#there is no need to publically come for individual blogs unless they have done something /severely/ wrong

[lacefuneral]

Guide for New Tumblr users from TikTok

hi. my name is jay lacefuneral. i've been using tumblr as my primary social media since 2011 so i know pretty much everything there is to know about this site if you have any questions. i've written a few guides previously, for reddit users and twitter users that have come here. i'm going to write another one! i will put information under the cut.

quick disclaimer. i have never used tiktok. i only know of it through general pop-culture osmosis and through using rednote (I joined it recently out of curiosity.) but i will try my best!

TAGS: (yes. this is section #1)

how do you tag? at the bottom of a post (whether it is an original post or a post you're reblogging) there is an area that says "add tags." you do not need to type the # symbol. just start typing. you can hit "enter" or type a comma (,) to end a tag/start a new one. each individual tag has a character limit, and i believe there is a limit of 30 tags per-post. you can use spaces! and many different symbols and emojis

tumblr tags are not used the way tags are used on any other website. when you reblog someone else's post, it is common to share your thoughts in the tags rather than commenting directly on the post. think of it like "whispering" or an "indoor voice" - it's more polite, and the commentary is usually intended for your followers. be aware that anyone (including the original poster) can read your tags on a post. so please do not be rude or traumadump in them.

because tumblr users communicate in tags so often, we've developed our own typing style. it's common to type in all lowercase and to use periods and dashes as punctuation instead of commas. or to. add periods. for random emphasis. you cannot use commas in tags (that's how you tell the website you're done typing the tag) unless you use "The Tumblr Comma" - a unicode character that resembles a comma but isn't one? I guess? tumblr commas are actually used very rarely because you have to copy and paste them. but here you go: ‚

you also cannot use quotation marks - so the trick is two apostrophes, like this: ''

aside from commenting, tags are also, naturally, used to organize content. if you reblog a post and want to find it later, you might want to assign it a tag or two. such as #star trek or #spock. now... tumblr's "search" function on blogs is kind of shitty and broken. but if you click on a tag on your blog, it will show you every post that you assigned that tag to - this method is foolproof and works every time. another way is to use your archive. i will explain the archive in a later section.

very important: posts that you reblog do not appear in the public tag search. which is to say, it's not like dueting on tiktok. for example, lets say someone posts a drawing. they tag this drawing as #art. you reblog it and comment "cool! here is a picture i drew too!" you tag your addition as #art. but if you look in the public tag for #art ... your addition will not be there. so if you want to reach more eyes, your best bet is to make your own original post and tag that as #art.

i bring this up because a lot of new users make this mistake. they find someone else's post on tumblr, reblog it, and add 500 tags for reach (whether they want their addition to get views or they want the original post to get views and they're trying to help the OP). but... it's like playing with a game controller that's unplugged. i hope that makes sense.

now... in terms of using tags for reach. please. do not spam-tag. tumblr users do not like it. it is against TOS. and you will get blocked (maybe even reported) if you're overdoing it. only tag what is relevant to your post, and don't go overboard.

NEVER tag posts asking for... assistance of a monetary nature. whether you are reblogging or making them. posts can get "shadowbanned" from tags. (something i'm trying to avoid with my verbiage in this post.) this will make it harder for users who are struggling to get the help they need. just reblog silently.

NEVER tag posts as... the acronym that spells November September Forember Worember. find your own, creative acronym for this. you can get people's art removed, their account shadowbanned, or even fully banned. i'll talk more about censorship later.

tags are also used to hide content for those who don't want to see it. you may tag a post with #bug for example, to help those with insectphobias. you can filter an infinite number of tags, blocking whatever content you need, in your settings. (settings > account > content you see)

NEVER tag posts as #epilepsy warning - only #flashing or #flashing lights. This allows our photosensitive friends to be safer in the tag talking about their disorder

SITE ETIQUETTE:

refresher of previous points: no spam tagging, no tagging things that will get other users in trouble. good? good. moving on.

if you don't reblog/make posts, your blog has no title, and you have a default icon, you will likely be blocked by other users because we have historically always had a bad bot problem. so fix these things pronto.

do not repost other people's artwork without permission. REBLOG is okay! please reblog, reblog, reblog! it's how our website works. "repost" here means "i saw someone's art, downloaded it, and reuploaded it in a new post, pretending it's mine." this is what to avoid.

some tumblr users also classify their gifs as art (as they take many hours to create and edit to look beautiful). tumblr has a built in "add a gif" option - and this is always okay, because it automatically credits the artist and links to the original art. if you want to use a gif not from there, please ask the original artist or at the very least credit them. but like i said, every gifmaker's opinion is different. in my case? my gifs can be used by anyone, credit or not. i do not care.

"LIKE" is the bookmark function. if a post with artwork is only "liked" - it doesn't go anywhere. other users do not see it. if you appreciate a post, and want others to see the post too, please REBLOG it instead. again, this is the preferred method of interaction on our website. we do NOT have an "algorithm" - more on that in a later section.

that said, please use common sense. if someone says something like "I'm having a bad day, i fought with my boyfriend" - that isn't something to reblog. a lot of tumblr users also treat the website as a diary, as it is a MicroBlogging platform. a "like" is a better way to show support in this situation. you can always "unlike" a post later to clear up your bookmarks if you wish.

do not send anon hate. regardless if you are in the "right" or not, it's viewed as cowardly and the userbase will not be on your side. it's middle school behavior, cringe. be willing to confront directly or block + move on.

you can comment on a post (in the comment area) if you have insightful commentary you want to add. or a joke you think is really good. the second is a gamble, though. maybe lurk a little bit first to get a feel for the sense of humor here

screenshotting other people's tags and adding them to a post is welcome, provided you feel that they are Funny or Insightful (as with the previous point.) you do not need to credit tags (although you can), and announcing them is viewed as... outdated. ("you can't just leave this in the tags!!" "this passes peer review!!" etc.) - it is better to not caption the tags, and let them speak for themselves.

"replies" on a post you can sort of do whatever? because they don't appear in the main body of the post. they're a bit like tags in that way. just sort of treat them like tags (be kind, be funny, don't traumadump). same etiquette with screenshotting + posting them.

most tumblr users are cool with people following them and reblogging a ton of posts in a row. like 90% of us. but some blogs don't like "reblog spam" so they may block you? idk man. i don't understand those people.

some tumblr users have a DNI (do not interact), which is a list of criteria of people they do not want to reblog their posts. this info isn't necessary to have (and is sometimes made fun of/controversial), but it does exist, so i mention it. for some people, "violating a DNI" is viewed as very disrespectful. so that's another reason why someone may block you.

two people following each other is called "mutuals." unfollowing a mutual is called "breaking mutuals" and it happens all the time. it really isn't a big deal unless you make it one. there's also "soft blocking" (blocking someone to knock them off of your follower list, then unblocking them) which occurs sometimes.

there is a lot of terminally online brainrot discourse on here. so tiktokers will feel at home! jokes aside, curate your online experience (by blocking, filtering content) and try to be kind to one another. and be aware that you will see some really, really bad takes sometimes. it's always good to take a break from tumblr if you're feeling frustrated.

seriously. tumblr users unfollow and block each other constantly and this is normalized. no drama comes from this. we love the block button.

most tumblr users have their pronouns in bio. please check bio before gendering someone. do not default to "they/them" for every user. it's bad manners.

don't blaze other people's posts, and probably don't blaze your own. if you must blaze a post it should be an image of a cute animal. it should not be your fanfiction.

if you post fanfiction, please do so under a readmore.

a "drowned post" is when a user takes a screenshot (usually of a take they disagree with) and reupload back onto tumblr to critique/make fun of it. because a screenshot may, accidentally, look like something the critic typed, an underwater filter is put over the post, so that it is clear what is screenshot and what is commentary. tumblr has built in photo filters, and the water is one of them, so it's accessible to everyone. i highly recommend the use of a filter so people know at a glance that you are NOT the one who wrote something insanely bigoted. because people not drowning (or otherwise applying a filter) their screenshots of text has resulted in miscommunication and fights in the past.

CENSORSHIP:

tumblr is not like other websites. you have significantly more freedom of speech here. but! there are caveats. this section will break down some website history and how it affects posting in the modern day.

tumblr once had NO censorship at all. this was a website you could go on and see d*cks. like everywhere. but then something happened. and apple threatened to remove tumblr from its app store. as a result, p*rnography was banned. but this implementation was sloppy. many entirely innocuous posts got falsely flagged by automated systems. and at one point, entire tags were banned (like #girl and #blue and all kinds of weird shit). many artists and s*xworkers fled from the website.

recently, tumblr has implemented a labeling system under the guise of reimplementing risqué content. but the reality is that this is a self-report system. by tagging your own posts using the content labels, you increase your likelihood of getting banned by staff. and if you report other people's posts as missing labels, it's like snitching on them. the labeling system is not your friend. instead, use creative tags. block tags you don't want to see. tread lightly. and look the other way.

now. you may be wondering. "jay, if you can type any word on this website, why are you writing in this way?" well. sometimes tumblr will decide to prevent your post from appearing in public tags, in a shadow-ban-like process. my creative wording and asterisks is to avoid this, and for this post to gain the reach it needs to help people. but know that the average tumblr user strings together paragraphs solely consisting of words you will not find in the bible. you will likely be mocked for censoring words/using "tiktok speak" unless you are doing it for a specific reason, as i am doing here.

also. be careful when discussing tumblr staff. lets just say the userbase isn't the biggest fan of our landlords. i will not be getting into that topic here. but be aware that participating in paid features is deeply controversial. things like blazing posts, buying merchandise, purchasing badges... other users may treat you unkindly as a result.

the TOS is not consistently enforced, but be aware that if you post risqué content it may be removed or you may get banned. you also may not. it's mostly down to luck of the draw and knowing how to post discreetly. again, i won't get into this topic further on this post.

but yeah otherwise say whatever you want here. just like, don't be a bigot. and be careful when discussing the website owners.

i highly recommend, if you are above the age of eighteen, to go in your settings and enable m*ture content. because a lot of innocuous content (especially about trans experiences) gets falsely labeled, thereby censoring it and hiding it. when you set to view this content, these posts will not be hidden from you. (settings > account > content labels)

