#its a reasonable concern and im trying to do what i can to mitigate his involvement | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bigskydreaming · 4 years

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Im asking this genuinely so pls dont yell at me; when you say that those using trigger warnings dont care about their readers’ mental health and wellbeing, what else are trigger warnings supposed to be for? To make sure people don’t enter fics that have material that would harm them. Just like tv shows that warn about nudity or violence or what have you. Its a rating system, theyre warnings. Tagging for rape or underage ARE the looking-out-for-readers thing. Past that, it is on readers to decide

I try not to yell at anyone engaging in good faith, I know it doesn’t always seem that way, but I would rather be engaged with than ignored...the latter is when my volume goes up, lol.

But in answer to your question, it comes down to the fact that trigger warnings are well established enough in fandom by now, that they exist as a kind of social contract.

In short, its EXPECTED that you provide trigger warnings, and that if you don’t have them, someone will bring that up at some point.

Problem is, this counter-productively works against what trigger warnings are actually FOR.....once we reach a point (which we’ve long since reached)....where a lot of people are only including the trigger warnings because of the social contract that expects them to have them, and not ACTUALLY because they’re prioritizing their readers’ well-being.

Something I see a LOT after trigger warnings is the phrase or sentiment “enter at your own risk”....and the phrasings are so, so key to what I’m talking about.

Take a small sampling and just look for what I’m describing and I’m fairly certain you won’t have to go far to find an example of a fic where the tone of the author is not one of concern for readers, but preemptive concern for potential backlash from readers.

And these are two very different things.

Like, we all know how to read and interpret tone and nuance. Its genuinely not that hard to tell the difference between a sincere expression of wanting readers to be aware of potentially triggering content, and a faux-expression of that when really, the only thing you’re worried about triggering is a negative reception from people, and you want to get ahead of that by making it clear from the get go that hey, you did your job, you warned readers, and thus nobody has any grounds to say anything about your content itself.

Because also too there’s the fact that trigger warnings are inherently fallible. They rely on the author’s own AWARENESS of their content and everything it might include......but a racist author isn’t going to place a trigger warning for using their characters as mouthpieces for even blatant white supremacist ideology.

A genuinely predatory author (and yes, they absolutely do exist, and its willful stubbornness that people rely on to pretend that like, for some bizarre reason, only genuinely predatory people don’t partake in this otherwise global hobby of reading and writing fiction, like what even is that, how do you arrive at that conclusion, that like, actual pedophiles are so busy preying on ‘real life’ teenagers in their zip code 24/7 that they just don’t have TIME to go online and cultivate predatory relationships with real life teenagers via social media? That doesn’t make any sense!)

But anyway, a genuinely predatory author, is absolutely NOT going to tag or place trigger warnings for pedophilia, etc....because they don’t WANT the things they write perceived that way.

People trying to normalize incest are not always going to tag for incest because they want to DISTANCE the cute, sweet dynamic between two ‘only sorta brothers’ as other than the kind of incest that destroys families...regardless of the reality that most cases of incest are the LATTER and its the FORMER that’s so rare it barely exists.

And that sort of thing is how we get terms like dub-con and pseudo-incest and ‘consensual underage sex’ when its describing a relationship between a minor and adult....because this is mitigating, distancing language. Its entire reason for existing is to make unpalatable content seem more palatable.

And especially in Batfandom, we KNOW this.

Because we all, practically universally, give Devin Grayson crap for describing the rape in Nightwing #93 as ‘nonconsensual sex’ and go.....THATS NOT A THING!

And then half of fandom turns around and....acts like that and similar stuff...IS A THING.

That doesn’t work! LOL. It just...doesn’t.

Or another example, because abuse can be just as triggering as rape.....like, for me, personally, I’m a survivor of both, and yes, both CAN be triggering. But not as much as people might think....like, just reading a depiction of these things doesn’t trigger me.

Its, like you were saying at the get go, yes, a matter of surprise.....the kind of thing that CAN be warned for, and prepared for, and its the sheer unexpectedness that’s usually the trigger.

Like.....I went off a few weeks ago about reading a story that was supposed to be about Dick’s brothers learning the truth about what led him to take the Spyral mission and what happened in Forever Evil. That’s what the summary said, that was it, that was the only thing it led me to expect about the story. So understandably, I go into the story expecting it to be sympathetic to Dick. I’m looking for catharsis from it honestly, a salve for the many fics and canon events that blamed and punished him for something I don’t consider his fault, right?

