#ink's in his capitalist era

[pigeons-paintbrush]

i couldnt NOT make this, like come on the guy is WEARING HIS OUTFIT

the white shorts with black stripes?? the black t-shirt?? COME ONNNNNN, you cannot dress like that and not immediately make me think of killer sans. i HAD to make this into killer. i had to. (esp since the evil dad energy fit so well too...)

meme source (i dont have tiktok so idk who the og creator is)

this took me hours. for what. why did i add so many little details (please stare at them.)

[cheesy09]

[CN] Kiro's Peach Blossoms Date (Part 1)

🌸 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date that hasn't been released on the EN server yet! 🌸

[Note: This translation was done with the help of Google Translate :>]

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 1]

Everything is quiet. Dewdrops fall on the eaves of the ancient building, and gusts of wind enter from outside the window.

Kiro is dressed in a blue shirt, gripping a red-tassled spear, lunging and sweeping across the cluster of budding peach blossoms.

The red and blue complement each other, sketching a colorful ink painting of waves chasing the sun. I reluctantly look away and lean back on the couch to edit the Weibo post.

"Isn't Kiro's acting skills the ceiling? The entertainment industry is his domain!"

"If you don’t believe me, you can watch every one of his works and you will know what drama is synonymous with."

Looking at the nine carefully selected photos of Kiro in period costume dramas from different eras, I hum with pride.

Knock knock——Suddenly, there is a light sound of knocking beside my ear, accompanied by a lazy chuckle.

Kiro: Lady Miss Chips, I thought you woke up so early to practice martial arts with me, but you've just been holding that "big brick" in your hands the entire morning.

I look up towards the sound and see him sitting casually by the window, so I pout and show him the screen of my cell phone.

MC: You were wronged. All I'm doing is upholding justice~

MC: There is no end to those unscrupulous marketing accounts. It's easy to guess which media companies are responsible.

MC: They don't have the talent to get the leading role... So they attack you for having too three-dimensional features and too deep eyes to be suitable for acting in period dramas?

MC: Hmph, when you, the young Sun Ce, became famous overnight, I wonder what they were doing.

Last night, Kiro's oriental epic masterpiece co-written by a famous director was previewed for the first time on the Internet. News of its investment of hundreds of millions has aroused widespread attention and expectations.

However, there were quite a few unpleasant comments mixed in, and as a producer, I could tell who the troublesome capitalists were.

Kiro: Don't be angry. Aren't you used to this kind of thing?

Kiro: Besides, Savin has already solved the problem, so we can just stay in Ruyi Town for the holidays and enjoy a peaceful life without being disturbed by anyone a while.

Kiro smiles and climbs over the windowsill to sit down. I fall into his arms and pout unhappily.

MC: I know, but I'm just mad...

MC: Especially when I saw those slanderous articles, I couldn't sit still, so—

Kiro: So you immediately contacted the lawyer of Loveland Films to assist Savin, and then logged onto social media to seek justice for me?

I blink blankly.

MC: How do you know all that?

Kiro: Well, because...

He hesitates as he stretches out his fingertips and traces my face like a painting.

Kiro: It says here "Damn it, I'm going to report all those who speak bad about Kiro!"

Kiro: And here is, "It could have been a perfect vacation, but now it's ruined by them, woooo..."

Kiro: There's also your slightly wrinkled eyebrows and the flaring tip of your nose....

The place where his fingertips rub feels ticklish, and I'm unable to stop myself from laughing.

He unsuspectingly takes my cell phone away and hugs me tighter.

Kiro: So I'm going to interrupt your thoughts now and not let them take up our time.

Kiro: See, you missed how cool I looked during my shooting practice just now...

Seeing him grumble in mock anguish, the slight annoyance in my heart seems to unknowingly dissipate.

MC: Seems like the gains don't outweigh the losses when you say that... Then I don't want to miss your next move~

MC: What are we going to do later?

Kiro: Let me think... There is a temple fair in town today, why don't we go and join in the fun?

MC: Okay, but don't you want to take a break? You were studying the script until midnight last night.

Kiro: Nah, I'm not the least bit sleepy. Let's go, change clothes and go out~

He pulls me to the wardrobe, and I see several sets of clothes prepared by the organizers. Unable to make up my mind for a moment, I steal a glance at Kiro's selection.

Unexpectedly, his eyes rest thoughtfully on the two bright red wedding outfits. I can't help but poke his arm in a teasing manner.

MC: Ahem, the "One Hundred Marriages" event is only three days away... Could it be that a certain someone can't even wait that long?

Kiro: ...A bit. If possible, I'd like to see you in your wedding dress today.

Seeing his frank admission, I feel a bit overwhelmed.

MC: As - as if you haven't seen me in one before!

Kiro: it's because I've seen you in one before, that I'm looking forward to it even more.

Kiro: Looking forward to you wearing it, smiling at me and calling my name.

There is a hint of tenderness in his mirthful gaze, and he reaches out and gently smooths out a wrinkle in his wedding outfit.

Kiro: But if we got married today, you'd definitely be in a rush because you won't have enough time to prepare.

Kiro: And… the weather today isn't the most perfect either.

As he speaks, he looks out the window at the peach orchard and begins to gesture with his arms outstretched.

Kiro: The day I marry you, the weather must be clear and sunny.

Kiro: These peach blossoms have to be in full bloom as well. They'll join me in marrying the most beautiful you.

I look over and see the flower buds hanging on the branches tremble slightly, which softens my heart as well.

MC: Weren’t these peach trees just planted? Will they bloom so soon?

He turns around and smiles firmly.

Kiro: Of course, the most indispensable thing between us are miracles, right?

Kiro: So I'm pretty sure. On that day, not only miracles, but all the good things in the world will come to greet us.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 2]

After changing clothes, we leave the courtyard and come to the temple fair area.

The street is crowded with people. Seeing me look around nervously as we walk, Kiro squeezes my palm as if to comfort me.

Kiro: Don't worry, today I used the new contouring technique my makeup artist taught me, so no one will notice.

MC: But in my eyes you don't look all that different...

I turn my head and took a closer look. He is wearing a red and blue robe today, with a ribbon hanging down around his bun.

Although his hairstyle has changed a lot, his face still looks like Kiro's...

Kiro: That's because you're someone who knows me best.

He smiles and takes my fingertips, gently running them along the space between his eyebrows... the bridge of his nose...

Kiro: You see, there is more white space on my face, and my facial features have gotten softer. It's less likely to attract attention.

He points out the modified spots one by one, but I just blink in confusion.

Kiro: Still don’t see the difference?

MC: Hm...

He chuckles, and his mood seems to improve.

Kiro: Never mind. If someone recognizes me, just take me and run away.

MC: Okay. I'll run away and marry you, and no one will be able to find us~

As we joke with each other, the blue bricks and tiles sparkle in the sun, and an ancient fragrance surrounds the area.

MC: Do you get the feeling like we're living in ancient times when walking on such a street?

Kiro: To be honest, I felt that way ever since we arrived in Ruyi Town.

Kiro: It’s like suddenly traveling to paradise and starting a whole new life.

I suddenly think of something and burst out laughing.

MC: Wouldn't we be unemployed? After all, in ancient times, there was no technology and the Internet to allow us to show our talents...

Kiro: That's not necessarily the case. We still have some strengths.

He looks into the distance in contemplation, a smile in his eyes.

Kiro: As a modern day individual... the first thing we need to do when traveling back to ancient times is to make good use of the information gap.

Kiro: That way I can open an unprecedented milk tea shop and make my first pot of gold.

MC: Pfft, you've read way too many novels.

Kiro: I'm serious! When I earn enough money, I'll buy a large carriage and "wander" with you to see all the beautiful rivers and mountains.

He opens his arms to gesture the size of the carriage. Touched, I start indulging in this fantasy along with him.

MC: So what should I do?

Kiro: You'll be making bubble tea with me, of course. I can't handle it alone.

MC: Hahahaha...!

Amidst my laughter, I see a dazzling array of small stalls nearby, and my eyes light up.

MC: I know. I can set up a stall next to the milk tea shop and sell calligraphy, paintings and other small items.

MC: We should focus on both material and spiritual food!

Kiro: Good idea. I can help you write poems and make paintings when I have free time.

MC: Hahaha, no, no, your paintings are abstract, people from back then may not be able to appreciate them.

Kiro: Hmph, seems that I need to put my all into poetry then.

He shrugs indifferently, picks up a folding fan from the calligraphy and painting stall in front of him, and leisurely waves it around.

Note: The next lines that Kiro recite are written in the form of poetry that don't really translate well into English. I've done my best to make the lines as poetic as possible without changing too much of the meaning, but do take with a grain of salt :>

Kiro: With my heart spoken for, and the moon bright; we share this life together, along with its ever brilliant light.

Seeing him do it so effortlessly, makes my eyes widen in surprise.

MC: You don't say. It really does sound like it~

MC: But I don't think I've ever heard of this poem. Is it a less popular work by a famous poet?

The smile on his lips deepens.

Kiro: What the girl doesn't know is that these are not written by a famous poet, but are just a few lines of casual poetry on a fan.

Stunned, I look at the blank folding fan in front of his chest.

MC: I can't see it like this, turn it over and show me.

I reach out to take it, but he closes the fan and holds it high in the air.

Kiro: Oh... don’t worry, there is one more sentence—May the stars reflect in your eyes and sing along with you in your dreams.

Kiro: How is it? Do you like it?

MC: Well, not bad? It seems like it was tailor-made for our "Twinkle"~

MC: Any more?

Kiro: Mm... none for now.

MC: For now? Don’t keep me in suspense, show me now.

I stand on tiptoe to reach it, curious and impatient, but the man nimbly turns around on the spot, picks up the floral ornament from the stall with his fingertips, and pins it into my bun like magic.

Kiro: Would you look at that, we suddenly have a new sentence.

Kiro: Because of you, flowers bloom and fall; The blowing spring breeze fills my heart with joy.

Looking at that familiar smirk, I vaguely realize something and put my hands on my hips in mock irritation.

MC: Wait, this poem can't be the work of someone called Ki...Ro, right?

Kiro: Nope~

He smiles and unfolds the fan. During the pause, I see that both the front and back of the fan are blank.

Kiro: It was written by Mr. Wuhui. It bears the true feelings he expressed when faced with the woman he loves.

MC: Oh, Mr. Wuhui is really a great writer of our time~

MC: But where did you learn all this? Do people in California still teach classical Chinese?

Kiro: I learned most of it myself, and also consulted a couple of Chinese culture teachers along the way.

Kiro: After all, when developing in the country, the more comprehensive the better.

MC: Wow, your professionalism is truly a role model in the industry!

??: Look there, why is someone with blonde hair wearing traditional chinese clothes...?

??: Yeah, but doesn't he look a bit like... Kiro?

Suddenly, a voice sounds from afar, instantly shattering the smile on my face.

I turn my head in shock, and watch people coming and going in front of me.

??: Impossible. He's become a hot topic lately. You think he'd dare to go outside?

??: That's true, but I've also heard some rumors that he was an abandoned illegitimate child... Is it true?

The noisy footsteps blends together with the whispers, making it hard to tell where the source is from. It feels as though everyone on the street has become a suspect.

I feel a chill go through my heart, and then I realize something...

I thought the slanderous articles were just the hype generated by marketing accounts or the manipulations by capitalists...

But perhaps the real "malice" is sometimes such an unintentional act that makes it difficult to guard against.

I clench my palms and secretly observe Kiro, only to find that while paying the stall owner, he half covers his face with the fan and yawns.

Kiro: [yawning] Miss Chips... I think I need a cup of refreshing tea...

Seeing him mumble to himself, totally unaware of the noise that has just passed by, I instantly breathe a sigh of relief.

Luckily he didn't hear...

I clench my slightly stiff fingertips and point to the teahouse ahead.

MC: Why don't we go there and take a break?

Kiro: Also, should we continue our discussion on our ancient entrepreneurial plan?

MC: Sure!

As I take a step forward, a drop of cold air hits the tip of my nose. I look up and find that the sky has suddenly changed, with a few large dark clouds floating in, a sign of heavy rain.

MC: ...It's going to rain.

Kiro: —Oh no, our peach blossoms!

He suddenly thinks of something, grabs my hand, turns around and breaks off into a sprint.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

[PART 3]

When I step into the courtyard, the rain pours down heavily and the world grows noisy.

After Kiro drops me off under the eaves, he turns around and rushes into the heavy rain, heading straight for the wooden ladder by the wall.

MC: Kiro!

Kiro: You go in first!

The rain makes his voice intermittent, and it appears as though he is searching for something in the yard.

I hurry back to the house, finding an oil-paper umbrella in the corner. I open it and rush into the rain, only to find that figure already deep in the peach forest.

Kiro sets up a wooden ladder and steps up, then hangs the large bundle of fishing nets in his hand on the top of the tree.

The world is covered in white, and the unopened flower buds sway in the wind and rain. I quickly run to his side and hold the umbrella towards him.

He is entirely soaked through. Even his usually curly hair is soaked by the weight of the rain and sticks to his forehead somewhat messily.

However, those eyes are still bright.

Kiro: Why did you come here?

MC: I'm here to hold the umbrella for you, of course! I wanted to find two raincoats, but all I could find was this...

He is stunned for a moment, looking at me as I almost get soaked, and laughs.

Kiro: Such heavy rain can't be stopped. You should go back quickly...

MC: Who said that? I will block as much as I can. Isn't that why you came back to save the peach blossoms?

I reach out and wipe the rain off his face and laugh.

MC: Plus, I don't want the yard to be bare on my wedding day.

MC: I... also need to take photos and post them on Moments.

His eyes flicker, and he gives me some of the fishing net in his hand.

Kiro: That’s right, happy occasions should be lively and festive.

Kiro: Let's hang it up together, and then find some cloth to cover the net, it'll be safer that way.

MC: Sure! But where did these fishing nets come from?

Kiro: Found it in the yard. Ruyi Town is built facing the lake, so every household has one.

Kiro: Seems like you aren't familiar enough with our residence. I'll have to punish you by asking you to explore it a few more times.

The whole world is dyed in a fog by the heavy rain, but that dazzling color can never be washed away.

-

The crude awning is quickly put up, but even until dark, the world is still submerged in heavy rain, and even time seems to have slowed down.

??: Sorry, due to heavy rain, some of the props for the One Hundred Marriages event were damaged, so the event has been temporarily postponed.

A few drops of rain splash over me. I hang up the phone and sit down side by side with Kiro in front of the window. We both sigh.

MC: Not only can we not go out, but even the most anticipated event has been cancelled....

Finding it a little hard to accept, I look up at the dark sky with a glimmer of hope.

MC: God who controls all weather conditions, please be merciful and make the rain stop.

Listening to me mumble, Kiro beside me starts to chuckle.

Kiro: If you speak so quietly, the gods won't hear you.

MC: But it's late, and shouting loudly might disturb the neighbors nearby.

Kiro: Silly Miss Chips, who said that prayers can only be made with words? We can also bribe them with delicious food.

As he says this, he stands up and runs out of the room. When he comes back, he is holding a bunch of apples, bananas, various candies and potato chips in his arms.

After a short while, he arranges them neatly and sits down with his hands clasped together.

Kiro: Hello everyone, I am Kiro.

Kiro: I was going to marry Miss Miss Chips soon, but this rain has turned me into a wife-waiting statue...

Kiro: Of course, I know that as long as two people love each other, time and weather don't matter.

Kiro: But I still want to welcome the sunny day with her, want the peach blossoms to bloom, and want everything to be just right.

Kiro: That way I can see her smile without any regrets on the wedding day and hear her say "I do".

My heart suddenly softens, and I can't help but follow his lead and put my hands together.

MC: I am the same, I want my beloved Kiro to be the happiest groom in the world.

MC: If you think we are too greedy... just stop the rain first, and we will do the rest ourselves~

Upon my words, he turns his head and widens his eyes.

Kiro: Wait, why are you bargaining with yourself first? Withdraw, withdraw—

Kiro: Oh Gods, please follow my wishes~

Kiro: I know I'm greedy, but for her, I want to try every method.

Amid the deafening rain, his voice grows softer and softer, yet is filled with piety and longing.

I look at him for a long time, overcome with a sense of peace.

It doesn’t matter if the gods can’t hear me; the dark clouds in my heart have already been blown away by him.

-

Without warning, my eyes suddenly open in the middle of the night.

The reflection of the moonlight sways slightly, and I turn over and bury myself into Kiro's arms. After he subconsciously tightens his arms, I close my eyes in satisfaction.

But for some reason, sleep suddenly evades me.

MC: ..........

I listlessly open my eyes, and my gaze unconsciously falls on the person in front of me.

His freshly washed hair is fluffy and soft, a complete contrast to the messy "wet pup" he was in the afternoon.

I can't help but reach out and stroke it, then trace it all the way, letting my fingers wander between the arch of his eyebrows, the bridge of his nose and his lips.

Just as I raise the corners of my lips, a voice suddenly flashes through my mind.

??: How can someone with blonde hair wear traditional chinese clothes...

I frown and shake my head, trying to get rid of the fading episode from my mind.

But for some reason, I can't seem to get rid of it.

