#miles g morales literally changed my life

[xercesxerces]

42! heavily inspired by this pin

[sunsetsandsunshine]

If me and my mutual’s were the Spider-gang…

❤️EMERY AS MILES MORALES🖤 @sunsetsandsunshine

Y’ALL ALREADY KNOOOOWWWW 💘💞💖💕💗💓

Artist of the group

My Dad is a police officer AND detective sooooooo…

He has done the “You gotta say I love you back” thing to me multiple times…

Fucking loves having friends and talking to people

COMIC BOOKS ARE LIFE‼️ COMIC BOOKS ARE LOVE‼️

Keeping the collectibles I N S I D E of the box!!! IT STAYS NICE AND FRESH THAT WAY— LIKE PRODUCE YK???!!!

Tries to be quote on quote “cooler” in front of others…

Newsflash? It never works

💝 Family lover all the way 💝

Music is LIFE 🎶🎤🎵🎼…idfk what we’d do without it…

A collector of many random things— rocks, toys, bracelets you NAME it

Hyperactive as HELL

Has a hard time accepting loss

“NAH” “🫠” “UHM…” “AAAAAAAAHHHHH”

A sketchbook for literally every season

When it comes to friendships, I will try everything in my power to maintain it and try to keep it going but once I’m done? I’m done 🫶🏾

A singer 😩🤚🏾

Physical affection 🫣💕💓

Apologies WAAAAAAY too fucking much

H A P P Y. S T I M S.

Suppressed anger issues

Knows way too many people both online and irl

Becomes a whole different person when angry 🥸👍🏾

Beatboxes and raps horribly

Basically Miles is me and I’m Miles ❤️🖤

🤍JOJO AS GWEN STACY🩵 @shut-up-jo

Cool af legit why the hell are you friends with me man—

Musician of the group 🪗🎷🎻🎺🎹🥁🎸

Shows up to your house without warning like you owe her money

In a band (most def)

Says the most DIABOLICAL and out of pocket shit known to MAN

🔥 Would burn down the kitchen if she ever cooked 🔥

Listens to Billy Joel 😌

POPULAR AF

Short af too 🤪🫶🏼

BAD PICK-UP LINES…

Would be cancelled if any of her texts got leaked

“DIE” “KYS” “CHOKE” “STFU”

Had the WORST 2020 phase (I’m sorry ilysm please don’t kill me 🙏🏼)

AOT lover (as you fucking should )

Honesty is the best policy 💋

Changes her voice depending on who she’s talking to

Has the most fucking unhinged and cursed FYP page

Doesn’t matter what social media app…it’s just straight up CURSED

Gives the best advice like oml

Could host a TED-talk but would there’s a 99.9% she would get cancelled

Needs to take a flipping BREAK 💕

Could make a TV show with her life (with like a million specials and crossovers)

Licks the powder off the Doritos and/or Taki’s and puts them back in the bag 😶…

Has burned Barbie’s before

Unironically sings 'Dance Monkey' just because

Your so so silly I love you so much 🤍🩵

💛SANA AS PAVITIR🩷 @itzsana-kiddingmenow

If sunshine were a person 🌞

Has a really toxic fanbase…

✨Anxiety✨

The best cook out of all 4 of us probably

“🥺” “GRRRRRRR” “🙈” “NAUUUR”

Calls people adorable, cute etc but can’t handle when people say that to her 🥹💓

Your adorable btw ☺️

When she’s mad she doesn’t cuss that much but most def just says big words

#TOXICFRIENDSGANG

Takes selfies like every single second 📱

Has Snapchat probably

Has listened to JoJo Siwa’s Karma WAAAAY too many times…

Would fold like a lawn chair if poked in the side 💕

FANGIRL

✨ Bilingual queen ✨

Sobbed for DAYS when MatPat dropped his departure video…

Is way too fucking smart 😉

Has the Ultimate Alpha Sigma Gyatt Rizz but doesn’t know it quite yet 👁️🫦👁️

A tea lover ☕️🍵

Would go to antique stores with people to just look at things and then end up buying the whole ass store

Does cartwheels for funsies

Overthinker ☹️

Could solo Bakugou and win

Is going to be a menace one she learns how to drive

Needs more sleep frfr

My lil sugar cream puff over here you guys 💛🩷

💙ZEEZIE AS HOBIE BROWN❤️ @ziipzeepzop-eez

101% effort in E V E R Y T H I N G

Side-eyes 🤨

Has more rizz than the whole Earth population combined

“FW” “THAT’S RACIST” “TWWINNNN” “YUUURR”

EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS

Did I say emojis?

Comes up with the most cutest freaking nicknames for people 🥹💕🩷☹️💓✨

TAKE A BREAK 😡😡😡

Can most definitely win a dance battle against anyone but acts like she can’t

Dad jokes 🫶🏽

Uses finger guns unironically (through text and in person) 👉🏽👉🏽

Could make a diss-track about so many people 🫢…

Would have a million cats if she could

Probably had a Gacha Life phase

Would go to a movie theater just to watch cat videos on the big screen

Popular af 💕

Friends with legit everyone 🙏🏽

Would actually murder a man if they hurt one of her friends

Has watched Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas soooooo many damn times

Guillmero Del Toro’s Pinocchio made her ugly cry (Same here 🫠)

Could solo everyone here on Tumblr easily 👁️👄👁️

Hates Twitter/X but only has it for the ✨drama✨

FAIRY LIIIGHTS

Is most def someone’s opp ☺️

Can multi-task like crazy

So cool and dazzling and aahhhfhfhds 💙❤️

(If any of this makes any of you guys uncomfy just DM me and I can erase it 🫶🏾)

[honeylikewords]

Hey, K, I know it’s been days but you still feel like infodumping about Spiderverse? :o

pettyprocrastination said to jonedwardbernthal:Hello yes I loved into the spiderverse with my heart and soul please info dump I require sustenance

YES I DO WANT TO INFODUMP ABOUT SPIDERVERSE THANK YOU FOR ASKING

okay okay so i’m gonna put this all under a cut for those who haven’t seen the movie and wish to remain spoiler free, and i’ll also put a couple images so that mobile users (who sometimes automatically see the post, apparently?) to warn them to scroll past!

(pls enjoy my crappy ms paint warning banner ghskhgdk)

SO FIRST OF ALL I WANT TO SAY that genuinely, this movie changed my life. I have never been as excited or happy about a movie as I was with this one, and can find few (if any) flaws with it. I would have to be hyper-nitpicky if I wanted to point out anything wrong with it, but overall, I gotta say, this movie inspired me, made me cry, made me laugh out loud, made me shake and jitter with excitement.

I should point out that, yes, the visuals can be kinda jarring, especially for sensitive people like me who react to flashing stimulus and abrupt movement very poorly, but I honestly LOVED the visual aspect of the film. The character design is incredible, the animation is so unique and stunning, and every single person has this wonderful individuality in the way they look and move that it just blows me away. This movie is already a frontrunner for an Oscar in the animation category, apparently, and it’s easy to see why.

The writing is also impeccable, with a quick pace and genuine humanity to it, and it feels so bright and alive! The way people talk is so full of character and personality, and Miles’ codeswitching is adorable and fun to listen to, and everyone has such a special and unique personality that comes through how they speak. The voice acting is INCREDIBLE and the array of the cast is SO awesome and I LOVE everyone who was in it!

I literally am so excited about everything that I’m having a hard time keeping this post linear and sensical, but I just! Love it so much!

Some people criticize the film by saying that it’s not really the “first black Spiderman movie” because Miles “shares the spotlight”, but, honestly? That didn’t come across to me at all. This movie felt entirely centered on Miles. Yes, Peter B. Parker played a big role, but, like, every movie has supporting characters and co-mains. I understand the frustration, but that’d kinda be like saying that Captain America: The First Avenger isn’t Steve’s story because Peggy gets screentime and so does Bucky. But I also do get where people are coming from and I find the frustration very valid.

But I LOVE all the spider-people, and they didn’t actually overwhelm the movie. Peni, SpiderNoir, and SpiderHam all took backseats. They were fun additions, but didn’t ever detract from the experience of this being Miles’ story. Even Gwen didn’t derail the film, or even Peter B.! They all stayed in their lanes and moved Miles’ story along, more like the wheels propelling him than roadblocks obfuscating his progression. 

