#marginalization tourism

[ignotussomnium]

Looking into tourism as a method of resource extraction. If anyone has recommendations for articles or books that talk about similar subjects, I would greatly appreciate it.

[munson-blurbs]

Living After Midnight (Failed Rockstar!Eddie x Motel Worker!Reader)

♫ Summary: Being a perpetual people-pleaser meant that you were constantly putting others before yourself--particularly your parents and the eccentric guests who stayed at their motel. But when a surly and mysterious musician checked in indefinitely, he flipped your whole world on its head. (3.1k words)

♫ CW: slowburn, strangers-to-lovers, angst, drug use, parental conflict, poverty, eventual smut (18+ only, minors DNI)

♫ A/N: Thank you to my numerous beta readers, including but not limited to @the-unforgivenn, @lofaewrites, @lokis-army-77, and @corroded-hellfire, and to @hellfire--cult for the divider. I am forever indebted to y'all.

chapter one: room for one more

It was always the quiet nights, wasn't it? The ones where the only sounds came from cars barreling down Queens Boulevard and splashing through puddles left by an earlier rainstorm, or from the clock ticking on the wall. 

The ones where your mind wandered until you’d thought yourself in circles, overanalyzing every last decision you had ever made.

The ones where you allowed your guard just down enough that the slightest oddity threw you off-balance—something or someone out of place. 

It was during the quiet nights like that night where you should have expected the unexpected, because New York City never stayed still for long. 

The evening’s sluggishness was normal; tourism always slowed in the springtime. The newest shows on Broadway were already months old, not to mention the warmer weather brought both an uptick in crime and pollen count. If out-of-towners were going to schlep to the East Coast, they’d prefer to see the cherry blossoms hours south in Washington, DC than to get mugged on the 1 train. 

Business picked up in the winter months when people flocked from around the world to witness the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, or Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, even though they were several bus and subway transfers away. Outsiders to the tri-state area struggled to differentiate between boroughs; it was unfortunate for them, but you counted on it to keep business alive. 

The only guests who consistently frequented your family’s motel were junkies looking for a place to shoot up away from the NYPD’s watchful gaze or affair-havers who were considerate enough not to sully their marriage beds—just their vows. You were in no position to judge; their money was what kept the lights on, but it was impossible not to compare your clientele to the suits who stayed at the Marriott down the street. They wouldn‘t even allow homeless folks to sit within twenty-five feet of the building, let alone stay under their roof.

You leaned on the desk, wood grain pinching your elbows. You tapped your pencil against your textbook as you read, its margins cluttered with notes about different types of parent-child attachment styles. 

Sleep prickled at the corners of your eyes, blurring the words on the page in front of you. Focus. 

Secure attachment occurs when—no, you’d already read this line. Twice. 

“Dammit,” you muttered under your breath, gently slapping your cheeks in a futile attempt to stay awake. Taking a full course load instead of your usual part-time was your academic advisor’s ill-conceived idea, bolstered by the prospect of an earlier graduation. In your haste, you’d neglected to consider two important factors: all of your studying now had to be done during your night shifts, and graduating meant telling your parents a truth they were unready to hear. 

They were so proud of the motel, regardless of its reputation. It might as well have been The Plaza from the way your dad boasted about it. The three of you shared an unspoken understanding that you worked the front desk because paying an actual employee would put them under. Maybe if finances weren’t so tight, you could have freely admitted that your future plans didn’t involve taking over the business. 

Your eyelids fluttered shut as your head rested on your book, a small puddle of drool pooling atop Bowlby’s theories. 

Ping ping ping ping!

Time slowly stretched out before you, your conscious brain clawing its way out of its hazy fog. It took a beat for you to recognize that the incessant noise came from someone repeatedly smacking the tiny bell that sat on the desk. 

“Hey, hello?” an impatient voice called out, jolting you from your impromptu nap. You blinked away the residual sleepiness and took in the sight in front of you: a curly-haired man, likely not much older than you were, a cigarette that had been nearly smoked down to the filter tucked between his lips. He had a patched guitar case strapped to his back and clutched a black garbage bag filled with what you hoped was clothing.

“Sorry,” you grumbled, wiping the moisture from your chin. “Need a room?” 

“Mhm.” You could practically hear his eye roll: no, I just stopped by in the middle of the night for a quick chat. Fancy a cup of tea and a scone? 

He plopped the garbage bag on the ground; its soft landing and the way it wrinkled told you that whatever was inside was, thankfully, not a body.

You nodded and turned around to the wall of keys behind you. There was no shortage of rooms; the only occupied one was being rented by Phyllis, a sixty-year-old self-described ‘entertainer of gentleman’ who paid double her bill in exchange for your silence. 

He stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray on the countertop, grinding it into the base for good measure. “How much per night?” he asked, digging into his pants pocket and pulling out a wallet held together with duct tape. 

“Fifteen.”

The man breathed out, his bangs fanning over his forehead. “Jesus.” He fished two twenties and a five from the billfold and placed them in front of you. “This should cover me until Friday, yeah?”

Nodding, you folded the bills and tucked them into the register kept under the desk, only accessible by key because of a series of break-ins during the late ‘70s.

The man lit another cigarette as you pulled out the ledger and a pen. “Name and date here,” you said, pointing to the ‘check in’ column. He took a drag before scrawling his name on the line: Eddie Munson, 5-4-93. 

“All right, you’ll be in…” you scanned the assortment of keys dangling from their hooks. The walls were thin, and this guy seemed decent enough, so you decided to spare him the theatrical sound effects of Phyllis’s room 10 endeavors. “…room 4. Make a right down the hallway, and it’ll be the second door. Can’t miss it if you try.” 

Your attempt at humor fell flat, both of you too exhausted to laugh. You strode past it, clearing your throat as if dispelling the tension. When you placed the key in his calloused palm, you couldn’t help but notice that the base of each fingertip is a half-shade paler than the rest of his skin. 

“Thanks.” Eddie mumbled. He tapped the cigarette above the ashtray, the gray flakes falling into a neat pile. His right bicep flexed underneath his denim jacket as he heaved the garbage bag over his shoulder, careful not to bang it against the guitar. 

He scuttled out of the tiny room masquerading as a lobby, shoulders hunched from the weight of the bag and of the burdens he inevitably carried. No one shows up to a motel in the middle of the night without a story or two. 

After years of greeting guests at the front desk, you liked to think you had a decent read on them. Eddie was quiet, maybe even introspective, but not necessarily shy. He was tired; no, more than that: he was worn down, like so many other people who had come through these doors. 

Most importantly, Eddie didn’t seem like he'd be much trouble. He didn’t stumble in wasted and reeking of booze or fidgeting as he awaited a fix. He wasn’t shouting or poorly concealing a wandering eye or making lewd comments. He’d made pretty much no impression at all besides being a bit gruff, which was just fine with you. Your personality wasn't composed of rainbows and sunshine at this hour either.

You looked at the clock and sighed when it only read 2:17. It’s already tomorrow, you thought grimly. Just under four hours until you could walk ten feet to your room, curl up in your bed, and sleep until it was time for your afternoon class. After years of balancing school and work, you were in the last two weeks of your final semester, and then…what? You casually inform your parents that you were leaving the family business–essentially forcing them to close it–to pursue a career in social work? 

That was sure to go over well.  

To their knowledge, you were studying hotel management and hospitality in order to “improve the business.” That was why they’d relented when you’d asked to start taking classes, switching you over to the night shift to avoid having to hire a new employee.

What they didn’t know is that your school didn’t even offer that as a major. Nor were they aware of the acceptance letter into NYU’s Masters of Social Work program that was stashed inside your dresser drawer, hidden from sight. That was a conversation for another day when you found the strength to face their disappointment.

Chaos waited to strike until the end of your shift. 

Just as you packed your book back into your bag, a familiar, skunky odor wafted past your nostrils. 

Ignore it, you thought. Let it be Dad’s problem when he takes over in five minutes. But if you could smell it, so could any of the cops patrolling the boulevard. One more citation and the motel was in jeopardy of being permanently shut down, and you couldn’t take that risk.