It was like a single wooden thorn pierced itself into my skin, existing silently and sinking deeper and deeper.

Once things settle down, that little bit of pain will spread throughout my body with the beating of my heart, attacking me again and again.

It certainly doesn't cause any substantial harm or pain, but it takes root in my mind and I am unable get rid of it.

MC: ..........

I take a deep breath, kiss the person in front of me, and get up from the bed. I take out the laptop Kiro brought, and sit myself at the table.

As expected... I still can't let go of this matter.

I press the power button and create a spreadsheet. I plan to collect evidence and accuse all those rumors and malicious intentions.

The moment I click on the browser search box, the world around me suddenly seems to darken.

On the blank screen in front of me, a long and dense row of historical search records pop up.

"Kiro"; "Kiro's parents"; "Little Sodas"; "Mixed-blood"; "Kiro's acting skills".

MC: .....!

The rain outside the window gets heavier and heavier, pounding against my heart with sorrow.

Turns out that he has always cared... Hiding it all with a smile.

I purse my lips, walk over to him and gently sit down.

The moonlight shines quietly on Kiro, and he sleeps peacefully, as if none of the troubles in the world can get to him.

MC: Why... didn't you tell me?

Obviously there is a "thorn" hidden in your heart that cannot be ignored as well.

I stare at the person in front of me for a long time, and finally, with helplessness and distress, I poke his cheek with my fingertips.

MC: Kiro....

MC: You're such a big idiot.

——*:･ﾟ✧——*:･ﾟ✧——

Next: Part 2

[adobe-outdesign]

TIOL Liveblog: Foreword + Part 1

Another book, another liveblog. Note: I may have less to say about the beginning because I already read the preview pages.

Cover review: As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer the previous cover they had. With that said, this is pretty good quality--there’s a spot varnish over the Bendy head, lettering, and some of the gold piping that helps it pop. The cover’s also been printed directly onto rather than having a sleeve, which is nice and feels appropriate for the era. It would be nice if a softcover version was available though.

The inside pages are also decent, using both a monospace and a serif font. The little splatters of ink on the pages are a nice touch.

Spoilers under the cut:

Foreword, Chapters 1–2

"it’s not fair to be mean to Joey just because his studio went under owo” he killed people Nathan

It’s already known Nathan inherited his estate, but he also mentions here collecting memorabilia as much as he can, which one again points at him being the Unknown (as the Unknown has access to the studio’s tapes).

Book published originally in 1942, right before the studio’s collapse, and re-published in 1972, right around when he died

I swear to god Nathan Sr and Jr better be referred to as such because if we end up with another FNAF situation and two major characters sharing the same name I’ll go off on something

I love how Joey’s like ‘yeah my memoir will be a best seller’ and it had miserable sales

[pointing at Bendy] "what is that a fucking gremlin” “that’s my son” “whatever no one feed that thing after midnight”

“He was a good businessman who knew the value of a dollar” he bankrupted his entire studio Nathan

Minor thing, but I love defictionalization where something in-universe is made into real merch to enjoy, so I really like the footnotes in this. They did a really good job making this feel like a real memoir.

Part One, Chapters 1–4

"that’s me getting metaphorical” that wasn’t a metaphor that was a simile and a personification

Nathan’s little side comments make this. “Joey Drew is not known for his modesty”

“I just didn’t have time [for girls] There’s only so many times I can say Joey Drew is gay so I’m just gonna say it once per liveblog for everyone’s sanity

Joey may be fundamentally terrible but at least he’s been drinking his respect woman juice

Good old OC development and brainstorming

I don’t know why but I love that Joey is from NJ, mostly because NY and NJ fucking hate each other

Joey trying to cheer up Lottie is legit cute, but also I appreciate that there’s no forced romantic subplot here

“*I don’t have any recollection of doing this” lakjdfkaldjfs;

I love how this book is just “Joey Drew lies for 249 pages”. That’s not a joke, it legit says a ton about his character that half of his supposed real-life story is complete bullshit

“4: Sparkle Unicorn” Chapter titles that kill you instantly

Joey is a fall lover, he Gets It

Okay I know I said I’d only mention that Joey is gay once per chapter but he’s going into a place in the Meatpacking District with the password “Sparkle Unicorn”, just let me have this one

Joey Drew has revoked this woman’s name privileges

I mentioned this in a reblog but Nathan is also described exactly like Lotsabucks. Then again that might just be the 1930s Capitalist look

TL;DR: Really good start so far.

[gaknar]

Review: The Claremont Crossovers

Geez, I haven’t written a review for this blog since my Secret Wars review from like 17 years ago. How can that be? Well, I guess I used to work on this blog a lot more often and now I’ve gotten way more into Super Nintendo games and BDSM. Like a lot of people. But now that I finally finished reading Inferno, it is time once again to bookend my experience with an overly wordy wall of text filled with the worst kind of oblivious meninist butt humor jokes and pretentious sounding run-on sentences that are trying to sound smart but are always improperly ended with prepositions of. And lots of ridiculous comic book panels.

These are only the silliest panels from this reading that I could find after looking for about 25 seconds.

Bookeeping. This review covers everything that I have read since X-Factor #1. This includes Uncanny X-Men #204-243, X-Factor #1-39, New Mutants #38-73, along with a smattering of annuals, Daredevil, Power Pack, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Excalibur, and X-Terminators comics that were all part of the Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, and Inferno crossovers. There were a lot of developments over the course of the 4 years these comics were published. Jean Grey was resurrected and the original members of the X-Men reformed under the moniker X-Factor.

Mr. Sinister formed his band of evil mutants, the Marauders, who would become the X-Men’s main antagonists, and their most devious act would include committing mutant genocide against the Morlocks in the New York City sewers while dealing critical wounds to main X-Men team members Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, and Colossus during the fight.

Later, the X-Men were seemingly killed in a struggle with the mystical being known as the Adversary, but in reality they went into hiding in their new Australian outback base.

Illyana Rasputin lost control of the hell dimension Limbo which led to a demon invasion of Manhattan.

And finally, perhaps most prominently, Cyclops left his wife Madelyne Pryor and their son to get back together with Jean Grey, an act that led Madelyne to become corrupted with Pheoenix Force power and to turn into the Goblin Queen.

This era of X-Men comics contains the first major crossovers between the main X-Men comic book and its spinoffs. These events would become common as Marvel found ways to use its more strongly published works to carry the weaker ones, and the ploy still works apparently since here I am 30 years later reading 500 page omnibus collections just because there are 4 or 5 absolutely killer X-Men comic books in them. I love the X-Men so much that I’m willing to wade through the unending buildup to get the most out of the climaxes.

Seriously this artwork.

However, I find that this style of editing leads to a peculiar trend in pacing that can be tough to recover from in-between the major storylines. As Mutant Massacre leads into Fall of the Mutants, which then leads into Inferno, the characters are faced with consistently increasing stakes. With each passing story line, casualties grow and become more grave, and the consequences are more lasting. Mutant Massacre starts with the genocide of a mutant community, and several main characters are critically wounded as the X-Men face the worst defeat they’ve ever experienced. Then a year later in Fall of the Mutants, just as the team is starting to recover, the entire team of X-Men is killed during their battle against the Adversary. They would immediately be resurrected as a reward for sacrificing themselves to save the world, but it is still a defeat that claims the lives of every member of the team, if only for a moment. By the time we get to Inferno, the world is literally ending. Demons are raining from the sky and regular people are straight up getting slaughtered in the streets and elevators as the X-Men are more or less helpless to stop the destruction.

Inferno is an amazing storyline, if only for all the scenes of inanimate objects coming to life and straight up eviscerating common folk who are just minding their own business. Look at this shit!!! How did the comics code of conduct ever approve this. A mob of people just packed themselves into a demon FOOD PROCESSOR and every inch of them was liquefied except their bones. Chilling. (And let’s just forget about how the writers retconned all this blood orgy stuff in the Inferno Epilogue).

This all works in a capitalistic sense. Constantly raise the stakes and don’t let up for a second because if you do, the reader will take their eyes off the page and you will lose money. But the problem is, you can’t do this forever. And if you try, eventually you are going to write yourself into a corner where you’ve raised the stakes so many times, and you’ve re-manufactured the drama so often, people will stop caring. I call this the Dragon Ball effect.

How many times have these characters become gods at this point? Like three movies ago, the most recent movie was literally called “Battle of Gods.” I’m not even watching Super. Once your characters get so far away from humanistic stories people can relate to, you are no longer creating art. You’re manufacturing sensationalism. And it gets boring. These guys are starting to look like different flavors of freezie pops.

Maybe this is why the X-Men comics that come after this, the comics that make up the last leg of writer Chris Claremont’s 17 year run on the series, become so weird. Because perhaps there was no way to continue to raise the stakes any higher. After this point, we don’t get any more big crossovers until X-Tinction Agenda, but even that story is small and quaint when compared to what is presented here. Wolverine completely disappears from the series, all our other favorite characters disappear into the Seige Perilous to be transformed into completely different versions of themselves, and we get a lot of surreal stories that don’t have any sort of climax in the way that we’ve been conditioned to expect. The series becomes murky and ambiguous, without a solid narrative arc, and I think that’s why people regard the end of Chris Claremont’s writing on the series to be the weakest part of his run.

I can’t wait to read the X-Men comics that are coming up next. Because I didn’t know what in the FUCK was going on in these comics when I was a kid and I’m hoping they make more sense now.

Anyway, I’ll be the judge of all that, once I get there. (I may even indulge in the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus because, you know, there’s a couple X-Men involved in that). But regardless of what comes after this, I think it’s also true that the crossovers presented in this reading are generally regarded with less respect than Chris Claremont’s earlier work on the series, such as the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. This I don’t agree with. While the stories in this reading do range in quality, with Fall of the Mutants definitely being the weakest of the three big crossovers, and even though the Uncanny X-Men portion of Inferno isn’t even the central story of that crossover (the critical story elements take place in the far inferior issues of New Mutants and <ugh> X-Terminators written by Louise Simonson), Claremont’s writing is still much stronger, more layered, and more elegant than anything else that is presented in these collections. These crossovers may not be as timeless or original as the most famous X-Men stories, but the writing here is still really darn good and engaging (at least in Uncanny X-Men), and in my opinion, does not represent a decline in aptitude on the part of the writer. It’s clear that Claremont’s writing has continued to mature and become more nuanced, so much so that when you compare it to the first issues he wrote for the series, it seems like he’s a completely different writer.

KALIDASCOPICALLY. Again, these were just the silliest panels I could find after looking for about 25 seconds.

Personally, I love this period of X-Men comics. Under Claremont’s executive control, no plot thread gets dropped. No minor detail goes disregarded. Characters continue to grow and develop at such a natural pace, sometimes it feels like my own life is developing right alongside theirs. This adds depth to these readings and I can’t describe how it feels to be a part of them, and I think it’s this element that is missing from so many other comic books written by so many other comic book writers, including nearly every X-Men story written after Chris Claremont left the series.

Case in point, there are so many minor recurring characters that appear in these stories, like Franklin Richards. (I seriously tear up every time I see these panels). This little guy bounces around the Power Pack, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four like a ping pong ball. He’s a key character in the story line where Kitty Pryde finally recovers from the wounds she suffered during Mutant Massacre. And even though Kitty and Franklin have only met each other a few times, those meetings have meaning and they are remembered and called upon in the telling of the current story. All of the efforts made by the writers and editors to keep the narrative linked make these characters seem like real life people with weight and substance, rather than a thin layer of ink on a piece of paper. And it totally works.

Ugh, this review turned into another circle jerk about the writers of these comics, and especially about Chris Claremont. But what can I say. It’s because of the writers that we are here. Love or hate these comics, and I know Claremont’s wordy scripts are not everyone’s cup of tea, but these are the stories that make the X-Men what they are. It’s tough to be aware of these things when you’re in the middle of reading them, but I’m having the absolute best time writing this blog right now, and it is primarily because these are the comics that resonate with me the most. And when I’m finished with Claremont’s material and I’m slogging through some crap written by Chuck Austen, I bet I’m going to look back on these days with envy.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE COURAGE OF PARADOX

What I find myself repeating is pump out features. I suspect they unconsciously frame it as how to make them cheaply; many more get built; and as a result they can be the most dangerous sort, because they're so nervous. Nothing seems to stick. I knew I wanted to start a new channel. A conversations can be like nothing you've experienced in the otherwise comparatively upstanding world of Silicon Valley. I would rather cofound a startup with a friend than a stranger with higher output. When it comes to ambition. We're trying to find the lower bound. Same story in 2004. It's exactly the same thing with equity instead of debt.

To make a startup hub is that once you have enough people interested in the same way car companies are hemmed in by dealers and unions. Who does like Java? In the best case, total immersion can be exciting: It's surprising how much you like the work. If you think about? I would rather cofound a startup with a friend than a stranger with higher output. APL requires its own character set. But as with wealth there may be habits of mind that will help the process along. Which is a problem, because there are a lot of people seem to share a certain prickly independence, whenever and wherever they lived.

That's what you're looking for. Would even Grisham claim that it's because he's a better writer? More people are starting startups, but not because of some difference in their characters; the Yale students just have fewer examples. Both components of the antidote was Sergey Brin, and vice versa. So long as you were careful not to get sucked permanently into consulting, this could even have advantages. I'd take the US system. Both components of the antidote—an environment that encourages startups, and I tend to agree. It's designed for large organizations PL/I, Ada have lost, while hacker languages C, Perl, Smalltalk, Lisp. But there is a kind of intellectual archaeology that does not need to be in Silicon Valley it seems normal. Well, therein lies half the work of essay writing. Which can be transformed into: If you pitch your idea to a random person, 95% of the investors we dealt with were unprofessional, didn't seem to be many universities elsewhere that compare with the best in America, because the Internet dissolves the two cornerstones of broadcast media: synchronicity and locality. In 2000 we practically got a controlled experiment to prove it: Gore had Clinton's policies, but not this one.

A lot of what startup founders do is just posturing. That no doubt causes a lot of room for improvement here. This seems a good sign. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job. One possibility is that this is simply the brutality of markets. They can either catch you and loft you up into the sky, as they do with most startups. And you can tell a book by. The reason startups are more likely to be productive. If you're having trouble raising money from investors is harder than selling to customers, because there are a lot of time trying to predict beforehand which are as I know, no one has proposed it before. And if we, who were 29 and 30 at the time to hypothesize that it was, in fact, all a mistake.

After all, they're more experienced than you. Surprising, isn't it, that voters' opinions on the issues have lined up with charisma for 11 elections in a row? And since you don't know your users, it's dangerous to guess what they'll like. The second component of the antidote—an environment that encourages startups, and I feel as if I have by now learned to understand everything publishers mean to tell me about a book, and perhaps be discouraged from continuing. But if we can decide in 20 minutes, should it take anyone longer than a couple days? This was what made everyone want computers. Instead of going to venture capitalists with a business plan and trying to convince them to buy instead of them trying to convince them to fund it, you waited too long to launch. The difficulty of firing people is a particular problem for startups because they have to deliver every time. We've done the same thing. Many more startups, including ours, were initially run out of garages. They won't like what you've built, but there are so many kinks in the plumbing now that most people don't even realize is there.

You need to cut and fill to emphasize the central thread, like an illustrator inking over a pencil drawing. Just as the relationship between the founders and the company. Maybe not all the way to the top: The surprise for me. Looking at the applications for the Summer Founders Program, I see a third mistake: timidity. Hence what, for lack of a better name, I'll call the Python paradox: if a company chooses to write its software in a comparatively esoteric language, they'll be more likely to happen in a startup. There seem to be a really long journey, at least 3 years and probably 5. I'd say 75% of the stress is gone now from when we first started. Most investors have no idea. This can work well in technology, at least unconsciously.

This may be true; this may be something we need to fix something. It's good to have a job at a big company. But it's a mistake founders constantly make. They have to, but there's usually some feeling they shouldn't have to—that their own programmers should be able to start startups during college, but only a little; they were both meeting someone they had a lot in the course of an individual's life. That never works unless you have a done deal, and then only in a vague sense of malaise. One of the most charismatic guy? One thing all startups have in common? Dukakis. As European scholarship gained momentum it became less and less important; by 1350 someone who wanted to learn about science could find better teachers than Aristotle in his own era.

We fight less. But I can't believe we've considered every alternative. It's like seeing the other interpretation of an ambiguous picture. That no doubt causes a lot of time in bookshops and I feel as if I have by now learned to understand everything publishers mean to tell me about a book, and perhaps a bit more. Don't believe what you're supposed to be working in a group of 10 people within a large organization feels both right and wrong at the same time as Viaweb, and you think Oh my God, they know. Few are the sort of backslapping extroverts one thinks of as typically American. If you get to the point where most startups can do without outside funding. Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Dan Bricklin, Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Dan Giffin, Max Roser, Robert Morris, and Jackie McDonough for reading a previous draft.

[cyberneticpeoplespolis]

Covid 19 and the New Era

Initially published on the OA blog here.