And then towards the end....I get Jason punching Dick again, before hugging him, because that’s just how he reluctantly shows love or whatever.

This genuinely triggered me, yeah. Its why I got so upset about it. Because I was blindsided, I had no way to prepare for it, because I went in expecting catharsis for a story that bothered me due to its victim blaming, and instead I got the author heaping on more of the same abuse we already saw in canon.....with zero awareness that’s what she was doing.

So....that’s absolutely something I wrestled with should I message the author and ask them to add a trigger warning or not? Because I genuinely could have used one. It would have helped. I would have avoided that story if I had any notion that might crop up in it, because frankly, that’s not something I had any interest in reading.

But problem is, there’s only really two realistic outcomes there. If she was open to hearing a genuine request for her to be aware that her content contained triggering material for a reader....chances are, she probably would have just edited it and taken that out entirely. It was just one line. Easy enough to do. It certainly didn’t add anything.

Problem is....there’s an equal and opposite likely outcome....that she’d get defensive, call this unsolicited criticism, and double down on the idea that what she had written wasn’t abuse, because obviously she doesn’t condone abuse, so she wouldn’t have written that plain and simple. It has to be acknowledged that a lot of authors ARE innately defensive about social content in their work, and not open to hearing they’ve done something offensive or triggering....because that’s like...literally the basis of the ‘no unsolicited criticism’ movement in fandom, even though being critical of toxic ideology expressed in content is NOT the same as offering criticism of someone’s writing in general.

So you see what I mean? A trigger warning COULD genuinely help in that situation....but our fandom environment simply flat out is not conducive for readers to be at all confident that they even CAN come forward and alert an author that they delved into an offensive, even harmful take with their content and be well received no matter HOW they phrase it....

For much the same reasons I mentioned in that other post. People are more likely to instinctively jump to the defense of the person WRITING the content that offended or did actual emotional harm....than the person simply trying to say, backed by their own lived experience of....being offended or experiencing emotional harm....hey, this is a problem for me and I would appreciate it being regarded as such....

Otherwise, what is even the POINT of this entire system of trigger warnings in the first place? If a problem for a reader isn’t regarded as worthy of attention in and of itself.....at least, not in comparison to whatever problem that READER’S problem creates for the WRITER.

You see what I’m saying? For this, and a lot of other reasons, trigger warnings are innately fallible. They rely on an honor code system, and the uncomfortable truth is none of us are actually naive enough to believe everyone in fandom is innately honorable enough to honor that....if they were, would we have as much cases of anon hate, spite fics, etc?

But fandom as a whole looked at the trigger warning system and decided well....its good enough. Because its not like I’m proposing a viable alternative, its not like I have a BETTER system in mind, offhand. All I do have is the point that well...no...its NOT good enough as is....because for a ton of reasons, there’s a ton of cases in which there’s a ton of people for which it flat out doesn’t work for or benefit at all.

But when this comes up to any degree, in any capacity whatsoever....and the only thing people fall back on is well, I tagged it, or I used trigger warnings what more do you want, or its good enough for me so that’s what matters, or just....

“I did what I was supposed to per the social contract about trigger warnings, so if anything goes wrong in your reading experience at this point, that’s entirely on you.”

Like, does that make sense?

Basically, there’s a world of difference between:

This is a problem that still needs solving because the solution provided now is not all-encompassing or inclusive....

And....

This is a problem that’s already been solved as far as I’m concerned, and I’m utilizing that solution so any further problems are just in the mind of the reader and have nothing to do with reality, let alone me and my work.

Again, as I said above....its the difference between genuinely engaging with other members of your fandom community with actual concern for THEIR fandom experience.....or faking engagement with other members of your fandom community when your only real concern is YOUR fandom experience, and at most, the experiences of anyone who already is of like minds to you on a subject.

Hopefully that answers your question or clarifies my stance there, anon. And thank you for actually engaging on this. It feels a bit like shouting into the void a lot of the time, lol.