With a frustrated sigh, you yanked open the desk drawer and reached in for a pen, instead pulling out an unopened box of crayons. A twenty-four pack of Crayola—the good kind. You plucked a waxy cornflower blue from its spot and scribbled Be back soon on a Post-It note, sticking it on the front of the desk. Grabbing the pepper spray canister from its spot next to the register, just in case, you started down the hall. Marijuana wasn’t Phyllis’s drug of choice, though it might have been one of her various gentleman suitors’, but the scent was too strong to be coming all the way from room 10.

Maybe this Eddie Munson was trouble, afterall.

You knocked on his door, firmly but without aggression. It certainly wasn’t the first time you interrupted someone’s buzz, and it wouldn’t be the last. You knew better than to go in guns a-blazing; it’s easier to catch flies with sugar than vinegar. 

Eddie opened it after a moment, cracking it halfway and revealing a lit joint pinched between his plush lips. One forearm was perched on the doorframe, showing off faded ink of a litter of flying bats and a dragon-esque creature. He was clad in only navy blue boxer briefs, but his lack of attire was no surprise. Many guests were shameless, not bothering to cover the holes in their Fruit of the Loom tighty-whities and showcasing faded yellow stains on the crotch. What confused you was the elastic waistband proudly proclaiming ‘Calvin Klein’ that cut off the soft hair trailing from his belly button. It seemed absurd that he would have been lugging around any designer clothes in that trash bag, but there was no other possibility. 

“Can I help you?” he asked, shaking his curly bangs out of his face. Half-lidded brown eyes scanned your form, trying to determine whether you were a narc or trying to bum some bud off of him. His window was cracked open enough to let in fresh air, which also meant that the acrid smell could easily be let out.

“You can’t smoke that here,” you reported matter-of-factly, just as you had a million times before. When he cocked a challenging brow, you continued. “Cigarettes are fine, but no weed. The police will come after us and you.”

He looked around the room, unbothered, and absentmindedly scratched at his bare chest. A demon’s head was sketched just above a sparse patch of hair. Under different circumstances, or maybe in another life altogether, you would’ve asked him about his tattoos; if they had some philosophical meaning or were the products of spur-of-the-moment decisions. You could have blathered on about the ideas you had for your own future tattoos, if you ever worked up the nerve to actually get one. 

“You mean to tell me that with all of the skeevy shit that goes on around here, the cops are gonna waste their time on a little pot?” He scoffed and took another defiant pull, holding it for a few seconds before exhaling away from you.

I guess chivalry isn’t dead, you mused, stifling an eye roll. “No, but they’re always looking for an excuse to ‘investigate,’’' you threw air-quotes around the last word, “so they can bust us for more serious things, and that is the perfect one.” You gestured to the joint only to be met with an eye roll. “Look, you can either put it out, smoke it somewhere else, or you can leave. Full refund, but you can’t stay here.”

His stare locked onto your steely eyes and clenched jaw, only breaking when you’d straightened your posture to stand your ground. “Whatever,” he huffed, but he snuffed it out. A glimmer of a smile danced on his lips, disappearing nearly as quickly as it arrived. Despite its fleeting nature, it managed to thaw you enough so that your arms weren’t held quite so tight to your body, your expression less rigid. “Just trying to relax and get some sleep, like you were while you were supposed to be ‘working.’” It’s his turn to supply the air-quotes, both in mockery and as a gotcha. A teasing lilt elevated his voice, smoothing out the edge he’d greeted you with earlier. 

“I wasn’t sleeping, just…resting my eyes,” you volleyed back, your smirk betraying any semblance of the tough façade you’d worn. 

Eddie crossed his arms and walked over to the garbage bag of clothes. He rummaged through it for a moment before procuring a pair of gray sweatpants, stepping into them hurriedly as though he just remembered his minimal attire. 

“Maybe if you chose more interesting reading material, you wouldn’t be sl—resting your eyes on the job,” he amended, gesturing to the textbook in your canvas tote bag. “Ever heard of Stephen King?”

“I live in a motel, not under a rock.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You live here?”

Shit. That wasn’t information you regularly divulged. Sure, this guy seemed harmless, but looks can be deceiving. Prime example: wearing designer underwear while using a trash bag in lieu of a suitcase. 

It was too late to double back, so you nodded. “Yeah,” you admitted reluctantly. The sole of your sneaker dug into the old carpet. 

Eddie looked like he wanted to say more, lips parted and eyes wide like there was a follow-up question sitting on the tip of his tongue. Before he could ask it, your gaze landed on the clock radio: six AM on the dot. 

“I need to go,” you said hurriedly. Shame at your sudden shyness burned a hole in your belly. Eddie Munson was a guest; for all intents and purposes, he was a total stranger. There was no reason to be intimidated by him. “Good luck falling asleep,” you added with a weak smile. 

The easy banter that had been building between you dissipated in an instant, taking his good mood with it. His goodbye was a sardonic salute, the mattress springs creaking wearily as soon as you closed the door behind you. 

Sure enough, your dad was in the tiny lobby, assessing some peeling wallpaper. “Gotta fix that,” he mumbled to himself, thumbnail picking at it aimlessly. He turned around when he heard the door open and smiled when he saw you. 

“Sorry, I was helping out a guest,” you rushed to explain, hoping he wasn't too anxious to find the desk left unattended. 

The wrinkles in your dad’s forehead became more pronounced. “Is everything alright?” The phrase ‘helping out a guest’ could range from unclogging a toilet to calling the police for a domestic dispute. 

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” you reassured him quickly, flashing an exaggerated thumbs-up. “No law enforcement necessary. Didn’t even need to use the pepper spray.” You waved the canister in your palm before placing it back. 

He beamed, leaning in and pressing a kiss to your scalp. “It’s times like this where I just know I’ll be leaving this place in good hands.” 

You swallowed the bile that crept up your throat and feigned a smile when  he pulled you in for a tight hug. The mingled scents of Irish Spring soap and drugstore aftershave tickled your nose, and tears stung along your lash line. 

If only you knew, you thought, giving him one last squeeze before you headed to your room. Disappointed wouldn’t even begin to cover it. 

Your parents would never say the word aloud; they’d look at each other and heave identical weighted sighs. Their lifelong goal of a long-standing family business would vanish in the blink of an eye. Dad would pretend there was a chance that they could afford a new hire, even going so far as to fumble through the years of financial statements before inevitably throwing in the towel; Mom would force a pained smile and hoarsely encourage you to follow your dreams, even at the expense of theirs.

You shook the thought away as you trudged towards your room, sneakered feet like sandbags below you.  Dwelling on this scenario had you teetering on the brink of insanity, so you’d willed yourself to focus on something else. Anything else.

Like the motel’s newest guest and his smile. The way it softened the hard lines on his face, offering you a glimpse of how he wore happiness. Something about it made you want to see him happy again. 

You can’t even figure out how to make yourself happy, you thought, peeling back the starchy sheets and finally crawling into bed, much less a stranger. For all you knew, he was just relaxed because his high was starting to kick in, and not from some warming presence you’d supplied. 

The sun cracked pink through the sky, visible through the paper-thin curtains hanging on the window. You had become accustomed to this backwards routine, able to fall asleep while daylight broke. It took a few extra moments this time; you were anticipating marijuana-tinged fumes to float through the vents when Eddie ignored your instructions. 

It was that flicker of a smile that had you almost certain he would spark up once you’d left. The smile of someone who so naturally flouted authority that he no longer bragged about it. Yet time ticked by without a hint of evidence that he was smoking again. 

Which begged the question: if the smile didn’t signify defiance, what did it mean?

Eddie Munson is definitely trouble, you surmised just before you drifted off, but nothing you can’t handle.

--

taglist:

@theintimatewriter @mandyjo8719 @storiesbyrhi @lady-munson @moonmark98 @squidscottjeans @therealbaberuthless @emxxblog @chrissymjstan @loves0phelia @kthomps914 @aysheashea @reidsbtch @mmunson86 @b-irock @ginasellsbooks @erinekc @the-unforgivenn @dashingdeb16 @micheledawn1975 @yujyujj @eddies-acousticguitar @daisy-munson @kellsck @bewitchedmunson @foreveranexpatsposts @mykuup @chatteringfox @feelinglikeineedlotsofnaps @sapphire4082 @katethetank @sidthedollface2 @eddies-stinky-battle-jacket @mysteris-things @mrsjellymunson @josephquinnsfreckles @the-disaster-in-waiting @eddielowe @hugdealer @rip-quizilla @munson-girl @fishwithtitz @costellation-hunter @cloudroomblog @emsgoodthinkin

[sahonithereadwolf]

Can I tell you about the very queer game I made this Pride?