I loved every one of the characters, and I got so attached to all of them; Miles’ family really stands out to me, because they are such strong and loving characters, and it is so, so sadly rare to see loving black families portrayed like this. Jefferson, Miles’ dad, is allowed to be flawed without ever crossing the line into “bad dad” territory. He’s allowed to be wrong but still love his son and be doing the absolute best for him. Even Miles’ “bad” uncle, Aaron, made me cry and love him. When Aaron died, I was horrified (mostly because, I mean, god, we really did not need to see another black man getting shot by a white guy...), but they also never demonized Aaron, or downplayed the tragedy of his loss. He was heroic, even in his mistakes, and I think that was really noble on the part of the storytellers. 

The movie just feels so lived in and loved and human, and you can tell that it’s just a work of art and love and passion. It’s a game-changer. I legitimately consider it the best Marvel movie ever made, on par with Black Panther in terms of artistic value and importance. It’s the fun of Thor: Ragnarok and the art and significance of Black Panther rolled into one, unique, amazing bundle that has forever set the bar for how I want movies, especially movies intended for families and children to be.

“Anyone can wear the mask” means something. It may sound like a cheesy cop-out, but it means that we don’t have to look up to Perfect Pillars Of White Heroism as our standards. It means black children from Brooklyn are heroes. Jewish people are heroes. Women are heroes. Asian people are heroes. Even Miles’ parents are heroes, and it shows the wide gamut of good people and what we owe to each other. While neither Rio nor Jefferson Morales-Davis are “superheroes”, they are legitimate heroes, doing their part to make the world a better place.

Also, check THIS:

Just saying!

Anyway, moving on; the jokes in the movie are awesome, and my family has been throwing them back and forth ever since we saw the movie. SpiderHam’s t-pose ascension into the black hole and “keep this, it’ll fit in your pocket” had us in tears. SpiderNoir and the Rubik’s cube? Incredible. Peter B. crying in the shower? Artistry.

AND NOW FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN HOLDING IT IN FOR S O   L O N G

When I read that Oscar had a cameo in the movie, I needed to know. It was the only spoiler I allowed myself to know about, and when I heard he was going to be Spider-Man 2099/Miguel O’Hara, I flipped. I read nothing else about the scene, and wanted to go in blind, but I researched Miguel and, well, you know, I fell in love!

His scene was SO good and SO funny and I LOVE Miguel SO much, you have no idea. I am SO excited for him to be in the next movie (fingers crossed!) and can’t wait to see more of him. I do hope they give him more screen time, because he’s a great character, and because it’d be amazing to have a Latino Spider-Man AND a Afrolatino Spider-Man! And because, you know, more Oscar is always ideal.

I love, love, love Miguel, and Oscar was so funny (he has amazing comedic timing and such great range, omg), and I am desperate to see more of him. I haven’t stopped bombarding my poor friend Cydney with love and affection for Miggy in, like, two weeks. I’m sure she’s sick of it by now. Also, I kinda wanna write stuff about Miggy, lowkey, as self-indulgence, but for now I’ll just keep that foolishness to myself lol.

Miguel O’Hara Is My Boyfriend Now ghdkhgkldhg

Anyway, the movie is chock-full of amazing things, both from an artistic/cultural standpoint and from a Marvel-fan standpoint: so many easter eggs and little surprises, so much amazing writing, so much amazing character design, just!! So! Good! Please go see it immediately, because I’m itching to see it again and don’t know how I can resist going in for a second watch.

Also, Peter B. Parker is Jewish and it’s canon and if you want to step up and fight me about it, feel free to, but I will kick your ass. I will. Know this. Jewish Spider-Man FOREVER, FOOLS. No one is allowed to thirst after him if they also ignore his being Jewish or disrespect it, so if you wanna love him, you gotta love his Judaism too, or I’ll fist-fight you behind the Denny’s at 3 am and knock you the hell out.

also john mulaney’s cussing outtakes for spiderham are the funniest thing on earth and i’m crying 

OH and I have the art book for the movie and everything is so *kisses fingers like an Italian cook* B E A U T I F U L! And the soundtrack? BOY I TELL YA I was listening to it for WEEKS in advance even when there were only three songs released and some of those tracks are, like, incredibly powerful, whooh. 

Anyway GO SEE SPIDERVERSE. I LOVE IT. ALL OTHER SPIDER-MAN MOVIES ARE DOOKIE BY COMPARISON.

I have more I could say but I’m so excited I’m bouncing around and going hog wild dgkgdhgkg i love spider verse

[nataandreev]

Fragments from “The Pursuit of Art” by Martin Gayford

Way Out East 11 In Beijing with Gilbert & George

I had accepted a seat in the smoking section. A relatively recent non-smoker, I thought it would not make much difference. The result, however, was the periodically smokers came back to have a cigarette, sitting in the empty seat next to mine - and every one of them felt it would be polite to have a conversation while they did so.

No one seemed sure why this Gilbert & George show had been allowed.

by South Korean artists a while before, was forcibly taken down. G&C’s approach, in contrast, had beed accepted with alacrity - and here we all were.

whereby decadent, bourgeois art was expected to be abstract.

‘normal conservative rebels’ - would have baffled most secret policemen.

This show is said to help Peking’s bid for the 2000 Olympics.’

‘What is a Rembrandt? It is himself. All the inner feelings of the artist. Or Van Gogh. It’s just him, a completely maniac person. You see his mad vision and that’s it.

‘I think it’s very good we’re in the picture reminding the viewer that its not a boring artwork, only an aesthetic experience. It’s us saying something to them.’

Gilbert & George started out, proclaimed themselves one artist, and defined their idiom as ‘living sculpture.’

a community high in the Alps close to the border with Austria who speak neither Italian nor German. but a language of their own, Ladin.)

‘You mean the vision. We only believe in that, Even when you see a Michelangelo, it’s just his vision, that’s the important thing. Then you find your form. But the important thing is to have a vision.’

The globalization of the international art world had already, begun, and, like the economic variety, was to gather ever greater pace in the years to come.

Way Out East 12 Naoshima: A Modern Treasure Island

‘The art, the building and the environment should work together to wake up the viewer.’ The phrase he used - ‘wake up’ - recalls the term satori, meaning ‘awakening, comprehending or understanding’, used in Japanese Buddhism.

It was made about 500 years before the modernist architect Mies van der Rohe remarked that less is more.

how oriental Claude Monet really was. After all, he was a collector and lover of Japanese prints, which hung all around his dining room, 6,000 miles away in Giverny.

Monet’s western identity was already blending with the east. The freedom of his paint strokes might seem just a flourish of the brush, but when you step back they become plants, water or reflected sky.

I had a moment of satori. I could see that Monet’s subject was everything - growth, change, light, dark, heavens, earth - and nothing (just passing shadows on few feet of pond), which is very Zen.

Way Out East 13 Travelling in Chinese Mountains

the Sea of Mist from the peaks of Huang Shan, the Yellow Mountain range. In its way, this is a sight as fundamental to Chinese culture as the Pantheon is to the Greek, or the Pyramids to the Egyptian. In a way it is the subject of Chinese art. 

There, in the excellent Shanghai Museum, for the first time in my life I saw a large collection of classic Chinese painting.

Anish Kapoor cited them as one of his sources of inspiration; the poet Kathleen Raine suggested that the Chinese masters of the Song Dynasty were perhaps the greatest landscape painters of all.

Chinese thinkers believed - rather before Albert Einstein - that matter and energy were one. Everything was a manifestation of divine energy or qi (pronounced chee). Literally, the word means air, water or breath: a life-force powering the cosmos.

Just as the Innuit are said to have fifty different words for snow, Chinese commentators on art distinguished a whole thesaurus of ink marks.

Such vocabulary, incidentally, is sadly lacking in European languages, which is one reason why it is so hard to discuss painting with precision.

Xunzi, born about 310 BC, there was a hierarchy of qi. Such elements as fire and water had qi, but not life. Plants had qi and life, but not understanding; animals and birds have all three, but not ‘propriety’, or a moral sense of how to behave and shape the world. Only human beings have that.

The Chinese phrase for pilgrimage means literally ‘paying one’s respect to mountains.’

But these are not warring forces like good and evil in the Middle Eastern Manichean - and Christian - view of the world, but complementary forces. The sinologist Rolf Stein translated them as ‘shady side (of a mountain)’ and ‘sunny side (of a mountain)’. They were necessary the each other.

This was, he argued, quite distinct from the European, post-Renaissance system of fixed-point perspective, which automatically also fixed the spectator in a certain spot in relation to the world.

