about dramatic theater kids full of love, sad violinists of infinite beauty, and friends-to-lovers romances doomed by the narrative.

i love lestat.

i forgot how fun and likable tvl lestat is from page one. and how different he is from his fanon characterization!

lestatposting is fun, i get it, but i am starting to get annoyed at the amount of fanfics where lestat needs someone to help him adapt to modern times. he is doing fine on his own, thank you. it took him less than two weeks to start a rock band.

(and the whole iphone thing from "prince lestat" is more about him not seeing it as something useful since he has a mind-skype ability to talk to any vamp on planet earth, and they cannot decline the call.)

lestat is not stupid. impulsive? yes. stubborn? of course. but clever, resourseful, and cunning when he needs to be. all of this makes him a great hunter! also, really thoughtful when the mood strikes, and his quiet, existential moments have some of the best prose in that book.

i wish someone smarter than me wrote a good meta about lestat & social class because he really seems to buy into the idea of "noblesse oblige" i.e. the belief that aristocrats are obliged to take care of those less fortunate. it's present in the way he kills the wolf pack for the villagers (who live on his father's land), and later takes responsibility for the theatre troupe & remnants of armand's coven, even though he doesn't owe them anything.

also, characterization of lestat as someone socially cluesless is simply untrue. sure, he plays dumb on occasion (and hates it every time because early life illiteracy trauma), but he is also good at reading people. like, he got a pretty accurate read of armand behind the angelic facade during their first face-to-face meeting. the only people he has trouble reading are those closest to him because he heavily projects his abandonment issues on them.

lestat's struggle of being "too much" contrasts nicely with the struggle of never being enough which is so crucial to louis. hashtag made for each other.

and juxtaposition of lestat's desire to be loved for who he is and louis's struggle with identity is also delicious.

this time i also related so much to lestat's "malady of mortality" and his search for meaning in the world. which ultimately fails because he is forcibly turned into a monster, and now every ounce of happiness he might bring into the world (and lestat desperately wants to do good!) is outweighed by him killing to survive.

and marius later reinforced the belief that vampirism has no higher purpose, and no wonder that nola!lestat is a shell of his former self.

lestat's turning is the most classic horror moment of the vampire chronicles to me. the mina harker of it all. the creature of night shrouded in terror snatching an innocent victim from the arms of their love right before bleak november sunrise.

also, all the implications of what magnus has done to lestat were even more clear during this reread, and i wonder if that was the reason rolin "i-love-narrative-parallels" jones added bruce into claudia's story.

the book also explains perfectly why lestat is so well suited for vampirism. his curiosity, thirst for new experiences, and adventuring spirit are his eternal engine on the devil's road :)

however, the downside of that personality facet is that lestat steamrolls over his trauma telling himself "this is fine! look, satan, i am making the best of it", which in turn leads to the iwtv nola mess.

and i feel like this constant search for positives in vampirism (that unwilligly turned lestat & claudia share) is why they can't really relate to louis, who chose it for himself. if these two start to get too existential, the temptation to throw themselves into the fire might become unbearable.

lestat equating his loneliness with his evilness is interesting, but i have nothing to say about that for now other than equation being there.

lestat's explosive temper is also present in the book. there is a constant pattern of lestat doing things he regrets the most (like the theater performance fiasco or eating people at notre dame's steps) when he is angry or upset.

let's talk about nicki. i love him, despite half of fandom hating on him for some reason.

lestat has a type, which is "good catholic boy" with narrow view of good and evil. except louis is of a parent's favorite, conforming variety, and nicki is the rebellious one, driven to the utmost cynicism by religious dogmas.

however, despite being a self-proclaimed cynic, nicki practically drowns in catholic guilt, almost reveling in the fact that everything he does, from playing violin in the boulevard theater to having an affair with lestat, is wrong. there is no meaning in anything, and he is doomed to die a sinner's death.

he is doomed! by the narrative though.

lestat and nicki's philosophical difference seems to be that nicki (unlike lestat) does not believe in inherent goodness of the positive emotions. for him, "sin always feels good", therefore happiness they bring performing = sin.

but still, nickistat's love is so touching. after lestat ghosts nicki to protect him, he still trusts lestat's love for him and the troupe, thinks best of him, and shuts down all nasty rumours. in turn, lestat equates all the good that was in his mortal life, all his hopes and dreams with nicki. he is a symbol of everything magnus took from him.

AND THEY COMMUNICATE THROUGH MUSIC, AND IT'S THEM AT THEIR BEST, AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL.

nicki almost became lestat's charlie. when they meet face to face for the first time after lestat's transformation, he can barely contain his hunger magnified by attraction.

the most terribly sad thing about nicki is the unfairness of all that happened to him. he had seen lestat being shot right before him, then he disappeared with dying gabrielle, then the coven kidnapped and tortured him until he lost his mind.

and for nicki, the dark gift is a confirmation of everything he believes in being true. the meaninglessness of it all. evil being the only certain thing in the world. the way to fall into a deeper, darker abyss than the one that was before the mortal him. and it is a confirmation that lestat's inner light he loved so much will eventually burn out.

