#hopefully this post is more factual and educational than personal

[scaryinclusive]

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER — BREAKING DOWN THE STIGMA.

by @scaryinclusive.

a discussion of the ableism and stigma relating to npd — a separate resource post will be posted at another date, written by a narcissist. if you believe in the term 'narcissistic abuse', have been conditioned by your surroundings or past trauma to view or discuss narcissists in a negative way or simply want to understand why it's important to show sympathy, compassion and patience towards those with npd, please read this and keep an open mind. i'm not here to tell you what you can and can't do or what to feel, but if you are someone who wants to learn about the impact your vocabulary can have on others, as well as how your behaviour contributes to the isolation and ableism towards an entire community, this might be a useful post for you.

i understand this might be an inflammatory topic, but please be patient with me, and show me the same respect you'd want to receive. i am a living, breathing person behind the screen. first of all, i think it's important clarify what is meant by ableism, when used in this context. as an abuse survivor myself, i have subjected others to an ableist mindset — whether that be externally or internally ( internalised ableism. ) i have previously called my abuser a range of ableist terms, without having a diagnosis for them or the ability to make one. i have projected my own insecurities onto others and myself, instead of taking a step back to assess my trauma, shame and getting to the root of the blame. if this is something you have done previously too, or are currently prone to, know you are valid.

often, people want logic to illogical situations, they want reason to make sense of the unreasonable and in some cases they want to have something or someone to blame. and it's absolutely easier to blame an individual or disorder deemed monstrous by society than it is to blame the abuse itself. to hold an event, or series of events accountable. whatever it takes to keep the blame off of us, right? and while this is a common phenomenon within society, to blame people with narcissistic personality disorder or antisocials for our suffering, by throwing around the terms 'psychopath', 'narcissist' and 'sociopath' etc, it's not sustainable and in the long run, sure — you'll succeed in adding to the stigma of already massively stigmatised communities, but you'll drag yourself down with them. and that's not healing. that's not overcoming. it's certainly not contributing to the empathy, compassion and care many of you wish to see in the world. i feel this short, non-accusatory and sympathetic article really helps elaborate on what i've already mentioned.

i also want to stress that, at no point, am i excusing harmful behaviour. i believe individuals with these disorders, professionally or self diagnosed, and even those who think they might have one or both, have a responsibility within themselves to seek out support, healing and improvement to keep themselves and others safe and protected. but with the total lack of resources, community, space, patience and safety for them to commit to such, it's a vicious cycle. you're asking people who struggle greatly with shame and insecurity to face it, in an unsafe space with people that seek to shame us. we cannot get the help we need, regardless of how self-aware we are, due to society's stigmatising perception of us. due to rumours, lies and stereotypes.

therapists aren't always safe. in my experience i have been exposed to some highly questionable therapists. some have been corrupted by the stigma and are therefore unsafe for us. resources are designed to brainwash and instil internalised ableism. friends and family hate us. we have nowhere and no one to turn to. so, we bottle it up. we bottle it up, and up, and up until we explode or implode. someone catches it on camera and uploads it online. thousands if not more view it and all that comes from this devastating explosion is more stigma, more hate, and less space for us to heal. the cycle continues.

where does the stigma start? well, it starts with society's knowledge and education on what narcissistic personality disorder actually is. in this circumstance, unfortunately, you can't even fully trust things like the dsm's criteria, or the many websites accessible across the internet. you 100% can't trust word of mouth. i will begin with what npd is not. it is not a choice. not something you can decide to be, or to not be. people with npd do not love themselves, we are not entitled or selfish. we don't have a god-complex or view ourselves as higher beings or more important for the fun of it. we do not all have low / no empathy and we don't feel nothing. we aren't heartless, soulless, blood-sucking monsters, we aren't cunning villains scheming and seeking to manipulate and hurt people. we are not a different species or lesser being, not parasites or a infestation.

so what are people with narcissistic personality disorder? exactly that. people — a community of human beings who primarily experienced varying childhood traumas. the more effort, time and money put into the scientific and biological understanding of npd reveals it to be more and more alike to a trauma-related disorder. the entire meaning behind 'personality disorders' is that the title trait is a typical, average personality trait. however, the difference is that the trait itself is amplified, more intense or severe due to some form of trauma during childhood development.

as much as people don't want to admit it, narcissism is a healthy, typical human trait. but when an individual is exposed to trauma in early life, such as neglect ( particularly emotional neglect ), as they grow and develop the brain adapts in this environment to survive. this can lead to the development or intensifying of harmful, negatives behaviours that continue into later life. when you are no longer in an environment where survival is a necessity, an environment where you might need to manipulative, emotionally disconnect or behave in a specific way to avoid a threat or emotional injury, these behaviours don't simply vanish. they continue, even if it means harming those around you or treating them in a negative manner, because your brain is constantly convincing you of perceived threats — real or imagined, and your attitude towards life was never healthily developed in a way that you can pursue stability and safety.

to cope with this, specifically for those with npd, we develop grandiose delusions of ourselves. a façade, a safety net, a wall between us and the world. on the outside, it might appear that we are infatuated with ourselves, simply self-obsessed, entitled and obnoxiously detached from reality. what's really happening is that our core selves are so insecure, in such a deeply-rooted way, that in order to survive and cope with our inner fragility, we must create a false sense of security. npd is entirely based around insecurity. and insecurity, in itself — even without npd being a contributing factor, can lead to harmful behaviour. projecting our insecurities onto others to feel powerful, in control and above all else, safe. we are not monsters, we have simply had to adapt and learn to survive in an unstable, volatile and potentially dangerous environment and were never given the tools to heal from this. isn't that sad? an entire community of people unable to heal from their trauma because society has cast us out. stereotyped us as murderers, villains and abusers.

through therapy ( it's taken me 10 years of searching to find someone that understands me, healthily challenges me, respects me, is patient and remains unbiased throughout my healing ) i have learned much about myself. i have become more self-aware, been able to break down my trauma and thus combat my internalised ableism, and have been able to do so in a way that hasn't brainwashed me into believing the only way for someone like me to heal is to shame and hate myself and those with my disorders. it's not true. we can heal in a safe and healthy way that promotes self-love, sympathy for our suffering, compassion as well as responsibility, recognition and rationality. all of these can co-exist.

we can take responsibility for our mistakes and harmful actions while also being sympathetic towards what made us this way. but unfortunately many are pushed by society to take to self-loathing, self-deprecation and the spreading of stigma in favour of winning over ableists who reduce us to a stereotype or generalise us as lesser beings. "look how healed i am! i hate narcissists too!!" they are not healing, and by pushing this narrative and encouraging it, you are only digging a deeper hole.

outside of those that have been misguided by their trauma, leading them to label emotionally abusive, or just abusive individuals, as 'narcissists', along with various other stigmatising labels, there is a huge portion of society who remain uneducated and merely misuse the label due to it being commonly thrown around and not knowing any better. i ask that, if you are someone that uses this term to describe anyone other than someone with narcissistic personality, and certainly if you use it in any derogatory form, why you do that? i think it's fair to invite you to perform the same introspect about yourself that we are so desperately trying to do, with or without resources.

why do you need to use the word narcissist? narcissism, narcissistic? the same goes for antisocial, psychopath or sociopath. any word related to mental health or disability, really. outside of it being purely medical. what's stopping you from changing your vocabulary and contributing to the healing of a community? if your answer is 'because i can', or 'because they deserve it', you are dooming an entire group of traumatised individuals to fail.

if your answer is that narcissism existed as a trait and / or adjective prior to the disorder — you're absolutely right. it did. but the meanings of words change. the r* slur is a primary example. once, this slur was purely a medical word. it was then used by the general public as a derogatory way to describe those with intellectual or developmental disabilities. to reduce them as people and dehumanise them. it became such a widespread pejorative term that, now, the majority don't use it. because it's deemed offensive, hurtful and dehumanising. the meanings of words change, and if a handful of people from a relatively small community tell you it's hurtful and dehumanising, you don't get to tell them otherwise.

by saying things like "narcissistic abuse", instead of emotional abuse or abuse, you're adding to the stigma. by calling your abusive partner or friend a narcissist instead of what they are — 'an abuser', you're adding to the stigma. by armchair diagnosing ( diagnosing an individual despite not having the knowledge / legal qualifications to and purely basing it on personal / biased experience ) people guilty of performing in a toxic, abusive, harmful or negative way with narcissistic personality disorder, you are adding to the stigma. and above all else, it's ableist. it's discrimination and it's social prejudice.

here are a couple of useful resources relating to the definition, discussion and stigma surrounding npd. i will also be making a post listing alternative and appropriate vocab options for a variety of commonly misused labels.

5 things you got wrong about narcissistic personality disorder, a short, informative comic.

narcissus and the daffodils, an essay on the nature of npd.

please avoid adding onto this post to keep from spreading misinformation or stigma, but feel free to reblog! if you have something to say, i encourage you to send it to my asks. but i think at this point, if you're still set on misusing the term and adding to the stigma, i personally have done as much as i can. i really do sympathise with trauma-born ableism. but it's not acceptable and i'd like to think the majority can do better than that. just because others choose to contribute to the ableism, doesn't mean you have to. everyone deserves to heal from their trauma, including us, and including you.

[stormblessed95]

To My Various Anons:

I will not be posting your asks for various reasons sorry. But enjoy some KM pics as an apology 🥰

First, to my controversy anon:

I do not feel educated enough nor do I fully agree with everything I saw on the timeline to answer this with information that I feel would be 100% factual and I don't want to open up that can of worms honestly. Nor do I ever want to accidentally spread misinformation in anyway. My only response I feel comfortable giving is to trust the guys.

Second, to my idk if I should send you this other person's blog anon:

It's okay to send, but I hope you understand that I won't post it. I don't want to cause drama with other bloggers that I don't know or hadn't heard of before or cause any other kind of issues or back and forths. I will say that I did read it and was a little confused at their perceived timeline of events. I will also say that I think a look through any of my masterlist posts or my archive would hopefully make it clear that I obviously do not see things the same way they do. Lol but agree to disagree is fine. I don't agree with... anything from their post, but they were respectful with it and so I don't have any issues with their opinions vastly differing from my own and/or the majority jikookers. So I would just leave it. Lol

To all my stop shipping jikook anons for all the various reasons you sent me:

I don't agree and your logic is lacking. My advice to you all would be to stop watching edited footage or reading trashy news articles with click bait titles. Learn how to appropriately research a topic as well. A poorly written ask isn't going to convince anyone that KM are straight more than their own behavior has convinced tons of people they are not. Which has nothing to do with any potential relationship between them and their own individuality that is simply very fruity. Sorry. And I'm very sorry that the simply idea of KM being boyfriends scares yall so bad. These are for you 🥰

Thank you for the asks, I hope yall see this. To the first two anons especially, sorry I couldn't post the original asks but hope this helps at least a little anyway 💜💜💜

[lorei-writes]

Fandom Spaces Online & Minors

This is one of those posts that are hard to type due to the complexity of the issue. Some may say it’s been long overdue, some that there isn’t even a reason for me to type it out — and honestly, I am not sure whether either of those approaches is “righter” than the other one.

Regardless, this post is more so addressed to minors who may follow me.

(Summary at the bottom).

So, where to begin? Maybe at the very core, which for today is adult content in fiction, or to be more precise — so-called “smut”. As you might have seen, I did write some pieces which fall into this category, although it’s by far not the dominant type of content on my blog. 

I have never spoken before about this issue, because I considered it pretty self-explanatory. This is not brought forward by anything in particular either. However, today I thought that perhaps a couple words would not hurt.

Adult content is by far not the main focus of my blog, and as with anything which may be potentially triggering or otherwise inappropriate for viewers of a certain age, I do try my best to mark it accordingly. Works which do fall into this category, when listed on my masterlist, are described as either “smut” or NSFW even before you click into them. As for any trigger I mention, I do work under the assumption that you do know whether it is appropriate for you to read something — and whether it isn’t. 

You must be aware that any NSFW fiction you might have read online is only the fantasy of the author. No matter how close to reality they try to stay, it’s just the fantasy. Humans are sets of immense amount of variables and what may be true for one person may not even be a thing for another one. I do know that sexual education isn’t really available in plenty countries. I do know curiosity is spiking during puberty and such — and I would be damned if I stuck to saying “no” without saying “why”.

You see, as I’ve said, NSFW works are fantasies of the authors. They do not have to be correct in details, they don’t have to display “standard situations” (whatever those could be), they do not have to meet any sort of criteria… And honestly, plenty of times, they do include harmful beliefs, stereotypes, misinformation, simplifications, or work under some (unrealistic) assumptions to make something work in a given setting. Now, this isn’t a major issue for adult viewers — more often than not, they do possess some sort of experience which can act as a filter. Adults are usually capable of distinguishing between purely unrealistic elements, plenty can see hurtful messages, they aren’t influenced by those too much.

Minors, on the other hand? You lack this sort of experience. Those are things you may be learning later on in your life. Now, it isn’t to say that what you would read would with 100% certainty become a standard for you — but the chances of that happening aren’t zero either. The thing is, reading NSFW works may not hurt you instantly. It is only that you may learn some hurtful things from them, which you will later have to unlearn. They may set unrealistic standards for you, they may give you a wrong idea about something. Acting based on those later on in life may lead to disappointments or, in worse cases, to being hurt. In other words: you lack tools to navigate through nuances of this sort of fiction. This is fine. It isn’t meant for you. You have time to grow and shouldn’t rush it.

Now, to give a SFW example. Let’s say, character A passionately kissing sleeping character B on the lips. First issue is consent. A sleeping person cannot give consent to anything, much less to a passionate kiss — and I think we all can agree on that. But here start the problems. What we can read is still only the fantasy of the author. What are the standards for the relationship described in the story, what are the standards of the author, why they wrote it this way in the first place — it’s all very individualistic and we do not have access to that information. Then, there is a narration. The words we choose make a world of difference. The action above can be presented in both negative and positive way.

Let’s say person B isn’t consenting to being kissed like so. We will most likely be able to say it’s wrong and shouldn’t be allowed — at least if we were introduced to what consent is and why it matters. Being accustomed to the concept of consent before reading the scene is what provides us with the framework to judge whether it’s okay or not to do something. Imagine if the concept at play was something foreign to you, and even though it made you feel uncomfortable, it was presented as something completely normal and positive. It can be confusing, right?

And with NSFW things? You will most likely lack this sort of framework — maybe (hopefully) not necessarily in terms of consent itself, but factual things, expectations, risks certain actions may carry, preferences. If you are curious, do look for educational content. I know there is plenty of it online — and that was in my native language alone, not to mention English. Give yourself time to grow and never let fanfiction serve as the lone source of information for you on that matter. Check whether the information is cited in other places too. My intention isn’t to shame you, but to remind you that fanfiction isn’t an educational resource. It’s okay to be curious. It’s only that curiosity should be satiated with appropriate measures — the same way most people would pick water over alcohol to quench their thirst, even though technically both are liquid.