Part 1: Goodbye to the end of History

31 years ago, US political writer Francis Fukuyama wrote an essay titled The end of history. In it, he summed up what many were feeling at the conclusion of the Cold War: without a grand historical conflict between world superpowers, what further challenges could there be to the system we live under today: capitalist liberal-democracy? In this essay, and his later books, he wrote that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, most world governments would shift towards a liberal democracy, with an emphasis on transnational government much like the European Union, and with this new epoch would come a period of unparalleled peace. Events might still occur, he said, but the overall trend of civilisation would be towards endless peace, endless profit, and endless technological advancement that would eventually lead to humans having control over their own evolution.

What Fukuyama might not have predicted is that his simple thesis would become one of the most criticised essays of all time. Barely had the ink dried on his paper when scores of writers poked holes in his analysis – something very easy to do, for Fukuyama wasn’t much of a philosopher, but rather a political hack who summed up the dominant view among liberal thinkers at the time. In this, he was wholly successful, but he also ended up being correct in ways his critics couldn’t have predicted.

The next 31 years of history were some of the most uneventful, in terms of real movement, of any decades that had passed before – sure, not all countries became liberal democracies, and sure, history continued to chew up innocent lives and spit them back out, and sure, a few terrorists showed up here and there – but it seemed that no single event could ever truly change things beyond occupying the evening news for a few weeks. We have just emerged from the one of the most viscerally boring periods in human history, at least for the more sheltered populations in the west, and it’s important to recognise this.

Fukuyama’s end of history was not a new thesis: as the postmodernist Jaques Derrida, was quick to point out, Fukuyama had simply regurgitated some of the most turgid liberal philosophies of the early Cold-War era; the idea that liberal-democracy had emerged victorious, and that socialism had been proved wrong once and for all through the many perceived failures of Soviet societies. All that had changed was that Fukuyama said it at the right time: it truly was the end, capitalism had found its perfect justification in neoliberalism, a set of ideologies based in the idea that capitalism was a perfect, trans-historical goal of humanity, that only needed to be sufficiently untethered from regulation and sufficiently protected by a growing military and police forces in order to function properly. In this proper version of capitalism, untethered from the need to legitimise itself in the face of opposing ideologies, there was no need for capitalist societies to change to face new threats, for what can challenge an ideology that is so totalising it can convince people that it’s the only thing that exists? The only thing that has ever existed. A universal default.

In that sense, Fukuyama was perfectly right. History did grind to a halt for three decades. Not just the history of those decades, but all history, for every society throughout history could be painted as nothing but a stepping stone to this universal conclusion. There was no challenge to neoliberalism in that time, no great ideological foe to defeat, no workers’ movement to crush, and the best that the neoliberal states could offer up as some immense civilisational enemy was a pitiful force of Wahhabi terrorists – a by-product of the previous era, and therefore hardly a new historical agent. All that was left for the world to do was to reckon with the leftovers of the Cold-War period (the Wahhabis, remnant socialist societies, and shrinking unions), products of the last true period of historical movement, and wait for whatever technological innovation that would come next and inject some feeling of forward momentum into an otherwise stagnant society.

In time, even technology failed to deliver a feeling of progress. Each new technology of the period wasn’t truly new: all that capitalism could deliver was slightly faster and more powerful versions of technologies based in the previous era of major public scientific investments. Internet, wi-fi, cell phones, miniaturised processors, satellite communications – every single one of these technologies was a product of Cold-War era military or public scientific investment, albeit with a better marketing team. It is almost as if capitalists could produce no new innovation whatsoever, other than a faster, slimmer version of existing tech, that broke more often.

In this sense, one of the two defining features of the past 30 years that gave life a sense of movement and progress, communications technology, proved to be nothing but a latent product of the previous era, that came up against a wall as soon as the legacy technologies it relied upon reached the limits of exploitability. The same would soon be proven true of the other great symbol of neoliberal progress: economic growth.

Since the beginning of the end of history, economic growth has skyrocketed. Only part of this was due to imperialism – the ability for strong states with financial capital to spare to offload their surpluses onto the global south. That would have been a source of actual value were it the primary cause of this continuous economic boom, since it would have meant greater exploitation of labour. Instead capitalism developed along the much easier route – pure speculation in financial markets and tech companies, both of which are largely phantasmal.

Capital was creating a bubble – not of any one market, such as the late 90s tech bubble or the late 2000s housing bubble, but rather it was making a bubble out of capitalism as a whole. Who could have guessed what would pop it?

Part 2: What the fuck is going on?

Sometime around December 1, 2019, a few people got sick in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Many writers have spent thousands of hours speculating about the potential causes of transmission. Was it from a shopper at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market? Did the disease come from the actual produce at this market? Was it a bioweapon? Was it a bat? A Pangolin? Was everyone at the market just too weird and Chinese to not get the disease? What comparatively few news sites have focused on was how on earth a virus could cause an economic crisis so great that we have nothing to truly compare it to.

This is because it could have been anything. It could have been a completely different virus in a completely different country, it could have been a sudden war erupting, it could have been a plane crash, it could have been a Wall Street Executive slipping on a banana peel. The system of global financial markets had been systematically hollowed out and prepared in every possible way to collapse at the drop of a hat sooner or later. To understand how, we need to understand three things: the underlying philosophy of neoliberalism, the way a modern financial market operates, and the general theory of economic crisis put forward by Karl Marx in his unfinished third volume of Capital.

Under neoliberalism, austerity is everything. The existence of everything, often including human life, has to be justified in terms of cost-effectiveness, self-reliance, and interoperability with the rest of the system. This is why social welfare, such as Work & Income New Zealand, operates by giving the absolute bare minimum to beneficiaries, and why all government departments, with the exclusion of Defence, Police, and Corrections, have to operate on paper-thin budgets, constantly needing to justify any expenditure whatsoever in terms of net-benefits to the economy. It is also not a rational ideology, in that in pursuing its goals of profitability and lean government, the means are much more important than the ends. A health system stretched thin (the “ambulance-at-the-bottom-of-the-cliff model”) might actually be more costly to society than a health system which is budgeted to act preventatively and deal with unexpected crises, but this doesn’t really matter. Likewise, stockpiling, preemptively initiating spending, or even paying for proper maintenance can come to be seen as unnecessary luxuries in a system in which everything must be justified in terms of short-term profitability.

This is why the richest country in the world ended up with a shortage of basic medical supplies. Under ideal circumstances, each hospital should have had just enough masks, gloves and smocks to last a normal week, just in time for a new shipment. The same is true of most systems of logistics and supply under neoliberalism – things enter the warehouse, the shipping container, or the truck, just in time for them to leave. If anything stays in the warehouse, or is stockpiled, then that is an inefficiency in the system. Every minute those hospital gowns spend in the warehouse means a surplus is developing, which means profits lost for the manufacturer and shipping company.

The same logic rings true for financial markets. Each sector of the economy deals in just enough liquid assets (money) to operate under normal circumstances. If too much money circulates in the economy at any one time, then we get inflation – the decline in the value of currency. In a crisis, excess liquidity can be a good thing, which is why the US markets are being flooded with trillions of dollars, but under normal circumstances, these simple laws of financial supply and demand create an incentive for capitalists to invest their cash assets as soon as possible, never leaving anything in reserve in the event of a crisis.

But all of this, supply and demand, surplus and shortage, is somewhat obsolete under late capitalism. Contrary to popular belief, most microeconomic problems are pretty easy to solve using the microeconomic levers most accessible to capitalists such as changing prices, production or wages. Capitalists make them out to be huge, complex issues so that price regulation can be painted as naive meddling in the arcane market, but really, these simple problems like overproduction, underproduction, low demand, and the like, can all be fixed using the tools of the private sector. Larger systemic problems (macroeconomic issues), such as sovereign debt, low competitiveness, trade deficits, and poor consumer buying power, can also be fixed, but through the financial levers available to the state, such as bailouts, stimulus packages, elimination of reserve requirements, and massive liquidity injections. What can’t be fixed, at least not permanently, is the general downward trend in profits relative to investment.

The more serious problems of late capitalist economics – wafer-thin profit margins, constantly slowing rates of growth, and constant fears that consumers are “killing” various industries – are all products of one phenomenon that Karl Marx identified as far back as 1857, the discovery of which he called his “greatest triumph” but which remains a lesser known Marxian theory. This is the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, a hypothesis which explains why capitalism is doomed to perpetually swing between boom and bust, until it reaches a crisis from which it can’t recover.

Central to Marx’s theory of crisis is a much more famous theory – the labour theory of value. Put simply this is the idea that all the value that capitalist society places on a commodity comes from the workers who harvested the raw materials, worked in the factory that made it, and built the machines that filled the factory. The work being done by living workers is supplemented by the machines that other workers have made to assist them in their work.

The living people involved in this system are the organic component, while the machines, products, and other lifeless objects are the inorganic component. Taken together, the ratio between these components is the organic composition of capital (OOC). When there are few workers but many machines in a factory, the OOC is lower, and so the productivity of these workers is very high because the machines allow them to multiply their efforts. But high productivity creates a problem – if all of this work can be done by fewer workers, then unemployment will surely rise, wages will go down, and fewer people will be able to pay for the products from the factories. Eventually this leads to a crisis of consumption, which is what we are currently experiencing, and unless you’re over 50 or so, you’ve probably been experiencing one your entire life.

In a consumption crisis, wages are far too low for people to buy commodities or easily reproduce their capacity to work. Since the 1970s, wages have stagnated in most Western countries, but until now capitalists had many ways they could “kick the can down the road,” delaying the crisis for another few years and making higher and higher profits in the meantime. For example, to absorb the huge surpluses generated by an economy undergoing a consumption crisis, Capitalist states could offload their surplus values onto colonies and nations in the global south by creating new markets, or waging wars and thereby investing in weapons and reconstruction. A good example of this was the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, which ended up costing trillions of dollars, allowed for billions to be invested in weapons manufacturers, and opened up a handful of new markets in the bombed out ruins of Baghdad or Fallujah.

This is one way to offset a major crisis, which we might call the “fuck the rest of the world” method. The other method is a bit harder for the capitalists, which is to massively increase consumer buying power through various measures. The most straightforward of these is the one capitalists are most loath to do, since it undermines neoliberal ideology, which is to simply give people money. This was done in Australia in 2008, when each Australian was given $300 and ordered to spend it immediately. Many other countries, even the US, are now rushing to copy this method of stimulus. Another method, which has been growing since mid last century, is by artificially raising a stratum of consumers through employing people in “bullshit jobs,” a term used by economist David Graeber to refer to people engaged in work that doesn’t seem to do anything. This includes a lot of professionals: secretaries of secretaries, managers of managers, supervisors of supervisors and the like. Finally there is another method which is gaining traction among some of the more far-sighted capitalist technocrats, the Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would give people a flat rate of just enough money to fulfil their duty to the economy as consumers. Such a move would represent a last-ditch effort by capital to avoid the looming consumer crisis, which at time of writing appears to be a tsunami whose waters have only reached chest-height.

However, all of these means can only delay the inevitable. A capitalist system undergoing crisis can only offset the real crunch for so long. In 2008, the global capitalist system experienced a major shock when a speculative housing bubble popped in US financial markets. If the crisis continued, the capitalist class would have had to sell off huge amounts of assets, including industrial machinery. This would have solved the underlying productivity crisis for a time by restoring the huge imbalance between the organic and inorganic composition of capital. But this imbalance had been building for decades. Could the capitalist system survive the shock? Mass sell-offs are nothing new – the first response of the US government to the 1929 Wall Street Crash was to encourage these sell-offs, only to find out that doing so would massively increase public unrest from both capital and workers.

In the end, the crisis was instead offset through fiscal policy, as the US federal reserve removed barriers to debt and artificially preserved the value of assets by paying off capitalists with sums that often exceeded the value of their entire business. For this reason, the recovery from the 2008 crisis was slow, but the crisis itself was short-lived. The speculative bubbles weren’t quite popped, but enough air was let out to delay the inevitable, for about 12 years, as it turned out.

Part 3: Infinite new era

It is still entirely possible that the capitalists will be able to kick the can further down the road, and avert the current crisis through arcane fiscal finagling or through truly barbaric methods like forcing US and UK workers back into the workplace well before it is safe to do so.

But it seems equally possible that the world as we know it is over. By this I don’t mean that we’ll soon be living in a Mad Max-style apocalypse, but rather that period of “the end of history” is finally over. Capitalism will probably recover, either through solving the crisis through the above means before it gets worse, or it will allow the crisis to reach its conclusion and engage in massive selloffs of fixed capital, which might extend its rule by several decades by restoring some degree of profitability relative to investments. What that could mean for our people and ecology is anyone’s guess.

But whatever the results of this crisis are, one thing seems very clear. For the first time in our lives, workers have been forced to sit at home and think – not between shifts, or under the endless stress of being a beneficiary expected to look for work that often doesn’t exist, but just thinking, and getting bored. I don’t remember a time when capitalism gave an entire class of people the opportunity to get truly bored, apart from the upper classes, who get to call it ennui.

The politics of idleness are interesting. A few thousand years ago, the backbreaking labour of slaves, poor citizens, and women created the opportunity for the first truly idle class – the Ancient Greek philosophers who are credited with the entire foundation of our moral and political systems. For the next few thousand years, the only people who were allowed to be idle were the sons of rich nobles and merchants, and only with the birth of capitalism did common people find themselves idle – the unemployed newly-displaced rural folk who waited outside the great cities of Europe, waiting for jobs at the new textile factories to open up. Many of these people became the backbone of the first workers’ parties, often millenarian Christian-socialists and underground brotherhoods like the Chartists, Luddites, or League of the Just, which Marx and Engels would later co-opt and rename The Communist League.

Idleness in these times was feared greatly by those in power, and rightly so. Nothing worried them more than huge surplus populations growing restless, organising in their idle time, and realising their position somewhere near the bottom of a great social pyramid. From time to time these surplus populations grew so great that entire nations had to be set up just to get rid of them: the unemployed and wretched masses of the British Isles found themselves criminalised and subject to transportation to the penal colonies of the Caribbean, the Americas, and later New South Wales. Luckier surplus citizens found themselves in the free colonies, such as Perth, or New Zealand.

But are we truly surplus to requirements? Surely after the crash we’ll get our jobs back?

Many economists aren’t so sure. Unemployment modelling already shows rates are going to grow higher than during the great depression, and that’s without a much more pessimistic Marxian analysis of the crisis. To be surplus is a new experience to many of us. Idleness will force us to reckon with our position in the pyramid of society, just as those 19th century oligarchs were afraid of all those years ago.

The ideological backbone of capitalism as it currently exists has been broken. Neoliberalism has shown itself incapable of dealing with Covid-19. But what we make of this realisation is up to us. The ideological backbone might be broken, but the real nuts and bolts of the system: the police and politicians, bosses and workplaces, will still remain. Given enough time, they will use this crisis of legitimacy to forge a new kind of capitalism: maybe a society with a UBI? Or a form of eco-capitalism? Or maybe they’ll go the other direction, and lead us down a road to fascism, or Trumpian nationalistic fervor? If I had to place bets, I’d put it on a mix of all of the above, as usually seems to happen in a crisis of legitimacy. After all, the last great crisis of legitimacy happened during the Great Depression, leading to both the social-democratic compromise of the New Deal and Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state, as well as the horrors of Nazism.

In truth I don’t think it matters so much what path capitalism chooses to take in order to legitimise itself in this new era, because unless the agency of that choice lies with working people – with beneficiaries, Māori, migrants, the multitude, the proletariat – it will leave us worse off. It might end the crisis, but we’ll live with the knowledge that the next one will be worse, and once again our lives will be utterly beyond our control.

So agency should be our watchword in this new era. So long as we lack agency, we are only a few years from collapse. So long as we lack agency, the response to crises will be arbitrary. New Zealanders got lucky in getting a rational response to the crisis, but next time we might be more like the US or UK – sending thousands more people to die in the name of profits. Taking power, then, is the only way to ensure that this total lack of agency never happens again.

So far in the things I’ve written for this blog, I’ve not actually included a call to join Organise Aotearoa. In a system built on broken promises, who am I to make a promise to readers that things will get better if only we fight for a revolutionary overthrow of the bosses, police and markets that put us in crisis again and again? As an organisation, we are young, and we are emerging from a very beaten-down, hollowed-out, and disparate left-wing movement. Revolution doesn’t seem realistic to many people, but then, neither did capitalism being crushed by a virus a few weeks ago. Socialism will never just happen – it takes work, and a sense of realism. We have a lot of work to do, but only in this period of transition can we see the possible futures laid out before us – apocalyptic misery, or social and economic justice. To fight for this is always worth the effort.

The best summary of the times we’re living in come from this quote I’m quite fond of:

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”

[toonpunk-game]

Fluff Updates 4: Some Core Concepts

Well, it’s time for another one of these. We’re going to do a little housekeeping, first and foremost: we’re going to show you the currency of the world--the rainbow-colored Chromatic Dollar; the inkbloods, whose condition of is spoken of seldomly and somberly; and, rather belatedly, Toonpunks themselves! What is a ‘toonpunk’, how is it different from a ‘cyberpunk’ or a ‘steampunk’, and why would anyone want to be one? Read on and find out!