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yeoldontknow · 5 years

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an update and some food for thought

hi friends. this will be the only time i will address the things that have gone on the last 24 hours on this blog. i do not, under any circumstances, enjoy drama or attempt to invite it to this space. my blog is meant to be a place of positivity, creativity, expression, safety, and conversation. it is not a place where i welcome negativity or harassment, and i certainly dont like having my friends or followers feel put in a position to defend me. im aware i did not ask them to, but who i am as a person doesnt actually like being the center of this kind of attention. and that is why i am saying the following once, and only once so that this conversation can stop.

i am putting my thoughts under a cut because i dont want to clog dashes.

balls deep, as with all my stories, was written from a place of fantasy. there is, quite honestly, nothing real about it. logistically, it makes no sense. hygienically, it makes no sense. but it is a fantasy of what if, an exaggeration of a very real kink i have. this is not to say i am unaware of the questionable morality of the setting, nor am i glossing over the very obvious problems of the location. and most of all, i absolutely do not condone the themes of that story. what i am saying, is that i walked into writing the story knowing that some would be uncomfortable with it. as with anything i write, i dont write to fulfill a large, broad group with perpetually safe topics. i write to experiment, i write to explore, and i write to learn. you can call this experimentation a failure, but i was very happy with it. i have never ever written anything like that before, and it is a stepping stone to other things i want to write. does this mean those types of settings will be used again? i cant really say. what i can say is that there are other, more morally ambiguous ideas i want to explore when it comes to sex, kinks, and emotions, and while i absolutely can see the perspective of the anons who voiced their concerns with me, i wanted the opportunity to voice my own.

this did not happen due to a number of anons that offered absolutely no constructive criticism or feedback. there were only three anons out of 27 that wanted to offer opinions about how this story made them feel, about how the structure or setting could have been different. the rest? told me i deserved to die. that i was a pedophile. that i need to go to prison. that i deserved to be banned from tumblr and writing altogether. that i was a disgusting excuse for human being. that it was offensive id even suggest they read the story. but, i never ever expect everyone to read what i write. the story was properly warned and tagged and the moodboard is a visual of where the story heads. now, i dont ever want to say a person shouldnt read what i write. i love giving the benefit of the doubt, and i love learning how others with the same kinks as me feel about what i write. if they genuinely were into the warnings, and read and saw something that was inherently wrong, i was ready to talk about it. but i got none of that. instead, i was met with majority harassment and hate.

the anons i received that voiced concerns were exciting for me, and taught me a valuable lesson. i was able to see their reasoning behind some of the issues they had, and went back and edited some of the dialogue to mitigate the concerns. and even though the story was properly warned, moving forward i will be changing my warning methods. i am still deciding how this will look, how deep i will want to go, but im astutely aware of the very real triggers this may have roused in some readers, and i want to make sure - in the effort of maintaining this safe space - that those kinds of responses dont happen again with my readers, friends, or strangers. my intention with anything i write is to inspire, to encourage conversation or criticism, and to explore methods of self-expression - no matter how wrong or uncomfortable. hero, for example, contains incredibly triggering themes - chapters 7 and 13 spring immediately to mind. brooklyn is burning also contains some pretty irresponsible smut and triggering themes. and my upcoming work for joyride & finesse will also be extremely triggering. so the responses i did receive from respectful anons was considerate and helpful for me.

again, i want to make clear i am not glossing over the setting. if anything, the types of settings included in public sex kinks range from places like this to other, more open spaces. amusement parks. parks in general. fairs. ive even read a story that took place in a bouncy castle. kink, in many cases, intersects with fantasy - it is a kink because we want to try it or think about it, feel excitement from it, but are told we morally shouldnt and therefore it becomes regarded as a kink. the term kink itself contains a range of definitions, including sexual perversion, participation in uncommon sex acts, and non-traditional sex acts. that’s just scratching the surface. in order for me to grow as a writer its important i branch out and try things not everyone will enjoy or approve of - sometimes, things not even i would approve of. so i thank those anons for voicing their opinions - it was an excellent litmus test for the rest of my days on tumblr.

but for those who thought spouting hate and vitriol my way would be an effective way of telling me never to try something, i am sorry. i cannot let you win. ive said before the readership on my blog is important to me, and i am fully aware i have been called a role model or an inspiration to young writers. if they see someone like me, someone much older and confident in their skills, let someone harass them into silence, that is worse to me than upsetting a handful of people. so no, you did not win.

balls deep has been edited and will be posted again sometime this week, in its new form. anon asks will remain off. because if you want to voice your concerns, i want to speak with you and see you. i want a real conversation, not hate.

thank you all for your flood of warm, kind, and supportive messages. i really am thankful for the ambush of support that has stemmed from this. from now to eternity however, i am seeking mature conversations and helpful, considerate feedback. that is how you foster an open, expressive community. i love all of you to the moon and back.

