#she does get two fights but they’re not consequential to the plot

[mixelation]

One thing that really gets my goat about how Sakura is written is that she does occasionally start to do something, but the narrative shuts her down. Like this:

Sakura goes to leap into the arena to see Lee after his fight with Gaara. Kakashi shuts her down. Contrast this to the panels that immediately follow this one:

Naruto does the exact same thing and no one bats an eye!

It’s not that I think characters shouldn’t be stopped from doing what they want— it’s just that when it’s a consistent pattern it makes reading about the character really frustrating. When Haku traps Sasuke in his mirror prison thing, Sakura hurls a kunai to help… and Kakashi tells her to guard Tazuna. She does this obediently for the rest of the fight, INCLUDING when she literally thinks Sasuke is dead (Tazuna has to offer to go to Sasuke with her to get her to move). Sakura’s willingness to do this is actually an interesting character trait, but because it’s couched in this weird lack of agency, it makes her seem complacent and cowardly, especially when the take away of a lot of fights seems to be “try no matter what.”

Here’s another example: in the first part of the chunin exam, they’re all told they can pick to answer a final question and risk being banned from promotion, OR they can back out now and take the exam again later. If Sakura were alone, she’d take the question because she’s confident in her abilities.

However, she starts to raise her hand to back out because she wants to protect Naruto.

She backs off when Naruto gives a speech about never giving up, even though her making them all back out is arguably the more mature choice (why would you drag a teammate along on a mission you know they’ll fail?). She also tries to pull them out of the prelim tournament because Sasuke needs urgent medical attention, and he shuts her down AGAIN. Like, looking at this with the wisdom of an adult, Sakura was definitely in the right there.

To be clear, I don’t mind Sakura being a cautious killjoy to Naruto’s “Believe it!” Shonen protag energy. It’s just that whenever she tries to exercise that caution, it gets shut down and that makes it seem like a negative trait to have. (Also: contrast this to Shikamaru being REWARDED for exercising caution and knowing when to back out). I’m not even arguing that the scenes I cited need to be changed, because they do character work for Naruto and Sasuke. I’m just saying that Sakura could have gotten a few more scenes where her choices were plot relevant, and she’d be a more fleshed out character.

[fireemblems24]

SS Chapter 18 & 19

Whew, felt like it took a long time to reach this next chapter. Life's been busier than usual lately, but here we are.

Spoilers possibly up until Silver Snow Chapter 18 (and other routes around the same time).

Pre-Battle 18

Should I tag this as Verdant Wind spoilers since they basically follow the same plot? Only slightly kidding.

We storming the capital now! Woot! Is Edelgard really going down in one freaking chapter though?

Are they finally going to acknowledge that Byleth's marching to chop down his former student? Because so far he's felt exactly nothing about Edelgard. Not regret, not longing, not horniness, not anger, not vengeance. It's like she's some faceless evil emperor he's never meant before for all the emotional impact their former relationship's had in part 2 so far.

ARE WE GONNA GET RHEA BACK SOON??? Please. I want to see what role she's going to play. There's still so much I don't know about her.

Ok, seeing the map, I don't see Edelgard, but I do see both Hubert and the Death Knight despite defeating them a million times already.

They really shouldn't let us fight the Death Knight so many times if they wanted him to come across intimidating. Even early on, Lysithea with Dark Spikes and Dimitri with a horse killer weapon just melt him. Maybe it's harder on Maddening.

Battle 18

Ugh, I hate split maps. No, Seteth, I don't want to split up.

Hubert sounds so sinister. OMG I love him. He doesn't care - at all - that there were his former classmates.

So Lysithea nuked the Death Knight into another dimension . . . again. Is he dead for real this time? Because it seemed official this time. Finally.

Oh, unique dialogue with Hubert and Ferdinand. The drama. Too bad his Boltings have a 0% hit chance on Ferdinand.

Now time to waste Hubert's second Bolting.

LAMO that Imperial Soldier lady also has Bolting, but Linhardt just waited her out. She did a total of 1 damage to him lol. She's got 5 though and that's annoying, so Petra just took her out.

Having Byleth finish Hubert off since I bet there's more unique dialogue.

Hubert threatening Byleth. Name a more iconic duo.

OMG Byleth' gaunlets broke lamo. Guess someone else will actually finish Hubert.

Wow, Hubert's generic dialogue "not even death will make you consequential." Told that to poor Bernie. Still took an arrow to the face though.

And seems like he's dead-dead this time.

Does he always give you a Goddess Icon when he dies. Because that's funny if he does.

Oh - MVP Petra! She deserves it. She's really catching up to Ferdie and Sylvain. It's just - she never dodges like Ferdinand does, and can't take the punishment Sylvain does.

Post-Battle 18/Pre-Battle 19

WAIT - WAIT - WAIT - WAIT. DEDUE. DEDUE IS HERE? MY BOY? HE'S HERE. WHY IS HE HERE? 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Yeah, wtf is he doing in Enbarr?

Oh - Dedue here's for Edelgard's blood. Nice.

Does this mean I get to use Dedue????

Holy shit, Dedue. He infiltrated Enbarr and gathered intell?

What a champ.

Dedue is low-key the best spy in this game guys. Gathered intel to help an invading army take a castle literally under Edelgard's and Hubert's noses and let's not forget how he broke Dimitri out of prison.

Dedue 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

And Rhea's inside! We get to see Rhea AND Dedue again.

Wait, why is Dedue leaving me? No 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Don't worry Dedue. In another playthrough, I am pampering you and Dimitri and in the next one, you two are getting married pairing up.

I'm guessing we're not going back to Garreg Mach between these battles? Because that would be - eh - make no sense.

Oh, so now we have the "I don't want to kill Edelgard" or "Can we walk the same path as her." Why are those two my only options though? Where's the "fuck yeah" option? It's way more fun to embrace the kill 'em all thing. Except Dimitri and Dedue because my heart

Ok, Caspar, you're forgiven for your CF nonsense calling Edelgard out.

Why is Seteth always lying to me? He keeps saying "I'll leave it in your hands." But then doesn't and yells at me.

Battle 19

Ok. I decided I'm playing these two back-to-back.

Does Verdant Wind do this too? Fight Hubert and the Death Knight, then jump straight to Edelgard, no month in-between?

Because it if it does - it's going to take forever to get to Azure Moon, because, unfortunately, I won't be able to play this game for close to a month after this because of work and other stuff.

Mannnn, I am NOT looking forward to this map with my VW gang. In SS, my Sylvain, Ferdinand, and Petra are all super reliable. And Lysithea can nuke anything. No one in my VW gang is as good as any of those four (though, Claude has gotten more speed lately - thank the stars).

OMG DEDUE IS BACK. HE came, but he's green. WHYYYYY.

So . . . does Dedue have unique battle dialogue with Edelgard? She's all that's left and he's marching towards her. I think I'm going to test this. I'd laugh my butt off if he crit and killed her.

No unique dialogue, but it feels good letting Dedue get a hit on here. I get Dedue could kill her. I could just keep healing him, and she's got no one left. Should I do it guys?

I think I'm going to do it.

I'll let Byleth peck at her with his puny magic damage so I can get that dialogue, and then Dedue's killing Edelgard next round probably.

LAMO Sothis is a false Goddes, but like, she's living in Byleth's head so. We know she's not false.

Oh, well, Edelgard crit Dedue. So I just reset things and my ever reliable Lysithea nuked Edelgard onto another planet, as she does.

Weird she and Lysithea got unique dialogue though.

Ohhh cut scene. Why does Edelgard have a sword though?

Why is Edelgard asking Byleth to kill her? I guess it makes sense. He was her teacher here.

She does know all these people are killing each other because of her, right?

Oh, wow, he just lopped her head off. That's maybe as badass as when Byleth just offed Randolph (or however you say his name). I'm legit impressed the game didn't milk that harder.

Though they did that "I wanted to walk with you line . . ." Which . . . I'll take it. That's not too bad. She did, but what a twisted path she's walking.

I'm a bit conflicted about her death here though. It seemed kind of . . . weird? I expected Edelgard, from the way she talks in CF, to do down fighting. Not pleading to "my teacher" on her knees and panting.

MVP Lysithea. Guess landing that last hit on Edelgard motivated her.

Post-Battle 19

Are we finally gonna see Rhea?

Why did Hubert right us a letter?

Oh, it's about those mage people. And they want revenge. How original. If they're the enemies of all of Fodlan, why did you fight with them? Like why not take them out, then Rhea, who doesn't . . . you know . . . want to destroy the world?

Hubert and Dedue the real MVPs of this route though.

I can't with the name "those who slither in the dark" though. How lame.

Seteth said "kill every last one of them" though.

RHEA. REAH's BACK. 😭😭

And her hair is down! She looks pretty. She looks sickely though.

Oh, we going to learn some stuff now?

I don't remember who Nemesis is. So he's a grave robber. And a genocider. Wonderful. So is that when Seteth's wife died? Or?

I'm guessing we don't get playable Rhea, though I bet someone would've told me already if we did, because she's in such poor shape.

Now we get to kick the people's ass who killed Jeralt?

RHEA IS COMING WITH US

OMG Caspar wants to carry Rhea on his back 😂and then Dorothea has to point out how that might not work for our short king.

No one really mentioned Edelgard and Hubert dying though. Maybe in the monastery?

Guess I'll find out later. Now to go play these exact same maps, but with the Golden Deer!

[mediaevalmusereads]

Ravished By a Highlander. By Paula Quinn. New York: Forever, 2010.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Children of the Mist #1

Summary: Davina Montgomery is no ordinary English lady. For her own protection, she's been locked away from society, her true identity the Crown's most closely guarded secret. Until a shocking betrayal--and a bold rescue--land her in the arms of a fierce Highlander, a powerful warrior whose searing gaze and tantalizing touch awaken her body and soul. As the firstborn son of a powerful Scottish laird, Robert MacGregor has no loyalty to the English throne, but he's not the kind of man to leave a woman in distress, even if she is English. He vows to deliver Davina to safety, unharmed and untouched. Yet one stolen kiss leaves them both smoldering with desire...and desperate for more. With Davina's secret threatening to destroy his clan, Rob must choose between everything he holds dear and the one woman he can't live without.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: sexual content, violence, misogyny (including misogynistic language)

Overview: This review requires an explanation. I used to work for an academic journal which received a copy of this book a number of years ago for review. The journal not only does not review fiction books, but only covers the field of medieval studies, and Ravished by a Highlander definitely isn’t “medieval” (it’s set in the 17th century). The review copy of this book has been sitting in the office ever since, staring down at the editorial assistant from atop a filing cabinet, and has come to be a kind of unofficial mascot. But no one who works for the journal, past or present, has, to my knowledge, read it. So I did. And boy, was I kind of torn on how to rate it. On the one hand, it didn’t have any sexual assault, which is good, and the heroine critiqued the hero’s broodiness and violence in a way I found pleasing. I also think Quinn tries to do some interesting things with her religious language, and I appreciated the fact that this story was set in a relatively little-used historical period. However, I ultimately gave this book 2 stars because I didn’t find the hero or the overall plot compelling, and I’m generally skeptical of Highlander romances, as they tend to exoticize and eroticize Scottish culture in ways I find uncomfortable.

Writing: Quinn’s prose is, for the most part, fairly straight forward. It’s about what one might expect out of a romance novel in that it makes no attempt to be literary or high brow. I think that’s fine, as this book is aimed at a particular audience and doesn’t need to try to be something it’s not. I also appreciated that Quinn’s prose flowed fairly well and was easy to follow, so it’s skimable, if that’s what you’re into.

I also think it’s worth giving Quinn credit for attempting to do interesting things with religious language and imagery. A number of times throughout the book, Quinn will allude to God or the Bible to remind the reader that both protagonists are Catholic and religion plays a large part in their lives. While sometimes it comes across as cheesy, I think it’s fine, given the genre.

I will say, though, that I found Quinn’s attempts to write in the Scots dialect a bit heavy-handed and archaic-feeling. I can’t say for sure if it’s accurate, since I’m not Scottish, but there were moments that made me wonder if she was more concerned with the Scottish aesthetic than actually making her language sound natural.

Plot: Set against the backdrop of the coronation of James II of England, this book tells the story of Robert MacGregor, the son of a prominent Scottish laird, and Davina Montgomery, an English noblewoman. Fearing assassination, Davina has been hidden away in an abbey, but her whereabouts are soon discovered by her enemy, the Duke of Monmouth. Monmouth’s agents launch an unsuccessful attack on the abbey, leaving Davina alive but alone and unprotected. Robert, a Scotsman who happens to be visiting the Abbess, agrees to see Davina to safety, but has a crisis of loyalty when he falls in love with her and learns her true identity.

I really appreciated that Quinn chose the reign of James II as the setting for her story. I’ve read countless romances set during the 19th century, and though Highlander romances seem to span a number of different time periods, it doesn’t seem like this one is particularly popular. Because this is a romance and not historical fiction, Quinn does tend to flatten the history a little, but I don’t think I have grounds to complain too much.

Where I do think I can complain, however, is in my reaction to the rest of the plot, which involves a lot of running away from Monmouth’s agent, Gilles. Honestly, it never felt like Gilles was a threat, and because he never seemed to get close to Davina and Robert, much of the book was really about characters having angsty feelings as they traveled north to Scotland. Nothing much happened to them on the road, which is fine sometimes, but as a result, I found their relationship drama to be somewhat repetitive. I would have much rather they encountered threats to Davina’s safety and identity along the way so I could see the two navigate these challenges and, consequentially, also navigate their political hang ups.

Characters: Davina, our heroine, admittedly defied some of my expectations. I expected her to be something of a headstrong woman who does what she wants, and to some extent, that was true. But I was rather surprised that Davina mainly does what she wants and what she wants is to be kind and compassionate towards others. I loved that she drew people to her with her warmth and genuine interest in other people’s well-being, and I liked that she was always looking to connect with people by sharing in their joy. I did get a little tired of people constantly referencing her beauty, and I occasionally wanted her to be a little more angry when Robert did something undesirable, but overall, she was complex enough to hold my interest.

Robert, our hero, was about as interesting as a rock, in my opinion. Though he has some personal conflict in that he feels like he always has to live up to his father’s expectations, he really doesn’t have much of a personality beyond that (unless you consider “Scottish” to be a personality trait). I did appreciate that Quinn didn’t make him overly broody or violent; he does have his moments, but his protectiveness over Davina wasn’t as possessive as other heroes I’ve read.

Edward Asher, an English captain tasked with guarding Davina, was also something of a surprise in that he didn’t quite fit the jealous lover stereotype. When I read that he was in love with Davina, I expected some petty fights between him and Robert, but I was glad to see Asher put those aside when necessary and seemed to prioritize Davina’s safety over his own happiness. I half wish Davina had ended up with him, as their relationship has way more angst to overcome (you’ll see why if you read the book) and might have been more satisfying than her falling in love with someone she just met.

Gilles, the main antagonist, was just meh. He mainly exists to have some scenes where he’s killing people or being a misogynist, but since he never squares off with out protagonists until the end, he’s something of an empty threat.

Other characters were hit or miss. I feel like most of the male Scottish characters were there to be Scottish, or else show the complex web of family ties and expectations. They could have been more interesting, as none of them had their own arc; those with the most potential (like Tristan) seem to have their own novels later in the series. I found the Scottish women to be much more interesting, as they were fierce and warm, becoming friends with Davina in a women-supporting-women way.

Romance: While I liked that Davina and Robert seemed to build their relationship around the desire to put their own desires ahead of their family duties, I ultimately didn’t find their reasons for loving one another very compelling. Davina seems to love Robert because he makes her feel safe, which is fine, but they don’t really bond over shared enjoyment of things, which worried me. Robert is serious all the time and never plays around with Davina the way his family does, so it feels like, once the danger is behind them, the only thing they enjoy about one another is their physical attraction. To be fair, Robert seems to have some admiration for Davina that will last over time. He enjoys her laughter and her kindness, and I think he talks a bit about being drawn to her personality in addition to her beauty. But overall, it felt like their relationship had very little staying power.

There’s also a really odd romanticization of Robert impregnating Davina, which like... I get it. They’re Catholic. And having children is often portrayed as the ultimate fulfillment or realization of heterosexual love in romance. But still, I found it unsettling.

I also should mention that I can’t quite tell if most of the appeal of this romance is in the fantasy of taming or seducing a Scottish “barbarian.” I’ve always felt like Scottish culture was Othered in historical romance, maybe because it’s a “white” culture (which is objectively wrong, but I’m talking about the popular imagination) so it can be called “barbaric” in a way that African or Asian cultures can’t (without the author being accused of racism or Orientalism). It seems to me that a lot of romances simultaneously Other and eroticize Scottishness, perhaps as a kind of power fantasy when the heroine tames or tempers Scottish brutishness. To be fair, Davina never attempts to reform or “civilize” the Scottish characters aside from balking at unwarranted violence, and she even finds belonging in the Scottish Highlands, something she spends the majority of the book searching for. But still, the Scottish references were stereotypical or generic enough where I couldn’t quite see the characters as real.

TL;DR: I read Ravished by a Highlander for reasons related to my former job, and while I’m glad I did, I also didn’t enjoy the experience very much. While I didn’t find it offensive as other romances, and Paula Quinn does subvert some of my expectations, I also didn’t find the plot very exciting or the romance very compelling, and the hero was more of an archetype than a full-fledged character. Thus, I couldn’t give this book more than 2 stars.

[planet-man]

Planetman’s Animu: Tiger Mask W

I usually don’t read manga, because the translations are usually godawful and the stories themselves aren’t very compelling, so I instead watch anime, where I can ignore the godawful subs and just opt for a dub, or if that’s not available, the subs move at the speed of light for me to make fun of them. But I rarely talk about anime, since they don’t mostly offend me to this level. Ladies and gents, I want to talk about how much Tiger Mask W sucks. I will go into spoiler territory... even though there’s not much to this shit’s barebones story, so be warned if you want to waste your life watching subpar wrestling like I did. If you want a short version, I’ll just say don’t watch Tiger Mask W.

Tiger Mask W is probably the most half-hearted shit I’ve ever seen. I’ve given more effort in breathing than the creators did in writing this crap. Okay, so the gist of the show is, there’s two wrestlers, Naoto (named after the SAME Naoto from the old Tiger Mask Series) and Takuma, and Takuma’s dad gets his shit kicked by Yellow Devil, another wrestler, in a match so hard that he has to go around in a wheelchair. Now the two little wrestlers that could want revenge, since Takuma’s dad was Naoto’s idol and it’s obvious enough for Takuma. Naoto then gets picked up by some former Tiger’s Den wrestler called Takaoka to help train him to fight Yellow Devil, while Takuma gets scouted by Yellow Devil to join GMW, the organisation Yellow Devil works for. Several years later, Naoto trains and becomes Tiger Mask to fight GMW, while Takuma trains and becomes Tiger The Dark to hopefully get to fight Yellow Devil, setting up for a clash between old friends along the way.

From that simple, yet promising premise, it’s just a rolling hill of disappointment. Only like two characters, Takaoka’s daughter and Kevin (who ought to be called Takaoka’s fuckbuddy), underwent any development, and for the former, she only got it at the very end. Everyone stayed the same; incredibly bland and unlikable. The girl just developed into something MORE unlikeable. I’d say the only character I liked was Kevin, a GMW wrestler who must’ve wanted to marry Takuma, for how close he was to him.

And the story isn’t that much better. Naoto wins every single match without breaking a sweat, and so does Takuma. The only interesting point in the story was “Hell In The Hole” where we got to see the wrestlers so prominently featured in the intro again before they disappear forever, and see some character development for Odin, some GMW wrestler who lurves cornfields. Beyond that, it’s more boring matches until Takuma gets wrecked and has to be rehabilitated. But afterwards, it’s more boring matches won until surprise surprise, Naoto decks Yellow Devil, not Tiger The Great The 3rd, without much trouble.

See how it took me two paragraphs, the 1st and 3rd, to describe 38 episodes worth of content? Most of the space inbetween plot and matches are just not even very good slice of life filler that does nothing but piss me off.

But hey, while most of the characters were bland, they were at least plot necessary. unlike these three fucks, two of which that I hate.

This is Kuruma Hikari. She asks questions and no one answers them. She contributes nothing and does nothing of any value. She’s present almost in every episode. I hate her.

This is Fukuwara Mask. He fights in 3 matches, which all last about 5 minutes strung together. All he does is dodge in them and act silly. He’s then revealed to be the trainer of the Big Bad, Tiger The 3rd The Great (The guy who was Yellow Devil at the start). He also does nothing plot important except give one throwaway comment that supposedly helps Tiger Mask. He’s also mostly present throughout the series. I hate him.

And another character who I don’t hate but whose plot importance ranges on “replaceable”,

Ruriko, a nurse who helps both Takuma’s dad and Takuma with their physiotherapy. That’s all she pretty much does, plotwise. Outside of it, she has these godawful slice-of-life tidbits with Naoto or Takuma that make you want to count off how much of your body has necrotized yet.

But hey, one could forgive shitty characters and story if the action’s good, right? Right? Wrong. The action’s for shit. Naoto’s matches go like one of those “choose you own adventure” charts, except there’s only one path.

I swear, there’s more Rolling Savates in this show than in the entirety of Kinnikuman. Naoto’s first move is ALWAYS a Rolling Savate, like fucking clockwork. Takuma’s matches are so boring, I can’t even remember if he spammed a move or not. But what really sucks are the finishing/special moves. They’re all fucking horseshit that get hyped up to a ridiculous degree to delude you from the fact they’re all boring moves, or that they’re ripped off from Kinnikuman.

You might be wondering how a show could’ve been so half-hearted. I have my own pet theory, which I like to call “Episode 38″. This episode is entirely dedicated to all the prominent female characters, since eveything was resolved by 37. 38 had a lot more effort put into it than any of the other episodes, with more fluid animation and movement on display for what was a non-consequential filler episode. And I feel like the writers were more in love with making the girls wrestle than actual writing any compelling story or wrestling, like they wanted to be the next “I Wanna Be The World’s Strongest” but for some reason cribbed off of the Tiger Mask license.

Anyway, bottom line, is that Tiger Mask W sucks. The wrestlers are boring, the story’s got only one bright point to it among a sea of grey, the matches last 10 seconds and always go the same way, and the finishing moves are the shittiest ones I’ve ever seen. I could make up better finishing moves in my sleep.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/asia-pacific/the-interpreter-overrun-outbred-replaced-why-ethnic-majorities-lash-out-over-false-fears/

The Interpreter: ‘Overrun,’ ‘Outbred,’ ‘Replaced’: Why Ethnic Majorities Lash Out Over False Fears

Ask a member of Sri Lanka’s dominant ethnic group why the country seems plagued by racial and religious strife, which is resurging in the wake of terrifying Islamist terrorist attacks, and you will often get the same answer.

We are fighting for our very survival, they’ll say. Though the Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhist, make up three-quarters of the population and dominate politics, many see themselves as an embattled minority.

“They’re trying to destroy us — please tell someone in the government to take action,” Nelligala Dhammaratne, an influential young monk, recalled his Buddhist followers telling him just before riots broke out against the country’s Muslim minority last year.

Such fears are not unique to Sri Lanka. Around the world, dominant majorities increasingly see themselves as imperiled minorities.

That dynamic, sometimes known as a majority with a minority complex, is thought to be a major factor in the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, religious nationalism in Asia, and white nationalist terrorism in the United States and New Zealand.

The drivers of this trend are often subtler than Sri Lanka’s history of civil war, but can be just as consequential. Demographic change, global interconnectedness and even the rise of democracy can make majorities feel as if their dominance is endangered, leading to fear of — and sometimes attacks on — minorities whose very existence is perceived as an existential threat.

A Cycle of Conflict

There is a classic, cautionary case: Northern Ireland.

When communal tensions broke out into the outright fighting known as the Troubles in the late 1960s, Northern Ireland’s Protestants were numerically, politically and economically dominant. But they were a minority on the island as a whole, feeding a sense of demographic peril.

“The basic fear of Protestants in Northern Ireland is that they will be outbred by Roman Catholics,” Terence O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s prime minister, said at the conflict’s outbreak. “It is as simple as that.”

Others said the Catholics were part of an international plot orchestrated from the Vatican.

Sri Lanka’s dynamics bear striking similarities. During its civil war, fought against separatists from the Tamil minority, Sinhalese felt outnumbered because of the large Tamil community in nearby India. This gave many Sinhalese a sense of siege, deepening us-versus-them divides that have outlasted the fighting.

More recently, Sinhalese Buddhists have seen Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority as vanguards of a global Muslim horde. Last year, Sinhalese fears that Muslims were seeking to outbreed and replace them culminated in riots.

Conspiracies about foreign influence or minority birthrates are often driven by fears of a much more real change: a loss of status. Modern democracy demands that minorities be granted equal rights and opportunities, which can feel like a threat to majorities’ traditional hold on power.

Fears of existential, sectarian conflict can be self-realizing.

In 1960s Northern Ireland, Catholic civil rights marches, modeled on those of the United States, felt to some Protestants like part of a wider Catholic plot to overrun them.

Hard-line Protestants, acting in what they saw as self-defense, whipped up violent counter-protests, culminating in riots on both sides. In response, more Catholics joined violent republican factions, seemingly validating Protestants’ worst fears. The tit-for-tat cycle continued for decades.

Long after the peace process, and with Catholics and Protestants now near evenly numbered, a shared perception of being the aggrieved, vulnerable minority persists. So does the cycle of violence.

Earlier this month, the journalist Lyra McKee was killed when a member of the New Irish Republican Army fired on the police. The group issued an apology, calling it a mistake.

A Closer, More Competitive World

These dynamics are rising globally, and not only when one group is a majority nationally and a minority regionally.

Asked in 2013 about Buddhist violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority that would later culminate in genocide, Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s de facto leader, responded by warning darkly of “global Muslim power.”

“The fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, it’s on the side of the Buddhists as well,” she said.

Technological change may also play a role in these fears, which are driving a rise in religious nationalism across Asia. The world is more interconnected than it once was, and so feels a lot smaller. Word of any sectarian violence, no matter how far away, spreads rapidly on social media, feeding into perceptions of being threatened and outnumbered.

And the rise of democracy, long considered a force for ethnic harmony, may be provoking majority backlashes instead, according to research by Jack Snyder, a Columbia University political scientist.

As democracy became the global norm, dominant ethnic groups found themselves under growing pressure to share power with minorities. They even lost the occasional election.

Anxiety around losing status can manifest as fears, however unfounded, of becoming outnumbered. In countries with weak institutions, that can lead to violence, possibly contributing to the stall in democracy’s once-rapid spread.

“We often see this phenomenon at moments of increasing democratization and increasing enfranchisement,” said Kate Cronin-Furman, a University College London political scientist, citing “horrible violence against the Rohingya breaking out at a time of increased democratization in Burma.”

White Backlash

Among supporters of Europe’s right-wing populist parties, it is common to hear fears uncannily similar to those expressed by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese.

Muslims, we hear at rallies for the Alternative for Germany and France’s National Front, will soon outnumber non-Muslims in Europe and impose Shariah law.

A leader of Vox, the Spanish far-right party that just won its first Parliamentary seats, warned at a September rally of an “Islamist invasion.” The party supports policies to increase Spanish birthrates.

Many whites welcome pluralism and multiculturalism. But for those who see the decline of white dominance as destabilizing, any increase in the minority population is perceived as an attack.

A growing body of research suggests that this sentiment may be driving significant political change in the United States, which is projected to become “majority minority” — with whites less than half of the population — by 2050.

A study by Maureen Craig of New York University and Jennifer Richeson of Yale University found that white Americans who so much as read a news article on these demographic changes will express “more negative attitudes toward Latinos, blacks, and Asian-Americans” and “more automatic pro-white/anti-minority bias.”

The effect disappeared when the authors told participants that whites were expected to remain politically and culturally dominant.

Other studies find that when white Americans learn about these demographic trends they become less supportive of immigration, affirmative action, welfare spending and health care spending, and more supportive of military spending and of President Trump.

In a 2016 poll, 57 percent of whites said “discrimination against whites is as big a problem today as discrimination against blacks and other minorities.”

Fears of ‘Replacement’

Whites are subject to the same forces as any other demographic group. Fears of being outnumbered can lead to violence.

A rising wave of white-nationalist terrorists repeatedly cite “replacement theory,” in which Jews are said to be orchestrating mass immigration in order to destroy the white race.

At the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, white power activists chanted “Jews will not replace us” during their torchlit march on the University of Virginia campus.

Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 50 people in two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques, described immigration and low white birthrates as “an assault on the European people that, if not combated, will ultimately result in the complete racial and cultural replacement of the European people.”

Last week, a gunman opened fire in a synagogue in Poway, Calif. A document attributed to the shooter echoed the same fear: demographic replacement.

[aion-rsa]

Legends of Tomorrow Season 4 Episode 12 Review: The Eggplant, The Witch & The Wardrobe

http://bit.ly/2GwcSco

Literal relationship hell is putting together Ikea furniture with your partner on this week's Legends of Tomorrow.

Books

This Legends of Tomorrow review contains spoilers.

Legends of Tomorrow Season 4 Episode 12

Sometimes it feels like Brick Tamland is writing Legends of Tomorrow. You know the "I love lamp" scene from Anchorman, right?

"Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?"

I'm pretty sure the writers' room for this season of Legends is just them sitting around looking at things in the office and turning them into episode scripts. And the crazy part about it is it's working. "The Eggplant, the Witch and the Wardrobe" doesn't hit anything near the highs that last week's Bollywood musical did, but that's an impossible bar to meet that leaves a lot of room for a fun character episode with a sneaky amount of plot propulsion.

The fun character stuff is based on a joke as worn as the shitty presswood in your Jarnbjorn shelves: Ava has been kidnapped by Neron, and her soul has been evacuated to purgatory for...reasons (at first we're told it's so Neron can jump into a new body, but we later find out that it's where he wants to put his mysterious girlfriend Tabitha, whom we still haven't met). So in order to save Ava, Sara has Constantine send her to Ava's personal purgatory: an Ikea knockoff. Once there, she has to find Ava, and the two of them have to work through their emotional issues, portrayed by an escalatingly ridiculous series of Ikea-related tasks, in order to return to the non-afterlife.

"Why is Ava's personal hell working through her relationship issues with Sara?" you may ask. I asked myself the same question and immediately didn't care what the answer was. Legends of Tomorrow has always had its own internal logic. Ridiculous nonsense is built into the premise, and the show became the best DC CW show the moment they stopped trying to be more Arrow than Arrow and started embracing how absurd it is. Ultimately, Legends answers that question with smirking charm and relatability.  

The reason so much of this stuff works is because it's real. "Ikea is the ultimate test of a couple's fortitude" is a trope for a reason: ALL of these hangups that Ava and Sara go through are precisely the kind of things exposed by shopping at one of those godforsaken hellmouths (sorry "hellmüts"), from existential terror at your mattress outliving your relationship to that slow accretion of petty rage that you both feel and inevitably point towards each other when neither of you can figure out what the stupid cartoon man is holding up. I felt extremely seen when one person was shouting at the other over a pile of unsorted junk mail.

And while I'm nitpicking some plot elements, I did really enjoy some of the structural subversion that the episode pulled. The Ava/Sara story plays like it's the main story of the episode, but I feel like more growth came out of Constantine and Nora capturing Neron and Nate and Ray working through Nate's dad's passing.

This is the more consequential plotline. We see at the beginning that Neron has the power to amplify any negative emotions around him - basically, wherever he goes, fights and depravity break out. So when he gets captured by the team, he pulls the same crap. Neron tries to fiddle with everyone's minds, playing with Constantine's regret over Des, Nora's struggle to cope with her inner darkness, and Nate's raw emotions about his father, and for a little while we believe that it's working. John and Nora bicker, Nate almost blows everything by crossing the border into Neron's cell, but then Nate pops Ray in the face and Neron's power stops working.

That's a really nice touch: the Ray/Nate bro pairing is one of the show's best. The two are together for most of this episode, with Ray's guileless sunniness working hard to help Nate cope with his father's passing (on site at the in-construction magical creature theme park, Heyworld, of course). When Nate hits Ray, he immediately stops being angry and apologizes and the two walk out of the holding cell. This isn't particularly subtle, but neither character is and it's really entertaining to see the show not try and milk forced conflict.

Of course, something does go wrong. Nora and Constantine have a plan to throw Neron out of Des's body, but Ray walks in in the middle and we end up with Neron hiding in Ray's body, Nora unconscious, and Des telling John to take a long walk off a short pier. And now we have a whole episode coming up with Ray Palmer as a secret bad guy. I can't imagine what they're going to do with that.

The c-plot is Zari getting peer pressured by Charlie, Mick and Mona to escalate her relationship with Nate into something other than flirty smiles. It's light, brief, and really funny. Dominick Purcell continues to show amazing timing; Tala Ashe is impossibly charming; Charlie's attitude is infectious; and Ramona Wu's over the top earnestness is growing on me.

Legends continues to be appointment television in a streaming era. Even when it's not firing on all cylinders, it's still a wonderfully entertaining hour of TV.

DC UNIVERSE TIME BUBBLES

-Line of the night: Sara telling Zari to "Woman the ship" as she's leaving with Nora and Constantine. I actually rewound to make sure that I heard right.

-IMDB is no help, so maybe you can help me dear commenters: was Mikey T played by the same actor as Mikey from Kimmy Schmidt? That would have many enjoyable implications.

-I just want to make sure this stays flagged (and thanks to Nate for doing so the first time): Hank was embezzling money from the federal government with a high-ranking demon from actual-Hell and kidnapping magical creatures so he could make a theme park based on a bunch of drawings his semi-estranged son made 25 years ago when his semi-estranged son was in second grade. I love this show.

-Mona's emoji advice to Zari is borderline slanderous. Dancing lady+fire+eggplant is not an invitation to date, it's an invitation to catch a communicable disease, and hot dog+donut+thumbs up is what you do at the end of a fourth date, not what you do to convince someone to go on a first.

-I know they probably did most of it with photoshop, but I definitely laughed a lot at the idea of Jes Macallan losing an entire day to playing Girls Costume Warehouse-style dress up for the Ava labels.

-Next week: I am so excited for bad guy Brandon Routh.

Keep up with all our Legends of Tomorrow news and reviews here.

4/5

DC Entertainment

Legends of Tomorrow

Legends of Tomorrow Season 4

Review Jim Dandy

Apr 22, 2019

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from Books http://bit.ly/2KZ3ZO3

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Thousands will be in D.C. to stand with women. Here's how to stand with them from home.

Join the movement.

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The Women's March on Washington is an opportunity for Americans to stand up against the expected affront to civil rights under the next president. Hundreds of thousands of marchers — women from all walks of life (including a handful of A-list celebrities) and men (yes, men are welcome and encouraged to attend!) — are expected in the nation's capital on Jan. 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump is inaugurated as 45th president of the United States.

Given that President-elect Trump has "insulted, demonized, and threatened" so many groups — including people of color, immigrants, Muslims, and survivors of sexual assault — the goal of the march is to send a bold message to him: We are standing together.

Anti-Trump demonstrators in Chicago in November 2016. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Getting to Washington, D.C., on inauguration weekend, however, takes time and money that many of us cannot afford. That's OK, though — there are still several ways you can join the movement, regardless of where you are in the country (or world, for that matter).

Here are 25 ways to show your support for the Women's March on Washington, even if you can't be there in person:

1. Join a smaller, local march near you.

There are 616 (and counting) sister marches around the world demonstrating in smaller — but still powerful — capacities. If distance is your biggest barrier, maybe there's a more local solution to your problem.

2. Make a poster and stick it in your front yard for the day.

Or, you know, until 2020.

Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images.

3. Know someone who's driving to D.C.? Help them get there by chipping in some gas money.

In most parts of the country, gas prices aren't quite as obscenely high as they once were — thanks, Obama! — but still, fuel is expensive. If you wish you could attend but can't, help another marcher out. $10 (literally) goes a long way.

4. Invite friends over to watch coverage of the march together, and set a goal to help girls and women in 2017.

A goal could be to routinely help out at a women's shelter, volunteer as a clinic escort, or become a Big Sister. There will be many causes that need that kind of extra attention and dedication under the Trump administration.

And on that note...

5. Donate to organizations that will be more vital than ever under a Trump administration.

Contribute to an organization or two you care about — be it Planned Parenthood (the national group or local chapters), Emily's List (which helps get more women elected to office), the NAACP, the National Network of Abortion Funds, Black Girls Code, the ACLU, National Women's Law Center, NARAL, Girls Write Now, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Purple Purse, or others. Every dollar helps.

6.  Wear a "Nasty Woman" shirt, and share a pic on social media.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Make your own — or buy one — and help that infamous-turned-glorious 2016 debate moment live on forever.

7. Go on strike for all (or part of) the day.

Women Strike is encouraging folks to lay low on Jan. 20-21 as an act of protest against the incoming administration and Congress, both of which are aiming to enact policies that disproportionately harm women — like stripping health care and reproductive rights and dismissing paid maternity leave and child care.

8. Make just the right playlist, and blast it on repeat. All. Day. Long.

Songs may or may not include "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," "I Am Woman," "You Don't Own Me," "Respect," "Rebel Girl," and an assortment of Beyoncé's greatest hits.

Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images.

9. Carve out a half-hour of your day to follow, subscribe to, and learn about women who were inspired to throw their hats into the political ring for the first time after the election.

Not only have women of color made historic gains in the Senate this year, but the rise of Trumpism appears to have inspired a surge in women vying for political office.

People like Chelsea Wilson, a member of the Cherokee Nation who lives in Oklahoma; Brianna Wu, an advocate against online harassment who was at the heart of 2014's GamerGate; and Wendy Carrillo, a Los Angeles woman whose parents brought her from El Salvador illegally as a child, are among the more than 4,500 women who've expressed grassroots interest in getting their names on the ballot in the coming years. Let's make sure they don't go unnoticed.

Speaking of the ballot box...

10. Set up an alert on your calendar to remind you when midterm elections are coming up.

Presidential campaigns feel like years-long sagas with plot twists galore — those elections are hard to miss. Midterms, however, seem to slip under the radar for most Americans, even though the results are just as consequential. Really, 2018 is just around the corner.

11. Call D.C. pizza joints or bakeries — ideally, the day before the march — and have them send a couple pizzas or a few dozen donuts to demonstrators.

Democracy can be a tiring activity, after all, and marchers will appreciate the fuel-up.

Photo via iStock.

12. Call your representatives to let them know you're part of the movement against Trump's attacks on civil rights.

I know you've heard this one a million times. But really, calling your reps can — and actually does — work. (Pro tip: Flooding their phone lines sends a much more powerful message than an email or letter.)

It's arrived! Download Call the Halls: Contacting Your Representative the Smart Way >> https://t.co/xxhzsMX3mM

— Emily Ellsworth (@editoremilye) November 23, 2016

13. Connect two or more people you know who want to go to the march but don't want to go alone.

You may have friends from different circles who'd go to the march if they had another person to share travel expenses and driving time with. Post a Facebook status asking if this is the case with any of your friends, and be the facilitator if anyone responds.

14. If you know someone who's going to the march, create a sign for them to carry on your behalf.

That's what artist Narya Marcille is doing. She can't make it to D.C. on Jan. 21, but her aunts and sister will be carrying this rad poster for her.

Illustration courtesy of Narya Marcille.

Marcille's design has become wildly popular online. You can buy the digital download for prints, shirts, and more on her Etsy page. Even cooler: 50% of profits are being donated to Planned Parenthood and Running Start, Marcille says.

Even if you don't have the money to buy Marcille's design, however...

15. Change your Facebook profile pic in support of the march.

In a post on Facebook, Marcille wrote that anyone can use the illustration for their Facebook profile picture in an act of solidarity with the movement. If you're extra inspired, you can even design your own artwork to use (or take a pic of the yard sign you made or the "Nasty Woman" shirt you're rocking, and use that photo instead).

16. Set aside some time to read and subscribe to digital and print publications that give a voice to women from all walks of life.

Publications like Autostraddle, Clutch, Gloria Steinem's Ms. Magazine — and even ones that have pivoted toward issues-based content more recently, like Teen Vogue and Cosmopolitan — can only run if people are reading and subscribing.

Photo b Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.

17. Sponsor someone else to march through NARAL.

NARAL, a political group aimed at protecting abortion rights, will let you chip in to help someone else attend the Women's March. $40 pays for one college student's ride to D.C., but if that's too steep, $15 will provide three signs for marchers.

18. Share your own story about sexism and discrimination you've encountered in your life.

Use Jan. 21 as a reason to open up to friends and family online about how you've experienced discrimination or abuse and why the march matters on a personal level. If posting it on Facebook is scary — which is totally understandable — maybe tell just one other person you trust. The more people speak up, the better.

If you do decide to open up on social media, though...

19. Use the #WomensMarch and #WhyIMarch hashtag on Facebook and Twitter.

I march for my family, my friends, and my future students. I march for those I know and those who I will meet. HBU? #whyIMarch #WomensMarch

— Baylee Fee (@bayls_ofhay) January 3, 2017

Sometimes hashtags get a bad rap for being a sorry excuse for real activism. But hashtags really can unite communities in solidarity — especially when they're used to amplify the voices of minorities, immigrants, women, those who are LGBTQ, and so on.

20. Sign up to become a See Jane advocate for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

As Meryl Streep reminded us at the Golden Globes, Hollywood has a responsibility to fight Trumpism. You can help them do it by signing up to be a See Jane advocate for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a group aimed at ending gender bias and discrimination in the entertainment industry. The soon-to-be-launched advocate program encourages supporters to build awareness and expand the institute's mission — because media representation makes an impact off-screen, too.

21. Like and share this incredible video of Rep. Luis Gutierrez explaining why he's going to the march and standing up to Trump.

Why I Will Not Be At Inauguration And Will Be Marching With Women

My speech this morning on the Floor of the House about why I will not be at the inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 20 but will be marching with women at the Women's March on Jan. 21. "We all heard the tape when Donald Trump was bragging – bragging! – about grabbing women by their private parts without their consent. It is something I can never un-hear. Bragging to that guy on TV that he would grab women below the belt as a way of hitting on them. Sorry. That is never OK. It is never just locker room talk. It is offensive and, if he ever actually did it, it is criminal...." The text of my speech: http://bit.ly/2jqSpJ6 More info on the Women's March: http://ift.tt/2hVUmNp

Posted by Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez on Tuesday, January 10, 2017

22. Buy a Women's March on Washington shirt.

All proceeds go toward the planning and production costs associated with the march itself.

23. If you live in the D.C. area and have a spare bedroom, open it to a frugal marcher.

If your home is in or around the capital and you use a vetted vacation rental website (like Airbnb), consider offering a space for marchers to rest their heads. Accommodation costs in D.C. will be sky-high that weekend — give them a price cut instead of a price surge.

24. Know someone who's anxious about a Trump presidency? Call them up to chat.

Photo via iStock.

This election has been a lot to process for many of us — especially among those in groups that have been targeted by Trump, members of his administration, and his supporters. Call up a friend you know who's worried, and use the march as a talking point to reassure them you'll be a supportive ally when things get tough.

25. Watch and share photos and videos from the march on Facebook, and help break the "filter bubble" that too often divides us.

There should be live video feeds from the march from outlets on Facebook. Make sure to engage and share — especially if you're someone who usually doesn't speak out politically.

If you can express why the march matters to you on a personal level, these issues become more human and less about blue America vs. red America. And the more Likes, comments, and shares we garner, the more we break down the filter bubbles that divide us.

Inauguration Day will bring a stress-filled, anxiety-ridden morning for many of us. If you need that day to unplug, please do.

Because starting on the 21st — and just about every day for the next four years — we'll need you to keep fighting the good fight by our side.

Photo by Thos Robinson/Getty Images for MoveOn.org Political Action.

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