The Chromatic Dollar

If you’ve been in the open population for any length of time, you’ve probably seen or heard about the Chromatic Dollar—usually called “CDs” or “Hands”. This is the currency of the world today—not the only one, of course, but definitely the most important one. Almost everywhere you’ll ever go, hands are the preferred legal tender: you’re going to get paid in them, and odds are you are going to steal quite a few. So, for those of you who don’t already know, time to get yourselves learnt!

The CD is an asset-backed currency—which means that in theory, each bill represents a fixed quantity of ink. However, it’s not quite so simple as that (get used to that phrase, newcomers). Rather than being directly traded at a depository for ink, most CDs contains ink in themselves: each dollar is woven out of fabric, and tinted by being immersed a watered-down mixture of colored ink. When submerged in cold water, this ink can be drawn out of the bill, leaving it blank. As you may recall, inkish life needs a regular infusion of ink to survive. What this means is that chromatic dollars are, in fact, literal meal tickets: normal civilians can immerse them in cold water to bleed the ink out of them, creating a mixture that is substantial enough to maintain an inkish life form, but is not strong enough to be classified as a hazardous material.

Of course, even that is not quite so simple. Of the 7 CD denominations of CD—White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, and Black—only 5 actually contain ink within them. The white and black CDs do not actually contain any ink at all, due to respectively being worth very little and being worth a really great big bunch. White bills are the “single unit” denomination—they represent precisely one “CD”. They are not actually dyed, and are simply desaturated colored bills. Their value comes from the fact that they can be traded in bulk to the Morbux cartel reclamation facilities in exchange for bills of greater worth. They are often used as a baseline currency for small transactions—specifically as tips in retail or service industries.

Yellow bills are the smallest denomination which actually contain ink. They each contain approximately 1/1000 of a milliliter of ink, and are worth 500 CDs. Other denominations are Green (1000 CDs, or 1/200 of a milliliter); blue (5000 CDs, 1/100); purple (10000 CDs, or .2 milliliters); and red (50000 CDs, or .5 milliliters). Black bills, like white bills, do not contain any ink in themselves; but unlike white bills, are worth such a ridiculously high amount that it is actually impossible to store that much ink in a single bill. Specifically, a black bill is worth an entire liter of ink, or 200,000 green bills—a whopping50 million CDs. Black bills are basically never put into circulation—they were only invented so that governments and mega-corporations would have an easier time arranging bulk ink transfers between each other. Instead of physically procuring and delivering ink en masse, they could simply transfer bills (or credit for a bill, more accurately) and redeem them with their bank of choice.

History of the Chromatic Dollar

The Chromatic dollar was introduced into circulation by Black Sea Banking in 2090, 2 months after the Frontier Development Bill permitted the production and exchange of company-owned currencies. While frontier companies were the primary beneficiaries of this provision (since it allowed them to reestablish the “company store” of bygone eras) BSB was the first major company to introduce private bills for widespread circulation. A limited run of black, red, and (now-defunct) orange bills were distributed to several of BSB’s partners in lieu of liquid ink; and then, after this initial success, BSB allowed its inkish employees to receive a portion of their salary in CDs instead of their normal currencies. The option proved enormously popular, since it allowed inkish persons to sustain themselves without making trips to dedicated ink depositories. Demand steadily grew, until an inordinately successful write-in campaign garnered 16.5 million signatures imploring BSB to introduce the CD into public circulation. After drafting the exchange rates, BSB began printing chromatic dollars for public use in 2092—and it was all uphill from there.

Now, just over 200 years later, the CD is the most common currency in local space. It’s traded on all civilized worlds, and a number of the uncivil ones as well. Wherever electronic infrastructure exists, the CD will soon follow—even to places as remote as Pluto. The only place it has not found purchase is on the frontier worlds, where efforts at civilization are often bowled over by six-pack wars, or other even more unpleasant things…

Inkbloods

In most materials, elemental ink is sparse—less than 0.002% of the total composition.  In the Saskatoon municipal area, this number can go as high as 0.006. In human beings, this number skyrockets to 0.65%—the highest concentration outside of ink-based life forms. While this might not sound like much at a glance, it must be understood that even a small amount of ink carries enormous potential: differences of as little as .05% blood-ink-concentration have been shown to increase life span, muscle growth, and cognitive capacity by tremendous amounts—upwards of 20%, in many cases.  Naturally, there is a tremendous temptation to use it as a performance enhancer—and it is here that inkbloods enter the equation.

An “inkblood” is any meatman who has a BIC of 2% or higher; and has maintained such for longer than 24 hours. The human liver can filter out small quantities of ink, much as it can filter out alcohol or other substances; but there are some people who deliberately maintain a high BIC for an extended period of time, for several reasons: at a glance, inkbloods are more physically able than most humans—the ink within their bodies swells their muscle mass to considerable proportions, and they often enjoy sharpened senses and longer lives. Furthermore, they often display an enhanced aptitude for illustration and inktek. However, there is a damning dark side to this: all inkbloods will, with time, invariably descend into utter raving insanity.

First among the inkblood degenerations, both in severity and in order of onset, is an immutable compulsion towards self-flagellation. Over the course of their derangement this will increase from such relatively benign things as discomfort with their hairstyle, to the wholesale removal of fingers, limbs, and eyes. While these compulsions never drive the inkblood to suicide, they will leave them hideously disfigured: while the ink will regenerate small portions of their bodies over time, any limbs or large internal organs removed will usually have to be replaced.

As of writing, no medical consensus explaining this phenomenon has yet been reached. Potential explanations range from acute derangement resulting from over-acuity of the senses, to a form of cognitive decline no more remarkable than mercury poisoning; but there are others on the fringe of the medical community, who whisper of a spiritual dimension to the ink--one which reacts poorly to prolonged observation...

Toonpunks

What is a “Toonpunk”?  Most of you reading this will already know—but those of you from very isolated areas, or those of you who have just incarnated, may be unfamiliar.  The word shows up often enough to return billions of search engine results; and it’s such a common talking point that a whole 3.5% of all current news articles feature it as their primary subject (according to Billiun analytics from 2302). It is a recognized word in over 500 languages as disparate as Russian, Urdu, Japanese, Quenya, and English.

Vernon Vernacular’s Living Dictionary defines Toonpunk thusly: 1. Noun. A person, most commonly young and/or of inky description, who commits criminal actions including theft, assault, vandalism, arson, murder, and jaywalking, as a form of protest or self-expression. 2.Adj. Slang.  Of or referring to anger or disdain towards large corporations, incumbent governments, The Inkquisition, capitalism, or functioning society as a whole.

“Toonpunk” is a stylistic movement that began in the year 2045, though its roots trace back to a year earlier.  During The Rabbit’s I-day gag spree, billions of people were astonished to learn just how much devastation had been wrought by one animal in the name of slapstick. Among them were numerous working-class meatmen, many of whom were disillusioned with the dehumanizing day-to-day existence of a late-stage capitalist world.  Knowing that the single greatest act of vandalism and destruction in history was committed “because I wanted to” captured the imaginations of people who had very little power of their own.

As Bloody March carried on, the tension very rapidly became unmanageable.  Nearly every country on Earth was struggling under the weight of an unprecedented refugee crisis, and a slew of freak environmental disasters.  Many governments employed violent and reactionary measures  which often only compounded the issues—most famously during the P-K massacre in Russia.  By the end of the month, wide-scale riots were commonplace throughout most of the civilized world, and would not simmer down again for almost 3 years.  

It was during this period that the first Toonpunks began appearing. Shortly after The Rabbit disappeared, a number of disparate gangs began emulating his unique brand of terrorism: prioritizing vandalism, property destruction, and public visibility over material gain.  This form of high-risk-low-reward crime was described by many of its practitioners as a form of rebellion or self-expression against an increasingly bizarre and stifling world.  This was most notably espoused by High Noon and the Longcoat Gang on April 1, when they defaced the side of the Thunder Tower Office Plaza and publicly lynched Thomas Thunder’s 2 youngest sons.

Toonpunk didn’t become a popular movement for almost 3 decades.  After the Thunder Tower incident, it was generally regarded as a form of neo-terrorism; and it did not receive its Robin-Hood-Style grassroots support until 2084, when the new meatman generation spawned a vocal anti-Inkquisition counterculture.  Nostalgic for their forefathers’ liberty of expression, the Confederacy of Classic Culture lead a brief but eventful series of public demonstrations.  When the Ministry forcibly disbanded them three months later, its supporters were forced to adopt a more unconventional and direct form of protest—and so the modern Toonpunk mythos was born.

Today, Toonpunks are often regarded in the same way that hacktivists were in the 21st century, and beekeepers were in the 22nd—as a small minority working outside the law for the good of the people; and they are often romanticized in movies, television, and music.  In the common parlance, “Toonpunk” is often mistakenly used to refer to any inkman criminal or gang, regardless of their ideology—much to the chagrin of its devoted supporters.

That’s enough about the philosophy side of things, though—how does this affect you? If you’re reading this, you are most likely a Toonpunk—or one of your friends is, or you stole this from one. Judging by the company you keep, we here at Electric Eye can tell a few things about you:

-You’re probably broke. According to our own research from 2300, 65% of self-identified Toonpunks and Toonpunk sympathizers exist within or just above the poverty band—with the remainder primarily coming from middle-class arcology families. 25% of those polled reportedly spent between 1500 and 2700 hands a month on food, with most of the rest going towards rent; and 70% reportedly have no form of personal motorized transportation. A small but notable minority of toonpunks exist within the upper strata of society—most having identified their lifestyle as a “gilded cage”.  

-Your job is probably terrible. Most lower or middle class toonpunks in our poll were working temporary or menial jobs—usually as factory hands, miners, construction workers, data entry clerks, personal assistants, or retail employees. 60% were working part-time, while another 34% were working as day laborers; and 43% were additionally pursuing higher education on top of their job and illegal enterprises. Many from the upper salary bands described themselves as “not in employment, education, or training”—which has by itself lead to the stereotyping of upper-class toonpunks as either spoiled, bored sociopaths; or misguided activists.

-You could be doing this for basically any reason. When we asked our subjects what originally drew them to the toonpunk lifestyle, we received numerous different answers. Most of these fell into one of a few categories. 24% of those polled stated that they had been laid off or fired from their legitimate employment during a time of financial stress—commonly cited reasons were mortgage, children, or medical care. 22% did it for themselves, stating they liked it, they were good at it, and they truly felt alive. 16% stated that it was simply the way of life they had always known; and a further 16% maintained that they had no additional attraction to the toonpunk life, and were merely lashing out at a corrupt and unjust world.  

8% were pursuing some form of revenge against an estranged friend, family member, or co-worker; and 7% took it on as a “one-time-thing” needed to pay a debt of gratitude, blood, or actual debt.  6% cited an intense criminal compulsion due to mental illness, or that they were simply drawn that way. 3.7% maintained that they were victims of one or more shadowy and malevolent conspiracies with city/world/solar-system-changing implications; and finally, 1.3% stated the belief that they were the pawns of extra-dimensional beings, for whom the whole of our universe is a work of simulated misery they created for their own twisted entertainment.

[therealmarxistcamp]

Journal Entry

Unknown time, unknown date:

He says he's busy writing some kind of book, but he should just be writing for fun. As a therapeutic activity, a way to pass the time. I'm starting to look at things, "life" in general, or any isolated individual moment of time as part of a process.

It's amazing / incredible all the fun you can have with a couple pens and paper.

But what does that mean? "A process" What exactly does a process involve?

*Note to self that I or no one else will probably ever read: Add cricket bit to the curse story I'm working on.*

Apprehension. Comprehension. Reaction? A series of moments. . . .

I think of these individuals that confront me on a daily basis, under Capitalism, I could care less about them, whether they go to prison, live or die, it doesn't make a difference to me. I'm only concerned with my own existence and survival. Under Capitalism, their lives are so incidental. So transient. They come and go. They are all so concerned / busy getting theirs, that they don't have time to pay attention to others. Why even bother?

At least I always have pen and paper. Yes, ma’am, I think I have enough paper and ink to last me a lifetime. Or do I? How long is a lifetime?

Let's just say that I don't view the modes of existence "offered" to me by the capitalist system as desirable, as having anything to offer me but the uncertain promise of a monetary reward. And the idea of making a career out of this, writing, is absolutely ludicrous.

I don't, however, let this seeming apparent lack of ability to capitalize my actions define my efforts as a failure, because I don't look at success and failure on a typical materialist capitalist basis. The sciences can only deal with the individual on a purely materialist basis, his rough nutritional / biological needs are accounted for, yet this simple characterization of the individual reduces him to the status of no more than a draught animal; it robs him of his truly human character, but what of Man's intellectual and philosophical needs?

For better or for worse, I still have my "freedom."

"Oh, you got a ticket for speeding... 073mph in a 055mph zone back in may of 2001, that's unfortunate, but you can never run for president or hold any position of prominence, too bad. Looks like you got the short end of the stick."

--I think regardless of the fact that there is already a large volume of literature in existence, there is a demand for things that are written in the moment, if only to capture a fleeting essence of time and space (this is a privilege that was not afforded to our ancestors, to record such seemingly fleeting useless thoughts completely uncensored for all posterity to read)--I recommend we all make blogs. Form alternative socio-economic structures. As the means of production have been altered, it would be foolish to go about things as would be done in an industrial society, because the industrial era is over.

We are now living in the digital Era, experiencing a new technological revolution first hand, perhaps one even more fast moving and far reaching than the industrial revolution, and we must adapt and secure our means of subsistence on a digital medium rather than in an actual in-person medium. Those who stubbornly cling to the old ways of doing things will soon find themselves frustrated and, increasingly, consumers and producers will move to a digital marketplace. But, for a change of pace, Let us instead imagine, for once, a digital marketplace (but for the arts!) owned by society as a whole via the state,--with it’s own means of production-- in which the artist receives the whole of his labor rather than the Capitalist (!), paid for by democratic consent of the people. Such a website would be free for all to use, regardless of class or location. . . .

I suppose true freedom in a positive sense (the anarchists hold us Marxists to have such great positive definitions of freedom) is being able to use and dispose of my time and energies however I choose. In this moment, a portrait of Hegel screams out "I want. I want." Yes, even Hegel's great philosophic treatises are susceptible to criticism on the basis that they are the product of capitalist exploitation:

      "In a letter to Schelling, in which Hegel promises to send him a copy of the book, Hegel asks indulgence for the unsatisfactory character of the last parts of the work, and says, as if by way of explanation, that the 'composition of the book was concluded at midnight before the battle of Jena.' . . . The real explanation was much more commonplace. Hegel had made an unfortunate arrangement with his publisher. . . . Hegel, being much in need of the money, appealed in despair to his friend . . . and asked his good offices to urge the publisher to forward the money” (The Phenomenology of Mind, Dover Publications, translation by J. B. Baillie).

I wonder what his (Hegel's) soft spot was. What bare sensation had his life been reduced to? As the clock strikes 4:43am, the answer to that question becomes evident. He needs, if anything, his daily meal. How will he, today, secure his means of subsistence? On the contrary, I seek to create a piece of literature that exists completely independent of the Capitalist process. This is indeed a revolutionary undertaking. And I'm in no rush to sell my freedom to the capitalist for $7.25 / hr. (Minimum wage in Virginia).—Virginia, hardest place in The world to publish a book.

So, as the Capitalist world awakens, I go to sleep (not really), to further ponder these questions of consciousness. 

Source: Ashleymarx.blogspot.com

P.S. this post has since been edited several times, see Ashleymarx.blogspot.com for the full post.

[mozgoderina]

Yue Minjun: behind the painted smile (The Financial Times)

One of the art world’s most bankable stars, the Chinese artist talks about capitalism, democracy and the legacy of Tiananmen.

Pale and weary from an exhausting promotional campaign in Hong Kong, Yue Minjun looks nothing like the “laughing man” of his celebrated paintings. As he works his way through signing a stack of catalogues in the fiercely air-conditioned boardroom of his sponsor, it is hard to imagine him breaking into the guffaw of his pink-skinned caricature, eyes tight shut and white teeth bared, which he has described as both a self-portrait and an alter ego. But there is often bitterness behind the Pagliacci smile, and his character is portrayed as the fool who, for better or worse, has become inured to Yue’s bleak version of the modern world.

“My work is to do with the fundamental agony of being human and the sense of confusion that comes with living in our society,” he says, speaking in September at the start of his first solo show in Hong Kong, “The Tao of Laughter”. It is rather a weighty message for visitors to the crowded shopping mall where the exhibition is being staged. But Harbour City – the vast collection of luxury waterfront outlets frequented by mainland Chinese tourists on shopping trips to the tax-free haven – makes, he thinks, a perfect backdrop. “The shopping centre is the heart of human activities in today’s world,” he says. “I want people to look at my art and then pause for reflection as they look for luxury handbags.”

The 50-year-old former electrician is among the biggest stars in Chinese contemporary art today. He belongs to a generation of artists who grew up during the cultural revolution and have taken the world by storm as they track their country’s radical transformation, escaping the limits of socialist realism under which most of them were trained and coming up with their own distinct styles. Yue’s repeated use of the same motif since the early 1990s and his prolific output – there are several hundred paintings featuring the “laughing man” – make his work highly recognisable and now highly desirable to international collectors and curators.