#psa

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ekebolou · 7 years

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#20! Tenor Group

Hahahahaaaaaaa I accidentally kinda went off on this one. I have another idea for a shorter one, but who knows if I’ll get to writing it down. Anyway, I spent way too long on this hope you like it :B

For once, all six of them were together, walking down a far too chilly hallway on a floor higher up than their own floor in the Tenor Building. Because of the separate elevators for different stretches for floors, they had assumed the elevators for the stretch of floors above them simply didn’t connect to their floor (or, in Bosh’s opinion, they didn’t exist). The suit who had come to get them, however, had opened a panel and inserted a key and suddenly they were going up.

It was hard to avoid the conclusion that they were in trouble.

“You shouldn’t have gone in on that bank robbery,” Bosh hissed at Seth’s back. This wasn’t smart, since the vast majority of her road rash received during said bank robbery was on the backs of her arms, making her somewhat sensitive to changes in the air behind her. Also, it was unwise generally, because in her extremely short words on the matter yesterday, she had been ‘having trouble regulating heat.’

Decon, in his head, had likened it to speaking near a guttering candle – every breath moved the flame. Except it wasn’t very apt, because instead of going out, the flame reared up and swallowed your face.

At this moment, however, she chose not to respond.

“We aren’t supposed to have anything to do with crime-fighting, or whatever the fu–”

“Bosh,” Decon said.

“Fuck off with that propriety shit, Decon, you two just blew our whole future here—”

Fir pushing past him to take the lead stopped his talk – or maybe it was the slightly obnoxious smell of the black licorice from the bag cradled in his arm. “He’s not correcting your potty mouth, he’s trying to make sure she doesn’t fry you before we get to the boardroom.”

“You assholes haven’t ruined my chances,” Julie said. “Or you better not have, because if you have…”

“Julie, you weren’t even there,” Decon said gently. “There’s no way you’ll be held responsible.”

Looking no less sour, Julie pressed her lips together and looked away. The others were thinking of upgrading their estimation of Decon’s abilities to include disagreeing with Julie without the situation escalating.

“Yeah,” Firmament offered, walking backward in front of the group and speak around the strand of the licorice wheel he was unpeeling, “the ol’ man nee’s you to make ‘im nukes or whatever anyway. ’S just us.”

“The fuckup trifecta!” Bosh cried.

“Wes was there,” Decon said.

“Wes didn’t fuck up. He doesn’t have any powers, he can just go back to a normie or whatever.”

Everyone (except Julie, who disdainfully looked the opposite direction) looked at Wes. Wes shrugged.

“It’s not fucking up to help people,” Fir drawled. “Anyway, nobody used their powers,” his eyes slid over to Seth, “proveably, anyway.”

Decon saw the candle flicker vividly in his mind. Not for the first time, he had reason to marvel at the human tendency to just stop and watch, say, an explosion, rather than running for their lives. Otherwise he was mentally joining Wes in a contemplation of what, in fact, would happen to Wes should he lose the sponsorship of the group. At this point, going back into the care of Dr. Hardwick, however vital she was to him, was not promising. Unlike Firmament, he had disposed of all of his scrubs.

“It is when there’s a fucking law, or congressional act… thingie, or amendment, or whatever to keep you from doing it! Or else what was our fearless leader’s big talk about ‘not raising concerns’ or ‘keeping a low profile’ or whatever that nonsense–”

“Bosh,” Fir said, “she is going to set you on fire.”

Because Bosh could check on the reality of that statement, and he did, he stopped talking.

“How is there this long of a fucking hallways in this building,” Firmament said, turning slowly as he walked. “Who actually has big, dark, secret boardrooms at the tops of towers? I feel like we’re going to fight a wizard, not get a scolding from our boss,”

“A scolding would be lucky,” Seth said.

Everybody stopped talking.

It was a long and quiet walk.

There was an anteroom to the board room that made it feel like they were being decontaminated before entering a delicate environment. All glass walls but for the one with the door, which helped the light fight against the abyssal darkness of the polished black walls and floors. The normal stream of inane music which occupied Bosh’s thoughts had given way to the ominous sound of Darth Vadar breathing, though amazingly he hadn’t mentioned it to anybody.

A secretary got up to greet them without saying a word. He took out his phone and silently indicated turning of the volume, prompting them all to check, and by way of suggestion making all of them subconsciously concerned they were breathing too loud. Julie’s sneakers made a noise on the floor, and she actually looked mortified, rather than as if it was somehow their faults for hearing it. Seth’s grim silence had evolved into the rocky, thousand-yard-stare of a political veteran about to not just bite the hand that feeds, but potentially tear it off at the wrist.