In A World That Hates and Fears You, Living Becomes an Act of Rebellion.

Exceptionals is a game inspired by X-Men about and for the spaces and communities marginalized peoples make for themselves. Play as a Geno, one of little less than 0.5% percent of the population that has gone through a mysterious process called Claremont-Simonson mutation, as you try to navigate a world that won’t make room for you. Exceptionals is a game about what the mutant metaphor means to you and the different lenses through which we view it. Punch back and build something of worth together in this narrative tag-driven tabletop role playing game. 🧬Features Open-Ended Character Creation🧬 Mix and Match between (23) open-ended but guided protocols. Answer questions to create high concept and unique super powered characters where the only real limit is your imagination. Get invested in who you make as a whole person, and not just a set of powers. Build a Community 🧬Create a living and dynamic community space full of colorful characters. 🧬 Grow your base as an anchor for other geno and help fill it with the resources they and you need. Understand how your actions effect others and gain trust through the bonds mechanic. It’s a game where you get stronger by growing your community and heal by being part of it.

🧬Comic Book Storytelling 🧬 Play as a creative team of writers and editors working to tell the best version of the story you can over time and storyline-based experience to model changes of the status quo and creative direction. Enjoy panel based action pacing and the ability of characters of all power levels to coexist and carry the same amount of story weight.

🧬Not Pain Tourism 🧬 While Exceptionals offers a number of places to push back, we understand and recognize that the most important part of a punching bag is that you choose to hit it, even if it’s not at all. We recognize not everyone gets to set the issues that the mutant metaphor is used to talk about down when they leave the table and offer many ways to tell stories outside of a lens defined by pain. We also put an emphasis and mechanical weight on the importance of joy and celebration. 📚You can buy the Core Book here:📚 https://bramblewolfgames.itch.io/exceptionals 📚You can buy the Expansions here:📚 https://bramblewolfgames.itch.io/exceptionals-expansion-bundle 📚You can buy the bundle with everything here:📚 https://bramblewolfgames.itch.io/exceptionals-expansion-bundle I didn’t go out with the intent of making this a very queer game. Not explicitly. I started making games because  I got frustrated waiting to feel seen or acknowledged. Another game got me mad about using my peoples stories to be transphobic, to be racist, to be ableist. Nevermind my people have more than two genders traditionally and faced a genocide. That was too much for me. I said this was enough and the quite indignities I suffered to feel included wasn’t worth it. I could do better myself.  So I set out to make a superhero game. I hated just about every comic book game on the market. It never seemed to capture what I did like about big hero comics with high concept storytelling and powers and couldn’t care less on a mechanical or narrative level about who this person was outside the mask. More focused on bashing action figures together and golden age pastiche that doesn’t really reflect the decades of character and genre developments that have happened since then. I later found games that do it better, but I was dissatisfied... I chose x-men for the homies. I’ve always been an x-men fan. A lot of people my age were. My first action figure was one of rogue I got at a garage sale, where she then went on to fight many a play-dough monster. But for many of us it was the first place we were allowed to be heroes. There are no natives on the 90′s x-men team. But I had uncles and older kids all too eager to tell me about Forge and Warpath (I hate that name) and my favorite Dani Moonstar (I ain’t the biggest fan of that name either, but she’s the closest thing mainstream hero comics have to a good NDN).

After that, things just kinda flowed from there. The X-men have such a focus on community. It’s “comics greatest soap opera”. It can be messy, complicated, beautiful and life-affirming all at the same time. They take the time to play basketball, go to the mall, and have birthday parties as they grow. Two of my favorite x-men comics aren’t about fighting at all. One is framed around a sleepover some students have, and another is about a wedding and framed around everyone filming their part of the wedding tape.

So I started thinking about the communities I’ve been a part of. A big core of the game is informed by my time and the people I met in these sort of spaces. As a native, as a queer person, as a disabled person I’ve been both someone who needed them and someone who gave back.

Which suited x-men just fine. X-men has cared about that sort of thing from about X-men #3 with the first appearance of The Blob, establishing it’s tone of sympathy and mutants as a minority analog.

I just kept going and I didn’t stop. And apparently I did a good job. Someone out there has been using my game as game-therapy and community outreach in a gender health center out in California. I got a lot of kind words for the game too (which is good, because I spent 3 years on it).

KUDOS

-As featured on; io9/Gizmodo, Kotaku, Listen to Theses Nerds, Team-Up Moves, Yes Indie'd Pod, Team-Up Moves, and The Voice of Dog -#1 Best Seller and Popular on Itch.io in both Analog & RPG Games, Sept 2021

Listen to the Team-Up Moves AP Here!: https://teamupmoves.com/runs/exceptionals "Exceptionals is a beautiful, brilliantly designed superhero RPG. It's truly a masterpiece, and if you haven't checked it out, do yourself a favor." -@PartyOfOnePod

"This thing COOKS, Sahoni doesn't just tap into the queer/minority readings of mutants, but also ties in the weirdness that really gets my mind racing when it comes to X books." -@froondingloom 

"A refreshingly different game, that strikes a good balance between unlimited player freedom and solid guiding handrails. Really gets at the full potential of what the ;mutant outcast heroes' genre should be about: found family, building communities, and lives lived to the fullest despite being lived in defiance." -@guywhowrotethis 

"The whole game oozes love for its inspiration while also going further than they dared...." -@Phoenix24Femme

"Astonishing! Uncanny! All-New! And all other X-Adjectives available. This book gets why one would want to play the Mutant Metaphor in an RPG. It cleverly weaves the power fantasy of powerful individuals with the drive to do good for one's community. It's well-researched, well-written and, well, so much fun to play! This is the superpowered game I've been wanting for a long, long time. I can't wait to tell an Exceptional story of my own!" -@Kokiteno Team-up moves even made a recommended comic reading list. It has some of the best x-men has to offer and then some. It even includes that  New Mutants comic with the sleepover. They read me for filth and I love it.

I hope you play my game too. I hope you like it. I hope you tell queer stories and build community around you. I hope it’s messy, complicated, beautiful and life-affirming all at the same time. Thank you for reading this. Please reblog if you can as well as share it with x-men and rpg fans in your life.

[clubbing-at-219]

Quick Question, would you visit Milwaukee and the places that Jeff was, or do you find it exploitative?

I'm in two minds about murder tourism, and I'd love to talk to about it

This is how I see it, I think there's a difference between visiting locations that have been specifically set up as 'tourist' attractions, like the Vilisca Murder House or Lizzy Borden House where their sole purpose is to allow people to be scared. However with Jeff, these are private properties and they're owned by other people. That's where the ethics come in. Even the Oxford apartments kind of rub me the wrong way, from a class consciousness standpoint. Marginalized people don't owe us anything, and I think that it's lost on people that the poorest and most oppressed citizens lost their homes because of this crime. That doesn't even go into the crime itself. I guess it's complicated, but I've been thinking about a lot recently.

[lilietsblog]

thinking about the world tourism and what it means in soviet (+ post-soviet) context vs the rest of the world

so the soviet union for all it pretended to be a federation - a union, you might say - was absolutely russian empire 2.0, now with bonus totalitarianism.

and being russian empire means that there are exactly 2 (two) modern cities with architecture and culture and history worth visiting: moscow and st. petersburg. and while of course there might be some silly provincials visiting them and gawking (in moscow usually while on a business trip or study trip or something, as moscow is the center of everything as is well known), the only people that MATTER, that get in any way catered or appealed to, culturally or politically, already live in moscow and have been to st petersburg for one reason or another. (they say some people also live in st petersburg but that's mostly mythical cultural icons or something)

what does this leave for tourism?

well, russia might only have two human settlements, one real and one a mythical legend (it's true, just ask any moscowite who has ever posted an address online), but it has a lot of Majestic, Untamed Nature for humanity to conquer!

