#i think we should all form our own opinions rather than following a bandwagon

[ppulverse]

Sorry if this is too invasive but are you becoming OT4?

It's not invasive at all, don't worry! And no, I'm not, at least for now. I actually wrote a very long post about this and saved it in my drafts because I'm still doing some research on the whole controversy and I wanna have enough information about it before I post it. But basically with so many people saying the korean version of the anime is heavily censored/edited, and with all the research I've done so far, I particularly don't think Soobin would just outright be like "hey so I'm watching this show and I'm really enjoying it even though it's super dark" if he were watching the version everyone has a problem with. He's the leader of one of the most popular groups we have in kpop right now and he's usually careful with what he can and cannot say (plus hybe is always watching them to make sure they don't taint their image), so it doesn't make much sense to me, especially considering he talked about it over a year ago but it has only become a problem now. Wouldn't anyone have done or said something about it before? I have enough reasons to believe he was watching a censored version of it, and although I still think he shouldn't mention the anime on a livestream (bc even without all the cp stuff it's still a really dark and disturbing story, and he has a LOT of fans who are too young for that), I'm not gonna bash him and treat him like a criminal. I'm against blindly defending people, but I'm also against blindly condemning them, which is why I'm taking my time to read about this and watch some videos to get a better understanding of what's going on. I'm keeping him out of my blogs for the time being just to be safe though!

[sociallyrepressed]

alright heaven forbid I come to the defense of a rich white man whose watch is out of my tax bracket and at the risk of sounding parasocial, let’s discuss the response to the events of today, and how we can change our outlook in the future:

1. The public response on Twitter and in the comments of Instagram are not okay. You are allowed to feel strongly about some things but to go to a public space and wish harm on a person is too far. If you are focused so negatively on the shortcomings of someone you dislike that you cannot focus on the success of someone you do like, then you are only working to make yourself and others negative (“hating ___ makes me happy” no, being negative makes you happy, which does not make you a happy or enjoyable person).

Since the fandom is bad at relegating emotions and focusing on the positive, here are some exercises:

instead of “____ is a waste of a seat”—> try “my driver worked to get into f1 and be where he is, I’m proud of him!”

instead of “____ did so horrible, my driver is way better” —> try “my driver had such a good race!”

instead of “I hate ___ he should crash/leave the sport” —> try “I’m not a fan of this driver, I like ___ more and root for him in the races”

in no situation is it okay to send death threats/imply a driver should die/propose suicide to a driver. neither is it okay to make racist comments about drivers. ever. if you are so affected that you enjoy sending these types of messages, I am afraid no post on the internet can help you because the type of help you need requires a degree.

I bring these up today because of the backlash Lando received post-race, but these types of comments have been present in all of Formula 1 history, and never has it been okay.

However, if you want to hate in the privacy of your mind or with friends, go for it, bringing it into public platforms makes it uncomfortable for everyone, and takes the fun out of a fandom.

2. Context! Critical thinking! Being able to think critically in a given situation is a very important skill to have in life. Things are not split-line black and white. In today’s example, a couple of sentences in Lando’s post-race interview were taken out of context and misunderstood. Rather than checking out the original source (in which he was clearly discussing the misfortune of his own pit stop and how the timing of the red flag was luck) and forming their own opinions, many people jumped on the bandwagon, which is uninformed and harmful. Doing this without research makes you gullible, which is not a useful life skill.

Lando has since made glowing remarks about Max, it’s okay if you relax and enjoy the results of the race.

[edit because I see people disgruntled about McLaren pitwall having Oscar and Lando swap “when Lando didn’t even do anything”. Oscar had a ten second penalty and they need to protect positions. Lando and Oscar are solid teammates.]:

Key Takeaways and Disclaimers: I will admit it would be very hypocritical if I posted this while following several blogs who dislike some drivers, however they are polite haters. But. If there is nothing else you understand or agree with from this post take away this: fandom is supposed to be fun and enjoyable- the drivers are the ones doing the hard work! We’re supposed to sit back and observe! However, to keep fandoms enjoyable and enjoyably safe I encourage hating with etiquette. What does this mean? It means using anti- tags, filtering posts, not using crude or offensive language, and not making comments that would get you arrested if said to someone of authority (death threats, racist comments, etc). This was a very exciting race with an unexpected podium! It’s what racing is about, so let’s keep things fun and fresh.

[a-student-out-of-time]

There's a good and a bad way to subvert expectations. Unfortunately what's been happening a lot lately is that many works go for twists for the sake of being twists, the Star Wars Sequels being a prime example of this. Or the later sessions of Game of Thrones. There is a fine balance between being able to surprise your audience and not being extremely predictable.

//I’ve absorbed more complaints and feelings from both those series through pop-culture osmosis than I have from watching them. I’m more of a casual observer, but I do have some feelings on both these points (which I will put under here if you’re interested.)

//tl;dr version: I think we should unbiasedly judge media on its own merits and look over what works internally within the story and what doesn’t, be willing to make our own judgements rather than jump on bandwagons and tell people what they should or shouldn’t like, and not treat opinions as straight facts.

//And also that I’m honestly tired of hearing about the sequels and GoT ^^;

//I disagree with a lot of people on the Star Wars sequels (aside from 9, fuck 9), but I’d rather not start a debate about it nor their quality overall. Only that I think people really overreacted to them  and many others jumped on the hate bandwagon when emotions were running high.

//Frankly, many of the criticisms I saw about the films felt either wildly inconsistent about what they’re upset about or what they wanted it to be (7 was criticized for being too much like old Star Wars, 8 for not being enough like old Star Wars) and others felt like they came from bad faith and I can’t take them seriously.

//And yes, the last season of Game of Thrones is trash and wrecked everyone’s storylines for the sake of being shocking, but let’s also be real: GoT was never going to have a happy ending if it wanted to stick to its “realism.” Whoever got on the Iron Throne was inevitably going to have to purge all opposition to consolidate power. That’s just how real revolutions and coups work.

//To be clear, Daenerys’ turn to evil murderousness was stupidly executed, but it wasn’t necessarily unprecedented. What I frankly dislike about fantasy in general is its tendency toward the Divine Right of Kings. That only certain bloodlines have the right to rule and you just need to put the “rightful heir” on the throne. In other words, giving absolute power to a magically omnibenevolent person will fix everything. I may be an optimistic humanist, but I know that simply doesn’t happen.

//The entire point of GoT is that DRoK is stupid and royalty in general really kinda sucks. If you go back, you see most of the lords we follow, including “good king” Eddard Stark, are either totally indifferent to the masses or are completely sadistic and torture them for funsies since the legal system doesn’t protect peasants.

//The Starks are no better than the Lannisters simply by virtue of being overall “nicer” than them. Both sides start wars that get thousands of people killed. Also, everybody loved John Snow, but he also fucking hanged a kid and I’ve never heard anyone bring that up since.

//Most importantly, Daenerys was a likable character with a sympathetic backstory, but even before the last season, she was fully embracing being a Targaryen by blood and was openly murdering people who got in her way while she was conquering territory after territory.