HOW TUMBLR WORKS:

tumblr is a website that began as a platform that encouraged young professionals to write about their experiences and post photographs. like instagram i guess? but much more writing focused. a user's account was less of an Account and more of its own Discrete Website, with its own url and its own webpage that could be customized with HTML, CSS, and javascript. in this way, it was similar to geocities. it was a really weird, innovative platform that combined a lot of ideas.

when you create an account on tumblr now-a-days, you have to manually go into your settings and enable a desktop version of blog. (settings > blogs > (blogname) > "enable custom theme") then, when on a desktop computer, you can actually edit your blog with HTML and CSS. although, due to security updates, javascript is no longer permitted, and no links that have "http" - only "https" - are allowed in your code. here's mine:

it was extremely common all the way through the mid-to-late 2010s to regularly update your blog theme, and for users to look at each other's blogs. but between the censorship debacle and the rise of mobile users, blog editing is sort of a dead art, and many newer users don't know that you can make these pages. i hope this practice comes back, if only to encourage tech literacy and creativity in the youth. learn to code today!

anyway, this history is why our usernames are called URLs. because they are literally web addresses. the more you know!

you know how i mentioned "archives" way up in another section, btw? because the tumblr blog search function sucks, another way to find posts is to go to yourblogname.tumblr.com/archive and search by date, post type, tag, etc. - it's genuinely awesome. you can also use it to look at other people's blogs. lets see what i was posting in June of 2013... yeah that seems about right for the era.

tumblr differs from other social media in that it is, for the most part, entirely hand-curated. which is to say, for most of the website's history, no algorithm existed, and we actively reject implementation of it. yes, technically tumblr now has a "for you" tab. most of the userbase does not look at it.

the way you "make it big" on tumblr dot com isn't through hashtags. it isn't through trends. you make it big on tumblr dot com because you were half asleep one night and accidentally made a funny typo, and then your friend from Arizona saw it and laughed and reblogged it. and then five of their followers reblogged it. and before you know it 20 thousand strangers are now arguing with each other on your post.

...which brings me to my second point. "going viral" on tumblr is kind of a curse. your notifications get flooded, people bring bad takes to your posts, and overall it tends to be stressful for the OP (original poster). you don't join tumblr to Go Viral. you join tumblr to talk about fuck-all and maybe post art, and have a good time with friends. it's more like a bunch of people sitting on a porch chatting. and when too many people shows up it can get a bit weird.

you have two options should a post get out-of-hand: disabling reblogs (the post exists, but can no longer be shared), or deleting the post (the original post does not exist, but copies of the post can continue to circulate). or... you do both. disable reblogs, then the delete the post. the post cannot be shared, the root is gone... but it will remain permanently on the blogs who have already shared it. consider what option is most appropriate for your situation. and also consider adding an explanation in the replies. ("i turned off reblogs for now because my notifications are a mess. i'll turn them back on later" vs "i deleted the original post and turned off the reblogs because i accidentally shared misinformation" vs "i'm not in this fandom anymore and i don't like my old artwork, but i know other people do so i just deleted the original post while leaving the reblogs on so the work can still be shared by people who like it." - this will prevent people from pestering you asking you why you took the actions you did.

we have "communities" now but again, most of the userbase doesn't use them or even know how to use them. so i don't really have insight on those. i imagine they're like facebook groups but much more toxic. tumblr also tried a "group chat" feature a couple years back which was such a disaster that it got pulled.

...as well as Tumblr Live. we do not talk about Tumblr Live. or Tips.

anyway the authentic tumblr experience is shouting into the void (with proper tag use), following other users, reblogging their posts, and chatting kindly to them in tags/replies. don't try to "game the system" or whatever, just have fun.

VIDEOS:

while you can post videos on tumblr, it isn't the primary function of this platform and never has been, historically, so there's some things to keep in mind.

our video player is dogshit. it's very hard to use on mobile especially and videos will randomly mute all the time. we still post video, just know that it's not going to be the same as other platforms

tumblr's exact Video Limits are a mystery. any time you look at the FAQ it's outdated information. generally in my own findings, vids can be about 10 minutes long provided they aren't giant files. i recommend uploading in a compressed format like .mp4 with a low bitrate

tumblr will compress your videos after uploading so if they're already low quality they will look even worse. just be aware of that

tumblr has a video upload limit of i think 5 videos per day. there's also a limit of how much footage, timewise. i don't think it will let you upload 5 videos all 10 minutes long for example

when uploading a video, i recommend doing that on a computer if possible because mobile always gives me a difficult time.

regardless of computer or phone, save your video as a draft, don't just immediately post it. your video will need to upload and process and stuff and drafts are the best way to keep track of them. once a video appears in your drafts (or your blog, if you posted immediately), you will be allowed to upload another. but you can't upload a video while the first is still processing.

COMMUNICATION:

i've already touched on tags, commenting, and replies. but you can also communicate with a user in three other ways (RIP Fanmail). This includes Asks (you send a message, a user responds to it publically, usually), Submit (you send a message/image/link, a user posts it as a submission. so like, sending a jpeg of an orange to a blog dedicated to posting jpegs of oranges. you are contributing to the blog's content.), and Messaging/Direct Message/DM - same as any other platform.

You can have public DMs or have DMs only set to users you follow. With Asks, you can toggle whether or not to allow anon. My personal recommendation is to leave anon on UNLESS you get bullied/harassed/etc - then turn it off and leave it off for several weeks (long enough for the harassers to get bored) before turning it back on, if you want. Submit isn't really necessary unless you run a gimmick blog. Especially since you can now send images via ask for some reason. It used to be Ask was for text and Submit was for anything else. Now Submit is sort of an obsolete format for the average tumblr user.

SIDEBLOGS:

Another way tumblr differs from other social media? The sideblog. The first blog that you create here on tumblr will always be your "main" blog, and that cannot be switched. If you "like" a post, it will always list the username of your main blog. If you follow a blog, it will only display the URL of your main. However...

You can reblog, post, reply, and send DMs under a separate username. Externally, a sideblog is indistinguishable from a main blog (aside from the like/follow thing). It's common for users to create blogs for various interests. Maybe one is for posting original artwork, another is to post about movies, and another is to post highly detailed jpegs of men's thighs.

While some users prefer to not state their main URL on their sideblog for partial anonymity, a sideblog is generally used in good faith. It's frowned upon/viewed as cowardly to use a sideblog to deceive or harass other users.

If your sideblog gets banned/violates TOS, this will likely affect your main blog. If you're posting risky things on tumblr, you're better off using an entire new account, so as to not affect your main account should something go wrong.

Sideblogs can have multiple moderators, if you add another user and they accept. Just make sure you add mods you can trust.

IMPORTANT: Never delete a sideblog. There is a glitch that sometimes occurs that, when deleting a sideblog (even when selecting the correct option) you can delete your entire account. Instead rename, repurpose, and/or "password lock" the account to prevent others from accessing it. You can also remove yourself as a "member" (mod) of the blog, and with no mods the blog will cease to exist. Or you can orphan the blog by creating a secondary account (NOT A SIDEBLOG. AN ENTIRE NEW ACCOUNT), making that account a mod, and then removing your main as a mod. Basically... just don't delete. Do anything but. iirc this issue still has not been fixed in 2025. it isn't a case of "misclicking" as some people insist. you can do everything right and your account can still get nuked because it's a bug in the actual code

blocking and sideblogs is... a headache. if someone sends a rude message to your sideblog and you want to block them? you'll need to go into your sideblog settings and manually type in their URL. because if you just block them like normal, you'd only be blocking them from your main blog. which means they could be reblogging and saying all kinds of heinous shit on your sideblog's posts, and you'd never know. it's easiest to do this blocking process from a computer.

likewise, if you block someone's sideblog... you only block their sideblog. their main can still access you. so if you block someone, see if they list other blogs in their bio/pinned post. you may need to block two blogs.

blocking a main blog, however, blogs full access. so if Rude Guy bothers you on his main, and you block his main, he can't then bother you on Rude Guy 2, Rude Guy 3, or Rude Guy 4.

users are sometimes upfront about when they're using a sideblog but others aren't. so it can be tricky.

MANDATORY ACCOUNT/BLOG SETTINGS:

this is four screenshots; taken on a computer, not mobile, but most of the settings should be the same. what this covers: hiding your likes/follows, disabling algorithmic posts, enabling timestamps (VERY important especially for posts about world news), disabling AI scraping, enabling users to message you, shit like that.

mandatory extensions for desktop users (well. not palettes. i use it because i like a pastel pink viewing experience. lol.):

MEMES AND REFERENCES:

the life cycle of memes and slang is rapid on tumblr, so it's a little pointless for me to try and talk about them because any information i write will be out of date. by the time a meme leaves tumblr and gets posted on twitter/tiktok/bluesky/reddit/youtube/instagram/pinterest/ifunny/facebook it's already long dead

that said, there are some mainstays:

"i'm bald" is often placed as the last option in a poll and it means "not applicable to me/choose not to answer/my answer is nuanced". it's in reference to a specific poll about hair (obv) where this was listed as the last option and people thought it was funny so we use in other polls now.

we love polls btw we use them to make characters fight to the death or do "design a horse"/"make a cake" type games. polls get very serious and people also sometimes do voter fraud and get in arguments about it. it's sports to us

"destiel news" is the phenomenon of announcing a major news story (like the death of the queen) by using screenshots of the homophobic love confession in supernatural. the idea is to piss people off by having them say "THIS is how i found out???" tumblr users make shitposts about major events in general in hopes of evoking this response. but destiel news is ubiquitous

"i think i hauve covid" is reference to a tweet on twitter and means "i'm ar*used"

"not to be a lesbian but" is a common reaction image/copypasta and it's self explanatory

spelling words wrong on purpose, incorrect/creative grammar, etc. is very funny to tumblr users. things like "ingredience" and "those feratu" linger in our lexicon

there's a lot of random old textposts tumblr users reference and it would be too hard to list them all, especially because they rise and fall in popularity. just know if someone's said something especially strange it may be a reference to an earlier post. not to self-promo but i run a blog called @goodposts where i archive posts i personally find funny (or Important) and some Tumblr Classics are in there. but also some of the posts are my own shitty posts so ur milage may vary.

we all know the president shoelace post but none of us actually use the code irl and it's a very dead joke at this point. there's a lot of dead jokes i could cover like vanilla extract, all or nothing, do you love the color of the sky, children's hospital, etc. - but i'd defer to Know Your Meme instead.

ummmm i think thats it. smiles

if u have questions feel free 2 ask

[unladielike]

So since it has been brought to my attention some rumours have been circulating about me, I just wanna make a few things clear.