(what do you mean people already live there? well maybe they do but they haven't conquered it have they. the mountain still stands, so they are basically part of the majestic landscape)

(and of course the rest of the world outside the majestic russia (im sorry i mean the soviet union wink wink) is scary evil bourgoisie, and to even go on a business trip outside the country you must pass stringent background & ideological checks, for yourself and your entire family and friend circle. obviously)

so, the "tour" part of "tourism" does not refer to the tour guide who shows you the local landmarks and gives you a historical lecture, it refers to the thrifty local who offers to show you that path through the woods so you don't get lost. or it refers to nothing at all, and tourists just barge through everything based on maps and some compasses. or go down rivers, which is marginally more reliable. they're not the foreign-language-speaking elderly folk with cameras who stay in the nearest hotel in the big city, they're the band of filthy, tired, cheerful backpackers with whining exhausted children who raid your village grocery store, empty it of pasta, salami, tomato juice and ice cream, ask you for directions to the nearest well or water pump, then for the next landmark they're looking for (which might be right there at the end of the village or over on the next mountain because they took the wrong turn), then collectively tromp off.

theres a song about this, specific to people who do this on weekends in the nearest forest (also apparently dedicated to the time when there was only one (1) weekend) (it's about the bitter rivalry of people who do this with people who farm on their dachas in the same one weekend in the same rural area, competing for space on public transportation and local forage, including sometimes the goddamn fields / kitchen gardens being treated as forage by the damn university kids with no money and no shame)

i was one of those (the mountains kind, not the nearest forest kind) once a year throughout my childhood and adolescence, ever since I was old enough by my parents' reckoning to put a backpack on me and make me walk all day every day for a week, which was when I was five. i absolutely couldnt walk all day and bitched and moaned non stop (unfortunately in a way that made my parents think i was just being whiny and not that my feet are fucked up and i am having aches that a healthy child absolutely should not be having), but nonetheless i loved it with my whole heart immediately and next year there was a whole thing with my parents blackmailing me into doing damn near anything they asked just so they'd take me with them again. (years later, as an adult, i found out that that was the year when i suddenly started peeing my pants randomly and that my mom took me to a clinic and had it politely explained to her that it's out of stress and that she should give up on the battle to make me eat things i feel nauseous even thinking about. so that's how that happened i guess)

i... have been a tourist in the other, civilized sense like four or five times in my life. (three school-organized class trips to neighbouring countries, one study course in England where we spent most of our time on the tour bus getting immersed in the language, and maybe something else i'm forgetting)

but it's not what the word means to me and it never will

(relaxing near a body of water is not tourism. it's when your workplace gives you papers for their sanatorium so you go there for your mandatory paid time off and Rest, for your health. The Resters are not the same as The Tourists at all, as they have 0 interest in local landmarks or going anywhere beyond the nearest two blocks or the distance from the sanatorium building to the shore, they're more or less locals in the first place and go the same place every year since that's where their workplace sends them. it's specifically a different word)

(if you're keeping count, this makes 3 culturally defined ways to spend your vacation or weekend somewhere that's not your home in front of the tv: The Dacha (partial sustenance farming, leaves you more physically tired but arguably healthier, and definitely richer by all the vegetables and fruit you can grow there), The Rest (veg out at some nearby body of water, swim if you're into it, just lie there with a book cosplaying a dead fish if you aren't) and The Tourism (walk paths heretofore untrodden except by all the other tourists, don't make fires outside of places marked on your map that have remnants of previous fires already visible, play guitar badly and sing very loud in the evenings))

(visiting other human settlements (don't tell the moscowites but they do exist) and staying at hotels happens too but it's not vacation, it's Work Trips, and they can be very much competed for in local office politics even in the 99% of cases when they aren't to beyond the iron curtain)

P.S. I just want to make it clear that when I use the words "tourist" and "tourism" for this it's not a case of arbitrary translation confusing two concepts. the words in Russian and Ukrainian are "turist" and "turizm" which you can recognize as excessively literal transliterations of words that were themselves literal transliterations of "tourist" and "tourism". That is literally the words we use for this.

P.P.S. the fall of the soviet union has opened other possibilities but id say the words still mostly mean the same thing. its just that The Rest in the sense of going to a body of water has been expanded to possibly be in Egypt or France or something, and to possibly include some landmark walking (controversial within families)

P.P.S. Ukraine has never been as centralized as russia and other cities than Kyiv exist. However it is significantly smaller so it's actually realistic to have friends / relatives / business in all the major cities you want an excuse to visit, plus it has enough nature to maintain the idea of tourism as mostly a nature-visiting activity, just maybe in a car instead of on two feet with a backpack now. and you know the non-nature landmarks along the way as you pass through cities. this is a whole new thing and i dont think theres a distinct cultural reaction to it yet. I will however note that the fourth distinct way to spend your time outside of your place has coalesced: The Volunteering, which absolutely can and does take you all over the country depending on what volunteering event you sign up for. my best friend irl does this a lot and ive been to like two events like this with her and its awesome, though it does require you to have a lot of Youthful Energy and a longing to do some physical labor instead of whatever else you do all day normally. obviously involves visiting places and their landmarks, still not tourism lmao

P.P.P.S tourism in our sense is a fully gender neutral activity, and in fact a common COUPLES thing. everyone knows theres no sex in soviet union, but when there's a tent and two young people in love, well don't ask don't tell as they say amirite. (privacy is thin on the ground when young people are expected to and usually only can live with their parents until at least after they get married since that's the only way to have an apartment distributed to them from the government, or to have their parents exchange their bigger apartment for multiple smaller ones) (there is in fact a whole cultural sub-thing about all-girl groups struggling to recruit at least one boy to come with to Ensure Their Safety to their worried parents and also do manly things like split firewood and carry a marginally bigger portion of heavy things in exchange for a larger portion at mealtimes) (all-boy groups notably dont have this problem and are expected to be able to cook Tourist Porridge for themselves just fine)

also theres another song - admittedly just a couplet - about this meaning of tourism, apparently a parody/corruption of another song: "где бронепоезд не пройдет // не пролетит стальная птица // турист на пу, на пу, на пузе проползет // и ничего с ним не случится!" "where an armored train won't pass // a steel bird won't fly through // a tourist on his bell, bell, belly'll crawl // and nothing'll happen to him" so that probably gives you a bit more of an insight into the cultural attitude there XD

[beardedmrbean]

The Kansas legislature passed a bill Wednesday that would classify organized retail crime (ORC) a felony offense, joining nine other states that have passed similar laws in the last year. 

ORC refers to orchestrated groups of shoplifters who commit smash-and-grab robberies of stores or target cargo carriers.

The state’s upper chamber passed the Substitute House Bill 2144, which would split the felony charges into two tiers. A theft of merchandise valued at more than $3,000 would be classified a felony and those convicted would face between 31 and 136 months behind bars. If the amount stolen exceeds $15,000, the sentence range is between 38 and 172 months. 

'BURGLARY TOURISM' PLAGUES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS UNVETTED FOREIGNERS RAID LUXE HOUSES

The bill still has to be signed by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, before it goes into effect. 

In support of the bill, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach wrote that ORC isn’t "mere shoplifting."

"These crimes typically involve stealing for personal use. It is large-scale theft of retail merchandise that represents a concerted effort to victimize a business, often with the intention of reselling the items for financial gain and often using those financial proceeds to fund additional criminal activity," he said.

A 2023 report from the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail association, found that organized retail crime was a primary driver of the massive amount of "shrink" retailers saw in 2022, with non-employee stealing making up 36%. 

The term "shrink" typically means theft and other forms of inventory losses, and retailers nationwide experienced $112 billion in losses in 2022. 

Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Oregon enacted retail theft laws last year, while California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and North Carolina passed ORC laws in 2022. 

"While theft has an undeniable impact on retailer margins and profitability, retailers are highly concerned about the heightened levels of violence and threat of violence associated with theft and crime," the NRF wrote on its website. 

State Senate Republicans who voted for the bill argued that ORC needs its own category since shoplifters who steal for their own use versus those who are part of a broader organized scheme are charged the same way. 