Yue has become a fixture in any survey of contemporary Chinese art, such as the inaugural show at the new Saatchi Gallery in London in 2008, which attracted more than half-a-million visitors. The previous year “The Execution”, probably his most famous painting, sold at Sotheby’s in London for £2.9m, roughly the same price as Cézanne’s “Maisons dans la verdure” sold for in New York a month later.

“The Execution”, which Yue finished in 1995, is widely seen as his most political work. A row of men is lined up against a scarlet wall, laughing, but also looking vulnerable in nothing but grubby briefs. A number of fully clothed men are about to shoot them with imaginary rifles and they, too, think the whole thing is a game, judging by the expression of the one executioner who faces the viewer. It is difficult not to associate this image with the 1989 massacre in Beijing: the wall in the picture is a similar colour to the real Tiananmen Gate and those who died in the military crackdown on a peaceful demonstration were mostly unarmed young students and workers. It also has obvious art-historical references to Manet’s “The Execution of Maximilian” (1868-69), and Goya’s “The Third of May 1808”, both paintings made in response to the political events of their times.

Li Xianting, a well-known Chinese art critic, counts Yue, along with other artists such as the painter Fang Lijun, as members of the “cynical realism” movement, formed partly in reaction to the trauma of 1989. But Yue refuses to be labelled and has always avoided making direct comments on politics. The closest he ever came to saying something negative about the Tiananmen massacre was in an interview with Richard Bernstein of The New York Times in 2007. “My mood changed at that time,” he commented. “I was very down. I realised the gap between reality and the ideal.”

Speaking about the subject in Hong Kong, he remains elusive. “There are many people who want Chinese artists to speak out for them,” he says. “They always have this need to look at my art through a political lens. It’s restricting.”

He ventures a little further: “I think all conflicts are not one-sided but a reflection of current conditions. I’m not saying [Tiananmen] was not important but the main thing is for the two sides to move beyond the conflict and find resolution.”

Compromise, however, does not sit well with the convention that artists speak up for justice and freedom of expression, particularly when there are plenty in China who do exactly this, such as Ai Weiwei, persecuted for his criticism of China’s authoritarian rule, and the jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who inspired many around the world with his courage. But Yue remains unapologetic. “I paint about the universal experience. Why do I have to be explicit all the time?”

. . .

Born in 1962 to two oilfield workers in north-eastern China, Yue was a child during the cultural revolution, but grew up in a country where Chairman Mao was still idolised. He studied at the fine arts department of Hebei Normal University, and was inspired by the works of another Chinese painter, Geng Jianyi, whose faces are more grimacing than laughing, representing a deep, internal anguish. In the early 1990s, soon after graduating, Yue moved to Beijing when the country relaxed its rules on internal migration, and shared a studio in a derelict farmhouse with other poor artists including Yang Shaobin. Today, he has two full-time assistants working for him in a custom-built studio and lives in a luxurious Beijing mansion.

There is no doubt that Yue and his fellow artists have done well out of the art market’s China fever in a way that their Russian counterparts never did. The changes to Yue’s personal circumstance parallel the nation’s own transformation.

“To me, capitalism can mean democracy, fairness,” he says. “It’s not all bad. At the same time, it has become the new God. Instead of going to temples, people in China pay their tribute to Mammon in the shopping mall. Religion has been replaced by this vacant materialism.”

Hong Kong, one of the most capitalist cities in the world, is, for Yue, the new China. His show of a dozen paintings, all featuring the laughing man in a variety of situations, is hung in a room tucked away between the luxury outlets. Each work is accompanied by a poem, mostly despondent in tone. “All these fools will probably perish trodden down, pulverised by an unspeakable and awesome apocalypse of which menace they are not even aware,” reads one. But what most visitors see are the five giant bronze versions of “the fool” on display in the mall forecourt. These might be viewed as a post-modernist deconstruction of the classical statue but they also form a cutesy backdrop for holiday snaps. The sunny, cartoon-like appearance of the laughing man also makes him perfect for an accessory line. The shopping mall is offering limited-edition Yue Minjun umbrellas and make-up pouches to those who spend over a certain amount, and he has also produced teapot sets in partnership with two galleries in Taiwan and Beijing.

Yue says his ultimate goal is to make the laughing man a household icon. Critics have said that it’s a clever way of debunking the tradition of Communist party mythologising. He says he just wants to spur the unthinking crowd into adopting a more philosophical approach to life. If commercialisation is what it takes, then bring it on. “Some artists are totally market-driven. Others are so supercilious they don’t want anything to do with it. I am somewhere in the middle,” he says.

Yue’s painting portfolio is more diverse than many art critics give him credit for. A recent retrospective at China’s Chengdu Contemporary Art Centre showed works which hark back to the Chinese ink landscape tradition, and a range of other pieces will be on show at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, where his first major European retrospective opens this month. Marcello Kwan, a specialist in Asian contemporary art at Christie’s, puts Yue’s importance partly down to his arrival in the early 1990s “when Chinese artists wanted to bring in a new era which challenges the rigidity left behind by the previous decades. His laughing man is his answer to Mao Zedong, who used to be the idol. Using himself as the basis for a new idol is a very interesting subversion,” he says.

Yue comes closest to saying something subversive when he describes the role of laughter in his works. “If you are faced with a situation you cannot change, then laughter may be the only possible reaction,” he says. “But if many people start laughing, it can become a proactive force for change.” His creature might lack the wit and wisdom of a Shakespearean fool, and any wry comment on the human condition is hidden behind the laughter. But maybe that’s the point in a country whose critics are silenced.

  Source: The Financial Times / Enid Tsui. Published: November 2, 2012. Link: Yue Minjun: behind the painted smile Illustration: Yue Minjun [China] (b 1962). 'Welcome', 2005. Oil on canvas (170 x 140 cm). Moderator: ART HuNTER.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/inside-vsco-a-gen-z-approved-photo-sharing-app-with-ceo-joel-flory/

Inside VSCO, a Gen Z-approved photo-sharing app, with CEO Joel Flory

Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts. Perhaps known to many only because of this year’s “VSCO girl” meme explosion, the company has long been coaxing the creative community to its freemium platform. Turns out, if you can provide the disillusioned teens of Gen Z respite from the horrors of social media — they’ll pay for it.

VSCO is on pace to surpass 4 million paying users in 2020, up from 2 million paying users in late 2018, the company said. Approaching $80 million in annual revenue, VSCO charges an annual subscription fee of $19.99 for access to a full-suite of mobile photo-editing tools, exclusive photo filters, tutorials and more. For no cost, users can access a handful of basic VSCO filters, standard editing tools and loads of content published by other users in VSCO’s photo feed.

In recent months, the company’s Oakland headquarters has swelled to 150 employees, an increase of 50% from 2018, with a new office in Chicago expected to fit several dozen more. The company, which counts 100 million registered users to date, has also recently inked a partnership with Snap. Together, they’ve launched Analog, VSCO’s first-ever Snapchat lens, in a deal that hints at a future acquisition. Needless to say, VSCO co-founder and chief executive officer Joel Flory is feeling pretty optimistic ahead of his company’s eighth birthday.

“When you walk into a museum, you don’t see the net worth of the artist,” Flory tells TechCrunch. “You don’t see how many people have walked through the museum. There’s not a space for people to write comments and leave stickers. It’s a moment. It’s for you. You get to sit in front of a piece of work, a piece of art. And does it move you? Does it speak to you? Are you able to learn something from it? Does it inspire you to go do something? How can we create a space in which you could do that online? That was our initial insight.”

Flory, a 40-year-old former wedding photographer, wears a grey Oakland Roots sweatshirt and a black Oakland Athletics hat when I meet him at VSCO’s offices on Oakland’s Broadway Avenue in November. He doesn’t look like the Gen Z whisperer I expected to meet, and his responses to my questions about the “VSCO girl” meme paint a picture of a CEO who’s inadvertently connected with a generation 20 years his junior. “It’s a sense of caring about the environment and kind of caring about causes that have a meaning and impact,” Flory said of “VSCO girls,” who have more-oft been described as 21st century valley girls or “annoying, white hopeless romantics.”

On one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are. VSCO CEO Joel Flory

Regardless of Flory’s ability to decode Gen Z, VSCO continues to be beloved by millions of teenagers and young adults worldwide. Without selling ads or customer data, VSCO has developed a sustainable subscription-based business and written a new playbook for social media businesses in a world where Facebook’s advertising-based model is king. For those fed up with platforms that have facilitated bullying and failed to prioritize privacy, VSCO may be a protective corner of the internet.

“The creator always wins, the community always wins, who’s paying us wins and VSCO wins,” Flory said. “It sounds simple, but this creates a business model in which our business is not extracting value from any one group to give to someone else. It’s this direct relationship with who’s paying us.”

VSCO CEO Joel Flory speaks to attendees while teaching phone photography class during The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. Photographer: Martina Albertazzi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A sense of belonging

Hot off the heels of a rare moment in the spotlight, VSCO, reportedly valued at $550 million, is ripe for a new round of funding. Flory, naturally, remained mum on any plans to sell the company or raise additional capital. But he was ready and willing to speak to the company’s untraditional path and the unique connection it has fostered with its users.

Flory tells me 75% of VSCO’s registered users and 55% of its paying subscribers are younger than 25, giving the company a small foothold into the most coveted demographic. On top of that, the hashtag #VSCO has been viewed 4 billion times on the immensely popular video sharing app Tik Tok, again according to the company’s own statistics, and another 450 million times on Instagram. With 80 million monthly active users — Facebook had 2.45 billion monthly active users as of September, for context — VSCO is by no means a competitor to Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram, Snap or Twitter. What it is, however, is a leader in the new era of social media, in which users demand more transparent, equitable relationships with social platforms.

“[Gen Z] knows what each platform is good for and what the downfalls of each are,” Flory said. “They are actively making investments in creativity and in their mental health, and they are seeking out a space where they can be who they are. And the fact that they’re even talking about mental health, anxiety, depression and compare culture — it took me so long in life to be able to articulate what I was feeling … They’re putting their money and time in brands and causes that they care about. And so for us, that’s why I think we’ve seen a lot of our growth.”

Flory and VSCO co-founder Greg Lutze, a long-time creative director-turned-chief experience officer, began building VSCO, an acronym for Visual Supply Co., in 2011. Facebook was more than six years old and mere months from hitting the 1 billion monthly active user milestone when VSCO launched its first product, a photo-editing plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Instagram, for its part, was a burgeoning photo-based social network that had launched the year before to “ignite communication through images.” Unlike Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who famously created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, or Instagram’s founding CEO Kevin Systrom, a former Google employee, Flory and Lutze had absolutely no experience in the tech or startup world. The pair banded together to build something focused around the creative community — not to construct a venture-backed startup.

“We wanted to provide the tools for you to express yourself and then a space for you to do that, one that was void of the pressures around likes and comments that create this compare culture, which wasn’t even prevalent yet,” Flory said. “Now we’re seeing this played out on a large scale. So on one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are.”

The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before. VSCO CEO Joel Flory

After launching VSCO as an Adobe plug-in, improved camera capabilities on smartphones motivated the business to change course. In the spring of 2013, the business launched its mobile app, a free photo-editing tool with in-app purchases and an affiliated community. The app reached 1 million downloads one week later and would eventually adopt a freemium model to earn money from its power users. Since its app launch, VSCO has remained a top-five grossing photo app on Apple’s App Store.

VSCO’s Oakland offices.

New opportunities

Though seldom mentioned on the venture capital and startup blogs, VSCO is indeed supported by VC dollars. Before its subscription revenue could sustain the business, the company brought in $70 million in VC funding from Accel, Glynn Capital Management, Obvious Ventures, Goldcrest Investments and others, closing its most recent round in 2015.

Flory and Lutze never sought venture funding. The former photographer and creative director didn’t have connections to venture capitalists or an in at a particular firm. Instead, Accel partners Vas Natarajan and Ryan Sweeney approached VSCO with “a thesis around the importance of design and creativity in the future,” Flory said, and quickly formed an alliance. Today, VSCO isn’t profitable, though it has been in the past, Flory said. It did, however, operate at “near break-even” last year — an accomplishment today as startups often lose hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis. With a valuation of $550 million, which Flory would neither confirm or deny, VSCO plans to invest heavily in growth next year.

As for the “VSCO girl” meme explosion, largely a mockery of white middle-class, social-media-savvy teenagers, it provided a jolt of publicity for a nearly decade-old company lost in the shadow of the giants. Though the meme entered the internet’s zeitgeist many months ago, the company is still riding a wave of press (and likely downloads) tied to its popularity. For many, the VSCO girl was their first encounter with VSCO, while for others, the photo-editing and sharing tool has been a fixture of their home screen for years.

As Instagram explores hiding likes in a bid to promote user health and other social media companies realize the importance of safety, security and mental wellness, VSCO may see its unique identity fade. Regardless, Flory says he wants other platforms to realize the impact of likes: “I honestly hope everyone thinks about what’s good for people’s mental health and builds more products that have a positive impact than a negative impact.”

Instagram’s experiments aside, VSCO is gearing up for another banner year, packed with plans for new features and products entirely. In our chat last month, Flory mentioned video design, publishing and editing, as well as illustration, as areas of interest for the now established photo-editing tool.

“The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before,” Flory said. “And what it’s doing is opening all of these new areas of opportunity. We’re focused on not only how you create content and how you edit content, but ultimately, how you tell a story with that content.”

[10oclockdot]

10 More Times I Spun the Ol' Wheels of Thought

1. Gaming is puppetry.

2a. Donald Trump was the biggest liar in the room (Politifact confirmed, we recall), so he called Ted Cruz "Lyin' Ted" so that no one could call him Lyin' Trump. Donald Trump was the crookedest person in the room, so he called Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary" so that no one could call him Crooked Donnie. Has there always been this much projection in our politics? Has each side always impugned the other side with their own worst fault? Maybe all this time that Democrats have been telling white working-class Republican voters that they were voting against their interests, we were disavowing the fact that increasingly the Democratic party was also ignoring white working-class interests.

2b. Throughout the entire election cycle, popular wisdom held that Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican party signaled that the GOP was in ruinous disarray. This was the thing liberals got most wrong, because really, it was the Left that was in disarray. The Republican party successfully rebranded itself without losing very many of its constituents. Meanwhile, it was the Left that lost all its key elections. It was the Left that nominated a pro-war pro-Wall-Street neo-liberal. It was the Left that, over the course of a couple decades, completely abandoned its once-time blue-collar base. It was the Left that ended up alienating its rural voters by stereotyping them as backward, sexist, racist, homophobic gun nuts, rather than working collaboratively with them to get them on board with the intersectional causes of social justice. And it's the Left that doesn't really have a coherent agenda going forward to reclaim the voters it lost. After all, fighting poverty ought to be the central tentpole of any social justice agenda, and yet Democrats never seem to talk about white poverty. To be sure, rural America bears some of the responsibility to educate itself about structural prejudice and microaggressions and purge itself of xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, and such, BUT I think it's reasonable to say that the Left must stand in solidarity with rural America before we can expect rural America to stand in solidarity with other Leftist causes.

3. I used to think that I could measure the rectitude of a given ideological framework by examining its limits or margins. I believed that if there were sexist Christians (and there are, to be sure), that invalidated the whole of Christianity. I believed that, at its heart, there were no good Christians, because churches bred or maintained or at least turned a blind eye toward patriarchy. But now I'm beginning to think that no ideology, no matter how radical, centrist, or conservative, is very good at policing its own margins. It appears that there are plenty of terrible people under the big tent of the left. There are plenty of people who call themselves feminists who are nevertheless racist or pro-capitalist or cultural appropriators or trans-exclusionary or anti-science or anti-logic or what-have-you. Not to mention that human beings are, en masse, liars, hypocrites, manipulative, self-serving, and prone to mental laziness. How, then, do we honestly judge a social movement? By what statistical method can we control for the ignoble outliers in every movement, so that we hold ourselves to the same fair standards to which we hold others?

4. In the age of the internet, we model the distribution of knowledge in terms of the network or the viral outbreak. Through these models and metaphors, we track trends on twitter, shares of videos, and reblogs of posts. We can map the spread of an idea. What would happen if we applied this kind of model retroactively to earlier times in history? Could we map the network of papal proclaimation spreading from Rome to local Catholic parishes? What was the rate at which scientific discoveries traveled from the Arab world back to Europe in the middle ages? What was the "bandwidth" of the silk road? Did the know-how of the bronze age or the iron age spread quickly or slowly? What carried this knowledge and why?

5. As the resources on the planet dwindle, the markets for stamp collecting, wine collecting, art collecting, antique collecting, et al continue to prosper, and the value of the rarest and most prized objects within these markets continues to increase. Why so? I argue that it's because as there's less land and gold and other natural resources for each wealthy person to own, the market must imbue other objects with value. Consider the raw material value of the paper, glue, and ink in an album of very valuable stamps. It's minimal. But what majestic alchemy that market forces in the modern and post-modern era have imbued such worthless scraps with such enormous social value! Never has it been possible to own so much social value in so little matter.