The viewer navigated, as we do in the real world, through ever-shifting surroundings using our senses and our intuition. 

the point was why this kind of sight meant so much to the Chinese. To them, it seemed to be a direct experience of the universe at work. The landscape came and went just as all things do: people, dynasties, empires, event mountains. Only the swirling energy is immortal. As a view of the cosmos, it is astonishingly up to date.

[winecoolr]

I wanna talk about David, and our split cause folk have asked and I’ve given a really short story every time but it’s. A lot. This is a long post and there’s a shit ton to get off my chest so. very fucking long post ahead

Literally everyone knows we’d been together for coming up 5 years, which when you start at 16 is quite a fucking long while and we ended up living together and it was supposed to be great? And at the end of it I’ll say it was at one point a great relationship and we were great together? BUt 

I went away to work a season at a hotel up north last year, and I was gone nearly seven  months, which was the longest we’d ever been apart and it showed me a lot. I smoked and drank and partied all the time, which I had never done, and he used to go absolutely ape at me over it. Granted my communication slipped and had the roles been reversed (as they had been three years prior) I’d have been furious too. But when I quit that job even though i loved it, to move back in with him, it was so different.

We used to go to pubs and talk about getting married and what we’d call our kids and where in the world we’d moved to once he finished his degree (never about when I finished what I wanted to do) and all these things, but after I came back it changed to us going to the pub and he’d drink and accuse me of not loving him and cheating on him while I was away, and we’d end up fighting and i would cry. every time. four times a week usually. I would feel guilty for ever leaving, and feel as if I had actually cheated on him, as if I had actually done something wrong enough to warrant him hating me the way he told me he did. I spent my time tip toeing around him, trying to convince him I loved him.

And then it changed, he’d go out three or four nights a week, but I couldn’t. I’d work nights and even that would bring a round of accusations of seeing some guy, or smoking, or anything. He would demand to know who, if anyone, had hit on me while I was working, and if I flirted back. I’d smell like booze (I’m a bartender for fucks sake) and he would say I’d actually been out partying instead of work. In the seven months of returning to Glasgow, i went out only twice, and he came with me one of them - and I don’t think anyone there will forget that night because I’d been standing outside myself talking to a guy, who was also in a relationship, about where I was from and David went off his rocker at me. He screamed at me in front of a whole nightclub that I had been making out with the guy and smoking. I cried and cried and cried and it was an awful night and I smoked an entire fucking pack of cigarettes. We “made up” and that was that.  He had all the passwords to my phone and laptop, and would check them when I was at work. Any little thing that seemed off to him, he attacked me over.

After that, I was depressed. And depression hits everyone differently, we all know. I stopped eating, and weighed just 8 stone at my heaviest in June and I’m 5′11″ .He never noticed this, which made it a lot worse in a twisted way. I started smoking properly at my job, where David wasn’t there to see it, and when he went away to classes during the day I’d walk at least a 5 mile stint for something to do and a way to smoke without the smell lingering. I thought it was all chilled out too, convinced myself we were back to normal and everything was fine again. It had to be, I wasn’t making enough in the three fucking jobs I had to move out into my own flat, I needed him.

And then one of my friends, who I usually had to sneak out or make an excuse to see while David was at uni, kissed me after I told him everything that had been happening in my relationship. And then one night when David had gone away to spend the night with his family and left me in Glasgow, I fucked that friend. Not even just once. Then literally a few days later, I had a threesome with old work colleagues from the hotel. I hadn’t been drinking, all they did was ask if I wanted to come over. I don’t know why (maybe I do). And whenever he accused me of cheating after that, as he still did, I would actually have a reason to feel guilty as I denied it. We hadn’t been having sex anyway, even though he pushed and gaslighted me about it every night, so when it got to the point when the guilt would eat me when I would even think of sleeping with him, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to say I wasn’t up for it. Small blessings on my sinning fucking head. But I still told myself we were okay.

When I got a call in May to return to the hotel for another season, I was ecstatic and scared. I hadn’t been allowed to even bring up the hotel’s name for seven months, or fear the mood and accusation, so to say I wanted to go back to work there was out of the question. But we wanted to get our own flat together, and he was going on an unpaid internship, so someone had to come up with the money. I had to make rules and guidelines for myself that he agreed to;  I had to call him at 7am every morning, and every night as soon as I finished my shift. I had to come see him every time I had a day off, and I wasn’t to spend any money - in fact, was to ask my boss to keep half of it in the safe for when I left so I wouldn’t spend it.

That lasted four days. Within the first week, a day off came and it was sunny and I wanted to spend it drinking and getting sunburned with my work friend rather than spend the whole time on the train, where I would be miserable and get the 5am bus back to work the next day. So I did. And he was angry, but I was an hour and a half away so I didn’t actually have to face it - I turned off my phone and got drunk and smiled for real. And then a couple nights later, there was a party (which I’d promised I wouldn’t be partying this year) that I went to, and met Cal properly. We sat in a corner the whole night drinking gin and irn bru and taking the piss out of eachother and we clicked instantly. When I had the party at my van another couple nights later, it was just us left eventually and we kissed. And we stayed up all that night chatting and got about 20 minutes of sleep.

Cal and I started a relationship. While I was with David. He knew everything about me, I told him it all straight away, that I was in a relationship, the whole nine yards. We didn’t have sex though, he was too moral for that which I am thankful for.

A month into being in Ardlui, I dumped David. I phoned him, and laid it out that I didn’t want our life plan anymore, that I wasn’t happy and we weren’t growing off eachother anymore. I didn’t tell him about the cheating, with anyone. I didn’t tell him I smoked. I didn’t tell him I’d been absolutely jungled three hours before phoning him. Because I didn’t want to hurt him, and prove that he’d been right every time he accused me and I denied it.

And he didn’t even care. He went ‘okay’ and sounded like he’d been expecting it- which made it so much easier on me, because when I woke up the morning I decided to leave him, I was destroyed. 5 years of my life and the whole life I had planned ahead of me were about to be thrown out the window, and at first I didn’t think I was ready. I wasn’t looking in the mirror when I decided it, to see my ribs and hipbones staring at me over an ignored eating disorder. I didn’t see the depression written in my drafts on twitter. I didn’t see his controlling nature in my texts to the few friends I had left. I saw my dependency to him and saw the promises I’d made him, and I felt like a bitch. Because he was relying on me too for his life plan. But the simplicity of his ‘okay’ drove the way he’d been treating me home.  Despite hating myself over the way I’d been acting with the cheating and eventually refusing to adhere to any of the “rules” we’d set, I deserved better. I deserved to eat, to drink, to smoke, be happy with the 6��4″ gorgeous man I’d always wanted that finally waltzed into my life and showed me I deserved better.

So for the first time since officially being considered an adult, I depended on myself. I threw my entire life away and took everything day by day after that, and it has done me the world of good. I’m still  with Cal, we’ve just hit 6 months together, and even though the way we ended up together was unconventional and I’m sosososo insecure about it, I know he loves me. Even though we do argue, I don’t lie or hide anything from him. I tell him when I‘m having a rough mental health day, even though it’s hard. We’ve been all over Europe, something I always wanted to do but never did, and it won’t be the last time I do it. I have nothing planned, I have next to no money left, but I’m happier right now than I have been in the past year. I don’t depend on anybody. Everything is down to me. 

I’m still balls deep in my eating disorder, which I’ve only recently admitted and acknowledged was something I was dealing with. I am better, I do eat every day. Some days I eat properly, some days I have to deal with choking down a cereal bar and staying away from the scale and calling it victory - which it is! I still hit rough times mentally, but they’re okay. I know how to recognize and deal with them now, and I don’t brush anything under the rug. Even though I am worried about how he views me, I have a boyfriend that listens to me when I tell him what’s wrong. 

Abusive relationships aren’t always black and white until you’re out, and the term ‘abuse’ is scary and heavy, but it’s grey too. Neither of us knew how bad we were for eachother. We were both abusive. I haven’t spoken to David since the split, so I’ll admit I don’t know how our relationship affected him. I guess I just hope the breakup was as good for him as it was for me. I don’t mean to paint him badly, because I do have people here that knew and know him. He’s a great person and I do wish him the best. I just wanted to finally talk about it and what I went through, because I’m tired of being asked. Idk. If you read this then god bless you, because it was l o n g.

[gatorjbone]

FIVE POINTS OF LIFE HALF MARATHON - February 17, 2019

I don’t think I have ever been this conflicted about writing a post for my blog. It’s that feeling that no matter how lightly you try to tread, no matter how much you try to sugarcoat, no matter how much of the benefit of the doubt you try to give…it’s still not going to come out well. Let’s begin by beating this dead horse one more time:

This is my favorite race.