"Currently we don’t have the proper tools to prosecute that type of crime, so that’s what this bill does," state Sen. Kellie Warren, a Republican, said of the bill, The Topeka Journal reported. 

Some states hit hard by retail theft have gone so far as to create their own law enforcement task forces to address it. The NRF found that Los Angeles was one of the hardest-hit cities in California for ORC, leading the LA County Sheriff Department to create the Organized Retail Theft Crime Task Force.

Meanwhile, opponents of tough-on-crime laws such as these argue the harsher penalties are too extreme for the crimes and could prevent a person from being rehabilitated. Maine’s legislature passed a bill in the House this week that would prohibit charging people who already have two prior convictions of theft if the third theft is worth less than $500. The state’s current law permits a felony charge for the third conviction if the crimes all occur within a decade. 

[haggishlyhagging]

The strength of this politics lies, in fact, in its dynamism, in the fluid energy that links unapologetic intellect with unashamed passion; it is a means, not an end; a process, not a dogma. Consequently, what a radical feminist in Brazil (the nation's debt, for example) might consider her cutting-edge issue, need not be the same as that considered a priority by a radical feminist in Thailand (combating sex tourism) or in Kuwait (winning women's suffrage) or in Sudan (ending the practice of female genital mutilation) or Nepal (gaining inheritance rights) or the Pacific Island nations (halting French nuclear testing, the fallout of which creates "jellyfish babies"—children born with no spines), and so on—and so on, and on.

What radical feminists have in common, though, includes a stubborn commitment to the people of women, the courage to dare question anything and dare redefine everything, a dedication to making the connections between issues, a sobering comprehension of the enormity of this task—freeing more than half of humanity and, by so doing, saving the other half—and perhaps most importantly of all, radical feminists share an audacious understanding of this politics' centrality to the continuation of sentient life itself on this planet.

This is no hyperbole. Women constitute the majority of the human species, so the female condition is hardly a marginal or minority issue. Furthermore, all the ills that afflict humankind—from pollution to war to poverty—impact first and worst on women, who are also the last to be consulted about solutions to such problems.

-Robin Morgan, “Light Bulbs, Radishes, and the Politics of the 21st Century” in Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed

[fabiansociety]

what is dondoko island about? what is any of infinite wealth about? I'm dozens of hours into this game, and i still have no idea. and, yeah, i'm spending a ton of time on the sidequests — the game is maybe too full of distractions and minigames, even by yakuza standards, and that's saying something — but shoot, in other games the major distractions were all obviously trivial, textural, or thematic, and sujimon and dodongo are too big for trivia or texture, and if there's a connecting theme there beyond "these are popular games that also exist" i'm not seeing it.

like, the pocket circuit racing is a big distracting sprawling minigame, but it resonates with kiryu's character every time it shows up — first, that he's still half a child in yakuza 0, then trying to recapture his lost decade in yakuza kiwami, then poignantly and tragically in the doomladen gaiden game. the business management minigame in like a dragon wasn't great, but it was grounded in that game's themes of community solidarity — it's a major source of employment for kasuga's fellow homeless folks, and a way to assert yokohama's economic independence, in parallel to the way the main plot was about asserting its cultural and criminal independence.

but infinite wealth didn't set up any thing like that up before introducing the minigames, despite how late in the game they come. there's plot there, but it's very stock, in a way the series has drawn on a ton in these sorts of diversions. for the series' first excursion outside of japan, i was expecting… something? about japan's relationship to america, or the interaction of american colonialism and japanese tourism in an occupied state, or even just something more developed about kasuga's loss of family, but there's just nothing. it's a perfectly pleasant time, but the last several games all had Things to Say and infinite wealth seemingly doesn't, and that's a shame for a game that's so sprawling. makes it hard to read the game instead of just playing it

like, the job system in YLAD was halfbaked, but it was one of the ways the game tied its rpg mechanics to the game's interest in hardscrabble existence on the margins of society: you picked up jobs because you needed money because you were homeless and broke. in IW the jobs have been replaced with tourist stuff or straight up cultural theft: you go scuba diving, and unlock the aquanaut class; you go to a fire dance and unlock a class where you DRESS UP LIKE A FIRE DANCER. it's a novelty rather than a statement.

maybe this'll all turn around as the chapters progress, but my god if that's the case it's taking forever

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Important announcement- PragerU videos could be taught in Florida schools

So I just read this article from Politico, which states that the Florida Department of Education and Ron DeSantis have approved of a series of videos to be taught in Florida elementary schools created by PragerU, a far-right organization. The videos mainly focus on dismissing concerns of climate change and pushing a climate denialist agenda, with false claims that wind and solar power cause pollution and that climate change isn't a big deal because "the climate is always changing." Not only is this rhetoric harmful, Florida is a state where climate education is incredibly important. We regularly experience hurricanes and flooding, and much of our economy relies on the environment, such as beach tourism, the bottled water industry, and agriculture. Irresponsible climate policies anywhere in the world could lead to disastrous consequences, but Florida in particular is in a precarious position, as we have the lowest elevation of any state. Oceanographer John Englander notes that while Florida may not be in danger of sinking underwater anytime soon, some highly-populated areas, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, are in high-risk areas to flooding, and rising sea levels and over-extraction are damaging our aquifers. Even for a state that leans red, Florida has historically invested in environmental protections, as no matter the political party, many people here understand just how vital they are to the state.

A couple notes on the PragerU videos- while many of you probably already know this, PragerU is not an actual university or academic institution; it is a conservative media organization. However, the videos, which push not only climate denialism, but also racist and anti-LGBT ideological viewpoints- are structured in a way to seem credible, both to adults and students. The Politico article notes this:

One of the videos the article mentions could be taught in schools also straight-up compares climate advocacy to oppression faced by Poland under the Nazis:

Not only is this climate denialism and consistent with the conservative persecution complex so often used to fuel their rhetoric, by conflating fascism with climate advocacy, this video is especially dangerous because it may also distort a young viewer's understanding of fascism. Fascism is not "people disagree with me, so I'm a victim." It is a conservative authoritarian ideology that, in the social sphere, relies on the systemic othering and erasure of marginalized groups, suppressing information, and creating a warped view of history that is consistent with its ideological goals- a "return to traditionalism," which often ignores the actual nuances of history in order to create the impression that fascism is the "natural order" of humanity.

The article also quotes these as PragerU CEO Marissa Streit's goals in implementing these videos in classrooms:

They may be starting with Florida, but it's not just Florida. If you're in another state, be aware of this as well.

We also get this, which uh. requires no comment:

From this article:

(Also note the phrase "Judeo-Christian," a controversial term contested by some Jewish people, who have criticized it due to Christianity's role in perpetrating anti-Semitism, as well as the fact that Judaism and Christianity differ in philosophy, culture, and religious beliefs in a number of areas. To critics of the term, "Judeo-Christian values" may wrongfully imply that Judaism is a "lesser" religion or "proto-Christianity". While the term is not always used in this context, and some Jewish people support its use, the phrasing "Judeo-Christian values" may be a dogwhistle for anti-Semitism in some situations.)

If you see this post, please spread the word, and inform any parents, teachers, or friends you may know who may be considering teaching this material, or have children or siblings who may be shown PragerU videos in the classroom. Even if you live outside of Florida, be aware and inform other people, as PragerU wants to expand their agenda to other states.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Full List of Democrats Who Voted to Ban Mask Mandates - Published Oct 26, 2023

Republican Senator J.D. Vance received support from 10 Democrats as part of a successful amendment prohibiting the Department of Transportation from using any federal funds to enforce future mask mandates.

The amendment to the Senate minibus appropriations bill passed Wednesday by a 59-38 margin and prevents federal mask mandates on passenger airlines, commuter rail, rapid transit buses, and any other transportation program funded through the 2024 fiscal year.

These are the 10 Democrats who voted for the amendment: Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin); Michael Bennet (Colorado); Sherrod Brown (Ohio); Tim Kaine (Virginia); Mark Kelly (Arizona); Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota); Joe Manchin (West Virginia); Jacky Rosen (Nevada); Jean Shaheen (New Hampshire); and Jon Tester (Montana).