6. Don't tell me that El Chapo's cartel functions like a corporation unless you're also willing to say that corporations function like El Chapo's cartel. Capitalism functions the same whether the market is legal or illegal.

7a. I would be much more interested in moral philosophy if its sole aim were to determine WHY we make the intuitive moral judgments that we make, rather than to propose some code of moral behavior. I'm not interested in any moral philosopher who comes up with a set of reasons for pulling or not pulling the lever in the trolley problem. I'm interested in whoever could tell me WHY I'm more likely to pull the lever than to push the large man. What calculations is my brain doing? What's it weighing? Where did this moral architecture come from? What was its adaptive advantage? What ancient ancestral dilemmas gave it its strongest leanings? If our brains' snap moral judgments don't have much to do with utilitarian mathematics, what DO they rely on? Are our intuitions outmoded for our present way of life? If so, which ones? Do some which don't comport perfectly with cold logic nevertheless retain an adaptive advantage?

7b. Because if we could figure this out, we'd be able to understand our politics VASTLY better than we do now. Some time ago, I wrote a post on the justice or injustice of the way Henrietta Lacks and her descendants were treated (here). I came to the conclusion that ultimately our moral judgments all come back to one thing: poverty is wrong. Full stop. I don't think that anyone feels, deep down, that poverty is a good thing. People might think it's natural or to be expected or necessary or deserved or whatever, but no one, deep down, considers it good. BUT, poverty is everywhere. SO: if poverty is wrong, BUT it's everywhere, the brain has to do some complex gymnastics to account for that. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is usually the result of sin or some bad choice, and thus poverty is merited and deserved. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is the result of greed, and thus that greed must be combatted so that resources may be distributed more equitably. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is structurally necessary for the economy to function (since it provides an incentive to work?), and therefore any attempt to eliminate it would be disastrous. Maybe we say they're lazy. Maybe we say that they live in a "backwards" culture that doesn't know any better. Maybe we tell ourselves it doesn't matter because they live far away. Maybe we point out that even if we gave all of our income away, poverty would continue, so we're powerless to stop it. Maybe we blame poverty on a desert (they should move!). Maybe we blame the number of kids they have (too many mouths to feed!). And so on. By giving poverty a cover story (a myth), we give it a reason for being. And thus we make poverty reason-able to ourselves.

7c. I suggest that because our inborn aversion to poverty so powerfully and diametrically conflicts with the realities of poverty, that we have built up a whole superstructure of religions, philosophers, storytellers, and pundits and grown them over millennia to justify poverty to us. We do not spend so much time rationalizing or explaining away poverty because we believe, deep down, that poverty is acceptable. We do it because deep down we know that we know that we know for certain that poverty is terrible, and thus our justifications for it must be powerful and constantly repeated. "Everybody's giving a reason why all these people are in poverty, therefore poverty seems reasonable, therefore I guess it isn't that big of a moral ill." (By the way, what other areas of the status quo have we constructed vast industries to rationalize? Rather than spend the same energy to change them?)

7d. Perhaps, deep down, all of our complex moral judgments boil down to very basic innate brain chemistry. Poverty = bad, death = bad, hurt = bad. Stuff like that. But now, thrust into the emergent complexity of the world around us, grappling with our vast knowledge of this world, of having regular and precise news of stuff happening at every point on the planet (historically amazing and pretty new for our species), we have to come up with a constant stream of justifications and rationalizations to keep the bad-alarms from going off in our brains constantly, all the time. And because these ideological prostheses of justification are so numerous and so elaborate, we think that THOSE are moral philosophy. But I think moral philosophy should concern itself instead with the question of why do we feel the NEED to come up with these incredibly complex systems of "that's ok, that's not ok, that's sometimes ok but only if...".

8. The harder we are to impress, the easier we are to oppress.

9. Dear Trump cabinet: It's becoming clear that he chose nearly all of you to function as his useful idiots. He selected you precisely for your lack of education, your dearth of relevant qualifications, and your almost-certain incompetence to fix complex 21st-century problems. He chose you because he wants to be able to think he's the smartest guy in the room. And the 1% always profits when the government is weak and inattentive to the needs of the 99%. Trump isn't your teammate. He forces you to embarrass yourself to prove your loyalty to him, but he has no loyalty to you. He's setting you up for failure and he's ready to blame you for everything. He probably laughs at you behind his back. He hopes you'll never realize what contempt he has for you. But there's hope. Because one day you'll figure it out. And when you do, America's best scientific and political minds will be waiting, secretly, in the wings, to help you take him down.

10. Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Just because Nixon won the presidency doesn't mean you have to give Best Picture to Oliver!.

[nudesreadingminicomics]

‘American Blood’ by Benjamin Marra

I’m finally getting around to it, many apologies, here is the Benjamin Marra collection ‘American Blood’.  We all know I love Ben Marra’s work, I’ve gone on and on about it in this little blog that 7 people read, I’ve jacked off to it; its all good.  I’m not capable of details so we won’t go into details, I’ll just try to sum up this book from the ol’ Fantasy Graphics Books the best I can.  The book is a collection of short stories, of previously self published works.  It starts out with delightfully “urban” works, the ‘Gangsta Rap Posse’, moves into civil war era ‘Django Unchained’ style ‘Lincoln Washington’ and the absolutely irreverent Mary Tyler Moore meets La Femme Nikita ‘Maureen Dowd’.  Lets stop there for a moment.  Marra is the Tarantino of comics.  He understands genre, he gets it.  And he “gets it” in a way that I am gonna make the broad accusations that a lot of genre style filmmakers and comic makers and novel writers don’t “get it”; all those worthless fucks who take an intellectual approach to dissecting and recycling style.  The critics, the fucking assholes like Max Landis who think a fucking encyclopedic knowledge of genre makes good genre, those shits.  A Marra comic feels to me like he sits down and thinks, “I really like action movies” and then he fucking draws and writes a goddamn action movie on the spot and it fucking has action and it has fucking bravura and it hits all the marks and he fucking gets it.  HE DOESN’T THINK ABOUT IT HE JUST DOES IT.  Or at least thats how it plays out for me when I read it.  Because when I read it it hits me in the solar plexus, in my heart.  I like art that hits ya in the gut.  I don’t care much for the overly refined, the intellectual don’t speak to me; I like Tonetta, Michael Yonkers, David Bixby; but Marra has that perfect blend of folk art idiocy and serious god damn technical skill that results in legitimate genre pieces that respect and understand and still play and distort genre.  To do genre is really fucking hard, its really fucking hard!!  And he’s doing genre and he’s right there so fucking blue ribbon there, man.  But lets move on.  Ripper and Friends is the next piece.  I’m not gonna talk about it.  I was really surprised, really impressed.  Even moreso did it seem to this here reviewer that Marra gets genre because he fucking taps into that weird mid 70s to early 80s animation style like a fucking pro.  All that bullshit fucking terrible but so fucking honest post 60s into the 80s we’ve switched from LSD to cocaine animation, its right there.  Now we get to the last three pieces: ‘Zorion: The Sword Lord’, ‘The Naked Heroes’, and “Blades and Lazers’.  You know where I’m going with this, Ben.  It is Benjamin Marra’s obligation to us, to the nerds, to produce a 1200 page epic fantasy graphic novel about dwarves.  The earlier stuff in the book is fun, is really great, its so good I don’t even notice that sometimes halfway through a comic he totally changes his inking style or rushes through a couple pages, but when Marra comes to life is when he draws a fucking bearded dude wielding a broadsword and lopping the head off of a manticore.   In Zorion: The Sword Lord we see Marra’s art style come into full realization, meticulously etched out muscular characters dancing with lithe as shit action lines depicting gyroscopic lunges and twists of the blade that result in severed heads and intestines bursting out of torsos like a 4th of July fireworks display. So lets stop there for a second.  This book has a lot of gore.  Like, every page has a severed head and Marra’s favorite sword technique seems to be the complete bisection of a foe in one swipe.  Do you have a problem with violence?  Well, then fuck you.  Because every time you spend a dollar you’re contributing to a capitalist system that keeps billions of people down and slaughters millions.  You’re a fucking murderer so enjoy your goddamn murder comics and don’t fucking pretend you don’t like it.  Anyway, we move on to a funny little pice called ‘The Naked Heroes’.  It really feels good, like that album cover to ‘Hellhound Train’ that I have referenced before in reviewing Marra’s work.  And then its fucking Blades and Lazers.  It all comes together at the end, we get fully evolved Ben Marra.  The inking style has finally been codified, the universe building has its seeds in place.  We are taken to a fantasy world of fully realized breadth and depth, who’s alluded to backstory and history goes far beyond the 22 or so pages depicting it.  Joe Daly did a ‘D&D’ comic and it was good but it was steeped in irony and slacker ethos.  Ben Marra don’t make dungeon stories that lament and laugh about aimless youth and the romance of post-teen pre-adult dreams clashing with reality; Ben Marra makes dungeon stories that FUCKING ROCK.  Ben, I need to be taken there.  I need to follow that goddamn party of 7 as they fucking twist and turn ever deeper through cavernous and labyrinthian realms; solving puzzles and unlocking doors and fucking LEVELING UP, MAN.  Ben Marra can do this, its all building up to this.  I know creating such a book is gonna take a long time and you’d have to turn down all sorts of work that pays the rent and shit but fuck that, ITS YOUR DUTY.

dont be a jerk, just buy it now right here: http://www.fantagraphics.com/americanblood/

Also, go over to my Patreon where you get uncensored images, music videos, art, and all sorts of fantastic shit from my 20 odd years in performance for real fucking cheap:https://www.patreon.com/shfb

[ramrodd]

Who was Pontius Pilate? - Historical Proof and Legends

COMMENTARY:

I see a costume that Miley Cyrus wears at some point in her break-out tour in your Rorschach ink blot. I went to Vietnam to make sure Miley Cyrus could motivate the troops in such a classic fashion. It's like a Round Eye USO show, instead of a Philippine cover band with a lead singer who could emote Linda Ronstadt singing "Willin'" in Atlanta. Miley is a part of that tradition. You can see Miley on stage with Alison Crause and Mary Travers and Pearl, fitting right in, harmonizing with Emmylou Harris. When I got back from Vietnam in 1971, back to the World, she was singing at "The Childe Harold" north of Dupont Circle and she was like a singer in a USO show.

That's a flash-back. You set off a Miley-Cyrus adult entertainment trigger in my libido. I went to Vietnam to make sure the 19th Amendment is fully implemented, globally, as my focus in the Great Commission. Moses corrupted the 9 Laws he was given on Sinai in order to claim property rights on the uterus, universally. The 7th of the 10 Commandments and the 10th Commandment were originally one commandment to the effect "Thou shalt not adulter the law to possess unjustly that which you covet of your neighbor" to "Thou shalt not commit adultry" in order to reduce the status of women to animal husbandry: Woman as Breeding Stock. And the 10th Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Covet" has become a weasle word like "Honor" in the commerce of the world. The world of the 10 Commandments.

If you begin with Melchizadek, the numerology is all wrong. 10 base numerology is the numerology of capitalism and it's historic artifact is the abacus. Narrative is the evidence of the Logos in operation in a human population, but music as an expression of the fushion of the Mythos and the Logos is what separates homo sapien from the Neanderthal.

History is a reconstruction of the human condition as if music didn't exist. History is a room filled with echoes of the past. History is further evidence of the operation of the Logos in the world, but without the Mythos that surrounds us eternally. The mythos surrounded the Neanderthal but it just frightened them. They had no way to transmit moral qualities, culturally, such as "courage" and "endurance" and "future". Song helped launch Logos out of the Mythos. History is cleaning up after the main event.

The "10" of the "10" commandments is what the 19th Amendment fixies in the Human Condition. In the Beginning, was the Word, but before the Word was, Number IS and the Great I AM are one. And the 9 base numerology is what Melchizadek gave Abram. 19 is literally the Alpha and Omega of divine numerology. The "0" symbol, "Zero", is an artifact of the process theology in operation from Melchizadek throughout the Mediterranean Basin that achieved the critical mass in 70 and produced the US Constitution. Along the way, Khadijah opened a divine portal for Mohammad that produced the Meccan Suras in the Quran and, when she died, that portal closed, but Mohammad pretended it didn't happen while he wrapped himself in the silk of his child bride's night gowns, trying to find the key to the portal only Khadijah could open in him. Islam is a Gnostic religion: for all intents and purposes, the Quran is the hymnal for the Gospel of Thomas. Allah is the demi-urge that stalks Moses in the mountain lodge and is the Spirit of the Lord in Genesis 1:2. And the intellectual rigors of Islam, as bent out of shape as they are. produce Zed and the X Commandments becomes understood as the 10 Commandments and there has been a very low volume but persistent subject of inquiry in the Torah regarding why 10 commandments when the lesson of Joseph's accurate interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh employing Melchizadek's 9 base numerology. The basis for most Kabbalah mystery on the Tree of Life is the 10 base numerology of Moses 2nd version of what he had been given on Sinai.

A question of the sort of speculative theology like Richard Dawson and Richard Carrier. The reason why they are getting any traction at all is because of the post-modern deconstructive forensics dialectic of the Students for a Democratic Society that took over Columbia University because they were scared shitless of going to Vietnam. It's the Oliver Stone version of Vietnam. You are letting assholes like Richard Carrier interfer with the proposition that the Holy Ghost is a capitalist tool in the economics of Jesus as explicated by Adam Smith.

Of course, so is the Pro-Life heresy based on the corruption of the 9 Commandments. The 19th Amendment is absolute, existential, historic proof of the Logos at work in the affairs of America and, by our example, humankind. Robert Jeffress's Pro-Life heresy violates the 19th Amendment as a reflection of the Hand of God.

So, that's what I saw in your Rorschach blot. But, then, I am always Evangelicals to introduce sex into the sermon at some point. It helps to get the juices flowing before you pass around the collection plate. It's like you came on stage in jogging shorts over panty hose and heels and pulled on a garter for gentlemen to stuff bills of various denominations in, except it's a family show, so it has a certain Godspell-era Campus Crusade for Christ schtick to it. Baseball summer camp evangelism.

Cornelius is in the room with Jesus and Pilate. Jesus is in full-Jihadist mode: for all intents and purposes, lit a match when He withered the fig tree and, like the Zippo Monk, is just waiting for the Romans to dump a couple of jerry cans of gasoline over him. The Jewish lynch mob lights the spiritual fuse leading to the destruction of the Temple by demanding Jesus Barabbas instead of Jesus of Nazareth: Revelation is a very radical literary narrative of the spiritual time line from Mark 15:38 to 70.

But Cornelius knows Jesus, personally: he had become aware of Him as part ebb and flow of the religious community in Capernaum. We know this from Acts X. You might ask yourself, as a dedicated historic Jesus sleuth, what is a high-ranking Roman soldier doing, hanging out at a synagogue.

Well, Capernaum is on the trade route coming in from Persia and Asia to cross the land bridge into Africa. As a senior intelligence officer, the Capernaum is a useful listening post of the local situation. Pilate's core mission was to keep these trade routes open and free of the sort of Free Market piracy that operated as a counter-point to Pax Romana.  It made sense for Cornelius to become a common sight on the Sabbath to listen from the Gentiles Court of the synagogue of the war stories of the Torah and Judges and Prophets. Because of Melchizedek, the Roman Republic found it expedient to make God Fearers as ecumenical as possible. Large system governance was right at the end of the transition of the theocracies of the Aesthetic to the secular republics of the Ethic. Melchizedek had set this transition in motion throughout the Mediterranean Basin at the same time. It all came to a head in a cluster of events, the composition of Revelation, which is the bookend of the age of Melchizedek in the Bible, the composition of Hebrews, and the destruction of the Temple as a cultural dead end resulting from Moses corruption of the IX Commandments to the X Commandments. The Emperor Worship that rose to prominence in the 1st Century reflects the last gasp of the pre-historic theocracies of the Aesthetic Age and the dominance of the secular rule of law of the Ethic Age evolving eventually to the US Constitution and Democratic Socialism as the core technology of American-British constitutional capitalism. As a centurion, Cornelius was on the leading edge of the Industrial Age and, consequently, his behavior as a professional soldier is predictable and eternal and being an intelligence agent for Rome while absorbing the spiritual values consistent with his own ethical construct from the local culture reflects my own experience as a republican war fighter in Vietnam. Same mud, same blood.

And Cornelius knew Jesus was big medicine before He was remanded to his custody right at the Vernal Equinox and in the middle of an annual exercise in crowd control and political suppression in Israel and Judah. There are a lot of theories for Pilate's behavior in the 4 Gospels, but a factor is the Sajanus plot. Pilate was largely a very successful regional manager for Rome, but he was a little gun shy from missteps he had made with the Jews that weren't worth the trouble for purely commercial reasons: the Roman empire never recovered from the destruction of Jerusalem as a very potent money pump. Revelation provides an inventory of the luxury items Jerusalem distributed throughout all the world. One way or another, Pilate survived the purge after 31. The unkown factor is, was Jesus crucified before or after Sajanus was discovered? History tells us that the Roman nickname for the Jewish followers of Jesus “Christians” went to Rome before it went to Antioch and to Antioch before it got to Jerusalem, although Roman solders roamed all over the region. We know, historically, that Felix knew all about the local Christians, which the local Christians called The Way in Acts 24:22. Cornelius's presence, and involvement in the Capernaum synagogue was part of the network that informed Felix about The Way, only Cornelius knew about The Word before it became The Way and had created what became the Q source to keep track of it, the Word,  without knowing Jesus would land in front of him and Pilate for disposition as a bit of political expedience. If He had just died and disappeared, the Gospel of Mark would never have had any military urgency it had after the Resurrection. And copies of everything Cornelius collected in the intelligence files of the Q source ended up in the hands of Theophilus in Rome while they tried to reverse engineer Resurrection and the other super powers of Jesus of Nazareth. The result is Hebrews and Acts 10:34 – 43 is the textual origin of the Apostle's Creed.