It’s Gainesville.

It’s running through the University of Florida campus and downtown Gainesville.

I set a PR for a full marathon during this race.

I’ve participated in this race more than any other.

It’s not the most attractive course, but it’s MY COURSE.  The only thing that could sour me on this race would be if they were to totally changed the course, and move it out west. That’s exactly what they did. Mary had signed up for the race, and was excited in participating for the first time.  She even convinced Pam to run with us, so I was really stoked.  In mid-January, Mary texted me to say “The one time I decided to run Five Points, they no longer run thru the stadium.”  I called her immediately, and said that you just run through the concourse, and not through the actual stadium.  What she said next shocked me to the core. The entire course had changed, and they were moving everything out to Celebration Point (a new destination experience, off Archer Road & west of I-75).  Celebration Point?  This was nowhere near UF or downtown.  I sent an email to the race director Ricky, but really…what could he say?  I’ve heard that the university wanted them to change the weekend of the race, and that the sponsorship to move the race out west was too good to pass up, but I don’t want to speculate on any of that.  The race would now be totally flat, which was a total disappointment to this South Florida boy. As much as I dreaded some of those colossal hills, it was still part of the charm of this race.  The course map did not look particularly exciting, but I would run the race before I passed judgement.  On the bright side, I would still get to hang with Jen, Mary, and Pam for the weekend.

I left the “954” around 6am, and drove straight to the UF Bookstore.  Jen had some errands to run, so I would meet up with her later.  Mary called me, and she sounded awful.  She totally lost her voice, and was really sick.  She was not going to be able to run with us, but would drive up with Pam for moral support.  This was a total bummer.   After a few purchases for Glenda and Lindsey (nothing for me), I met Jen at the Hotel Indigo Gainesville-Celebration Pointe, which was where I was now staying.  This hotel opened in October, and I must say…it is beautiful (and very reasonably priced).  The expo was located inside the hotel, but it was very small.  The race shirt was very nice, as it always is for this race.  My only criticism was the shirt was a 60/40 (cotton/polyester) blend, which means I won’t be able to wear it while running.  In my opinion, any race shirt for a marathon or half marathon should always be 100% polyester.  Save the cotton for a 5K.  We grabbed lunch at Miller’s Ale House (also located in Celebration Pointe), and then off to VegFest.   Gainesville VegFest is presented by North Florida Veg Events, Inc., and is a celebration of a healthy, sustainable and compassionate way of life.  VegFest is dedicated to informing and inspiring the community to make healthy food choices.  The event took place in Depot Park, which is very close to where Lindsey used to live.  The park was very pretty, with lots of vendors, music, and people with dogs.  Still feeling full from lunch, we passed on all of the healthy choices.  Jen dropped me back at my hotel, as I got ready for round two…Dinner with Paula and Bill.  I hadn’t seen them in quite some time, and it was good to catch up.  I was really tired when I got back to the room, and went to sleep around 9:30pm.  The race started at 6:15am, and the ladies would be meeting me around 5:30am.

  I slept well, but of course I woke up before the alarm.  Pam and Mary were right on time, but Mary really looked like death warmed over.  I told her to stay in the room and try to sleep while the race took place.  She could then meet us at the finish line later on.  I didn’t need to tell her twice, as she grabbed her box of tissues and hit the sack.  It was 64° as we made our way to the starting line, which was not at the same location as the full marathon.  It was obvious where the race started, but not if you were staying in the hotel.  In my opinion, a few signs (or volunteers) pointing the way would have helped.  600 runners were entered in this year’s race, which was 82 less than last year. So much for the excitement of this new course and branding campaign.  We decided to do intervals (3 x 1), since Pam had not run in quite some time.  After exchanging pleasantries with Ruth and Bill G., it was now time to start the race.  It was still dark outside, and we had the “pleasure” of running west on Archer Road for the first four miles.  With nothing to see anyway, I guess it was better to get this part of the race over with first.  Archer Road is only one lane each way, so cars heading west were literally driving in the middle of the road.  Although there were cones for the cars, it was still a bit of a concern for the runners.  We then turned into Halle Plantation for the next 5.5 miles.  Halle Plantation is a very pretty and upscale neighborhood, and my ultimate port of call when I retire.  At this point, Pam and I had not seen any other runners for a few miles (a volunteer did shout out "you have nice skin." but we didn't know which one of us she was referring to)..  It was very quiet, with literally no crowd support at all.  In addition, there was a glaring lack of signage in terms as to were you were supposed to run.  It was pretty obvious, but with no life in sight, a first-timer to this area might have been nervous.  In addition, the lack of police presence on many of the side streets had a few rogue cars enter the course.

Once out of the community, it was onto Tower Road.  We then ran down some weird streets, which was okay with me.  Our pace was very slow, but I felt really good as we crossed the finish line.  Mary was there to greet us, but she wasn't feeling any better.  The after-party was nice, with music and pizza.  Mary and Pam went to breakfast, and I got ready for the long drive home.

    My final thoughts...Since the medals and shirts are “Gator” themed, I think the course should have taken on the same personality.  Where were the student volunteers and cheerleaders?  Where was Albert?  In fact, if we did not see a building that had the Shands Hospital logo on it, you may not have known you were in Gainesville.  I won’t be too harsh on the water stations, but improvement is needed there as well. In the words of Avril Lavigne…‘Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?”

[flauntpage]

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past

When WWE brought back Jim Hellwig a.k.a The Ultimate Warrior after a long and often contentious absence from the company in order to induct him into the Hall of Fame in 2014, it was a heartwarming story of triumphant redemption that could only ever take place in the squared circle. The day after his induction, he delivered a now-legendary promo on Monday Night RAW where he seemingly foreshadowed his own death… and then a mere 24 hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and was gone.

If it had been left at that, you could almost forgive WWE for leaving out the not-so-heartwarming part of the story — namely, a series of homophobic and racist remarks made in speeches on college campuses and since-deleted blog posts in the mid-late 2000's during Warrior's stint as a conservative commentator.

Only, it wasn't left at that.

In the following years, WWE proceeded to make Warrior a centerpiece of their burgeoning corporate philanthropy efforts, creating the Warrior Award, to be given out at an elaborate ceremony every year to a recipient who "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." This year, the company merged its Warrior branding into its longstanding partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. Various WWE Superstars and several breast cancer survivors have been sporting the likeness of the Warrior on television all month as part of the campaign and the company has been relentlessly promoting it on social media. Unleash Your Warrior.

Now is probably a good time to quickly go over a few of the things this man said during his stint as an aspiring conservative firebrand in the 2000s. All of these blog posts have been deleted, but through the magic of internet archiving, we were able to track them down.

On Hurricane Katrina victims:

Anyone who expresses sentiments like "How could they let this hurricane come here and do this to our lives?" is a kook as far as I am concerned. Those that somehow believe people are directly to blame for the happening of a natural catastrophe don't deserve to be heard. In fact, they should to be told to shut the hell up. These kinds of people contribute nothing toward repairing things to a better state. Truth is, these people thrive on despair and disarray. Chaos -- mentally and physically and in the way they conduct their lives -- is nothing new to them. They forge their whole lives in and around it. This hurricane to them was nothing more than like rearranging the furniture. If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin -- self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

Beginning with the choice to sit on their ass expecting someone else to hand them a wonderful, beautiful, healthy and wealthy life. And excuse me for being the one to say so, but if you have a dozen kids and no husband to be a father, there are some 'holes' in your life plan that should be sewed up.

In case it isn't abundantly clear just who "these people" were, this article on the demographic makeup of Katrina victims should clear it up. Warrior is referring to "poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars."

On the injustice of Martin Luther King Day:

Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It's only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name "King" as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times — oh, and he had "a dream." One to see a race of people freed completely from discriminate oppression.

On his speech on "Queer Studies" at a Conservative Alliance event at DePaul University:

One guy without his husband and two physically-repulsive butch-dykes slurping on one another's tongues (really) on the front row had a real hard time cozying up to my principled heterosexual obstinacy. So, in an act of pure selfish pleasure the guy got himself physically thrown out by the masculine security guard, unmistakably loving every single masochistic, man-handled moment of it. And the dykes, well, they ran out screaming and yelling like speared wild boars that I was a homophobe for making my remarks. Rumor has it that they decided to exit more because I was not getting stimulated by watching their poorly performed two-nightcrawlers-in-heat act. Ah, the incredible, selfless sacrifices the liberal loons will make on behalf of their cause...warms my heart and makes my whole body laugh.