Three senators—Democrats John Fetterman (Pennsylvania) and Alex Padilla (California), and Republican Tim Scott (South Carolina—did not vote. Of the three independent senators, Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) was the only one to vote in favor.

"This is a massive victory for personal freedom in this country," Vance said in a post-vote statement. "We saw countless abuses of authority throughout the COVID pandemic, and the American people were justifiably enraged by unscientific mask mandates.

"Today, the United States Senate took an emphatic step toward common sense and individual liberty. I'm proud of what we've accomplished here and look forward to continuing the fight."

"With the COVID pandemic behind us, the federal government doesn't need to be requiring masks for travel when that could hurt tourism and Nevada's economy," Rosen told Newsweek via email. "Anyone who chooses to wear a mask still has that option, but we've reached a point where a federal mask mandate is no longer necessary for travel."

In September, Vance, who represents Ohio, introduced the Freedom to Breathe Act—a bill intended to prevent the reimposition of federal mask mandates across the entire United States, in response to some businesses and colleges and universities reimposing mask mandates in the summer due to upticks in COVID-19 cases.

In September, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio announced that all staff will be required to wear masks on the premises beginning September 25.

"This decision was made to promote the safety of our patients, families, visitors, and employees, based on evidence that masks are effective in reducing the spread of respiratory illness," the hospital said in a statement.

Read the rest and get a link to the original at the link above!

[cree-ruhhnaynayy]

Don’t tell me you voted for Donald Trump to help boost the economy when he has stated time and time again that climate change is a hoax. Climate change has lead to increased healthcare expenses due to pollution-related illnesses, reduced worker productivity, lower tourism, and smaller crop yields. He is already working on withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement (again) - an agreement we committed to, pledging to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. Climate change causes droughts, floods, and alters animal migration patterns. Those who rely on hunting and growing their own food to survive are in trouble.

Climate change especially affects Native American communities and other marginalized groups of people.

[fish-plz]

The in Universe Monetisation of the Hunger Games

Ok so I’ve been thinking about how for a book series that puts such emphasis on poverty and worker exploitation we don’t hear a lot about money in the hunger games series until the Ballad of song birds and snakes because the original trilogy of books is from Katniss’ perspective and she mostly trades for goods, but in the ballad of song birds and snakes the hunger games isnt as big of a spectacle and is on the verge of dying out until snow institutes betting and gifts in the 10th games. i would say the modern concept of the hunger games doesn’t really start until the 11th hunger games which a Mags Flanagan won and she was the first victor to get a victory tour and presumably the other perks of winning (like a house and income from the capital). I feel like this marks the switch into more of a reality tv style entertainment, where the games are manipulated to be interesting and have a good story as opposed to being purely an uprising deterrent. I feel after the tenth games the games grow fast with the creation of new arenas and the hiring of gamer makers, stylists, capitol escorts and the like which would be very expensive even without the building of victors villages and the prizes given to the winning districts. It could be possible attitudes towards the games didn’t warm up as fast as the games grew because they are killing children and these capitol citizens aren’t as indoctrinated as they are by Katniss’ games even though their is a lot of anger left over from the dark days, and because of the dark days a lot of the capitol citizens are impoverished and would probably disapprove of the games costing so much money. Which is why I believe the games have to be paying for themselves at least partially.

Now we know from Katniss that capitol citizens can tour old arenas and even reenact iconic scenes from the games. I also wonder if they can tour the tribute centre during the off season for the games. So tourism is one way the games can offset their spending but we also know that sponsor can send in gifts in to the games that they have to pay for and as the games go on the gifts get more expensive we don’t know exactly how the pricing on gifts work but we know district 11 was able to crowd fund a loaf of bread for Katniss which couldn’t of been inordinately expensive but it is a small gift compared to something like a trident which Finnick Odair received in the 65th hunger games which was really expensive. So I think it’s safe to say that items that give a big advantage to a tribute have the biggest profit margin for the capitol and I think that’s why it’s so important Caesar flickerman is good at his job to entice capitol citizens to spend money to keep their favourite tribute alive.

We also know that capitol citizens can pay to spend time with the victors and that can be another way to fund the games also the psychological impact that must have on the victors would be immense, the fact that what they are doing is funding the horrors of the games but they also don’t have a choice is another form of psychological warfare on the victors also they are not an inconsiderable amount of the tributes costume in the opening parade are just practically nakedness makes this extra gross that a capitol citizen could pay for a tribute to win expressly for this reason it makes my skin crawl but I do think this is the main financial support for the games because it’s only for the obscenely wealthy and there are virtually no operating costs and it also makes it make a lot more sense that they wanted to surgical alter Katniss when she was 16 because you’d think the star crossed lovers story line would protect her from this side of the games if it wasn’t such a big financial motivator.

Another angle on monetisation is merchandising which we don’t see to much of be We do see a lot of people with mockingjay symbols which could be official merchandise but since it so quickly became a symbol of rebellion I highly doubt it. In the films we see some kids playing with swords and that could be another angle of merch but again not much to support it but I still think they made hunger games merch because a lot of what snow saw in the tenth hunger games goes onto shape the modern hunger games and there were a lot of people with homemade merch outside of the arena. I think with the financial issues of the games this is a route he is more then likely to go down, also what are you going to sell in the arena tour gift shops? I do think the type of merch would not be like the hunger games merch in our world and more like the royal family merch of commemorative tea pots and dish towels and things like that. I make this connection cause Katniss and peetas wedding very much reminds me of a royal wedding but that could just be my perception colouring that cause there isn’t that many parallels but I do think the merch would be done in that sort of respectable and I do think this type of merch would be available in the districts but only to the wealthy I think virtually no one in district 12 could afford it apart from maybe the mayor and his daughter Madge.

Now I believe the 75th games made the most money for the capitol just out of donations because people were so desperate to keep their favourites alive and I think they would be paying amounts of money I can’t even comprehend cause I’ve seen individuals donate thousands of dollars to help video games streamers win a competition I can’t imagine how much people would be paying to keep their favourite victors alive but there was no games the next year to spend all the money they made off the 75th games on so I think the capitol spent that money to fund the war against the rebels ( for example the traps and mutts ) and to think the capitol people spent all this money to keep the victors alive and it just ended up killing them is really tragic and I do think the main motivation of the sponsors was keeping the victors “safe” because the capitol citizens were outraged after the interviews and wanted the games to stop but they didn’t and donating to help a pregnant Katniss survive is what they would view is the next best thing. I feel this really cements the theme that the journey to snows house is the 76th hunger games.

I hope that some of this is thought provoking and interesting and if you have any hunger games ideas or analysis do send them to me cause I enjoy thinking about these books immensely

[rajasthan-political-leader]

Prosperous Rajasthan, Prosperity in Every Home: Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore’s Vision for Growth

Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore, a distinguished leader and visionary, has consistently advocated for the holistic development of Rajasthan. Under his leadership and the guidance of the double-engine BJP government, Rajasthan is making remarkable strides toward progress, with a vision of prosperity reaching every home across the state.

This initiative aims to ensure equitable growth, foster innovation, and elevate the quality of life for every Rajasthani citizen.

Key Pillars of Prosperity in Rajasthan

1. Economic Growth and Industrial Development

Rajasthan is evolving into an industrial powerhouse by:

Promoting investments through initiatives like the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit.

Encouraging public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure and industry.

Developing special economic zones (SEZs) for diverse sectors, including textiles, IT, and energy.

2. Rural Upliftment and Agriculture

Col Rathore has emphasized the importance of rural development with initiatives such as:

Modernizing irrigation systems to boost agricultural output.

Supporting farmers with subsidies, training, and advanced technology.

Strengthening supply chains to ensure fair prices for produce.

3. Education and Skill Development

For long-term prosperity, focus is being placed on:

Establishing new educational institutions like Kalwad Mahavidyalaya.

Launching skill development programs to prepare the youth for emerging industries.

Promoting digital literacy and IT education across rural and urban areas.

4. Infrastructure Development

The government’s efforts to enhance infrastructure include:

Building smart cities and IT hubs near Gurugram and Jaipur.

Expanding road and rail connectivity to facilitate trade and mobility.

Implementing sustainable energy projects to power urban and rural communities.

5. Women Empowerment and Social Welfare

Col Rathore has consistently championed:

Women-led development by promoting entrepreneurship and leadership roles.

Strengthening welfare schemes aimed at health, education, and safety for women and children.

Launching programs to uplift marginalized communities.

6. Promoting Tourism and Culture

Rajasthan’s rich heritage is being leveraged to boost tourism with initiatives such as:

Modernizing tourist facilities across historic landmarks.

Showcasing the state’s culture through global fairs and events.

Encouraging eco-tourism and rural tourism for a diversified experience.

Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore’s Leadership in Action

Colonel Rathore’s dynamic approach involves:

Engaging with communities to understand grassroots challenges.

Advocating policies that address regional disparities and focus on inclusivity.

Leading initiatives like the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme to enhance local economies.

A Vision for Every Home in Rajasthan

Colonel Rathore’s dream of prosperity focuses on:

Economic stability in every household.

Access to quality healthcare, education, and infrastructure for all citizens.

Ensuring dignity, opportunity, and safety for every Rajasthani.

Conclusion

Rajasthan’s journey toward prosperity is a testament to the visionary leadership of Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore and the dedication of the double-engine BJP government. By focusing on inclusive growth, innovation, and community engagement, Rajasthan is well on its way to becoming a model of progress and prosperity in India.

[uboat53]

Okay, I've read a lot of election analysis over the last few weeks and I've been thinking about the concept of a political mandate, but I haven't heard anything yet about the "shark attack voters". Indulge me, would you, for a LONG RANT (TM).

SHARK ATTACK!

So this is still disputed in the academic world (and trust me, there's a ton of great arguments and counter-arguments out there if you're interested), but there was a 2002 paper that purported to show that Woodrow Wilson's vote total dropped in several New Jersey counties in his 1916 re-election when compared to his 1912 election because that region had suffered a rash of highly publicized shark attacks that severely damaged its major industry, tourism. Since Woodrow Wilson clearly had no ability to control shark attacks, this is frequently referred to as an example of voters punishing a politician for something over which that politician had no control.

As I said, this case is not exactly definitive and there's lots of research pouring cold water on its exact conclusions, but the basic premise, that voters are not particularly good about rewarding or punishing politicians for things that they actually have direct control over, is something that's actually fairly well backed up by a ton of research. There's even some really solid research that came out in 2019 showing that, not only are voters not good at punishing or rewarding politicians for things they actually do, the types of things politicians do are not the kinds of things that actually make significant differences in the 2-4 year spans in which voters judge them in the first place!

So yeah, despite the fact that the specific study isn't as definitive as it claimed, I think the term "shark attack voter" is an evocative name and I'm going to use it to describe voters who match what a bunch of other research is finding. Specifically, the shark attack voter has a very simple approach to the polls, if they feel badly, whatever the reason, they vote against the guy in charge.

A MANDATE

What do we mean by a mandate? Well, in a democratic system, a mandate would typically come from the people. It would mean that the voters have approved a candidate in such a way that it is clear they want him/her to carry out his/her promises. This would typically come about in two ways; first, we would see that candidate clearly and convincingly win the election and, second, we would see that people in exit polling clearly favored the things the candidate promised to do.

That first part is interesting, though, because I wrote fairly recently in a thing examining Trump's vote total about how no one has clearly and convincingly won the presidency in quite some time. We used to have clear and convincing wins, Eisenhower beat Adlai Stevenson by more than 15% in 1956, Nixon defeated McGovern by over 20% in 1972, and Reagan defeated Mondale by over 18% in 1984. Lately, though, the margins have become much closer. The margin in 2024 was less than 2%, 2020 was less than 5%, and the winning candidate in 2016 lost the popular vote by more than 2%. In fact, the only time in the 21st century that a president won with a margin of greater than 5% in the popular vote was Barack Obama in 2008.

The second part… yeah, the second part is interesting. In 2008, for example, Obama ran on an explicit platform of reforming American health care, so one would think that his reasonably sizeable victory could be considered a mandate for that. Except that only 9% of voters in a Pew poll conducted immediately after the election noted health care as a top issue (compared with 63% who named the economy). By the time polling began on the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), it was basically even on the approve/disapprove polling and turned negative before passing. Did Obama have a mandate to do the thing he'd most clearly promised to do? I'd honestly say it's questionable, and probably even more so for all the other president-elects who've won by significantly smaller margins.

Why does this matter? Well, let's go back to the shark attack voter. A shark attack voter isn't voting for a candidate because of their policy, they just don't like the way things are going right now for some reason. So if your margin is close enough that it was probably shark attack voters that put you over the top (I'll spare you the details, but I calculate them at about 2% of the electorate, so a potential margin of 4% against the incumbent party), then there's no reasonable way to claim a mandate for your positions and policies even if you were clearly running on said positions and policies.

THE LAST SEVERAL ELECTIONS

What does this mean for us? Well, there's probably a lot of shark attack voters out there right now. As I said, I've calculated them at 2% of the electorate on average, but that may be an undercount since Americans have gotten more and more dissatisfied in the last few decades. In the late 90s and early 00s, between 50% and 60% of Americans were satisfied with the direction of the country; since 2005 it's mostly been between 20% and 30%. That's not remotely normal, by the way, the only other times it's dipped that low in Gallup's polling history are for brief periods in the early 80s and early 90s; there's certainly no other period of that kind of pessimism sustained over two decades.

I also have to take a closer look at Obama's 2008 win (again) because it has interesting implications for my shark attack voter theory; specifically the estimate that they compose 2% of the electorate. Obama won in 2008 by over 7%, the most decisive electoral win in this century. One of his primary policies, that he campaigned on loudly and openly, was to revamp American health care. However, as I noted above, when he started to push for the Affordable Care Act, which, remember, he had loudly and openly promised to do as a candidate, it immediately became horribly unpopular and his approval rating quickly sank below 50% as a result. In other words, it seems very likely that more than 2% of the electorate didn't vote for him because of the policy that he promised to enact.

Given this, I'm comfortable saying that no less than 2% of the electorate are shark attack voters, but I'm not confident that there aren't significantly more than that.

THE THING ABOUT SHARK ATTACKS…

However, as much as we examine policy and deliberate actions on the parts of presidents, we have to remember that one of the defining features of the shark attack voter is that they're not actually reacting to any of that, they're reacting to how they feel about how things are going generally; whether or not the president has any control over it or has done anything to affect it at all. Sure, the rancor of the Obamacare debate probably sunk through to them and certainly didn't help the feeling that things were on the wrong track, but a lot of them were probably also reacting to the fact that the US was still mired in the depths of the Great Recession which was deeper and lasted longer than anyone anticipated. Could Obama have done more about it? Probably. Did he really have a ton of control over it? Not really.

We saw this in the most recent election as well. Inflation was pretty bad in 2021 and 2022, but by mid 2023 it was back down to quite reasonable levels and wage growth has been growing well above the rate of inflation since then as well. Prices haven't gone down, but they also tend not to do that unless things are really bad (look up "deflation" if you want to know more about that). In other words, inflation was pretty much under control by the 2024 election, but polling, both exit and regular, is clear that voters punished both him and Harris for it regardless.

On an even bigger scale, it's also important to note that Biden seems to have had very little to do with inflation in the first place. Inflation was first pushed upwards by supply disruptions during the pandemic and then received a further kick from supply disruptions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and sanctions related to that conflict. Of countries in the developed world, in fact, the United States has actually seen among the lowest inflation due to these factors. Could Biden have done more about inflation? Maybe, but it's also been a world-wide phenomenon which the United States has ridden through better than any other developed country.

In other words, the type of voters who decide elections these days, either by switching sides or by staying home, may not only be punishing presidents because they don't feel things are going well, they may also be punishing presidents for things over which they have literally no ability to change.

THE BROADER IMPLICATIONS

The simple fact is that I'm not sure any president in my adult lifetime has actually had a mandate to enact any sort of major policy upheaval. No president has been elected with a clear majority that's greater than "I don't like how things are going under the other guy" and no president has been re-elected with anything more than "I guess I'll stick with the devil I know."