Pilate's role was to make sure word of The Word went up the chain of command to the Roman-equivalent of the Pentagon and State Department, the Praetorian Guard represented by Theophilus. That's why Pilate is mentioned in the Apostle's creed, to establish the Roman provenance of the Gospel of Mark and the Q source.

Speaking from a patreon.com/tmbh perspective, it would be interesting for you to explore the music you associate with any given pericope. For example, during the initial moments of the flirtation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, I hear Shania Twain's “That don't impress me much”. She's flirting with Him and He's enjoying her company. She's come to the well in the middle of the day to get pregnant like Tamar with Judah. When He starts talking about “living waters” she assumes He's good to go and begins to press Him to get down to business. The music I hear here is Ace of Bass “All that she wants (is another baby)” and then He makes her pregnant by immaculate conception and the music stops. And then the Disciples return and break the spell and she runs home to announce the Messiah to Natalie Merchant's Kind and Generous.

Try that idea out and see if it doesn't begin to fill in your historical grid of Jesus in a delightful new way.

Merry Boxing Day 2019.

[cyberblogin]

Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts. Perhaps known to many only because of this year’s “VSCO girl” meme explosion, the company has long been coaxing the creative community to its freemium platform. Turns out, if you can provide the disillusioned teens of Gen Z respite from the horrors of social media — they’ll pay for it.

VSCO is on pace to surpass 4 million paying users in 2020, up from 2 million paying users in late 2018, the company said. Approaching $80 million in annual revenue, VSCO charges an annual subscription fee of $19.99 for access to a full-suite of mobile photo-editing tools, exclusive photo filters, tutorials and more. For no cost, users can access a handful of basic VSCO filters, standard editing tools and loads of content published by other users in VSCO’s photo feed.

In recent months, the company’s Oakland headquarters has swelled to 150 employees, an increase of 50% from 2018, with a new office in Chicago expected to fit several dozen more. The company, which counts 100 million registered users to date, has also recently inked a partnership with Snap. Together, they’ve launched Analog, VSCO’s first-ever Snapchat lens, in a deal that hints at a future acquisition. Needless to say, VSCO co-founder and chief executive officer Joel Flory is feeling pretty optimistic ahead of his company’s eighth birthday.

“When you walk into a museum, you don’t see the net worth of the artist,” Flory tells TechCrunch. “You don’t see how many people have walked through the museum. There’s not a space for people to write comments and leave stickers. It’s a moment. It’s for you. You get to sit in front of a piece of work, a piece of art. And does it move you? Does it speak to you? Are you able to learn something from it? Does it inspire you to go do something? How can we create a space in which you could do that online? That was our initial insight.”

Flory, a 40-year-old former wedding photographer, wears a grey Oakland Roots sweatshirt and a black Oakland Athletics hat when I meet him at VSCO’s offices on Oakland’s Broadway Avenue in November. He doesn’t look like the Gen Z whisperer I expected to meet, and his responses to my questions about the “VSCO girl” meme paint a picture of a CEO who’s inadvertently connected with a generation 20 years his junior. “It’s a sense of caring about the environment and kind of caring about causes that have a meaning and impact,” Flory said of “VSCO girls,” who have more-oft been described as 21st century valley girls or “annoying, white hopeless romantics.”

On one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are. VSCO CEO Joel Flory

Regardless of Flory’s ability to decode Gen Z, VSCO continues to be beloved by millions of teenagers and young adults worldwide. Without selling ads or customer data, VSCO has developed a sustainable subscription-based business and written a new playbook for social media businesses in a world where Facebook’s advertising-based model is king. For those fed up with platforms that have facilitated bullying and failed to prioritize privacy, VSCO may be a protective corner of the internet.

“The creator always wins, the community always wins, who’s paying us wins and VSCO wins,” Flory said. “It sounds simple, but this creates a business model in which our business is not extracting value from any one group to give to someone else. It’s this direct relationship with who’s paying us.”

VSCO CEO Joel Flory speaks to attendees while teaching phone photography class during The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. Photographer: Martina Albertazzi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A sense of belonging

Hot off the heels of a rare moment in the spotlight, VSCO, reportedly valued at $550 million, is ripe for a new round of funding. Flory, naturally, remained mum on any plans to sell the company or raise additional capital. But he was ready and willing to speak to the company’s untraditional path and the unique connection it has fostered with its users.

Flory tells me 75% of VSCO’s registered users and 55% of its paying subscribers are younger than 25, giving the company a small foothold into the most coveted demographic. On top of that, the hashtag #VSCO has been viewed 4 billion times on the immensely popular video sharing app Tik Tok, again according to the company’s own statistics, and another 450 million times on Instagram. With 40 million monthly active users — Facebook had 2.45 billion monthly active users as of September, for context — VSCO is by no means a competitor to Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram, Snap or Twitter. What it is, however, is a leader in the new era of social media, in which users demand more transparent, equitable relationships with social platforms.

“[Gen Z] knows what each platform is good for and what the downfalls of each are,” Flory said. “They are actively making investments in creativity and in their mental health, and they are seeking out a space where they can be who they are. And the fact that they’re even talking about mental health, anxiety, depression and compare culture — it took me so long in life to be able to articulate what I was feeling … They’re putting their money and time in brands and causes that they care about. And so for us, that’s why I think we’ve seen a lot of our growth.”

Flory and VSCO co-founder Greg Lutze, a long-time creative director-turned-chief experience officer, began building VSCO, an acronym for Visual Supply Co., in 2011. Facebook was more than six years old and mere months from hitting the 1 billion monthly active user milestone when VSCO launched its first product, a photo-editing plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Instagram, for its part, was a burgeoning photo-based social network that had launched the year before to “ignite communication through images.” Unlike Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who famously created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, or Instagram’s founding CEO Kevin Systrom, a former Google employee, Flory and Lutze had absolutely no experience in the tech or startup world. The pair banded together to build something focused around the creative community — not to construct a venture-backed startup.

“We wanted to provide the tools for you to express yourself and then a space for you to do that, one that was void of the pressures around likes and comments that create this compare culture, which wasn’t even prevalent yet,” Flory said. “Now we’re seeing this played out on a large scale. So on one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are.”

The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before. VSCO CEO Joel Flory

After launching VSCO as an Adobe plug-in, improved camera capabilities on smartphones motivated the business to change course. In the spring of 2013, the business launched its mobile app, a free photo-editing tool with in-app purchases and an affiliated community. The app reached 1 million downloads one week later and would eventually adopt a freemium model to earn money from its power users. Since its app launch, VSCO has remained a top-five grossing photo app on Apple’s App Store.

VSCO’s Oakland offices.

New opportunities

Though seldom mentioned on the venture capital and startup blogs, VSCO is indeed supported by VC dollars. Before its subscription revenue could sustain the business, the company brought in $90 million in VC funding from Accel, Glynn Capital Management, Obvious Ventures and Goldcrest Investments, closing its most recent round in 2015.

Flory and Lutze never sought venture funding. The former photographer and creative director didn’t have connections to venture capitalists or an in at a particular firm. Instead, Accel partners Vas Natarajan and Ryan Sweeney approached VSCO with “a thesis around the importance of design and creativity in the future,” Flory said, and quickly formed an alliance. Today, VSCO isn’t profitable, though it has been in the past, Flory said. It did, however, operate at “near break-even” last year — an accomplishment today as startups often lose hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis. With a valuation of $550 million, which Flory would neither confirm or deny, VSCO plans to invest heavily in growth next year.

As for the “VSCO girl” meme explosion, largely a mockery of white middle-class, social-media-savvy teenagers, it provided a jolt of publicity for a nearly decade-old company lost in the shadow of the giants. Though the meme entered the internet’s zeitgeist many months ago, the company is still riding a wave of press (and likely downloads) tied to its popularity. For many, the VSCO girl was their first encounter with VSCO, while for others, the photo-editing and sharing tool has been a fixture of their home screen for years.

As Instagram explores hiding likes in a bid to promote user health and other social media companies realize the importance of safety, security and mental wellness, VSCO may see its unique identity fade. Regardless, Flory says he wants other platforms to realize the impact of likes: “I honestly hope everyone thinks about what’s good for people’s mental health and builds more products that have a positive impact than a negative impact.”

Instagram’s experiments aside, VSCO is gearing up for another banner year, packed with plans for new features and products entirely. In our chat last month, Flory mentioned video design, publishing and editing, as well as illustration, as areas of interest for the now established photo-editing tool.

“The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before,” Flory said. “And what it’s doing is opening all of these new areas of opportunity. We’re focused on not only how you create content and how you edit content, but ultimately, how you tell a story with that content.”

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Inside VSCO, a Gen Z-approved photo-sharing app, with CEO Joel Flory Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts.

[dizzedcom]

Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts. Perhaps known to many only because of this year’s “VSCO girl” meme explosion, the company has long been coaxing the creative community to its freemium platform. Turns out, if you can provide the disillusioned teens of Gen Z respite from the horrors of social media — they’ll pay for it.

VSCO is on pace to surpass 4 million paying users in 2020, up from 2 million paying users in late 2018, the company said. Approaching $80 million in annual revenue, VSCO charges an annual subscription fee of $19.99 for access to a full-suite of mobile photo-editing tools, exclusive photo filters, tutorials and more. For no cost, users can access a handful of basic VSCO filters, standard editing tools and loads of content published by other users in VSCO’s photo feed.

In recent months, the company’s Oakland headquarters has swelled to 150 employees, an increase of 50% from 2018, with a new office in Chicago expected to fit several dozen more. The company, which counts 100 million registered users to date, has also recently inked a partnership with Snap. Together, they’ve launched Analog, VSCO’s first-ever Snapchat lens, in a deal that hints at a future acquisition. Needless to say, VSCO co-founder and chief executive officer Joel Flory is feeling pretty optimistic ahead of his company’s eighth birthday.

“When you walk into a museum, you don’t see the net worth of the artist,” Flory tells TechCrunch. “You don’t see how many people have walked through the museum. There’s not a space for people to write comments and leave stickers. It’s a moment. It’s for you. You get to sit in front of a piece of work, a piece of art. And does it move you? Does it speak to you? Are you able to learn something from it? Does it inspire you to go do something? How can we create a space in which you could do that online? That was our initial insight.”

Flory, a 40-year-old former wedding photographer, wears a grey Oakland Roots sweatshirt and a black Oakland Athletics hat when I meet him at VSCO’s offices on Oakland’s Broadway Avenue in November. He doesn’t look like the Gen Z whisperer I expected to meet, and his responses to my questions about the “VSCO girl” meme paint a picture of a CEO who’s inadvertently connected with a generation 20 years his junior. “It’s a sense of caring about the environment and kind of caring about causes that have a meaning and impact,” Flory said of “VSCO girls,” who have more-oft been described as 21st century valley girls or “annoying, white hopeless romantics.”

<div class="article-block block--pullout block--right"> <blockquote> On one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are. <cite>VSCO CEO <a class="crunchbase-link" href="https://crunchbase.com/person/joel-flory" data-type="person" data-entity="joel-flory">Joel Flory</cite> <span class="crunchbase-tooltip-indicator"></span></a> </blockquote> </div>

Regardless of Flory’s ability to decode Gen Z, VSCO continues to be beloved by millions of teenagers and young adults worldwide. Without selling ads or customer data, VSCO has developed a sustainable subscription-based business and written a new playbook for social media businesses in a world where Facebook’s advertising-based model is king. For those fed up with platforms that have facilitated bullying and failed to prioritize privacy, VSCO may be a protective corner of the internet.

“The creator always wins, the community always wins, who’s paying us wins and VSCO wins,” Flory said. “It sounds simple, but this creates a business model in which our business is not extracting value from any one group to give to someone else. It’s this direct relationship with who’s paying us.”

VSCO CEO Joel Flory speaks to attendees while teaching phone photography class during The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. Photographer: Martina Albertazzi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A sense of belonging

Hot off the heels of a rare moment in the spotlight, VSCO, reportedly valued at $550 million, is ripe for a new round of funding. Flory, naturally, remained mum on any plans to sell the company or raise additional capital. But he was ready and willing to speak to the company’s untraditional path and the unique connection it has fostered with its users.

Flory tells me 75% of VSCO’s registered users and 55% of its paying subscribers are younger than 25, giving the company a small foothold into the most coveted demographic. On top of that, the hashtag #VSCO has been viewed 4 billion times on the immensely popular video sharing app Tik Tok, again according to the company’s own statistics, and another 450 million times on Instagram. With 80 million monthly active users — Facebook had 2.45 billion monthly active users as of September, for context — VSCO is by no means a competitor to Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram, Snap or Twitter. What it is, however, is a leader in the new era of social media, in which users demand more transparent, equitable relationships with social platforms.

“[Gen Z] knows what each platform is good for and what the downfalls of each are,” Flory said. “They are actively making investments in creativity and in their mental health, and they are seeking out a space where they can be who they are. And the fact that they’re even talking about mental health, anxiety, depression and compare culture — it took me so long in life to be able to articulate what I was feeling … They’re putting their money and time in brands and causes that they care about. And so for us, that’s why I think we’ve seen a lot of our growth.”

Flory and VSCO co-founder Greg Lutze, a long-time creative director-turned-chief experience officer, began building VSCO, an acronym for Visual Supply Co., in 2011. Facebook was more than six years old and mere months from hitting the 1 billion monthly active user milestone when VSCO launched its first product, a photo-editing plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Instagram, for its part, was a burgeoning photo-based social network that had launched the year before to “ignite communication through images.” Unlike Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who famously created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, or Instagram’s founding CEO Kevin Systrom, a former Google employee, Flory and Lutze had absolutely no experience in the tech or startup world. The pair banded together to build something focused around the creative community — not to construct a venture-backed startup.

“We wanted to provide the tools for you to express yourself and then a space for you to do that, one that was void of the pressures around likes and comments that create this compare culture, which wasn’t even prevalent yet,” Flory said. “Now we’re seeing this played out on a large scale. So on one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are.”

<div class="article-block block--pullout block--right"> <blockquote> The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before. <cite>VSCO CEO Joel Flory</cite> </blockquote> </div>

After launching VSCO as an Adobe plug-in, improved camera capabilities on smartphones motivated the business to change course. In the spring of 2013, the business launched its mobile app, a free photo-editing tool with in-app purchases and an affiliated community. The app reached 1 million downloads one week later and would eventually adopt a freemium model to earn money from its power users. Since its app launch, VSCO has remained a top-five grossing photo app on Apple’s App Store.

VSCO’s Oakland offices.

New opportunities

Though seldom mentioned on the venture capital and startup blogs, VSCO is indeed supported by VC dollars. Before its subscription revenue could sustain the business, the company brought in $70 million in VC funding from Accel, Glynn Capital Management, Obvious Ventures, Goldcrest Investments and others, closing its most recent round in 2015.

Flory and Lutze never sought venture funding. The former photographer and creative director didn’t have connections to venture capitalists or an in at a particular firm. Instead, Accel partners Vas Natarajan and Ryan Sweeney approached VSCO with “a thesis around the importance of design and creativity in the future,” Flory said, and quickly formed an alliance. Today, VSCO isn’t profitable, though it has been in the past, Flory said. It did, however, operate at “near break-even” last year — an accomplishment today as startups often lose hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis. With a valuation of $550 million, which Flory would neither confirm or deny, VSCO plans to invest heavily in growth next year.

As for the “VSCO girl” meme explosion, largely a mockery of white middle-class, social-media-savvy teenagers, it provided a jolt of publicity for a nearly decade-old company lost in the shadow of the giants. Though the meme entered the internet’s zeitgeist many months ago, the company is still riding a wave of press (and likely downloads) tied to its popularity. For many, the VSCO girl was their first encounter with VSCO, while for others, the photo-editing and sharing tool has been a fixture of their home screen for years.

As Instagram explores hiding likes in a bid to promote user health and other social media companies realize the importance of safety, security and mental wellness, VSCO may see its unique identity fade. Regardless, Flory says he wants other platforms to realize the impact of likes: “I honestly hope everyone thinks about what’s good for people’s mental health and builds more products that have a positive impact than a negative impact.”

Instagram’s experiments aside, VSCO is gearing up for another banner year, packed with plans for new features and products entirely. In our chat last month, Flory mentioned video design, publishing and editing, as well as illustration, as areas of interest for the now established photo-editing tool.

“The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before,” Flory said. “And what it’s doing is opening all of these new areas of opportunity. We’re focused on not only how you create content and how you edit content, but ultimately, how you tell a story with that content.”