On the death of actor Heath Ledger (who had played a homosexual character in the film Brokeback Mountain):

By today's standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

On famed WWE Announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (who had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer at the time):

"As for you, Booby Heenan, it's just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of sh– you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on death's bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold."

This one is particularly relevant given that, by sheer coincidence, Heenan's recent death coincided with the launch of the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. It's unclear whether the Susan G. Komen Foundation is aware of Warrior's past statements — they declined to comment on this story.

The purpose of bringing this up now isn't to drag a dead man's name through the mud, or to simply stir up controversy for no reason. It's to ask why WWE thinks it is appropriate to use this man's likeness as a pillar of their inspirational, altruistic corporate philanthropy branding. After his return to WWE, much was made of the bridges that Warrior had burned and the reparations he had made in the wrestling business, but neither Warrior or WWE offered any acknowledgment of—or apology for—his comments going beyond the wrestling business.

His widow, Dana Warrior, said in a statement to VICE Sports that Warrior had become a different man before he died.

"I will not be disloyal to my husband's memory or speak ill of a man who is not here to defend himself. I can, however, tell you his heart was changed by conversations with his two daughters. The true testament of the man behind the character is his ability to evolve. My husband did just that."

But there was no public sign that he had any change of stance.

It's also important to point out that these speeches weren't given by Jim Hellwig, they were quite literally given by Warrior—he legally changed his name during a copyright dispute with the company—so the idea that WWE can simply make a distinction between the Ultimate Warrior, a fictional character, and the actor portraying him doesn't really hold much water. Also worth mentioning: WWE banished Hulk Hogan, their biggest ever star, down the memory hole when his own ugly, racist comments were made public in 2015.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was occupied only by paragons of moral virtue, it would be a fairly lonely place. Donald Trump is in there, after all. And Warrior was unquestionably an iconic WWE character, who had a profound impact on the wrestling industry. One could make the case that, regardless of the horrible things he had said during this period (a period where he was not under contract with WWE and had no affiliation with the company) he still deserved to be recognized for his significant achievements inside the wrestling ring.

But the same company that banished Hogan has poured millions of dollars into a quasi-philanthropical marketing campaign promoting the image of a person who made vastly uglier comments.And make no mistake—these initiatives are marketing. This is a notion endorsed by Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon in a tweet from WWE's Business Partner Summit in 2015 (the first year the Warrior Award was given out),

It's obviously not a bad thing that the WWE is making an effort to do community outreach, help with breast cancer awareness, and get involved in other philanthropic efforts. But their insistence on not only welcoming Warrior back into the fold, but completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that's at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse. When asked about this, WWE released the following statement to VICE Sports:

"WWE's 'Unleash Your Warrior' breast cancer awareness campaign and annual 'Warrior Award' recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE's legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided."

Either they were unaware of Warrior's past statements or they were aware and just thought they might sweep them under the rug like many of the other uglier parts of their corporate history. However it happened, the company has now spent years devoting significant resources to promoting a reactionary who is on record saying things that would make Rush Limbaugh blush, as a heroic figure of inspiration and redemption. It appears that they will continue to do so. This version of the Ultimate Warrior would be nice to believe in, but ultimately it's as fictional as any other wrestling storyline.

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior’s Bigoted Past

When WWE brought back Jim Hellwig a.k.a The Ultimate Warrior after a long and often contentious absence from the company in order to induct him into the Hall of Fame in 2014, it was a heartwarming story of triumphant redemption that could only ever take place in the squared circle. The day after his induction, he delivered a now-legendary promo on Monday Night RAW where he seemingly foreshadowed his own death… and then a mere 24 hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and was gone.

If it had been left at that, you could almost forgive WWE for leaving out the not-so-heartwarming part of the story — namely, a series of homophobic and racist remarks made in speeches on college campuses and since-deleted blog posts in the mid-late 2000’s during Warrior’s stint as a conservative commentator.

Only, it wasn’t left at that.

In the following years, WWE proceeded to make Warrior a centerpiece of their burgeoning corporate philanthropy efforts, creating the Warrior Award, to be given out at an elaborate ceremony every year to a recipient who “exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior.” This year, the company merged its Warrior branding into its longstanding partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. Various WWE Superstars and several breast cancer survivors have been sporting the likeness of the Warrior on television all month as part of the campaign and the company has been relentlessly promoting it on social media. Unleash Your Warrior.

Now is probably a good time to quickly go over a few of the things this man said during his stint as an aspiring conservative firebrand in the 2000s. All of these blog posts have been deleted, but through the magic of internet archiving, we were able to track them down.

On Hurricane Katrina victims:

Anyone who expresses sentiments like “How could they let this hurricane come here and do this to our lives?” is a kook as far as I am concerned. Those that somehow believe people are directly to blame for the happening of a natural catastrophe don’t deserve to be heard. In fact, they should to be told to shut the hell up. These kinds of people contribute nothing toward repairing things to a better state. Truth is, these people thrive on despair and disarray. Chaos — mentally and physically and in the way they conduct their lives — is nothing new to them. They forge their whole lives in and around it. This hurricane to them was nothing more than like rearranging the furniture. If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone’s attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin — self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

Beginning with the choice to sit on their ass expecting someone else to hand them a wonderful, beautiful, healthy and wealthy life. And excuse me for being the one to say so, but if you have a dozen kids and no husband to be a father, there are some ‘holes’ in your life plan that should be sewed up.

In case it isn’t abundantly clear just who “these people” were, this article on the demographic makeup of Katrina victims should clear it up. Warrior is referring to “poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars.”

On the injustice of Martin Luther King Day:

Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It’s only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name “King” as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times — oh, and he had “a dream.” One to see a race of people freed completely from discriminate oppression.

On his speech on “Queer Studies” at a Conservative Alliance event at DePaul University:

One guy without his husband and two physically-repulsive butch-dykes slurping on one another’s tongues (really) on the front row had a real hard time cozying up to my principled heterosexual obstinacy. So, in an act of pure selfish pleasure the guy got himself physically thrown out by the masculine security guard, unmistakably loving every single masochistic, man-handled moment of it. And the dykes, well, they ran out screaming and yelling like speared wild boars that I was a homophobe for making my remarks. Rumor has it that they decided to exit more because I was not getting stimulated by watching their poorly performed two-nightcrawlers-in-heat act. Ah, the incredible, selfless sacrifices the liberal loons will make on behalf of their cause…warms my heart and makes my whole body laugh.

On the death of actor Heath Ledger (who had played a homosexual character in the film Brokeback Mountain):

By today’s standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

On famed WWE Announcer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan (who had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer at the time):

“As for you, Booby Heenan, it’s just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of sh– you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on death’s bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold.”

This one is particularly relevant given that, by sheer coincidence, Heenan’s recent death coincided with the launch of the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. It’s unclear whether the Susan G. Komen Foundation is aware of Warrior’s past statements — they declined to comment on this story.

The purpose of bringing this up now isn’t to drag a dead man’s name through the mud, or to simply stir up controversy for no reason. It’s to ask why WWE thinks it is appropriate to use this man’s likeness as a pillar of their inspirational, altruistic corporate philanthropy branding. After his return to WWE, much was made of the bridges that Warrior had burned and the reparations he had made in the wrestling business, but neither Warrior or WWE offered any acknowledgment of—or apology for—his comments going beyond the wrestling business.

His widow, Dana Warrior, said in a statement to VICE Sports that Warrior had become a different man before he died.

“I will not be disloyal to my husband’s memory or speak ill of a man who is not here to defend himself. I can, however, tell you his heart was changed by conversations with his two daughters. The true testament of the man behind the character is his ability to evolve. My husband did just that.”

But there was no public sign that he had any change of stance.

It’s also important to point out that these speeches weren’t given by Jim Hellwig, they were quite literally given by Warrior—he legally changed his name during a copyright dispute with the company—so the idea that WWE can simply make a distinction between the Ultimate Warrior, a fictional character, and the actor portraying him doesn’t really hold much water. Also worth mentioning: WWE banished Hulk Hogan, their biggest ever star, down the memory hole when his own ugly, racist comments were made public in 2015.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was occupied only by paragons of moral virtue, it would be a fairly lonely place. Donald Trump is in there, after all. And Warrior was unquestionably an iconic WWE character, who had a profound impact on the wrestling industry. One could make the case that, regardless of the horrible things he had said during this period (a period where he was not under contract with WWE and had no affiliation with the company) he still deserved to be recognized for his significant achievements inside the wrestling ring.