Yet, despite that, we're very clearly in an era where both parties want their politicians, not just their presidents, to make major, foundation-shaking change. Republicans want to dramatically cut our country off from the world, both in terms of trade and in terms of immigration, and they desperately want to go back to the days when people who straight, white, Christians disapproved of would go back into hiding rather than making their presence felt in public. Democrats, on the other hand, want the state to take a much larger role in providing a floor of well-being for every person instead of leaving everything up to the market.

It's fairly reasonable to say that the rapidly shifting political landscape we've seen in the 21st century, with the presidency alternating regularly between the parties and majorities in each house of Congress lasting for an average of only 4-6 years at a time, reflects a situation where the median voter would like a sense of stability and/or prosperity while both political parties only offer different visions of significant change. Both parties have been punished for failing to provide what I guess we can refer to as "good vibes" and, with the current profit-driven media landscape that prioritizes conflict as a driver of engagement, it's a pretty good bet that that is likely to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

More importantly, the incentives of each party are also likely to remain unchanged. Think about it, if there's nothing you can do to make people feel better and you're guaranteed to lose the next election or the one after that anyways, why wouldn't you try to just accomplish whatever you think you can while you have the power to do so? I don't see a strong incentive for either party to moderate given that the voters who decide elections will just keep swinging the pendulum of power no matter what they do.

CONCLUSION OR TL;DR:

There seems to be a critical mass of voters these days that's just upset and frustrated with how things are going generally. These voters, who I call "shark attack voters" for reasons that I explained above, tend to vote solely on how they think things are going in general without any regard for whether the politician in question had any ability to do anything about it. They're largely responsible for the dramatic swings we've seen in elections in the 21st century, with power moving wildly between the two parties every 4-6 years.

Unfortunately, this provides very little incentive for the parties to do anything but follow their own agendas. After all, if they're going to be kicked out of office in a few years for something over which they have very little control (and let's face it, even the president and Congress together have very little control over the movements of the global economy except for drastic actions they could take that would make things massively worse), they may as well accomplish a few things for their base while they're in office.

It seems likely that this is it for the foreseeable future. The world is changing in ways that are going to continue to affect our country and even the greatest set of presidents and congresspeople will be able to do little more than gently bend that arc over a period of decades. I'm predicting continued quick shifts in partisan control of the government and politicians who continue to prioritize partisan projects during their relatively short stints of control. Until something shifts to give one party a more permanent advantage or until the median voter becomes more discerning about how they vote, that's just how it's probably going to be.

[darenycastro]

Blog Post #10 (Week 12)

1. How have online communities evolved in terms of economic viability, as well as what challenges have emerged from these developments?

Online communities, initially debated for their economic viability, have evolved into major business ventures. As noted by Armstrong & Hagel, these communities, once seen as uncertain investments, have grown into lucrative markets, leading to the creation of products like The Online Community Report, which aids community creators in navigating challenges such as fluctuating venture capital & maintaining user engagement (1997). A key debate in the community sector is how to generate revenue, with some, like Jim Cashel (2000), suggesting the implementation of subscriber fees, while others have even profited by selling online communities for millions (Cashel, 1999). However, this shift toward monetization has led to a dilemma: the balance between profit and genuine community engagement. Janelle Brown (1999) pointed out that the pursuit of financial gain often results in the neglect of community maintenance and development, as seen in the failure of platforms like GeoCities, Xoom, and theglobe.com, which, despite being branded as community hubs, failed to foster meaningful user empowerment or connection.

2. How do ethnic online communities (EOCs) both reinforce & challenge stereotypes? 

Ethnic online communities like BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, & AsianAvenue.com have provided spaces where users can express their identities in ways that are both reflective of & even resistant to mainstream stereotypes. As described in the text, members of these communities often choose usernames that embody certain cultural or racial stereotypes, such as “FineAssAznGurl” on AsianAvenue.com or *blacklatindiva* on MiGente.com. While these names might seem to perpetuate stereotypical representations, they are also a form of self-expression within a community that is designed to highlight ethnic pride & identity. This dynamic brings to mind Nakamura’s (1999) concept of “identity tourism,” where stereotypes are commodified by outsiders, but in this context, members of these ethnic communities might be reclaiming & reappropriating stereotypes as a form of empowerment. Yet the implications for user empowerment are mixed: on one hand, these communities provide a sense of belonging & the opportunity to challenge dominant narratives. On the other hand, the commercial pressures & the use of stereotypes within these spaces can undermine the deeper purpose of cultural empowerment.

3. What are the benefits and challenges of online communities in empowering marginalized groups, as demonstrated by the activism within AsianAvenue.com, & how do these examples illustrate the potential of online spaces to influence real-world change?

Online communities, like AsianAvenue.com, exhibit cases like the Moy family seeking a bone marrow donor for their daughter & the successful protest against the MSNBC headline during the 1998 Winter Olympics. They illustrate how online spaces can mobilize people for social causes, creating real-world impact. In the Moy family’s case, the community's online organizing helped raise awareness and led to a matching donor in Singapore, even though it was ultimately too late. This story underscores the power of digital solidarity & shows that online communities can serve as platforms for collective action that extend into offline, tangible results.

4. How does the Gamergate movement detail the complexities of online activism, particularly in terms of its stated goals versus its underlying motivations?

The #Gamergate movement provides a case study of how online activism can be driven by contradictory motivations, & how its publicly stated goals often result in more harmful, underlying intentions. On the surface, Gamergate participants framed their movement as a fight for journalistic ethics in video game journalism. They argued that game writers were too close to game developers & that their professional relationships compromised the integrity of the reporting. However, this stance was quickly complicated by the movement's actions & rhetoric. For example, some sought reform in how game journalism was conducted, but the movement's actions suggest the ethics were pushed to the side in favor of personal online attacks. Plenty of the initial energy behind #Gamergate was centered on targeting Zoë Quinn, an indie game developer who became a central figure in the controversy. Chat logs released from various 4chan boards reveal that many early participants focused on harassing her, making comments about her physical appearance, personal life, & even fantasizing about her harm. The rhetoric, which included misogynistic & violent language, highlighted that the movement's primary focus was not on ethical reform but on punishing Quinn, particularly because of her identity as a woman & her status as an underrepresented voice in the gaming industry.

Ayers, M. D., & McCaughey, M. (2014). Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and Practice. Routledge.

Hathaway, J. (n.d.). What is Gamergate, and why? an explainer for Non-Geeks – Tech mistake. Gawker. https://www.gawkerarchives.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080

[thelonesomequeen]

Their xenophobia is showing!!

I am fluent in 4 languages, French, English, Spanish and Italian.

I work in Tourism in Mexico, for the past 7 years (I’m originally from Canada)

They clearly have no concept of how hard it is to use proper grammar either verbal or written when you speak multiple languages. And sometimes I use all of them in a day. Sometimes, word or sentence don’t come out how I want them to, I have an accent!

And also, I moved here 7 years ago, although I love it, I STILL get homesick, I still miss my family, my friends, the life there. It doesn’t mean I am unhappy with the life I build here.

And yes, I still ask recommendation for restaurants, I don’t go out that much.

The xenophobia really is showing, you’re absolutely right. I also think now would be an opportune time to point out that other languages often do not translate perfectly with 100% accuracy to English because it’s such a dumb and complicated language that doesn’t function the way other languages do. So even when doing a translation of her podcast episode, there’s still a margin of error that will occur within the translations themselves.

Also, home sickness (if that’s what she is experiencing) is a real shitty thing and it’s hard to fix it. I know I experienced it quite a bit when I went to college because it was such a cultural shock from me. I grew up in the suburbs of a major U.S. city and went to college in a very rural community and the experience just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I went through a rough phase of depression nearly the entire time because I was just existing in a space I didn’t like and was struggling to adapt to. And to be honest, I never did adapt. I left as soon as I could and never looked back. (This is meant as no hate towards anyone who lives rurally, it’s just not for me. I can’t do it.)

And for what it’s worth, I’m now back living outside of a major city and I also frequently ask for restaurant recommendations when we have date night in the city. We even look for constant local recommendations because I love checking out new and small businesses in my area. It’s fun, and I enjoy contributing to the cool community I live in! 🦎