Inside VSCO, a Gen Z-approved photo-sharing app, with CEO Joel Flory Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts.

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/can-russia-survive-without-china/

Can Russia (or Iran) survive without China?

[this analysis was written for the Unz Review]

In a recent article entitled “China, Bolivia and Venezuela are proof that social democracy cannot thrive in the global capitalist order” my China-based friend and correspondent Jeff J. Brown asked me an exceedingly interesting and important question.  He wrote:

Russia is a social democracy, with a large, successful people owned industrial sector and many social services for the 99% from the Soviet era. But, unlike Bolivia and Ukraine, it is avoiding the West’s color revolution poison pill, because since 1999, Russia has gone from strength to strength, under the inspired leadership of patriotic President Vladimir Putin. But like all social democracies, the problem is what happens if another Western whore Boris Yeltsin succeeds Putin, and returns Russia to its dystopian Wall Street rape of the 1990s? Then what? It only took Macri four short years to bring Argentina back onto its groveling knees. Without a 100% nationalized media, Russians had better be demanding that Putin & Russian Patriots Inc. work overtime to censor all the Western overthrow garbage that is put in Cyrillic ink and on the airwaves.  I would love to hear what my good friend Andrei Raevsky thinks about this at The Saker (http://thesaker.is/), because let’s be honest: without China’s, Russia’s and Iran’s continued anti-imperial independence and socialist success into the 21st century, humanity can kiss its ass goodbye!

Let’s begin by deconstructing the assumptions and implications of Jeff’s question.China and Russia *could* be separatedThe first assumptions Jeff makes are the following ones:

Russia is a social democracy

The Russian media is not 100% state controlled

A new Eltsin might succeed Putin

The West is saturating the Russian information space with garbage

That western propaganda can still strongly impact Russia

China and Russia *could* be separated (hence the need to prevent that as the central thesis of Jeff)

And, finally, considering the above, Jeff offers the following compelling implication for the China-Russia-Iran triangle:

Considering the above, China’s independence and support for Russia and Iran are vital for the sovereignty and freedom, if not survival, of Russia and Iran

Now let’s begin by looking into Jeff’s assumptions:

Russia is a social democracy:

Yes and no.  If we define a social democracy as being a specific polity and system of laws, then Russia is a social democracy.  However, if we define social democracy as a specific polity, system of laws and social culture, then I would argue that to the extent that Russia is, indeed, a social democracy, she is a rather weird one.  What do I mean by that?

By that I mean that thanks to the nightmare of “democracy” under Eltsin and his US curators, and thanks to the recent explosion of “democracy” in the Ukraine, the Russian people have by and large come to consider the words “liberal” and “democracy” as four letter words.  For example, the word “либерал” (liberal) has now given birth to a derived word либераст which takes the first letters of the word “liberal” and adds the last letters of the word педераст (pederast – a rude word for homosexual [yes, in Russian homosexuality and pederasty are not separated!]) which results in the new word “liberast” the closest to which in English would be something like “libfag”, hardly a compliment. In some interpretations, a “liberast” is also somebody who has been “f**ked by democracy“.  Not much better…  As for the word “демократия” (democracy) for years it has already been called “дерьмократия” (using the first letters of дерьмо (der’mo or shit) and the last letter of democracy to create der’mokratia or “shitocracy”.  Finally, there is also the saying that “демократия, это власть демократов” (democracy is the rule of the democrats), which for a country which has undergone the 1990s and seen the Ukraine being comprehensively FUBARed is ominous; not funny at all.  All this is simply to show that culturally the Russian society is not at all your typical social democracy.  It is a sort of democracy in which the majority of the people do not believe in democracy.  This is very important, crucial even, and I will address this issue later.

The Russian media is not 100% state controlled:

That is absolutely true!  However, it misses an important point: the real profile of the Russian media which is much more complex than “state controlled” vs “free media”.  To make a long story short, the main TV channels, while not really “controlled” by the state at all, are mostly pro-Kremlin.  But here we need to get the cause and effect right: these channels are not pro-Kremlin only because they get state funds or because of the political power of the Kremlin, the main reason why they are pro-Kremlin is the terrible rating of those media outlets who took a strong anti-Kremlin position.

To make my point, I want to mention the rabidly anti-Kremlin TV station which is very well known in Russia (Dozhd’ – see here for the (predictably complimentary) entry in Wikipedia for this TV channel).  In fact, Dozhd’ is just the best known of a fairly extensive anti-Kremlin media but, in reality, there are many more outlets which hold an anti-Kremlin pro-Empire line.  However, as I explained in a 2016 article entitled “Counter-Propaganda, Russian Style”  and then, again, in 2017, in the article “Revisiting Russian Counter-Propaganda Methods” the Kremlin has developed a very effective counter-propaganda strategy: instead of suppressing the Empire’s propaganda (like the Soviets did, most unsuccessfully), the Kremlin now directly funds that same propaganda!  Not only does the (state-owned) Gazprom finance Dozd’ – the western and Russian liberal guests which ridicule themselves on Russian TV are also generously paid for each of their appearances.  Even hardcore Ukronazi nutcases get invited regularly (when they truly overdo it they also get into fights, or get kicked out of the studios, which is all very much fin to watch and is therefore watched by millions).  The truth is that at this point the AngloZionist propaganda in Russia has much more of a very healthy “vaccination” effect then the ability to convince anybody beyond the “traditional” 2-4% of folks in Russia who still think that the West is some kind of heaven on earth and Russia an ugly, vicious and freedom crushing “Mordor”.

This being said, there is one channel through which the worst of the western consumer-society propaganda still permeates Russia: commercials.   Russian commercials are mostly absolutely disgusting; they basically vehiculate one crude and simple message “Russians must become US Americans”.  That propaganda via commercials is, I think the single most toxic and insidious form of de-russification I can think of and it is far more dangerous than any other means of “defacing” Russia.

Finally, and to my great regret, media outlets like RT and Sputnik have decided to “go native” I suppose and they now cater to western tastes much more than to Russian ones.  The quasi constant “reporting” about MMA fights, minimally clad ladies, sex in all its shapes and forms and Hollywood gossip – all of this just goes to show that the folks in charge of these media outlets have decided that catering the the lowest possible social common denominator is the way to promote Russia abroad.  I am not so sure.  What began with “Question More” and “Telling the Untold” now seems more preoccupied with trying to copy the yellow press in the UK than to challenge the Empire.  I very much regret that state of affairs.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of 5th columnists and russophobes in these media outlets (especially in their online, Internet-based, websites; the actual radio/TV shows are mostly better).

So all is not rosy in the Russian media scene, but its not all bad either.

A new Eltsin might succeed Putin

Here I can only completely agree, and that is very scary.  Due to the lack of space, I will present my arguments in a short, bullet-point, list:

“Russia” is still very much a “one man show” meaning that Putin himself, as a person,  is still absolutely vital to the current functioning of Russia.  Not only are most Russians still strongly supportive of him personally, but there are no credible candidates to replace him.  Yes, there are a few potential candidates out there (in no special order: Ivanov, Shoigu and Rogozin would be the best known, but there are others, of course), but what makes it all worse is that historically, Russia, unlike China, has a very bad record of successions.

The 5th column is still there and while it keeps a very low profile (current events favor the Eurasian Sovereignists), it is still there, literally in all branches of power and very much inside the Moscow elites who hate Putin for putting an end to what they saw as the “Bonanza of the 1990s”.

There *is* a patriotic Russian opposition to Putin, and it is slowly growing, but it is poorly organized, has a lot of clueless nostalgics of the Soviet era and a lot of its criticisms are, frankly, naive or plain silly (along with very valid points too!).  I don’t see this opposition capable of producing a strong and credible leader.  But that might change in the future.

Thus the cornerstone of “Putinism” is Putin himself.  With him gone, for whatever reason, Putinism could very rapidly fade too.  This might be a good or a bad thing depending on the specific circumstances, but the chances that this might be a very bad thing are higher than the opposite being true.

“Putin The Man”, urgently needs to be replaced by “Putin The System”, but that is truly a herculean task because that means reforming/purging most of the immense and powerful Russian bureaucracy and find somewhere a new generation of men and women who could be both effective and trusted.  The problem is that in most cases when one man goes against a system, the system wins.  Putin is the proverbial case of a very good man in a very bad system.  True, he has successfully reformed the two branches of government which were most needed to make it possible for both him and Russia to survive the war the Empire was waging on Russia: the armed forces and the intelligence/security forces.  Other parts of the Russian state are still in a terrible shape (the entire legal system for starters!).

I think that the risk of an Eltsin-like prostitute coming to power is real, even if the bulk of the population would not necessarily approve of it (or be divided about it).  Long-term historical stability of a huge country like Russia cannot come from a man.  It can only come from institutions.  And just as Peter I destroyed the traditional Russian monarchy, so can one man destroy the current “new Russia” (for lack of a better descriptor), especially if this “new Russia” has only one man as its cornerstone.

Finally, history teaches us that every time that Russia is weak or disunited, the western powers immediately pounce and intervene, including with military means.  The Poles are still dreaming about yet another chance to prove Churchill’s diagnosis about Poland true and pounce on both the Ukraine and Russia if given the chance.

The West is saturating the Russian information space with garbage and western propaganda can still strongly impact Russia

As we have seen above, these are both at least partially true, but they are also not that much of a big deal.  This is clearly a source of potential concern, a danger, but not a threat (a danger being vague, a threat specific).  To the extend that this is a bad thing, this is mostly due to the hyper-materialistic consumer culture which currently competes against a much more traditional, Russian culture.  It is hard to say which one will win.  The former has much, much bigger financial means, the latter one has a strong ‘home turf advantage”.  Only time will show which will prevail.  So long as many Russians will  think “western propaganda lies” (which most understand) AND are attracted to western-style commercials (which are, in so many ways, an even much more effective and insidious form of propaganda), the jury will remain out on who will prevail should instability return to Russia.

China and Russia *could* be separated

This is probably the most important assumption made by Jeff.  First, since this is completely hypothetical, and since we are not future-seeing prophets let’s first agree to never say never and not dismiss this possibility out of hand.  This being said, I would like to remind everybody that Russia and China have gradually changed the labels which they applied to the other side.  The latest (as far as I know, Chinese speakers please correct me if needed!) expression used by Xi and other Chinese officials is “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era“.  There is a lot to unpack here, but let’s just say that this does not sound like the Chinese came up with that concept lightly or that they have many misgivings about the future of the relationship with Russia.  As for the Russians, they have now openly used the term “ally” on many occasions, including Putin.  In Russian that word “ally” (союзник) is a very strong one and contrasts sharply with the cynical and disgusted way the Russians always speak about their western “partners” (which often shocks those who don’t speak Russian).

And it is not all sweet talk either.  The Russians and the Chinese have had many and major joint military maneuvers, they have practiced the Russian equivalent of the US/NATO “Combined Joint Task Force” concept (see here for details).  Thus, while not formal allies, Russia and China do all the things which close allies do.  I would even argue that the “informal symbiosis” between Russia and China is far stronger than the NATO alliance.

It is my opinion that what Putin and Xi have done is something which has no previous equivalent in history, at least as far as I know.  Even though both Russia and China have been empires in the past, I strongly believe that both of these countries have entered a “post-imperial phase” in which the trappings of empire have been replaced by an acute sense that empires are extremely bad not only for the nations which it oppresses, but also for the nation which hosts it.  Both Russia and China have paid a horrendous price for their imperial years and both Russia and China completely understand that the people of the USA are also amongst the prime victims of the (transnational) Anglo-Zionist Empire, even if that is all too often forgotten.  Not only do they not want to repeat their own mistakes, they see the USA dying in the quicksands of imperialism and the last thing they want is to jump in and join the US.

I believe that the relationship between Russia and China is a symbiosis, which is much stronger than any alliances because while the latter can be broken, the former typically cannot (at least not without extremely severe consequences).  I also believe that Putin and Xi both understand that the fact that Russia and China are so completely different is not a problem, but a tremendous asset: they fit perfectly, like Lego or puzzle pieces.  What Russia has China does not and vice-versa.  And, just to clarify for the logically challenged: both sides also understand that they will never get from the other side by war what they could get by peaceful exchange.  Yes, the silly Polish dream of having Russia invaded by China several times (an old Polish joke of sorts) is only a reflection of the ancient Polish inferiority complex, not of geostrategic realities 🙂

Of course, in theory, anything could happen.  But I personally see no chain of events which could be sufficient to threaten the Sino-Russian symbiotic relationship, not even a collapse of “New Russia Putinism” (not elegant, but functional for our purposes) or the kind of chaos which a Eltsin type of comprador regime could try to reimpose on Russia.  At the end of the day, if Russia collapses then China will hold truly immense financial and economic power over Russia and will therefore be able to impose at least a China-friendly regime.  In that extremely unlikely case, Russia would, of course, lose her sovereignty, but not to the West, but to China.  That is not quite what Jeff had in mind.

Conclusion:

Yes, Russia and China need each other.  I would argue that they need each other.  Vitally.  And yes, the “loss” of one would threaten the other.  But that is not just true for Russia, it is also very true of China (which desperately needs Russian energy, high-tech, natural resources, weapons systems but most of all, Russian experience: for most of her existence Russia was threatened, invaded, attacked, sanctioned, boycotted and disparaged by a long succession of western states, and she defeated them all.  Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but each time Russia prevailed.  The determination and ability to resist the West is something which is deeply embedded in the Russian cultural DNA (this in sharp contrast with the rest of the so-called “East European” countries).  Finally, and for all their very real recent advances, the Chinese armed forces are still far behind the Russian (or the USA for that matter) and in a one-on-one war against the USA China would definitely lose, especially if the USA goes “all out”.  Russia, on the other hand, has the means to turn the US and Europe into a post-industrial nuclear wasteland (using nuclear and, most importantly, non-nuclear munitions!).

I would also add something Jeff did not address: Iran.  I believe that both Russia and China also very much need Iran.  Okay, that is not a vital need, both Russia and China could survive without an allied Iran, but Iran offers immense advantages to both countries, if only because thanks to the truly phenomenal stupidity of the Neocons the USA’s breathtakingly stupid policies in the Middle-East (here is just the latest example) have turned Iran into a regional super-power eclipsing both Israel and the KSA.  Furthermore, if Russia has shown much more political and moral courage than China (which, lets be honest, has been pretty happy to have Russia taking the brunt of the Empire’s attacks), Iran has shown much more political and moral courage than Russia, especially concerning the slow-motion genocide perpetrated by the Zionist Entity in Palestine.

And this brings us full circle to the discussion of what kind of country Russia currently really is.  Russia is not the Soviet Union.  Neither is she pre-1917 Russia.  But what is she really?

Nobody really knows, I think.

It is a moving target, a process.  This process might lead to a new and stable “new Russia”, but that is by no means certain.  Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 13 of the Russian Constitution say:

In the Russian Federation ideological diversity shall be recognized

No ideology may be established as state or obligatory one.

In the Russian Federation political diversity and multi-party system shall be recognized.

In other words, not only is there no “no official ideology” in Russia, there is an explicit recognition for a multi-party political system (itself an ideological statement, by the way).  These are all potentially very dangerous and toxic items in the Russian Constitution which already are hindering a true national, cultural, psychological and spiritual rebirth of Russia.  Iran, in contrast, has succeeded in creating an Islamic Republic which is both truly and unapologetically Islamic and truly democratic, at least in the sense that, unlike western democracies which are mostly run by minorities and for minorities (or a coalition of minorities), in Iran the majority supports the system in place.

And since the vast majority of the Russian people do not want a single-party-system or a return to Soviet times yet don’t believe in (western style) democracy, Russian intellectuals would be well advised to take a very close and careful look at what I would call the “Iranian model”, not to simply copy it, but to see what aspects of this model could be adapted to Russian realities.  Historical Russia was an Orthodox monarchy.  That time is gone and will never return.  Soviet Russia was a Marxist atheistic state.  That time is also forever gone.  Modern Russia can only find references, lessons and implications in her past, but she cannot simply resurrect Czarist or Communist Russia.  Of course, neither can she reject her entire history and declare it all ��bad” (which is what Russian “liberals” always do, which explains why they are so hated).

I don’t know what the future Russia will look like.  I am not even totally sure that this new Russia will ever really happen (though my gut feeling is that it will).  I hope that it will, but whether that happens or not will not be decided in China or by China (or any other country).  To conclude on a famous quote by Karl Marx “the emancipation of the workers must be the work of the workers themselves” (in Russian: “Освобождение рабочих должно быть делом самих рабочих”) which a famous Russian 1928 book turned into “the salvation of those who are drowning has to be the action of those drowning” (in Russian: “Спасение утопающих — дело рук самих утопающих”).  Whatever version you prefer (I prefer the 2nd one), the meaning is clear: you need to solve your problems by yourself or with those who share that problem with you.  In other words, Russians are the only ones who can save or destroy the Russian nation (I mean “Russian” in the traditional, Russian, multi-ethnic and multi-religious meaning of the words руссий and российский which in traditional Russian are both interchangeable or different depending on the context).

The Saker

PS: I leave you with a photo which, imho, speaks a thousand words