#then i joined a cyber cult. for research.

[quillkiller]

I’m getting flashbacks to when dracotok was so popular oh god 😭

PLEASE…… lets bring it back..

[20dollarlolita]

Reply to this post, where I reviewed Cut/Sew (HeyCutSew on most social media)’s pattern #16, Victorian OP

@gravifantalia​: Sadly Heycutsew is on hiatus after a huge meltdown on instagram. Jfashionistas were giving pretty decent concrit about the menhera and fairy kei outfits, but the creator had to write an absolutely angsty story

First, just a clarification, according to their social media, they will still be taking orders and shipping patterns, but not developing new patterns or interacting with social media during the hiatus.

I figured I’d transcribe the (quite long) series of text posts from the heycutsew Instagram page, and add my own opinions as we go. I’m not dedicated enough to this to find the discourse that happened before she made this post. I’m just trying to compile a bunch of it here so that people who don’t want to track through a bunch of social media posts can read it easily.

I do want to begin this by saying that I genuinely believe Madison (Ms Cut/Sew) to have had her heart in a genuinely good place. I don’t think she acted maliciously. However, I do think this is worth discussing, because intention to do no harm and doing no harm are different things.

I don’t have the conversation she had with the people who initially called her out, but I do have some background, though. Cut/Sew is a really small pattern house, if you can call it that. It’s basically one person, who does all the designing, patterning, grading, camming, digitizing, instructions, printing, test patterns, promotional patterns, promotional photoshoots, packaging, promotional media, social media, accounting, packaging, inventory, shipping, and customer service. She gives off the impression of being a larger company, and it’s not inherently transparent that it’s a one-woman operation. That’s important to keep in mind, even if it’s not excusing any bad decisions.

Here is a really important thing that I want to keep in mind while we study this: When you make a sewing pattern and sell it, you are claiming that you are an authority on the pattern. A pattern is, by definition, “make this,” and therefore you’re in a position of power when you’re a pattern seller.

The Cut/Sew company released a pattern line called Kawaii Cult. Description as follows:

The future is now. Aesthetics are digital. All forms of communication have moved completely online, and The Cyber is controlled by five hyper-fashionable Cults, each in constant competition with one another for world dominance. FAIRY KEI, the Cult of Digital Pastel. GAL, the Cult of the Devious & Glamorous. LARME, the Cult of Kira Kira. MORI KEI, the Cult of the Lost Woods. And MENHERA, the Cult of Bloody Chaos.  Each Cult fights for world domination by amassing Cult Followers in The Cyber. Build your Follower and post in their individual OC Tag to join a Cult. The Cults are getting ready to settle this once and for all.

I’m not an expert in any jfashion except lolita, so all my info on these fashions comes from research I’m doing specifically for this article. If I’m wrong about something, please call me out. I’m not here to provide a how-to on these; I’m just trying to get a bit of context for people who aren’t familiar with them to be able to understand a bit of what’s going on. (In the end, my knowledge of the fashion isn’t the question; Madison’s reactions to being questioned as an authority on the fashion is what the discussion is).

I don’t know the rules of Fairy kei fashion, but I sort of know what it looks like. Here’s their “Fairy Kei” pattern on the left, and the first page of a google image search for Fairy kei on the right. (Google images is actually really good for getting the general idea of a subject, though it’s not very good for getting the fine details correct)

However, Cut/Sew’s promotional images are kind of horrible (I’ve explained why I believe they are in the other post I made, but I think it’s a side-effect of being an extremely small studio). For example, here’s the Victorian OP #16, as styled by them, on the left. On the right is Angelic Pretty’s promotional image for Holy Rosary, which is an OP that is the same shape as the Victorian OP.

The pattern is decently okay for lolita, but boy did they not style it like they have any idea what lolita is.

As a second piece of background, one of the patterns in the Kawaii Cult line is called Iryou. Iryou means “medical” and Iryou-Kei features this use of grotesque medical themes such as bloody lab coats and eye patches. However, its original name was Menhera (which it’s still called in the description copied above). Menhera is short for Mental Health, and Menhera Kei is a different aesthetic. Top row is a screenshot of the google images result for menhera kei, bottom row is a screenshot of the google images result for iryou kei.

If you’re following this blog, you’re familiar with the hyper-modest feminine clothing being part of a reaction to and a rebellion against the societal expectation of women to be sexy and for the male gaze. Menhera kei is rebelling against Japanese culture’s focus on not talking about or showing that you have mental health problems.

The background, as far as I can find, is that Cut/Sew announced this line on the 29th of November, 2019, and some people commented that these examples aren’t very good representations of the fashions that they’re named after, and that menhera is kind of a difficult thing to pull off, with comments about representing mental illness. I’m assuming that this has a lot to do with not intimately knowing mental illness if it’s never affected you, and not knowing Japan’s relationship with mental illness unless you’re part of that culture. I am, however, speculating on that. Comments have been turned off for the whole heycutsew instagram, but I don’t know if the inital callouts happened there or not.