Firmament found Seth inspiring. Decon was putting together a list of contacts and organizations he knew of to help everyone get resettled after they were fired, particularly Wes. Wes was trying to remember the supposed difference between “Ice Ice Baby” and “Under Pressure”.

The secretary, using signals only perceivable to himself, waited until the proper moment to slide open the completely silent black glass door. Firmament barely managed to stop himself from asking who the hell would have a completely opaque black glass door. He was allowed to take his licorice in, so he thought it best not to push it.

Now there was a lot of light, since the boardroom seemed to be in a corner of the building. They had a magnificent view of the city, right down to the water, fog, and bridges. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a hideously large black conference table with equally large black chairs, and a tiny rolling service with an airpot of coffee and a pitcher of water on it at some arbitrarily declared but somehow aesthetic distance from said table.

Mr. Tenor was on the phone.

Rather, a voice was coming out of the weird plastic star on the conference table with a phone-like quality, as Mr. Tenor sat at the end of the table, steepling his fingers and listening. He motioned for them to sit.

Seth stalked stiff-legged to his right hand, while the rest of them trailed after, reluctantly admitting to themselves that this wasn’t a moment that would allow them to sit at the back of the class. On his right were Seth, Bosh, and Decon; on his left, Fir, Wes, and Julie.

The voice on the phone was saying, “We’re old friends, we go back a long ways, and I just want the situation to be clear between us.”

“Yes,” Mr. Tenor said.

“You know I wouldn’t be doing this if I weren’t facing just the utmost pressure, just the greatest possible… it’s really tough, you know?”

“Yes,” Mr. Tenor said.

“And, you know, I use my influence wisely on your behalf. You wouldn’t appreciate me just throwing it all away to fight for a dead cause.”

“Yes,” Mr. Tenor said.

There was a pause. The sound of various rustlings, a hesitant breath taken that turned into a politely quieted cough. The pause dragged.

“So… so you see what I’m saying, don’t you?” the voice on the phone asked.

“Of course, Senator,” Mr. Tenor said.

Even Seth got a little pale at that one.

“So… I mean, I have to take this course of action. My hands… I’m really… my hands are really tied.”

“Of course they are,” Mr. Tenor said.

There was another pause.

“So…?” the voice on the phone said.

“So, let us be absolutely clear,” Mr. Tenor said. “The next thing you plan to do is to make a speech to Congress decrying the actions of a group of young people under my care. You anticipate their possession of special abilities will somehow mitigate the damaging effects of a United States Senator taking a group of teenagers who risked their lives to save others to task on a national stage. You also expect that this will mitigate the effects of the federal government bringing its full power to bear in prosecuting children…”

“Not the full power – and not the Feds, not really…”

“No, Senator, it will be the federal government. It was the federal government who put this law into effect regarding their conduct, and I will want no less than the full power and discretion of the federal government put into effect on their behalf. If you think for a moment, Senator, I will allow this to stay on a state level, where any number of factors will interfere in the absolute impartiality of judgement, you are much mistaken. You see, too many people know me in this state, Senator. You are not the only one, Senator. And there are only more people the further down the hierarchy we go. I could not allow the judgement of these young people to rest in the hands of those compromised by familiarity, for the sake of the comfort of a small and personal stage. Oh, no, Senator, I will not. The only direction this goes, is up.”

Seth was decidedly pale. Even Firmament had a disarming seriousness to his gaze. It was good nobody knew what Wes was thinking.

The voice on the phone had not expected Mr. Tenor to pause. “…I… this is really unprecedented, Mr. Tenor, I don’t see what you expect…”

“It will be good to set the precedent, Senator,” Mr. Tenor said. “I am always pleased to help.”

“I… this is all… I meant, intentions are all well and good, Mr. Tenor, but I’m not sure the Feds will be interested in pursuing…”

“I can assure you that they will be,” Mr. Tenor said.

Another pause happened. Decon caught Julie’s eye and held it, taking long, slow, breaths, which she soon began to imitate. Bosh’s knuckles were white on the table edge, so in accord was everyone except Mr. Tenor; his empathy, as usual, found Mr. Tenor like a clouded sea, the waves of which pushed him away, whereas the others he felt like still, clear water. The contrast was making him seasick.

“Look, this really doesn’t have to be this big of an issue,” the voice said, more combative than it had been.

“You and your colleagues made it this big an issue when you put the Acts into effect, Senator. It was a nice way to do something about regulating the actions of Islanders after the fact, and in a lull in which you would not be forced to face the consequences of your actions – but now, here we are. And if you are prepared to argue that a seventeen year old girl who was shot and nearly buried under rubble deserved to take no actions in her defense despite her ample ability to defend herself, I am prepared to make sure those arguments are heard by everyone who have been living under the Acts that make it so.”

“That’s not even the question,” the voice said, “that’s not even the direction we’re going to take this…”

“Oh, but it is. Because it cannot help but be relevant to the question of why that building came down on her in the first place when she had with her another young man perfectly capable of preventing it, who legally could not.”

“You use ‘young man’ a little freely, don’t you? That ‘young man’ should be safely locked up,” the voice spat, “there is no evidence that the building coming down isn’t his fault in the first place, and it’s not like he doesn’t have a history…”

“There will be evidence that it is not, Senator,” Mr. Tenor said. “As should be expected, I have people gathering the facts of the matter as soon as they are available. I have it on good word from my friends in the bomb squad that there is no evidence implicating Firmament.”

“Regardless,” the voice said, “there was no reason for them to be there in the first place…”

“At one of my banks? Where they have some of their savings from my program invested?”

There was another pause. Now, Seth just looked slightly guilty.

“People died, Mr. Tenor,” the voice said. “We can’t ignore that people died…”

Seth paled again. Firmament sat up in his chair such that Mr. Tenor’s gaze actually flicked to him, acknowledging his agitation.

“Criminals died, Senator, in the commission of a crime. Shot by their own weapons in the confusion. And people lived, Senator, because of my team.”

“So you admit it, then, Tenor? This is a team – this is your way of setting up a new wave of violent vigilante justice teams, using children–”

“They are my team,” Mr. Tenor said, his voice dropping, “because they are my children. I have taken responsibility for them. Both their parents and the various entities with guardianship have been assured of no less from me than to treat them as my own. We are working together to do something important, something good – doing something, rather than the nothing the rest of the nation has done by hiding under the covers and pretending Islanders don’t exist, denying them both acknowledgement and aid because you are afraid – acting as if you could legislate away their abilities by forbidding them to use them, on pain of prosecution. It is unfair, Senator, and it is inhumane, and I won’t allow it to happen to my children, and I will gladly stand before the nation and insist it should never happen to anyone.”

The silence stretched, not even a rustling on the other side, just the quiet buzz of the phone still operating.

“This was a courtesy call,” the voice said sharply. “I shouldn’t have even informed you. I’ve done this a favor for all that you’ve done for me in the past…”

“Thank you,” Mr. Tenor said.

There was another pause. A sigh. “I… so we’re good then?”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Mr. Tenor said. Looking up at the team arrayed around him.

“Are you sure there’s no way… are you sure this is the course of action…”

“Absolutely.”

Another pause followed. It was like they could hear the sweat on the Senator’s brow. “I’m sorry you feel that way about it, Mr. Tenor, but maybe it you gave it some thought—”

“I’ll see you in Washington, Pat.”

Mr. Tenor pressed the button to end the call, then leaned back in his chair again. Everyone had nothing better to do for a few moments than to look at one another.

“Seth,” Mr. Tenor said, gently. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Seth said, when she was able to make her mouth not quite so dry. “I’m… better. Recovering very well.”

“I just want to make sure Susan’s come up and talked to you?”

“Yes,” Seth glanced nervously at the others, a blush rising, “I… I mean… Decon mentioned she visited. I mean to get down there, and… I definitely will take advantage of that counseling…”

She glanced at Decon, who with his usual pleasant forbearance gave no sign of what she had said, loudly, about his suggestions she take Susan up on her offer.

“Good, and thank you Decon,” he said, smiling. “Getting shot would have an effect on anyone, it’s really just a good idea to check in.” He glanced at Bosh. “It wouldn’t be too bad an idea for you, either, you know.”

“I wasn’t there,” Bosh said.

“I just mean in terms of sharing professional insights – you might just have things to learn from one another. It would be a shame not to take advantage of some of the resources you have here for exploring your own abilities.”

This wasn’t the first time Bosh had been told to do his homework, but it was perhaps the only time he hadn’t given a smart-assed response.

“And Decon,” Mr. Tenor smiled, “I just want to thank you for taking such an initiative in looking after your teammates.”

Decon nodded, with a little smile. Maybe he was referring to taking the sometimes literal heat for pushing Seth to go see the counselor. Maybe he meant illegally using his abilities to dig Seth out of the rubble at the bank. Decon had a feeling that there was a reason he’d been thanked twice.

“Firmament, I assume you’re feeling well,” Mr. Tenor said, gesturing at the bag of licorice wheels. Fir offered him one, which he declined with a smile.

“Good,” Mr. Tenor said. “It’s good to see everyone’s recovering.”

“Everyone who needs recovering,” Julie hissed. This signal return to form was like everyone getting to let out a long-held breath.

“I just wanted to check in,” Mr. Tenor said. “I’ve been lax. We should be having these slightly more often. It’s just been a little busy of late – and I know you all are busy. I wouldn’t want to stick my nose in.”

A bolt of unease shot through the four members of the fuckup trifecta. So, Mr. Tenor knew (or suspected) what they were up to…

“Julie, at some later point, I want to talk to you a little bit about expanding your research. I would like to see you more involved with the rest of your team – strictly within the bounds of what we have discussed with your lab of course. Perhaps just a more active, daily check in kind of research. Comings and goings. Environment changes, that sort of thing. Does that make sense?”

“We can discuss it,” Julie said, folding her arms and frowning.

Mr. Tenor smiled. “I can use the money at that bank to help fund this change in direction. I had only recently decided to open accounts for you there. Surely you must have seen notes I sent to that effect, which explains why you went down there in the first place.”

They all looked shame-facedly down at the table. Fir stuffed a licorice wheel in his mouth instead of saying, ‘No, Mr. Tenor, of course it wasn’t the news coverage of the robbery! They certainly didn’t run out half-cocked and unthinking to try to test themselves in a dangerous situation! It was a note. About their savings.’

Julie sniffed disdainfully. “Research. Sure.”

Mr. Tenor smiled at her. “Well, glad to see everyone’s doing so well. We’ll have another chat sometime soon.”

So dismissed, they all got up, shuffling at various speeds towards the door.

“Wesley,” Mr. Tenor called, as they exited.

Wes jogged back to the table.

“Wesley,” Mr. Tenor said, “At the bank...”

“Oh,” Wes said, once he understood Mr. Tenor’s hesitation, “Don’t worry. No fingerprints.”

Mr. Tenor nodded, and Wes left with the others, humming softly.

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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This piece was originally published in September 2017. It has been lightly updated.

I did an event with environmental journalist (and personal hero) Elizabeth Kolbert in September 2017, in which we discussed various matters related to journalism and climate change. Subsequently, one of the attendees wrote and asked why I hadn’t talked about population. Isn’t overpopulation the real root of our environmental ills?

Anyone who’s ever given a talk on an environmental subject knows that the population question is a near-inevitability (second only to the nuclear question). I used to get asked about it constantly when I wrote for Grist — less now, but still fairly regularly.

I thought I would explain, once and for all, why I hardly ever talk about population, and why I’m unlikely to in the future.

(Worldometers)

Human impact on the natural environment is summed up in a simple formula:

Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology

All are rising. (Bill Gates has a slightly more complicated formula related to carbon dioxide, but P is a variable in his too.)

The current global population has crossed 7.5 billion and is heading upward. The latest UN projections have it hitting 8.6 billion by 2030, 9.8 billion by 2050, and 11.2 billion by 2100. Average fertility rate will decrease, but that effect will be overwhelmed by the absolute numbers. (There are many arguments out there that UN is overestimating population growth, but let’s stick with their numbers for this post.)

The UN expects over half the growth out to 2100 to be concentrated in just nine countries, listed here in order of their expected contribution:

India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania, the United States of America, Uganda, and Indonesia.

Most of those people will be fairly poor (by Western standards, though hopefully less so than their forbearers), which means their per-capita consumption of resources will be fairly low. Nonetheless, cumulatively, adding 2.3 billion people by 2050 amounts to enormous additional resource use and pollution (including greenhouse gases).

Mitigating some substantial percentage of that population growth would be one way to better environmental conditions in 2050. It would also have more impact than virtually any other climate policy. (More on that later.)

However. That human numbers are, axiomatically, part of the story of human impact does not mean that human numbers have to take center stage. Talking about population growth is morally and politically fraught, but the best ways of tackling it (like, say, educating girls) don’t necessitate talking about it at all.

Tackling population growth can be done without the enormous, unnecessary risks involved in talking about population growth.

When political movements or leaders adopt population control as a central concern … let’s just say it never goes well. In practice, where you find concern over “population,” you very often find racism, xenophobia, or eugenics lurking in the wings. It’s almost always, ahem, particular populations that need reducing.

Eugenical Sterilization Map of the US, 1935 (PBS)

History is replete with examples, but perhaps the most germane recent episode was less than 20 years ago, at the Sierra Club, which was riven by divisions over immigration. A group of grassroots members, with some help from powerful funders, attempted to take over the national organization.

These members advocated sharply restricting immigration, saying the US should be reducing rather than increasing its population. Their contention is that the country’s open immigration policies are hurting the environment by bringing in poor immigrants and making them richer, thus increasing their environmental impact. Of course, they swore up and down that xenophobia had nothing to do with it.

The Sierra Club won that fight, and the “green anti-immigrant” movement has mostly been driven to the fringes, but conservative media is still getting ratings out of it. If you can stomach it, watch this entire segment with Tucker Carlson of Fox News — it hits all the usual notes, culminating in an interview with some professor who wrote a book about reducing immigration for environmental reasons.

[embedded content]

I don’t doubt that it’s possible to be concerned about the environmental stresses population brings without any racism or xenophobia — I’ve met many people who fit that description, and there were well-meaning (if quite mistaken) population-focused groups in the ’70s and ’80s — but in terms of public discussion and advocacy, anyone explicitly expressing that concern starts out behind the eight ball. The mere mention of “population” raises all sorts of ugly historical associations.

Public health groups have largely cottoned to this. Even the ones that have “population” in the name focus on family planning rather than population as such. They’ve figured out something important — something not all greens have figured out — which is that the best ways to address population don’t necessarily involve talking about it at all.

So what are those ways?

There are two ways of looking at the problem of growing population on a finite planet. Depending on which you think is most important, there are different ways to address it, none of which require discussing population.

The first way to look at population is as a pure numbers game. More people means more consumers and more emitters, so the thing to do is slow the rise of population. Specifically, since most of the new people are going to come from poor or developing countries, the question is specifically how to slow population growth there.

Luckily, we know the answer. It is family planning that enables women to have only children they want and choose, and education of girls, giving them access to income opportunities outside the home. We know that women, given the resources and the choice, will opt for smaller families.

Those are the two most powerful levers to bend the population curve. They are also, in and of themselves, an enormously powerful climate policy. When Paul Hawken and his team investigated and ranked carbon-reduction solutions for their Drawdown project, they found that the combination of the two (call it the female-empowerment package) carried the most potential to reduce greenhouse gases later this century, out of any solution. (Together they could prevent 120 gigatons of GHGs by 2050 — more than on- and offshore wind combined.)

Family planning: fewer, better cared for. (Drawdown)

So if you are concerned about the growth in population, make yourself a champion of female empowerment in the developing world. You will be contributing to the most effective solution to the problem without any of the moral baggage.

And next time you’re at an environmental event, maybe instead of asking the population question, ask the female empowerment question. Why aren’t climate hawks talking about it more? They should be!

If your concern is the creation of new consumers and emitters, your gaze should be drawn to those who will consume and emit the most, i.e., the wealthy.

(Oxfam)

One way to prevent the creation of new high-consumers would be to persuade the wealthy to have fewer babies and to close off the borders of wealthy countries, preventing low-consumers from immigrating and becoming high-consumers. You could try, in short, to engineer population decline in wealthy countries.

That seems … fraught.

For one thing, fertility tends to decline with wealth anyway. For another, any targeted attempt to engineer population decline is going to run into an unholy thicket of moral and political resistance.

Another way to approach the problem would be, rather than prevent the birth of extremely wealthy people, prevent the creation of extremely wealthy people. In other words, prevent the accumulation of massive wealth. You could do that by, for instance, taxing the shit out of wealthy people.

If you approached the problem that way, under the banner of reducing global income inequality, you would find many allies. Income inequality is a top-line concern of people and organizations all over the world, even some conservatives these days.

Reducing high-end consumption could have an enormous short-term impact on carbon emissions, as climate scientist Kevin Anderson is always saying. Shifting wealth within populations — reducing the number of very wealthy and the number in poverty — can have as much carbon impact as reducing overall population.

So maybe, at the next environmental event, you could ask the income inequality question rather than the population question.

So that, for the record, is why I hardly ever talk or write about population. (I will now send all future askers of the population question to this post.) It is high risk — very, very easy to step on moral landmines in that territory — with little reward.

And where talk of population control is rarely popular (for good reason), female empowerment and greater equality are a) goals shared by powerful preexisting coalitions, b) replete with ancillary benefits beyond the environmental, and c) unquestionably righteous.

So why focus on the former when the latter gets you all the same advantages with none of the blowback? That’s how I figure it anyway.

Original Source -> I’m an environmental journalist, but I never write about overpopulation. Here’s why.

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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