(his spark in the dark, if you will.)

(and lestat's dream before turning nicki hurts, because he dreams of growing up and growing old together, of maturing past magnus's eternal lelio with sunlight in his hair and summer sky in his eyes. oh, the lesdaughter of it all.)

there is certainly a parallel between nickistat's bitter "in darkness, we are equal now" vs loustat's comforting "in the quiet dark, we were equals".

[aroaessidhe]

the thing is there are many things I agree with about all these posts about overconsumption, bad marketing, books that don’t properly deconstruct the political/narrative/cultural elements they’re utilizing (especially in romance heavy sff books), ‘hashtag representation’, abuse-romanticisation, etc etc etc - but most of the time they’re just like “booktok books” “silly YA readers” “people who don’t read classics” “reading something just because it’s gay” is bad!!!!1!1! illiteracy!!!

they’re always such broad statements that refuse to engage with the specifics they’re actually talking about, ignore the massive amount of complex and unique books across trad and indie publishing, context of different audiences, and the effect that capitalism and the publishing industry have.  and honestly it ends up making the poster look pretty ignorant a lot of the time, lmao

idk. not to say that if you want to critique something you have to write a 10 page peer-reviewed essay. but sometimes you sound silly

[optri]

sillay w @hellish-bone-monarch

[blessedmoonsoul]

wow. every single time i think it's physically spiritually mentally and emotionally impossible for nigerian politicians to be even stupider than i think they are are they prove me wrong again and again....im flabbergasted

[starafterdeath]

I love Helluva Boss character instagrams. I love Blitzo's virtually unreadable illiteracy, I love Stolas being such a soft and gentle owldad, I love Moxxy's begrudging acceptance of his boss' antics and how tearjerkingly wholesome their pics together with Millie are, I love Loona's teenangsty hashtags and how she posts the dorkiest selfies of her and her stepdad...

This is quality promotion on social media.

[hina-akatsuki]

THE 10 YEAR CHALLENGE

So the people of the internet, as always, have managed to come up with another concept/challenge that has gone viral over the social media, namely the “10-year challenge “. Here, people engage themselves in posting pictures of themselves from 10 years back alongside a more recent one to see how much they have evolved in that given time span. However, what started off as a meme on the internet, the concept also triggers a more deep and introspective approach towards one's behavior towards themselves as well as their surroundings. It has managed to target not only the changes in oneself but also highlight the drastic changes that have occurred in the world over a decade.

 It’s quite curious as to how this trend came into being and why it has received so much attention with the commencement of 2019. Also known as “the glow-up challenge”, “2009 vs 2019 challenge” or “ How Much Ageing Has Hit You”, the roots of this trend are unknown. Some suspect the idea emerged from Facebook’s “memories” feature that lets people revisit their old pictures. As to the significance of the year 2009, people relate to 2009 as the year in which social media really took off, especially Facebook.

 With over 1.6 million posts on Instagram under #10YearChallenge, the concept has gained criticism, with some claiming it to be narcissistic, ageist and sometimes bit sexist. Others suspect it to be a scam to feed data into a face recognition algorithm.

 Among all the smiles and giggles, a serious version of the hashtag has emerged. Campaigners have warped the rules of the challenge to throw light on more concerning issues that mankind currently faces. Pictures of retreating glaciers, starving polar bears in Antarctica, crumbling buildings as an aftermath of civil war paint a disturbing portrait showing where we stand after a decade.

 #10YearChallenge has managed to portray a baffling contrast of the past and the present and appeal to its viewers about the changes one should really worry about. To mention a few, over the decade, temperatures on earth have increased( 2018 was reported to be the warmest year for the world’s oceans), coral reefs have dried up, thousands of innocent lives have been lost or ruined in war and cities have been uprooted in the middle east.

 However, the transition from 2009 to 2019 brought in some positives as well. According to the World Bank and the UN, extreme poverty is at its overall lowest, child mortality and youth illiteracy are both down and global life expectancy has increased( courtesy -www.bbc.com).

 Even so, this doesn't portray the entire picture. While poverty and illiteracy have hit a low point overall, under-developed regions on the globe(especially the sub-Saharan region) still remain affected.

 While keeping an eye on the personal gains and positive changes that we have come to realize over the span of a decade, there is no doubting that #10YearChallenge, like few others in the past( #MeToo,#IceBucketChallenge etc) has succeeded to offer more to society than just another internet fad. It has managed to grasp large scale attention, spread awareness about matters of concern and lead viewers to reflect on their actions and enlighten society.

 Considering the adverse changes the world has gone through, however, just spreading awareness won't be enough if we want some reversing changes for the next decade. In fact, our goal shouldn't be just limited for a decade, it should be so much that the next generation is benefited.

 The challenge proves as a wake-up call for humanity to not only self-reflect but also reflect on its actions and bring about some major changes. In the end, it comes down to us how we mold our future and what we make of it.

 So, I believe we have a decision to make. Would we just limit this concept to ourselves or would we expand our boundaries and use it to our power to spread awareness and bring some phenomenal changes to the world?

PS- Bit delayed with the post but there you go...As usual comment! much appreciated!

[livvyofthelake]

well that can happen to anybody. 😐 fyp getting a little specific rn don’t like that

[totallyinnerperfection]

Gilet Jaunes: Digital literacy and social movements in question

Digital technology is constantly evolving. Every day brings a lot of changes. Does the digital promote citizen action or does its use have little impact on the commitment to serve the common good? The new generations would be able to intuitively use the tools of the Web, which are claimed to be “digital natives”.

 Every generation has a million faces and so many voices. On the one hand, such “digital natives” have their special model to expressing their voices. They have the essential access and the ability to create media for self-expression on the social media platform. Digital media enables digital natives an alternative form of social movement participation (Hargittai, 2009). In this blog, I would like to design them as “participatory audience”. Evidently, the development of social media and digital technology does effectively provide tools for audiences to engage themselves into social movements such as Gilets Jaunes[1] (Yellow Vest). This is a good example to better illustrate the concept of digital literacy and audience’s social participation with social media. The concept of “participatory audience” is raised by British scholar Livingston, under the context of media converge and diverge (Livingston, 2013). Even the social reality is mediated by the emergence of new media platforms. “Digital natives” have the access and the ability to create social media platforms for self-expression during the process of social movements, which is just the case of Gilets Jaunes.

 The movement of Gilets Jaunes across several months in France is initiated and organised on social media platform. During this process, digital natives and audiences become participants of the social movements. They could directly intervene and influence the development of the event. They could express their demands and appeals, forcing the government to respond and to react. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms are frontlines of the movements. It is evident that the whole movement is originated from online appeal, at the same time, it is organised across the social network. Digital natives and audiences become the creator of online contents in terms of the events, messages, videos or topics (Napoli, 2011). The use of hashtag such as #GiletsJaunes symbolise people’s engagement into the social movement across the online platform. People try to use the #GiletsJaunes to collect people with the same appeals and the same purpose into the social movement.

 Figure1. The Hashtag #GiletsJaunes of Twitter (Source: Twitter)

 This online tool is provided by the development of digital media, which is supposed to be mastered people in this movement, demonstrating their level of digital literacy. The more participants joining the same hashtag, the easier it is become a prevailing and hot topic. More people would be attracted into the movement and the discussion, accelerating the process of the collective activity. I assume that the participation of Gilets Jaunes into the social movement is mediated, which is an alternative approach to engage in democracy (Hargittai, 2002).  

 Reflecting this issue through the perspective of digital literacy. By definition, digital literacy refers to the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology (Ribble and Bailey, 2007). This blog assumes that the Gilets Jaunes in this movements are digital natives with digital literacy, because they have essential features of “digital literacy”. Apart from the essential access to online platforms and creating online contents with hashtags and technical tools, these digital natives also knows well internal logics of social media platform. They engage themselves into social media culture and operate within the cultural structure (Justenhoven, 2017). The digital natives know well operation logics of the online environment, such as the dissemination of information through social media, the editing and publication of contents, the sharing of information. Gilets Jaunes know well the different function of social media platforms. For example, different from the hashtag on Twitter, they establish online groups and tagging function on Facebook. People could join the group and engage in the collective social movements with tagging and sharing. Digital natives are familiar with the purposes of various online tools and how they are different or similar to each other (Justenhoven, 2017).

Figure 2. Gilets Jaunes group on Facebook (Source: Facebook)

 Compared to Facebook and Twitter, Gilets Jaunes use less of YouTube and Instagram in the social movement organisation, showing their digital literacy and capacity of using online tools. People organised an online “imagined community” and the movement goes from online to offline spaces. Different from Justenhoven’s online community, I prefer to consider it as a developing process, without the constraints of time and space. There is “fluidity”, “complexity” and “uncertainty” behind the online and offline activities. There is inherent links between digital literacy and the organisation of social movement. This is also what Justenhoven mentioned as “civic” function of digital literacy, where people participate in social movement of democratic process online. People join a larger movement through media organisation which is larger than themselves. In the social movement and democratic appeals of Gilets Jaunes, the digital literacy becomes an indispensable factor to determine the cause. On the other hand, the media literacy also influences people’s construction of the social movements without breaching the limits of laws.

 However, I cast doubt on the increasing digital literacy. It should be noted that Facebook and Twitter are not absolute neutral. Apart from the above seemingly positive progress of “citizen participation”, I intend to raise another question about the digital literacy, its opposite side, the digital illiteracy. People are not born with digital literacy. Apart from the “digital natives”, a large number of people are digital immigrants, who do not belong to the net generation. For this group of people, there is a gap or transition between traditional and new media. People acquire the knowledge of digital media, making them in favour of a simple unlimited access to the Internet.

 Here, I intend to raise the concept of digital illiteracy. The term “illiteracy” is necessarily essentializing in its diversity, to observe and question it on itself. Did the media and other think thanks listen to all the French youths before stating that today’s teenager is a “digital native”? I recognise that most young students are disconcerted by instructions as simple as open a browser, I have serious doubts on the fact that the handling of digital tools is, at home, an innate competence. There is gap of digital literacy between generations and between different social classes. As mentioned by Schradie (2018), when journalists and social movements organisers rely on social networks, it is in itself a form of social exclusion. They favour people who have the time, resources and skills to be online frequently and those who understand how algorithms work (Hargittai, 2009). The Internet has not become this magical place where social stratification evaporates, because social class is the most important demographic element in the production of online content.

 I would like to pose the following questions: the movement of #GiletsJaunes is it a social exclusion to people of “digital illiteracy? Are those who are disconnected and who have no access to online resource excluded from democratic movements and citizenship? Those who are disconnected and those who are still convinced that they can exercise one’s citizenship away from artificial screens and intelligences are considered as “numerical illiteracy” in the digital media era. Every social change that takes root on digital lands and spreads in real life reminds them of the sad defeat of their thought. Today, refusing to participate in the reproduction of content on the social media platform seems to get away from the real world. New York Times would consult reactions on twitter to assess their quality of subjects and articles. As people we shape an increasingly connected world in which digital exclusion leaves “numerical illiteracy” on the edge of the path. People who are defined as “numerical illiteracy” are condemned to be “invisible” or “inaudible” in the GiletsJaunes movements. This is a whole cohort of fragile population in the digital world, who are condemned to be “digital immigrants”. This has become an obstacle of participating in democratic. Therefore, there is observed inequalities on the digital media usage.

 In the end, another critical and pessimist perspective could enhance our understanding of digital literacy with the social framework. Fundamentally, the social class frames the competence and usage of digital tools. And behind this observation, we could introduce the approach of Bourdieu, which elaborates how power relations and reproductions of social inequalities are actually at the centre of digital tools. People’s social status builds and constructs their way of being and behaviour vis-à-vis the use of the Internet and new media (Schradie, 2018). I assume that social class are not soluble with the digital literacy. That is, the digital literacy could not totally reverse the existed social class order. Most of the participants in the movement of #GiletsJaunes are from unprivileged social class appealing for rights. Some of the contents by Giletsjaunes are not of high-quality, which would have negative social impacts.

 In the public discourse, responsible digital citizen should enhance their numerical literacy when it comes to the participation and engagement of social movements. Civic participation is one central goal of numerical literacy. Through the analysis of #GiletJaunes across online media, I expect a more regulated online democratic participation. Digital literacy also involves the skill of analysis, questioning, evaluate the online content, distinguishing credible sources, etc. These are essential to effectively use the online tools and promote the democratic process.

[1] Here we prefer to use the original name of the movement.

[dropintomanga]

Faith Is Restored - An Interview With “Anime For Humanity”

Ever since I started this blog, I thought to myself whether I or someone else can start up a mental health organization that helps people using anime. I had some optimism at first, but grew jaded after seeing people’s impressions of anime and how anime was treated under the geek hierarchy over the years. Yet I found out that someone or should I say, a group of fans is doing what I envisioned in my head and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect

While I was reading up on the sudden “mental health” question that popped up in an “anime census”, I found out about an organization that anime fans should support when it came to mental health discussion. That organization is known as Anime For Humanity. They are based in Los Angeles and have been traveling throughout California at various conventions since starting in 2017.

I went to their site immediately and I was amazed that AFH are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to using a medium that many fans love to promote mental health awareness. So I decided to get an interview with AFH and their outreach manager, Ruby, got back to me. Here’s what she had to say on Anime For Humanity, their beginnings, a couple of their projects, the hashtag movement they started, and more.

Q: How did Anime for Humanity get started? What made you see that anime was inspiring for anyone with mental illness?

Ruby: Before Anime For Humanity (AFH) started, we were an anime club with a passion for anime and community. We volunteered with local charities and hosted events that people enjoyed. Then we realized there were specific ways anime could have an impact and make a difference in people’s lives.

When we first thought about the causes Anime For Humanity should tackle, we took a moment to reflect on what anime brought and changed in our personal lives. We found out that most of us suffered through depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Only a few us did get professional help and others didn’t because of the so-called “stigma."

Q: What professional backgrounds do you have in mental health?

Ruby: Since AFH started as an anime club, we all came from different backgrounds, including artists, teachers, computer scientists and therapy counselors.

We do close work with other LPCCs (licensed professional clinical counselors) and LMFTs (licensed marriage and family therapists) that volunteer to host panels, speak at events and run support groups.

As a member of the Anime For Humanity Clinical Advisory Board, it is very important for AFH to work with therapists and counselors who understand the fandom and use it as to a tool to help people find healing and recovery.

Q: Clinical Advisory Board?

Ruby: The Clinical Advisory Board is an initiative made by Anime For Humanity. It is still under the work and part of the Anime Therapy Project.  Since we attend a bunch of cons, a lot of licensed therapists stop by our booth and ask us to be involved in what we do. We call them the "Anime Therapists." :) 

The purpose of the Clinical Advisory Board is to discuss scientific research done on anime and help polish Anime For Humanity’s upcoming projects/programs. We also have been working on building a "find an anime therapist near you" (which is similar to our “Find Healing” resources, but with a twist) where the anime/geek community can find a therapist near them who understands the fandom and maybe uses it as a tool for therapy. 

So far, the project is still on alpha mode and local to LA. We are hopeful it will expand to other cities, states and around the world.

Q: With anime consumption almost completely online and anime conventions sometimes being the only spot to get fans together, how did you come up with ideas to get fans to come to your programs offline?

Ruby: Here in SoCal (Southern California), it happens that there is a convention every month where we get to be in touch with the attendees and tell them about what we do.

We are very grateful for all the convention organizers in our area because not only does the anime scene keep growing, but we also get to hand out local resources for people to get professional help.

Q: Describe what a typical workshop/support group session from Anime for Humanity is like.

The AFH support group is part of the Anime Therapy program, which is still under the works.

Q: What challenges came along the way as Anime for Humanity began to grow?

Ruby: One of the challenges Anime For Humanity faced when we first started was we weren't able to collaborate with other organizations because there wasn't much acceptance and support towards anime when discussing our mission and purpose.

Q: What did it take to get some of those who were skeptical onto your side? How did you convince them? I always felt anime has better acceptance in a place like California due to a large Asian population, Hollywood celebrities loving it, and a vibrant arts scene.

Ruby: At first, we couldn't convince them due to what they have been told about anime (ie. anime containing violent and sexual content) - things that didn't go with their mission and values. 

But once we showed them how conventions were growing (especially the growth of Anime Expo) and how anime presents themes such as kindness, courage, and friendship. We also told them our story of how anime gave us a purpose to make a change in our community. That gave a spark to start the conversation and change their minds about anime. And yes! You’re right about anime being more accepted in California. As I mentioned earlier, there is more than one convention happening each month here in California, where people celebrate their fandom (comics, anime, cosplay, etc) Seeing cosplayers on the train/metro, cons popping up everywhere; that made it easy to promote Anime For Humanity!

Q: I liked how you involve gamers of all kinds to support Anime for Humanity via the "Play Anime Project." In your opinion, what is it about gamers that make them the most charitable people out there?

Ruby: Gamers are a great community. They are passionate and empathetic. Especially when gaming with a purpose comes to play. Everyone would love to do what they are passionate about and help others at the same time.

The "Play Anime Project" is about taking and promoting new and fun anime games to non-anime conventions and start the conversation about the stigma of mental health with attendees.

Q: I found out about a program you had to combat illiteracy called “Take a Manga, Return a Manga Project." Given that manga literacy and comprehension can translate well into reading non-visual material, how did the program work and which series were the most helpful for fans struggling to read?

Ruby: “Take a Manga, Return a Manga” is a unique and exciting program we launched when we first started Anime For Humanity. Here are the 3 reasons why:

1. We wanted to promote anime/manga to a community who aren't familiar with either. Because as mentioned earlier, reaching out to that community was/is still one of the challenges we are facing.

2. We all have a bunch of manga collecting dust in our shelves. We thought how can we put those manga into use and make a space where values like sharing, friendship, and community are built in the anime community.

When we took the AFH library to a couple of conventions, we would invite the attendees to build one in their community, college, high school, etc. to bring those values and show the rest what anime is about.

3. Like you mentioned in your question, manga literacy and comprehension can\translate well into reading non-visual materials.

We have a special box for people to donate manga that will be taken to kids in orphanages as a way to fight illiteracy. Since the donated books were random, we do pick and choose the appropriate ones that will be given to the kids while the rest go back to the library.

Q: I wanted to ask about your thoughts about the recent Flying Colors Foundation situation where the now-defunct organization asked a question regarding users' mental health. There was a good amount of criticism towards FCF about that particular question. What concerns did you have over how they presented it?

Ruby: We believe the question about mental health could have been worded better or not have been asked at all. The survey was to show Japanese animation studios what most Westerners think and want in an anime, and not about personal mental health issues which are generally unrelated to their survey.

Q: I love the #SavedbyAnime hashtag you started, but there are times, as you and I know, where anime consumption can be harmful to someone. We've seen toxic situations involving fandom. How do you tell someone who may be letting anime or anime fandom take over their daily life that it's a good time to step back?

Ruby: “Too much of a good thing is good for nothing.” Moderation is always the key. Over-consumption of anything such as food, exercise, entertainment, and also medicine can be harmful. Finding balance in our lives is so important, yet it is so hard.

This is one of the complex questions that we face at conventions most of the time, since we have encountered many people saying “If it wasn’t for over-consuming anime, I'm not sure if I would be here right now.”

We tend not to judge or give advice to people, but paradoxically, our first approach is to invite people to watch an anime that would speak to their situation in life (Naruto, Welcome to the N.H.K, etc. for example). 

Then we follow up with them to ultimately help them understand what they are going through and hopefully get professional help. We believe all the struggles anime characters go through is to share with us their experiences that we can learn from and use it in our daily lives.

This is where we start the conversation and and educate people about the hashtag #SavedByAnime which is about how to use anime to find balance, growth and purpose in life.

Q: I noticed that there's an upcoming program called "Anime Therapy" on the front page of your site, which looks like screenings with some conversations afterwards, I believe? Can you talk more about it?

Ruby: We will keep you updated once it's ready for launch.

Q: Given that mental illness is becoming a popular topic in graphic novels and manga like “My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness” have hit mainstream success, what would like to see going forward in terms of anime covering portrayals of characters with mental illness?

Ruby: We would love to see more of the kinds of anime that cover characters with mental illness. For example, Welcome to the N.H.K depicted the struggles of a person who was suffering from mental illness. We also hope to see anime touch on the subject of getting professional help when in crisis.

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

You can visit Anime For Humanity at http://www.animeforhumanity.org.

[absentkidposts]

Peformative Activism

Hey there! As you may have noticed, this week has been quite a fun time for the Youtube community, this week Shane Dawson (pedophile, racist, liar, abuser) has been boycotted by pretty much everyone, he lost brand deals, his youtube videos got demonitazed, etc. After a lady called Tati (??) exposed him or something,  I don’t know the story properly but nothing feels better than seeing a dickhead getting what he deserves, specially someone who’s musty (he didn’t shower for like a week for a video and his teeth are yellow, gross) and disturbed. Over here in the south, social media, rather than messy, has been, let’s say, comedic, because, yet again, people are participating on some dumb hashtag to pretend they actuallly care for minorities. This week Laura Tobon posted a picture of her “perfect” eurocentric face split at the middle, the other part of the picture was the face (covered with her hands) of a native woman, people praised her, she got a bunch of social media traffic, went trending, gained followers and then 15 minutes later she posted some IGTV about her make up... Do you the problem? Peformative activism. 

What’s that?

The example that I gave with Laura is the perfect example, a beautiful privileged woman that believes she’s a hero for dehumanizing a native woman and using her as a way to gain fame. Peformative Activism means taking cases of rape, police brutality, sexism and racism to gain fame and maintaining your image as a political correct influence, when you’re doing the complete opposite. Many deffend those who are a part saying that they are starting a conversation and being vocal, but, if you post a picture, are you really starting a conversation or just grabbing the chance to gain more attention? 

What’s wrong with it?

Peformative Activism, rather than starting a conversation, buries it by making people feel comfortable with that type of activism, if you try to start a conversation people will be eager to silence you since they think a movement has already started and ended by posting a picture. People think with a hashtag you save lives and make them matter when there’s so much more to do, and that’s just a result of us being used to see minorities as less than us and believing that’s correct (racism pretty much); Look at the #BlackLivesMatter movement, yes, it’s a hashtag, but a hashtag that inspires action, it inspires marches, protests and even riots when needed in deffense of legal violence (like the ESMAD). If you participate in this, you’re silencing those who are truly in need to be heard, actual activists that deserve to be heard, you think you’re starting a conversation by making natives objects, images, pictures, rather than people, you continue to feed the standard that native culture means illiteracy and dated believes, rather than it being a whole other culture WE are MEANT to respect since our ascendants invaded their land. 

Then how can you help?

I just wanted to make clear that if you don’t have a big platform yet you still want to be part of a movement and just post a pic, then there’s no problem, since it’s your own social media and you don’t have any influence on the masses, it’s your own small platform and you have the right; but famous people, without real struggles, have a responsability, wether they like it or not, specially white people, like Laura and many others who seem to have beans for brains. 

If you want to help, post a letter that exposes your believes and states facts, make your platform a way to educate and make native voices be heard and respected, apply some real social pressure to the government, share content and post speeches of natives (specially native women, the biggest victims of colonization and segregation) to make them be heard, beacuse guess what, at the end of the day, we don’t care abou you as a famous individual, we care about the public, the followers, the masses one can move by just posting some actual piece of activism, we don’t care about your dumb little fake tears. Another incredible way of helping is donating, because in a capitalist and consummist world, money matters a lot, and since the government keeps on stealing, handing a small percentage of your wealth wouldn’t affect the rich, but help the poor and the vulnerable. Open your wallets, not your mouth ;)

But don’t get too political!

Why not? Why souldn’t we get political? Why should we just ignore this abuse? and why should we feel comfortable when those with power make the bare minimum? We get that celebrities have no real political impact, but they can move people, they can reach out to a larger audience WE DON’T CARE IF IT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, literally the only way you should skip this conversation is beacuse you’re a victim of it and can’t psychologically combat it, but if you’re sitting at home, doing nothing, why can’t you start a conversation, educate yourself, learn and be an active help for those in need. Colombia is a country that’s been built on violence and crime and we believe that’s alright, we believe that’s how thing should be, but can we at least try to change it? Kids, Mothers, Brothers and many more are being killed, abused, raped and robbed because of what? and why are we ok with it? why do we dehuminize minorities so much? CUT THE CAMERAS AND TURN THE VOLUME UP, silenece is compliance so SPEAK UP 

[picturingjuj]

White privilege doesn’t mean your life hasn’t been hard, it means your skin tone isn’t one of the things making it harder! White privilege is knowing you will never be denied from a job based on your race. White privilege is seeing people that look like you in the media, or in the classroom, or the workplace. White privilege means that if you should need to move, you can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area in which you can afford and in which you would want to live, you can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that you will not be followed or harassed, you can be sure that your children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race, or that when you are told about our national heritage or about "civilization," you are shown that people of your color made it what it is. White privilege is not being afraid for your life if you get pulled over for speeding, you do not have to educate your children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection, you can talk with your mouth full and not have people put this down to your color, can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, poverty or illiteracy of your race, can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on your race… Acknowledging your white privilege is not discrediting your accomplishments or the work you put in to achieve them, but it is saying that your race did not make it more difficult for you to reach these successes. George Floyd, and every other black person murdered by the police are not just a hashtag, they are human beings with families that will mourn their loss forever. Desmond Tutu once said, “If you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Use your privilege to address these tragedies and speak up for what is right. Use your privilege to fight for justice. White people must not only be “not racist,” but actively anti-racism. We must use our voices to change this human indecency. I highly recommend reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Peggy https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5r8UApewr/?igshid=1o6me60judbnz

[jdlmpo]

Of Pixels and Spaces

I was once a happy child curious of the world. Finding questions. Seeking joy out of discovery. Sneaking into silent, unknown corners of mind. Transforming scraps into fascinating child’s encounter of knowledge and basic shapes of art. Always eyeing for moments of adventure in some of the most quiet and isolated place. Hearing these little voices once touched the grass, trees, rocks, soil, dirt, materials of knowledge being found. Even I used to play with air by containing it in a small plastic bag and try to sink it in water as if I could drown air just to learn pressure. I used to keep looking for nature to respond. It was innocent. There was always somewhere to fill in. Like a space that I could claim. Safer than the safest behind a close door. The world was open.

Until age came over with a new kind of world. This world is overwhelmingly bigger but hollow, open but crowded where space cannot be safe and be contained or claimed.

I was in early high school when I got fully convinced that I am a “user” even my accounts were born during their beginning of unprecedented domination on my early childhood. I enjoyed MySpace for its side-scrolling home page but it’s just once and I never had the chance to get an account there. I prevented Friendster for everything I’d heard from my childhood friends maliciously enjoying its alleged feature from where they could find anyone with their scandalous “bold” pictures of other persons with their photoshopped heads on it or even videos by searching their names. It was hilariously convincing. But I never had visited the site even up to this day.

The only Social Networking Site of this time was the rocking dominating Yahoo! Messenger. Once in that time, when I decided to stay at my uncle’s friend’s house, I was enjoying her unlimited access to Internet that I could freely open sites anything I knew. She used to join in many chat rooms. She showed me how it works: permission before the group to lead and talk, like there is protocol, they called themselves “DJs”, users could open their microphones and cameras, or just only join in the message conversation. She told me, as I remember, anyone could join in, including users around the world, as I noticed she was talking in English, in mic and in messenger. I just got to discover that this was then simply open but not safe, when one male chatted to the group tagging someone: this is for you, and danced maliciously, beginning to remove his shirt and short. My uncle’s friend turned off her shared view of the group video, but it was till opened for the rest of users who wish to view.

Digital space is open and free that it has been easily invaded by malevolent people who adore to play with fire.

As a toddler, I was addictive to playing simulation and sandbox games such as CityVille (occasionally, FarmVille). It was a time when PSP, GameBoy and DS were replaced by easily accessible Internet, especially Facebook. There were players I encountered cursing and sending senseless messages to insult people during the game, as well as in most of the games on the site. I was often bullied in my childhood. Bullying would extend to using my ignorance of the Internet. My computer illiteracy had made me vulnerable for making me ignorant to malicious sites. That time when I’m with my uncle’s friend, that’s even the first time I had opened a porn site because I trusted suggestions of my classmates when I asked for popular gaming sites, like Friv, Y3, Y8, Y100, etc. We were Grade 4. 

‘Pisonet’ then popped up rampantly around the town. It was the cheap alternative of ‘comshops’ (computer shop/rent shops), but both are then used interchangeably. In the worst case of machoistic culture of Filipinos, playing Counter-Strike or Special Forces require boys to be mocked and questioned if you are gay or straight to play the game. So I was stuck playing children games that were likely more appropriate for my age that did not fit for their masculinity. Bullying was the line between these classes of younger users. Of those games, DOTA became the very toxic game for children playing in comshops, where there would be inescapable influences of gambling, bullying, bad behavior and attitude, cigarettes, alcoholics, and even drugs from adult costumers of these shops. At that time, managers could not help but tolerate this behavior of children and adults alike as they generate the most of their income.

 Mostly, these irresponsible shops contribute to the worsening situation of Internet use in the Philippines. When CCTVs were not prevalent before, younger users had no direct guidance in using the Internet as renting it became it as their personal territory where they were free to visit malicious sites. Oftentimes, I would see children watching porn and, much worse, aware adults just ignored those kids.

It was a horror for parents that they have to ban their children from these shops or pushed shops to act. Implementing strict and stricter rules to maintain discipline in playing games and using the Internet.

These risks were even not resolved even to this day of high level of security and management in Internet. Children also turned to higher means of escaping restrictions with the rise of VPN and uncrackable levels of anonymity. Total control was not even the cure.

As a teenager, Facebook is the staple. Early on high school, it was posting updates that broke personalities of the Filipino teenager. Everyone has to have a Facebook account otherwise you will look like the uncivilized.

Internet is breaking free from limitations of humanity with digital space had begun to be the playground for crimes at the turn of the 21st century.

As you know, Internet is the greatest democracy in history. That how miracle was the EDSA revolution came with technology, was the very power made as the advancement of Internet created revolutions around the world, affecting the actual physical world. By turning into hashtag activism in Twitter. Fighting against ignorance on Facebook. Sharing educational videos, evidences for protest from YouTube. Googling knowledge at the entire immeasurable catalogues of information. Hiding in the corners of this ever-expanding space. Or even deeper than the surface, the world protest for the crisis of truth and false information have used the Deep(er), Dark(er) layers of the Web and to declare history must never forget the power of Internet. 

[misticdawn]

Anyone wanna go naked for a good cause?? TOMORROW JUNE 21st is #RFGoNaked day!!!! For every make-up free selfie posted to social media (public) with the hashtag #RFGoNaked, Rodan + Fields will donate $1 to their Prescription For Change Foundation , which partners with non-profit organization, BuildOn, to help inner city youth thrive, break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through community service and education. Over 94% of them graduate high school, and most go on to college and serve their communities. Here's how it works: ✔️Take a Makeup-free selfie, "naked" from the neck up, and post on social media ✔️hashtag your photos #RFGoNaked. ✔️make sure your post is PUBLIC ✔️Being a RF customer to participate is not required.. ✔️Wanting to be a RF customer, not required. ✔️Wanting to help kids in impoverished communities...well, that IS required😉❤️ So get ready to go naked (from the neck up 😜) and let's give back in a BIG WAY!

[blinddatediary]

Illiteration

No, before you say - before you even THINK it - I don't mean alliteration, because I'm pretty sure that is a writing device which 90% of my generation have never even heard of, let alone know what it means! Or perhaps that is harsh. Perhaps dating sites are not a fair representation of a generation as a whole, but one thing which does stand out to me like a sore thumb whenever I find myself swiping through one is just how illiterate we all seem to have become.

This may seem incredibly snobby and I am aware that to many people, writing and word-choice holds very little importance. After all, it's not to say you aren't a lovely person regardless. And of course there are genuine conditions such as dyslexia which can make this kind of thing extremely difficult through no fault of anybody's own. Still, dyslexia surely cannot be the epidemic which social media would lead us to believe.

When you reach the point where you are constantly questioning whether English is somebody's second language or they simply haven't learnt how to use it as their first and only, this is a slightly worrying state of affairs. There's have commonly become "the", (not an abbreviation, guys!) two words are often smushed into one, extra long jumble of letters, (are hashtags spoiling us?) and who's, how's, when's and where's all seem to be utterly interchangable.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know we all make typos. It is easy to misplace the odd letter or word or slip up on our homophones when we're typing a rushed message on our mobiles. Yet, as a society, we seem to have now reached a whole new level of illiteracy.

It makes me wonder how much it really does matter. Does this bother anybody else or is it just me being overly pedantic? 🤓 xxx