//Yes, a lot of the people she killed were slaveholders, but let’s be real for a moment: not everyone who participates in an evil system is evil themselves. It’s easy for us as the audience to judge them for participating in a slavocracy, but living in one comes with being told slavery is okay. That doesn’t make them evil by nature, just subject to the biases of their culture.

//Also, slavery is evil but conquering people is fine? And burning people to death for opposing you is acceptable since you’re going to be better and free everyone, or because you had a sympathetic backstory? These are the kinds of things that get villains criticized for, but is treated as a necessary evil at worst for the protagonists.

//This is protagonist-centered morality. The show is framing it in a way where you’re being drawn in to see it that way, but also telling you not to see blatant hypocrisies for what they really are. Daenerys was even called as mad as her father by Tyrion. It wasn’t well-executed, but it was going to happen regardless of how much anyone liked her.

//Violence for a good cause is still violence. If you’re going to burn people for disagreeing with you, then say that other people shouldn’t and should listen to others, that’s full-on hypocrisy. That goes for most of the characters in the show, frankly, and the message is executed well for most of it.

//That being said, don’t think this means I think the last season of GoT is good, that the Star Wars sequels are perfect, or that I hate all fantasy books ever. That’s not what I’m saying. I try to enjoy what’s good about them and point out their flaws regardless.

//What I’m saying is it’s important to, when you want to be critical of media, put your feelings and biases aside and judge the media you’re criticizing on its own merits. In my opinion, the claims that the sequels only did things to subvert expectations is unfounded. They were going their own direction, which was admittedly controversial and not what many people wanted, but just because you don’t want it to happen doesn’t mean it’s a bad twist

//Just like how a character isn’t a Mary Sue just because they’re too OP or you don’t like them. That’s not what that term means and hearing people use it like that irritates me. While I do have my complaints about characters, people use that term as if it’s a form of literary criticism that has more use than is necessary.

//If a character is OP, they’re OP. If a character is flat, they’re flat. If a character is poorly written, they’re poorly written. If a character is at the center of the universe and literally everything else exists just to amplify them and their role in things, then they’re likely a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. It’s not a label to slap on  a character you don’t like or to give a critique (or complaint) more weight.

//This is why I say DR3 Chiaki isn’t a Mary Sue, she’s just not a very well written character. All Mary Sues are poorly written characters, but not all poorly written characters are Mary Sues. She’s not terrible, but she’s not explored much and her only big roles are being the person who brings Class 77-B together and her death turns them to despair.

//While her death was tragic and brutal, we didn’t really get a good look at who she was as a person beyond just being nice and opening up to her friends. If they’d expanded on that a little more, maybe it would’ve been more effective, but the way she died felt...manipulative and shock baity in a lot of ways since it banked mostly on our familiarity with her despite it being a totally different person.

//DR3 honestly had a whole host of shocky and just plain gross scenes that I really don’t think needed to be there.

//But likewise, if a story has a plot twist that you don’t like, that doesn’t automatically make it purely shock bait or subverting expectations just for the sake of doing so. There’s a difference between “this character was evil all along and there were a lot of clues and we just didn’t want to believe it” and “this character was evil all along for reasons we’re dumping on you now.”

//Just so I don’t seem like a hypocrite, while I personally don’t like what happened with Mikan in chapter 3 of SDR2, it was an effective way of foreshadowing the truth of them being the remnants of despair. It was set up that every had lost their memories and this was a sign that getting them back wasn’t necessarily going to have a good outcome.

//And I’ll be real: I can’t take a lot of the complaints about the Sequels or GoT seriously because much of it carries overtones of racism, sexism and antisemitism. For those more into Star wars, I think you know what I mean already and that’s all I’ll say. As for GoT, I’ve seen reddit posts viscerally attacking the writers directly and even saying that we should’ve expected the ending to suck since it was “written by Jews.”

//Yeah, go figure I can’t read any of that. I know not all people who hated the show’s ending or the films are like that, but it’s impossible to deny that those attitudes are very real.

//In the end, if you want to be critical of media, the worst way to do that is to just watch a video of someone complaining about it for half an hour. Yes, those video essays can be fun, but the only way to be truly critical of media you enjoy is to examine it yourself and look closely at what’s in it and how it’s presented. That goes doubly for shows you like.

//I know not everyone will do that and all opinions are ultimately subjective, but don’t let someone else tell you that you should hate something or that something is bad just because they didn’t like how it ended. Watch or read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. Don’t just follow the crowd and also be respectful of people who don’t agree with you. You can learn a lot when you talk to someone with a different opinion.

[nyalapeno]

Salt in the Sea - chapter 1

To celebrate Ei-chan’s birthday! <3 He’s my eternal fave character so I wanted to write something for him. 

So here it is - my Eijun-centric Miyusawa fic :) I’ve posted it on Ao3 as well - here it is. [Salt in the Sea]

I hope someone out there will smile reading it~

Chapter 1 ~ I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation~

She... she wasn't listening. At all. His protests went ignored. Gramps had slapped him, but that was still a reaction, if negative - she wasn't reacting, just saying whatever she wanted. Was she purposefully ignoring everything that didn’t fit in with her plans because she was even more bullheaded than an average Sawamura? Or was she deaf? Did she need hearing aids? Was she old enough to need hearing aids?

"Do you nee--" SLAP!

Thus interrupted, Eijun winced and rubbed his cheek to get rid of the stinging feeling. His Gramps couldn't read minds but having known him for fifteen years he could certainly make a fine impression of it. In this case the slap was a preemptive measure as he'd been about to indirectly make a comment about the recruiter's age, and age and calories were risky topics at times.

But it would've been fine! It wasn't like she was listening in the first place.

And now she was tapping on her phone while sharing a table with her hosts. Rude! His mom, instead of telling her off, was watching the proceedings with interest.

"I can reserve the tickets for tomorrow, will that be alright?"

"Certainly!" his mom agreed. "I'll inform Ei-chan's teachers. It's not every day an opportunity like this comes along so I'm sure they'll understand!"

"What," Eijun deadpanned as he listened to his immediate future being planned out without his say so.

"Don't you 'what' me!" Eitoku scolded him. "A recruiter from that Seidou comes here personally to invite you and this is how you react? You should be thanking her on your knees!" Eijun huffed. He already said exactly what he thought about schools like 'that Seidou', not that anyone’d paid him any mind. Wasn't he allowed to have an unpopular opinion?

The recruiter, with his family's full support and encouragement, reserved tickets for Eijun. The travel plan sounded complicated as he’d apparently have to change trains a few times. Tomorrow morning he was going to be visiting the place and there was nothing he could do about it. Well, in theory Eijun could ignore the summons and not go unless Takashima came back in person and dragged him to Tokyo by his hair - when he was younger he used to try such tactics. But they'd just gotten him slapped every time, and besides it was a waste of daylight. So yeah, in theory only. In practice he was stuck.