But the same company that banished Hogan has poured millions of dollars into a quasi-philanthropical marketing campaign promoting the image of a person who made vastly uglier comments.And make no mistake—these initiatives are marketing. This is a notion endorsed by Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon in a tweet from WWE’s Business Partner Summit in 2015 (the first year the Warrior Award was given out),

It’s obviously not a bad thing that the WWE is making an effort to do community outreach, help with breast cancer awareness, and get involved in other philanthropic efforts. But their insistence on not only welcoming Warrior back into the fold, but completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that’s at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse. When asked about this, WWE released the following statement to VICE Sports:

“WWE’s ‘Unleash Your Warrior’ breast cancer awareness campaign and annual ‘Warrior Award’ recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE’s legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided.”

Either they were unaware of Warrior’s past statements or they were aware and just thought they might sweep them under the rug like many of the other uglier parts of their corporate history. However it happened, the company has now spent years devoting significant resources to promoting a reactionary who is on record saying things that would make Rush Limbaugh blush, as a heroic figure of inspiration and redemption. It appears that they will continue to do so. This version of the Ultimate Warrior would be nice to believe in, but ultimately it’s as fictional as any other wrestling storyline.

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior’s Bigoted Past syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[badforyourheartgoodforyourart]

A Rare Breed

Courage is like any other personality trait, in the sense that it is deep-seeded and innate. It goes unnoticed until given the opportunity to establish itself. Even a genius is not labeled smart until he is tested. An athlete is not considered fast until he races. And a man does not know he is courageous until he faces fear.

                      • • • • •

Charles G. “Chick” Cleveland gazed into the sky with the fascination of any eight-year-old. His mom had let him go see The Dawn Patrol at the picture show, and after, as he looked up at the clouds, he imagined the World War I planes flying overhead.

Years later, Cleveland entered West Point Military Academy, and upon graduation chose to be a part of the newly independent Air Force, with dreams of being a fighter pilot. The war beckoned him to South Korea. He flew 60 missions as a wingman and was then promoted to Flight Commander. In his first lethal encounter, his F-86 zoomed past the enemy MIG-15, and they both turned for each other’s tails. It was in that moment of fear and adrenaline — after all the dreaming, enlisting and training — that it was undeniable he was a courageous man.

“This is not practice anymore,” he recalls thinking. “One of us is not going home tonight.”

                     • • • • •

Courage is unlike any other personality trait, however, in its denotation. There are millions of kind, strong, even brave men that we are blessed to have among us; but the courageous surpass even those. Kindness lights the dark, warms the coldest heart, and smiles amid the desolate. Strength protects and inspires the weak. Bravery will fight back fear and danger, but it is power of mind. Courage beats from the heart. The courageous are a rare breed — one full of honor and love. They do not do their duty because told to or made to, but because it pumps through their body with their blood. Because courage is moral, and they are moral.

                     • • • • •

In the first three weeks of the war, while Cleveland was still in training, the U.S. Air Force annihilated that of North Korea’s. The Russians, who flew 75 percent of North Korean missions, then introduced the MIG-15, “a swept-wing, high altitude, short-range, lethal fighter” and the tables quickly turned.

The U.S. regained air superiority and was fighting to maintain it when Cleveland arrived in Korea. Waiting for a bus in the rain, a staff car offered him a lift — and a lasting lesson.

“Get in, Lieutenant,” a colonel shouted. The remainder of the ride, there was no further direct acknowledgement of him. Cleveland listened as the two colonels spoke to each other about their last victory. “… Wherever you get these guys — whether it’s north of the river, over the river, south of the river, wherever — that’s one less that’s gonna be up the next day shootin’ at your buddies.”

                     • • • • •

It was all for something so much bigger than the cramped cockpit he was confined to. It was for the rest of the Air Force, the rest of the military and ultimately America, 7,000 miles away. But it all started in that cramped cockpit, fighting for control of the skies.

Cleveland committed his career and quite literally his life to ensure U.S. air superiority, because that was the basis for everything else in the war. Without the dedication of the fighter pilots, American bombers could not reach North Korea, and the communist forces would be free to drop bombs and fire rockets onto the United Nations ground forces as they pleased. From there, the entire war effort would crumble.

Hence, the fighter pilot’s duty was colossal, and the recognition for those whom excelled admirable. To obtain five or more kills and be named a Fighter Ace was, and still is, a distinguished accomplishment. However, it is one that may very well have seen its day.

                     • • • • •

In order for fighter pilots to have the opportunity to excel, there first must be a confrontation between two large air forces that engage in air-to-air combat. But the nature of war has changed drastically over the last half century. Now, two nations no longer challenge each other face-to-face. Most aggression is contactless — one side attacks and then the other retaliates. Returning to traditional dogfights is unlikely, though not impossible.

In addition, if two big nations went to war with one another head-on, there is a growing possibility that pilots would not be flying their planes from inside them. Unmanned aerial vehicles are on the rise in the U.S. Air Force. These drones are flying missions in the Middle East today, while being piloted from Creech Air Force Base, an hour outside of Las Vegas. While it is debated which is better (more accurate, less dangerous, easier to recruit and train pilots) the coming revolution is inevitable.

Technology has continually transformed the Air Force since it’s beginning. The first aerial encounters were with simple pistols attached to the most basic planes. Next they graduated to rifles, followed by machine guns and synchronized machine guns through the propeller, and eventually cannons. Accuracy and speed continue to improve exponentially. So what is to come?

In the future, drones will become more common and play a bigger role for the Air Force. But that change does not shake the valor of the Fighter Aces. The courage of these men is incomparable and irrevocable. That is not to say that the pilots of the unmanned aerial vehicles are not courageous. They might be, but given today’s circumstances, they may never be given an opportunity to face true fear and prove themselves.

“The march of technology is inevitable,” Cleveland said. “It’s going to happen, and I’m very comfortable with that. But I also know when my time in the barrel came, back in the 50’s in combat, I was there.”

The Fighter Aces are heroes who have made an outsized and permanent mark in our history books. Such a small group of people has made a large impact on our country. They are men who, like all, will age and pass away, but what they have accomplished in their time will never be forgotten. Those still with us today — including my Grampa Chick — deserve the respect and admiration for what they are: the last of a legacy.

“… I may well be the last named Fighter Ace,” and that is special.

A rare breed, indeed.

[flauntpage]

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past

When WWE brought back Jim Hellwig a.k.a The Ultimate Warrior after a long and often contentious absence from the company in order to induct him into the Hall of Fame in 2014, it was a heartwarming story of triumphant redemption that could only ever take place in the squared circle. The day after his induction, he delivered a now-legendary promo on Monday Night RAW where he seemingly foreshadowed his own death… and then a mere 24 hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and was gone.

If it had been left at that, you could almost forgive WWE for leaving out the not-so-heartwarming part of the story — namely, a series of homophobic and racist remarks made in speeches on college campuses and since-deleted blog posts in the mid-late 2000's during Warrior's stint as a conservative commentator.

Only, it wasn't left at that.

In the following years, WWE proceeded to make Warrior a centerpiece of their burgeoning corporate philanthropy efforts, creating the Warrior Award, to be given out at an elaborate ceremony every year to a recipient who "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." This year, the company merged its Warrior branding into its longstanding partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. Various WWE Superstars and several breast cancer survivors have been sporting the likeness of the Warrior on television all month as part of the campaign and the company has been relentlessly promoting it on social media. Unleash Your Warrior.

Now is probably a good time to quickly go over a few of the things this man said during his stint as an aspiring conservative firebrand in the 2000s. All of these blog posts have been deleted, but through the magic of internet archiving, we were able to track them down.

On Hurricane Katrina victims:

Anyone who expresses sentiments like "How could they let this hurricane come here and do this to our lives?" is a kook as far as I am concerned. Those that somehow believe people are directly to blame for the happening of a natural catastrophe don't deserve to be heard. In fact, they should to be told to shut the hell up. These kinds of people contribute nothing toward repairing things to a better state. Truth is, these people thrive on despair and disarray. Chaos -- mentally and physically and in the way they conduct their lives -- is nothing new to them. They forge their whole lives in and around it. This hurricane to them was nothing more than like rearranging the furniture. If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin -- self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

Beginning with the choice to sit on their ass expecting someone else to hand them a wonderful, beautiful, healthy and wealthy life. And excuse me for being the one to say so, but if you have a dozen kids and no husband to be a father, there are some 'holes' in your life plan that should be sewed up.

In case it isn't abundantly clear just who "these people" were, this article on the demographic makeup of Katrina victims should clear it up. Warrior is referring to "poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars."