So the heycutsew instagram account made two posts about this issue. The first one was a post, and the second one was in the stories. They’re both pretty long.

Here’s a transcription of the initial post:

Hi everyone! This is the owner & pattern maker of CUT/SEW and I wanted to take a minute to chat about Kawaii Cult, but also about some other things that have weighed heavily on me.

First of all, I apologize from the bottom of me heart for making anyone in any of these J-fashion communities feel unseen, disrespected, or misrepresented. Honestly & truly this was never the intention of this collection, and while I was intentional with the creative liberties taken while styling each look, they genuinely came from a place of wanting to playfully pay homage to these concepts but still respect the fundamental silhouettes of each style. This was a good intention that got lost in translation and losing this thread has deeply offended the communities which we were trying to support, which runs counter to the goal of this project. I want to genuinely and truly apologize to the people that felt it damaged something very close to them - I know so truly how much these styles can mean, as they do mean to much to me, and it’s deeply important to me to make everyone who approaches CUT/SEW feel included, respected, and welcome.

Having the opportunity to dialogue with folks, both in and out of these communities, via DM has been so helpful and I’m so thankful for those of you who came to the table willing to calmly & respectfully discuss the specific things that didn’t sit very well with them. I’ve heard of all of your feedback and have read every single one of your comments, messages, and stories about what you didn’t like about this collection. Some of these are things I’m able to rectify and will do my best to improve effective immediately - specifically the dialogue about 049 // MENHERA. I’ve been talking regularly with a few people in the J-fashion community trying to get this one right and have decided to rename the pattern 049 // IRYOU so that no one feels like their mental health is objectified of commodified[sic].

<next slide>

But with all that said, I want to take this opportunity to address something else:

I’nt not lost on me that some of the most hurtful comments and criticisms were lobbed at CUT/SEW during Small Business Saturday, and while I know that’s not intentional it’s a bitter irony that I’ve been thinking a lot on. Over the past year, the misconception that we’re a larger business than we actually are has somehow made made its way into the mainstream. This is something I’ve taken in stride - I’ve read it to mean that what I’m doing for this company looks polished & professional, which I consider a compliment - but it still doesn’t take the sting away when people come up to our booth at cons and make bitter remarks about how we’re “just another big company” or the current accusations that we’re a big company taking advantage of small styles just for profit.

I’ve always quietly noted “we’re artist owned! we’re a small business!” but I think people misunderstand the scope of that. Almost everything you see that is CUT/SEW - the patterns, the instructions, the graphic design, the booth set up, the photography, the video editing, the social media posts, the technical support - is me. I am the only full time employee of CUT/SEW, and while I do have part time help with illustrations, samples, and at cons, everything else that makes CUT.SEW go id my doing and it all takes place in a 10′ x 10′ bedroom studio.

To day that I work tirelessly to make this thing happen is an understatement I’ve worked 7 days a week, 10-14 hour days, for the past three and a half years to bring this weird, amazing thing to life and guys, to be completely honest, I’m tired. Yesterday was exhausting, and while I’m so thankful I got to have productive conversations with some people, I also had to watch others accuse me of money grabbing for styles I didn’t care about, insult my my[sic] models & friends by calling them “skinny b*tches” and reducing our latinx & asian collaborators to “white passing”, and spit vitriol about how CUT/SEW and the newbies that we service are not welcome in unless we conform to a sew, unmutable[sic] uniform. I’ve been trying to come to the table of all of these discussions, both public & private, being open and honest about our intentions and goals, and have been met with the kind of hostility & hate that makes it impossible to have productive conversations.

<next slide>

What got me out of bed every morning was the hope that CUT/SEW could be a little ray of light in this community for the people who needed it - that we could help make both these styles and cosplay accessible to those who were unsure of where to start, and to make space for the incredibly passionate & creative people that I know make this community such a wonderful thing. After yesterday, I have to be honest, that vision feels naive and unwelcome.

Many individuals reached out and were civil and so helpful with their feedback, but others spewed hate & condoned bullying of both of those in their communities and outside of it. The fact that this is normalized is deeply depressing, and goes completely counter to CUT/SEW’s ethos as a brand. Ulitmately I do not think we can stay true to our vision & coexist within tht kind of climate.

So with that said, I’ve made the decision to put CUT/SEW on hiatus. Not only am I unsure if I want to continue making patterns in this environment, but I am also physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted and at the end of the day I’m only human. The CUT/SEW website will still be available, orders will still be fulfilled, and I will finish out posting the Kawaii Cult videos I produced on Tiktok, but the Instagram will be inactive and we will not be working on any new patterns for the forseeable future. I’m going to take a much needed break, and the next few months will be gauging not only whether I want to continue the level of work I put into this, but also whether I feel there’s space at the table for CUT/SEW and the values we believe in.

.

I hope, will all of my heart, that there is.

OOOOOOOOOOOHkeeeeeeeey.

There’s more, but we’re going to discuss this first.

1) Intent does not mean impact. If you didn’t intent to hurt someone, that doesn’t mean you didn’t hurt someone. You know about the French boy scouts in 1992 who erased a cave painting thinking it was graffiti? Did they intend to erase prehistory? No. Did they? Yes.

When you find that you have had a negative impact, action removes the impact, not words. 

Or, in other words: was the INTENT of this post to apologize? Yes. Did it have that IMPACT?

...No.

2) People you have hurt are not obligated to be polite to you when they explain that you’re hurting them. No one is obligated to hold your hand and tell you politely that you insulted them. If we’re shopping and you put your shopping cart on my foot, I’m not required to bust out, “How is the weather? Hi, I’m Pink. Nice to meet you. Can you please move your shopping trolley off my foot?” I’m allowed to say, “Hey, hey lady! Your cart’s on my damn foot!!” After you move the cart, maybe I’ll be polite.

“Hi, Madison, these are pretty incorrect and we don’t appreciate you attempting to place yourself as a piece of authority in our subfashion (making a pattern for something is always attempting to place authority in the subfashion. I’ll get into that in another post if you want; we don’t have time here).” “Okay, explain to me what’s wrong, but I won’t take them down, rebrand, or group rename them.” “Hi, Madison, your cart’s on my foot.” “Okay, explain to me what part of your foot, but I won’t move my cart until you make me understand why you’re in pain.”

3) INSULTING THE PEOPLE OF THE GROUP IS NOT APOLOGIZING.

If this was a real apology, there shouldn’t be accusations of gatekeeping, describing people as slaves to rules that stifle creativity, and a constant reminder that not everyone’s opinions mattered because you refuse to learn from people who are rude because they’re offended.

Is Madison burned out? Probably. Please take a break, Madison. Your health should be important. Get off social media. Get some sleep. Have a day off. Have a week off. Take care of yourself. It’s entirely possible to be too tired to handle a shit storm of your own creation.

But don’t pretend your exhaustion is the cause of your shit storm.

Full honesty, how do I think this should have been handled? Step 1, stop selling the collection, even if just for a week. Step 2, rebrand the patterns as something separate from the fashions you appropriated. Step 3, relist them in a few weeks. Give up on the AU. It’s hard, but if you’re serious about not wanting to offend people, the first step is to listen to them and stop your offensive actions.

.

So, you thought we were done, but wait! There’s another several slides in the Instagram story. So keep on riding with me on this longest of posts.

Okay team, let’s chat about the Kawaii Cult designs since lots of people have questions

all of our designs for Kawaii Cult are INSPIRED by the J-fashion subcultures we’re playing with in our Kawaii Cult AU. We see that a lot of people in these communities are upset because it’s not strictly confirming[sic] to those subcultures, and we’re incredibly sorry for that.

We never want to make anyone upset or feel hurt or misrepresented, but we’re like to take a sec to talk about this because there are a few reasons we don’t create patterns strictly confirming to subcultures:

<next slide>

1. We’re an American Company

We don’t live or work in Japan and we only have an outsider’s perspective on the styles, so we absolutely do not want to step in and say that we know what these styles or how they should look. We don’t feel that’s our place as foreigners. All we aim to do is try to appreciate the components or concepts of the subcultures, but within the framework of our own aesthetic preferences and experiences.

<next slide>

2. Inclusivity

The vast majority of our customers are beginner sewers, or are new to cosplay/J-fashion. We have people come up to us on a regular basis and express that they’re afraid to try J-fashion styles because it seems unwearable  in the west or because they don’t feel confident enough

Because of this we intentionally try make all our designs wearable and basic in terms of seeming complexity. The idea is you can dress them up with prints and accessories, or down depending on your wants and needs. We will always focus on making things simple and attainable at first and foremost for all of those people who want to try to tackle these conecpts using baby steps, even if it means taking creative liberties. (Which is controversial and we completely understand why!)

<next slide>

3. Fashion is mutable!

We do not believe in gatekeeping any style or subculture, whether it be trad goth to lolita to skate wear and back again. Everyone, and we mean EVERYONE, is valid in our eyes so long as they care about the style that inspired them and they want to try something new. We live by this principle and always will, and this is NON NEGOTIABLE for us. Want to wear crazy high heels & jelly bracelets with your lolita coord? Do it! Is it still lolita if you show up in this to a meet or tea party? YES. Because fashion is interpretive & it’s always changing and mixing with other concepts & it’s this mixing that makes fashion interesting. Exclusivity in terms of brands and concepts only makes people who genuinely want to try these styles feel unwelcome and hurt, and there is room at the table for EVERYONE.

Not everyone has to agree with this and we completely understand why some wouldn’t, but these are deeply important principles so please peep our brand understanding this.

<next slide>

Lastly: creativity

We care very deeply about what we do and at the end of the day this is a company where we want to design & get creative! We work with our models to style all the looks you see on our website, because we know for a fact this community is incredible and can bring so many cool ideas to the table if we let them. Does that mean we end up with some crazy mixed up looks? Yes. Are these looks strictly confirming[sic] to any one subculture? No. We know that, but that’s not our MO.

We intentionally try to be very noncomital[sic] to any one subculture when we style because it’s so important to us to show you guys the possibilities without pidgeonholing any one look. We know this means they’re not strictly confirming[sic] to a style, even if it’s one that the pattern is loosely trying to represent, but we don’t want that to be our calling card. We’re a pattern company and we want to leave all of our patterns open ended to your creativity - at the end of the day, YOU guys are the designers.

So, summary: part 1, “We’re an American company”, ‘we’re American, so instead of studying or learning the styles, we’re just going to pick what we want and leave the culture behind, and then commercialize and profit from this thing that we made that has visual elements of the culture but none of the meaning or meaningfulness.’

There’s a phrase for taking part of a culture, profiting from it, but without understanding of it, and without input or consent from the people whose culture it is. Tumblr used to fucking love that phrase.

Part 2, “Inclusivity”, ‘telling someone that they’re wrong is always bad, and all rules just make things hard. We’re outsiders, but we’ve decided that we’re going to get rid of the rules that make things hard, without any understanding of why those rules are there.’

Or, also, ‘if it’s hard to teach new people how to do something the right way, it’s better to give them incorrect information, but phrase it as a point of view of an authority.”

Part 3, “fashion is mutable,” ‘I literally have no idea what lolita is and I’ve never tried to learn it but I’m going to speak for a community that I’m not part of and I’m going to say that community will have to accept you because I invented standards!’

As someone who has dedicated SIX. YEARS. OF HER LIFE. into making a blog dedicated to help newcomers and people on a budget: STOP. FUCKING STOP. YOU ARE NOT HELPING NEW PEOPLE. YOU ARE NOT BEING INCLUSIVE. You are pretending that you’re an authority, posing as an authority, telling new people (who don’t know that you’re not an authority) what is accepted, and then SETTING THEM UP FOR FAILURE.

If you want to help new people, and you’re not part of the community, elevate existing resources so that they’re easier for new people to see. Guide new people to good resources. Don’t make up your own rules.

And lastly, creativity! ‘when there’s rules you can’t create and we dont’ want to follow rules’

Do you guys want to know something important I learned in theatre school? We are more created when we are limited, and our creativity is more productive, than we are when we have every single option. This has been studied. This has been done over and over.

This is why designers will make collections: because limiting your options forces you to be more creative. Making ten outfits with the same theme gives you options that your brain is not mentally capable of considering when you can make anything.

Also, this one is just a repeat of something she mentioned earlier: “I don’t know what the rules are, but I’ve decided that they’re oppressive.”

I came into this fully expecting to defend a one-woman operation that got in over their head and made some questionable choices. However, every time that I started feeling sorry for her, she had to throw a punch at the comuntites that she’s offended, and I’m one of the people those punches hit.

I was really excited to have someone making usable lolita outfits, but after reading and retyping all these rants, I’m not going to be buying from cut/sew again.

And, finally, ONE MORE SLIDE.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey guys, we just wanted to clear up some confusion about the state of the online store and order fulfillment:

Our website, CUTSEW.co, is still accepting orders and will be open for business during the length of the hiatus. We’re still making sure that pervious orders are getting shipped out in a timely manner - the hiatus is just a pause on new products and social media updates while we figure out the future of SUT/SEW.

If you have any questions, please email us at contact[@]heycutsew.com or send us a DM. A member of our shop staff team will be filling in for the owner to help facilitate social media communications while she takes a much needed break. Thank you all for your patience and your continued support during this difficult time. <3

.

All I can say that that I’m now nominating Cut/Sew for Ita of the Year 2020.

[ahalal-uralma]

Rant time, but it’s informative:

As someone whose had pagan friends that got tricked into being with this group as minors just to realize the deception and abuse almost too late—DON’T give them any support.

This group calls themselves alternative things like Spiritual Satanists, but it’s totally dishonest and does a disservice to Theistic Satanists. A lot of their own members don’t even want to be members, but get scammed into it when they are teenagers and are controlled by adults in a cult-like group across social media networks like Facebook and Blogger.

It’s all being run by the founder’s wife (her name is Andrea Maxine Dietrich) and she is a crazy bitch. She tells people false narratives like “I’m not a Nazi like my husband was,” but it’s not true. She is upholding his ideologies and starts you off by sending you links to pages full of history she and her husband made-up.

I remember when I was 13 years old myself, she got a hold of an email of mine and tried to talk me up. She asked me invasive questions about my beliefs and tried to gaslight me. She tried to tell me “You seem like you’re a very sweet and smart girl, but your ideas are fake. I have a faith that might be better for you.”

On the upside, it ended peacefully for me via “I’m not interested” and a quick hard-block. I’ve heard other people have not been so lucky and can fall susceptible to abuse and cyber stalking. At that time, there wasn’t much information accessible for the public regarding their Nazi connections. So I feel like I dodged a bullet.

What I’ve learned from passing friends and my own research is that there is insane info being propagated like “Satan is a blonde haired, blue-eyed angel and God is an oppressor and that Judaism is a fake religion stealing it’s material from Satanism.” I wish I was exaggerating.

They steal the name of God’s from closed religions belonging to minority cultures and have antisemite social pages and gatherings.

I’m telling you as someone who has practiced Luciferianism, and Satanism, that none of what they preach is honest. What they are teaching people is Neo-Nazi rhetoric and bias. It is nothing to do with true Satanism.

Do not waste your time, energy, health, or the compromise of your morals/ethics by trying to be nice to these people. And if you know any minor who is looking to join them, help support them by redirecting them away from groups like this. These groups are dangerous and will do whatever they can to maintain power over those they deem impressionable. You don’t need to join any type of religious cult to be part of the religion and that’s what Joy Of Satan is. It’s a power-hungry, bigoted cult.

Anything that begs you to join as a member via invasion of your privacy (obtaining your email, phone number or home address illegally) and is insisting you can only join if you pass arbitrary trials they force on you (implying elitist attitude ntm) can’t be good for you or society. They will try to change you and destroy you if you let them. Don’t let them!! Give them no power.

Reminder that if you get that "joy of satan" copypasta that's been going around lately in your inbox, that's a literal honest to G-d not joking in the slightest Nazi neo-pagan group. Here is a Wikipedia link for those curious about what I'm on about here.

That specific copypasta makes them look progressive but I trust y'all to be the smartest cookies in the whole fuckin' pantry and not publish the ask, since it has a direct link to their fucked up website and even dunking on them or publishing with a warning might make your followers look it up to see what's up.

Don't increase their traffic, delete it, and if you really want to warn your followers do what I'm doing right the fuck now and simply make your own post with an info link that isn't a direct conveyor belt leading straight into their own propaganda machine.

And for the love of G-d always do your research when receiving anonymous recommendations for organizations or websites. I don't know how I'm supposed to end this post, peace and love or whatever.

[justagaycryptid]

Doing research on a sociology paper about cults and why a lot of them, at least the more notorious ones, seem to base themselves on Christianity and I guess I came across a student paper or something from what I can tell and it has the absolute Worst Take on cults that I think I have seen recently 

Said take being that whoever wrote the paper thinks that cults will never be able to last in this modern age due to the strengthening of mainstream religions and the fact that cults are no longer taken seriously and while the last part is mostly true, I hate to break it to you pal but I’m pretty sure cults are still a major issue. They’re just more quiet about it now. Mainly with new opportunities for cyber cults to pop up, which I’ve seen a couple of although admittedly minor ones. Like my guy, no. 

People don’t join cults to join cults. They don’t realize it’s a cult until it’s too late. And I mean if you take one look around this website it’s pretty easy to see that not all people have great critical thinking skills. To reduce cults to a mere annoyance is incredibly dangerous and foolhardy, and you are a fucking idiot because cults will always find a way to prey on the weak and downtrodden or really even the fucking stupid and the increase of mainstream religion (which isn’t true for the general population, more so just for the religious with a frightening trend of many especially those more disposed to rightwing ideology dipping further into fundamentalism) plays a major role in the increase of cult activities because surprise surprise, a vast majority of them base themselves in mainstream religion. 

Just because there hasn’t been as much attention on cults as there was in like the 70s with the Manson Family and the like does mean that they do not exist, and to completely trivialize them as an artifact of the past is entirely dishonest. 

[terabitweb]

Original Post from InfoSecurity Magazine Author:

Not Proud of Hacker Past, Beto Tells Iowa Voters

On Friday, as presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made his way through Iowa, Reuters published what has been called a “bombshell” revelation that O’Rourke was once a member of a hactivist group known as the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc).

While conducting research for his new book, Joseph Menn stumbled across evidence that suggested O’Rourke may been been a cDc hacker, a fact he could not corroborate without offering an embargo deal.

Now that O’Rourke has joined the long list of presidential hopefuls and the books is due to be released, Reuters went live with the news, which set off a cross-sector Twitter storm. Among the many comments, which range from laughable to inflammatory, was one from @keithcalder who called the news “the computer geek version of finding out Bernie Sanders was in the Wu-Tang Clan.”

O’Rourke apparently did not exhibit the same giddiness after the news went viral. According to the Texas Tribune, O’Rourke told reporters in Washington, “It was something that I was part of as a teenager, not anything that I’m proud of today.” 

Members of the hacking community also have conflicting opinions on O’Rourke’s hacker past. “I definitely saw the news break, which in the hacking/infosec circles was met with much fanfare – including my own,” said Jeremiah Grossman, CEO, Bit Discovery.

“A candidate who has an understanding of technology is a rare thing. Many in the old-school hacking era did break the law in some way, but the vast majority of activities were completely harmless – motivated by curiosity rather than any malice. Most matured beyond their rebellious youth stage to go onto having incredible careers and contributed massively to society. And still do! I personally know a great number of these types, and imagine Beto to be similar.”

Still, law enforcement have long considered hacktivists akin to criminal hackers.  Penetration tester and security researcher Mike Jones told Infosecurity that until recently he was considered a criminal by both foreign and domestic governments.

“The fact that he is running as a legitimate candidate for president is very disturbing. There was a headline in 2016 that called me a ‘cyber-terrorist’ in the UK. It just makes no sense. How can he even qualify for a security clearance?

“There are only a few of us who were ever able to have cleared jobs after we were subjects of investigation. When you look at cDc, they weren’t researchers. They were much like us in anonymous – hacktivists, hackers.”

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Go to Source Author: Not Proud of Hacker Past, Beto Tells Iowa Voters Original Post from InfoSecurity Magazine Author: Not Proud of Hacker Past, Beto Tells Iowa Voters On Friday, as presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made his way through Iowa, …

[goldfishfromthevosgestotogo]

L’arrivée et les premiers jours / Arrival & 1st days

Atterrissage à 18h15 (heure locale – une heure en moins qu’en France) à l’aéroport de Lomé, après un passage à Bruxelles puis Accra, je commence déjà à bien ressentir la chaleur, le pilote annonçait 29° !  Et place à la demande de visa de 7 jours (à renouveler)!  J’aurai mis près d’une heure à l’avoir tellement il y avait de monde qui le demandait également à l’aéroport.

Une fois les formalités effectuées et les bagages récupérés, Anselme m’a interpellé pour que je puisse le reconnaitre. Je suis la première stagiaire volontaire cette année, deux autres arrivent mi-février. Une fois arrivés à la maison où les volontaires sont logés, je rencontre petit à petit les membres bénévoles de l’association et une soirée d’accueil est organisée : WOEZON  (bienvenue) !

Accueillie au rythme des djembés, des chants et danses traditionnelles, on commence par me faire danser, puis boire le Sodabi (un vin de palme artisanal qui porte bonheur si on ne se trompe pas dans le rituel : il faut tout d’abord verser deux gouttes sur le sol pour les Ancêtres, puis boire la totalité du verre, pour finir il faut faire un grand sourire naturel).  Le premier plat que l’on me sert est bien épicé, du riz avec une sauce pimentée et des bananes plantées.  On boit également du bissap (jus de fleur d’hibiscus).

Landing at 18:15 (local time – one hour less than in France) at the Lomé airport, after a passage in Brussels then Accra, I start already feeling the heat, the pilot announced 29 °! Let’s go for the visa request for 7 days (to renew)! I would have spent nearly an hour to have it, so many people who also asked for it at the airport.

Once the formalities carried out and the luggage recovered, Anselme called me so that I could recognize him. I am the first volunteer trainee this year, two others arrive in mid-February. Once arrived at the house where the volunteers are staying, I meet little by little the voluntary members of the association and a reception evening was organised.

Welcome to the rhythm of djembes, traditional songs and dances, they start making me dance, then drink Sodabi (a handmade palm wine that brings happiness if we don’t be mistaken in the ritual: you must first pour two drops on the floor for the Ancestors, then drink the whole glass, to finish it must make a big natural smile). The first dish I serve is spicy, rice with a spicy sauce and planted bananas. We also drink bissap (hibiscus flower juice).

Je ne vous le cache pas, il faut un peu le temps pour la transition « climatique » ! Passer de 0-10° à 29-35°, c’est un peu compliqué et surtout fatiguant !  « Il fait aussi chaud en cette saison, mais où va le monde ?! », me disait un ami ! « Et bien il va au Togo on dirait ».  Mais je sens déjà au bout de trois/quatre jours que je commence peu à peu à m’y faire ! Il y a de quoi espérer le soir rien que pour la fraicheur, afin de mieux respirer ! Oui… une fraicheur, c’est relatif ! Et dire que parfois les Togolais ont froid en soirée… oui oui, véridique !  La transition se fait aussi au niveau des repas ! Comme pour la soirée d’accueil, les plats sont plutôt épicés ! Mais les bénévoles essaient de trouver un équilibre pour que la transition « gastronomique » se fasse tranquillement ! Et parfois, surtout les soirs, je donne un coup de main pour préparer le repas ! Actuellement, j’ai pu goûter au riz au grain « à la Togolaise », à une salade,  à des frites d’igname, …. Ils aiment aussi beaucoup cuisiner des omelettes à la tomate (assez salées d’ailleurs), notamment avec les spaghettis.

I don’t hide you it, there is a needed little time for the "climate" transition! Going from 0-10 ° to 29-35 ° is a bit complicated and especially tiring! "It's so hot this season, but where's the world going ?!" Said a friend to me. "Well he's going to Togo it seems."   But I already feel after few days that I begin little by little to acclimate here! There is reason to hope for the evening, just for the freshness, in order to breathe better! Yes ... a freshness, it's relative! And I must say that sometimes some are cold in the evening ... yes, true! The transition is also for meals! As for the evening reception, the dishes are rather spicy! But the volunteers try to strike a balance so that the "gastronomic" transition is done quietly! And sometimes, especially in the evenings, I lend a hand to prepare meals! Currently, I was able to taste Togolese grain rice, a salad, yam fries,.... They also like to cook a lot of tomato omelets (quite salty), especially with spaghetti.

Pour ce qui est de Lomé, on me montre la ville et ses différents quartiers à moto (les zem)��: quelques monuments importants (de la Paix, de l’Indépendance), les bâtiments publics (ambassade, consulat, service de l’immigration, Assemblée nationale,…), la plage, le grand marché,…. On effectue quelques démarches administratives (inscription au consulat de France – en plus du site de la diplomatie « Ariane » –, au consulat de France, au service de l’immigration et prolongement du visa, convention de l’association,…) et on commence à rencontrer des responsables pour les stages.

Rencontre avec Hervé, enseignant chercheur spécialisé en Droits Humains, qui a travaillé à Amnesty International Togo, désormais pour UCJG/YMCA– Togo (Union Chrétienne de Jeunes Gens) dont la vision est de « Renforcer la Capacité des Jeunes pour la Renaissance Africaine ». Il me briefe un peu comment va pouvoir se dérouler mon stage au sein d’Amnesty IT : il va falloir être forte mentalement (surtout si je visite les prisons), être rapide (ce que demande le domaine des droits de l’Homme) et avoir de l’initiative, …. Bref ça faisait un peu intimidant au premier abord !

About Lomé, the voluntary members of KATSATSA TOGO show me the city and its various districts by motorcycle (ZEM): some important monuments (Peace, Independence), public buildings (embassy, ​​consulate, immigration service, National Assembly, ...), the beach, the grand market, .... Some administrative procedures are carried out (registration in the French Consulate - in addition to the "Ariane" diplomacy site, the Consulate of France, the immigration service and visa extension, the association's convention, etc.) and we begin to meet with internships managers.

Meeting with Hervé, Human Rights Researcher, who worked for Amnesty International Togo, now for UCJG / YMCA-Togo (Christian Union of Young People), whose vision is to "Strengthen Youth Capacity for the African Renaissance". He briefly describes how my internship with Amnesty IT will take place: it will be necessary to be mentally strong (especially if I visit the prisons), to be fast (what is required in the field of human rights) and have initiative, .... In short it was a bit intimidating at first sight!

Le week-end, c’est bien le moment où on se repose un peu ! Pour l’instant le samedi, on a d’abord récupéré mon passeport (après une demande de prolongement du visa de 7 jours pour un mois) ; et oui, j’étais au moins 24h sans papiers ! Ensuite on a été au marché (un plus petit et plus proche), préparé le repas et hop direction le cyber café pendant 1h30 ! Le soir, on m’apprend des chants togolais… on va dire des chants à réponses ! Mais aussi on reprend un chant de Tiken Jah Fakoly !   Il faut que je trouve un chant venant de France maintenant ! Ensuite direction le bar pour suivre un peu la rediffusion du match Arsenal et Manchester.

Le dimanche matin, c’est grasse mat’ (sauf pour ceux qui vont à la messe ou au culte). Là je me sens vraiment me reposer ! Le matin, on joue au « Uno » et l’après-midi on va à la plage ! Le dimanche, tout le monde va à la plage, c’est le lieu où on se rencontre ! Ce dimanche 5 février, la plage n’était pas aussi fréquentée que d’habitude apparemment… et pour cause la finale de la Coupe d’Afrique des Nations entre le Cameroun et l’Égypte !

Le soir, place à la discussion et au repos ! Il faut être en forme pour le stage qui débute ce lundi 6 février !

At the weekend, it's time to rest a little! For the moment on Saturday, my passport was first recovered (after a request for a visa extension of 7 days for a month); And yes, I was at least 24 as undocumented! Then we went to the market (a smaller and closer), prepared the lunch and joined the cyber cafe for 1h30! In the evening, I’ve learned some Togolese songs ... It’s more songs with answers! But we also take a song from Tiken Jah Fakoly! I must find a song from France now! Then let’s go to a bar to follow a little the replay of the Arsenal and Manchester football match.

Sunday morning, it’s time for a lie-in (except for those who go to mass or to worship). There I really feel rest! In the morning we played "Uno" and in the afternoon we’re gone to the beach! On Sunday, everyone goes to the beach, that’s the place to be, where one meets! This Sunday, February 5th, the beach was not as frequented as usual apparently ... and for a good reason : the final of the African Cup of Nations between Cameroon and Egypt!

In the evening, place for discussion and rest! I must to be fit for the start of internship this Monday, February 6th !

[winterclass2017tcnj-blog]

Concept Quiz 3

At the conclusion of Jesse Daniel’s book, she seemed optimistic about the future of cyber-racism.  While throughout the book she gave dark webpages such as Stormfront.com and examples of horrific harassment of minority races through the Internet, she finished by saying that throughout her time as a teacher and researcher she did not believe that the youth is inclined to joining a white supremacist cult; however, is skeptical of the cloaked pages distorting their vision of race and history. Cloaked websites can be defined as those sites that are not overt in their intentions. Daniels discusses how these are usually published by individuals or groups in order to camouflage their real political goals. Throughout her study she is able to prove that young people cannot tell the difference between the white supremacist websites cloaked by skewed civil rights information and those with legitimate motives. In my opinion, the chapter that shows a series of interviews that Daniels had with students surfing the web for information on civil rights was the most concerning. All, but one student, found the false Martin Luther King site concerning. This study has several implications about the power that white supremacists may have over unsuspecting people. It proves that even those not trying to adopt the white racial frame, may be exposed and convinced to it anyway.

Throughout my reading of this book I found it interesting and disheartening how the United States was one of the only democratic states to not have strict rules against white supremacy online. In countries such as Germany, France, and cross-cultural NGOs such as INACH white supremacy online has been combated through legislation or filtering software. America, on the other hand, adopted a cyber liberalism approach where it is believed that one should not stop the free flow of information on the Internet within this Information age. In sum, America believes that First Amendment rights trump people’s basic rights to safety and equality in our country. At first I was struck by our lack of empathy for those of the minority races, especially because the only person to be given jail time for this heinous act was a Mexican America. However, I found solace in her final chapter when she stated that these filters and persecutions cannot fight the real issue of cyber racism which is the cloaked sites. Instead she offers other ways that can be accomplished within our country and at a global level.

In her opinion, education is the key to being able to fight this influence. Through digital media literacy, critical thinking literacy, and racism, antiracism, and social justice literacy the young and people of the world will be able to resist white supremacy. Digital media literacy will give the basic understanding of differentiating between the overt, cloaked, and unbiased sites; critical thinking literacy will teach everyone how to read and interpret the information to make this decision; and racism, antiracism, and social justice literacy will give perspective, history, and a basic humanitarian understanding of the suffering that occurs/occurred.

Finally, she offers everyone the opportunity to become involved online. If it is available for white supremacists of the KKK to turn their print media to a brochure web page, if it is possible for women to create open spaces to bash those of minority color; if it is possible for video games to be made that say, “shoot the fags before they rape you,” then it is also possible to get active on the opposing side. Daniels believes that the Internet is a great, free, and mobilizing space to inform the public of race issues and ways to positively help out minority communities. This includes making Facebook groups to protest an issue or simply informing every one of wrongdoings that have occurred. No matter what it is, it is a way to counteract the pain and issues that white supremacists have caused.

In my own life I believe that social media has been both positive and negative about this topic. I live in a predominately white community where some of my feeds on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are filled with confederate flag pictures or snippets of racist slander. While this is not good by any means, it is widely unaccepted. A majority of people fight back with comment and rants, in response to their ignorance. There have been many social media fights that have broken out defending a minority group and disarming the original racist as someone who has adopted a epistemology of ignorance. Because in this town there are not a lot of minorities, the people that are white just assume their privilege; however, this should not be the case. In sum, those fighting them and standing up for the minorities outweigh the few bad seeds on my pages. For this reason, and for those that share articles and inform others positively are why I believe the youth is on the right track as opposed to the wrong white supremacist path.