Honestly, half of the reason he was protesting so much was the woman's total dismissal of his objections. No one liked being seen as an opinionless doll to be dragged around the country willy-nilly. Maybe he was exaggerating but sitting here and being ignored was unpleasant. He'd even rather she yell at him or tell him he was an idiot for not wanting to go. And his family still wondered why he wasn't jumping on the Seidou bandwagon. Were all students treated like air, or was it reserved for prospective students like him? Great advertising. Exactly who did it attract? Masochists?

"...Blech!" Eijun made a face as his imagination ran away with him. His dad lightly smacked the back of his head. Probably decided it already took enough abuse today. Speaking of, the recruiter had been impressed with his slapping skills and in fact appeared to approve of him starting a brawl after the match. He was really beginning to wonder about this super fancy baseball school. Masochists and brawlers... was this real-life Deimon High? Did they maybe have Hiruma Youichi the second? If he went there and met a violent student a year his senior who was called Youichi he would scream, Sena style.

He already felt like screaming to be honest. What the hell was this situation?

The scout was already saying her goodbyes, apparently having finished up with the ticket thing. Everyone was bowing and spewing niceties with not a thought spared for basic human rights while Eijun folded his arms across his chest and scowled at everything, unaware that his attempt looked more like a pout. His verbal protests had been ignored so maybe a visual one...?

"Sawamura-kun," the recruiter said, turning to him. She paused, took in his Rebellious Teenager PoseTM, then smirked. What the-- "I've reserved tickets for you, your mother has the details. Make sure to not be late for the train."

"As if I would be!" Eijun snapped, his offense at the situation temporarily transforming into offense at the insinuation. He was never late! Unless it was on purpose.

"Very good," the lady smirked at him again. Eijun's mouth fell open and he stared, bamboozled. She pretended not to hear the stuff that didn’t fit with her plans but responded to stuff that did? How convenient! "Then I won't be imposing on you any longer. Sawamura-kun, I'll be waiting for you at the first interchange station so you don't get lost." with this parting shot she left, leaving Eijun spluttering as he was insulted for the nth time in one conversation.

"I won't get lost!!" he bellowed after her.

Slap!

"Shut up!" Eitoku shushed him. Like Eijun with scowling, he had his own unique version of shushing.

"Don't complain, Eijun," his dad scolded. "It was thoughtful of Takashima-san to offer, the metro system in Tokyo is confusing. If you really were to get lost you'd be in Big Trouble," he shuddered, as though remembering something unpleasant from his past. Eijun blinked.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, curiosity overriding offense. He hadn't seen much of the metro during his time in Tokyo so he had no clue.

"Even natives have trouble navigating it," Eishi said gravely. "It's better now, with all the apps they made for passengers, but it's still too complicated for comfort. I'd feel better if you had a guide."

"And I'd feel better if I wasn't going at all," Eijun muttered crossly.

"You ungrateful grandson!" Eitoku shook a fist at him but didn't slap. Maybe his hand was tired? "People make the effort to organize transport for you and you don't have to pay and you still complain?"

"Aaargh, I'm not complaining about free transport! I just don't want to visit this school in the first place, like I keep saying from the beginning! But everyone turns deaf when I speak! What is wrong with this world? Nobody’s listening! Nobody understands me!" he dramatized. Eitoku side-eyed him.

"Well, if you can go on like this then clearly you're just fine," he commented.

"Everyone," Chieko called out before anything else could be said. "I think this calls for a family discussion so why don't we get back to the table? I'll make more tea."

"I'll help!" Eijun yelled then bolted into the kitchen before anyone could stop him or talk some more nonsense. His mom followed while Eishi and Eitoku sat down at the table. Eijun collected the necessities while Chieko put the kettle on. The water was soon ready because they used an electric kettle and not a tetsubin. They did own a tetsubin, but it was being used as a decorative flowerpot instead. Which was just fine with Eijun who didn’t want to boil water on the stove. Not that he boiled water by himself very often.

"Mom, can I have hot chocolate instead?" Eijun asked, hesitating over the fourth teacup. He wasn’t really in the mood for tea.

"Of course, Ei-chan. Just try not to spill milk everywhere again." The kettle clicked as Eijun pulled out his usual mug and the can of instant cocoa.

"Mom! That time it was a new carton, it couldn't be helped!" he defended and went to fetch the milk.

"It could if you poured more slowly."

"Urgh… fine," Eijun waited for his mom to pour the water, then added cocoa powder and milk, making sure to handle the carton carefully. Full cartons could be tricky. "Ha!" he beamed at his success when nothing was spilled. Happy, he stirred the contents of the mug energetically, which resulted in some of the liquid flying out and forming a chocolatey puddle on the counter. "..."

"It's all right, Ei-chan, just clean it up," his mom didn't even seem fazed anymore.

"Uh, yeah, cleaning up now! Sorry!" Eijun wiped up the counter. Somehow, Chieko managed to prepare the tea and snacks in the time it took him to prepare his own drink. Respect. Together, they carried everything to the table.

"All right, Ei-chan," Chieko asked once everyone was sitting down. "Out with it. Why are you so reluctant about giving Seidou a chance?"

Eijun glanced at all his family members one by one. Unlike when Takashima-san was still around this time they looked ready to listen to what he had to say, if a bit skeptical (Eitoku).

"Because..." he took a deep breath. "Because look at how that lady acted! She totally ignored my opinion and just did her own thing, and she's someone who takes care of kids at this fancy boarding school! What if everyone's treated like that all the time? That's really bad especially because they live there! And she told us how she always looks at matches to find and pick the best players for her school like players were flowers or something, and that's so impersonal! Is this a school or a bouquet?  And it sounds like they're all about results and winning and I just don't like it at all! When playing baseball you should enjoy it, not feel like a soldier who'll get killed if he doesn't succeed! And I already promised everyone we'll all go to Miyoshi and recreate our team there so that we can have fun playing together as long as we can and I can't just go back on that because I got scouted somewhere! It's just all bad! And-- and--” he stuttered, hesitant to mention the last reason in front of his Dad and Gramps who’d likely laugh in his face... or slap it. “And the place is probably stuffy and sucky and full of snobs! " With this crowning argument Eijun broke off, huffing. Face having grown hot from his rant, he placed his hands on his cheeks to cool it.

"All I'm hearing is that you're assuming a lot of things about this school you've never seen before, because of what one woman told you," Eitoku commented. "You know what they say about assuming, right?"

"Gramps!" Eijun made a face at the lame comment.

"Hmph," Eitoku scoffed but didn't dwell on the subject.

"Why don't you just go there tomorrow and see if you're right or not?" Eishi suggested. "One visit doesn't equal to signing a pact. You can use that chance to see the place and decide what to do."

"So long as it's an informed decision and not one you made based only on prejudices, we'll all accept it," Chieko added.

"That's right."

"But..." they'd missed the most important part! "But I already said I'll go to Miyoshi with everyone!"

"And I suppose you think that if something comes up that will make you want to change that decision, your friends will get so offended they'll shun you forever?"