On the injustice of Martin Luther King Day:

Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It's only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name "King" as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times — oh, and he had "a dream." One to see a race of people freed completely from discriminate oppression.

On his speech on "Queer Studies" at a Conservative Alliance event at DePaul University:

One guy without his husband and two physically-repulsive butch-dykes slurping on one another's tongues (really) on the front row had a real hard time cozying up to my principled heterosexual obstinacy. So, in an act of pure selfish pleasure the guy got himself physically thrown out by the masculine security guard, unmistakably loving every single masochistic, man-handled moment of it. And the dykes, well, they ran out screaming and yelling like speared wild boars that I was a homophobe for making my remarks. Rumor has it that they decided to exit more because I was not getting stimulated by watching their poorly performed two-nightcrawlers-in-heat act. Ah, the incredible, selfless sacrifices the liberal loons will make on behalf of their cause...warms my heart and makes my whole body laugh.

On the death of actor Heath Ledger (who had played a homosexual character in the film Brokeback Mountain):

By today's standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

On famed WWE Announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (who had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer at the time):

"As for you, Booby Heenan, it's just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of sh– you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on death's bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold."

This one is particularly relevant given that, by sheer coincidence, Heenan's recent death coincided with the launch of the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. It's unclear whether the Susan G. Komen Foundation is aware of Warrior's past statements — they declined to comment on this story.

The purpose of bringing this up now isn't to drag a dead man's name through the mud, or to simply stir up controversy for no reason. It's to ask why WWE thinks it is appropriate to use this man's likeness as a pillar of their inspirational, altruistic corporate philanthropy branding. After his return to WWE, much was made of the bridges that Warrior had burned and the reparations he had made in the wrestling business, but neither Warrior or WWE offered any acknowledgment of—or apology for—his comments going beyond the wrestling business.

His widow, Dana Warrior, said in a statement to VICE Sports that Warrior had become a different man before he died.

"I will not be disloyal to my husband's memory or speak ill of a man who is not here to defend himself. I can, however, tell you his heart was changed by conversations with his two daughters. The true testament of the man behind the character is his ability to evolve. My husband did just that."

But there was no public sign that he had any change of stance.

It's also important to point out that these speeches weren't given by Jim Hellwig, they were quite literally given by Warrior—he legally changed his name during a copyright dispute with the company—so the idea that WWE can simply make a distinction between the Ultimate Warrior, a fictional character, and the actor portraying him doesn't really hold much water. Also worth mentioning: WWE banished Hulk Hogan, their biggest ever star, down the memory hole when his own ugly, racist comments were made public in 2015.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was occupied only by paragons of moral virtue, it would be a fairly lonely place. Donald Trump is in there, after all. And Warrior was unquestionably an iconic WWE character, who had a profound impact on the wrestling industry. One could make the case that, regardless of the horrible things he had said during this period (a period where he was not under contract with WWE and had no affiliation with the company) he still deserved to be recognized for his significant achievements inside the wrestling ring.

But the same company that banished Hogan has poured millions of dollars into a quasi-philanthropical marketing campaign promoting the image of a person who made vastly uglier comments.And make no mistake—these initiatives are marketing. This is a notion endorsed by Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon in a tweet from WWE's Business Partner Summit in 2015 (the first year the Warrior Award was given out),

It's obviously not a bad thing that the WWE is making an effort to do community outreach, help with breast cancer awareness, and get involved in other philanthropic efforts. But their insistence on not only welcoming Warrior back into the fold, but completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that's at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse. When asked about this, WWE released the following statement to VICE Sports:

"WWE's 'Unleash Your Warrior' breast cancer awareness campaign and annual 'Warrior Award' recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE's legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided."

Either they were unaware of Warrior's past statements or they were aware and just thought they might sweep them under the rug like many of the other uglier parts of their corporate history. However it happened, the company has now spent years devoting significant resources to promoting a reactionary who is on record saying things that would make Rush Limbaugh blush, as a heroic figure of inspiration and redemption. It appears that they will continue to do so. This version of the Ultimate Warrior would be nice to believe in, but ultimately it's as fictional as any other wrestling storyline.

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[flauntpage]

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past

When WWE brought back Jim Hellwig a.k.a The Ultimate Warrior after a long and often contentious absence from the company in order to induct him into the Hall of Fame in 2014, it was a heartwarming story of triumphant redemption that could only ever take place in the squared circle. The day after his induction, he delivered a now-legendary promo on Monday Night RAW where he seemingly foreshadowed his own death… and then a mere 24 hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and was gone.

If it had been left at that, you could almost forgive WWE for leaving out the not-so-heartwarming part of the story — namely, a series of homophobic and racist remarks made in speeches on college campuses and since-deleted blog posts in the mid-late 2000's during Warrior's stint as a conservative commentator.

Only, it wasn't left at that.

In the following years, WWE proceeded to make Warrior a centerpiece of their burgeoning corporate philanthropy efforts, creating the Warrior Award, to be given out at an elaborate ceremony every year to a recipient who "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." This year, the company merged its Warrior branding into its longstanding partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. Various WWE Superstars and several breast cancer survivors have been sporting the likeness of the Warrior on television all month as part of the campaign and the company has been relentlessly promoting it on social media. Unleash Your Warrior.

Now is probably a good time to quickly go over a few of the things this man said during his stint as an aspiring conservative firebrand in the 2000s. All of these blog posts have been deleted, but through the magic of internet archiving, we were able to track them down.

On Hurricane Katrina victims:

Anyone who expresses sentiments like "How could they let this hurricane come here and do this to our lives?" is a kook as far as I am concerned. Those that somehow believe people are directly to blame for the happening of a natural catastrophe don't deserve to be heard. In fact, they should to be told to shut the hell up. These kinds of people contribute nothing toward repairing things to a better state. Truth is, these people thrive on despair and disarray. Chaos -- mentally and physically and in the way they conduct their lives -- is nothing new to them. They forge their whole lives in and around it. This hurricane to them was nothing more than like rearranging the furniture. If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin -- self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

Beginning with the choice to sit on their ass expecting someone else to hand them a wonderful, beautiful, healthy and wealthy life. And excuse me for being the one to say so, but if you have a dozen kids and no husband to be a father, there are some 'holes' in your life plan that should be sewed up.

In case it isn't abundantly clear just who "these people" were, this article on the demographic makeup of Katrina victims should clear it up. Warrior is referring to "poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars."

On the injustice of Martin Luther King Day:

Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It's only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name "King" as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times — oh, and he had "a dream." One to see a race of people freed completely from discriminate oppression.

On his speech on "Queer Studies" at a Conservative Alliance event at DePaul University:

One guy without his husband and two physically-repulsive butch-dykes slurping on one another's tongues (really) on the front row had a real hard time cozying up to my principled heterosexual obstinacy. So, in an act of pure selfish pleasure the guy got himself physically thrown out by the masculine security guard, unmistakably loving every single masochistic, man-handled moment of it. And the dykes, well, they ran out screaming and yelling like speared wild boars that I was a homophobe for making my remarks. Rumor has it that they decided to exit more because I was not getting stimulated by watching their poorly performed two-nightcrawlers-in-heat act. Ah, the incredible, selfless sacrifices the liberal loons will make on behalf of their cause...warms my heart and makes my whole body laugh.

On the death of actor Heath Ledger (who had played a homosexual character in the film Brokeback Mountain):

By today's standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

On famed WWE Announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (who had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer at the time):

"As for you, Booby Heenan, it's just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of sh– you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on death's bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold."

This one is particularly relevant given that, by sheer coincidence, Heenan's recent death coincided with the launch of the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. It's unclear whether the Susan G. Komen Foundation is aware of Warrior's past statements — they declined to comment on this story.

The purpose of bringing this up now isn't to drag a dead man's name through the mud, or to simply stir up controversy for no reason. It's to ask why WWE thinks it is appropriate to use this man's likeness as a pillar of their inspirational, altruistic corporate philanthropy branding. After his return to WWE, much was made of the bridges that Warrior had burned and the reparations he had made in the wrestling business, but neither Warrior or WWE offered any acknowledgment of—or apology for—his comments going beyond the wrestling business.

His widow, Dana Warrior, said in a statement to VICE Sports that Warrior had become a different man before he died.

"I will not be disloyal to my husband's memory or speak ill of a man who is not here to defend himself. I can, however, tell you his heart was changed by conversations with his two daughters. The true testament of the man behind the character is his ability to evolve. My husband did just that."