Lastly, I would like to state that I will not chase after you. I do believe you are responsible enough not to interact with content which isn’t meant for you. This isn’t an open invitation to read it, no. This also isn’t an invitation to prove to me that you are of appropriate age — I have honestly no way of verifying the truthfulness of such a statement, and I’m glad I don’t. (Not for accountability reasons, but because I think it would step too deep into a person’s privacy). I am aware of the fact that this may be wishful thinking. However, I also know I have only limited control over the situation — after all, I am sure there are people who read my work and otherwise leave nothing behind, either here or on Ao3.

Summary:

You shouldn’t read NSFW fiction not because you are a minor, but because (as a minor) you lack the framework to navigate through it — you are unlikely to be able to spot inaccuracies depicted in it, misinformation, stereotypes, and otherwise hurtful messages. This may affect the expectations and standards you have later on in life — it could lead to disappointment and, in worse cases, being hurt.

This isn’t about intelligence. You will simply lack the necessary experience. This is fine. Give yourself time to grow and learn.

NSFW fiction is just fantasy of the author and may have very little to do with the reality.

NSFW works should never, never, never replace proper age-appropriate sex-education. Even if an author tries to stay true to the reality, it is still just their fantasy and inaccuracies may occur. Authors are not educators. 

Puberty does spike up the curiosity in regard to sex. Especially if you did not have any sort of sexual education — do not replace it with fanfiction. Do look for resources online. Do make sure to check whether the source is credible, or whether the information is cited in other places too. It is okay to be curious, but again, fanfiction isn’t an educational resource. 

It isn’t humanly possible for authors to check every single person interacting with their work and to verify whether they’re a minor with 100% accuracy. Tags and warnings do exist for a reason. You must take responsibility for your experience online and, the same way you wouldn’t interact with triggering content, you shouldn’t interact with things which are potentially harmful to you.

[armandyke]

The link between diet and autism: a critical analysis of the recent Earth Locker episode and a chance for River to relive her lab report title writing days

Link to the original video

So as I already mentioned I’ve seen a few people talking about the recent episode of the Earth Locker (a podcast by Robert Sheehan, Tom Hopper, and Bryon Knight) where they talk with Tom and his wife Laura about their experiences raising their autistic son. I watched the whole episode and while there were a lot of good points made, there was also some misinformation, statements that were poorly explained and could be misinterpreted, and a couple of pretty harmful ideas put across which I’m gonna go into below. 

Disclaimer one: I’m gonna be saying a lot of stuff that I’m not going to be posting sources for. This is because everything I’m saying comes from my experiences as an autistic person, my experiences working as a support worker for adults with autism where I am currently a key worker for two autistic individuals, my work related training on autism, mental health, and diet & nutrition, and my knowledge from my psychology degree in which I also spent a lot of time studying biology and physiology. This is all just stuff that I know, and at some point I might try to add some sources but I’m writing this fresh off watching and making notes on this video so my energy is already running a little low and I’d rather focus on getting my points across instead of having to take time to source every piece of information. 

Disclaimer two: The purpose of this post isn’t to attack or defend any of the people involved in the podcast. This is also in no way a criticism of Tom and Laura’s parenting. This is purely a criticism of the discussion that took place on the podcast, not on any of the choices they’ve made for their son.

Disclaimer three: I’m going to be using the phrase “challenging behaviour” a lot while I’m explaining things as this is the term used in most modern research and is what we use at work. This basically describes any behaviour that causes harm to the individual or to other people around them, or behaviour that is detrimental to the individual’s wellbeing. 

So the main thing I want to go into with this is the misinformation and misinterpretation of information that was central to the discussion in this podcast, and that was around the connection between diet and autism. Most of the things Tom and Laura said about the effects of diet weren’t incorrect, but it wasn’t explained accurately and missed out on some key points so let’s go: 

In terms of whether diet can “cause” autism: no it can’t. There’s absolutely no evidence to suggest it does. It also can’t “worsen” autism because autism isn’t something that can get “worse” or “better”. A person with autism can develop and learn new skills and they can also regress (and diet can influence this, which I’ll go into further on), but an autistic person at a lower stage of development does not have “worse” autism than a person at a higher stage of development. 

Poor diet can have an impact on autistic people in the same way as with neurotypical people. If we eat junk, we tend to feel like junk as a result, and when we feel like junk it can be harder to concentrate and carry out our usual day to day tasks. However, autistic people are also significantly more likely to suffer from digestive problems and food intolerances, and so for a lot of autistic people (or parents of autistic children) diet may be something that requires close attention. So saying that an autistic individual’s challenging behaviour could be a result of their diet isn’t necessarily untrue, but it does massively oversimplify the issue. The challenging behaviour is more likely a response to pain or discomfort, (as well as frustration if they are unable to communicate this), which is caused by a diet unsuitable for this specific individual, which is caused by an intolerance or digestive problem, which they were at greater risk of developing due to their autism. It’s worth mentioning that medical professionals still don’t know why this comorbidity exists. 

So, referring back to Tom and Laura’s experience with their son, they were explaining that their son’s challenging behaviour spiked while he was on a high-sugar diet. Laura also added that he had been suffering from increasingly frequent infections in his ears and throat while eating these foods, which makes sense because high blood sugar levels can weaken the immune system and make us more susceptible to infections. They then explained that these infections stopped following a tonsillectomy and a change to a sugar-free diet, which then also lead to a complete reduction in their son’s challenging behaviours. Again, implying that the reduction in behaviours is a result of cutting out the sugar is oversimplifying. It’s most likely that their son’s challenging behaviours were a response to the pain the infections were causing, which may or may not have been linked to his sugar intake. Either way, autistic people are all individuals and so while a reduction in sugar intake has benefited their son, by no means does that mean that all autistic people should be following a low-sugar diet or that this would be beneficial for them. 

This isn’t entirely on topic but there are two other things I want to address in terms of what Tom and Laura said while talking about their son, the first being when talking about their initial approach to their children's’ diet before they were aware that their son was autistic. Laura essentially said that she wanted their children to be able to try different foods and that the focus would be on education about health and diet rather than cutting “unhealthy” foods out of their diets completely, which I thought was a great way to approach things. However she then added that, had they known about their son’s autism at the time, they may have approached things differently, which I was confused about. I think (and hope) she was just trying to say that if they had known upfront that sugar particularly seemed to be detrimental to their son, they would have reduced that straight away rather than having to use a process of trial and error which makes sense, but just the way it was phrased set off alarm bells because it sounded like she was implying that they would have controlled his diet more strictly if they had known he was autistic. Hopefully this isn’t the case because autistic people don’t need to have their choices limited if there is no detriment to their health or wellbeing. 

Another thing I was confused about, and I’m not sure if this was supposed to be more of a weird analogy rather than factual information, was when Tom started talking about “sensory glands” when talking about their son’s hypersensitivity to sounds. I think his exact words were something along the line of saying that the high sugar levels were causing his “sensory glands” to “swell” which was heightening his sensitivity. And like... unless I missed something there is no such thing as a sensory gland and they certainly don’t swell up when we’re over stimulated or when we have a lot of sugar. Sugar triggers high dopamine responses in our brains which then leads to cravings and can cause spikes and crashes in mood, and it can also cause inflammation, all of which can cause discomfort and in turn could lead to an increase in sensitivity, but as far as I know sugar doesn’t have a direct effect on our senses. 

Now on to the elephant in the room and the two big, glaring no-no's in this podcast, both of which were said by Tom (these are not direct quotes because I didn’t get a chance to jot them down in time so I’m paraphrasing slightly):

“we cannot ignore the correlation between rising autism rates and the increase in fast food consumption” (spoiler alert: yes we can)

“I really want to get to the cause of autism and see if there’s something that can be done to prevent it”

So, first of all, autism isn’t something that needs to be prevented. Autistic people are not a detriment to society. We don’t have an illness, we just experience the world differently and, in some cases, require additional support to live our lives as fully as possible. Obviously it can’t be ruled out that fast food, or anything else, has a part to play in rising rates, but there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it does and correlation absolutely does not equal causation. Gay representation in the media has also been steadily rising with rates of autism diagnosis. Does this mean that seeing gay people on TV makes people autistic? No. As Laura briefly mentioned, it is far more likely that the rising rates are actually due to an increase in understanding about autism and the accessibility of diagnosis, especially when you consider how many people are still slipping under the radar even with all the knowledge we have today.

I appreciate that most of this podcast is just a conversation between friends about various topics, but when the goal of this podcast is to “raise awareness”, and with the shared platform the people involved have, casual statements like these are incredibly dangerous. With the general implication that if everyone lived a healthy, clean, and organic lifestyle, we could reduce the number of autistic people in our society, this not only puts the “blame” on parents of autistic people, and on the individuals themselves, but is also dipping into eugenics territory. And while I don’t think the intentions behind either statement were malicious, they were incredibly ignorant, and the fact that they went completely unchallenged was concerning and made me pretty uncomfortable. 

There were still a lot of positives in the podcast. I’m really glad Laura was also involved because she definitely came across as being the most educated on the subject of the four of them and did make a point of bringing up issues with diagnosis (particularly among girls with autism), her and Tom’s privilege in terms of being able to work with doctor’s to find out as much as possible about their son’s dietary needs and to then provide him with a tailored diet, and also addressing the issues with “high functioning vs low functioning” when Rob asked about the “severity” of their son’s autism. However there was still an undeniable amount of inaccurate or poorly presented information, as well as some things that were just plain incorrect and offensive. I appreciate that a lot of this was coming from personal experience rather than being generalised information, but I think this could have been communicated a lot more clearly and effectively considering the intention was to spread awareness, and the episode would have massively benefitted from the input of an autistic adult. Rob specifically had a lot of questions about autism in general and I think they would have been much better answered by somebody with autism, rather than a parent giving an outside perspective of their child’s experiences. It’s always a little uncomfortable to watch four neurotypical people discuss autism, regardless of how positive their intentions are, and I don’t think it would have been a great challenge for them to find an autistic person who would have been willing to talk about the topic with them. 

[subaruthegamer]

About my OCs (Randy and Deacon)

Again, bear with me here.

Randal (Randy) David

“What’s rule #2?” - me

“Never *bleep* with anyone who’s bigger than you.” - half-drunk Randy - regarding why Jack effortlessly... 18+ed him.

Randal (as I occasionally call him) is from a slightly better off family from Hidden Springs, and he was born to parents who while idealistic on the outside, were actually a little bit difficult to live with on the inside. Even though is family life left a lot to be desired, in terms of education, he was attending some of the best schools that Hidden Springs had to offer. With that, his education did leave a rather bitter taste in his mouth since he had almost quite literally, burned his mind through everything that was asked of him. As a result, he now suffers from a mild case of depression which he hides even better than myself.

After turning 17, Randy had a tutor as a result of his rather intense struggle to keep up with everyone else. But he also started to notice an attraction to him (he was pretty much devastatingly handsome) and it started to get personal in a way. That was when Randy started to suffer a headache about his situation. Because his parents were quite uptight about him staying straight as an arrow, this was probably going to be the end (to him). So on the day he turned 18 after his high school graduation, he decided to enlist in the military. But he had to tell his parents about that and his sexuality. Rather than wait until everyone was at dinner, he waited until the night he was about to be shipped out to tell him.

You can guess how it ended for his parents - the bickering was endless.

I honestly don’t know how Randy pulled through with dealing with his training, but one thing I can say for certain is that while Randy was starting to get his body toned, but the one thing that I can say for sure is that he was definitely the smart one. This got him transfered once, and then again. Until he landed into Colby’s team. 

It was a crush at first sight after all - Colby was big, bulky - but obviously, he couldn’t just say he’s in love with him. Until one night, at a barracks somewhere we will probably never know, Randy managed to sneak out of his cabin, and for some rather insane reason, decided to peep on Colby. Colby had just came in from some weight-lifting, so he was going to take a shower. So when Randy peeped, he was getting turned on by Colby’s big size and when he turned around, how large his... uh... right, keeping this safe for work...

Anyway, Randy snuck back to his cabin and needed a moment alone to himself because his heart was pounding so fast. The next morning, he was summoned to Colby’s cabin and sure enough, Colby knew he had been spied on. So inevitably, rather than give him a lesson, Colby would go with his “lesson” by clearing up his schedule come liberty day, and giving him something that was sorely needed.

When the day was free, Randy went over nervous... he had never had somebody this close to him... and when the door closed in Colby’s cabin... it didn’t take long for Colby to slowly strip him down and start his “lesson.” Sure enough, they were sweaty and layered.

This kept up for weeks on end. Working together and creating a formidable team of tactics and actual fighting with (potential enemies) they were literally climbing the ranks during the day, and being given lessons during the night. In fact it got to a point where they had been turned into the stories of legend because of Randy’s moaning.

Sadly (for Randy) it didn’t last, because Colby rather strangely quit his position after he himself spent 6 years in the military. With an address if Randy ever got himself loose, he stayed on - but while he was good over the next year with other people, they got transferred out because Randy wasn’t quite as compatible with others simply due to the dynamic that he and Colby had. So, he quit.

After that, he sort of bounced all over the country, seeing if Colby was there, hoping to hopefully continue with what he and Colby had - enter me.

Yeah, it’s a pretty good guess as to what happened when he finally found Colby. This was an awkward reunion for sure, since Colby was in love with me, and Randy was now... the ex.

Obviously with him sharing a room at his Riverview house (which I was still studying in college) this did have a few awkward moments - then it started going into a slightly strange stalker-ish vibe that was coming off. I was probably overreacting, since Randy’s questions were really sort of borderline creep~ish to the point where I had to have a conversation with Colby with regards to it. 

“I mean, in hindsight, it’s not so bad - I have a feeling we’re getting somewhere.” - me

“It’s more of... will he do everything to replace you?” - Colby

And it didn’t happen. Strange as it may seem, it just didn’t happen. Despite all of it, he was still trying (a bit too hard) to try and remain upbeat about the whole ordeal, but it left me with the impression that he was a little cold with it.

After I graduated and got a job starting my way up with being an intern, Randy got a job as a filing clerk in the office. We started hitting it off as friends, and he was starting to have this sense that he wanted Colby, but he didn’t want to fight over what Colby’s mind up was which depressed him. As I was a former sober companion then, I always notice the signs that one may possibly start to need vices. The job he got was something to live for, but it just felt like he wanted more at the end of the day.

We had our fun, of course, as friends. Walks, drinks, the occasional shameless flirt. I worked my way up but then sort of stalled, which got Randy to catch up to being an intern. By the time I was given the opportunity to be a full-blown journalist, Randy was on the heels of being one. His comparison tests were unique in a way nobody has ever seen before (why, I will never tell you!) but we both got into our moment in the spotlight - I was working on reviewing cars, he was reviewing consumer products.

Furthermore, we also both got job opportunities in Lucky Palms - hence the move.

Which did leave one question - was Randy really going to try and shoot himself past me and into Colby’s arms? The three of us decided that Randy can be friends-with-benefits with Colby. Which meant that there was no relationship with Colby - it being over as Randy came to the reality that Colby was in love with me. But the occasional hookup would be okay.

Did it mean he can also sink his claws into me as well? (hehe...)