"Whu-- huh?" Eijun spluttered, thought process derailing like a faulty train. The depressing vision was unpleasant to consider and made his chest clench, but it was also unimaginable. He just couldn't see such a thing happening. His friends... they weren't like that!

"Is that how little you think of your friends and the bond you share?" Eitoku thundered, probably sensing weakness and decided to strike while the train was derailed. "Is your friendship something so flimsy and shallow it'll break because of distance?"

"No!" Eijun protested, because he didn't think so. "But we made a promise! That matters, okay?"

"Rather than a promise, I think you've been making plans together," Eishi corrected. "Unless you summoned spirits of warriors from ages past and took a blood oath under the moon?"

"We-- what?" Eijun gaped. Where did his dad even get that from? And people said Eijun was weird. "There was no blood oath, what the--"

"Then you were making plans. And plans can change sometimes, which is something I'm sure your friends understand."

"But WHY should I even change those plans?" It was so exasperating. That woman turning deaf to his protests was in its own realm of irritating but this was something else. This was his family telling him that they valued a stranger’s opinion over his. And sometimes the family had a point but it was still grating. The one going to whatever high school he ended up in would be Eijun, not his parents or his Gramps or that recruiter. Didn't he have the right to decide by himself? Whether it was Seidou or Miyoshi or something completely different...

Oh.

"Yes, Ei-chan," Chieko apparently noticed the dawning realization. "We just want you to consider all your options properly, not get fixated on one and reject all others due to lack of information and your defiant, irreverent, bull-headed personality." The adjectives were like anvils falling upon his head and Eijun's elbows slipped, face meeting the table.

"Urgh," he groaned into its shiny surface. He knew he could be bull-headed – hello, his zodiac sign was Taurus the bull – and had no qualms admitting it, but having it pointed out by someone else was a bit... And what was wrong with being irreverent? Japanese were too reverent, someone had to break the mold--

"Ei-chan."

"Yes!" he jumped up like a startled cat. "I understand! I'll... give Seidou a chance..." he trailed off, grimacing. Now that his family was discussing things with him properly his earlier ire had dulled, but he didn't like going behind his friends' backs like this. When he failed to show up to school tomorrow and they asked around and found out he was visiting some snobby school in Tokyo, what would they think?

"What's the problem this time?" Eitoku got to the heart of the matter.

"It just feels like I'm going behind my friends' backs, not telling them about this."

"Then tell them! It's the 21st century, don't you have phones and emails and those liana accounts you use? Why do I have to tell you this?" Eijun felt his jaw drop from sheer disbelief.

"L-- liana account? Wha-- Gramps, you have a LINE account! You talk to me on it! You send stickers! I know you know what it's called!"

"Don't you sass me, young man!"

"Now, now," Chieko mitigated the bickering duo, unable to hold back a smile.

"I'm the one who plays the fool in this house," Eijun grumbled.

"We know," three voices answered in unison, flustering him.

"All things aside," Chieko fixed Eijun with her  ‘I’m onto you’ look. Had she figured out he’d omitted something earlier? Probably. His mom was smart like that. “I think you should consider challenging yourself more, and this is a great opportunity to do that."

"You're never challenged anywhere, are you?” Eishi picked up the line of thought. “Definitely not in baseball, because you're the one who's challenging your friends. And every child your age should test their mettle at some point or they'll never grow. Your mother is right, Seidou might just turn out to be good for you."

"Will it really? How am I supposed to know if it's for me?" Eijun was understandably skeptical.

"You can't know until you find out yourself. By going there if you have to," Eishi paused for a moment, thoughtful. "Did I ever tell you? At one point in my life I wanted to be a musician." Eijun blinked.

"No, you didn't!" He definitely would've remembered that.

"I thought it was what I wanted to do in life, so I set off for Tokyo," Eishi smiled ruefully. "It took me three months to find out that it actually wasn't for me, and then I came back home--"

"Crying to me how 'Tokyo was so scary!'" Eitoku mocked him. They started a minor brawl which was broken up by Chieko before it could escalate. Eijun watched it all and grinned. A random visitor might think Eitoku was in charge of everything going by his personality, but Eijun knew who really wore the pants around here.

"My point," Eishi continued once he settled down, "is that it's fine to decide on something and then realize it was a wrong decision. Making such mistakes is a part of growing up. If you decide to go to Seidou and it won't work out for you, you can always transfer to Miyoshi, or just go back and help out with the farm. No one will blame you for it or laugh at you."

Okay, Eijun took back every complaint he made about his family today. They were the best.

"Speak for yourself, I'd definitely laugh at him," said Eitoku right after Eijun thought that, making him facefault.

"This is supposed to be encouragement?! I take back what I just took back! Ha! See? I'm not that stubborn if I can change my mind twice in under a minute!" he announced triumphantly, causing confused blinking as the others couldn't read his mind and thus had no idea what he was talking about.

"...Back to the subject," Eishi attempted to move on from the weird exchange. "Now that you've been offered an opportunity to attend a school like Seidou I think you should take it, if only to try it out. Even if you're not convinced, being scouted by a school of such renown has to be at least a little flattering, right?" He gave Eijun a questioning glance. Eijun flushed and turned away, grumbling to himself. It was, but hell if he was going to admit that. The pleasure and happiness that bubbled up in his chest when he realized that someone thought he had potential as a pitcher just didn't fit with the rest of his emotions, so he'd made sure to push it to the back of his mind. The feeling was still there but he could ignore it... until his dad's comment right now.

"Right," Eishi nodded after getting a good look at Eijun's reaction. "Whatever you may think now I can assure you, this feeling won't go away. If you don't take the chance it may die down for a while, but then it'll come back when you least expect it and you'll end up wondering what could've been. But by then it'll probably already be too late."

Too late. Eijun flinched as he realized his dad was speaking of regrets. His least favorite flavor was bitter and regrets basically personified it. If he chose to not even see the school, would he end up regretting it? Forever wondering what the place was like and if he could’ve fit in there if he'd given it a chance? He… had no idea. He’d been so stuck on going to Miyoshi with his friends that he hadn’t considered anything else.  Now the possibility his dad evoked made him feel vaguely ill, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. Remembering his hot chocolate he sipped at it to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. The sweetness on his tongue washed away the bitter taste the thoughts left and the liquid settled warmly in his stomach, warming him up from the inside and slowly loosening the knot of nerves.

Now that he was trying to be less bull-headed about the issue (what, he could admit his faults if only to himself), he realized he was curious to see what the snobby school looked like. The recruiter’s stories didn’t count as she was expected to show her school in the best light, and besides he hadn’t been too impressed with what he’d heard. So he should probably go there and form his own opinion. Like his dad said, the visit had no strings attached so there should be no problem. Well, as long as no one expected him to pretend to be impressed if he wasn’t.

A slurping sound cut through his thoughts. Eijun blinked, coming back to himself as he realized he’d finished his drink and was now trying to drink from an empty mug. Snorting, he set it down.

"Right," he shook his head to clear it. "I want to talk to my friends about this first, but tomorrow I'll keep an open mind."

"That's the spirit!" Eitoku said, nodding grandly in approval as though this was a state meeting.

"That’s settled then. Crackers, anyone?" Chieko offered, moving the bowl to the middle of the table. One third of its contents was mysteriously missing. Caught off guard, the men (and boy) stared at the different types of crackers like they've never seen any before. Chieko rolled her eyes.

"Alright, more for me."

"You're gonna eat the whole bowl?" Eitoku wondered. "That's probably a lot of--" SLAP!

"Go ahead, dear," Eishi sweated nervously, hand still covering his father's mouth after the strategic slap. As previously stated, age and calories were risky topics.

"Are there any spicy ones?" Ignoring the byplay Eijun peered into the bowl.

"The triangles," Chieko pushed it towards him.

"Yay!" Eijun grabbed a triangle and happily stuffed it in his mouth. He loved spicy food... Wait a second. "Eeeh? These aren't spicy at all!"

"Not for you, maybe," Chieko corrected him. Out of curiosity Eishi tried a supposedly spicy cracker and frowned in thought.

"It is spicy."

"What? No it isn't!"

"Sorry Ei-chan, you're outvoted."

"Let me try," Eitoku also grabbed a cracker. "Hah? It's not that spicy, what’re you talking about?"

"Ha! Two for two! It's a tie now!" Eijun waved his hands in a mini victory dance.

"Your opinion shouldn't count in the first place, Eijun; you once put a whole habanero pepper in curry."

"Hey! I ate it later, didn't I?"

"Because no one else would touch it. Not even dad."

"Excuse you, I'm perfectly capable of eating real man's food! ...But that time he overdid it."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who later made jalapeno ramen!” Eijun protested. “Which I also had to eat, by the way!"

"Of course you had to eat it, no normal person would eat such a thing." What a hypocrite!

"Then why even make it in the first place?" Eijun yelled in exasperation.

"Now, now," Chieko soothed them. "Ei-chan, it's getting late. If you want to talk to your friends you should do it soon. There's no way to tell how long you'll take, and you should also make sure to pack something for the road. It's three hours from here to Tokyo, even if you take the shinkansen."

"Right! I'll just make a group chat, I guess," Eijun thought out loud. Eitoku rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

“But first please help with the dishes,” Chieko said with a pleasant smile. Somehow Eijun didn't think this was about the dishes - well, not only. But it couldn't hurt to have an additional talk with his mom.

He went.

Then he had to go back for the mugs.

[gracefarinacci]

Blog Week #4 Public Opinion in Media

What Do We Fear? Expected Sanctions for Expressing Minority Opinions in Offline and Online Communication is our article for this week's reading. In the article it talks about how if someone has a minority opinion, they tend to be silent on issues. In the article it says, “individuals are motivated to continuously gauge whether their stance on a controversial issue corresponds to the majority opinion” (Neubaum & Krämer, 2016). This relates to politics immensely. The federal election that is happening right now has controversy regarding the leak of Justin Trudeau’s black face photos which we talked about in lecture. Many people will go with public opinion on the issue, regardless if they think it is right or wrong. In the news, this something the press does called the “Pseudo-environment”. The article perfectly explains this with, “Humans have a fundamental need to not be socially rejected, and therefore conform to perceived social standards rather than represent a deviant perspective and risk isolation from others” (Neubaum & Krämer, 2016). There have been situations where when I was younger where I related to this, but it was opposite. I have feared rejection from others in elementary school when they were doing something that I know the teacher would not have liked, but I know if I said something, they would tease me. This is relevant today because of social media and everyone being able to comment on your opinion if you share it. Facebook has shown me many examples of this in the older generation. Every time I log into Facebook there is at least one post with conflict on it. Someone might have shared something about politics, race, homophobia, or other issues in society. There will be people attacking them or “cancelling” them as my generation calls it. 

This is an example of that fear of communication that will leave people to say nothing at all. The article argues that people are more likely to say something on the internet rather than face-to-face communication. This has been seen in cyberbullying with the rise of the internet many cases have been caused due to this. As well, internet drama is an issue on YouTube. Many YouTubers use their platform to talk about controversy's that they would not have done in person. Most of them are shy and creating YouTube videos is a lot easier. An example is the James Charles scandal where another YouTuber Tati Westbrook uploaded a video “exposing” him of his deviant actions. This is something that is important to study as different reactions and situations can lead to this and it is important to know when someone is lying about issues due to fear of isolation. A main example I can think of is if someone has a very religious family, they may struggle to come out to them due to fear of them rejecting them. In the chapter Public Opinion and Audience Citizenship, it talks about the two different types of thinking that was a concept created by the Greek philosopher Plato.  

“Plato drew a contrast between two types of thinking: doxa (opinion) and epistêmê (knowledge). Doxa referred to popular belief that was fickle and “unshaped by the rigors of philospophy” (Peters, 1995, p. 4). On the other hand, epistêmê was sure knowledge about the true, unchanging nature of the world, which was informed by scientific principles” (Sullivan 2013).

He says that Plato goes on to argue that politics should not be misguided by opinion he believes it should be epistêmê that allows people to make their decision. This not only relates to politics in today’s society with Donald Trump, but other current issues as well. What I thought of when reading this was beauty. Today people have talked about Skinny Tea, diets, lip fillers, and other drastic effects and changes on the body. Rather than listening to scientific research about how these procedures and products are bad for you, people listen to public opinion on it. Another issue that is big right now is vaping. Many adolescents are vaping due to their friends thinking it is cool without the knowledge of how dangerous it is. There are many cases right now that is starting to show the true effects of lung damage due to vaping.  

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/str.50.suppl_1.9

In the chapter it also talks about the bourgeois public sphere and how it was a form of social organization. This sphere consisted of only men or sometimes woman, in coffee houses or salons. This doesn’t relate to public opinion and expressing minority opinions because it was only middle-class males who were expressing their views. In the book it argues that “the 18th-century public did not refer to universal citizenship. Rather, the concept of the public reflected the growing economic power of the middle class” (Sullivan 2013). This plays a big part today in why people are afraid to share their beliefs if they are not the same as everyone’s, and how the meaning of “the public” has changed.  

Lastly, there are two types of effects in news media. They are called the bandwagon effect and underdog effect. The bandwagon effect is when “individuals hear news reports of polls that differ form their own opinion, which causes them to shift their outlook to match majority opinion” (Sullivan 2013). An example of this would be Canadians starting to dislike Trudeau over political polls decreasing, or when a sports fans when the Raptor’s one changing their favourite team. 

The second one called underdog means it is the opposite of bandwagon, they will do what others are not. Example, if they think Trudeau won’t win again, they are going to vote for him. These effects are prevalent in media today with social media influencers and celebrities. I know there are some girls my age who will use the bandwagon effect of using “codes” from stores and promoting them for a portion of money and other girls who have the underdog effect and think it is weird to do that. There effects are interchangeable and not everyone usually follows one.

That’s it for today’s week! See you next week.

[i-am-gaylocked]

Late night thoughts

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I posted any sort of personal content on here; however, today something happened that made me once again contemplate the future of mankind, and I think the following is important for all of you, so I appreciate everyone reading through this, thinking it through, adding their own ideas, discussing etc.. Please no hate speech of ANY form.

Today, my home country Germany held their general election. Results are tumbling in, and the right-winged populist party AfD seem to have received a whole of 13%. This means that for the first time since the NSDAP & Hitler, a right-winged party has made it into our parliament. Concurrently, the conservative CDU (Merkel's party) has lost a whooping 9% and the social democrats (SPD) have lost almost 6%. (None of the numbers have been confirmed since not all votes are counted & checked yet, but these are reliable predictions.) Let's not even talk about how the pro-business liberals FDP, who decide to ignore climate change, are mathematically the only possible coalition party, I don't want this to escalate into one big rant about capitalism and it's ruining the planet and mankind.

What I actually want to address is the fact that the AfD was founded merely four years ago as a right-liberal alternative to the established partys; just two years later, its founder Bernd Lucke was replaced by Frauke Petry, who was considered strongly right-winged at that time. By now, another mere two years later, she is considered (by both outsiders and party members) as way more moderate than the rest of her party; in fact, AfD members have called her things like 'too soft' & 'too left'. Someone, who not long ago was deemed clearly right.

Why am I talking about the history of some German party? Because it is an excellent example how populists and fascists operate.

The AfD's deputy chairman, Alexander Gauland, has been known for his nazi-similar politics for years. By now, many members have attracted the attention of our Federal Intelligence Service; the party also has several links to other nazi movements. This is not how it started out though. Over the course of just one office term, it has changed from an anti-euro party to a right populist party whose members openly scream their hate speech against immigrants, muslims and any political left or middle party at people on the streets (I've seen it happen just yesterday), and who damn Germany & its system but in the same sentence talk about 'our holy homeland Germany', exactly like the ""official"" Nazis did and do.

Now, I could spend hours analyzing how and where and when this whole thing went downhill and what the governing partys and Merkel and the media did wrong in dealing with the AfD, but to be honest, it would be no good at all. Today's results show that apparently we are unable to learn from our own history (the NSDAP started out very similar, and although it would be wrong to generalise both times, we need to stop downplaying this issue).

What I would rather like to address is how many people are succumbing to the pull of populism in the last few years. And this is not a problem only Germany is dealing with; it is happening in democracies all around the world. I have my own theory why, because this has happened before, but only the facts that it is based on are scientifically confirmed, so don't expect me to be a reliable source for what's going on in the world.

A proven fact is that we are in the wake of the third big change of mankind: digitalisation (the first one being sedentarism, the second one industrialisation). Now, what we could witness during industrialisation is very similar to what is happening right now: rapid changes and development in sciences, society and politics, with one part of society pushing further and further towards progress and the other part being overwhelmed by the new fast pace of the world, followed by a rise in conservative and then right-winged, nationalistic and populistic tendencies (see e.g. imperialistic ideas that caused WWI). Now, industrialisation happened over the course of about a century; digitalisation has genuinely begun only about 10-15 years ago and has already developed much quicker. Again, this is not a confirmed parallel, just my understanding of things; however, change does cause people to get scared, and the more change happens at the same time, the more confusing it gets, causing people to feel lost among all the new developments, wishing for the old days and clear structures (-> rise in nationalism, the homeland as one last solid way of identification). Now, what does anxiety directly lead to? Rejection. Which leads to? Hate. You probably all have experienced it yourselves, when you were afraid of doing something, but you were scared to express it, so you just said you don't like it and that’s why you're not doing it? As someone with a lifelong experience with anxiety, I can confirm I have done this multiple times, and I have also often witnessed it with friends & family.

Anxiety leads to hate. So? Exactly. If people are scared and they hear someone loudly screaming about restoring old values, without the 'scary new things', they will gladly follow that voice, if it only sounds confident enough. Never mind facts, people vote with their guts, and if someone makes them feel safe, they get their support (see Trump for example).

The least of the people who have voted for right-winged people or partys, anywhere around the world, are actual populists or Nazis. Yes, there is a (way too large) core of these people, but they are NOT the majority. Most of them are scared jump-on-the-bandwagoners. Now, I am not making excuses for their behaviour, their choices and their views; I am just saying that telling a scared person that they are wrong or ignoring them does not help. Neither does telling these things to an angry person for that matter (as anger often comes from hate which comes from fear, etc etc). Fighting hate with hate is NOT a solution and never has been. I am the first person to feel the burning need to punch any person in the face who tells me that 'muslims are evil and their religion should be banned' or bullshit like that, but we NEED to refrain from physical violence, and, what's even more important (because this is a mistake that many, many people, including me, make or have made), insulting others & treating them without respect for their beliefs. And yes, this also goes for nazis (hear me out).

Yes, OBVIOUSLY they are wrong, their views and actions are disgusting and should have no place in our world whatsoever. But tell me, have you ever been told that your opinion sucked and that you should go to hell and it made you go 'Hm, maybe they're right, I'm gonna reevaluate my world view'? No. Being told that you're wrong, being insulted only increases your protest. So what you are really doing when you're supporting things like punching nazis etc. is promoting them. Obviously, they are in the wrong. Obviously, about 99% of the things they believe are wrong, and they need to be called out on that. But: BE RESPECTFUL. You don't have to actually respect them, I know it can be hard, but show them the respect they deny others. To be honest, anyone who says things like 'I am not gonna treat people with respect who disrespect others like that' is being egoistic. Believe me, I get your point, I really do. But if your goal is to actually convince someone, YOU HAVE TO BE THE BIGGER PERSON. YOU have to be the one to take a deep breath and say, 'hey, I disagree with you on everything I have heard you say so far, but let's talk. Let's discuss. In a respectful way.'. This is not just a quick concept of mine, by the way: Any ex-nazi can confirm this. What brought so many of them around was the people they were hating on inviting them in.

Yes, they often behave like monsters, but every human being just has the basic need to belong. If you want someone on your side, TAKE THEM IN. Be opening, be welcoming, without supporting or ignoring their unacceptable views. Show them that their ideas are not welcome, but show them that they as basic human beings are welcome. How do you expect someone to join you if you tell them, hey, you suck, but please be on our side because we are right and you are wrong?

If you genuinely want to convince someone to be a considerate, accepting person who lives in unison with others, this is the only way.

If you only want to shortly relieve your

anger, go on and punch nazis. Fight, insult, hurt them until enough life and dignity has been taken on either side for you to realise that violence does not end violence, and hatred does not end hatred, and that the only way to overcome and find peace is through love.

[alexandriatilleyphotography]

APhotoEditor; Ask Anything – Photographer Rep Fees, Relationships and Responsibilities

I read the article APhotoEditor; Ask Anything – Photographer Rep Fees, Relationships and Responsibilities that feature former Art Buyers and current photography consultants Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease speak about they roles within photography and how their roles work within the wider industry, of which will further my knowledge of the agency industry.

QUESTION: I am wondering if we might hear from some reps, consultants and photographers about what they think the rough breakdown is for rep commissions and what a photographer should be expecting in return for these fees. I currently pay 25% of my fees on jobs my agent negotiates. My rep is not participating in social media AT ALL and is often unavailable to do quotes leaving me to either do them myself or revise them myself if I want the deal closed. I am not entirely sure how many meetings they go on every month, but would love opinions on what I could reasonable expect here. I am also not sure there is much beyond e-promos being done on my agent’s part, I do a LOT of my own promotion and do not rely on my agent for much in that department. Since I am very active in promotion myself we are often bidding with clients I have been pursuing through my own efforts for years before I started working with my agent. Perhaps this is just one of the many struggles of the photog/rep relationship but I am wondering at what point I ask about a percentage reduction if I can’t get certain things from my agent, and what might some others in the industry feel those standards are?’

Amanda and Suzanne: Having a rep requires open communication. Does a rep relationship change over time, of course it does. But you have to both have an understanding of what each of you will do. Many of our clients assume that marketing can cease once a rep comes into play. In our opinion, a rep’s goal #1 is to be there to negotiate, projects and land the job. A rep’s 2nd goal is to help you keep up your exposure, but it’s a role that is not one sided, both parties need to commit to a plan that works for everyone.

ANSWERS: AGENT 1: While every agent/artist relationship is different, the one thing that is constant is that you are partners working toward a mutually beneficial goal. You are a team and there are times each one needs to help the other. It is reasonable to expect your agent to go on appointments and be available for estimates. There is no set number of meetings every month and getting appointments is much harder than it used to be (many creative shops are limiting portfolio reviews to once or twice a year).  As for social media & other forms of promotion, it sounds like you both need to have a conversation and discuss/define each others expectations and who’s handling what. If after that, there is no clear cut definition, then a percentage reduction is probably not the answer. It might be time to sever the relationship. AGENT 2: As I am sure you know, every rep/photographer relationship is different. It is important to discuss expectations at the onset of the partnership. These questions should have been answered prior to the agreement. That being said, I think it is critical that the agent be involved in the estimating and negotiating process. If your agent is good, this is where they earn their commission. I find it strange that the agent in question is not involved during those critical times. As an agent, I love this part of the job and know that I create a lot of value for my artists in this area. Rather than a percentage reduction, I would suggest a serious discussion regarding responsibilities and expectations. Even if the agent in question agreed to a percentage reduction, I would imagine that their level of commitment and actual work for you as an artist would subsequently be “reduced.” If a discussion doesn’t work or is not desirable, it may be time to look for a new rep. Good luck! AGENT 3: Regarding our respective obligations, we first and foremost view our relationship with all of our talent as a collaborative one and feel that to be successful, we must have great communication, mutual trust, a shared vision and a firm belief in the value of both parties’ contributions towards realising that vision. We are fortunate to have had longer lasting relationships with our talent than normal in this business and are quite proud of that fact. While there have been and will be challenges, we’ve worked through them due to our shared interests, respect and trust. We strive for excellent communication and complete transparency with regards to what we are doing on our talent’s behalf. To that end, we provide quarterly call report summaries to each party detailing all of the calls that we received pertinent to them, the source of the calls (if that can be ascertained) and the results. In addition, we also provide follow up summaries after all of our portfolio shows, specifying where we went and who saw the work. We also encourage anyone in the group who is free and interested, to join us for the shows (locally or out-of-town). Our financial arrangement is consistent with all of our photographers, as we feel that a common agreement is most fair. Our commission is 25% of all negotiated fees (travel/prep/shoot/post) and any retouching fees not being expensed to either an outside or studio staff person. We are the exclusive representatives for all of our photographers in North America, and worldwide for those who don’t have international representation. We would assume the same would apply to you, specific to your print/still photography business. We are also interested in bringing you motion projects, and given your relationship with outside production companies, need to work out the specifics on how that might work to the satisfaction of all. Our photographers cover 100% of any individual marketing efforts they do or have us do on their behalf, plus the cost of creating and updating their portfolios/sites and any general mailing/shipping specific to them. We see the AGENCY’s primary responsibilities are as follows: – To build awareness for our photographers’ work through consistent and well-coordinated direct sales, promotion and PR efforts. – To identify and pursue market opportunities for individual photographers as feasible. – To develop production budgets with input from photographers and producers and negotiate those budgets with the clients to which they apply. – To review all contracts/purchase orders and handle all billing and administration duties related to our photographers’ productions. – To provide timely feedback/input from our sales activities, in-coming calls and pertinent results. – To provide input on portfolio imagery. – To aid in the development and execution of any individual marketing efforts done in addition to the group campaigns we coordinate. Our photographers’ primary responsibilities are: – To maintain updated, professional portfolio materials (individual and group books). – To provide a minimum number of portfolios needed to meet market demands. – To provide timely updates to their individual web sites, and rep website. – To provide the necessary files and and proofs for any promotional efforts we coordinate, in a timely manner. – Oh yeah! – to handle the communication and creative challenges of high level advertising productions with great aplomb! In addition to all of the above, the only other item we need to discuss is whether or not we will be involved with any of your existing/current clients or “house accounts”, and either way, detailing who they are and how we intend to work with them. Normally, I would a define a “current client or house account” as someone with whom you’ve worked with within the past six months, or on a regular basis over a longer period of time, but am open to your interpretation. AGENT 4: Obviously every relationship is different but it is important to communicate with each other regularly. Both photographers and agents wear so many more hats these days and must keep up with the new frontier, which includes social media. Both need to get on this bandwagon, but need to coordinate their efforts. Coordination with emails blasts, social sites, portfolio shows and estimating projects is so very important. Both photographers and agents need to speak up if either feels something is missing. It sounds like this artist is pissed but may not be expressing his concerns to his rep. This is the first think you need to do. NOW! Frankly I can’t understand the quote thing. That’s what we live for. Maybe it’s time for a new relationship? A fee reduction, no matter who’s offering it, is always insulting.

PHOTOGRAPHER WITH AGENT: I’m sure others will say, a rep relationship is like any other partnership, including marriage, and is based on trust and mutual respect. Without these things there isn’t much you can count on. I am working with my second rep, the first was not successful in my eyes based upon their lack of participation in promoting their own brand (and therefore my brand) outside of email blasts. They did not seem to have a plan for marketing and advertising but instead saw the possibility of success based upon adding more talent to their roster, cheating their current core talent of resources already in shortage. With the second rep, it is the polar opposite. There is a strong communication, dollars invested in making our target audience aware of our talents, and respect for ideas expressed. I have also seen the rep relationship up close when working as an assistant. What I have come to expect is that the talent and the rep should all be contributing to the marketing efforts, and it costs money for everyone. As far as I know 25% is still the norm though I have seen 30%. A photographer cannot expect a rep to handle all of these costs or efforts, and neither can a rep expect the photographer to do it alone (otherwise why would you need a rep?). Once you have a rep, you still have to be as diligent as ever in keeping contacts alive and well.

‘A rep is only as good as their communication, estimate deliveries, client support and marketing exposure delivered.’

This is interesting to look at as this gives me an idea on what problems do occur within the agency industries, and gives me a clearer insight into how to rectify these problems / what I should and should not be doing as an agent.  It has made me think more deeply about the agencies roles as a negotiator as well as getting the photographer the job and gain ultimate exposure, and how I can do all these things without letting the photographer down.  With future work experience I can begin to learn these roles more thoroughly as well as through work experience now to improve upon this so I don’t gain problems like this.  Another element highlighted frequently in this article is the relationship between the agency and the photographer, agents within the article have stated how important it is to create a rapport - and when looking for new talent this is one aspect I will really think about, because as shown above, it can lead to problems if they are not the right fit.  Agent 3 improved my insight greatly f into the roles of an agent, with some I haven't seen / heard of before.  This has helped me in looking at how I can do these roles and what skills I need to improve on as well as what I should avoid (mistakes) whilst to do when doing them.  Overall, this article has given me further understanding of the agency role, as well as what to mistakes to avoid when being an agent, and what I should expect when being an agent, all of which has helped me for the future.

[pricebullington]

Thoughts on “Political Correctness”

The idea of political correctness is subject to a wide range of perceptions. It is perhaps one of the most divisive terms at this point in time, which is why I’ve been very interested in it. It represents the time we live on a multitude of levels, and yet, the usage and connotations have taken on a life of it’s own, and been subjected to a ideological signifier with some rather toxic implications on both sides of the spectrum. 

Roughly speaking, the left makes the assumption that anyone who question "political correctness” is on the right, and vice versa. While there is truth in this generalisation, I have a hard time accepting the premise, due to the fact it’s so overly simplistic. The American election is obviously the main catalyst for the current polarisation, as manifested in certain words or terms, taking on connotations that become overly politicized, and thus irrational and off-limits to in-depth examination, or general usage. That is, unless you enjoy being merciless judged by faceless masses online, who will jump to conclusions and put you in very specific boxes based on your choice of words, regardless of the context.

To artists and anyone operating in creative fields, this have a very limiting and detrimental effect, because it limits free expression and experimentation. And yet, the artistic community at large, have been remarkably absent from the conversation. That is why I feel the need to address the subject, even though I know it means someone will wrongfully judge me based on the fact I even talk about.

Obviously freedom of speech does not give one carte blanche to be an asshole. This should be self-evident to anyone with half a brain, and yet, the assumptions around challenging “political correctness”, is that anyone who does it, is “a bigoted white supremacist” from the “alt-right” to echo the liberal media, which is what I primarily read. This is plain wrong, and not only that, but borderline idiotic, as it jumps to the absolutely worst possible conclusion while also managing to be exceptionally bigoted in it’s own twisted logic. 

So why are so many people drinking the corrosive Kool-Aid, and making these generalisations? It’s a hard thing to pinpoint, but there’s obviously a lot of psychological reasons for it. People are essentially very tribal, and want to show what they stand for by talking about what they’re against, I get that. That being said, I think what we need now is unity, and that sort of rhetoric only creates division. Trying to fight bigotry and racism with bigotry and racism simply won’t work. It not only goes against the most basic form of logic, but the messages of the all the civil rights heroes who helped create a better future for our generation. A future in which, there’s still a lot of problems and room for improvement, but nevertheless much better living conditions across the board than any other time in history.

With that out of the way, let’s get back to the matter at hand, “political correctness”, and why I personally find it problematic. The idea of political correctness is according to Merriam-Webster dictionary “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated”, in itself this is obviously great and something I think we can all agree on is a universally good thing. I would argue this goes under the umbrella of basic decency.

Where it become problematic is when it departs from basic decency and devolves into a stage where it becomes “okay” to bash anyone who isn’t a minority in a misguided effort to show the world how “progressive” someone is. The obvious example of how low it can get, is MTV’s now infamous “Dear White People” video. A desperate attempt at relevance from the channel that brought you countless seasons of 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom and a host of other deplorable reality shows. When they start chiming in, it should raise some red flags. 

Why? Because many of these media outlets who have joined the “white guys are evil” bandwagon do it, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but to induce outrage, which will get the the clicks popping. Meanwhile the world is more divided than ever before, and they profit from it.

Less obvious examples includes the subtle way art media outlets, such as Hyperallergic, have taken it upon themselves to try and undermine the work of great artists like Anselm Keifer and Gerhard Richter, simply because they’re “white males” and thus, from their limited point of view, represent all the problems in the world. And don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy reading Hyperallergic from time to time, but ideology trumps aesthetics all day, every day, in their world. And when it comes to art, I have a problem with that, because I don’t believe art is a tool for ideological propaganda. I believe art is above politics in the way it can express complexity, whereas politics always express banality. When you degrade art by using it as an ideological tool, you’re in a way corrupting culture.

It’s reached a point where the art is simply a gateway to launch into a self-righteous crusade to show the world how “progressive” they are. One of the many ways this manifest itself, is when these outlets writes articles such as “10 Female Artists You Need to Know About”, where it becomes downright patronizing toward the artists. What they’re doing in these cases is undermining the artists work, because it solely becomes about gender, or race for that matter. Think about when the last time you saw a piece written on a black artists, that wasn’t about “the black experience”..

My point here, is that they actually do artists a profound disservice by mainly giving exposure to the ones who make work in relation to their gender or race. What I would argue here, is that if they were in fact progressive, they would give exposure to art with substance, first and foremost, and let the writing be about the the actual substance of the work, regardless of the artists gender or race. Of course there would be many times when the two overlap, as all artists make work from their experiences, but many also try to transcend them and speak on a more universal level, which becomes impossible to do if you’re pigeonholed into some sort of victim narrative. And needless to say, the media love victim narratives, because it makes them feel like the good samaritan while also absolving them from any form of criticism, because if you criticize it, you’re obviously “bigoted”. The art critic / reality star Jerry Saltz comes to mind here.

 The problem is this paradigm have become so dominant right now, that nobody dares speak out against it out of fear that the media won’t cover them in the future. The reason I’ve decided to speak my mind on the subject, is because I have a fairly decent following, and don’t need the media to get my work out in the same way as many others do.

I also think it’s important to provide a counter-point, as these media outlets are essentially echo-chambers that never gives anyone a voice who isn’t on board with their ideology, or sponsor them in some way. This means they’ve created eco-systems where ideas don’t get a chance to challenge each other, and create the sort of friction that will make them stronger and more balanced. This alone merits a critical view in my opinion.

I’m going to be sharing more thoughts on this subject in the future, but meanwhile, please feel free to share your thoughts with me. It’s a hard topic to talk about in a fair and balanced way, and I think it would be good to get as many perspectives as possible.