But there was no public sign that he had any change of stance.

It's also important to point out that these speeches weren't given by Jim Hellwig, they were quite literally given by Warrior—he legally changed his name during a copyright dispute with the company—so the idea that WWE can simply make a distinction between the Ultimate Warrior, a fictional character, and the actor portraying him doesn't really hold much water. Also worth mentioning: WWE banished Hulk Hogan, their biggest ever star, down the memory hole when his own ugly, racist comments were made public in 2015.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was occupied only by paragons of moral virtue, it would be a fairly lonely place. Donald Trump is in there, after all. And Warrior was unquestionably an iconic WWE character, who had a profound impact on the wrestling industry. One could make the case that, regardless of the horrible things he had said during this period (a period where he was not under contract with WWE and had no affiliation with the company) he still deserved to be recognized for his significant achievements inside the wrestling ring.

But the same company that banished Hogan has poured millions of dollars into a quasi-philanthropical marketing campaign promoting the image of a person who made vastly uglier comments.And make no mistake—these initiatives are marketing. This is a notion endorsed by Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon in a tweet from WWE's Business Partner Summit in 2015 (the first year the Warrior Award was given out),

It's obviously not a bad thing that the WWE is making an effort to do community outreach, help with breast cancer awareness, and get involved in other philanthropic efforts. But their insistence on not only welcoming Warrior back into the fold, but completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that's at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse. When asked about this, WWE released the following statement to VICE Sports:

"WWE's 'Unleash Your Warrior' breast cancer awareness campaign and annual 'Warrior Award' recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE's legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided."

Either they were unaware of Warrior's past statements or they were aware and just thought they might sweep them under the rug like many of the other uglier parts of their corporate history. However it happened, the company has now spent years devoting significant resources to promoting a reactionary who is on record saying things that would make Rush Limbaugh blush, as a heroic figure of inspiration and redemption. It appears that they will continue to do so. This version of the Ultimate Warrior would be nice to believe in, but ultimately it's as fictional as any other wrestling storyline.

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[flauntpage]

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past

When WWE brought back Jim Hellwig a.k.a The Ultimate Warrior after a long and often contentious absence from the company in order to induct him into the Hall of Fame in 2014, it was a heartwarming story of triumphant redemption that could only ever take place in the squared circle. The day after his induction, he delivered a now-legendary promo on Monday Night RAW where he seemingly foreshadowed his own death… and then a mere 24 hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and was gone.

If it had been left at that, you could almost forgive WWE for leaving out the not-so-heartwarming part of the story — namely, a series of homophobic and racist remarks made in speeches on college campuses and since-deleted blog posts in the mid-late 2000's during Warrior's stint as a conservative commentator.

Only, it wasn't left at that.

In the following years, WWE proceeded to make Warrior a centerpiece of their burgeoning corporate philanthropy efforts, creating the Warrior Award, to be given out at an elaborate ceremony every year to a recipient who "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." This year, the company merged its Warrior branding into its longstanding partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. Various WWE Superstars and several breast cancer survivors have been sporting the likeness of the Warrior on television all month as part of the campaign and the company has been relentlessly promoting it on social media. Unleash Your Warrior.

Now is probably a good time to quickly go over a few of the things this man said during his stint as an aspiring conservative firebrand in the 2000s. All of these blog posts have been deleted, but through the magic of internet archiving, we were able to track them down.

On Hurricane Katrina victims:

Anyone who expresses sentiments like "How could they let this hurricane come here and do this to our lives?" is a kook as far as I am concerned. Those that somehow believe people are directly to blame for the happening of a natural catastrophe don't deserve to be heard. In fact, they should to be told to shut the hell up. These kinds of people contribute nothing toward repairing things to a better state. Truth is, these people thrive on despair and disarray. Chaos -- mentally and physically and in the way they conduct their lives -- is nothing new to them. They forge their whole lives in and around it. This hurricane to them was nothing more than like rearranging the furniture. If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin -- self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

Beginning with the choice to sit on their ass expecting someone else to hand them a wonderful, beautiful, healthy and wealthy life. And excuse me for being the one to say so, but if you have a dozen kids and no husband to be a father, there are some 'holes' in your life plan that should be sewed up.

In case it isn't abundantly clear just who "these people" were, this article on the demographic makeup of Katrina victims should clear it up. Warrior is referring to "poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars."

On the injustice of Martin Luther King Day:

Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It's only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name "King" as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times — oh, and he had "a dream." One to see a race of people freed completely from discriminate oppression.

On his speech on "Queer Studies" at a Conservative Alliance event at DePaul University:

One guy without his husband and two physically-repulsive butch-dykes slurping on one another's tongues (really) on the front row had a real hard time cozying up to my principled heterosexual obstinacy. So, in an act of pure selfish pleasure the guy got himself physically thrown out by the masculine security guard, unmistakably loving every single masochistic, man-handled moment of it. And the dykes, well, they ran out screaming and yelling like speared wild boars that I was a homophobe for making my remarks. Rumor has it that they decided to exit more because I was not getting stimulated by watching their poorly performed two-nightcrawlers-in-heat act. Ah, the incredible, selfless sacrifices the liberal loons will make on behalf of their cause...warms my heart and makes my whole body laugh.

On the death of actor Heath Ledger (who had played a homosexual character in the film Brokeback Mountain):

By today's standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

On famed WWE Announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (who had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer at the time):

"As for you, Booby Heenan, it's just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of sh– you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on death's bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold."

This one is particularly relevant given that, by sheer coincidence, Heenan's recent death coincided with the launch of the #UnleashYourWarrior campaign. It's unclear whether the Susan G. Komen Foundation is aware of Warrior's past statements — they declined to comment on this story.

The purpose of bringing this up now isn't to drag a dead man's name through the mud, or to simply stir up controversy for no reason. It's to ask why WWE thinks it is appropriate to use this man's likeness as a pillar of their inspirational, altruistic corporate philanthropy branding. After his return to WWE, much was made of the bridges that Warrior had burned and the reparations he had made in the wrestling business, but neither Warrior or WWE offered any acknowledgment of—or apology for—his comments going beyond the wrestling business.

His widow, Dana Warrior, said in a statement to VICE Sports that Warrior had become a different man before he died.

"I will not be disloyal to my husband's memory or speak ill of a man who is not here to defend himself. I can, however, tell you his heart was changed by conversations with his two daughters. The true testament of the man behind the character is his ability to evolve. My husband did just that."

But there was no public sign that he had any change of stance.

It's also important to point out that these speeches weren't given by Jim Hellwig, they were quite literally given by Warrior—he legally changed his name during a copyright dispute with the company—so the idea that WWE can simply make a distinction between the Ultimate Warrior, a fictional character, and the actor portraying him doesn't really hold much water. Also worth mentioning: WWE banished Hulk Hogan, their biggest ever star, down the memory hole when his own ugly, racist comments were made public in 2015.

If the WWE Hall of Fame was occupied only by paragons of moral virtue, it would be a fairly lonely place. Donald Trump is in there, after all. And Warrior was unquestionably an iconic WWE character, who had a profound impact on the wrestling industry. One could make the case that, regardless of the horrible things he had said during this period (a period where he was not under contract with WWE and had no affiliation with the company) he still deserved to be recognized for his significant achievements inside the wrestling ring.

But the same company that banished Hogan has poured millions of dollars into a quasi-philanthropical marketing campaign promoting the image of a person who made vastly uglier comments.And make no mistake—these initiatives are marketing. This is a notion endorsed by Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon in a tweet from WWE's Business Partner Summit in 2015 (the first year the Warrior Award was given out),

It's obviously not a bad thing that the WWE is making an effort to do community outreach, help with breast cancer awareness, and get involved in other philanthropic efforts. But their insistence on not only welcoming Warrior back into the fold, but completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that's at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse. When asked about this, WWE released the following statement to VICE Sports:

"WWE's 'Unleash Your Warrior' breast cancer awareness campaign and annual 'Warrior Award' recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE's legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided."

Either they were unaware of Warrior's past statements or they were aware and just thought they might sweep them under the rug like many of the other uglier parts of their corporate history. However it happened, the company has now spent years devoting significant resources to promoting a reactionary who is on record saying things that would make Rush Limbaugh blush, as a heroic figure of inspiration and redemption. It appears that they will continue to do so. This version of the Ultimate Warrior would be nice to believe in, but ultimately it's as fictional as any other wrestling storyline.

WWE is Whitewashing The Ultimate Warrior's Bigoted Past published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv