#the video does address men but i think it can apply to a lot more people than just men

[uncanny-tranny]

I remember once I made a comment about having a crush on a woman, then laughing it off by saying, "she's straight, anyhow..." and my friends were almost... offended, saying I am a man, isn't she straight? Isn't the point of being straight, for a woman, being attracted to men?

But I think it is deeper than that. I've internalized the sense that if somebody is into men, they won't be into men in such a way that includes me. I've internalized that message so deeply that I think it warped my own perspective and has caused me to miss out on a few opportunities had I accepted that... if you exist, there's somebody who is going to be into what you have.

I've been watching this video, I've probably rewatched it three times already, and man, I wish it came out when I was deeper in that mindset. To anybody who was in that position the way I was: I promise that viewpoint isn't correct for everybody, and believing it is universal is only hurting you. I know exactly how hard it is to feel the way you do, and hell, I still have lapses where I'm back to feeling that way. But that doesn't mean it is universal. That doesn't mean that your only worth is being hidden away - in fact, it's entirely incorrect.

[ahleezeruinavt]

One thing I’ve noticed is that streaming as a community is very interesting in the fact that whenever women make it big, men will almost instantly find some excuse as to why or will throw a pity party. And this happens in the vtuber community a LOT! And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

It’s the same recycled, misogynistic arguments that men used towards successful, non-vtuber streamers. Tell me if this sounds familiar to y’all:

“You can only make it if you have huge tits” “You can only make it if you sell out for sex” “It’s easier to get followers when you’re an NSFW creator” “Men have to work harder against the lewdtubers in order to get noticed” “Women have it soooo easy”

Yeah- they’re the same arguments people used against non-vtuber streamers to downplay their success. They instantly go to the “if you’re this successful it must have to do with your appearances” argument. Not their hard work, networking, and endless grinding for those followers. All they see is a model happens to have visible cleavage and they lose it. And they (men) CONSTANTLY victimize themselves when women call out the blatant sexism in streaming circles. And then women don’t feel like we can talk about ANYTHING without getting dogpiled and locking replies.

Literally just a month or so ago a post was made talking about how male streamers have a tendency to abuse their power and fame to get nudes and whatnot from other smaller creators, and that they’re more likely to be creeps the bigger they get. Instead of people nodding and understanding that the criticism and frustration didn’t apply to them SPECIFICALLY, the quotes were flooded with “not all men” and various insults regarding how the person was a woman and how women have it “so easy” in vtubing. Then a bunch of “male vtuber support” threads popped up. Instantly catering to the fact some men had hurt feelings over something that was not targeting them specifically rather than comforting the women who had insults hurled at them for addressing the gross attitude of men in the community.

And I know I’ll probably get some “well not all men 🤓” in my mentions but here’s what I have to say to like- everyone who uses that: if the post specifically does not apply to you, then simply listen. Furthermore, maybe reflect on why you feel the need to dismiss women’s concerns about a pattern they have recognized in order to make other men feel good about themselves. If you’re not the creeps the post is referring to, then maybe just shut up and raise awareness about creepy behavior in your community?? It can be annoying to see a generalization, but some of y’all need to step back and think about maybe why that generalization is being made.

For example. If I am swiping through my Short Form Video App™️ and I see a video that has a podcast of 2 guys sitting on a couch and 2 girls sitting on a couch- I almost always know it’s going to be some weird rage bait. You may be sitting there going “well- not every podcast is like that! Why scroll past every one like that?” Well yeah- but 9/10 it’s rage bait and I’m not going to waste my time seeing if it MIGHT not be rage bait or just a shitty opinion.

TLDR; It’s really saddening to see that when women call out toxic behavior that men tend to exhibit in a women-dominated field, people will almost always side with the hurt feelings of men rather than the fear and trauma that women have.

[stonewallsposts]

a meandering post....

Apropos of a few previous posts, the young lady I occasionally watch on YouTube recently posted a video of another girl she saw on TikTok addressing other women. The TikTok girl's point was that men aren't typically intimidated by women's earning status. Courtney Ryan agreed and said she had found the to be true as well, AND... it's something she said she had NEVER heard from another woman. I had heard this online but found it unlikely. Courtney Ryan mentioned that one of the things she hears from the type of girl who considers herself a #BossBabe is that men are intimidated by her earning status, but Miss Ryan felt that was wrong, and basically an excuse for bad behavior that men don't want to put up with. 

I'll once again state that I mention this only because it is evidence in the direction I felt, but this time not coming as a man's perspective on women, but from another two women's perspectives on women. 

I can honestly say I've not met many women that have the "I'm intimidating to men" attitude. I have one girl I work with who probably feels this way, and to be honest, I think she's great.  

I don't say any of this to pick on women at all, who I in general love. I love the way women think, I love their femininity, their outlook, their softness... I just generally like being around women. 

I'm convinced part of the reason I enjoy women is because I grew up with two sisters and no brothers. So I had plenty of experience with girls in my formative years.  

Ironically enough, about the only woman I don't really get along with is one of those sisters: the one closest to me in age. I don't think that has anything to do with her being a woman, it has to do with her own flawed perceptions. But I won't get in to all the why's here, but a lot of has to do with her belief that I should have done more with her kids when they were growing up. That belief itself carries with it a set of conditions/beliefs: 1) her kids have some deep problems, and 2) those could have been mitigated had I had more input. 

But I had enough experience with my sister to know that she does not take kindly to criticism, or even questioning her, of any kind, even the most constructive. So I learned long ago that if she was doing something I didn't agree with, I got out of the way and let her do her thing. She was a school teacher, with a PhD in psychology. She wasn't going to listen to anyone "less than" her about such things, so the entire family just got out of her way and let her apply her theories to raising her kids. Well, the results have been less than stellar. She understands this implicitly, and that's the reason she's upset. Her kids' lives went off the rails under her parentage, and now she's upset that someone, mainly me, didn't step in and do more to help the kids. 

Over the years, we have had our ups and downs, several of which I've posted on before. At times, I won't even speak to her, and I do my best to steer clear of her, as she typically does to me too. 

But recently she started speaking to me again in a sort of thaw of relations. Even so, imagine my surprise when I got a call asking for advice about what to do with the latest situation. 

To set up the basics: my sister lives with my mom and aunt at mom's house. She doesn't pay rent, she doesn't help with any of the housework. She does help with getting my mom to doctor's appts, but only if she isn't upset with someone about something. Her youngest daughter, JL, (mid 20s) moved in some years ago, by just showing up and crashing with her. She had two kids, and added a third since. She is a classic welfare queen/user, who regularly takes off and leaves her two older kids without saying anything.  

We are at the point of having to make a decision about JL, and the options are: 

1) things stay as they are, with everyone putting up with JL's nonsense. 

2) my sister moves to take custody from her daughter 

3) the kids end up in the state foster system. 

To 1), things can't stay the same. The house is in constant turmoil. While neither my sister, nor her daughter, are my responsibility, my mom is. For my mom's sake, JL needs to go. 

To 2), my sister is 58 and has health problems. She is physically not in a great place to be a parent again. We all love the kids (6 and 5 year olds) but no one is in a place to be able to take them. AND there is the fact that JL wouldn't voluntarily relinquish them. They are a meal-ticket for her- she gets money from the state per child, and there is no way she's going to give that up on her own. 

To 3), California is probably the worst state in the entire nation for kids in the foster system. Nobody wants these beautiful kids to end up in foster care.  

My sister doesn't want to make the call. I get it, I don't either. But now she wants me to tell her what to do about her daughter. Option 1 isn't really an option. JL needs to go, and we'll take steps to remove her. Option 2 is possible, but at great sacrifice. Option 3 is looking more likely, and it sucks. 

I've been praying about it since I found out last night and my stomach is sick thinking about it. 

I counseled 3) as the most reasonable option, just praying that somehow, against the odds, the kids would find better homes than they have now.  

But I also suggested that she pray and ask the Lord what to do. I have been praying, I sought prayer from some people who I respect, and who have been through this scenario themselves. But this is no fun at all. 

Like I said up front- meandering post. I went from a dating video, to family relations, to asking for prayer for this current situation. 

[sometimes-men-need-help-too]

What does modern feminism do that you don't agree with? This is genuine btw

A couple things before I start: 

- This is not meant to bash all the feminists out there unless they fit into what I’m saying. I know there are good feminists out there 

- When I say ‘you’ I’m not meaning you, I’m saying it in a general way 

-I hope I get my point across and it’s clear. I sometimes struggle with that 

Also I’m sorry this is so long and it’s in no particular order and I hope none of this comes across as being aggressive or anything

~~ 

A lot of my issues with the movement boils down to attitudes. To me, that is very telling of its true colors. And I do try not to necessarily judge an entire movement from just the bad people because I know that isn’t fair, although I do feel like the bad feminists have taken over the movement and end up drowning out the good voices and that’s why we hear more negativity than positivity. 

One thing that I have issue with the lack of respect towards those that disagree whether it’s with the movement itself or it’s a particular thing. For a movement that preaches about a woman’s choice, I don’t feel that really happens like it should. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong here but depending on what the topic is I get a general impression like you’re not really supposed to disagree with what’s being side. You do and you might have someone lash out at you (that’s another point I have). Or if you say you’re anti feminist, you have people coming up with these reasons why they think you are; one being internalized misogyny  and you get called a pick-me which I find a bit insulting.  I should be able to have an opinion without someone assuming I’m trying to get a man’s attention or I can’t think for myself or I hate other girls. That isn’t it! Wouldn’t you think that is misogynistic? 

And if it’s not  internalized misogyny, then there are other factors; her being white (which usually then goes on to sound racist)  or it’s because she has money or  internalized racism or whatever they come up with. And it sounds condescending and that just bugs me. Hey, maybe instead of some underlying reason, we just don’t agree. 

or you have people try to stick the label on anyway. 

‘If you believe in equality you’re a feminist’

The label means nothing. I don’t understand why some will focus on this so much. I don’t want to be called a feminist. I don’t need to. In the same way, it’s not necessary for me to refer to myself as an MRA (men’s rights activist). And yeah, I know this says it’s an “MRA blog” that’s what I had when I started. But ultimately, the label isn’t important. I’m all for equality. It’s cool, it’s great. But I see this sort of thing (online that is) being forced on people and the thing is, with that wording it makes it sound like the movement is all inclusive when it’s not. You have to have certain politics and for the most part (unless you’re a religious feminist) you have to be pro choice otherwise you’re not a ‘real’ feminist. 

My next issue is all the aggression. You can just tell sometimes with how people respond online or if you catch a video that someone posted. And not only that, but how quickly people fall into name-calling or just all around acting like a child. And for the most it seems pretty acceptable to some because it keeps happening. It’s not hard to find on this site or otherwise. If you can’t communicate your opinions about something without having a fit or blocking someone (excluding if they just keep harassing you) then you’re not mature enough. That shows me you don’t really care about having a real discussion. And some can say that it happening on here is probably done by teenagers and to an extent they’re probably right. But it happens on other sites and in real life as well and it’s more than just teens. It’s people my age and older and that’s not cool. 

And then we have  how some like to ignore the differences between men and women. Sure, yes, there are many things a woman can do just like a man but we also have to acknowledge our differences.  I don’t see a lot of that with some forms of feminism. STEM, for example, is something I would attribute the differences more to just how men and women tend to be rather than sexism. Could there be certain circumstances where it is sexism? Sure, I suppose you can’t rule it out entirely. Otherwise I would say it’s just what they’re happy doing. I know girls who are doing science stuff or business things but I also know girls who are going to be teachers or psychologists or nurses. It’s not that they're actively being told by everyone that they can’t do it(I suppose unless they live in some other country like that). That’s just what they want to do, you know, their choice. Just like how some men go towards a job like with computers or farming or they’re pre-school teachers or gynecologists.

 I found an interesting fact (source will be posted below) that said women are actually preferred over men two-to-one for faculty positions. The study was done by psychologists from Cornell University with professors from 371 colleges/universities in the US. It also noted that: “recent national census-type studies showing that female Ph.D.s are disproportionately less likely to apply for tenure-track positions, yet when they do they are more likely to be hired, in some science fields approaching the two-to-one ratio revealed by Williams and Ceci.” 

Yet, we need to ask ourselves honestly, how often do facts like these get passed around vs the idea that women are suffering from misogyny and therefore are unable to fully represent in STEM jobs? 

The next thing I want to address is misandry. Now there are a good portion of people who don't think it exists or if it does, it's really not much of an issue because of the "power" and the "privilege" men have within society. And to me, I have a problem with that. If feminism is supposed to be for men as well, I would think they would want to combat misandry as well as misogyny. If someone really doesn't think it exists, I would suggest that the person really take a look at what goes on in real life and online that's directed towards men.

There's the whole "male tears" thing which is on coffee mugs and t-shirts. There's the kill all men/yes all men thing. All of which are supposed to be jokes and if a man says something about it he gets mocked for his "fragile masculinity"

That's just not okay. They're being immature and a bully which they usually try to justify (men have done this and that throughout history to women) but you just can't.

I found this article, this really really atrocious article. It's one of those open letter things and found on this feminist website (feminisminindia) and I almost believed it to be satire with how.... stereotypically Tumblr it was. I did research and looked at the info regarding the site and nope, it's a serious site. I'll post the article below but I'll also summarize it:

Basically this woman is telling the men in her life that she will not stop saying "men are trash or other radical feminist opinions." She's saying it because women and others have suffered so much at the hands of the patriarchy because they're not straight white men. She goes on to say:

So let’s establish: misandry isn’t real. Just like unicorns and heterophobia, misandry is a myth because it isn’t systematic or systemic. Unlike misogyny, cis men don’t face oppression purely based on their gender. While they may encounter instances of racism, homophobia and ableism, they are not dehumanised as a function of their gender identity (read: cis privilege).

That is wrong. Absolutely wrong. Misandry is real. "Cis" people do face oppression purely based on their gender. Anyone can. To deny that lacks understanding.

And the rest is just saying that: It is time to start hating on men-as-a-whole and starting celebrating the men that you are.

And: Because at the end of the day, feminists need men. Whether it’s because you wield structural power or because we genuinely value your existence, we need to band together to destroy ‘men’ because men are trash, but you, if you made it to the end of this, are probably not. Prove me right.

I would imagine this is a common viewpoint. And it's not a good one. If you genuinely think a whole group as a whole is bad you need to reexamine your thoughts. It's not "men" that are bad, it's the sexist people.

To wrap this up (I'm sure you might be tired of reading this lol); like I said, the attitudes play a huge part of it. Modern feminism, in my opinion, is just not good enough for me to say I agree with it and want to identify as one. I just can't

Here is the link to the feminist article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/feminisminindia.com/2020/09/23/men-are-trash-and-other-radical-feminist-opinions/%3famp

And here is the link for the STEM thing: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/04/women-preferred-21-over-men-stem-faculty-positions

[serinemolecule]

Not to harp on the obvious, but the discussion feels hollow without it: the only reason some people - not all, maybe not most, but definitely some - push for "equality" and "inclusiveness" and etc. in tech is because it's seen as a desirable and powerful position. No one's been belly-aching about it back when it was fashionable to tell nerds to stop being fat and ugly and what a bunch of losers they are. It's only up for discussion now that there's something to be gained from it. It's hypocrisy.

(context: a lot of women-in-tech discourse)

I mean, I was belly-aching about it.

I like to say I was a feminist until I met other feminists. I definitely saw plenty of things nerds could be doing better for equality. But then the first time I met other feminists, they were harassing nerds and writing long essays about how nerds were even worse than average men (which still seems to me like an absolutely insane position).

That was... a really big crisis of faith there. I spent years reading feminist literature, trying to understand their point. And the crazy thing was, a lot of the principles and concepts do appeal to me. But then the way they’d apply it, talking about how privileged nerds were, or just using it as an excuse to be assholes to people, that’s always seemed wrong to me.

My approach at the time was just to try to understand it better in private, and never talk about it in public. This lasted until I read the SSC essays on social justice which I entirely agreed on, then I joined Tumblr to hit on Scott, and since then I started getting more comfortable with writing out my thoughts, but also the really bad SJ of the early 2010s just mostly faded away from the spaces I’m in. I still hear insane stories from other places (like the New York Times! wtf!) but it no longer feels like a crisis afflicting my own community, so I never wrote anything out.

Part of it’s that my community is the rats, now. SJWs may still exist here, but they don’t have a social power to turn us against each other. Whatever effect Topher’s tweet had on the rest of the world, it means he’s no longer welcome among rats anymore. We dismiss them with equanimity using the ancient proverb, “Haters gonna hate”.

Anyway, I suppose now’s as good a time as any for me to talk about what I think about feminist theory.

I get the impression that Scott is embarrassed by his old posts on gender politics, but I still endorse every word. Even the words people like to criticize the most, I endorse as an angry expression of “Why don’t you care about how many people your ideology is hurting?” That said:

Privilege theory – I remember encountering privilege theory and thinking “yes, this totally fits the model that normies are privileged and nerds are marginalized”, until I got to the part where they started talking about how privileged nerds were. I think the theory is still pretty good, and of course the practice about writing privilege checklists and using it to silence people is incredibly fucked up.

Patriarchy theory – Fortunately, no one talks about patriarchy theory anymore. It came from the radfems and it always seemed horrible to me. It's uncontroversially true that ruling class is mostly male, but patriarchy theory seems to just equivocate between that and insane conspiracy theories.

For example, “culture is built for the benefit of men at the expense of women” requires you to just dismiss everything that hurts men and helps women, to excuse that fashion policing is nearly solely perpetuated by other women, and even if it’s true, the fact that it is perpetuated by everyone means pointing the finger at a specific group will not help fix the problem. Did Kamala Harris exercise “girl power” when she kept black prisoners in jail past their release date? 

Cultural appropriation – The usual steelman I hear for this is “it sucks when white people take your culture for themselves, and yet still call it cringe when you practice your own culture” – but the only objectionable part is the latter! Stop objecting to the former part! There’s nothing wrong with culture mixing and it is in fact one of the most beautiful things in the world!

Part of it’s that I’m a first-gen immigrant, and cultural appropriation attitudes often come from insecurities second-gen immigrants have. Cultural appropriation just means I’m now an expert on your new culture and you’re not allowed to stop me from infodumping on it.

The other steelman is “misusing religious artifacts is bad” and I think to the extent that it’s bad, it’s bad whether you’re doing it to your own culture or to other cultures.

In general I think Halloween was, among other things, a great celebration of diversity that did not need to be cancelled, and I don’t think any costume was offensive to the majority of any culture.

Intersectionality – This word confused me for so long. People kept explaining it as “black women often have problems specific to their group that neither women’s groups nor black groups themselves are equipped to fight” which just seemed obviously true and didn’t seem like we needed a word for it.

Over the years, I’ve seen it be used as a reminder of “don’t forget how your activism affects other marginalized groups”, so it’s probably a useful concept to keep around.

Microaggressions – I think being oblivious to microaggressions is an autism thing, but I still think it’s insane to make them a political issue. Sure, you can vent about them, but acting like they’re on par with actual aggressions just seems like a losing cause.

On second thought, I don’t think I have a problem with making them a political issue in general. I think the whole tactic of SJWs being a hateful harassment mob makes the microaggressions thing just come off as especially petty.

I also think there’s a lot of competing access needs here. I actually really like infodumping about what kind of Asian I am to anyone willing to listen, and I think acting like the question is the root of all evil is really unfair, especially since literally everyone who’s ever asked has been happy to learn about the finer points about Chinese ethnic groups.

Isms as prejudice + power – People have mostly stopped discoursing about this, which is good. Language policing always seemed bad to me.

Objectification – SSC says everything I feel on the topic: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/17/my-objections-to-objectification/

The last time this came up in Discord, people said that objectification is more than the straw-man being criticized in this article, that it’s about people being entitled to your body or whatever. But I think the article does address that: “This is obviously a legitimate complaint. It’s just not a complaint about objectification.”

I got exposed to objectification as a criticism of hot girls in video games. And I just can’t see hot girls in video games as a bad thing.

Rape culture – [cw rape] This is an incredibly sensitive subject so I’m going to give you some time to stop reading here.

Our culture has a serious problem with rape. I think it’s important to understand that it’s usually committed by friends and family, that it’s depressingly common and has nearly definitely happened to people you know, that it’s usually committed by people who don’t think of what they’re doing as rape, and that all the discourse on it is really fucked up.

I also think that calling this “rape culture” entirely misses the point. I’m sympathetic that SSC doesn’t understand it: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/19/i-do-not-understand-rape-culture/

Our problem isn’t that we glorify rape. Our problem is that we consider it a special kind of evil so bad that of course no normal person would ever do it, and this makes it easy to rationalize that whatever this normal person did couldn’t have been rape, which causes huge harms.

I don’t have answers, but I think it’s incredibly clear that calling it “rape culture” doesn’t help.

In general, I don’t think feminist activism on the topic of rape goes in the right direction. The smug “consent is like tea” video has the exact same problem. People don’t need to hear more “normal people would never rape” messaging.

[fernandezwinifred1995]

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When a person is different but the scientific literature predominately contradicts what I, and most effective remedies would be to perform mouth gestures without experiencing the symptoms associated with bruxism.A variety of TMJ are not usually cure the origin of the ear, and then rest.If these treatment options for you specifically.Some of those solutions only work for you.Below are two reasons for bruxism includes stress, dental problems and of clear plastic, and thus the joint region and reduce the stress placed on the sides of your body, breathe in deeply throughout the day or night, or both.

Technology Used in Jaw Pain - Soreness when yawning, chewing or nail biting- The root cause if you feel by meticulously analyzing your mouth included.Healthy joints should make almost no accompanying effects.Understand that this condition during its early stages avoid unnecessary stress at school or home.In fact, a chropractor will often do so while sleeping, and if left untreated the acute symptoms can be very painful.

Whenever possible I try to use cold therapy, do not cause any health problem that prevents you from clenching their teeth when under pressure which causes an unbearable noise.Curing teeth grinding is ignored, it becomes severe.These four exercises are simple to do, but the symptoms mentioned above do not involve any pricking of the TMJ and heal your self simple and inexpensive strategies to prevent grinding that is locked in position or you know what exactly causes TMJ, and contribute the the muscles of the jawWhat are the different types of misdiagnosed pain to your life back on salicylates.There are many home remedies to relief in TMJ symptoms is by seeing if the pain caused by it.

Avoid chewing gum or grinding sound can be dealt with and for the act of using the jaw, deviation of the joint, causing difficulty opening and closing of the inflammation of the TMJ.Of course, as with tingling hands or hand numbness. Not chewing gum or eating foods that require major jaw-action.Well, it's a good night's sleep is crucial to remember that if we look at the end of it as soon as possible.o Difficulties in touching the roof, slowly open your mouth without this joint.

Before subjecting yourself under the banner of TMJ jaw disorder.This will include things such as the jaw are connected to your posture.This joint is found to be the noises are heard when there is a disc between the two jaw joints are located.It can be taken to stop the grinding and clenching of jaws.More and more proper mode of treatment it can also aggravate the soreness of facial expression.

How Long Does It Take To Recover From Bruxism

Permanent bite correction involves making the socket part of adopting a healthy jaw sounds.They can also mean the joint that lets you address it naturally:A bit of stress is normal and necessary tasks such as hearing loss.Most conventional teeth grinding at night, pain in front of your ears and eyesIt is important that you will have you would know that this condition visit them.

It creates a healthy eating habit, massaging the jaw tends to recede backwards, which usually causes more severe and can cause imbalances in the jaw line depending on whom you ask, you may be related to the building of healthier teeth and create a separation between your teeth.This can occur in short is a condition that affects the joints for eating, talking, swallowing, and yawning may be hereditary or stress management.Learning to relax the joints to erode and cause other conditions.Instead of grinding can be fixed by a physician every three months.Natural Treatment for TMJ treatment, including: bite guards fail.

[hellyeahheroes]

“If you are poor how do you have an iPhone”

This is something that was gnawing at me for several weeks by now. Very recently comicbook twitter has gone on an anti-piracy outrage when one of the indie creators found out their comic book, that same one that had to change from selling in floppies to only selling in trades due to low sales, had hundreds of thousands of views on a pirate website. Due to the respect I have for that creator, I want to preface that what I am about to discuss is not a defense of piracy per se. it is not an argument that even applies in a large scale to indie scene that by far avoids some of the issues I will be talking about.

While I would never openly condone piracy, I have found myself playing devil’s advocate on that day out of sheer anger at one very specific argument that I have seen being thrown around by people condemning piracy. The exchange usually went like this - someone would go and try to say that comics are too expensive and that person would then be mocked for posting from their iPhone or another company equivalent. Every time I saw such behavior I have called it out. In some cases, people would apologize upon me explaining why this line of argument is out of the line. But in one a person had gotten furious I dared to question them, quickly devolving to childish insults and outright toxic behavior (the fact this person is an editor at Geeks World Wide made me completely give up on that website). But that is beside the point.

I want to just make it very clear that this “argument” is rooted in classism and, quite frankly, doesn’t even work. Let us explain the latter first

1. Why You Cannot Just Buy A Single Book

First I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the people using this argument. So we will do something dreadful and talk about math. For the purpose of this argument, I’m even going to go as far as not address the fact that even if you buy an iPhone through installment payments, at one point you are supposed to just have finished paying for the hardware. Meanwhile comic books expect you to keep buying if not one title, then hopefully another effectively forever. This fact in itself breaks the whole line of argument; A person could have wrapped up paying for the iPhone long before they ended in a financial situation where they cannot afford even comics. I will be ignoring this to address what I believe to be a steel man version of the argument - the strongest possible interpretation I can imagine. But even if we assume we live in a capitalist nightmare of endless payments, the rhetorics do not hold water.

Currently, on Apple official store, the newest iPhone11 costs you 30 dollars a month, while iPhone11 Pro is for 25$. In theory, the comparison that is presented should therefore work. After all, if you can afford 25$ dollars you can easily spare $5 for a comic book, right? For that price, you could buy as much as 4 comic books each month. Except that this assumption comes from a perspective that in order to read a single comic book all you need to do is buy that one comic book. Which is not the case. Or rather, it might be a case if we’re talking about independent publishers or markets like European or manga. But is certainly not one for Marvel and DC. While the problem is better than it once was we still regularly end in a situation where, in order to understand what is going on in a single Big 2 book, you need to read several others. This is a common case with big events. Let’s take a look at recently finished Absolute Carnage

This event had the gall to ask you to buy seven books and then upped it to nine. Nine comic books roughly 5 dollars per issue is 45$. To buy all of it would be to spend the equivalent of your iPhone11 Pro fee for five months.

Someone might now say that you obviously do not need to read the entire event. But the truth is, you do not really know that when it comes to making preorders. The event comics are deliberately constructed in such a way to trick people into thinking they have to buy all of it to understand what is going on. It was true when they were humongous, reaching even a hundred issues like the first Civil War, and it is true now. And while veteran fans have learned that usually you only need to follow main series and tie-ins written by its writer, even that can be a strain on someone’s budget. It might be that this person could only afford this one, single comic book. So when they suddenly find what might be their only source of entertainment incomprehensible without paying more money, they may face a dilemma. Deny yourself your one source of joy for any duration of time from a month to half of a year. Or quickly pirate that one book you never wanted to and was never interested in buying in the first place until you had the title you were paying for effectively held hostage.

I want to underline this is not just events. The most outrageous case of this issue right now is the X-Men line since Jonathan Hickman’s takeover. Which has become so self-referential you need to read all the titles in order to understand any single one. Without doing it the books become incomprehensible. This is me speaking from experience here. I was only interested in a single title from the initial launch. But the moment I saw characters talking about events from another book in a way that assumes I’m up to speed, I dropped it. 

In order to get into this so-called great new jumping-in point as it launched fans needed to first spend around $20 a month to buy two miniseries for 3 months. And as Dawn of X rolled in, the number of books rose and keeps rising. X-Men, X-Force, bi-weekly New Mutants, Excalibur and Fallen Angels already request you to invest an equivalent of the monthly price of an iPhone11. And they soon shall be joined by Wolverine, Hellions, Cable, X-Men/Fantastic Four and possibly monthly Giant-Size X-Men. Those keeping attention to the math part might have noticed we are a single series (and we are lead to believe there is more than one coming) from X-Men becoming an investment equal to paying for two separate iPhone11s each month. It is proof that the Big 2 has adopted a “more eggs, fewer baskets” mentality. This customer-unfriendly approach to storytelling seems by design prone to weeding out and turning away all but big spenders who can afford to regularly buy multiple books. it is not different from the exploitative systems we find in video games, designed to prioritize so-called “whales”, as the industry came to call people who can blow ungodly amounts of money on a game, over regular customers.

2. The Rhetoric Itself Is Flawed

However, even if the hypothetical scenario presented by people using the “why do you have an iPhone” argument was true, we need to recognize how toxic this argument is. First of all, this whole line of reasoning is out of touch and assumes that a working iPhone is a luxury, while more and more times in modern society it becomes a necessity. I live in Poland and have not encountered this issue yet, I keep hearing of people who simply cannot get a job without having an iPhone. It’s because more and more fields require you to have working company apps or use them to find new workers in the first place. The miniature computer in your hand has become such a utility tool it now is actively getting harder to operate in modern society without affording it. This line of argument only betrays that you are out of touch almost as much as a similar argument being used to claim people who have flatscreen TVs are not “really poor”. Currently, flatscreens are only TVs being produced and sold anymore, cheap for purchase and cheaper to maintain than a full-sized TV long time out of use and with spare parts likely no longer produced.

Moreover, you don’t really know how exactly that specific person’s financial situation is. It may be that yes, they can afford an iPhone out of necessity but it does require them to be on a tight budget. Maybe the phone itself is actually passed on from a family member - speaking here as someone whose every phone ever was such a gift. It may even be that the person had to work extremely hard and save up a lot to afford this phone and simply is not able to expand on their profits anymore. Or, as mentioned above, that they once could and finished paying for the last installment but have fallen on hard times ever since. The list goes on. The crux of it is that you do not know other people’s stories and have no right to hold them to some arbitrary standards without that knowledge.

Which brings me to my final point - the whole argument relies on perpetuating a myth of “properly poor” people. The made-up image of nobly suffering poor who deny themselves any and all form of luxury in life (and remember, we established that the whole argument relies on seeing modern phones as a luxury, not a necessity they have become) to save money to get themselves out of poverty. Not to mention a similar myth of “kindhearted poor” who gladly give up what little they have to help others - the kind media love to perpetuate to distract from how bad the state of society is to lead to this situation in the first place. This not only does mispresent how the whole capitalist system is rigged to make it easier to save money the higher up the financial ladder you climb, but it also does not understand human nature. Human beings aren’t machines and it is impossible to really go through every single day without some sort of relief. Sometimes it may be a video game or a dinner at a fancy restaurant. Sometimes it may be a smartphone. Or a luxury item you never plan to use but just want to have to remind you what your goal is.

Yet our society made a game out of shaming and being judgmental to every poor person who spends even the tiniest amount of money on escapism, on any sort of relief from how stressful poverty is. And, speaking as someone who had panic attacks caused by sudden financial expenses wrecking my monthly budget, it is stressful. We expect people to act as all forms of entertainment and escapism aren’t also contributing to one of our human needs, the need to simply be able to wind down for even a moment, and thus not worth spending money on. Then we judge them if they resort to illegal means to fulfill that need. 

I would go as far as making the argument this is a self-perpetuating problem. This very line of thinking, that poor must be at all times miserable and them spending even the slightest amount of money on anything nice is worth scorn? it is what actively encourages them to resort to piracy even if they could afford to buy comics. They are being constantly told by society they shouldn’t buy themselves anything not essential. And then the society acts surprised when they then fulfill their needs through illegal means to save money. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I am not making this post to defend piracy. But I think we need to seriously consider what kind of rhetorics is being used to condemn it and what it actually says about people who use it and those who silently nod in agreement.

- Admin

[miumiu-chan]

Miyase Go STORY 1 Chapter 4-4

Subbed video: STORY-1 4-4

-Investigation Planning Division-

[AOYAMA]: “Spontaneous pneumothorax?”

[REI]: “Yes. From what I saw today, I suspect that is Kujo Soma’s illness.”

[REI]: “Of course I’m not a doctor, so I’m not sure.”

[SEKI]: “I see......”

[NATSUME]: “Pneumothorax is the one called “Ikemen’s disease”*, isn’t it.” (T/N: Like how it’s a disease seen often among handsome men. Often develops among lean and tall young men, and among more men than women.)

[AOYAMA]: “The cause of the onset does seem to be unknown, and it recurs many times?”

[REI]: “Yes......”

[NATSUME]: “If you drop such a bomb, at least it’s unlikely that Kujo Soma will be crazy with drugs.”

[SEKI]: “What is Izumi’s opinion in that area?”

[REI]: “I’ve been observing every day, but I think it’s not possible he’s involved in the use of dangerous drugs.”

[REI]: “That applies to all the members who go in and out of that house.”

[AOYAMA]: “What other information did you get?”

[REI]: “......I checked Miyase Go’s mobile phone.”

[NATSUME]: “Eh, that’s amazing.”

[REI]: “......No. I didn’t get anything.”

[AOYAMA]: “Does that mean there’s zero harvest?”

[REI]: “There was no address book, no incoming calls history, no outgoing calls history.”

[REI]: “No internet browsing history or messaging apps.”

[NATSUME]: “Did he erase it all before lending it to Rei-chan?”

[REI]: “I don’t think he could’ve afforded to do that in that situation......”

[AOYAMA]: “How did you call the doctor?”

[REI]: “Miyase-san handed it to me after making the call......”

[SEKI]: “It could be that they try not to leave any information on the terminal on a daily basis.”

[AOYAMA]: “Or does he have another personal mobile phone?”

[NATSUME]: “Either way, it’s a mystery~. The Kujo Family’s servant.”

[REI]: “......I’m sorry.”

[REI]: “I haven’t gotten any useful information for the investigation.”

[AOYAMA]: “It’s understandable, so don’t feel down.”

[AOYAMA]: “You’re doing a good job.”

[SEKI]: “Yeah. A lot of things happened today so you must be tired.”

[SEKI]: “Go on home and take a good rest.”

[REI]: “......Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your hard work.”

-Temporary Apartment-

[REI]: (......I can’t sleep.)

So many thoughts were circling around in my head.

[REI]: (Around this time, I wonder if Miyase-san is taking care of Kujo Soma......)

[REI]: (......Is Kujo Soma really involved with the flower drugs?)

If, he happened to be innocent.

If I could hurry and prove it————

[REI]: (............Then, I could build a more sincere relationship with Miyase-san.)

[REI]: “............Huh?”

I suddenly sat up in the bed.

[REI]: (I, what did I think just now......?)

[REI]: (Even though I’m a DCD agent who infiltrated the Kujo Family.)

[REI]: (Somehow, wasn’t my thinking deviating in a bad direction?)

[REI]: “......Get it together, me. Because it’s all work.”

-Kujo House / Garden-

[REI]: (I couldn’t sleep at all......)

[MIYASE]: “Rei-san, have you finished watering the designated area?”

[REI]: “Yes. I just put away the hose.”

[MIYASE]: “Thank you.”

[MIYASE]: “As expected, you’ve really helped the work go faster.”

[REI]: (Miyase-san is the same as usual.)

[REI]: (Kujo-san doesn’t seem to be up yet......)

[MIYASE]: “Then, is it alright if you help me prepare the lunch next?”

[REI]: (......Huh?)

[MIYASE]: “......Rei-san?”

[REI]: (——No. He’s not the same......as usual?)

[REI]: “Isn’t Miyase-san kind of different from usual?”

[MIYASE]: “Eh? Do I have bed hair?”

[REI]: “That’s not it......”

[REI]: “............”

[MIYASE]: “......If you stare at me too much, I’ll feel shy.”

[REI]: “Ah, sorry......”

[REI]: “Um, this might be intrusive of me, but......”

[REI]: “I wonder if your complexion is not so good......”

[MIYASE]: “Aa. Maybe it is because of lack of sleep.”

[REI]: “Did you take care of Kujo-san without going to sleep until morning?”

[MIYASE]: “Since it is the servant’s job, that is natural.”

[REI]: “Um......If it’s tough, you can just give me instructions and I’ll cook lunch.”

[REI]: “Miyase-san, please go ahead and rest.”

[MIYASE]: “No, I cannot put that much of a burden on Rei-san.”

[REI]: (Even though Miyase-san......right now, is looking really burdened?)

[MIYASE]: “I am the type of person who is relatively okay without much sleep, so I am fine.”

[MIYASE]: “Now, let’s go to the kitchen.”

My gaze dropped down, catching a glimpse of Miyase-san’s right arm as he walked away.

......The color of the bruise that had no traces of treatment, I felt it was a little darker than yesterday.

-Kujo House / Kitchen-

[MIYASE]: “——Ah. Oops.”

[REI]: “What happened……?”

[MIYASE]: “I was thinking of boiling the nanohana today to make it into a soup……”

[MIYASE]: “But I took the miso by mistake.”

[REI]: (That’s unusual……)

[REI]: (He usually doesn’t make a mistake like that.)

[REI]: “Even with miso soup, it’ll be delicious.”

[MIYASE]: “……You’re right.”

[MIYASE]: “But, this is an embarrassing blunder. Please keep it a secret, okay?”

[REI]: (As I thought, his smile looks like he’s tired.)

[MIYASE]: “——Huh? Rei-san, those carrots are……”

[REI]: “?”

[REI]: “Miyase-san gave them to me to peel earlier……”

[MIYASE]: “……I had intended to give you the cabbage.”

[REI]: “Eh.”

[REI]: (What do cabbages and carrots have in common…………Vegetables.)

[MIYASE]: “Haha. Sorry.”

[MIYASE]: “This too, please keep it a secret from everyone.”

[REI]: (Is this okay……)

-Kujo House / Dining Table

[KIRISHIMA]: “Oh, this miso soup is super tasty.”

[SHINDO]: “Yeah. It has good dashi* in it.” (T/N: Dashi is a Japanese soup stock.)

[MIYASE]: “I am glad it suits your tastes.”

[REI]: (It really is delicious.)

[REI]: (No matter what Miyase-san cooks, all of them have a gentle taste.)

[KIRISHIMA]: “By the way, how’s Kujo-san doing?”

[KIRISHIMA]: “He still can’t get up yet?”

[SHINDO]: “The pain seems to have lessened a lot.”

[SHINDO]: “If he rests for a few more days, he’ll be fine.”

[KIRISHIMA]: “I see. That’s great.”

[REI]: (Does Kirishima-san know in detail about Kujo-san’s illness……?)

[MIYASE]: “…………”

[REI]: (Hm? Miyase-san hasn’t eaten at all……)

[REI]: “Um, what’s the matter?”

[MIYASE]: “——Eh?”

[REI]: “You haven’t made a dent in your food……”

[MIYASE]: “Aa, I am fine.”

[MIYASE]: “I was just thinking a bit.”

[SHINDO]: “What, is Miyase perhaps in poor health as well?”

[KIRISHIMA]: “Seriously? He looks the same as always, though.”

[MIYASE]: “I was just wondering what to do for the dinner menu.”

[SHINDO]: “……You’re already thinking about the night while having lunch.”

[KIRISHIMA]: “I want to eat meat!”

[KIRISHIMA]: “Cow! Pig! And bird!”

[MIYASE]: “Meat sounds good.”

[REI]: “…………”

——After work.

-Kujo House / Living Room-

[MIYASE]: “Well then Rei-san, shall we go?”

[REI]: “Sorry……”

[REI]: “Even though Miyase-san is tired, you’re sending me home again today.”

[MIYASE]: “It is fine, really.”

[MIYASE]: “The night walks with Rei-san are a healing time for me.”

[REI]: (Healing……?)

Choices:

Sorry to bother you.

I’m happy. (♡)

He is considerate…...

[REI]: “That kind of……makes me happy.”

[REI]: “Of course, I know that you’re just being considerate of me.”

[MIYASE]: “Eh……Those are my true feelings, though?”

[REI]: “It’s okay, you don’t have to flatter me.”

[REI]: “Even though I was told that it was healing being with me for the first time,”

[REI]: “But, I think I’m quick to speak and pretty continuously interrupt conversations, so I realize I am not cute.”

[REI]: “So I feel like I’m far from the word “healing”. Ahaha.”

[MIYASE]: “For me, Rei-san is healing.”

[MIYASE]: “When we’re together, I can relax.”

[REI]: “Relax……”

[MIYASE]: “This kind of thing, I believe they say that the wavelengths match.”

[MIYASE]: “Watching the cat and the birds in the garden, quizzing on the name of flowers, cooking in the kitchen side-by-side.”

[MIYASE]: “In those moments, I realize that I am laughing naturally.”

[MIYASE]: “Rei-san’s atmosphere to me, I think matches very well.”

That……I also thought the same.

[REI]: (When I’m with Miyase-san, the tension in my heart releases, and I get a soft feeling.)

……That was why it was getting harder and harder to lie.

[REI]: “……Thank you.”

[MIYASE]: “Thank you as well.”

[MIYASE]: “Let’s leisurely enjoy the brief time of healing.”

Miyase-san’s body, who tried to walk, aimlessly tilted over.

[REI]: “!”

[migleefulmoments]

This is not about being a “hater”. This is about helping you understand that Crisscolfer is based on faulty logic and lies. It’s about caring about the truth.

Abby wrote what I call a “masterpost” of the most recent proof she has that cc is still together. It’s the information she’s using right now to reassure herself that she’s right. The problem is that the conclusions she draws for why each social media post was made are illogical and erroneous conclusions. They aren’t logical, methodical, reasonable conclusion...period. 

Social media posts can be misleading and people certainly do make posts that portray a certain storyline. But it isn’t reasonable to conclude that Darren or Chris are using Instagram to tell their deepest darkest secrets to complete strangers. Neither man divulges much about their personal life on social media. In fact, the cc fandom mentions that often. Chris has a quote they love to repeat about not living on social media and Darren has said many times that he takes a lot of photos but he doesn’t post it online because he’s too busy living the moment. 

Let’s look at the post and analyze why Abby’s conclusions are wrong (my comments are italicized in parenthesis). 

Anonymous asked: why do you think they're still going strong? all evidence points to an amicable split a couple years ago

@ajw720 answered: not at all nonnie, not at all.  First, have you read ATOM?  I beg of you to read it if you have not. (I am reading it and it isn’t at all about Darren and Chris. It’s a story about children who are ostracized for being magical. It’s an allegory for being gay or being different in ways that society doesn’t accept. The children are sent to conversion therapy. It’s irrational and unreasonable to conclude it is a cc bible. The facts are: It’s a children’s book series, Chris isn’t interested in sharing his personal life at all with fans let alone, his deepest darkest secrets. Chris didn’t write an “It gets better” book for LGBTQ children only to use it to out Darren. Gay men don’t out other gay men by writing children's books. Chris has never said -or even hinted- it is an autobiography, he’s never suggested it is a love story based on his life. He started the series when he was 8 or 9 which included the character Froggy. Chris has several messages he likes to tell in his stories and he isn’t subtle in his lessons. He isn’t a subtle writer, yet Abby claims that at least 5 or 6 characters in TLOS are Darren and just as many are Chris. Instead of reading the book and hearing Chris’s message, she uses it for confirmation bias in a variety of characters and storylines. She finds the parts that FIT her PRECONCEIVED  idea of the cc storyline. It’s a fantasy-not realty. 

Second, have you seen the excessive use of the PA since october 25?  i believe a pic and/or video has been posted of him about 23 times in just about 4 weeks.  That is up from 0 in the 5  months that preceded it.  w is only required to be held out as the fake bf if cc is on. (This theory is predicated on the theory that Will is important to “cc is real”. This is another erroneous assumption that Abby concluded long ago as a way to explain why Will is around Chris so often. WIll is around because he is Chris’s boyfriend. Chris has said so with both his words and actions. Using Will’s presence on Chris’s social media as proof that cc is going strong- that Will is “mac and cheese” to the fandom is illogical-for one, out gay men do not have beards. There is no reason that Will showing up in Chris’s posts would prove cc is still together. That is another erroneous conclusion Abby reached long ago when she needed to explain away why Chris is posting pics of Will. The fact is that Will is always in Chris’s Halloween pics, their annual Disney trip, and Will’s birthday post. This year Chris also happened to post some other events they attended together so that he posted 10 pics of Will in the last 2 months.. Coming to the conclusion that Chris posting more pics of Will is proof of anything related to cc is like arguing that 1+1=322. Will being on Chris’s Instagram has nothing to do with Darren. The “23 videos and photos” include posts made by fans, friends and other people. It’s preposterous to claim that fan pics of Will or a friend posting his pic are because of the cc storyline).  

Did you watch the recent interview c did?  first it is brilliant so you should watch it.  and then he said this;

It is unfortunate that for some people you want to apply that phrase “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” to the mental side of things too.  But sometimes what doesn’t kill you, makes you suicidal. And it is really up to you “am i going to let this kill me or am i going to let this motivate me.” and sometimes when I hear people say this, i want to throw things at them, so I am going to say this very tongue and cheek, sometimes it really is a a choice, not a choice, sometimes I don’t think your point of view or interpretation  of things you are going through can be a choice.  Sometimes things are just so tragic that you just have to feel what you are feeling so it can work itself out.

(There is nothing in that quote that suggests he’s speaking about the last 5-6 years of his life or Darren Criss or a secret love or TPTB forcing Darren in the closet. He said that “sometimes the shit of life gets you down and how you respond matters”. He could be speaking about a lot of things that are very difficult for young adults. Claiming he said anything else is an irrational conclusion based on confirmation bias. She hears him speak about Darren because that is the storyline she already believes is true but Chris isn’t saying anything that suggests he’s speaking about Darren). 

C made sure to have an alibi the night of the fraud in NOLA. (Why would he need an alibi? The logical conclusion to why he posted about going to a friend’s show on Darren’s wedding night is they aren’t close friends and his post had nothing to do with Darren at all. But I’ll play along for a minute and imagine cc is real: If the love of his life was marrying someone they both “despise”, Chris would have been devastated, not out enjoying a night of entertainment-and walking a red carpet/photo op.  He barely does that ever- he certainly isn’t going to do it on his worst day.  He was with Will and he didn’t post the pic himself. If he was pushing a narrative then he would have posted the pic. It’s very unfair to claim that things that other people post are messages he is sending-it’s putting words into his mouth. Chris had no reason to prove he wasn’t in NOLA, he clearly wasn’t in the wedding photos. Claiming he went out to a show with his long-term boyfriend to prove he wasn’t with Darren at his wedding is a silly argument.)  

They walked around NYC dressed like twins on October 1, 2019.  And the hickey. (Concluding that two people who were wearing jeans, glasses and dark shirts are “dressed alike” is wrong enough but concluding that similarities in their lives prove they are a couple is preposterous. We all know that wasn’t a hickey for so many reasons from the shape to the fact it was gone in photos taken later that day to Darren wouldn’t walk around on a press day with a huge hickey on his neck. You can see from photos taken that day, they hardly looked like twins. There is nothing rationale about looking for similarities in their lives to prove they are in a secret relationship. They are nothing more than coincidences. Claiming it is a hickey after she was told by so many people that it wasn’t- including ccer is a great example of how Abby doubles down on lies if it suits her needs.  She isn’t interested in the truth- only proving she’s right.) 

C’s SM.  He just recently posted his second pic of him in a tinhat, the 1st right after the encage.  You know, the day he wore the shirt that says “everything you know is a lie.”  He really has had some blatant posts.  also, sometimes  reflection is a really interesting thing. (Again,  unreasonable conclusions are made: Chris’s “second tinhat” photo was a pic of him getting his hair highlighted with foils-a very common technique for highlighting hair. He posted it to garner publicity for his book tour.  It’s irrational to conclude that he was sending a secret message to a small group of fans to reassure them that he supports “tinhats” when Chris has actually said several times that he isn’t in a relationship with Darren and has expressed anger over fans’ comments about them as a couple. He also wrote a book that included the main character with Chris’s initials expressing his anger with fans shipping him with his costar. The first photo was not a support of Crisscolfer tinhatting but a reference to Chris’s own belief in aliens- he’s holding an alien stuffed toy and wearing a shirt that has aliens on it.)

halloween when they set up the perfect SM riot. They started with the release of pics with CC in the background, proving to the haters that they in fact our friends and then 2 weeks later, AF posted a pic that included C and PBB but no D. (Here we have an example of how Abby’s conclusions are based on several erroneous assumptions leading up to one big faulty conclusion. The tops of Chris and Darren’s heads were photographed at a busy, crowded party proving they were speaking and nothing more. Abby’s claim that they purposefully caused the riot assumes 1. that they planned the photograph, 2. they distributed the photograph or knew the right people would see it and get their message, 3.that either Chris or Darren- or both- are very interested and motivated to make sure that complete strangers know intimate details of their personal lives and that they both want to spread this information via very impersonal and public social media. Claiming that Ashley posted a pic of Mia to prove “cc is real” is another unreasonable conclusion.  Let’s address the assumptions: 1. There is no way they could tell the tops of their heads were in the camera frame. Even in an uncrowded room, it would be difficult but with several people between them and the camera, it just isn’t possible to know that the tops of their heads were within the frame. 2. They had no way of ensuring fans would get the message.  They couldn’t be sure that fans would stalk the party photos and find the tops of their heads in the background. If they wanted a photo of them talking seen by fans, they had several avenues of making that happen- they both have PR teams and their own social media accounts, and Darren’s team was there. 3. The theory that they intentionally caused a “cc riot” by doing nothing more than standing and chatting at a party isn’t logical. There is no reason for them to even want to share something like “Darren is closeted” or “Chris and Darren are in a relationship” with complete strangers and they would have no control of the messaging. Smart celebs don’t release info about themselves using a method that takes all control away from themselves.  It’s the same reason that I know Darren would never stand on a car and scream “I’m gay” to a bunch of strangers-it’s not smart. Claiming they intentionally wanted the world to know they were together at the party and therefore “still going strong”  means they purposefully put a deeply personal part of their private lives into the world in a way that gives something valuable to the cc fandom-reassurance- but gives Chris and Darren nothing in return. They lose control of their personal info-something important to both men- but they get nothing back. Neither Chris nor Darren share much information about their private lives and they certainly don’t do it on social media. When they do share personal stories, it is during interviews. Rationalizing that Ashley posted a photo of Mia to prove cc is real is another erroneous assumption. Nothing about that photo proves Chris and Darren are in a relationship-it proves that Ashley felt that photo was a good one to post for reasons she didn’t indicate but there is nothing to suggest she posted it on behalf of Chris to shade Mia)   

they are absolutely still going strong and I would say pay attention to the details, but at this point, you don’t even really need to look that close, it is incredibly blatant. (The confirmation bias in the cc fandom is all-encompassing. Abby simply cannot be wrong and she analyzes everything to find the “cc still going strong” storyline. She doesn’t look at the situation and learn from it, she twists reality to FIT HER storyline. “Pay attention to the details” is a euphemism for “twist the truth to make it cc positive”. It’s deeply disrespectful to both Chris and Darren to refuse to HEAR what either man is saying-or SEE how they are living- and instead, spend all of your time and effort rewriting their life stories. Basing your conclusions on faulty logic leads to misdirections-it’s how you find yourself believing untrue stories for a decade and counting. The question isn’t whether Chris and Darren’s private lives are different from how they present them- it is their prerogative to keep their personal lives private from the public. The question is why can’t you respect that their personal lives are theirs and only theirs and that fans have no right to debunk their truths? Why can’t you understand that going on their social media and posting about Crisscolfer is the most disrespectful and cruel thing you can do. Believing you know the truth about a stranger’s life because you are “paying attention”  while simultaneously ignoring everything that proves you are wrong is hurtful to Chris and Darren but it’s more hurtful to you. You are teaching yourself how to draw illogical conclusions and to make erroneous assumptions.You are literally grooming yourself to believe lies and it cannot be contained to the cc fandom, it is something that will sneak into the other parts of your life until you have no ability to make assessments and draw accurate conclusions about important things in your life.You will never understand when you are being conned because you’ve spent some -or all -of the last 10 years methodically teaching yourself how to disregard the truth, ignore facts, and draw illogical conclusions. 

I don’t know if Christian Bale actually said this, I can’t find it on his feed, but the sentiment is still 100% accurate-other celebs have expressed the same feeling 

  #crisscolfer

#crisscolfer tag take back

[bibelothug]

Black Lives Matter

Hi, nice to meet you!

My name is Ayumi Konno, and I am the founder of Bibelot, an online shop selling apparel, picture books and miscellaneous goods. I am also the mother of a 10 month old baby.

After hearing about the death of Mr. George Floyd, I started to learn more about racial discrimination against black people in the United States and began to wonder what I personally could do to fight against racism.  I decided to collaborate with artists to create T-shirts that will spark discussions and bring awareness to this issue. 

History and current status of discrimination against black people in America

In America, black people have suffered discrimination for a very long time, and this racist oppression continues today. 

Forced into slavery in the 17th century in America, black people continued to experience racism even after slavery was abolished in 1865. 

After that, Jim Crow laws did not recognize black people as having the same rights as white people, and separated black people from white people in public institutions (schools, buses, toilets, etc.).

Image reference:  zinnedproject.org

In America’s history, there are many instances of black people being murdered. As a new parent, learning about the following injustice of the murder of Mary Turner in particular left an impact on me. 

The murder of Mary Turner, who lived in Georgia in 1918.

On May 18, 1918, a man named Hayes Turner was murdered by a mob of white people after a white landowner was killed. 

His wife Mary Turner denounced the mob who killed her husband and in response was murdered brutally by the mob. Despite being 8 months pregnant, she was lynched, her body strung up on a tree, set on fire, and her unborn child murdered. 

In 1865, Article 13 of the US Constitution was passed, abolishing slavery. However, violent racism persisted and mob lynchings and burning of black people’s houses  by the KKK (white supremacist organization) was rampant.

The Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation continued until the Civil Rights Law was enacted 56 years ago.

Discrimination is not a thing of the past, it continues today. 

Image reference:  humanevents.com

Today, many black people in America live with the fear of being arrested for no reason and beaten by the police, even in the midst of their daily activities whether it’s going out to take a walk, or even sleeping at home. 

Article 13 of the Constitution abolishes slavery, but does not apply to those sentenced to prison.

Even innocent people or those who have been arrested for misdemeanors and who cannot afford bail are sentenced to work jobs receiving hourly wage of the equivalent of 15 to 150 yen, not eligible for social security benefits. 

Percentage of population living in poverty (2018): 8.1% white, 20.8% black

Wealth disparity (2017): Median wealth of white households is 10 times that of black households

According to the statistical results from 2013 to 2019, although 76.3% of the American population is white and 13.4% is black, black people are three times more likely than white people to be killed by police. Of those killed by police, black people were 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed than white people. 

 Reference Reference: Mapping Police Violence｜Mapping Police Violence

And systematic racism afflicts black people today. 

Please see this video for a summary of this project and institutional discrimination in below.

Discrimination in Japan

Many people may think that this has nothing to do with Japan and that racism against black people does not even exist in Japan. 

However, it has become clear that across generations in Japan, stereotypes and prejudices against black people exist. 

It’s theorized that in the wake of the second world war, one of the ways that Japan sought to bolster its reputation amongst Western countries was adopting America’s racist attitudes towards black people. In essence, they joined white America in viewing black people as the common enemy. 

To this day, that affects how black people are portrayed in Japanese media, which all too often is via racist stereotypes and caricatures. 

Why I decided to start this project

The murder of Mr. George Floyd on May 25th by a white police officer was the incident that moved me to do something. 

After learning about George Floyd’s murder,  I contacted a black friend, watched the video of the incident and read to try to understand what had happened and why. 

Ashamed that I did not know about the suffering so many people experience at the hands of systematic racism today, I thought that I could do something and started planning this project.

If I want to help my black friend, I understood that I have to be part of systemic change. 

I felt that systemic change requires the power of many, not just of a minority, not just of those in the United States,  but many people all over the world, including Japan.

What I want to achieve with this project

For racism to be abolished and for our world to be one where no child or adult experiences discrimination or discriminates against anyone in any country. 

With that in mind, I want to start by understanding and learning, and talking with others more. 

So, I made a T-shirt with two artists to help start the conversation.

My hope is that through this project, through these Tshirts and artworks, people can discuss, share and learn.

Massage from Friend

I am so encouraged. Friends around the world are rising up. My friend Ayumi said when she started learning about systemic racism she was ashamed she didn’t know before. But by googling, watching movies, reading books, talking to friends, she is an example that we can always learn. It is never too late to learn. I am grateful, too, that she has so eagerly joined in doing the work, and sharing what she’s learning with others in her community esp those who are mostly Japanese-speaking.We shall over come!

Use of funds

T-shirt production cost: JPY 1500-2000 depending on the number of orders received

Transportation costs and tariffs from the UK: Approximately 20,000 yen

Return shipping cost: Approximately 20,000 yen (when 100 pieces are shipped by mail)

Kenzo's design fee: 25,000 yen (500 yen x 50 pieces)

All other proceeds will go to the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Schedule of delivery

September 1 Preorder begins

September 30 Preorder finishes

October 1 Final order of T-shirts 

Estimated shipping from Bar One Clothing in England in late October

As soon as Tshirts arrive, they will be shipped out in November

Donation made to the BLM movement after completing shipping of Tshirts in late November

We will announce the specific BLM organizations and report the total donation amount on this note, Bibelot's instagram account, and YouTube Hug Fuku Channel.

I will be placing the final order on October 1st, so please complete payment by then. Please transfer money to PayPal.

 Collaboration T-shirt with Kenzo

￥3500

Collaboration T-shirt with artist Kenzo

After George Floyd's murder, I contacted my black friends, and was introduced to Kenzo, a black artist living in Ogasawara. A pointillist artist, Kenzo’s artwork is amazingly painstaking. 

Only the stippled area is printed on the silk screen. Both men's and women's Tshirts will be printed on organic cotton Tshirts called Earth Positive, which are produced using only renewable energy. The material is very soft to the touch and comfortable to wear.

From KENZO This picture holds a lot of meaning for. I have never thought so much about a single drawing. It stirs up a lot of emotions in me. 

The importance of black life does not mean that black life is more important than anyone. A symbol of unity, and solidarity. It’s about standing up for someone who is suffering. The person who cried "I CANT BREATHE". A person who is treated like an animal rather than a human.

This is not just an American problem. It affects the whole world.

Can you imagine a world in which you are afraid of the people who are supposed to support and protect you?

Even when they are victims and should be the ones receiving protection, they must fear their own lives from those who are supposed to protect them. 

This is the world in which we, people of color, have to live.

But there is hope. People all over the world are standing up with us. With Black Lives Matter they are standing up for the right thing!

This drawing is meant to shed light on those who fought for us and keep fighting with us! It has a little history and represents what I think #blacklivesmatter represents.

With this, I hope you share it with your friends and help them get out of it. It takes a total of 139 hours to complete and is made entirely of dots. With each dot I thought of all the people of color who are suffering from oppression.

Collaboration T-shirt with NAO HIGA

￥3500

I asked HIGA NAO (Bonmu) to design the women's T-shirt.

NAO-san wanted to donate her work in support of the movement. 

Nao's paintings depict brown-skinned women. For Nao, brown is the color of nature and is very beautiful.

NAO HIGA (Bonmu)

Born in Miyagi

After 10 years as a graphic designer and illustrator in Tokyo, she moved to Kumejima, Okinawa, and expresses the inspiration that she received from the natural scenery and life of the island through silkscreen.

She shares, “Currently, I am engaged in daily production activities in Yanbaru, where the rich nature of the main island of Okinawa remains.”

✴︎ NAO's thoughts on the project ✴︎

“While I have lived so far, I have witnessed scenes of discrimination, of varying severity, in various places.

My world started to move little by little as a result of these incidents. 

I think the world will definitely change if each one of us can pay attention to what is happening. 

And I want to leave a peaceful and bright future without discrimination for future children! With these feelings, I resonated with the aim of the project and so I wanted to participate.”

How to preorder Tshirts

If you would like support this project and reserve a Tshirt, please e-mail info@bibelot.jp (Please be sure to add this address to your contacts so that you can receive emails) If you do not receive a reply within 3 days, please check the settings again and resend.

To make your reservation,  copy and past the following text:

① Kenzo or Nao Higa (Only write the designer whose Tshirt you would like)

②Size (Please choose from MEN’S: Small, Medium, Large or WOMEN’s: Small, Medium, Large) ③ Color (white or black)

④ Your name

⑤ Address

⑥ Phone number

⑦ Message of support for this project (optional)

(Please note that we may anonymously share your message on SNS.)

I will be placing the final order on October 1, so please complete payment by then. Please transfer money to the following account; Paypal

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Finally

I grew up in Japan and still live in Japan. I just quit the company and started a shop, so I can't afford it. But I thought there was something I could do for this problem. Nowadays, there are many people who do not have black friends around them, so many of them may not be able to catch themselves.

I think this is a story that is relevant to you when you think about the future, not the fire on the opposite bank.

During the internationalization, my child may marry a black man and his grandson may have dark skin.

I want my children and grandchildren to be rewarded for their efforts to avoid discrimination when they go abroad.

There are many social problems, but let's start from what we can do.

And many black people are still being treated badly and unable to get out of a difficult environment.

Analyze how you feel, investigate, talk to people, share on SNS, make donations, buy.

I think there is some courage in what you think of. I want you to be brave and take a step forward.

Many people have cooperated since the end of May. I've been working for this project, and I'm really happy to hear that I'm in agreement.

We hope that you can participate in the change in the world by empathizing and supporting us.

 Self-introduction

Ayumi Konno

Born in 1991

Born in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture Up to 6 years old Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture 6 to 18 years old Raised in Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture

I have a childhood friend with the blood of Brazil and Japan, and I want to talk to people from various countries who have an interest in multiculturalism by studying abroad in China in the first year of high school and have an interest in multiculturalism.

Going to Toronto alone at the age of 19 to study the dream of wanting to be a used clothing store

Worked for a secondhand clothing wholesale company in Toronto, but after being shocked by a discriminator, he left the company.

After returning to Japan, I want to go to a place with nature

Worked at a hotel on Iriomote Island in Okinawa, or settled in the mountain of Hakuba in Nagano

Volunteer in 2012 to visit Miyagi prefecture and meet her current husband and marry in 2014

Worked at an apparel company since 2013 and experienced recruitment with a store manager and personnel department.

I was planning to return to work after giving birth and taking childcare leave in 2019,

Decided to retire in 2020 and set up my own store in May

We are struggling to communicate social and environmental issues through clothes and books so that we can become aware of them

[dkettchen]

BLACK MIRROR S5E1 “STRIKING VIPERS” E X P L A I N E D

-with the help of gender and game theory-

Y’all asked for it so here we go

Some things before we start: -If you were watching the episode looking for gay/trans shit, and got disappointed, I’m sorry but I can’t help you because that’s just not what the episode was about and that is ok. It explored some aspects of queer experience, and the limbo between queer and cis-straight experience, that isn’t usually addressed in such an honest and indepth way, which I think is just as important as trans or gay rep.  -I will focus my analysis on the core theme of what certain academics writing about androgyny call the “moment of transgression” so in this case the question of ‘what is Karl/Roxette’s deal & what does that mean for Danny/Lance’s feelings toward and interactions with them?’. -CW: transphobia, homophobia, toxic masculinity, (rpg) uncanny valley stuff, you get it, you know what subjects we’ll be talking about here. 

Now!

I’d like to start by pointing out the title “Striking Vipers” to get the phallus talk out of the way right off the bat x’D: It’s a very blatant penis metaphor, and Vipers specifically are venomous, so represent toxic masculinity. The image of them striking signals danger. The repetition of phallic symbols represents the threat of castration (see medusa turning them bois to stone & the heroic masculinity of the mirror shielded boi who managed to defeat her), which to phallocentric masculinity is the scawiest thing there is (losing the phallus = losing manhood = death?? I guess??). Striking Vipers means that toxic masculinity, by nature, is a threat to itself. (I could talk for hours about the exact warped logic of phallocentricity but Imma spare y’all cause I don’t think it’s relevant for this, I’d even go as far as saying this episode was anti-phallic (which I use here as a more inclusive word for “feminist”, as the episode’s core is about two guys, but still focused on them experiencing and embracing feminine power and freeing themselves from phallocentricity(/patriarchy)’s grasp, just like “what men want” was preoccupied with the toxic masculinity of its female protagonist)) That sets up the kind of horror the episode will be about, the male fear of castration, of loss of identity, of having to face the fact that traditional masculinity is toxic even to the people who conform to it. 10/10 title choice.

Next up: the core question of what label to put on Karl and Danny’s VR interactions (‘Fellas, is it gay to fuck ur best friend in a lady body in VR?’). Which leads to the first question which is: what gender is Karl when he’s playing as Roxette?  An essentialist might say: ‘Well he’s a man irl so he’s still a man even if he plays with a female avatar. Danny’s attraction to him is either him being trapped or just plain old gay.’ But I don’t think that’s the case. It’s not a trap scenario (have some videos on traps and how they’re not real actually: (x.), (x.)), because both people involved know the exact parameters of the situation. Danny knows this is Karl in Roxette’s body, there’s nothing hidden, no misunderstanding to be had here. I also don’t think it’s gay because if it was this would’ve happened irl or with two male avatars, but it only happened once one of them was in a female avatar, that was the change that made it happen. It’s not a fetishising phallic/trans women scenario either, because it’s the opposite, it’s a man’s mind in a woman’s body. There’s no doubt about Karl being a man irl, a queer man sure, but definetely a man. He’s just too into -womanhood while playing her for me to say he’s still male when he’s in that form, like Karl as Roxette isn’t a trans guy as a man’s mind in a female body usually would be (like f.e. Ranma 1/2), I also don’t think Karl as Roxette is an androgyne/non-binary/third term either, because again, he’s embracing her womanhood and the role that comes with it, to the extreme that is hetero PiV sex, too much. I’d argue what we see is the closest to the liberation and euphoria described by other queer men when doing drag, she’s just a more extreme version of drag, of crossplaying, making the fantasy real, wearing not only the clothes of a woman but the body too. Roxette as Karl’s avatar is an alter ego, who is female, so -on the risk of sounding like the biggest performativist since Judith Butler- Karl as Roxette presents as female, so, for all intents and purposes, is female in that moment, regardless of his irl persona maintaining his male gender outside of that. 

But that wasn’t what we wanted to know, was it. Because even if, in the moment that Karl plays Roxette, we can say that person is female, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that Karl, outside of that, isn’t and that he’s still the one playing her. It’s the notion of how the player/actor/performer and avatar/character/persona aren’t the same thing and can have different relationships with someone in real life vs in the game, and how that can be confusing to think about because there is no clear line between the two, something that is called “bleed” in ludology(/game studies, from lat. ludus: game or school; referring to the gladiator schools in like the colosseum), despite their relationships being fundamentally different (in this case friendship irl vs passionate love in game).  Take TAZ as an example: The McElroys are related, but in playing a trpg, the DM, usually Griffin, takes up the mantle of all NPCs in the game world, including love interests. Griffin played Julia, Kravitz, and Danny (different Danny lol), but he’s talking to his brother, except he isn’t, is he, cause it’s not Griffin talking and it’s not his brother responding, it’s two characters interacting. A similar uncanny valley can be found in actor/character bleed: Take Ludi and Pom (the actors for Lance and Roxette) in this one: like 80% of their screentime was spent making out or having fake sex. These actors aren’t dating (as far as I’m aware lol), this is their job, to fake love each other on screen, imagine having to do that with a coworker you feel nothing for. It’s the characters that feel something and you have to play that feeling (which is so meta at that point, they’re playing characters that are avatars being played by characters in the show). Also, talking of role-playing, can we appreciate the scene of Danny & Theo at the bar where they’re role-playing and she’s like that was hot and he’s like mental note bae’s into role-playing, because DAMN that foreshadowing of the erotic potential of roleplay as a concept.

But it’s not role-playing really either with Danny and Karl, is it? They’re playing in avatars other than themselves but they’re not fully a different person. They still very much feel the same just in a different form. Their emotions are real even though they might only apply to part of their experience, the in-game part. Yet they obviously take them seriously and personal and get influenced by them outside the game. Maybe the question is what is and is not role-playing? Where does the bleed start and end, and do we even need to know the answer to those questions? They answer those questions for themselves in the end by testing out their feelings irl to see if they track or not, fully ready for both possibilities (which 10/10 character development love it). They want clarity. It’s about the emotional limbo fantasy brings with it. It’s the same question “Are traps gay” is about. (Not the “Is it ok to feel attracted to androgynous ppl” one necessarily, but) “Does feeling attracted to the fantasy mean you feel attracted to the “real” thing underneath?” Are the feelings for the fantasy alone or also for the reality? Are they only applicable to the latter and does that change something about what you thought you knew about yourself? It’s a question about the fringe edges of limited/monosexuality and the very fabric of reality. 

Let’s return to Karl to look at his experience as Roxette. We’ve established that she is female, but what is Karl while playing her? In the spirit of queer drag as liberating, it’s almost like he’s taking a break from being Karl when playing as her. Drag, crossplay, or this extreme version of it, functions as a break from the toxicity and limitations of traditional gender roles (so in this case traditional masculinity). It is freeing, though what does it free? Some genderless spirit inhabiting each person? But then how do you explain the firm gender identity lots of people, including for all we know Karl, experience in everyday life? As a trans person I know that there is SOMETHING to gender on some level that can create gender dysphoria (social and/or physical) for people when put in a body they don’t identify with. As a drag performer, trpg enthousiast, and notorious crossplayer, I know that taking a break from that reality and being somebody else can be relieving, a break from your own problems. So what is that part of us that translates into fantasy? I feel like this goes into transhumanist territory which I don’t know enough about to even attempt to provide an answer. I think what it comes down to in terms of gender theory is, this is a situation at the height of where performativism is true and relevant. There is a relativity to the nature of reality and gender itself. Whatever base essence there is that causes gender dysphoria at a mismatch between outside and inside, doesn’t apply here. Both notions (of essential and performative gender) are real and have an impact on people but neither is always the case and neither is never the case. They’re not mutually exclusive. 

So, seeing as it seems impossible to pinpoint what gender Karl/Roxette qualifies as (other than all and/or none), let’s look at the nature of Danny/Lance and Karl/Roxette’s interactions and feelings toward those interactions and each other to try and contextualise what label(s) they might fit under.  The desire on Danny’s side when faced with Roxette’s form shows itself in a way he’d never feel toward Karl. That visual change, and the social changes it brings with it (in gender role), makes it so extreme, because it pairs the parts of his friend he appreciates and enjoys (personality and whatever deeper connection a close friendship brings with it), with a form that is attractive to him. That change translates to Karl too. In playing with this new form that has a different role and a different effect on someone he’s known for so long, he flows into that, melts into this new persona and lives it up! The way they interact in game isn’t gay. It is very much reflecting how straight attraction and female sexuality works. On one hand it’s based in undeniable difference (hetero = different), and on the other hand Karl/Roxette’s enjoyment thereof is based in being desirable, in having that power of seduction just by existing, that notion of feminine power and the freedom that comes with it. It’s not autogynephilia, that would imply he gets off on the idea of himself as a woman, which is not the case, he gets off on being desired as a woman, which is what female sexuality is about (source: ContraPoints’ Autogynephilia video (which I recommend, it’s very good))

Still whenever Karl tries to get Danny to keep having VR sex with him/Roxette, he talks about her in 3rd person, like a persona. In saying “it’s just like porn” he poses something that is very much a different activity (acting out the porn by -doin’ it-) as a homosocially (social as opposed to sexual/romantic) acceptable one (watching porn together which I’ve been told is a thing). He attempts to differentiate himself from his female persona and enjoyment there-of (by objectifying her, like a porn actress to be watched rather than identified with), himself and Danny from the queerness (in enjoying femininity and in Danny being down with basically fucking a drag-queen) and to retreat back into heteronormative traditional masculinity, away from the scawy unknown of exploring your sexuality. His internalised homo- and transphobia makes him suppose that Danny, as a supposed straight guy, will only respond to the safety of assured non-queerness, which, honestly, I don’t think is the case with him. Karl supposes his cancelling on him and not wanting to do it anymore is out of the fear for his sexual identity or whatever, but from what I can tell, while Danny also seems to be rather confused about what it all means, the reasons he cancels their nightly sessions, and rejects Karl/Roxette, are always about not wanting his marriage to fall apart. He quite clearly prefers hot VR sex to hanging out with his wife, and cancels out of duty to her rather than fear. Even the first time they kiss, Karl is the one to freak out first. Danny seems much calmer about the attraction part of the situation, to the point of in the end being the one to take initiative and make them try it out irl to put an end to the confusion.

The episode hits hard because it takes the way men play video games and brings it to its logical conclusion. Video games are mens safe-space, and they do play with that playful flirty banter. The show takes that and makes it real, including taking it to its extreme conclusion that is -doin’ it-. It infiltrates the male safe space by taking normalised behaviour, and taking it so far that it puts traditional masculinity and heteronormative attraction in question, the very thing the safe space was supposed to protect them from. That’s why it’s existentially horrifying for the main characters (and viewers that identify with them) and qualifies as a black mirror episode even without having a homo-/trans-/biphobic ending (like other media that put traditional masculinity in question usually do, not to mention all the horror based in queer-coding) 

Hope y’all enjoyed this journey into a bit of mind-bending game and gender theory! Pls don’t expect me to do this like ever again bc I need to go work on my actual essay rip x’D 

[awesomethingsandsuch]

Hold on, this is going to get long

I want to talk about Dennis and work out some timeline and psychological stuff I’ve been thinking about. 

Dennis’s struggle with younger women is never really explained in the movie, but I think we can work out some good theories. 

For one thing, timeline-wise, we know that the full takeover of Kevin by Dennis and Patricia took place in 2014 (3 years before the events of the movie). But while it may be tempting to assume that this was the same day as the incident at the zoo, It wasn’t. We know this because Dennis and Patricia had apparently come out of banishment before that secretly and were taking the light from Barry at times without him knowing; this went on long enough for Barry to start suspecting something (according to his video diary). We don’t know how long, but let’s rough it and say a year. 

However, we then also have to add in the time that Dennis and Patricia actually spent banished. Even if we only give this a year too, that means that Dennis was banished at least 5 years before the movie. If we go with how old he looked on that train platform and guess at his age being 29 in Glass, that means Dennis was 25 or younger when banished (because he was the first alter at 3 years old, I’m going with the idea that he aged concurrently with Kevin because that’s how close he was to him, even though some of the other alters seem to have set ages). 

This means that Dennis, as a 25-year-old man, was attracted to girls around 17. Now, I know this will shock tumblr which likes to inaccurately through the word “pedophile” around, but this actually isn’t that strange. Most guys around this age notice when 17-year-old girls are attractive. However, guys who don’t suffer from compulsive disorders can probably put those thoughts aside as inappropriate and go about their business. 

But Dennis does have compulsive disorders, specifically OCD connected to punishment for “doing something wrong”. I’m not an expert on OCD but I think it’s likely that even when everything is clean and “perfect”, Dennis probably still dwells on what if’s. I’m sure he can’t stop thinking about what he could or might do wrong. These are probably extremely upsetting and intrusive thoughts that plague him all the time. 

Now, this connects to my own personal headcanon that Dennis is NOT actually preoccupied with young girls or only young girls in any kind of real pathological way. 

With run-of-the-mill men who gravitate to younger women, there tends to be a desire for dominance; they like the power imbalance. However, despite what some people assume, I actually don’t think there’s a whole lot of canon material to suggest Dennis is a control freak in that way; in fact, he seems pretty submissive to Patricia and let himself be banished by the other alters; I know many have the headcanon that he’s uber dominant, but I don’t know ... I think that’s a facade. I think the main person Dennis desires to have ultimate control/dominance over is himself.  Plus, while we could apply that sort of psychology to Dennis because it’s the most common in real life, I don’t think there’s actually anything “common” about Dennis or Kevin’s situation. 

I think Dennis had some pretty normal thoughts about attractive teenage girls, but because he has so much shame and worry connected to “doing something wrong”, he simply couldn’t put them aside as other men would. 

He probably dwelled on it; at first in a paradoxical way because he knew it was wrong and shouldn’t think it but that simply made him think about it more. Then it likely escalated (because thoughts you dwell on tend to escalate) until those thoughts became intrusive enough for the other alters to intervene; and the fact that - I’m going to guess - Barry told Dr. Fletcher that Dennis struggled and knew what he was thinking was wrong, makes me think the other alters may have even been trying to protect him by banishing him. 

(There may be some other reasons for his attraction twisted up in there too; perhaps he’s attracted to their innocence or maybe even a little bitter about their innocence. Some have mentioned that there is some indication that Kevin’s mom may have even engaged in some sexual abuse towards Kevin, which would open a whole other bag of worms when it comes to attraction and maybe an instinct to gravitate towards women who do not in any way remind him of his mother ...but I think any of those possible reasons are still blanketed by the larger issue of compulsion and there aren’t as many canonical clues to back them up as the driving force behind his issue)

This would also explain his very strong reaction to what those girls did to Barry or Kevin. And I think it’s really telling that his reaction was not to be intrigued or happy about the contact with younger girls, but apparently super protective and angry (let’s be real, those girls doing that is the reason why the “impure” are often teenage girls - because Dennis is super pissed off about that “attack” and how ignorant those girls were to other people’s possible trauma; not because he just wants to surround himself with temptation; in reality, I think Dennis would actually go out of his way to NOT surround himself with temptation under normal circumstances). 

Now, none of this excuses his behavior (which is actually way worse than simply creeping on Marcia - the dude was prepared to let them be sacrificed to bring a supernatural being to life, so in the grand scheme of things ....) but I’d like to think that this aspect of Dennis wasn’t just added to up the tension/horror in the movie but was actually thought out when it comes to his character, and to me that most logical, careful way of doing that is to connect together these two primary struggles Dennis faces and then connect them back to his primary purpose as a protector/shield, and most likely the alter who experienced the most direct abuse and humiliation from his mom (or “Kevin’s mom”, as his says, which is an interesting detachment). 

I also want to point out that I think it’s clear that Dennis’s problem probably wouldn’t go further than the dancing thing because I think he has issues with touching people too much, or at least people he doesn’t know or trust at all (Hedwig even says that in Glass when the guards start getting handsy about escorting him into the caged part of the hospital, and he reacts very strongly to Casey touching him even though it kind of melts into something nicer after his first instinct to pull away) 

He can probably also justify to himself that the dancing thing is less harmful than it is (he even refers to it as simply “bothering” them and not molesting or rape). He would have to do this to protect himself; it’s clear he has a sense of compassion because he shows it to Casey and reacts emotionally when Dr. Fletcher tells him that the girls are “suffering” like he’s been trying hard not to believe that. 

I fully admit I like Dennis, and I was happy to see him finally see the error of his ways and the Beast’s methods in Glass, but I feel like if he were just a straight up molester/raper, then giving him that redemption would actually be irresponsible of the writers if they never really address this elephant. There would have to be a more complicated, sympathetical psychology behind his redemption in order for the audience to be accepting of it, and I want to appreciate the character arch I saw which is why I need to work this out for myself. 

[autumndiesirae]

1/ It's different because certain ships (not sure if you mean something like incest ships or pedo ships) are gross to most people and they dont want other gross people to see themselves in it and enjoy it, or feel like they are encouraged by it. It's like how nazi's glorify Warhammer characters that "cleanse the xeno scum" for disturbing and troubling reasons, or seeing pedo's get off to loli or cub stuff. It's a yikes.

2/ It’s different from school shooters + video games because those argue that games actually *create* disturbing behavior or train the mind to do so. It implies that someone who is already on that path wouldn’t have any changed behavior or feel validated by seeing something that already reflects their thoughts, as opposed to what these “dont ship because XYZ” people usually claim

3/ It’s different from women who were called Satanists because those claims came from a culture of oppression against women who were seen as mysterious and less than men, mixed in with byzantine superstitions. I doubt you’re implying that these shippers are oppressed or mean to imply, as a side note, but that’s why.

4/4 Though it may be similar to how certain books are banned, though that parts a bit vague. Did you mean “Catcher in the Rye” kind of banned or “Quran” kind of banned or even “Diary of Anne Frank” banned? Could mean a lot of things. I know of one book that was banned from my library because it had a few characters sneak back into their house via the second floor, and explained that most older houses were unlocked on the second floor and up. That was because that fiction could affect reality.

Like first and foremost who is the judge of what’s a ‘gross’ ship? Because I’ve seen something like the label of ‘gross incest ship’ thrown at both Shimadacest, where it’s a valid label because it’s actual incest, and also at something like McReyes because ‘the two had a relationship that could be seen as father/son’ even when the two aren’t related and that claim is entirely a fandom interpretation of their relationship. Literally that was the entire crux of the Voltron ship debate. Literally no one is saying you should be fine and comfortable with every ship out there, including actual incestuous or pedophilic ships, but the problem is that those labels are applied to things where it doesn’t even work and saying that antis only ever address ‘gross ships’ is entirely subjective. No one says you have to like ships with an age gap, no one says you have to like ships where the two start out as enemies, no one says you have to like ANY ship. But more often than not the labels of ‘gross’ and subsequently pedophilia/racism/abuse/etc get stuck to ships where it absolutely is not applicable. If a ship involves two consenting adults, which more often than not it does, then you really cannot censor it and someone else’s enjoyment of it just because you think it’s gross.

‘It’s different from school shooters + video games because those argue that games actually *create* disturbing behavior or train the mind to do so‘Okay but I have seen this exact claim word for word addressed towards people who ship undesirable ships. That EXACT phrase has been thrown in my face and I’ve been called an abuser, homophobic, and misogynist for shipping Meihem because the two hate each other in ‘canon’ when I myself am an LGBT female multiple-time abuse victim (not to mention the two are consenting adults with no canon sexuality, and the point of fiction is to be transformative anyway). The idea that ships that some arbitrary person decides is amoral create/train people to accept immorality is absurd and yet it’s an argument I see constantly on this website. It is not the job of fiction to teach you morality, especially at the age when most people engage in shipping (teenage years) and already have a sense of right and wrong.

Also the reason I bring up the parallel between women reading and anti-shippers is because its the same train of logic - “if you, a tender and impressionable young creature, consume this content that someone else has arbitrarily designated as undesirable, you will develop into something undesirable because your brain simply cannot comprehend that the content you are reading is presented in a fictional context”. Oppression or not, it’s the exact same message. I read Lolita, I read Clockwork Orange, I read Animal Farm, all before the age of 15 - I didn’t magically become a pedophile, a murderer-rapist, or a fascist, because I could comprehend that it was a fictional story, even at a young age. If someone is already twisted, then whether or not the story glorifies or condemns certain subjects will mean nothing to them because their base understanding of morality is already skewed. Censoring the works of normal people because of the fear that someone may take that story and use it to justify their actions is simply absurd. I’m an abuse victim who often writes about abuse - I expect my readers to understand that I am not glorifiying or romanticizing it by placing it in my story, and if they don’t, then I understand that they never had that understanding in the first place.

‘I know of one book that was banned from my library because it had a few characters sneak back into their house via the second floor, and explained that most older houses were unlocked on the second floor and up. That was because that fiction could affect reality.‘And you see absolutely no issue with this? You see no issue with books being censored because someone decided that teenagers can’t read something and not do it? By that logic, based on the amount of content I’ve read that involves cheating, I should be perfectly okay with cheating and also engage in cheating regularly. Except I don’t. Because I can separate fiction from reality, and so can most teenagers. Other examples include libraries banning Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn for mentions of the n-word, or Harry Potter for ‘witchcraft’, or Steven Universe for ‘LGBT propaganda’, etc. Where do we draw the line?

I appreciate your response, Anon, I really do, and I’m not trying to attack you, but you’ve not managed to convince me why the ‘don’t ship XYZ’ crowd’s message is anything different than any other attempt at censorship based on the arbitrary standards of someone who decided that certain groups just can’t possibly distinguish fiction from reality. That’s not even accounting for the research by psychologists of how the brain interprets fiction depending on how it is presented, and how MANY CSA/abuse/etc survivors use content as a coping mechanism. Please, have some faith in people. An arbitrary and subjective system of ‘this ship is gross and I don’t like it’ will not get us anywhere.

[timeagainreviews]

5 Moments when Doctor Who SUCKED

Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you are a brand new Doctor Who fan. You don’t even know to call yourself a Whovian yet. You get on a few facebook groups, see a few YouTube videos and discover, much to your dismay, that Doctor Who is, in fact, ruined now. Woe is you who set path down a trail leading toward mediocrity, and eventually utter devastation. I ask you to picture yourself in this manner because I want you to realise that only a person new to Doctor Who would believe such drivel. Everyone else saying this seems to have rose tinted glasses. The rest of us all know that Doctor Who is a show that sometimes requires forgiveness.

Am I saying Doctor Who is a bad show? Not hardly. Much like pizza, Doctor Who is still pretty good, even when it sucks. I would venture to say that one of the things I love most about Doctor Who is how campy and silly it can be at times. Why is it then that so many people are turning their backs on a show that’s filled their lives with so much joy? I’m really trying to avoid the "because sexism," argument. But I can’t help but feel like if you were to switch the Doctor to a male, nobody would be calling the show "ruined." Furthermore, how do you even ruin something that has gone through so many changes throughout the years? Oh right, it’s the Doctor Who fandom. Where the only language allowed is hyperbolic.

Perhaps these fake geeks are mad because making the Doctor a woman takes away their ability to call her a Mary Sue. Especially when you consider the same character once burst out of a golden birdcage and floated to the ground in a wave of Jesus energy. That might mean they’d have to retroactively apply the title to every incarnation. Could the Doctor ever escape the distinction? Unnaturally talented, charismatic, good at everything he does, brilliantly smart. Or is it that these attributes only belong to men? We can believe Tom Baker’s Doctor is capable of walking into a burning furnace to save K9, but hell no, a woman can’t be the Doctor.

You have to face it, Doctor Who has had some terrible moments. Yet we continue to tune in because we forgive it. We forgive when Doctor Who is bad because of the moments when Doctor Who is wonderful. Which I know is how you would describe an abusive partner, but I’m gonna let it slide for a television series. Especially this series. Because unlike that dickhead who never texts you back, Doctor Who can change. If you don’t believe me, please peruse this list of five instances when Doctor Who was terrible.

1. The John Nathan-Turner era

My God, how could I not start with this? While there is no denying there are some wonderful moments in JNT's Doctor Who, it's easily my least favourite era of Doctor Who. And as much as I personally love Colin Baker, his Doctor got the lion's share of poor scripts and erroneous costume choices. Never has a man more game for a role, been dealt such a bad hand.

Introducing a Doctor that was cowardly, and even violent toward his companion, was seen as a bridge too far. While I understand the desire to try something new with the character, this wasn't the way to go about it. While the show begins to pick up around the end of McCoy's tenure, it's evident that this is more the influence of studio notes and the hard work of script editor Andrew Cartmel. I can't think of anyone less suited for the job of showrunner.

It seems that for a good nine years, Doctor Who had a madman at the helm, and not in that cute Matt Smith way. Dressing in flamboyant Hawaiian shirts, Nathan-Turner brought that same brash sensibility to the program. From Six's garish costume, to question mark lapels, to Mel's entire timeline, it's a big fat mess with him sitting in the middle. Add to all of this, the allegations of him being a predatory creep toward young male fans, and it's a surprise the show ever survived. Oh wait, it didn't.

2. Racism

Ok, maybe I should have started with this. While Doctor Who has taken efforts to address its racist past, it still happened. They drop a racist slur in "The Celestial Toymaker." Even the term "celestial," is used to mean "Chinese," in describing the titular character played by the very white Michael Gough, fully clad in Oriental silks. This tradition follows into "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," when Li H'sen Chang was played by John Bennett.

It's an uncomfortable miracle that they didn't allow Patrick Troughton to play the role of the Second Doctor in brownface. Not to say his era escaped the odd bit of racism. While Toberman in "Tomb of the Cybermen," gets a few heroic moments, he also gets none of the lines. Cast as mute manservant, we learn nothing about the inner workings of a black man who died so that white people may live.

Later, the show used characters like Ace to talk about racism. She shows disgust with a "No Coloureds," sign hanging in the boarding house she's staying in. When the evil Morgaine had her under mind control, it was calling her friend Ling Tai "yellow," and "slant-eyed," that she was able to snap out of it. Real Ace would never say such things. But even with that groundwork laid, the new series still struggles. From the Doctor being weirdly dismissive toward black people, to it taking nearly 50 years for the first black TV companion, Doctor Who is still grappling with its race issues. Yet you all kept watching.

3. Ace gets molested

This one is a bit of a lesser known infraction as it takes place in the books after the show had already been cancelled. Kicking off the Virgin Media "New Adventures," is 1991's "Timewyrm: Genesys," by John Peel. In it, the Doctor and Ace travel to ancient Mesopotamia, where they meet King Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh wastes no time going full blown creep, groping Ace and pawing at her like he was Joe Biden.

The Doctor's reaction to this is to tell Ace to just go with it, and that it's part of the culture. While I agree that, yes, Gilgamesh may not be the sophisticated modern man that hugs a bro and supports equal pay, the Doctor's reaction is some straight up bullshit. If you're going to go there, maybe try saying something with it other than "Women are men's property." This could have been a great opportunity for the Doctor to puff up and use Gilgamesh's own primitive mindset against him. "How dare you touch my woman!" the very tiny Doctor could say to the very tall man. It would have been a funny visual, mixed with the Doctor utilising male privilege in a way that helps his companion.

This is really an objection I have against most of John Peel's work. He writes women in that "she boobed boobily," manner. Much to my dismay, Peel is one of the sole writers of the Dalek books, so any time you want to enjoy a tale involving our enemies from Skaro, you have to also partake in his brand of women. I'm talking women being described as buxom babes with shoulder length blonde hair, voices like baby goddesses, and legs up to their neck. While on the other hand, we get men described as having a hat and probably some other features. I may be embellishing, but seriously, John Peel, your women suck. Yet it still spawned a rather large book series.

4. Minuet in Hell

Doctor Who has never been known to nail accents. Tegan is vaguely Australian. And Peri must have moved around a lot due to the fact that nothing about her American accent sounds like a regional dialect. That doesn't mean that Robert Jezek's Foghorn Leghorn meets the KFC Colonel performance as " Brigham Elisha Dashwood III," is any less painful. But bad accents aside, the biggest demon in this Big Finish audio is one of Doctor Who's oldest enemies- sexism!

While I understand that Charlotte Pollard may be a fan favourite among many Big Finish listeners, her character will forever be tainted for me, and it's all due to this story. In it, Charlotte, or Charley, gets literally human trafficked. They kidnap her, force her to wear lingerie in a very creepy and misguided attempt to add some sexiness to the story and force her to wait on rich businessmen at a casino.

Now, allow me to clarify, it's not the human trafficking that taints her in my eyes. People who get trafficked are victims, obviously. What bothers me is that neither Gary Russell or Alan W Lear thought to give her a single line of dialogue where she protests. She doesn't even complain a little. Sure, the Doctor often gains intel by getting captured, but this is ridiculous. Add this to the weird disjointed story, and "Minuet in Hell," easily serves as one of the lowest points in not just Big Finish history, but Doctor Who as a whole.

5. Sexism

(Image by Billy Darswed)

It makes the most sense that this is the last one on the list. Because let's be honest, it's a huge problem in the fandom. A lot of early Doctor Who audios and books smack of moments when it feels as though the writers never considered the existence of female fans. Women are often utilised as a means to make the Doctor look better, and for the baddies to look scarier. Mind you, it's not always been a pantheon of swooners and screamers. We got the occasional Sarah Jane, Leela, and Ace.

Even the strong women are long-suffering. Liz Shaw (and her real-life actress Caroline John) left the role of companion over sexism. Beginning her time on Doctor Who as UNIT's top scientific advisor, she was demoted to assistant, holding beakers for the male Doctor who stole her job. The Fourth Doctor acted similarly when telling Romana her qualifications had nothing on real life experience. The same excuse has been used for decades to keep educated women out of the workforce. "Come back when you've got some experience, sweetheart."

While Rose Tyler was a refreshingly real character with a family and life of her own, it doesn't mean that she wasn't horribly mismanaged. In "The Stolen Earth," we see a darker, more serious version of her character. The Rose we used to know is now fully devoted toward one mission and one mission only- getting her man back. It's as though her personality disappears and is fully dependent on having the Doctor in her life. She rises to greatness so that she might bask in his once more. Maybe it's romantic, but maybe it's bad writing.

If you were to ask me who my favourite Doctor Who writers are, I'd have to say Robert Holmes is up there, and he wrote "Talons of Weng-Chiang," a serial full of yellowface. I'd also say Russell T Davies, who wrote the aforementioned "Stolen Earth," and also saw it in his wisdom to turn Shirley Henderson's "Ursula," into a blowjob dispensing garden brick. Or even Steven Moffat who believes the Statue of Liberty could sneak around New York, undetected, and that nobody notices his predilection toward dominatrix women in stiletto heels.

In my review for "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos," I quipped that Chris Chibnall had not yet written a truly great episode of Doctor Who. However, since "Resolution," I can no longer say such a thing. I may even go as far as to say it's one of the best Dalek episodes ever. It would seem then that, given enough time, he could become a great showrunner. And it seems that given enough time, any writer, yourself included, could one day write the latest "worst episode ever."

Every new era has had its stumbles. Not every Doctor gets it correct 100% of the time. Capaldi decided he was the kind of Doctor to exit through the window, a trait we never saw again. The Fifth Doctor decided to sleep his way through his first adventure. The Eighth Doctor was "human on his mother's side." And Ten took so long to regenerate that I'm beginning to think it was old age, and not radiation that did him in. If you can look at all of these stupid, stupid moments and still say you love Doctor Who, then maybe, just maybe, you can get over a bit of spotty writing, like you always have. Or is it still the female Doctor thing? Oh...

[beinglibertarian]

About Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ 70% Tax

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in the progressive limelight yet again today because of her latest proposal: raise the federal income tax on top earners to 70%. This, of course, is being heralded by progressives; at least by those in my social circle. Why shouldn’t those who have an inordinate amount of money be forced to give some of it up for the common good? This is a good question (in their eyes), but I have a question of my own.

Why are we only taxing money?

I have a friend — let’s call him John. Like many people in my social circle, John is a “democratic socialist,” but John is unique in that he and I are so alike in all of the ways socialists think matter: we’re both white, heterosexual, grew up on the same side of town and in the same school district; both in families that were lower-middle class; we both graduated high school the same year; possess relatively similar intelligence and physical ability, etc. Demographically, we’re damn near identical, but there are two ways where we differ greatly: in ideology and values.

Before I continue, I want to make something as clear as I possibly can: I am not vaunting what I value above what he values. I am not saying that I chose a better path than him, or anything of the like. Likewise, I’m not saying the opposite: the path he chose is not “better” than the one I chose. I’m merely laying out the stark difference between those paths.

I don’t want to give away too much information here, so I’ll keep it vague.

John has pursued things that he enjoys and loves immensely. He works in a career field that many would say should be relegated to a hobby. He reads hundreds of books every year because he loves reading and learning. He explores different cultures and foods he finds fascinating. He decided to pursue things he found interesting in college rather than things that would generate income. He left the economic security of home to move to the city where the love of his life, and now wife and mother of his child, live.

I have taken, well, essentially the exact opposite path. I put off college, deciding instead to enlist in the military and learn a trade in my state’s Air National Guard. Shortly after my enlistment was over, I got a job contracting overseas. Instead of moving to a city with my wife, whom I love just as much as John loves his, I opted to leave so I could help secure us financially for the future. I, admittedly, make a lot of money right now because I’m in a third-world country living in half a trailer and working six days a week every week, in a physically-demanding industry. Also, the summers are very hot, and that sucks too.

I did this because I saw people very close to me put in hard, dire situations financially at all points in their lives. I saw how these situations impacted their relationships, their plans for retirement, and most of all their general happiness, and decided when I was a teenager that I never wanted to be in that situation. I have gone to great lengths to do everything I can to insure myself against those situations. I work a job I don’t like in a place I don’t want to be, separated from everyone I love and care for, to try and make sure that I’m never in that situation. I have sacrificed a great deal; sacrifices I didn’t have to make, to pursue that goal of shoring myself and my family against the buffeting winds of financial uncertainty.

John has taken the exact opposite path. Instead of sacrificing his personal fulfillment in career for money, he has sacrificed his potential earnings for fulfillment. Instead of spending his spare time researching investments and starting his own entrepreneurial ventures, he spends his spare time reading about things he enjoys reading about. I sacrificed time with my loved ones for economic security, he sacrificed economic security to be with his loved ones.

And all of that is, once again, perfectly fine! We simply value different things at this stage in our lives.

But it does make wonder why he, and my other “democratic socialist” friends, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, feel entitled to tax a huge sum of what I gain, in pursuit of the things I value, when he gets taxed very little or not at all in pursuit of the things he values.

Why is it, that because I have pursued different things than he has, that they feel I should have to give up 70% of what I earn – or whatever massive number AOC and her followers would like to tax people who make as much money as I currently make?

We all have 24 hours in a day. That’s our resource, the primary resource that all of us have, universally. That’s true equality right there, no matter where we were born, what our last name is, we all have 24 hours in a day; no more, no less. I choose to spend that resource to pursue economic stability, while John, and a vast number of socialist friends in my circle, choose to spend that resource pursuing things they enjoy. Why do I have to sacrifice so much of what I gained spending that resource when they don’t have to give up anything they gained from how they spent their resource?

Put simply, if I spend 10 hours of my potential leisure time working overtime, it is taxed at, let’s say 40%, after all taxes are accounted for. This is, from what I am told ad infinitum, “the price we pay for a civilized society.”

Yet, when my peers spend those same 10 hours opting to read, or go out with the friends or loved ones, or watch TV, or play video games, or browse social media, or get high, or get drunk, or doing whatever it is that they enjoy doing, none of that gets taxed. Society benefits nothing, except for perhaps very vaguely and tangentially, from these activities, but if I complain about my egregious tax rate, I’m “selfish.”

So, I’d like to issue a proposal. Socialists want to tax those with “disproportionately high incomes” at 70%? Fine, I’ll agree to that, the moment they also agree to tax the time of those with a “disproportionately high amount of leisure time” at 70% as well.

How would that play out? Well, that evil 1% can be summed up quite nicely with CEOs. Harvard conducted a study of CEO work hours and found that they work an average of 62.5 hours a week or an average of 8.9 hours a day, every day of the week. To put that into perspective, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average American works 3.6 hours a day, meaning CEOs are spending 56% of their waking hours working towards the acquisition of money while the average American spends about 23%. Once again, keep in mind that these CEOs have the same 24 hours a day that we all have, and they are using that one, fundamental resource to pursue the collection of money. Since AOC and my friend John want to tax the always-maligned 1% at 70%, it seems fair to me to use their work hours as our baseline, and that 70% as our top tax rate. So, whatever hours an individual works (defined by generating taxable income, with income taxes being paid) will be subtracted from 62.5, and we’ll call that “leisure time.”

Let’s keep our “leisure time” tax consistent to the income tax. So, if you have very little, say 5 hours or less, of “leisure time” you owe no “leisure time” tax. From 5 hours up to 62.5 hours of “leisure time” the tax rate increases, all the way up to Ocasio-Cortez’s applauded 70% rate. So, people who don’t work at all will be charged 43.75 hours (70% of 62.5) of “leisure tax.”

What would this tax entail? Well, these people aren’t generating taxable income that society can benefit from during those hours, so whatever your “leisure time” tax comes out to is time that you are legally mandated to perform some type of volunteer service that is assigned to you by the federal government. We’ll even make a new 3 letter bureau to enforce it, say, the “Leisure and Responsibility Service” or LRS, just to keep it fun. The LRS will tell you where you are to log your volunteer hours based on your expertise and physical fitness, utilizing some type of “from every person according to their ability” assignment system. So, if you are a young, fit male, for example, you might be assigned to pay your “leisure tax” by building roads, while the old or infirm could be assigned to clerical work, etc.

And what happens if you refuse this unpaid labor the LRS has determined you owe society? Well, the same thing that happens to anyone who doesn’t pay their taxes. Your bank and investment accounts will be seized to pay your bill. If you don’t have enough money to pay your bill, the LRS will send men to take your possessions away from you. If you don’t have enough possessions to pay your bill, the LRS will send men with guns and haul you off to jail.

If all of this seems fundamentally wrong to you, just remember that it’s a tax, and taxes are, after all “The price we pay to live in a civilized society.”

If the notion of stealing people’s time and labor under threat of physical violence and imprisonment seems “uncivilized” to you, well, I would agree.

And I hope you keep that in mind when you think about income tax as well.

***

P.S. I would like to address, albeit briefly, what I’m sure some will deride me for in that I chose a military-centric career when I am taking a stance against taxes. Exploring all of my political stances on taxes, politics and the military, are far beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that I am not an anarchist and I believe the government has legitimate roles for which taxes may be levied.

Summed up: I take the “necessary evil” view of taxation, and favor a drastic reduction in the size and scope of our military operations, a view I apply to nearly everything governments of all levels are involved in. For my current contract, we are not working for the United States, but are working for and paid by our host country. And I pay a lot in taxes.

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