Deacon Peaks

“Lemme get this right - you got that tattoo to hide several of scars on your arm?” - me

“It’s not something I’m proud of.” - Deacon

Deacon has been through a lot. Actually, more than even I could describe. Coming from the slightly rough side of Twinbrook, his story wasn’t as fairytale as his blond hair and tattoos suggest. Deacon and his sister (who we’ve never seen but is mentioned on occasions) were born to a rather alcoholic father, who beat everyone on several occasions. Deacon sustained a lot of the injuries through school, and until his mother finally went to his grandfather, he was still suffering a lot which the school staff at the time turned a blind eye to.

When his mother finally had enough, his grandfather (who he called Pops) had the whole family (minus his father) move into his place and chased his father away with a shotgun. After that, at 14, he was starting to put the pieces of himself back together, but it started to take a domino effect on his education, since he was also bullied through school. Until a new principal came into effect 2 years later, the pieces he had allowed him to get by, but not get better. In fact, from what I remember about the conversations Deacon and I had when we were alone was that he also started an attraction to boys - who then also got kicked around for liking them as well. So, clearly, high school wasn’t exactly something he’s enjoyed.

That gradually changed slightly as he entered college - although it was still a painful time for him - even as he turned 21. Because Deacon was at a small college party, the temptation to drink too much was just there. I mean, everyone was simply getting too drunk to get comfortable. Even in this setting, the pressure was still on. But he walked away. And good thing he did, because hazing was a thing that occurred then.

Now, Deacon entered college with loans, so unsurprisingly, he did have to work quite hard through college. It wasn’t the most enlightening difference, but it was enough to live by modestly. He still had to bike to school, but it was enough to work and live by in a way. Although with Deacon’s athletic career - he graduated alright, but there is a problem: the amount of debt wasn’t exactly something that enlightens a prospective team. So after graduating, he held a few dead-end jobs before moving to Lucky Palms.

While looking through the ads list at the supermarket in Lucky Palms, I had advertised a room for sale (this was post-Adam, pre-Jack - draw your own conclusions) and, Deacon, ever the blondie, came in and was about to text the number on the ad. Sure enough, it was me. Randy had been living in a room on his own, and with Lucky Palms property values, renting a spare room that could be used could supplement what we paid.

Sure enough, Deacon was sort of back where we started until a team mascot position at the stadium opened. So he took it - but he was facing a little bit of ridicule from not being “from the bag - and probably rusty.” Obviously, he hid this from us until I checked in on him... and where I may have introduced him to Randy.

The two went on a night on the town at a bar, and Deacon (according to Randy) did have some degree of fun, but there was something missing. Now, when they got home with Randy (on the gray line of tipsy and drunk), Deacon decided that rather than carry Randy to his room (which factually was closer to the stairs than Deacon’s was) he would take him to his.

What happened during the night would be anyone’s guess (relax, nothing of a rather criminal nature happened), but when Randy woke up (unsurprisingly slightly hungover) Randy had been giving Deacon a cute smile while waiting for him to wake up. When Deacon turned around, his heart was beating quickly. Randy was still staring into his eyes with this cooling effect that apparently gradually got them to cuddle even closer in bed.

They spent the whole day cuddling until... Deacon made the first move with a kiss in bed. With Randy slightly shocked (and hungry) that Deacon wasn’t sure if he blew it. But Randy responded by kissing him back :)

This was a gradual secret until I accidentally got him and Deacon making out because Randy accidentally took my phone and I was going to give it back.

What was interesting about this was that they moment they started dating was also the same moment Colby proposed to me.

Randy was the catalyst in Deacon’s life, and soon enough, Deacon started flying up the ladder from being a mascot, to being one of the most sought after players. And before you ask - they’ve decided to be boyfriend and boyfriend.

[severalspoons]

Liveblog: Rewatching Trigun, Episode 17, Part 1

Episode 17 frustrates me immensely. All the most important facts are stated clearly. But a lot of the meaning and implications are at best found in brief hints. And while there’s a lot of symbolism, discussed in an interesting way here, it’s not enough to explain why Knives decided it was right to kill everyone except themselves and perhaps Rem. I would even argue, that’s never explained.

Get ready for a long post, because I’m going to overthink everything.

-- “I think that planet is going to be our new home!”

-- Rem is excited to create their new home, the Captain has a scientific bent, and Steve is a drunk, sexually harrassing pig. There is also a lady whose name I didn’t catch who seems to exist to be harrassed by Steve in the anime. Edit: There is also a lady named Mary who doesn’t seem to have any purpose until later.

-- Who does make the decision where they’ll land? Especially if almost everyone on the fleet except a small skeleton crew is in cold sleep.

-- Why are the twins in a separate room from the crew?

-- Knives is quietly watching the screen. Vash is wearing a party hat and a fake mustache and generally messing around. Wonder how well he understands what’s going on?

-- “Are there flowers on this planet?” Rem, you’re literally all seeing this planet for the first time and all the readings are about large-scale things like atmosphere and habitability. How would anyone know?

-- Also, is it just me or is Rem’s voice just high pitched enough to be really annoying? (Sorry). Also...is she drunk?

-- Rem, suppose there are no red flowers. Would that be a dealbreaker for you? 

-- “Why don’t they wake up?” Wait. Does Vash seriously not know what cold sleep is and that these people are in cold sleep???

-- “It’s so quiet. There’s only 7 people.” I get it, it’s a big ship to be occupied by so few people, but let’s just say I’m not surprised how much time he spends in crowded bars years later.

-- Vash doesn’t know what’s written on the outside of the ship? I’d think if there were no windows from which he could view the writing, there’d be information in the ship’s computers. Does he just sit around waiting to be told about the world? 

-- “If there’s a God...He must be laughing right now. Our pitiful struggle for immortality must seem like an impossible quest to Him.. “the desperate human will to survive, to carry on our species.” Even Rem, the dreamer, calls the whole thing “pitiful” and “impossible.” No wonder Knives comes to see it that way.

Rem is agnostic?

-- “We’re the caretakers...it’s our job to let them sleep in peace.” “is there anything we can do to help you?” Aww. <3 

Um, she did say “our” job, Vash. That includes you. Or is this how he communicates he doesn’t see himself as part of the crew, but would still like to help? Honestly, if it was typical how they kept him and Knives in a separate room even when celebrating the discovery of a potential new home, I can see why.

-- “Oh, THAT’s where you are.” Knives sounds like he got bored with the area and moved on a long time ago. His voice sounds harsher than Vash’s from the beginning.

-- The conversation between Knives and Rem in the rec room is weird. Like Knives is judging Rem, or Rem at least feels that way. “You really like that song.” Kids would normally ask a question, like “why do you sing that song so much?” or “what is that song?” 

“It pops into my head whenever I feel happy. Do you think it’s strange?” Who asks their 8 year old adopted kid if they think your everyday habits are strange? 

“No, it’s a nice song,” which is a judgment even though it’s a positive one.

After hearing Knives’ voice sound like that it’s weird to see his cute wide eyes. The crew member behind him looks uncomfortable.

-- “It’s weird. Nothing moved since we’ve been here, but everything seems different for some reason.” “That’s because it’s alive!” That’s actually a profound point about the difference between something made, like a computer, and something that grows, like a person. You always know what a program is going to do because you wrote it that way, and your furniture is always going to stay in the same place unless someone moves it. But a flower or an insect or a person is constantly changing, and you can’t always predict how.

-- “Hmm?” That doesn’t make intuitive sense to Knives, I guess. Vash is smiling behind Rem. IDK if that’s because it makes sense to him, or because he just enjoys listening to what Rem says.

-- “It has its own rhythm. You can actually feel the living heartbeat of the plants.” I think Knives is thinking of a different kind of plant than you are, Rem.

-- “So this is the world you and the crew keep talking about.”

-- “We’re not just going to see it, we’re going to create it.” Vash and Knives seem to agree on that. They just will end up with very different ideas of what that Eden looks like. :(

-- “There will be nothing but peaceful days,” “with no war,” “and no stealing,” “an Eden where people can live in freedom and harmony, right?” (That’s got to be Vash at the end, asking for confirmation or approval). 

Aww, those sweet little babies and their impossible dream, finishing each other’s sentences! I am crying all the tears right now.

Although, even Vash isn’t as naive as you’d think from how he talks. They know what war and stealing are. They know that freedom and harmony aren’t guaranteed. They’ve probably studied at least some of Earth’s history.

-- Here we are at the moment of no return! In the briefing room, Rem, the Captain, and the twins are sitting around a table looking at a hologram of Earth. Vash and Knives are told that Project SEEDS started because “the state of our home, Earth, was so desperate that...mankind could no longer survive there.” 

-- “Judging from the data, mankind is responsible for damaging the planet,” Knives says. “Right, Captain?” He’s being objective, he’s looking at the data, he’s asking the Captain rather than Rem for help. But I bet he’s hoping it isn’t true.

-- Why SEEDS? Rem: “the need to survive.” Seems morally neutral enough. 

The Captain: “the behavior of clinging to life until the verge of death is intrinsic to all organisms. Survival instincts take over, dismissing shame in order to live.” The Captain seems to be ashamed not only of humans destroying the Earth, but of their trying to survive. Knives seems to get that message loud and clear.

What Vash seemed to pick up is the idea that people should be ashamed of what they do to survive, and maybe that it’s right to hang onto that as much as you can while still living. Maybe that’s what the scars are for?

-- “But is it right to live if it means such sacrifices?” That’s...a cold way of putting it, Knives. 

-- “We make the smallest sacrifice we can think of at the time.” 

One could say Knives picked up this idea, but I don’t think so. He’s going to make some pretty big “sacrifices,” and I don’t think he tries to keep them small for very long.

-- Two different (and actually compatible) answers to Knives’ question: 

“Unlike other organisms on this planet, we possess logic, the knowledge to minimize the sacrifice.”

“Also, as human beings, we have the ability to right our wrongs. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and start over again in a new home.” Hopefully. Even Rem knows there’s no guarantee.

-- After the meeting, the Captain realizes (surprisingly, before Rem does), that it didn’t go well. He believes he doesn’t know how to be an educator and he’s not cut out to be a father. He downplays his knowledge of computers and reasoning, and says what really matters is what Rem does: teach them about emotions, being kind to others, and the value of the future.

Rem, in turn, says she has no idea how to raise kids either, and what she does is no big deal, she just plays with them. 

“I guess we just have a different way of looking at things,” the Captain says. And they continue respecting each other’s perspective and working together peacefully.

It’s too bad Vash and Knives weren’t present to see them model getting along with different strengths and beliefs (although they must have seen other examples). This is what the twins should have become.

***

Oh look, it’s the dichotomy between Thinking + STEM (modeled by the Captain, emulated by Knives) and Feeling + Social Intelligence (modeled by Rem, followed by Vash). This is one of my least favorite tropes. When I was a kid, I overthought like Knives while wearing my heart on my sleeve like Vash, and if this blog is any indication, not much has changed.

Humans were never going to be sufficient intellectual role models for the plant kids, so I understand why Rem and the Captain focused on their social and emotional development. But they, especially Knives, needed someone to listen to their thoughts and worries and take them seriously. Vash needed someone to model the process of looking for answers, instead of just waiting for someone to tell him what he wanted to hear. Knives needed someone to help him deal with the more disturbing implications of what he learned. The Captain sold himself short here. He could have done a good job with this. 

Rem’s style was to talk about feelings and memories, and to talk as little as possible about unpleasant truths, like the reason for the SEEDS mission. She waited to talk to Vash about it until he asked, and even then her answers were incomplete and...oversimplified, to say the least. That worked for her and Vash. Knives, however, seemed to want to understand things for himself. He didn’t just need what he would’ve seen as empty words of reassurance. He needed someone to engage with what he knew. 

I think Rem missed his attempts to talk about what was bothering him, because they were couched in factual rather than feeling terms. He talked about the thoughts that made him feel the way he did, not directly about the feelings themselves. For example, when he asked about humans destroying the Earth, he was horrified and seriously wondering what good humans were. The Captain addressed these implications, and realized the conversation did not go well. Rem just shared her beliefs. 

Neither of them helped him feel secure or loved. Neither of them helped him deal with his feelings about not being human, his horror that humans had destroyed Earth, and his fears that they might do the same with their new home. I don’t know if either of them knew much of what was on his mind. I think Knives spent a lot of time stewing alone. He already had the angry voice of a future villain, and neither empathetic Rem nor his own twin seemed to notice. For that matter, no one seemed to know that Steve was bullying him, or at least no one was doing anything about it. Does that seem strange to anyone else?

Knives chose to become a genocidal maniac. This is the context in which he made his choices.

Instead of a single person getting split into Thinking and Feeling sides, the siblings were split into a Feeling Twin and a Thinking Twin, to the detriment of both. As they chose different beliefs, role models, and ways of life, they continued farther and farther along these polarized tracks their elders set for them.

Yet, IMO, Rem and the Captain were both right. Rem was right about good and evil, how to hope, and what to live for. The captain was right about how to make decisions in an imperfect world, and the need to accept unpleasant truths.

One thing I appreciate about the anime ending is Vash and Knives have an opportunity come to some sort of compromise, or at least a working balance. I actually like that it’s left to us to imagine how. 

***

Hypothesis: In the Myers-Briggs system, Vash = ENFP and Knives = INTJ. What do you think?

#I could easily be wrong with Knives 

#intj is the one n type I don’t know much about

[thecartoonuniverse]

Currently Airing Cartoons to Watch: 2019 Edition Part 1

You may remember my list of upcoming cartoons to look out for last year, but this time around I would like to do something different! I am personally recommending cartoons that are currently airing (or are confirmed to get more seasons) and give my opinions on each of them. There may be other good cartoons out there, but if they are not on the list, it means I was not a huge fan of it, it’s a super popular show like Steven Universe or Star vs. the Forces of Evil, or I have yet to watch it. If you are looking for something to watch, this is the list!

Currently Airing:

The Dragon Prince

Summary: The Dragon Prince is an epic fantasy series by the head writer and director of Avatar: the Last Airbender. In the magical land of Xadia, magic comes from six primal sources. But when human mages create a seventh kind of magic, Dark Magic — they begin capturing and harvesting the unique magical creatures they need as ingredients. This sparks a catastrophic war between Xadia and the Human Kingdoms. Three kids from opposite sides of the conflict — two human princes, and the elven assassin who was sent to kill them — discover a secret that could change everything. They decide to join forces and go on an epic journey that may be their only hope of ending the war, and restoring peace to both their worlds.

Opinion: This is probably my favorite currently airing show right now, mostly since I am a huge fan of fantasy shows. Dragons, extremely hot elves, and magic- what more could you ask for? Every one of the characters is complex and likable (well most, depending on who you ask). But even the antagonists are compelling at there are always shades of gray present. Season 2 truly blew me away with how much the stakes were raised and the number of surprises that occurred. There is even going to be a AAA cross-platform video game coming soon set in the same world! The company that creates The Dragon Prince, is doing a fantastic job on their social media (it’s hilarious, trust me), and I cannot wait to see what else they create. A quick warning, the animation from season 1 will take a little while to get used to, but for the most part, it has been improved for Season 2.

Also, there a lot of memes, so get ready for that.

gen:LOCK

Summary: In gen:LOCK, Earth’s last free society is on the losing side of a global war, and recruits a diverse team of young pilots to control the next generation of mecha—giant, weaponized robot bodies. These daring recruits will find, however, that their newfound abilities come at no small cost. As Julian Chase leaves behind his life as a fighter pilot to become the first candidate for the program, he finds his endurance, as well as his very identity, will be tested beyond anything he ever imagined.

Opinion: For any current/past fans of Voltron: Legendary Defender- WATCH THIS SHOW! If you are a fan of mechas, you will surely enjoy this. But if you were more a fan of the character interactions from VLD, this show also has you covered. It has an amazingly diverse cast and even has a canon genderfluid character. It is a show made for adults, so the stakes are real and dark subjects are treated seriously. Even the romance is done very well with the characters acting like adults instead of arguing over each other like teenagers. Even from the first episode, you can tell that the show is willing to take risks and is sure to become one of the greatest shows of the decade. The animation is also beautiful, and is definitely the best looking show Rooster Teeth has created. The fan base is super small right now since the first season just aired and is RT First exclusive. But trust me, it is worth a watch.

Carmen Sandiego

Summary: Carmen is a modern day Robin Hood traveling the globe and stealing from V.I.L.E. and giving back to its victims. Carmen is publicly perceived as a criminal by most law enforcement agencies – correction, make that a master criminal due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists. We will follow her escapades and get to determine not only where but WHO in the world is Carmen Sandiego?  

Opinion: This show really caught me by surprise- I was fully expecting a kiddy edutainment show, but what I got was something much more complex and intriguing. Carmen this time around, as the summary suggests, is an anti-hero, and not an antagonist or villain like she was in the past. While some may not want to watch it due to this, I think this take on her is done very well, and once you get past the two-episode backstory, you will find the show is fun with a diverse cast of characters from all over the world. This GIF doesn’t quite do it justice but trust me when I say this show has some one of the best looking art styles I have ever seen. Surprisingly the weakest aspect of the show is the educational factor, which is puzzling as it was very much promoted as a show to teach children geography. In some cases, I have seen posts/tweets pointing out factual errors the show made! Normally it wouldn’t be the biggest deal, but this is a show that prides itself for its educational value. Also, some of the characters have pretty flat personalities or are just straight up incompetent, but hopefully that will change as the show progresses further. The finale was amazing, and I am patiently waiting for the next season!

Tangled: The Series/ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Summary: Set between the events of the feature film and the start of the 2012 CGI short film, Tangled Ever After, the animated series unfolds as Rapunzel acquaints herself with her parents, her kingdom and the people of Corona. Her irrepressible spirit and natural curiosity about the world drives her to the realization that there is so much more she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny. She boldly puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures, much to the dismay of the King who, after missing out on Rapunzel's childhood, must accept that his daughter is now an independent young woman. Accompanying Rapunzel on her journey will be Eugene Fitzherbert; the plucky chameleon sidekick, Pascal; the no-nonsense horse, Maximus; most of The Snuggly Duckling's pub thugs; and newcomer Cassandra, a tough-as-nails handmaiden, who becomes Rapunzel's confidant.

Opinion: This series is truly a delight, and definitely exceeded my expectations for a television series based off a Disney show (I did not expect much as most of those types of shows from my childhood weren’t the best). But I was truly wowed, and this is a must see for any Disney fan.The series does not ignore anything that happened in the movie, far from it. Events that occurred in the movie still impact Rapunzel and are treated seriously. The cartoon mixes comedy, adventure, lore, and mystery quite well. It is also very beautiful, much like Carmen Sandiego (both have similar styles but I like CS’s lighting a bit more). The show can even get quite dark, as is evident with the season 1 finale. This show deserves a much biggest fanbase, so give it a watch!

Hilda

Summary: Hilda follows the journey of a fearless blue-haired girl as she travels from her home in a vast magical wilderness full of elves and giants to the bustling city of Trolberg, where she makes new friends and discovers mysterious creatures who are stranger –and sometimes more dangerous– than she ever expected. Based on graphic novels by Luke Pearson, who storyboarded for Adventure Time.

Opinion: Hilda is definitely a comfort show, and if you liked Gravity Falls there is a good chance you will also like this show! The art style is simply adorable, and Hilda is a delight to get to know. I love the way that the show not only has magical creatures, but it goes in depth into how these creatures live and survive in a modern world. Having read all the comics, I personally enjoyed the addition of Hilda getting some human friends. I know some people did not like this, but she seemed quite lonely once she moved to the city, and I liked seeing her interact with children her age. Season 2 is coming out next year, so there is plenty of time to watch the first season! If you love a feel-good show with mystery and magic, this is the show for you!

Star Wars Resistance

Summary: The series is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, in a time when the Resistance is still learning about the growing threat of the First Order. It centers on the character of Kazuda Xiono, a young pilot in General Leia Organa's Resistance who is tasked with spying on the growing threat of the First Order.

Opinion: This show was one I was not expecting anything from at all, but as the show has progressed throughout the first season I have begun to enjoy it more and more. This show, like many on this list, features a very diverse cast (including some aliens, of course). Probably the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that the main character, Kaz, is 20 years old! I feel like that is not something you see with action shows these days, as they usually make the protagonist 16 or 17 years old. I really like the animation style, as I always felt that without the big budget, the Clone Wars style just didn’t look that good in Rebels. Resistance is so... shiny! As for the plot itself, it is sad that most of my favorite aspects of Star Wars are missing, namely the Force, Jedi, and Light Sabers. But since it may eventually tie in more with the sequels, there is hope to see more of that eventually! It’s definitely not at Clone Wars level of good, but I am finding it more enjoyable than Rebels (excluding a few episodes and the season finales). It may never end up being as serious as Rebels, but I am sure it will get darker as time goes on and the stakes get higher.

Young Justice: Outsiders

Summary: Young Justice: Outsiders is the third season of Young Justice. The backdrop for the season is one that will touch on “all corners of the DC universe,” and this time the team is tasked with stopping a metahuman trafficking ring, as well as dealing with the “intergalactic arms race for control of these super-powered youths.” You can also count on new heroes Arrowette, Spoiler, Thirteen, Halo, and many more joining in the fight.

(^I can’t recall if this is the exact line from the show but this whole episode is the best)

Opinion: If you loved the first two seasons of Young Justice, it is easy to say that you should give this one a watch. But now that it is on DC’s streaming platform, DC Universe, IT IS DARK. Seriously, this is no longer a show for children. And that’s pretty great. I truly love that the show can now explore darker themes and have some adult jokes from time to time. However, unlike the first two seasons, I feel constantly confused about new characters or things that have happened to returning characters offscreen. Unless you are very knowledgable about DC characters, there is a good chance you will feel this way. So, it is sadly a bit more unwelcoming to those unfamiliar with the comics. I still love the show’s characters and superhero stuff, in general, is always a lot of fun. There’s also LGBT characters apparently already in the show (and some that were LGBT in the comics have appeared, but nothing in-show is confirmed), so hopefully, there is also that to look forward to in the second half of the season when it airs in June.

Big Hero 6 The Series

Summary: The series continues the adventures of 14-year-old tech genius Hiro and his robot pal Baymax. Joining the pair on their journey is control freak Wasabi, scientist Honey Lemon, fanboy Fred, and no-nonsense Go Go Tomago, whom together form the Big Hero 6 superhero team. As the new prodigy at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Hiro faces daunting academic challenges, not to mention the social trials of being the little man on campus. The stakes are also raised for the high-tech heroes when they must protect their city from an array of scientifically enhanced villains.

Opinion: Another very well made series based off a Disney movie. Once again, this show stays faithful to the source material. The art style is very interesting, and while not my favorite gives the show a very cool feel. Once the main villain is introduced, I was glad to report that he became a major threat very fast. And the season 1 finale was pretty great as well. My biggest issue concerning this series so far is that is still really hasn’t developed the side characters at all, despite them being in almost every episode. These are college students, so their families should still be quite important to them. But besides Fred, we have yet to really learn about them, and with that, a potentially important part of who they are as a person is missing. After a movie and a whole season, these characters should not seem as flat as they are, so I hope we learn more about them too. But we also get flashbacks of Tadashi, so for that alone the show may be worth a watch.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Summary: Deep in the sewers of New York City, four mutant turtle brothers lurk. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo are in their early teen years, and the brothers go on new and exciting adventures. They tap into their mystic ninja powers to learn to work together as a cohesive unit and become a team of heroes as they navigate the modern world and other hidden realms. The brothers get a whole new look, new weapons, and new powers as they discover the hidden city beneath New York and find time for a slice of their favorite pizza.

Opinion: Okay I will admit this is one I haven’t actually seen all of yet. But the art style is just so cool I had to include it and will likely update this entry when I catch up. This show may be a worthy successor to the 2012 series, which I know a lot of people loved.

So that’s the end of my list. If I remember any other good shows airing, I may update it. But, if I got you to watch any, let me know and tell me your thoughts!

Shows to Look Foward to: Glitch Techs, Amphibia, Owl House, Twelve Forever, Hazbin Hotel, Villainous, Infinity Train, 101 Dalmatian Street

Shows Omitted due to being super popular already: Steven Universe, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, RWBY, Bojack Horseman, OK KO, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Duck Tales

Join my Cartoon Themed Discord: https://discord.gg/cartoonuv

And give us a follow if you enjoyed the post! We talk about cartoon related stuff a lot! I will probably do a part 2 later in the year when more of the cartoons to look forward to have aired. And I might even add some shows omitted or other shows I may have forgotten!

[tellywoodtrash]

status update:

So, I got a few friendly, good-natured asks on how I was doing, and what’s up with my life (work, Chandler, etc.), so I suppose this is as good a time to tell everyone: I quit my job earlier this week.

Early followers of the blog may be aware that this blog started as an attempt to find some kinda peace during some very trying times in my life. Since then, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends (I guess, in some kinda misguided attempt to move on with life) and... it’s finally caught up with me. I’m fucking exhausted and at a breaking point. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. ('Spiritually. Ecumenically. Grammatically.' Name that movie!) And so, I'm giving myself a break and am going to be taking some time off to focus on my mental health.

However, this hasn’t been an easy decision to make, as it means bye-bye financial independence and my ~~riproaring Sex And The City life (snort, NOT) and that I will now have to pack up my entire life and leave the country I (and Chandler!) call home. So the next few days will be even rougher; full of transition and second-guessing myself. But in the long run, I think I need to do this now before things get much worse.

Poor Chandler has no idea what’s coming up; that he’s about to be unceremoniously stuffed into a box and flown many thousand miles to a whole new country, with strange new smells and creatures (including my relatives who will want to come around every now and then and friendly-ly harass our socially anxious butts.) I just hope we both survive this move!

As for what it means for the blog, it’ll mostly be business as usual, I suppose. I will have more free time, but it’s going to be invested in moving, and settling in, and recovery (first I have to recover from the moving and settling in, and only then can I focus on *actual* recovery) so... I’ll do as much as I can. Yes, there's lots of new shows, most of them better than IB, and I might wanna watch them too, but.... idk, I don't seem to have it in me right now to get invested in a whole... new.... thing. We'll see once I'm properly settled into a restful routine where I don't feel so battered in the brain. On the plus side, moving to India means proper access to Hotstar and Sony Liv and alllllllll the platforms; I won’t have to jump through hoops and diddle around with VPNs to access what I wanna watch! Yaaaaaaay!

There are a few things blog-wise that I just have to address though, because they’re srsly stressing me out a lot lately:

Messages asking me to explain WHY stakeholders in the industry (actors, makers, the channel) make the decisions they do. Bhai main kahan un sab ke ghar ya boardroom mein ghussi baithi hoon, ki mujhe pakka pata hoga???? All I can do is speculate like the rest of you. Which is what I do. I look at the facts that I do have (social media posts, TRP reports, etc.) and put out MY theory. But it’s all it is. A theory. I do not have any kind of information that you also do not have access to. Asking me to explain the inner workings of complete strangers' minds is just nonsensical. I do not have the complete information based on which I can give you an accurate answer. So please just stop asking me these. At this point, idek why *I* do half the things I do, let alone have any surety of anyone else’s decisions.

Complaints. Look, all of us have complaints about the shitshow that is IB, and the Tellywood industry at large, and its affairs both off-screen and on-screen. But just think of my plight when news breaks/an episode airs and I get like 10 anons in an hour, most of which are filled with cribbing. OVER SOMETHING I DON’T HAVE ANY CONTROL. You have all the right to complain, sure, but not IN MY INBOX. I only publish about 30 - 40% of the asks that I actually do receive, and because of that you may think that you’re the only person sending in this to me; but trust that more often that not, you’re not. I most probably have already received least 5 messages about it, in varying degrees of negative, and it’s exhaaaaaausting for me to wade through it all.

"Asks” that are just STATEMENTS, with no real question to them. I get these and whether I agree with your statement or not, my only reaction is “.... haan, toh???” What really is the point of these? I have nothing to contribute to them. It’s just YOU deciding that your opinion is sooooooo important that you must come tell ME it. In my inbox. On anon. Which is not just stupid, but also RUDE af. What you're doing is the equivalent of going and ringing the doorbell of a stranger's house and monologuing in their face about a random topic when they open the door. Like, I literally did not ask?????? Especially since you’re on anon and I have absolutely no personal equation with you. By having an open inbox, I didn't consent to being the receptacle of every opinion wrt Tellywood under the sun. Like, the whole point of this blog is so I can shout MY dumbass opinions into the void that is the internet without bothering anyone else about things they might not care about/agree with. Anyone who follows/engages with me is here by THEIR choice. Why don’t you do the same? Go make your own blog, instead of using mine. There’s only place for one person here on this blog, and that’s me. Please read your messages before sending them and ask yourselves: Does my tone/content leave anything open for discussion? (FYI: Just putting a question mark at the end of a sentence does not make an engaging question that opens up a discussion.) What contribution am I inviting from the recipient with this message? If the answer is “no”/"nothing", then please don't send it.

The rise of combative and contrary asks; ones that don't come out of a genuine curiosity, but with the intent to mindlessly argue, talk in circles without a point and overall, and just belittle the opinions I’ve expressed by engaging in whataboutery. There's a point at which "healthy discussion" ends, and "debating" starts, and I’m not here to engage in Debate Hour. The open askbox (or replies function) is NOT an invitation to pick at ONE sentence of some post (often missing the context; those other sentences are there for a reason y'know) and demand explanations from me, for which I have to then bend over backwards to clarify to some random faceless person on the internet. Not only does it take tremendous amounts of time and energy (for what is largely a pointless endevour: these people aren't really here to have an exchange of ideas or even try to see my point of view, they're just trying to force THEIR contrary opinion ON me), it really sucks the joy out of the blog for me. Look, I am not an idiot. I can correlate writing patterns and associate them with previously seen comments/opinions and make educated guesses on who these may be coming from. I've been holding off on blocking anyone yet, but these comments and asks have me seriously considering it. (And FYI: blocking an anon blocks you via IP address. So don't think ki 'oh ho ho, I can just hide under the anon function, coz that has no consequences.' All you'd be doing is proving my guesses right, as to who is whom.) I don't WANT TO go to such extents, and want this still to be a place where people can approach me, but this gross disrespect of my time and boundaries is beginning to wear on me now. Before coming at me, please think to yourself if what you're saying is actually necessary. If it's just a passive-aggressive counter-argument to my opinion that's all conjecture/opinion (i. e. things without factual basis and based on feelings) then please; you're very welcome to whatever you believe, but I don't care. If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it. If I care for your opinion, I will engage with your posts (by liking or commenting or reblogging or sending you my love in your inbox.) I just really really don’t care what anyone's opinion ON MY OPINION is. Please stop being contrary just the sake of it and ruining my day and mood. Go chronicle your opinions on your blog/twitter/whatever, instead of using MY blog as a platform and arm-twisting me into participating in this unpleasant exchange. I just don't have have the energy or interest to engage in this fuckery anymore.

Look you guys, I love getting stuff in the askbox. I do. If I didn’t, I’d just have closed the askbox and called it a day. I’m just asking that you be a little THOUGHTFUL about the recipient, me, AS AN ACTUAL LIVING PERSON WITH FEELINGS AND A LIMITED AMOUNT OF ENERGY AND TIME, instead of some kinda faceless robot who just processes your messages in binary and spits out an answer. Before engaging, please re-read your message to consider your tone and content and the impact on the person on the other end. Despite this request, if you just decide to engage in the above mentioned ways, I’m sorry in advance if you end up getting blocked; but things have reached a point where I have to look out for myself, and my comfort, and what I want from this space. I would like this blog to be source of joy in my (and others’!) life, not something that I feel resentful about, or as a source of draining what little energy I have left.

Sooooooo, that’s how it is! Things should be the same around here barring some periods of inactivity occasionally due to moving/spotty internet (but the queue should be running anyway.) A lot less negativity and gloom, hopefully! Wish me (and Chandler!!!!!) luck and please send us all your good, restful, soft and fluffy vibes!

(The restful slumber of a poor fluffy bastard who has NOOOOOOOOO idea of what the next few weeks have in store for him.)

[gravitascivics]

STARTING IT OFF

For readers of this blog, it might be interesting to know that this blog has been online for quite a few years.  This posting approaches the 1100th entry; just fifteen more to go.  Perhaps some might be interested in looking at the first of these postings – say the first one hundred of them.  This blogger plans to make them available online where one can read them at leisure or print them and have them in book form.  They will be presented in book form and as such, they will be preceded by an introduction.  To perhaps entice the reader to look for this rendition of the first 100 postings, this posting will share that version’s introduction.

           Before presenting the “Introduction,” here are a few words regarding this version of the postings.  They are edited to match the editorial style that the blog currently utilizes.  Hopefully, some the phraseology is smoother and more polished than it was originally.  They do set this blog on its course by reviewing many of the assumptions this blogger has relied upon all these many years.  The first topic he addresses in the first set of postings is the importance of civics education.

           So, here is the Introduction:

INTRODUCTION

Unfortunately, civics education does not enjoy the gravitas that other academic subjects seem to enjoy.  This book contains the first hundred postings of a blog dedicated to civics education.  The blog, Gravitas:  A Voice for Civics, attempts to first point out not only why civics should be considered with more respect, but why it should be considered a lynchpin for all of education, especially public education.  

Its author, a retired educator, hopes the reader can begin reading this book with at least an open mind to reconsider his/her own sense of what role civics should play in the overall education of the nation’s youth.  The blog addresses an array of issues its writer sees that affect civics’ actual role and/or its potential role in the lives of the students who take either civics in middle school or American government in high school.

Beyond its lessened importance in the eyes of most, there is the basic view of the subject – not only by the citizenry but by those in charge of its presentation in American schools.  The argument presented here is that that view of the subject’s content – of how civics presents American governance and politics – falls short of representing and explaining what the founders of the nation – those responsible for the Constitution and its ratification – set out to establish.  That aim was a federated union of not only the states, but of the citizenry as well.

         While the various postings of this blog elucidate what that general aim was, one can summarily describe it as establishing a union in which the citizenry entered a grand partnership.  That is, “We the People …” established the resulting polity and that “we the people” were meant to maintain ownership of it.  That would be what James Madison would later describe as a government instituted by choice as opposed to by accident (with a resulting ownership by a nobility or some self-anointed elite class) or by force (with a resulting ownership by a “strong man or woman”).

         The blog’s author argues that that agreement was motivated by an amalgamation of influences that the history of the American people had experienced by the late 1700s.  In sum, those influences affected their political beliefs, values, and biases. In this, one needs to remember that when one decides to act in a situation where choices are available, two forces are at play:  what one believes should happen and what one sees as the reality of the situation.[1]  

         And the founders were not immune; they strove for what they believed should happen, their espoused theory, but within the parameters of the factual conditions presented to them and while they were not infallible, they collectively held a highly functional theory-in-use.  Given the importance of what they were about, one can readily assume the founders were keenly aware or conscious of both realms.

         That is, the founders were disposed to exert the energy or effort to figure out what was best to do, and given their subsequent political careers, what was best for the nation apart from their individual interests.  And, as when those types of situations concern either government or politics or both, real far-reaching consequences could and did ensue.

Those points in time need to be treated with the utmost respect.  Surely, whoever or whatever taught the founders their civic lessons and taught the citizenry, those involved with the ratification of the Constitution, could not have been more important to them and to their posterity.

Is it hyperbole to ascribe this sort of importance to what one learns – way back when – in a civics classroom?  Collectively, it is, and the nation is experiencing how a poorly conceived civics program affects the governing health of a people.  Polarized politics and its effect on the current governance of the US attests to that belief.    It behooves Americans to understand what has happened in recent years and to become an active citizenry to determine what the right course of action this polity should take from this point onward.

         This simple notion of an involved citizenry being sufficiently informed of what constitutes politics and how that level affects the collective – no, better stated, communal – health of a people should be respected.  Unfortunately, that seems to be ignored or belittled by the current efforts in the nation’s civics programs.  

This current situation is not seen by the common fellow as unfortunate, unusual, or out of place.  Why? Because it is much in line with how Americans view governance and politics – that being each can be uninhibited or encouraged to either become proactive, totally indifferent, or anything in between these dispositional orientations.  

Much of this blog’s message concerns the current political culture that the nation sustains. It, that shared perspective, has and continues to support a natural rights view.  This is explained in the first 100 postings, but to define what natural rights means, it is a view of governance and politics that features, as a trump value, natural liberty.

         It is a view that holds the right of each to determine his or her behavior as long as each does not inhibit or interfere with others having the same right. Since such a claim encompasses a large array of behavior, it is more useful to think of this right as a large set of various rights from speech, movement, advocacy, employment, religion, entertainment, etc.  

While one might, without reflection, adhere to this view of rights, one should know that not all people who support republican governance agree with this view.  Another rivaling view is a view known as federalism. And one can make the claim that the founders held to this other view.  

Stated another way, the founders employed another view of liberty in establishing the polity they created.  They did not adhere to natural liberty but to a form of federal liberty.  And they arrived at that view, as alluded to above, from an array of influences.  

Those influences included the Puritanical religious ideals (congregationalism, engagement, localism, and a covenantal foundation), Enlightenment thinkers (not just Locke and Hobbes, but Hutcheson and Reid, among others), a developmental history that allowed a great deal of independence from the British Parliament, the formation of local governance, and the values developed through English constitutional history.  The bottom line is that they believed a republic needed to encourage certain values among the populace.

Hopefully, this introduction stirs the curiosity of whoever reads it and that he or she continues to read the postings that follow. The intent is to follow this volume with subsequent volumes of the postings that appeared after the first 100 postings.  To date (mid-2021), that’s approaching 1100 postings.

[1] This distinction refers to what change theorists might call espoused theory – what should happen – and theory-in-use – what conditions prevail in the situation.  See Kenneth D. Benne, “The Current State of Planned Changing in Persons, Groups, Communities, and Societies” in Planning of Change, eds. Warren G. Bennis, Kenneth D. Benne, and Robert Chin (New York, NY:  Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985), 68-82.

[apenitentialprayer]

Gandhi and the Holocaust

An odd title, I know. But given the post I’ve seen circling around yesterday and today, a post that has unfortunately gotten the attention of thousands, I feel the need to address several of the points that it brings up. Before we go into some of these points, however, I feel like I need to mention that Gandhi’s way of thing was not anthropocentric in nature; it was theocentric. And right off the bat, that means a lot of you will not really accept to even consider his worldview as valid. Which is fine, whatever. But that is important; the two paths to God that he claimed were higher than any others were Truth and Nonviolence. In the case of the former, this does not necessarily mean factual truth, but rather adherence to an educated, well-formed conscience, and in this way follows a view similar to that of Thomas Aquinas. This adherence to the conscience should be absolute, even if this demands immense suffering or even martyrdom at the hands of those who seek to convince a person to rescind their most sacred convictions. In the words of Gandhi, quoted by Erik Erikson, “To make any progress we must not make speeches and organize mass meetings but be prepared for mountains of suffering” (Gandhi’s Truth, 306). In the case of the latter, nonviolence must be understood in its proper context. Gandhi saw two separate types of nonviolence; the first, “nonviolence of the weak.” This type of nonviolence is that of passivity in the face of evil because one does not have the power to confront that evil, and so this form of nonviolence has no moral value whatsoever. In fact, Gandhi equated such nonviolence with cowardice, and said that it would be better to violently confront evil than to give in to the temptation of this nonviolence. The morally perfect nonviolence, the “nonviolence of the strong,” was essentially the nonviolence taught by Jesus; though you have the ability to fight back, you choose not to. This choice must not be out of fear, or it is actually of the first variety, nor should there be any hatred towards persecutors, or the act of nonviolence is stained with an implicit form of violence. Rather, it should be done out of love of, and recognition of the humanity of, the persecutor. This does not ensure easy victory, of course; as Erik Erikson states, “it is almost a rule that powerful opponents, in their stubborn bewilderment over being faced with this new nonviolent kind of struggle, become more ruthless” (Gandhi’s Truth, 342). But the point of such nonviolence is not necessarily victory within this lifetime, but the purification of the individual through suffering for the Truth. This, of course, invites metaphysics into politics, something that many of even his closest friends did not like. To a certain extent, this even more savage response can be seen as a good thing, because it presents the persecuted with more chances of being witnesses to love and truth, and will hopefully affect the consciences of the persecutors (or, at the very least, the indifferent masses who see these events unfold). Much like the early Christian martyrs, then, Gandhi advocated for upholding truth at whatever the cost, enthusiastically suffering for the truth when given the chance of rescinding their views or being punished, and loving and identifying with the humanity of one’s persecutors. For more information on how this would have worked on a theoretical level, I highly recommend Raghavan Iyer’s The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi. Now, let’s move on to how this influenced Gandhi’s view of the Holocaust : “Criticized the Jews for defending themselves against the Holocaust because he insisted that they should have committed public mass suicide in order to “shame” the Germans instead of fighting back. His exact words were, “But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from the cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.” Okay. Let’s start with an early letter, dated to late November of 1938. What we see in this letter is an admittance of Hitler’s psychopathy (”The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to have gone”). We also see Gandhi exhorting German Jews to organize and fight this oppression nonviolently, and doing this even if individual Jewish people must act alone at first. Gandhi knew that they were dying; and (as the above quote from that insufferable post even shows) it is by virtue of the fact that they were being killed that Gandhi saw the need for them to nonviolently resist. “If one Jew or all the Jews were to accept the prescription here offered, he or they cannot be worse off than now.” In fact, in Gandhi’s mind, it would be better; they would “preserve their self-respect,” and give them “inner strength and joy.” Further, “what has today become a degrading man-hunt can be turned into a calm and determined stand offered by unarmed men and women possessing the strength of suffering given to them by Jehovah. It will be then a truly religious resistance offered against the godless fury of dehumanised man.” This goes back to Gandhi’s conceptions of victimhood and sacrificial love (see Faisal Devji’s The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence, pages 143-146 for more information). In Gandhi’s way of thought, victimhood in and of itself grants no moral dignity to the victimized. This is an admitted divisive statement; some people will argue against it tooth and nail, while others will agree that claiming victim status does not make one morally superior. That’s not a question I want to go into right now (though I suspect the former will never reconcile themselves to Gandhian morals and metaphysical ideals). What makes victimhood a path to moral virtue, then, is one’s willingness to suffer it with love. This course of action has two effects; first, it grants agency to the persecuted. The persecuted is no longer just a victim to circumstance, but an active force that has to power to decide how they are going to die. The human will being equated with the very essence of personhood in Gandhian thought, this is absolutely paramount. The second effect deals with the persecutor; by accepting the humanity of the persecutor and allowing oneself to die, the persecuted gives the persecutor the chance to, in turn, recognize the humanity of the persecuted and change his actions based of off this recognition of a shared humanity. In other words, the persecuted allows himself to become an opportunity for the persecutor’s redemption. This is a radical idea, one on par with the ideas taught by Jesus and the early Church Fathers. Gandhi’s hope was that the persecuted everywhere would come to love their persecutors so radically that it would evoke a change within the persecutors, if not at the moment of persecution than at least in the future, when they had time to reflect on their actions. This is, again, clearly not a particularly humanistic view; Gandhi subordinates the value of human life to what he sees as the ultimate values of Truth and Nonviolence. And, as Faisal Devji points out, given that the Allies were willing to sacrifice millions of lives to defeat the Axis powers, is it really fair to call out Gandhi’s own willingness to sacrifice lives to end the war? Of course, this letter also reveals just how badly Gandhi misunderstood the Nazis’ ultimate goal; Gandhi compares the Indians of South Africa to the Jews of Germany, stating “the Indians occupied precisely the same place that the Jews occupy in Germany.” This is a statement that is extremely ignorant, and unequivocally false, even at this early stage of the war. Gandhi also believed “the persecution had also a religious tinge.” This is also false; the German hostility towards the Jewish people was racial in nature. Here, Gandhi has confused the (not unprecedented, but not yet mainline) racial antisemitism of the Nazis with the theological antisemitism prevalent in Christianity. In other words, Gandhi at this stage believed that the Jewish people were being persecuted because of their beliefs and practices, and not for simply existing. Had Gandhi had realized this earlier, the way he would have wrote about the Jewish persecution in Germany may have been different. In fact, Faisal Devji goes so far as to say “Had he known about it, the Mahatma would undoubtedly have pointed to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943 as an illustration of his teachings. For this struggle was dedicated not to the victory or even the survival of the Jews trapped in Warsaw who resisted the German armed forces in an unequal battle, but rather to ‘the honor and glory of the Jewish people,’ words the uprising’s motto in defiance of all political calculation” (The Impossible Indian, 144). If you’re interested in seeing a Jewish perspective of victimhood and agency in a German concentration camp, I highly recommend Man’s Search for Meaning, the first half of which is Viktor Frankl’s memoir of his time at Auschwitz death camp (you can find some quotes from it in my Viktor Frankl tag) What we see in Gandhi is a man whose appreciation of suffering, like Mother Teresa’s, is deeply misunderstood by the secular mind. Gandhi believed above all else the supremacy of the twin values of Truth and Nonviolence, and the lengths at which he would talk about them on a theoretical level are enough to make many people uncomfortable. But this was not some cold-hearted disregard for the Jewish people. This was Gandhi’s understanding of the value of suffering, the heroism of martyrdom, and (to a fair extent) his ignorance of the Nazi state of mind. You don’t have to agree with his viewpoint, and it is fair to criticize it, but to label him a monster for it is misguided, at best. @patron-saint-of-smart-asses and @marschattpanosh, I had seen you two reblog the cursed post.™ If you have any comments about this, or want me to address any more questions and concerns about Gandhi, let me know.

[silver-cats]

speaking as someone who is from and has lived in turkey since i was born, i think when you practice islam in big, developed european countries it's relatively easy. when it becomes a part of the country's identity, something that the government can/will use to get votes from the religious majority, it gets fucked up. so when i speak up against that and people say oh but that's islamophobic i get very angry because islam has literally tore my country apart over years. thought you'd like to know

(Continued) “same anon here and i wasn’t trying to be offensive. i think you’re a well educated person and i like seeing you on my dash reblogging political stuff, so i’d just like to hear your opinion on that”

—————————————-

Well first off I think it’s important to take into account that oppression is a result of power dynamics more than anything, oppression isn’t based on someone being mean to you on an individual basis it’s the result of a majority oppressing a minority meaning that if you’re talking about a Muslim majority country (as someone from that very Muslim majority country) you can’t really be called islamophobic for criticising the way Islam is practiced and/or interpreted in your home country. Again, taking into account oppression is based on power dynamics, you’re the minority here. This time, in the context of discussing your home country, it’s Muslims who are the majority. If xenophobic westerners exploit your feelings (by for example saying ‘let’s deport all Muslims since *insert your name* said *insert what you’ve just said*’) then what THEY say (not you) automatically becomes islamophobic since obviously then they’re misusing your words to feed into some pretty dangerous power imbalances where this time Muslims are on the receiving end. Am I making sense? All I’m trying to say is that you complaining about the way Islam is interpreted and practiced in your home country isn’t islamophobic, but the way people respond to that can be (so really I don’t think you should beat yourself up for challenging the way extremists have taken over your country as long as you also make a point to tell whoever you’re talking to about your home country to not mistreat Muslims here in the west for what Muslims all the way in the Middle East are doing). ALL that said though personally if you ask me (and you did so I’m going to give you my opinion that you’re free to take or leave) I think criticising Islam is really shaky because of how broad ‘Islam’ as a term is (I said this before but there are 73 Islamic currents which is why it’s easy to see how different Saudi Arabia’s Islam is to let’s say tunisia’s or morocco’s. Or why Morocco and Tunisia’s Islam are both very different to Bosnia’s Islam), I think it’s a whole lot better to criticise Islamic school of thoughts, currents and interpretations of Islam as oppose to ‘Islam’ itself (for example wahhabism I.e Saudi Arabia’s interpretation and practice of Islam). Or at worst, if you don’t always know what school of thoughts/current you want to criticise,then at least make a point to say that not everyone will interpret something the same way extremists have interpreted it. I’ve already posted this article on my blog (https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/02/207505/moroccos-high-religious-committee-says-apostates-should-not-be-killed/?utm_content=bufferfb0f5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) but Morocco interprets apostasy in Islam very differently to Saudi Arabia. Whereas Saudi Arabia for example believes you can and should be killed for leaving Islam, Morocco’s top scholars don’t. Whereas the taliban believes women shouldn’t go to school, my mom’s Muslim parents (my grandparents) always did which is why they supported her when she decided to immigrate to France to continue her studies. There’s also tons of school of thoughts who deem certain hadiths valid whereas there’s tons of others who don’t (considering the majority of hadiths were collected around 200 years after Muhammad’s pbuh death and are islamically believed to not have been protected by God like the Quran I think that’s also a valid POV). There’s downright people who don’t believe in hadiths at all even (qu'ranists) because of this. The Quran also says that ‘there is no compulsion in religion’ yet, regardless of this, many scholars believe that secularism is unislamic. Basically what I’m TRYING to tell you although probably really badly (put it down to my lack of sleep I promise I’m more eloquent usually) is that Islam for having existed for thousands of years and being interpreted throughout tons of different centuries by tons of different people is a diverse religion which in my view is why the term ‘Islam’ is too broad a term. There’s no better example to prove to you how differently Islam can be interpreted I think than what I told a girl on ig about the religion. We were basically talking about that Hadith that said that Muhammad pbuh had sex with Aisha when she was 9 years old and here’s what I told her (in response to her passing that as a fact) “ there’s so many factors your comment just doesn’t take into account, main one being that time then was calculated completely differently because in case you can’t tell our ancestors didn’t have the same resources as us, for example they weren’t issued birth certificates, they didn’t have clocks, they didn’t even have a proper calendar (the Islamic calendar was actually established 3 years after aisha’s marriage). This obviously means that that age is going to be pretty disputed amongst scholars, as again is understandable under those circumstances. The sirah for example (prophetic biography) questions the fact she was nine because it doesn’t fit in with way too maaaany events in her biography.For example, prior to her betrothal to Muhammad, Aisha was engaged to Jubayr ibn Mut'im, who broke the engagement after discovering that her father Abu Bakr had accepted Islam in 610 CE, but the hadith put Ayesha’s birth at 612 CE, 2 years after all this. You don’t even need to be Muslim to see that both can’t be right. And in a nutshell that’s why as much as you may think it’s intelligent saying she was nine as if it was factual completely ignores the historical context then and how time was calculated , one source for example found that she was not 9 but ACTUALLY 19 (‘Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib (…) writes under Asma,  the older daughter of Abu Bakr: “She [Asma]was the sister of Aisha Siddiqa, wife of the Holy Prophet, and was ten years older than her. … In 73 A.H. … Asma died at the age of one hundred years.” This would make Asma 28 years of age in 1 A.H., the year of the Hijra, thus making Aisha 18 years old in 1 A.H. So Aisha would be 19 years old at the time of the consummation of her marriage, and 14 or 15 years old at the time of her nikah.). There ’s nuanced views basically, again as it makes sense then for nuanced views to arise, and your comment completely ignores this. It completely ignore the reality that her being nine could be as factual as it could be fictional.” All that taken into account Personally its why and I swear I already repeated this 93838388338 and it’s the last time I will whenever i talk about the way extremists oppress certain groups of people in the name of Islam I make a point to refer to specific currents and/or groups of people as much a I can as oppose to downright just saying ‘Islam’. Ok sorry I’ll stop here because I’m probably rambling on way too much hopefully you’re still more or less with me though but yeah as a Muslim I’ll stand by you if you want to criticise what your government is doing in the name of Islam for sure and as a Muslim I can tell you you are NOT islamophobic for wanting to bring attention to the way extremists interpret and practice Islam but I think for your social justice to be nuanced same way I have to understand that not everyone’s interpretation and practice of Islam is as peaceful as my grandparent’s (which is why again I’ll support you) you have to understand (I’m sure you have though) that not everyone’s interpretation and practice of Islam is the same as your government’s. I’ve not slept at all so I’m not sure I’m making sense but hopefully that answers you? And sorry I’m rereading all I wrote it’s really so jumbled up but it’s so early in the morning and I’m way too tired to write more eloquently. I swear though if I’m not too tired later on/tomorrow I’ll better edit this

[cantskank]

fuck this is long...tldr i’ve been lame but getting better

the last post is brought to you by me getting into the magnus archives for some positive ace rep

then having the absolute and overwhelming focus of the fandom be focused on that character’s romantic relationship

then the people who ignore or gloss over the fact that jon is ace or make him have sex anyway to make martin happy????  which just like fucks me up a bit

(esp bc exact quote, “jon...doesn’t” really disputes the idea that he would have sex with martin)

(also much more minor but it bugs me to see people in the fandom refer to jon and martin together as gay.  jon is biro ace, i think gay is not particularly accurate.  and gayness is excellent!  don’t get me wrong.  but that’s just not accurate to what jon is.  and it would not at all bother me if there were equal amounts of “aww look at them they’re so asexual together!”  and that description probably feels weird and wrong.  but it’s just as correct as saying “they’re so gay and cute!” or whatever i keep seeing people say about it!  it is just as accurate to call their relationship ace as it is to call it gay!  and not wanting to acknowledge or even consider that is really telling in what it reveals about how non-aces feel about asexuality.  it just builds to a picture of ‘we want our own representation and we will discard or ignore the ‘uglier’ bits of one of the ship character’s identity because asexuality is foreign to me/irrelevant/unnatural/weird/something i don’t fully understand and am afraid to/uninteresting.’  and i very much want to sympathize with the former (again, the whole reason i got into the magnus archives) and very much want to kill the latter with fire. this is also relevant to me in that about a year ago, i started thinking a lot about how as an aro ace, being told i had straight passing privilege, and the fact that i am not out (but would not lie and call myself straight) and just generally allow people to assume whatever they want about me when it comes to my orientation, whether that’s gay, straight, bi, ace, whatever, (and also having had mostly straight friends for the couple of years before that when it had very much been the opposite prior to that (and that does make a difference, to me at least),)  had resulted in me very much creating this narrative of being ‘effectively straight.’  not at all in the sense that ‘yes i’m basically straight and i feel mostly straight’ but in that i felt like ace-ness and aro-ness, if i wasn’t going to be out about it (which i’m not but which i may end up changing down the line), was not something i was allowed to consider as separate and distinct and special and important about myself?  because society would not like to think about aros/aces.  what society wants is to send the message that “not having sex is not important.  not having sex is not normal and makes you a loser.  not feeling romantic attraction is shameful and unnatural.  not feeling romantic attraction is something that makes you a monster.  do not talk about your disinterest in these things, it is at once completely unimportant/irrelevant and for our comfort and to allow you to conform socially you should not talk about it AND it is disgusting and freakish and makes you broken.”  so.  it is somehow unimportant AND deeply disturbing at the same time.  anyway, for me this resulted in feeling that my aro ace-ness was unremarkable and i should not consider it something exceptional about me, and i should just settle into viewing myself as close to the default.  and maybe you would think i am part of the default, as a first impression, and that’s fine.  but i realized i didn’t want to think of myself that way.  even if people will insist it is this way, asexual =/= straight.  i get to, and i want to, think of asexuality as its own distinct thing, and it does not have to fit into the paradigm of gay vs straight because it cannot fit into that paradigm.  i had refused to give myself the space to think of it as special because no one was telling me it was special.  and not being out definitely had a huge effect on this.  but it is just factually untrue to view myself as unremarkable for being asexual and as ‘effectively straight’ because it’s wrong!  it’s just wrong!  and if i am firmly of the belief that i am not straight, i must be equally firmly of the belief that i am not gay.  there is no judgment involved in either of those statements, but i must respect myself and my identity enough to firmly believe it is its own identity, and worthy of being considered that way, and not merely framed in which ways it relates the false dichotomy of gay and straight.  meaning, i cannot frame my asexuality as “not quite gay but not quite straight” but as its own entity: i have my own distinct orientation and it is aromantic asexual and i do not experience attraction.  full-stop.”  which may seem basic (and may seem like a very minute difference) but it was an important step for me in my identity.  i don’t think i’m quite explaining it right.  i will say: whether they realize it consciously or not, i think a lot of people think of sexuality by how much you deviate from the norm.  the norm is straight.  the most extreme not-norm (by, again, the false dichotomy that has been set up) is gay.  how different you are from the norm will probably determine how important your sexuality is to you because non-normative sexualities are oppressed and the fight to be allowed to feel you are worthy of respect means your sexuality feels and is highly personal.  and, this would be a measure of how gay you are.  before my perspective shift, i felt very little about my sexuality (other than mostly dread at dying alone.  which i still feel!).  therefore, i was not very different from the norm, and my sexuality was not worthy of consideration.  it was not allowed to be very important to me, especially if i was not going to be very out.  BUT!  this is not a good perspective!  again, false! dichotomy!  there is no reason to view yourself on a sliding scale of gay and straight!  i am Neither!  and it is for this reason that i feel very strongly that gay is not the right way to describe jon!  it can be, and if it feels right to him then that is a fine and excellent way to identify!  but his identity is asexual and, by necessity, he is not gay.  just as he is not straight.  which is okay and allowed.  and by many people choosing exclusively to refer to jon and martin as gay, while extremely understandable, feels like a failure to understand the above.  allo identities do not hold precedence over aspec identities because aspec identities are worthy of their own consideration, not just as something “missing” and inherently lower priority to allo identities.  and calling the relationship gay exclusively, feels like they kind of believe that.  and any reluctance to call their relationship ace (which i think MOST people would find very strange and weird and uncomfortable) is a lack of education and understanding on what asexuality looks like, the kinds of relationships asexuals have.  asexuals are not some remote, gross thing that cannot be understood and must be ignored, we are people and we are here.  if you haven’t noticed, our entire online presence is BUILT around education and visibility.  these are things you can find out and understand very quickly.  and hopefully people will not view asexuality as something weird and shameful and something that should just be ignored. holy shit that was a long aside.)

and the post was precipitated by seeing fanart of a very romantically intimate moment and not being at all interested in that for myself.  i really want to be close to someone (/some people which is too much to hope for) but just so emphatically not in that way.  just...a lot of clarity in what i want?  because i am sometimes so miserable for being aro specifically that i wonder if my identifying this way is wrong and unhealthy, whether it’s worse to consider myself aro and causing more problems than it’s solving.  sometimes i wonder if i was too quick to dismiss romance and all my self-discovery and self-reliance has been for nothing?  maybe being miserable about amatonormativity has just been because i’m alloro but just miserable and self-hating and trying to ruin the fun for everyone and the problem is not that romance has been artificially elevated but just that i have deep-seated issues with romance?

anyway it was more of a relief than anything to have my aro-ness confirmed by my gut reaction.  um, i still think i need to let go of some of my bitterness about amatonormativity, only because it’s not serving me to be my happiest self (not because it’s not bullshit), but it’s not because i’m unconsciously not aro. 

here’s what i think i want for myself:

like i said above, letting go of some of my anger at romance and at amatonormativity in general.  there’s definitely a place for that in me, but people talking about romance should not make me miserable like it’s starting to do.  in a lot of ways this comes from me being jealous and bitter about not having this supposedly wonderful, normal, natural experience, and not being confident in it being okay- great, even!- to be aro and not experience that.  i want to become more neutral about romance, since it is equally okay to not experience that.  my existence and validity is not threatened by other people having romantic relationships.  it’s okay for that to be an important thing for them, and (/because) it’s equally okay for it NOT to be important to me.

sorta referenced in my point above, but i want to rely less on other people to make me valid.  it doesn’t matter how anyone else feels, i am the way i am.  i want to be much more confident in that for myself.  i can’t progress and build a better relationship with myself if i don’t trust my own experience and emotions over what other people would tell me is true about myself (or how the rest of the world works). 

i know this is kinda what got me feeling not great in the first place, but i want to find more ace/aro rep for myself.  potentially this could make things worse (in the way i mentioned above; relying on that representation to really speak to my experience and finding that it does not, and that fandom in particular is very caught up the romance- and just generally allo- side of things).  but i am hoping/relying on the possibility that increasing ace/aro rep will give me way more options and a higher chance that i will have my own experience reflected.  i want to start listening to the penumbra podcast, since i’ve heard there are at least two aspec characters, one of whom is even aro ace! side note, thinking about it a bit: the first ace rep i had was a few months ago, when i watched bojack horseman and saw todd’s story.  i think i was a bit spoiled in that rep.  todd’s story was really focused on his own self-discovery.  he was alloro and wanted a relationship, but in my mind he didn’t care so much about getting that.  even when he was in a relationship, he still got to be cool and have his own adventures.  having a romantic relationship was secondary to his story and, you got the sense, secondary to him as a person.  and, his asexuality was very important to him once he realized he was ace.  he was very open about it to people, not ashamed, and he did have a journey with his sexuality that the audience was brought along.  that is everything i want in an ace character!!!  then i got into the magnus archives, expecting to have a similar experience.  instead, we find out jon is ace because we as the audience hear him being outed without his knowledge between his friends, based on information from his ex (again, presumably without his knowledge).  and word of god says "although whether that’s how the archivist himself would actively identify, who knows?”  also a very different take on ace rep than bojack horseman.  and i love jon and martin as a couple, but i have just been really overwhelmed with how much of that is the focus of the fandom (plus my normal/main fandom is hockey and that can be VERY platonic.  i can make it as platonic as it gets).  those are two different ways of being asexual, and they are both valid!  they probably each ring true for many.  from my perspective i prefer the bojack approach because i feel more affirmed by todd’s rep than by jon’s, but that doesn’t make todd more accurate representation.  i guess the moral of the story is, not all ace rep is the same, and don’t get invested in seeing yourself (or the kind of rep you want) in every ace story.  and my solution is to broaden my ace rep rather than only have a few and ultimately not be happy with it.  (also i want to be very clear that the importance of ace rep is something that is built up entirely in my mind.  jonny said they always considered jon to be asexual from s1, way before he was revealed to be in the show.  they were not going for ace rep, they just felt asexuality fit his character best.  it is me (and others like me probably) who came to this story knowing this and placing expectations and stakes onto this character as The One Who Represents Us.  i relate waaaay more to martin (as we all do i’m sure) but because my other options are so! very! limited! when it comes to asexuality i put all my emotions and expectations and self-worth on how this one character could represent my entire experience.  which has nothing to do with the creators of the show, who are just telling the story they want to tell.  so they can’t give “bad ace rep” because there are so many ace stories to tell and it’s not their fault or their problem that options are so limited that we end up building up any character that is ace into the one who represents all ace experiences.  my fault, not theirs, is what i’m saying.)

probably obvious after my word-vomit but cut back on actively seeking out magnus archives fandom/content!!!!  it does not make me feel better about myself.  romantic relationships do NOT make you more worthy.

just generally being more positive and affirming about being aro ace (and being aro in particular!)  it is excellent and there are so many good things about being this way!  i would like to focus on those more for myself :)

holy shit i wrote a lot.  i had a lot of feelings that i wanted to get out.

[befoundonlinemarketing]

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling

Pardon me for telling the same old story once again ... Storytelling is a fundamental staple of content marketing. This isn’t news. It has become a central talking point throughout the business world, and one we’ve discussed quite frequently here on the TopRank Marketing Blog. Compelling narrative is impactful for fairly obvious reasons: it captivates a reader, keeps them engaged, and tends to leave a lasting impression. The psychological power of storytelling has endured from ancient times, and outweighs any new technology or tactic that comes along. But one of the less-discussed benefits of storytelling might be among the most important in today’s context: it builds trust with your customers and prospects. Today, we’ll examine how this dynamic works and why every marketer should be on board.

Storytelling Was Abraham Lincoln’s Greatest Strength

“Four score and seven years ago…” With these six words, Abraham Lincoln launched the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history. He set up a persuasive argument in favor of human equality by calling to mind the nation’s origins, and the principles that formed its foundation. Last year at Quartz, Dacher Keltner wrote about how good leaders tell stories that make people trust them with power, citing Lincoln as a prime example. Keltner suggested that the 16th president’s “ability to shape moving narratives about the Civil War and the organizing principles of the United States was … crucial to navigating the fractious politics of his presidency.” Modern marketers are not tasked with bridging a divided country, but we do face an uphill battle in this crowded, fractured digital setting. And with trust toward media, organizations and institutions diminishing, stories present an underrated vehicle for fostering connections and establishing credibility.    Lisa Saffran, who teaches Storytelling in Public Health at the University of Missouri, explains that storytelling injects an element of humanity, which might be particularly helpful for B2B companies:

“Human beings are primed to tell stories but also to listen for the person behind a story being told. Storytelling, whether it’s reporting the news or writing a memoir, involves the active selection and ordering of some information and the omission of other information. Principles of selection inform what questions we ask and which answers we might receive. This directing, ordering and selecting reflects a human consciousness at work, a person with beliefs, assumptions and suspicions.”

Everywhere you look, the tactic is becoming more ingrained. [bctt tweet="With trust toward media, organizations and institutions diminishing, stories present an underrated vehicle for fostering connections and establishing credibility. - NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

Stories Are Growing More Ubiquitous

Every content creator should consider themself a storyteller. When we write, we are invariably sharing a story: about our solution, about our customers, about the pains we can help solve. And the integration of narrative is extending beyond marketing copy. Sales professionals are incorporating stories into their presentations and pitches. Companies use stories to attract quality talent. The video marketing movement is largely driven by storytelling and its innate resonance, reflected by the rapid growth of ‘Stories’ on social media platforms. When people hear or see stories, their brains light up in different ways, tapping both the rational and emotional areas. Tying multiple pieces of information together in a coherent, chronological, and — above all — relatable way makes the message far more affecting. The content suddenly becomes experiential instead of merely educational. It’s also what an audience craves. As Rachel Gillett wrote for Fast Company:

“Our brains are insanely greedy for stories. We spend about a third of our lives daydreaming–our minds are constantly looking for distractions — and the only time we stop flitting from daydream to daydream is when we have a good story in front of us.”

We can satiate this appetite by putting a good story in front of the people we want to reach. But it’s not that simple. When it comes to building influence through storytelling, there are a few considerations worth keeping front-and-center. [bctt tweet="Tying multiple pieces of info together in a coherent, chronological, & relatable way makes the message far more affecting. The content suddenly becomes experiential instead of merely educational. - @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

How to Maximize Storytelling as a Trust-Building Tool

Stories serve many purposes in marketing. In our current environment, building trust may be the most vital among them. If this is the goal, make sure you adhere to these imperatives.

#1 - Be Genuine, Authentic, and Transparent

Lincoln didn’t gain the nickname “Honest Abe” for nothing. Despite his physique, the gangly 6-foot-4 politician didn’t have a reputation for spinning tall tales (at least not in misleading ways). Storytelling backfires when it strikes people as false or disingenuous. Share real anecdotes and back them with third-party evidence or quotes. Telling hard truths, even if it means acknowledging a shortcoming in your business, can be tremendously beneficial in the long run. Even more than being true to the facts, you must be true to yourself, and your brand. In his book, All Marketers are Liars, Seth Godin lays this out this first tenet of telling a great story:

“A great story is true. Not true because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic. Consumers are too good at sniffing out inconsistencies for a marketer to get away with a story that’s just slapped on.”

[bctt tweet="A great story is true. Not true because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic. - @ThisIsSethsBlog #ContentMarketing #Storytelling " username="toprank"]

#2 - Make It Meaningful to Your Audience

You know who you’re trying to reach. Hopefully you know a fair amount about them and their circumstances. When crafting a story, you must ask yourself if there’s a relevant hook that will make it applicable for them personally. As Ashley Zeckman has written here in the past: “Your customers should be able to see themselves in the story that you are telling through content.” This dynamic makes case studies, customer testimonials, and content featuring industry thought leaders and influencers — featuring first-person perspectives from businesses very similar to the ones you target as prospects — tremendously powerful. But even beyond that, it’s crucial to outline situations, scenarios, and challenges that your audience can relate to. Empathy is essential to gaining trust. [bctt tweet="Your customers should be able to see themselves in the story that you are telling through content. - @azeckman #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

#3 - Implement Recurring Themes

As you can tell from the opening sentence of this post, and many of the links scattered throughout, this is not the first time we’ve discussed storytelling on this blog. But we only continue to focus on it because of its critical importance in content marketing today. And hopefully this ongoing emphasis helps crystallize this significance. There’s an actual psychological phenomenon behind this: our brains give preference to the familiar. Once a seed or idea has been planted through effective and memorable narrative, people are more likely to notice and internalize it going forward. In other words, telling the “same old story” isn’t such a bad thing, so long as you can find new angles and dimensions to explore. A robust, ongoing, expanding narrative has the capability to continually reinforce trust and confidence. [bctt tweet="Telling the “same old story” isn’t such a bad thing, so long as you can find new angles and dimensions to explore. - NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

What’s Your Story?

via GIPHY As you contemplate your brand narrative and how you’ll present it going forward, I encourage you to keep these three cornerstones in mind: authenticity, relevance, and familiarity. When storytelling incorporates all three elements successfully, it can build trust in ways unparalleled by other methods. Storytelling can not only build trust, but also influence with your audience. Check out our post Cracking the Code: 3 Steps to Building Influence with Content Marketing for actionable tips and insights. At TopRank Marketing, storytelling is a core component of our content marketing approach. Give us a shout if you’d like to hear the whole story.

The post Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling posted first on http://www.toprankblog.com/

[christopheruearle]

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling

Pardon me for telling the same old story once again ... Storytelling is a fundamental staple of content marketing. This isn’t news. It has become a central talking point throughout the business world, and one we’ve discussed quite frequently here on the TopRank Marketing Blog. Compelling narrative is impactful for fairly obvious reasons: it captivates a reader, keeps them engaged, and tends to leave a lasting impression. The psychological power of storytelling has endured from ancient times, and outweighs any new technology or tactic that comes along. But one of the less-discussed benefits of storytelling might be among the most important in today’s context: it builds trust with your customers and prospects. Today, we’ll examine how this dynamic works and why every marketer should be on board.

Storytelling Was Abraham Lincoln’s Greatest Strength

“Four score and seven years ago…” With these six words, Abraham Lincoln launched the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history. He set up a persuasive argument in favor of human equality by calling to mind the nation’s origins, and the principles that formed its foundation. Last year at Quartz, Dacher Keltner wrote about how good leaders tell stories that make people trust them with power, citing Lincoln as a prime example. Keltner suggested that the 16th president’s “ability to shape moving narratives about the Civil War and the organizing principles of the United States was … crucial to navigating the fractious politics of his presidency.” Modern marketers are not tasked with bridging a divided country, but we do face an uphill battle in this crowded, fractured digital setting. And with trust toward media, organizations and institutions diminishing, stories present an underrated vehicle for fostering connections and establishing credibility.    Lisa Saffran, who teaches Storytelling in Public Health at the University of Missouri, explains that storytelling injects an element of humanity, which might be particularly helpful for B2B companies:

“Human beings are primed to tell stories but also to listen for the person behind a story being told. Storytelling, whether it’s reporting the news or writing a memoir, involves the active selection and ordering of some information and the omission of other information. Principles of selection inform what questions we ask and which answers we might receive. This directing, ordering and selecting reflects a human consciousness at work, a person with beliefs, assumptions and suspicions.”

Everywhere you look, the tactic is becoming more ingrained. [bctt tweet="With trust toward media, organizations and institutions diminishing, stories present an underrated vehicle for fostering connections and establishing credibility. - NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

Stories Are Growing More Ubiquitous

Every content creator should consider themself a storyteller. When we write, we are invariably sharing a story: about our solution, about our customers, about the pains we can help solve. And the integration of narrative is extending beyond marketing copy. Sales professionals are incorporating stories into their presentations and pitches. Companies use stories to attract quality talent. The video marketing movement is largely driven by storytelling and its innate resonance, reflected by the rapid growth of ‘Stories’ on social media platforms. When people hear or see stories, their brains light up in different ways, tapping both the rational and emotional areas. Tying multiple pieces of information together in a coherent, chronological, and — above all — relatable way makes the message far more affecting. The content suddenly becomes experiential instead of merely educational. It’s also what an audience craves. As Rachel Gillett wrote for Fast Company:

“Our brains are insanely greedy for stories. We spend about a third of our lives daydreaming–our minds are constantly looking for distractions — and the only time we stop flitting from daydream to daydream is when we have a good story in front of us.”

We can satiate this appetite by putting a good story in front of the people we want to reach. But it’s not that simple. When it comes to building influence through storytelling, there are a few considerations worth keeping front-and-center. [bctt tweet="Tying multiple pieces of info together in a coherent, chronological, & relatable way makes the message far more affecting. The content suddenly becomes experiential instead of merely educational. - @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

How to Maximize Storytelling as a Trust-Building Tool

Stories serve many purposes in marketing. In our current environment, building trust may be the most vital among them. If this is the goal, make sure you adhere to these imperatives.

#1 - Be Genuine, Authentic, and Transparent

Lincoln didn’t gain the nickname “Honest Abe” for nothing. Despite his physique, the gangly 6-foot-4 politician didn’t have a reputation for spinning tall tales (at least not in misleading ways). Storytelling backfires when it strikes people as false or disingenuous. Share real anecdotes and back them with third-party evidence or quotes. Telling hard truths, even if it means acknowledging a shortcoming in your business, can be tremendously beneficial in the long run. Even more than being true to the facts, you must be true to yourself, and your brand. In his book, All Marketers are Liars, Seth Godin lays this out this first tenet of telling a great story:

“A great story is true. Not true because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic. Consumers are too good at sniffing out inconsistencies for a marketer to get away with a story that’s just slapped on.”

[bctt tweet="A great story is true. Not true because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic. - @ThisIsSethsBlog #ContentMarketing #Storytelling " username="toprank"]

#2 - Make It Meaningful to Your Audience

You know who you’re trying to reach. Hopefully you know a fair amount about them and their circumstances. When crafting a story, you must ask yourself if there’s a relevant hook that will make it applicable for them personally. As Ashley Zeckman has written here in the past: “Your customers should be able to see themselves in the story that you are telling through content.” This dynamic makes case studies, customer testimonials, and content featuring industry thought leaders and influencers — featuring first-person perspectives from businesses very similar to the ones you target as prospects — tremendously powerful. But even beyond that, it’s crucial to outline situations, scenarios, and challenges that your audience can relate to. Empathy is essential to gaining trust. [bctt tweet="Your customers should be able to see themselves in the story that you are telling through content. - @azeckman #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

#3 - Implement Recurring Themes

As you can tell from the opening sentence of this post, and many of the links scattered throughout, this is not the first time we’ve discussed storytelling on this blog. But we only continue to focus on it because of its critical importance in content marketing today. And hopefully this ongoing emphasis helps crystallize this significance. There’s an actual psychological phenomenon behind this: our brains give preference to the familiar. Once a seed or idea has been planted through effective and memorable narrative, people are more likely to notice and internalize it going forward. In other words, telling the “same old story” isn’t such a bad thing, so long as you can find new angles and dimensions to explore. A robust, ongoing, expanding narrative has the capability to continually reinforce trust and confidence. [bctt tweet="Telling the “same old story” isn’t such a bad thing, so long as you can find new angles and dimensions to explore. - NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #Storytelling" username="toprank"]

What’s Your Story?

via GIPHY As you contemplate your brand narrative and how you’ll present it going forward, I encourage you to keep these three cornerstones in mind: authenticity, relevance, and familiarity. When storytelling incorporates all three elements successfully, it can build trust in ways unparalleled by other methods. Storytelling can not only build trust, but also influence with your audience. Check out our post Cracking the Code: 3 Steps to Building Influence with Content Marketing for actionable tips and insights. At TopRank Marketing, storytelling is a core component of our content marketing approach. Give us a shout if you’d like to hear the whole story.

The post Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

[aicarzu]

A unique opportunity for Santa Fe

After completing a recent online survey concerning what to do with the former College of Santa Fe/Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus, I have a suggestion: Turn the campus into a village, the primary purpose of which would be to provide mixed-use housing in converted dormitories and in newly constructed homes and apartments for Santa Feans and those who commute here to work. The emphasis of this “village in the city” would be on walkability, with parks, shops, creativity centers, etc., all within easy reach. This community should be developed to be a model of environmentally responsible infill and urban livability. Revitalization of lower St. Michael’s Drive would align with the city’s stated goals and would be a boon to that part of town. This is a unique, not to be repeated, opportunity for Santa Fe.

In a matter of days, the citizens of Santa Fe will elect a new mayor, hopefully one with enough foresight, passion and determination to lead Santa Fe during these conflicting and morally challenging times. We have known Peter Ives for over 18 years and truly believe he possesses the skills, experience and vision necessary to build bridges and foster collaboration in areas critical to Santa Fe’s growth and prosperity.

A strong advocate for sustainability and a dedicated public servant, Peter Ives will use his experience as city councilor, legal counsel on environmental and land conservation issues and community activist to guide the city’s future in areas of affordable housing, water conservation, economic growth and fiscal accountability.

In these politically imposing times, we need a leader we can trust, who will listen with compassion, is approachable, willing to think outside the box, and who simply loves Santa Fe and its diverse culture. We need Peter Ives.

I have been following the Santa Fe mayoral election with interest because the person who is elected will have great impact on my family, my people of Santa Clara Pueblo and Northern New Mexico on this and future generations. In addition to serving the city, the person elected mayor must be able to work with neighboring communities on common goals and interests. This person must have awareness, understanding and respect for all cultures and bring all groups together to address challenging issues, such as water rights.

One candidate, Peter Ives, has proven he is this person. Peter gives the respect needed to bring people together to solve problems. We need him as we begin to tackle complex issues. Peter is a good man, genuinely respects people and is capable of garnering respect that is a prerequisite for positive and lasting relations. I recommend him as your first choice for mayor.

I wonder about the constant reference to Denver as “the Mile High City” in articles about the arts and entertainment group Meow Wolf opening a 90,000-square-foot complex (“For Meow Wolf, future is Mile High,” Jan. 4). Yes, we know that Denver has the very factual distinction of being exactly one mile in elevation. But when you repeatedly employ that moniker when writing about Meow Wolf’s entrepreneurial progress, you seem to imply a promotion of elevation above Santa Fe; and that then suggests that they are rising onto a higher, superior plane of consciousness and profit. In fact, Santa Fe soars gloriously at a lofty 7,199 feet, or 1.363447 miles, above sea level. Our stature, topographically speaking, is greater than Denver’s — as any artist, mystic or scientist knows. In fact, one could say that Meow Wolf is lowering itself by 1,919 feet. I am just trying to be precise here.

Good people have been elected as head of our city, and all have addressed various aspects of its problems. All have been successful in some ways. Alan Webber’s vast experience both owning and running a business and mentoring others who have done so make him uniquely qualified to address the city’s serious fiscal and managerial issues.

Alan has spent countless hours walking the city’s neighborhoods and talking with their residents, and in conversations with hundreds of people, has learned about their ideas and concerns. As he has listened carefully to those ideas and concerns, his respect and appreciation for the culturally diverse nature of our community has continued to grow. His ideas about the opportunities and possibilities for our city are thoughtful, smart and realistic.

Joseph Maestas is my No. 1 choice for Santa Fe mayor. I worked with Joseph on community projects for years and trust his exceptional leadership commitment to improving the well-being and future of our community. Joseph works tirelessly addressing the issues challenging our community, responding to every citizen and community request with respectful equity. I have witnessed Joseph’s consistent, competent, caring and collaborative approaches ensuring all Santa Feans have the opportunity to build their quality of life.

Joseph has proven his commitment on protecting our natural resources, cultural heritage, taxpayers’ dollars, immigrant rights, voters’ rights and access to renewable energy and broadband for all. He improved public transportation, access to early education and affordable housing. Joseph Maestas brings effective leadership, inclusive and innovative action and native vision to his leadership as Santa Fe mayor.

I, along with the leadership of the local nurses union, am proudly supporting Kate Noble for mayor because she understands and cares about workers.

She’s on the school board and is working to improve our education system. She has many great ideas about how the city can partner with the school district to benefit everyone. And Kate is interested in health care for all—that’s so important for me.

I’ve been a nurse for 55 years, and now I represent all the nurses at the hospital. Kate will be there representing all the community and taking care of everyone as mayor when she wins. And she will.

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How to Build the Right Content Marketing Strategy for SEO Growth

Posted by AlliBerry3

Delivering content that best serves the needs of users is certainly top-of-mind for many SEOs since the Hummingbird algorithm update and subsequent buzz around RankBrain. It sounds easy enough in theory, but what does that actually mean in practice? Many SEOs believe that they’re already doing this by driving their content strategy by virtue of keyword research alone.

The problem with solely using keywords to drive your content strategy is that not all of your audience’s content needs are captured in search. Ask your nearest customer service representative what questions they answer every day; I can guarantee that you won’t find all of those questions with search volume in a keyword research tool.

Keyword research can also tempt you to develop content that your brand really shouldn’t be creating because you don’t have anything unique to say about it. Sure, you could end up increasing organic traffic, but are those going to be converting customers?

Moving away from a keyword-first-driven content strategy and into an audience-centric one will put you in a better place for creating SEO content that converts. Don’t get me wrong — there’s still an important place for keyword research. But it belongs later in the process, after you’ve performed a deep dive into your audience and your own brand expertise.

This is an approach that the best content marketers excel at. And it’s something that SEOs can utilize, too, as they strive to provide more relevant and higher-quality content for your target audiences.

How is an audience-focused content strategy different from a keyword-focused content strategy?

A content marketing strategy starts with the target audience and dives deeper into understanding your brand’s expertise and unique value proposition. Keyword research is great at uncovering how people talk about topics relevant to your brand, but it is limiting when it comes to audience understanding.

Think about one of your prospective customer’s journey to conversion. Is search the only channel they utilize to get information? If you are collecting lead information or serving up remarketing ads, hopefully not. So, why should your audience understanding be limited to keyword research?

A content strategy is a holistic plan that tackles questions like:

Who is my audience?

What are their pain points and needs?

What types of content do these people want to consume?

Where are they currently having conversations (online or offline)

What unique expertise does our brand offer?

How can we match our expertise to our audience’s needs?

Finding your unique content angle

The key to connecting with your audience is to develop your unique content angle that finds intersections between what your brand’s expertise is in and your audience’s pain points. The Content Marketing Institute refers to this as a “content tilt” because it involves taking a larger topic and tilting it in your own way. Defining your brand’s expertise can be more difficult than it appears on the surface.

It isn’t uncommon for brands to say their product is what makes them unique, but if there is a competitor out there with the same general product, it’s not unique. What makes your organization different from competitors?

Here’s an example

When I worked for Kaplan Financial Education, a professional licensing and exam prep provider brand under Kaplan Professional, finding our tilt was a real challenge. Kaplan Financial Education has a lot of product lines all within financial services, but the audience for each is different. We needed a tilt that worked for the entire Career Corner content hub we were creating. What we realized is that our core audience all has a big pain point in common: entering the financial services industry either through insurance or securities (selling stocks and bonds) has low barriers to entry and high turnover. Everyone entering that job market needs to know how to not only pass their licensing exam(s), but also be successful as professionals too, both in the early years and also in the years to come.

Kaplan Financial Education’s biggest content competitors create very factual content — they’re websites like Investopedia, Wikipedia, and governing bodies like FINRA and state government departments. But Kaplan Financial Education has something going for it that its competitors do not: a huge network of students. There are other licensing exam prep providers that compete with Kaplan Financial Education, but none that cover the same breadth of exams and continuing education. It’s the only brand in that industry that provides licensing education as individuals progress through their financial careers. “From hire to retire,” as the marketers say.

We made our content tone more conversational and solicited input from our huge student and instructor network to help new professionals be more successful. We also used their quotes and insights to drive content creation and make it more relatable and personalized. All of our content tied back to helping financial professionals be successful — either as they’re getting licensed or beyond — and rather than simply telling people what to do, we leveraged content to allow our current students and instructors to teach our prospective students.

You may be thinking… so I can only write content that fits in this tilt? Isn’t that limiting?

As SEOs, it can be really hard to let go of some keyword opportunities that exist if they don’t fit the content strategy. And it’s true that there are probably some keywords out there you could create content for and increase your organic traffic. But if they don’t fit with your target audience’s needs and your brand’s expertise, will it be the kind of traffic that’s going to convert? Likely not. Certainly not enough to spend resources on content creation and to distract yourself from your larger strategy objective.

How to build your content strategy

1. Set your goals.

Start at the end. What is you are ultimately trying to accomplish? Do you want to increase leads by a certain percentage? Do you want to drive a certain number increase in sales? Are you trying to drive subscribers to a newsletter? Document these goals first. This will help you figure out what type of content you want to create and what the calls-to-action should be.

If you’re a business like Kaplan and leads are your ultimate goal, a proven strategy is to create ungated content that provides good insights, but leaves room for a deeper dive. Have your calls-to-action point to a gated piece of content requiring some form of contact information that goes into more depth.

A business like a car dealership is going to have a primary goal of getting people into their dealership to buy a car. Their content doesn’t necessarily need to be gated, but it should have a local spin and speak to common questions people have about the car buying process, as well as show the human elements that make the dealership unique to establish trust and show how customers will be treated. Trust is especially important in that industry because they have to combat the used car salesman stereotype.

2. Identify your primary audience and their pain points.

The next step is to identify who you’re targeting with your content. There are a lot of people at your disposal to help you with this part of the process. Within your organization, consider talking to these teams:

Customer Service

Sales

Technical Support

Product Management

Product Marketing

Social Media Marketing

These are often the people who interact the most with customers. Find out what your audience is struggling with and what content could be created to help answer their questions. You can also do some of this research on your own by searching forums and social media. Subreddits within Reddit related to your topic can be a goldmine. Other times there are active, related groups on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. If you’ve ever been to the MozCon Facebook group, you know how much content could be created answering common questions people have related to SEO.

3. Determine your brand’s unique expertise.

Again, dig deeper and figure out what makes your brand truly unique. It likely isn’t the product itself. Think about who your subject matter experts are and how they contribute to the organization. Think about how your products are developed.

Even expertise that may seem boring on the surface can be extremely valuable. I’ve seen Marcus Sheridan speak a couple of times and he has one of the most compelling success stories I’ve ever heard about not being afraid to get too niche with expertise. He had a struggling swimming pool installation business until he started blogging. He knew his expertise was in pools — buying fiberglass pools, specifically. He answered every question he could think of related to that buying process and became the world thought leader on fiberglass pools. Is it a glamorous topic? No. But, it’s helpful to the exact audience he wanted to reach. There aren’t hundreds of thousands of people searching for fiberglass pool information online, but the ones that are searching are the ones he wanted to capture. And he did.

4. Figure out your content tilt.

Now put your answers for #2 and #3 together and figure out what your unique content angle will look like.

5. Develop a list of potential content topics based on your content tilt.

It’s time to brainstorm topics. Now that you know your content tilt, it’s a lot easier to come up with topics your brand should be creating content about. Plus, they’re topics you know your audience cares about! This is a good step to get other people involved from around your organization, from departments like sales, product management, and customer service. Just make sure your content tilt is clear to them prior to the brainstorm to ensure you don’t get off-course.

6. Conduct keyword research.

Now that you’ve got a list of good content topics, it’s time to really dive into long-tail keyword research and figure out the best keyword targets around the topics.

There are plenty of good tools out there to help you with this. Here are a few of my go-tos:

Moz Keyword Explorer (freemium): If you have it, it’s a great tool for uncovering keywords as questions, looking at the keyword competitive landscape, and finding other related keywords to your topic.

Keywordtool.io (free): One of the only keyword discovery tools out there that will give you keyword research by search engine. If you are looking for YouTube or App Store keywords, for instance, this is a great idea generation tool.

Ubersuggest.io (free): Type in one keyword and Ubersuggest will give you a plethora of other ideas organized in a list alphabetically or in a word cloud.

7. Create an editorial calendar.

Based on your keyword research findings, develop an editorial calendar for your content. Make sure to include what your keyword target(s) are so if you have someone else developing the content, they know what is important to include in it.

Here are a couple resources to check out for getting started:

HubSpot’s free editorial calendar templates (Google Sheet or Excel)

Content Marketing Institute’s free editorial calendar template (Google Sheet)

8. Determine how to measure success.

Once you know what content you’re going to create, you’ll need to figure out how you’ll measure success. Continuing on with the Kaplan example, lead generation was our focus. So, we focused our efforts on measuring leads to our gated content and conversions of those leads to sales over a certain time period. We also measured organic entrances to our ungated content. If our organic entrances were growing (or not growing) disproportionate to our leads, then we’d take deeper dives into what individual pieces of content were converting well and what pieces were not, then make tweaks accordingly.

9. Create content!

Now that all the pieces are there, it’s time to do the creation work. This is the fun part! With your content tilt in mind and your keyword research completed, gather the information or research you need and outline what you want the content to look like.

Take this straightforward article called How to Get Your Series 7 License as an example. To become a registered representative (stockbroker), you have to pass this exam. The primary keyword target here is: Series 7 license. It’s an incredibly competitive keyword with between 2.9K–4.3K monthly searches, according to the Keyword Explorer tool. Other important semantically related keywords include: how to get the Series 7 license, Series 7 license requirements, Series 7 Exam, General Securities Registered Representative license, and Series 7 license pass rate.

Based on our content tilt and competitive landscape for the primary keyword, it made the most sense to make this into a how-to article explaining the process in non-jargon terms to someone just starting in the industry. We perfectly exact-match each keyword target, but the topics are covered well enough for us to rank on the front page for all but one of them. Plus, we won the Google Answer Box for “how to get your Series 7 license.” We also positioned ourselves well for anticipated future searches around a new licensing component called the SIE exam and how it’ll change the licensing process.

Once you’ve created your content and launched it, like with any SEO work, you will have a lag before you see any results. Be sure to build a report or dashboard based on your content goals so you can keep track of the performance of your content on a regular basis. If you find that the growth isn’t there after several months, it is a good idea to go back through the content strategy and assess whether you’ve got your tilt right. Borrowing from Joe Pulizzi, ask yourself: “What if our content disappeared? Would it leave a gap in the marketplace?” If the answer is no, then it’s definitely time to revisit your tilt. It’s the toughest piece to get right, but once you do, the results will follow.

If you’re interested in more discussion on content marketing and SEO, check out the newest MozPod podcast. Episode 8, SEO & Content Strategy:

Listen to the podcast

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

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