First off, I did not supposedly stalk anyone's blog for years.

If need be, I can even provide my IP address (aka self-dox myself) to prove any screencaps to be false, but I'm nowhere near obsessive enough to check somebody's blog everyday. Like, sure, I might visit blogs of ex-mutuals every once in a blue moon out of curiosity, but contrary to popular belief, tumblr doesn't take up 90% of my time and at best, I would maybe lurk on COAR to read new confessions or refresh my dash once per day just in case non-active partners of mine have returned.

If anything, my time has been mostly comprised of going to work and grinding mobile gachas; in fact, should I notice I have replies to write, I will log in, throw my replies into the queue/save written replies in my drafts folder to queue later, and then fuck off to do other stuff. Honestly, provided someone has beef with me, it's unlikely I would know why unless my encounter with them on tumblr had been rather recent.

To my knowledge, I haven't harassed anyone off of tumblr.

Now, did I have spats with my own fair share of people over the eight or nine years I have been on this hellsite? Yes. Have I made vague posts about ex-mutuals, unintentionally ghosted others, privately vented to friends about people from the RPC I personally can't stand, and commented on COAR confessions? Also, yes.

But that being said, the only one I've ever sent anon hate to was myself and if I played a part in somebody deactivating their blog or quitting tumblr roleplay altogether, then that's certainly news to me, because I don't like participating in public smear campaigns, to the point where I even avoid name dropping certain users in my rules or PSAs I've made. Heck, the way I see it, I can only ever recall myself being relentlessly harassed/bullied, because when it comes to me for some reason, people on this site sadly don't know how to block and move on like normal people.

I also have never encouraged anyone to delete their blogs or chase them out of the RPC and have only ever reported one person due to the fact they would not stop posting about me/attempt to provoke me into engaging in drama on a site that we both frequent despite having me blocked; therefore, I have no idea where the narrative of me harassing people off of tumblr even comes from. Besides, I'm nowhere near popular enough to influence whatever following I have to dog pile on whoever I have grievances with, let alone have many people who would go to bat for me each time I'm being unfairly criticized. Honestly, the one time someone did call out my harasser, it was something I had no control over and they did so without my permission, to the point where I did privately tell them to stop url-dropping me and engaging with this person on my behalf... because again, I just wanted to be left alone.

Furthermore, I make it very clear to mutuals I've vented to that they don't have to unfollow/block roleplayers I've had bad experiences with... so I'm not sure if this is merely a case of the Mandela Effect rearing it's ugly head, individuals making up bad faith reasons to dislike me, or an issue of mistaken identity (especially since I'm likely not the only one who goes by the mun handle, 'Livi', and it has happened before where somebody had wrongly assumed a blog belonged to another person).

Of course, it's possible I could have forgotten stuff, as I have had more than three blogs over the years, so naturally, I won't remember all the OOC posts I have ever shared, let alone every instance before 2022 where I have been involved in drama... but regardless, I refuse to take accountability for things I have never done unless you personally come to me off anon with screenshots that provide evidence.

[solarisdog]

For legal purposes, all confessions, claims made on this blog are alleged experiences with said individual. Take it all with a grain of salt. If you must. Evidence of said claims will not be provided to maintain the safety of users coming forwards. (Unless users want to come forward on their own terms, they can use this blog as their platform through anons or inbox messages)

This user who allegedly abused others is supposedly very dangerous. It is advised that the necessary next action would be to avoid said user all together. However, no one can tell you or force you to avoid said user. This blog exists to expose the alleged things this user has done in private. It is not an excuse to send hate. Any hate sent to this user is not condoned nor executed by parties involved in making this blog public.

That all being said. Said user might claim that if hate is received it is by this blog or the parties involved. Just as you have been advised to take what is said here with a grain of salt. It is advised that you do the same in what alleged hate this user claims to receive. Thank you.

( UPDATED AS OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2024) The alleged accusations made towards solarisgod ( previous / other urls: devours, lunarisdog, enterdog, exitdog, ardure, ophioboros, starmore, swordslord, gdexists + existsarchive ) have been the following:

Theft : Concepts for Original Characters, Plot ideas that were planned between the user and the hurt party, Aesthetic ideas that pass beyond the border of inspiration. Several users have come forward to share their stories about how this user has taken their concepts and plotted ideas and recycled them with new people that are not aware of this user's tendencies.

Gaslighting & Manipulation : This should be self explanatory. Past users—those who have known solarisgod personally have commented that the user uses manipulative language and tactics to position themselves as a victim in any possible way when said user may be held accountable for actions that solarisgod does, which in turn makes it hard to communicate with this user after solarisgod does something that upsets the hurt party. On this site, there are many who deal with mental disorders, however solarisgod has used their claimed mental disorders to excuse actions that would hold the user accountable. Some users claim that solarisgod positions said mental issues as being more severe than another users.

Solarisgod has made claims to have OSDD, as well as other mental disorders that have been mentioned. Users with experience in psychology have commented on how strange this is considering their own personal studies into psychology, though no one has made a claim that solarisgod is faking OSDD. No one should need to provide proof of a mental illness that they deal with, but no one should weaponize their mental illness against others to excuse being held accountable. Everyone is bound to make mistakes, but no one is above being held responsible for the wrong things that they do.

Solarisgod has also claimed to have amnesia, and users have come forward pointing out how solarisgod's amnesia works to benefit the narratives that are created by solarisgod. No one is stating that solarisgod is lying about this. It is simply being pointed out that solarisgod can conveniently recall very particular details when the need suits.

Bullying & Sending Anon Hate : This accusation is said to fall on multiple users within solarisgods circle of friends. Perhaps never even done directly by solarisgod but perhaps this accusation falls to the circle of friends who are said to harass people for the benefit of solarisgod. Users have come forward and shared the anonymous inbox messages they received some were vile while others were mostly mocking and name calling. Anon hate cannot be pinned to anyone, it is a cowards way of expressing distaste with someone they do not like. It is abhorred here. There is no reason for it.

ALLEDGED CIRCLE OF FRIENDS URLS : UPDATED AS OF JANUARY 09, 2025 ( all previous users mentioned have come forward to deny any affiliation with solarisgod … if any information about more of these users comes to light it will be updated here )

Cyberstalking : It has been noted that solarisgod is stalking blogs that are deemed unsafe for the rpc by solarisgod and the circle of friends. Solarisgod also makes claims of being stalked or has had a stalker who is said to get mentioned often in vague posts. Users have come forward with how solarisgod has used this past incident to guilt trip others so that even in an instance where solarisgod could be held accountable, the user instead finds ways to be the victim. Solarisgod uses the influence that this said user has to ostracize other users that solarisgod has deemed danger to the roleplay community. Users have claimed that solarisgod has found brand new blogs they have made in attempt to escape solarisgod, only to find out that they are once again a target of harassment.

Dangerous behavior : There have been users that have come forward with suspected threats made to their lives. Solarisgod has made claims about knowing how to find out where people live in order to scare them into silence. Solarisgod and possible the circle of friends that are associated—seem to not be above threatening to do bodily harm to other users or threaten to do bodily harm to family members, this includes babies in said family. Users have come forward with images of said threats that have been made. Again, due to the suspected violent nature of solarisgod, the users names and images will not be posted here unless the users come forward on their own.

The roleplaying community is filled with liars, frauds, scammers, and people who would use you to further themselves. The accusations made towards this user are unfortunately not surprising. However, they are still appalling. You are welcome to deem it all as lies and move forward. This is a place for real victims who have felt wronged by this user in traumatizing way. This is not a call out post, this is a warning to every user who interacts with solarisgod. This blog serves as a way to protect future victims from being in a similar situation as those who have been wronged by solarisgod.

This blog is open to receiving new information regarding this user. Anonymous messages are on, but it is appreciated if you feel brave enough to come forward off of anon. If you come forward off anon and do not want your message used or posted, it will be respected.

This blog will stay in place so long as solarisgod continues to be a vile threat to the roleplay community.

[gnflorida]

ppl who are coming from twitter: please try to at least learn and respect the way mcyt communities operate on tumblr before getting involved here

[theji]

Things Yizhan Made Me Do

It's BXG Day today! 🐢💛

To commemorate the occasion, I thought of making a list of 13 out-of-character things that I've done since falling into the fandom. (OK I'm a bit late I meant to do this sooner, the day is ending soon in a couple of hours).

1. Start a blog

And a public one, no less. I had a blog when I was in my teens but that was private, like a personal diary. My day job already involves writing so off-work I would usually like to indulge in mindless activities. Now, here I am, maintaining a Yizhan blog. I have not even used Tumblr prior to this but I'm enjoying it now, rambling about our fav boys. Writing is not a chore if it's about them.

2. Join a fandom

I joined a boy band fan club once upon a time, some 15 years ago, but I was never as invested in it as I am now with Yizhan. Back then it was just buying some merch, attending their concert/autograph sessions, listening to their songs. Apart from work, dog mum duties, personal relationships, other hobbies like kombucha brewing, most of my free time is now spent on the fandom. My Netflix account is crying. There is just so much to do and catch up on (I'm not complaining). I also enjoy interacting with and learning from other bloggers here. Antis are no fun and some industry news/developments/hate messages are upsetting but ultimately, you curate your own fandom experience. And I choose positivity and rationality.

3. Indulge in RPS

I don't ever 'ship'. What is 'ship'? 😆 I was always a dutiful audience, just enjoying whatever drama series and moving on after that. I started with CQL like most people and I didn't even notice/like GGDD until much later. Didn't even set out to 'ship' anyone but now I'm a self-professed turtle. SZD is SZD, and anyone can see something special between them if you keep an open mind. I wrote about my SZD reasons here previously. That said, GG & DD are individuals, each with their own successful careers. They come first, the ship comes second. That I'm very clear of.

4. Use Chinese apps

Gosh, my phone and tablet are now full of Chinese apps. I used to have only WeChat cos I needed it for work but now I have Weibo, Oasis, Douyin, WeTV, MangoTV, Youku, etc. Some of them are not even available in the app store so I had to find alternative sources to download them. haha..I even have paid membership for some of these apps. And now, browsing Weibo daily becomes a routine. If you wish, you can just get stuck browsing Weibo for a long long time. It's entertaining.

5. Read fan fic

I only started about 6 months ago but now I'm hooked and fics are largely the only thing I read these days, apart from news. But I only read Yizhan or WangXian fics (p.s. calling for fic recs of other pairings!) I know some might have different feelings about fan fics but to me, I really just see them as fiction, with characters (and sometimes traits) bearing similarities to GGDD. Similarly, I separate the platform from the incident so I have no problems going to A03 despite GG's incident. I just enjoy seeing the characters named XZ/WYB having happy endings in many different timelines and universes. While most of the fics I read are explicit (by design), I don't use them as tools to play out certain fantasies or to think of GGDD in a sexual manner. In fact, I really hate fics that have little substance and just go into the explicit parts without plot development. I like those with interesting premises too, like one I read recently where XZ is a serial killer and WYB is a police officer investigating the case but also in love with him. I do have plans to share my list of fav fan fics some time down the road so keep an eye out for it!

6. Willingly read Chinese

Yes, Chinese may be my mother tongue but I don't use it much in daily living unless I have to. I also find it tedious to read Chinese cos the characters are just so squashed together. If I have a choice, I will always pick English. But now, I read so much Chinese from my daily weibo browsing. I even read fan fics in Chinese! Who am I? On the plus side, I think my Chinese comprehension and translation skills improved. I also picked up some internet lingo used by Chinese netizens, which are pretty interesting like doi, 🐮🍺, 🖍. My all-time fav is yyds.

7. Act like a cougar

In real life, I have always maintained that younger men are childish. At least those I have encountered. But look at me now, fangirling over two younger men (I am closer in age to GG, but still..). I even jokingly call them my 'China Boyfriends'. I look at them very respectfully most of the time.

8. Buy merch

Seriously, once you start, you can't stop. At least that was what happened to me, although I'm still quite selective when it comes to supporting their endorsements. I usually go for consumables like food, cosmetics vs collectibles cos I'm more practical. Also, GG says to support their merch within reasonable means so that's what I'm doing. Just buying things that I'm interested to try and not because it has their faces or names slapped on it. In a way, this suits me cos I like trying new brands and stuff anyway.

9. Keeping a Yizhan archive

Photos, weblinks, videos, songs, fan fics list..my phone is full of these things now. I think my Yizhan photo gallery is only second to the folder with my dogs' pictures. But how can you resist when we are blessed with new pics of them almost every week?

10. Camp for livestreams

I'm lucky I live in the same time zone as the boys so I don't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to watch something. But that's the thing, being in the same time zone sometimes make me feel like I HAVE to watch that thing live because, why not? Why wait? Not shy to admit that I once watched a live programme in the middle of work but I made sure I finished what needed to be done. I think so long as we don't let these livestream schedules run our lives, there's no harm in camping for them.

11. Watch c entertainment

I am one of those who used to pass over Chinese productions, simply because it's a Chinese production. Not in a scoffing manner but I'm just genuinely not interested in them nor the celebs. I was more of a US/UK production kind of person, occasionally Korean/Japanese. Now, I'm learning to enjoy them although I just watch those with GGDD in them. No energy to follow other Chinese celebs anyway. The other programme I'm contemplating watching even if it doesn't have them in it is Who's the Murderer (GG was only in one of the cases) cos I like the premise. On the flip side, now my sis and partner keep making fun of me cos to them, all I do now is "watch China shows". That is so not true. Or is it?

12. Write fan mail

I wrote a letter to GG once. A long-ass letter. I hope he read it. That's all I'm gonna say. 🙈 hahahahaha

13. Desire to visit China

China was never on my list of to-visit places. Just wasn't interested. I have been to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou a few times in the past for work but even then, I never felt the urge to revisit for leisure. Now, I wanna visit GG and DD's home town, visit Chongqing to see the graffiti wall with Bobii Zanbii on it, eat mala hotpot and try out their sauce recipe, attend BXG events, dine at the CQL restaurant... Watching TTXS also made me realise that there are many beautiful places in China with natural landscapes and all that. I used to be clouded by my disdain for the regime and some behaviour of its citizens but now, I recognise that the country is separate from the regime or a smaller group of poorly behaved citizens. China is a beautiful country and I would love to visit some day. I will fly over immediately on my own if someone gives me tix to ADLAD!!

Well, I hope some of these things resonate with you. Feel free to share the OOC things that Yizhan made you do.

Once again, Happy BXG Day! 🐢💛🐆🐇🐷🌶🦁🍑🐶🍍🛹🎋

[timac-extraversal]

Big Dumb Legitimacy, Part I

(TIMAC #004, ~2,300 words, 10 minutes)

Summary: When the mythic basis for a country's government is disputed, the government should consider justifying itself by successfully delivering practical, easy-to-measure projects instead.

Epistemic Status: Political speculation.

-☆☆☆-

In early 2019, I discussed the appeal of Trump's Wall.

Previous government programs were seen as ineffective, it's difficult for voters to tell if a program is working, and congress could always quietly defund or nerf a program when voters aren't paying attention. (Lobbyists for companies that employ unauthorized migrants might also have something to say to the senators about any immigration control program that works.) If you think that illegal immigrants coming over the southern border are driving down wages, and you don't trust the government, the appeal of the wall is obvious:

It's a big dumb object.

You know exactly what it is. You know it can be done. And you can easily tell if the government followed through. Even if you don't trust the newspapers, or the President, you can simply drive down to the Texas border and check if it's physically there.

Many on the left (and among the liberals) abhor the idea of Trump's wall, but with the Trump era coming to an end (for now), some are now starting to admit what was once more of a right-contrarian viewpoint - America's institutions have spent down some of their social capital. People just don't trust them as much.

And that's why the big dumb object may be an echo of things to come.

Latino Voters

In Texas, Trump made big gains in 18 counties where Latinos made up at least 80% of the population. A state Democratic party official said Latinos were worried about threats to the fracking industry, a major local employer, and that Republicans were also helped by 'a network of Border Patrol agents, families and unions.' [1☆] That Latinos are in the Border Patrol shouldn't come as a surprise. Latinos climbed from 7.8 to 12.5% of the country's police forces between 1997 and 2016. Previous efforts at integration were in part driven by policing as well-compensated, blue collar work. [2☆]

Latino voters might be more interested in practical issues than abstract ones. Are they productively employed? Are the places they live safe and secure? Philosophical debate and moral posturing can last all day, and with social media, well into the night. But at some point, someone actually has to get out of a truck and pour asphalt if we want to fix the potholes.

At least one hispanic man was not amused with last year's rioting and, infamously, showed up with a chainsaw and shouted for protesters to go home - and that wasn't the meanest thing he had to say. [3☆]

Spiritual Legitimacy

...and practical issues may be for the best.

To pile up recent heated rhetoric, it would be difficult for a "white supremacist" government of a country "built on stolen land" "by the hands of slaves," founded in slavery 1619 (rather than, more famously, in freedom in 1776), to legitimize itself on intergenerational moral grounds. We would need to repair or replace its legitimizing myth.

Countries are social phenomena, not just physical ones. A country is an idea, not just a place or a people. [4] The narrative of what makes a country legitimate is the story that binds the population together towards a shared project, and convinces the people to accept what, due to the limits of information, must necessarily be the rule of a small number of individuals. A country without a legitimizing myth is vulnerable, and from multiple directions at once.

The state is a shape in the minds of the population, and in a high-energy society its boundaries are maintained by the invisible threat of force. If a police precinct building is set on fire where everyone can see, rival rioters might get the idea that they can just bust open a few windows and pay a visit to the national Capitol building, perhaps smiling as they carry off the speakers' podium or live-blog from the offices of congressional representatives. [5]

There is no such thing as a safe riot. The entire point of a riot is that law enforcement is unable to control the situation. There especially isn't such a thing as a safe riot in the national Capitol building, where rioters might make contact with the nation's lawmakers (who carry much of government's sins), and where, for that reason, security personnel may be even more jumpy than usual. It's the sort of thing that might spark the fires of revolution, either in showing the weakness of the central government, or in retaliation for a massacre.

January 6 was bad, but it could have gone much, much worse.

A spiritual struggle for the soul of the nation is certainly exciting. We might imagine it gets excellent television ratings, social media engagement scores, and clicks. In fact, CNN declined from 2.5 million primetime viewers during what we might call the 'President Trump season finale' to 1.6 million primetime viewers after Biden took office. [6☆] Michael Bloomberg's failed candidacy suggests that you can't buy the kind of entertainment provided by pro-wrestling's now most legendary and infamous heel.

...so it might be better to focus on a form of legitimacy that can be achieved more easily, with something more concrete, like bulldozers.

This does not mean we need to 'abandon' suffering minorities or struggling rural residents 'to their fate.'

Streets Before Trust

On the last day of 2020, Alon Levy of Pedestrian Observations posted Streets Before Trust. Alon notes that in a "trust before streets" approach, the focus is on getting community buy-in before starting a project. Often the idea is to avoid disrupting low-income or minority neighborhoods. However, Alon writes that,

The reality of low-trust politics is about the opposite of what educated Americans think it is. It is incredibly concrete. Abstract ideas like social justice, rights, democracy, and free speech do not exist in that reality, to the point that authoritarian populists have exploited low-trust societies like those of Eastern Europe to produce democratic backsliding.

His theory is that the state proves to people that it can provide tangible goods by successfully providing tangible goods. However, he writes,

Such provisions of tangible goods cannot happen in a trust before streets environment. This works when the state takes action, and endless public meetings in which every objection must be taken seriously are the death of the state. ... Low trust is downstream of low state capacity. Build the streets and trust will follow.

On January 6th, Matt Yglesias expanded the concept and provided more examples. [7☆]

The correct way to respond to a low-trust environment is not to double down on proceduralism, but to commit yourself to the “it does exactly what it says on the tin” principle and implement policies that have the following characteristics:

◆ It’s easy for everyone, whether they agree with you or disagree with you, to understand what it is you say you are doing.

◆ It’s easy for everyone to see whether or not you are, in fact, doing what you said you would do.

◆ It’s easy for you and your team to meet the goal of doing the thing that you said you would do.

That’s not a guarantee of political or policy success. Maybe you will pick terrible ideas and be a huge failure anyway. But this triad for success under conditions of distrust at least creates the possibility of success, where people will look back and decide that what you did worked. Committing yourself to that triad may involve some waste and inefficiency relative to a more theoretically optimal scheme with more means-testing.

There's been a running joke among some parts of right-contrarian twitter that Matt Yglesias is a secret reactionary. After a passage like that, we might joke that he's secretly a Rationalist. (He isn't either, of course.) [8]

Who Do You Trust?

Alon writes,

Low trust in many cases exists because people perceive the state to be hostile to their interests,

Right now, many Americans, both left and right, don't trust the state. Even a writer from Sri Lanka wrote that America is in a collapse - and that collapse isn't a single moment, but a low-level hum punctuated by violence that's in the background unless it happens to you. [9☆]

Many liberals will blame this on Trump. From their perspective, the logical thing to do to restore trust is to criticize Trump. The thinking goes something like this: if Trump is discredited, it follows that all his criticisms of other institutions are discredited - and if those criticisms are discredited, you should trust those institutions as much as you did back in, say, 2013.

This will not work. First, the doubt is not solely caused by Trump. Second, if right-wingers trusted the institutions (such as newspapers) needed to make the criticism of Trump, they would not have voted for Trump a second time. (Trump received about 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. [10☆]) Their trust in these institutions seemed to erode after 2015, [11☆] accelerating in 2020, culminating in the spectacular fireball of the Trump election fraud allegations and the 2021 MAGA Capitol Riot.

For the left and liberal people, a rising 'consciousness of racial injustice' leads them to question (and distrust) every Western institution. "Will this program benefit People of Color?" Historically, there have been some serious questions about that. [12] If the program is complex or difficult to measure, it will allow those suspicions to sneak in, or even dominate: could the criteria, even if they look reasonable, have been chosen by a racist? What if it's subconscious racism ("implicit bias")? Some institution might tell us the program isn't racist, but what if that institution is itself racist, or unwittingly working from racist data? Etc.

Each of these worldviews has layers of memetic defenses - complex procedures to handle opposing arguments. Each also has a network of paid actors that perpetuate them. The New York Times cannot criticize a MAGA into trusting the New York Times. A self-identified progressive is unlikely to be convinced that a MAGA's criticism of 'racial justice' rhetoric isn't motivated by 'a desire to protect white privilege'. [13] And contemporary political constellations [14] can fabricate entire scandals that would take months for a normal person to fully disprove.

You can't go through it. That's too expensive. You have to go around it.

-☆☆☆-

[1☆] How Latino support for Trump grew in Texas borderlands Los Angeles Times, (2020/11)

[2☆] Latino officers are helping diversify police. Can they help reform the ranks? NBC News, (2020/05)

[3☆] McAllen man who waved chainsaw at protesters charged with assault KRQE, (2020/05)

[4] A country is also a people, not just a proposition, as well as a process and a place. But that's an essay for another time.

[5] Perhaps fittingly given the Florida Man genre of news stories, the man carrying off Nancy Pelosi's lecturn was from Florida. But unlike the more whimsical examples of the Florida Man genre, which might see an alligator thrown a drive-through window, people did die during the 2021 MAGA Capitol Riot, including one of the white women who entered the Capitol building. There were even early reports that a police officer was mortally wounded after being hit with a fire extinguisher, though this may not have been accurate.

[6☆] CNN viewership plummeted after Trump left office New York Post, 2021/03

[7☆] Making policy for a low-trust world Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring, (2021/01)

[8] In both cases, he's just integrating information from outside the current consensus and presenting the resulting outputs from adding it to his considerations politely. This creates a sensation of coherent but novel depth under the surface, in the same sense that Japan is an entire culture with its own sets of unspoken cultural assumptions, providing more novelty to manga and anime for Western readers.

[9☆] I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There. Indi Samarajiva, (2020/09)

One day, I was at work when someone left a bomb at the NOLIMIT clothing store. It exploded, killing 17 people. When these types of traumatic events take place, no two people experience the same thing. For me, it was seeing the phone lines getting clogged for an hour. For my wife, it was feeling the explosion a half-kilometer from her house. But for the families of the 17 victims, this was the end. And their grief goes on.

As you can see, this is not a uniform experience of chaos. For some people it destroys their bodies, others their hearts, but for most people it’s just a low-level hum at the back of their minds.

[10☆] An Australian news piece from Nov 5 reports Trump had about 63 million votes in 2016. A later USA Today piece reports a final total of about 74 million for 2020.

[11☆] This is my personal judgment, but tracks a Gallup Poll that ends in 2019. Trust in government remains near historic lows (2019).

[12] From a right-wing perspective, if we consider some norms, beliefs, values, or expectations a form of "social technology," there are even more questions.

From a left-wing perspective, during the Obama Administration, I remember one writer suggesting that Black Lives Matter wanted to convince politicians to want to help black folks rather than agreeing to a specific policy, because they didn't trust the details of policy (which could easily hide implementation details that disadvantage black people).

[13] If members of the white working class seem suspicious of this antiracist explanation, however, it might have something to do with white privilege theory lowering white liberals' sympathy for poor white people.

[14] Networks of interrelated organizations and actors acting semi-independently in a way which, due to conditions, gives the appearance of coordination. No one is specifically 'in charge,' and many actions take place in the open.

[yoon-kooks]

Witch Hazel- Pt.5

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: FanficWriter!Jungkook, Idol!Reader, College!AU, Angst, Fluff

Summary: There are two students in your art class with a secret: you and the quiet Jeon Jungkook. You’re a problematic idol singer, infamous for your ice cold reputation and perpetual resting bitch face; he’s the artist and author behind the viral comic series based on a certain ice queen idol. After a blowup of destructive rumors, lost motivation and inevitable solitude, you stumble upon Jungkook’s comic and find a new and unexpected light.

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: none

Parts: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // ?

-

“So are you in, Jimin?”

“I’m in,” he chuckles at your little proposal. His laugh retains its charm, even through the phone. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little jealous of that charming quality of his. “But can I ask you something, Snow?”

“Go for it.”

“Why me?”

“To prove a point,” you say. “You also have something to prove, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have shown up at my concert that night despite being well aware of how the public and media would react.”

“Right… Sorry about that, by the way.” You hear the sorrow still beating him up in his lowered voice. It makes sense that he feels the need to blame himself for all the backlash you received, but he shouldn’t have to feel guilty when all he wanted was a little freedom as a normal human being and not as the perfect idol the world makes him out to be.

“It’s fine, Jimin. We may be glorified idols at the top of the industry, but there are a lot of things we have no control over.”

“True… Sometimes it seems like the only way to escape the judgment of the public eye is to hide behind a mask, huh.” Jimin sighs. “But we can’t always live like that either.”

“Exactly.”

After hanging up, you toss your phone aside and pick up your guitar.

-

On your way to class, you’ve made a habit of checking jk.seagull’s blog for any updates on Witch Hazel, and you’re delighted when you find this new text post:

“it’s not done yet, but I’m planning on posting a new chapter this afternoon after class!”

To celebrate the occasion, you stop by your local coffee shop to pick up a special mocha with extra whipped cream. You’re already late for class after failing to hear your five alarms this morning anyway. And besides, maybe you deserve a little pick-me-up after all the writing you’d done the night before. For once, you feel pretty good about the direction you’re headed in.

Not even a scolding by your professor could ruin your mood.

“Oh, Y/N. How nice of you to join us,” your professor motions for you to take your seat as soon as you step foot into the art room. “I was just talking about how certain students have not been taking this class seriously as of late.”

She glances directly at you, along with your tablemates, Taehyung and Jungkook. “Sorry,” you mouth with a lack of sincerity, before taking a long sip of your mocha.

“And because of that,” the professor continues, “I’ve decided to move up the due date of our portrait project to tomorrow.”

A collective groan fills the room from the entire class, with the exception of those few lucky bastards who’ve already completed their project early. Once the class is dismissed, the scramble to actually get shit done begins. Even Taehyung opts to stick around as opposed to his usual obligations, and that speaks volumes.

As soon as your team relocates to one of the empty art studios nearby, however, it’s apparent that no one is really vibing with this project.

“So… what’s the assignment again?” Taehyung scratches his head. As much as you’d love to scold the boy for his lack of awareness of anything happening in art class, you haven’t been in the proper mindset to give the project any thought either.

“Something about drawing ourselves based on how others perceive us?” Jungkook yawns. “Or was it drawing each other’s portrait?”

“The first one, I think,” you say. “It doesn’t really make a difference when Jungkook’s gonna end up drawing Taehyung’s portion anyway.”

“True,” the boys say together. If there’s one thing you’ve learned from your art class shenanigans, it’s that the more you get to know someone, the easier it is to understand them and their actions—even if they’re completely different from you like Taehyung.

“If that’s the case, let’s hurry up and let each other know how we perceive one another. I have a doubleheader later on that I’d really hate to miss,” Taehyung nods in satisfaction at his clever wording for what you presume to be back-to-back one night stands. “I’ll start: Y/N, there’s not much I know about you besides the fact that you’re unfriendly, but I think that’s intentional. Like you’re hiding a dark secret or something. Jungkook, if you weren’t so shy, I’m sure you’d get laid more often.”

“Let’s not sugarcoat anything,” you roll your eyes. “I would say you, Taehyung, abuse your charm to get what you want. You use sleeping around as an excuse to avoid responsibility. And you embrace it because you fear that that’s the only thing people will ever acknowledge you for.”

“I’m not usually a masochist, but I kind of like it when you roast me like that, Y/N,” Taehyung shrugs it off, though you know you’ve hit the mark. Everyone has a poker face, and Kim Taehyung is no exception. To take the attention off of himself, he throws an arm around his favorite art buddy. “Roast this guy next.”

You glance over at Jungkook who’s in the midst of adding to your roast on Taehyung. It’s interesting to see how differently he acts with Taehyung, with you, and with everyone else. The more he knows someone, the less he withholds. If he knew you more, you wonder what he’d tell you. “I agree that if Jungkook weren’t so shy, there’d be more potential for a lot of things, but-”

Buzz! Taehyung looks down at his phone. “Well, that’s my cue. Jungkook, Y/N, you know what to do~”

“Have fun at your doubleheader,” you wave off your incompetent teammate until he’s out of sight. “Should we be enabling him like this?”

“Probably not. But even I can’t say no to that charm of his.” Jungkook sighs as he pulls out a blank sheet of bristol paper. In what feels like an instant, several dots and lines transform into a general outline of Taehyung’s face. “I’m surprised you haven’t fallen for his charm yet… unless…?”

“Look, I get the appeal of a smoothtalker who walks with confidence, but Taehyung really isn’t my type,” you laugh.

“Still, I’m a little envious of him.” Jungkook draws Taehyung a nice and natural wink. “Because he isn’t afraid to chase after what he wants.”

You want to tell the boy that he should chase after whatever it is he wants, but you know that’s easier said than done. After all, you know exactly how it feels to take that leap of faith, only to fall short before reaching the dream you so desired. So all you can do is nod and start working on your own portrait.

For about five whole minutes, you try to sketch out a decent upside-down egg shape for your head, but it always comes out a little lopsided or rough around the edges. Once you’ve got a little mountain of eraser shaving piling up, you decide it’s time to sneak a peek at Jungkook’s sketch to get an idea of how a well-seasoned artist draws a proper face.

What you see instead, however, is the boy staring back at your mountain of eraser shavings. You swear you hear a little pft come out of his mouth. The nerve.

“Hold your pencil like this,” he says, holding his own pencil with his pinky sticking out.

You replicate his grip, wiggling the pinky. “Is this some sort of weird pinky promise that artists do?”

Before Jungkook can even respond, your pinky is already linked to his. Funny how his finger curled around yours as if it were the most normal thing to do, but his burning cheeks say otherwise. You might’ve jumped the gun on this one.

After blinking at the empty pinky promise for a good three seconds, the boy finally lets go. “Use that pinky to steady your hand as you sketch.”

“Oh… right…” You feel a wildfire spreading across your own cheeks. Your dumbass somehow misinterpreted a drawing technique for something as childish as a pinky promise! Whether it’s because you’re flustered or just shitty at art, you fumble around to get your pencil on the paper. “…How do I do it again?”

Rather than trying to explain or demonstrate it to you, Jungkook motions for you to come closer. So you do. He takes your hand and individually sets each finger onto your pencil like a guitar teacher helping their student find the right chord position.

You’re pleasantly surprised by how gentle his touch is. Rather than forcing your fingers to conform to the conventional ways of an artist, he gives them the little push they need to find their own place along the length of the pencil—wherever is most comfortable for you.

Once you’ve got a good grip, Jungkook guides your pencil back to the canvas with your pinky just barely touching the drawing surface. “Now try drawing the outline of your face again.”

You do as you’re told and see immediate results. Although it’s not a perfect egg, your lines are noticeably smoother as if your skin had just been cleared. Jungkook gives you and your improved egg a thumbs-up, which you return with a thumbs-up of your own.

As you both resume your portraits, you can’t help but wonder if it was the tiny adjustment of how you held your pencil that made the difference. Or if it was Jeon Jungkook himself. You suppose only time will tell.

Several hours later, Jungkook has finished Taehyung’s portrait, you still need to color yours in, and an announcement goes off through the intercom.

“Due to the art auction charity event tonight, this building will be closing in ten minutes. Thank you.”

You groan. This is the worst case scenario for your damn group project. Because if you’re kicked out of the studio, you won’t have access to all of the necessary art supplies.

Unless…?

You exchange glances with the most devoted artist you know.

-

Jungkook’s apartment is not exactly how you imagined a weeby Snow stan’s habitat to look. There’s not a trace of Snow, nor is there a hint of magic anime girls floating around. But the one thing you did correctly predict is the amount of art scattered across the boy’s room.

Everywhere you look, you’re blown away by something different from the last. A painted city landscape detailed enough to be mistaken for an actual photo, a busy abstract pattern that makes the little wheels in your head spin, the familiar animation booklet of the flower in the snow, and an interesting little doodle that doesn't seem to scream “college art project”.

You try to make sense of what appears to be the chaos that ensues when the worlds of mathematics and music collide. Half of the basic times tables chart is replaced with values represented by music notes. The math nerd in you laughs when you see that a sixteenth note is correctly placed where two quarter notes align. Similarly, the music sheet on the other side of the doodle has a time signature of “75%” aka ¾ time aka the rhythm of a waltz.

“How old were you when you drew this one?” You point to the artwork titled Math Musician written in tiny font at the bottom corner next to the boy’s initials.

Jungkook chuckles, probably out of embarrassment. “I think I was ten.”

“Imagine being a talented artist at age ten. Can’t relate,” you clown yourself as you pull out your unfinished portrait from your art bag. In addition to looking “unfriendly”, your drawn face is rather lifeless and more so demonic for some reason. Hopefully some color will bring more dimension and life back into your flesh.

Just then, you realize you’ve made a fatal mistake.

“Umm, Jungkook?” you continue to stare down at your mistake. “I forgot to factor in your opinion of me into my portrait and now I just look unfriendly like Taehyung said.”

Jungkook tilts his head to get a better look at your monstrosity. His reaction could go one of three ways: he could laugh and give you a hard time about it, he could help you find a solution, or he could do both.

“You definitely nailed the ‘unfriendly’ part,” he snickers. “The RBF is strong with this one.”

“So you agree that I’m unfriendly?” On one hand, that would be good because you won’t have to revise your portrait if Jungkook shares the same opinion as Taehyung. On the other hand, you don’t want Jungkook to have that opinion of you.

“Not necessarily,” he says. “I think if people looked beyond your unfriendly demeanor, they’d find someone very different.”

Before you can ask the boy to elaborate, he has already left and come back with the solution to your problem: fancy coloring markers.

“Since you already drew your appearance based on Taehyung’s opinion, you can color it in based on my opinion, if that makes it easier.” Jungkook hands you an assortment of markers, though a large portion of them are just different shades of one color in particular. Yellow.

Yellow was the last color you were expecting. You expected cooler and darker tones like blues or greys to match your ice queen personality. But yellow? Yellow, to you, has always meant bright and happy.

“Yellow is a happy color, isn’t it?” You start swatching each shade of yellow to see how they translate onto a white canvas. Your favorite shade out of the bunch is the soft pale one called Banana Milk, but that still doesn’t mean it suits you. To prove your point, you hold up your unfriendly demon portrait to your actual face and pout. “Do either of these faces look happy to you, Jungkook?”

“No, but they do look silly.” The boy cracks a smile at your humor. “In a good way.” The way he smiles so brightly plants a dangerous little seed in your head. Maybe the yellow is meant to represent not how he perceives your feelings, but rather, how he perceives his own feelings for you.

-

By the time evening comes, you’ve shaded in every inch of your canvas, completing your portion of the portrait project. You were right—the bright colors really did help bring life back into your face, and there’s less of a demonic aura about it now.

It also looks like one big contradiction: an unfriendly-looking face with a cheerful brightness around it. But that’s probably what Jungkook was referring to when he said you were very different beneath your unfriendly mask.

As you stretch out your arms and yawn, you peek over at the boy’s progress with his portrait. He stares down at his markers scattered across the floor, pushing his long locks out of his eyes, in search of his next color. From the small portion that he has colored so far, you notice a big difference between his portrait and yours. While your color scheme is bright and flashy like a star, Jungkook’s is soft and subtle to mimic his shy and lowkey personality.

“Use this,” you toss him the Banana Milk marker and pull a scrunchie off your wrist, “and this too.”

Jungkook places the pale yellow marker down right on the area he’ll color next. He doesn’t, however, know what to do with the foreign hair accessory in his palm. He just blinks at it.

With a dramatic sigh, you join the boy on the floor and take back the scrunchie. Like a puppy with long bangs poking its eyes, he lets you comb your fingers through his hair before tying a tiny sprout on top of his head.

“So this is what the world looks like,” he nods, as if his long hair had greatly hindered his view of the world in front of him. At the same time, he spots the finished product of your portrait. “Your self-portrait is a lot different from how I would draw you.”

“I would’ve appreciated a compliment for my hard work, but go ahead and insult me, Jeon.” You square up.

“Oh sorry. You did a phenomenal job, Y/N.” He doesn’t even try to put effort into masking his sarcasm as pity praise. But that’s expected in how he hasn’t missed a single opportunity to tease you and your shitty art. “It’s just interesting how differently others interpret us from how we interpret ourselves.”

Now you’re curious. “How would you draw me then?”

“You want to see?” Jungkook pushes his own portrait aside and starts digging around for a sketchbook with a blank page to spare. What possesses him to prioritize a drawing of you before his own portrait that’s due in less than 24 hours? You won’t allow that.

“I want to see it after our project is finished, please,” you pull his unfinished portrait back in front of him before making yourself comfy on the boy’s bed. “In the meantime, I’ll be reading you-know-what.”

“Smut?” The boy has a dirty mind, it seems.

“Unless Witch Hazel plans on getting a little smutty, no, I will not be reading smut.” With a hmph, you scroll through jk.seagull’s blog. “I wonder if the new chapter is posted yet.”

Jungkook, too, picks up his phone with wide eyes when he hears you say “new chapter”. Your hype and excitement around the fanfic must be rubbing off on him.

But unfortunately for you, there is no new post since the one you saw before class. You make a sad booboo face, but it isn’t the end of the world either. You’ll just have to reread the series from the beginning as you wait for either Witch Hazel to be updated or Jungkook to finish the project. Whichever happens first.

“Wait, I think the seagull guy just posted something.”

You’ve never jumped onto your phone so quick when Jungkook mentions the seagull guy. It isn’t a new chapter of Witch Hazel, but instead another small text post.

“sorry for not updating witch hazel today like i said i would!! i was bombarded with an unexpected art assignment;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;”

Your sad booboo face disappears. It seems you’re not the only one struggling to find balance between the arts and the need to satisfy others. “Isn’t it funny that he’s an art student too?”

“Haha, yeah…” Jungkook’s voice fades as he returns to his portrait.

“Maybe that’s why I like his work so much,” you say, clicking back to the very first chapter of Witch Hazel where Snow is helping out those who she had unintentionally scared away with her witchcraft. “He just gets it.”

“He gets what?”

With the biggest yawn, you shrug because you don’t really know how to put it into words. It just feels as though you and him think alike. And the thought of that is comforting enough to put you to rest until Jungkook finishes up the project.

“Y/N.” You hear things shuffling around in your half-asleep state. When you rise from mysterious pile of blankets on top of you, you see Jungkook putting his art supplies away and clearing space on the floor for him to camp out since you’ve apparently claimed his bed.

“Did you finish?” You check the time in the dimly lit room, and you’re shocked to see it’s past midnight.

“Yeah.” He pulls your scrunchie out of his hair and drops it into your palm. “Thank you for your service.”

“Keep it.” You slide the hair tie onto the boy’s wrist when you notice he looks a little different somehow. The hoodie he was wearing earlier is replaced with a plain white tee, and his torn jeans have become grey sweatpants. The unspoken reality of you stay over at the boy’s apartment is slowly becoming realized. “In exchange, I’d like to see how you’d draw me.”

“Already done,” he says, jogging to his desk and back to you with a page from his sketchbook in hand. “I drew you as a superhero.”

“What kind of superhero?” You kick the blankets off of you and reach for the drawing, but of fucking course, Jungkook pulls it back real quick just when you were about to snatch it. “Let me see!”

He keeps it hidden behind his back for a while until he gets a little too cocky and dangles it above where you’re sitting on the bed. It would be too predictable for you to reach for the hand with drawing in it, so you decide to aim for the other arm to trap him in.

But rather than latching onto his arm, you catch only a piece of the scrunchie around his wrist, causing you both to lose balance. Your back hits the soft bedding as you stare up into the eyes of the boy who just so happened to land on top of you. Aha, you finally figure out why he looked a little different after you woke up. No glasses, just his handsome brown eyes.

You’d give yourself a pat on the back for figuring that out if you weren’t distracted by the drawing of you as a “superhero”. You were expecting something tough like the Avengers or Sailor Moon or even Izuku Midoriya. But instead you see someone who looks very much like yourself with a guitar and yellow flower crown.

“That’s not a superhero,” you say quietly.

“There are people who would feel otherwise.” Jungkook plops down next to you on his stomach.

“Like who?”

“Like people you share your music with.”

You bite your lip before rolling off the bed to run and get something. When you hop back onto the bed, you drop a pencil into Jungkook’s hand make him hold it with his pinky out like he had shown you earlier. You do the same with another pencil and link your pinky to his once more.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

[lgcmanager]

MUSICAL ACTING MISSION 003

SCHEDULE TYPE: TRIMESTER (CAREER) SCHEDULE RESTRICTIONS: Cannot be paired with another trimester schedule, unless stated otherwise

on JANUARY 11, HEO AECHA has summoned all the trainees confirmed to be in the musical acting path, old and new. it’s early in the morning, yet the woman seems fully present and watches on the trainee in the room. “good morning everyone!” she  says, fondly. “for those of you who only had the chance to meet me briefly, let me introduce myself. i am the head manager of LGC AGENCY, i oversee the careers of not only the company’s entertainers but also our other talents. which implies that i’m a busy woman and we won’t meet all too often, unfortunately. on a day to day basis, you will be taken in charge by your own manager; miss JEON DAHEE. this arrangement might come to change in the future.” she stares at them with a smile. “i have a lot of subjects to touch up, so let’s get to it!”

DORMS

“we’ve already sorted out all the living arrangements so for those of you who have chosen to stay in the dorms, you may move in starting from today. if you’ve chosen not to stay in the dorms, then you may also leave starting from today. however, those of you who have chosen to leave, please note that there isn’t to be any funny business from you all. if we hear of anything, you will immediately be sent back to the dorms. do i make myself clear?” she smiles at them but it’s clear that she is serious about her warning.

SNS

“the same rules will apply to you regarding your PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT as it is with our other actors. you will be permitted to have an account once you meet the following conditions: first you must have completed a full trimester in this path and then have at least 6 posts on the legacy entertainment account. this will assure us that you know sns etiquette and that we can trust you with the content you will publish.”

DEBUT CONTRACT

“for those of new who are new, there are new legal grounds that we must go over now that you’ve moved over to lgc agency. here is your contract that you will need to sign and return as soon as possible. i’ll let you read over them on your own.”

( this is just an ic note, there is no need to submit this ooc )

MUSICAL AUDITION

“now that we’re done with the formalities, we can get to the fun part, can we? first of all, i must i am very satisfied to see you growing in number. it started out with only one of you, but i feel as though you will all learn a lot on this path. musical acting is a very difficult field that doesn’t bring forth a lot of fame in return. but the skills you will acquire during this journey will be something for others to watch out for. idols in particular could learn a lot from you in terms of live performance. of course, we will work to provide you with opportunities to get yourself known to the public. there’s actually one i am proud to present to you today, with the help of someone you all know very well.” she turns to the door, where KIM HYUNCHEOL, head manager of legacy entertainment, soon appears. they both exchange a polite smile as he walks up to stand next to her.

“hello everyone. i know you must be curious to hear about this announcement, so let’s not waste any time, shall we?  i am proud to announce that we have partnered with CJ MEDIA and KBS2 to put together a special musical adaption of something you have certainly all watched or heard about before.” hyuncheol pauses and analyzes the trainees’ curious looks. “our regular trainees will also join you in this adventure. i hope you can guide them through this process, especially those of you with more experience.”

[ OOC NOTE: in order not to spoil the contents of the casting call 007 that will be posted shortly after this, we will not reveal what the musical is. ic, hyuncheol would of course announce it to them. make sure to check it out since the audition procedure will be explained then. ]

after greeting them, hyuncheol leaves them in aecha’s good hands. she takes a moment to look at each one. “i know what you must be thinking: you were specifically chosen for this path and yet, trainees will be able to participate. or maybe you’re looking forward to it. no matter your thoughts, i do agree with the head manager when he says he hopes you can act as guides and role models for them to follow. in fact, i’m counting on you. most of them will most likely be part of the ensemble cast, divided by skills. unlike you, they’re not expected to be proficient in all of the performance skills. so make sure to prepare yourselves a lot and meet our high standards.”

VERSATILITY WORKSHOPS

“we’re introducing special workshops from now until the end of march.”, she continues. “they will help hone your skills and learn more about the immense work that goes on behind the scenes. the musical theater community is very small and most performers and crew members know of each other. a reputation can so easily be made or shattered. as such, we want you to know exactly what these people do. the stylists, the costume designers, the props designers, the stage directors. they are essential to the musical production. without them, you don’t get to stand on stage. learn from them, respect them and you will become a beloved member of this wonderful community.”

she smiles. “trainees will also be taking these workshops. we expect you, of course, to attend them at least once. the rest is up to you but remember that musical acting requires you to be strong in acting, dancing, singing and many other things. you can’t afford to put all of your eggs in one basket like idols or actors could. that’s what makes you so special as well.”

“on February 1st, some of the workshops will feature very special guests, you will know more about it then.” she remains mysterious.

discover the special guests HERE (the post will be edited later tonight after the musical has been revealed). ooc, the trainees will not know who they are until the mentioned date.

“on top of it, since you are musical actors yourselves, we want to give you the opportunity to host your own workshop. you will be able to do this once during the course of the next three months. it’s up to you to choose which one you would feel most appropriate to teach. if you know nothing about hair & makeup, for example, i would advise you not to choose that... i hope i’m making myself clear?” to lighten the mood, aecha chuckles. “other trainees will be able to attend. feel free to decide of the contents, as long as they are appropriate and helpful in the context of a musical, of course.”

REQUIREMENTS

make sure to use the hashtag lgc:musicalmission for everything related to this event. you have until APRIL 3, 11:59 EST to complete the following requirements:

MUSICAL AUDITION: PLEASE CHECK CASTING CALL 007 FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS. on top of the requirements shown in the post, you will get +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE as bonus. it means you do not need to write two auditions! just link to your audition in the points form below to claim your bonus points.

VERSATILITY WORKSHOP (PARTICIPANT): write a 300+ words solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with a trainee of any gender OR a fellow musical actor about attending one of the workshops mentioned above. the workshops taking place with special guests on february 1st will be filmed, so if you choose to write about it, make sure your muses are on their best behavior to avoid consequences or gaining a negative reputation.

VERSATILITY WORKSHOP (HOST): write a 300+ words solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with a trainee of any gender OR a fellow musical actor about hosting the workshop of your choice. since they host on their own, your partner will have to be the one attending your muse’s workshop. for the muse who isn’t hosting, this thread can still count towards their requirement as a particpant whether it’s with a trainee or another musical actor.

the writing requirements for the musical itself will be revealed at a later date, but similar to how dramas work, it will be a different points form.

to validate your skill points and collect your notoriety points, please submit the following form ONCE on the points blog before APRIL 3, 11:59 EST.

TITLE: MUSE NAME ∙ MUSICAL MISSION 006

- MUSICAL AUDITION:  +5 ( skill points distribution ) bonus [ LINK ] - VERSATILITY WORKSHOP (PARTICIPANT): +5 ( skill points distribution ), +2 notoriety [ LINK ] - VERSATILITY WORKSHOP (HOST): +5 ( skill points distribution ), +3 notoriety [ LINK ]

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

book blogging #1: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation

by Olivia Judson, published 2002

Question: what do you think of when you think of books that are “fun” to read?

For me, a lot of speculative fiction comes to mind. Recent books that I found fun include Space Opera (Catherynne M. Valente), The Beautiful Ones (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), and everything by Sarah Gailey that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Though I haven’t gotten ahold of it yet, I’m pretty sure Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) is going to be spectacularly fun as well. 

These are books that aren’t necessarily my favorite stories of all time, but they have been some of my favorites to read. They’re all propelled by zany premises and whirlwind plots, enjoying themselves way too much for anyone to ever stop and worry about the parts that don’t make that much sense. When Sarah Gailey says “I have a crew committing a heist while riding hippopotamuses, do you want in?” I don’t ask questions. I just say yes and go along for the ride.

But there’s one major anomaly that always comes to mind when I think of books that I’ve had fun reading, and that’s David Sax’s The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue. It’s a 2014 work of nonfiction, and as the title suggests it’s an analysis of popular food trends and the forces that power them. The Tastemakers isn’t what this blog post is actually supposed to be about, so I won’t go into too many details, but suffice to say that I was engrossed despite the fact that I know pretty much nothing about the world of culinary trends or foodie fads - or cooking in general, if I’m being totally honest. But there’s something really delightful about learning things that are entirely outside your wheelhouse without having to worry about the material showing up on a test later. 

Given that I’m posting this on a blog with relatively few followers and that this is a write-up of a very niche book that was published eighteen years ago and could not be further from trendy, I’m well aware that anyone reading this is probably already at least passing familiar with me and what I do, so you folks might be saying, “Hang on, Makenzie. Are you seriously trying to say that this is outside your wheelhouse? The title on your Tumblr has been “Ask The Sex Witch” since 2015. You’re a whole sex educator, for fuck’s sake!”

Well, yes and no. Judson is a real-deal evolutionary biologist and gets into some pretty serious science in this book, which is pretty wildly different from what I usually do. I talk to people about sorting out their likes and dislikes, their boundaries, their sense of personal sexual autonomy, and so on. Although I definitely advocate for introspection and self-examination, I rarely go looking for answers far beyond the individual level. Judson asks big biological questions to figure out how some truly peculiar-looking behavior evolves: Why is it worthwhile for some animals to fight to the death trying to fuck? What’s up with some species of insects eating their mates? And who, pray tell, is engaging in the noble art of penis-fencing? Clearly, this is a totally different ball game on many levels.

(Speaking of ball games, did you know that the male shiner perch’s testes completely shrivel up over the winter? That’s rough, buddy.)

Offering sex advice to humans is hard enough, but Judson - writing as chipper sex advice columnist Dr. Tatiana - easily offers education to an impressively vast variety of species. The framing device of the book is a charmingly weird one. Each segment opening Dear Prudence-style, with a short letter from an animal badly in need of advice. The first chapter, for instance, begins with a query written by a stick bug called Twiggy (aww) wondering how to get her boyfriend to stop having sex with her after ten continuous weeks of intercourse. (Answer: Girl, he’s not gonna. Apparently that’s how he stops any other stick bugs from getting it in.) For the final chapter Judson mixes it up by formatting a discussion about the pros and cons of asexual reproduction as a hectic daytime talk show, complete with microscopes to view the tiniest guests and seating that offers both saltwater and freshwater tanks for aquatic audience members to sit in, like something out of Zootopia. 

(I haven’t seen Zootopia and the only thing I know about it for sure is that in one scene there’s a DILF-looking tiger, but I’m pretty confident in the assumption I’m making here.) 

Judson does an admirable job of providing pretty comprehensible explanations for a lot of evolutionary science, and while I did have to power skim through a few segments that were really beyond my grasp, it did make a pretty lively read out of the biological pros and cons of producing sperm bigger than your own body. It’s not exactly a book that’s difficult to put down, but I had a perfectly pleasant time reading it in the moments between doing anything else - eating a meal, resting in bed, getting some sun in my backyard - and even learning a little while I did so. I fully intended to use Dr. Tatiana as a break between the two installments of N.K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood duology, and it has served that role magnificently.  

Am I recommending this book to you? Not exactly, unless you’re extremely interested in evolutionary theories that are nearly two decades old or a science fiction writer looking to give your non-human characters some thoroughly non-human sexual habits. I’m not supremely interested in making recommendations with the blog in general, unless someone specifically asks for them; I’m hoping this will be more like writing up my personal thoughts about books and then hurling them into the virtual void like messages in bottles. If they wash up on your shore and you read them and come to the conclusion that this is something you, too, would like to read, that’s pretty rad. I love that for you! But it wasn’t necessarily my intent.

Strictly speaking, I didn’t even recommend this book to myself. In 2019 I tried to stay pretty intentional about my to-read list, really whittling it down to stuff that I actively wanted to engage with rather than anything that sounded vaguely not awful. I was hoping to keep that trend up in 2020, but like many other things that are much more serious, this whole pandemic situation has scuppered those plans a bit. I get most of my books by borrowing them from the public library where I work, and that’s been closed for nearly two months. Unlike many book bloggers I’ve observed I don’t keep a massive stack of unread books around at all times, so I’ve really been relying on the kindness of friends to keep me supplied in these trying times.

My friend Paige slipped me Dr. Tatiana’s (along with the aforementioned Dreamblood books and several volumes of Kurtis J. Weibe’s comic series Rat Queens) in exchange for some books I lent to her, because we all have to look out for each other in These Trying Times. I trusted her good taste, despite having no idea what the book was about and more than a few reservations. 

At other times I think this book might have sailed right over my head - not to sneer at the so-called soft sciences, but there’s a reason I gave up on my childhood dream of marine biology and got a sociology degree instead - but right now, as I’m finally adjusting to the slower pace of life in quarantine and remembering how to focus, I’m finding that it fits my needs. It’s unlikely to live on as an all-time favorite, but it’s something to do and gives me an occasional excuse to gasp and tell my roommate something absolutely wild, like the fact that spiders have two penises and that the dual arachnodicks are located on their faces, on either side of their mouths.

My basic understanding of evolution is that change rarely happens based on logic or reason, but by finding something that works and then sticking to it, no matter how improbable it may seem. When male elephants get horny they apparently develop an insatiable bloodlust and piss so constantly their penises turn green (yikes!), which is definitely not the most practical way to do things, but evidently it’s been getting the job done. Getting through quarantine has been sort of like that, has it not? A lot of behavior that might not be the most intuitive but is somehow enabling ongoing survival, like occupying myself with books that I might not have given a second glance in the halcyon before times.

That’s totally the same thing, right?

Right.

A note about the appearance of this book:

I’ve been talking a fair amount lately about my dislike for what I see as pretty transparently romanticized materialism in a lot of book blogging spaces, with an emphasis placed on acquiring and showing off as many pristine books as possible. I don’t own this book, and it looks like ass. It looks like Paige stole it from a library in North Carolina, which would not be shocking. When I noticed the large brown stain in the corner I jokingly asked if she’d dropped it in coffee, and she unflinchingly confirmed that yes, she had.

[fieldofpain]

On the White Rev Left

Developing Militants: the Left’s Minstrel Show and How College Educated Revolutionaries of all Colors Keep the Working Class Shucking and Jiving

[This piece was originally published by a small collective known as Fire Next Time in early 2013, though to my knowledge they no longer exist as an organization. Their website has disappeared into the digital ether and their writings along with it, so I’ve decided to re-up this article onto tumblr, even if I doubt many will find it on my lil’ old blog. If this does happen to stumble across your dash please take the time to read it, particularly if you currently consider yourself a “radical” in college. It had a tremendous impact on my friends and I when it first came out and dramatically changed the direction of the political work we accomplished that year.]

Introduction

The White revolutionary left is largely college educated young people. Whether they work at a cafe, wash dishes, teach in public schools, or drive trains, they share the common experience of a college education. Their experiences in college have profoundly shaped their politics in a variety of ways. Two particular sets of politics are race relations and relationship to revolutionary theory. These White College Educated Revolutionaries (WCER) have never broken from the experiences in college. Worst of all they unknowingly impose their particular college experiences on the revolutionary movement and particularly the working class whites and working class People of Color (POC)[1]. Lastly, People of Color College Educated Revolutionaries (POCCER) have played a crucial role in working with WCER in unknowingly preventing any working class leadership from developing.

This has resulted in a devastating consequence for potential POC working class revolutionaries. They are denied the very intellectual benefits which WCER have received. While WCER have all the best intentions, this is objectively white supremacy in motion. This results in the control of most organizations by WCER. The POCCER in particular are rarely in genuine leadership because of this dynamic and their own contradictory relationship to education and revolutionary theory. This results in a minstrel show where authenticity is defined by lack of knowledge of the past and the romanticization of someone’s experience. Fundamentally it says that theory, writing, and education is not for POC. White college educated revolutionaries control the movement and usually forefront only their experiences and expect POC and white working class people to conform to them.

I will expand on these points in this essay. This is one of the many crises of the revolutionary left today. Sadly, much of what I describe is done under the best of intentions. While it might sound like it at times, I do not believe there is a coordinated and evil plot to keep down working class people in the revolutionary left. I do not believe any of these WCER are white supremacists. They are serious revolutionaries. But they are revolutionaries who are the product of the general historical moment and their particular life experiences. Regardless of what they say and think, I am most interested in the objective results and process of their actions.

The White College Educated Revolutionary (WCER) The category of WCER is very broad and needs some political refinement. While I cannot draw extremely sharp demarcations, some minimal ones will be helpful. I have noticed that WCER in Trotskyist and Maoist organizations do not display this problem. If anything the Maoists are the most serious about developing well rounded revolutionaries as far as their tradition understands it. WCER Trotskysts also display a fair amount of seriousness and fall outside the critiques I am making.

I have noticed Anarchists are some of the poorest in this sense. While there are exceptions, those who I can point out are exactly that, exceptions. Then there are those coming out of the Johnson-Forest tradition which have most in common with the problems of the white Anarchists and WCER. Lastly, there are the independent activists who are radicals or revolutionaries, but most importantly have not joined any revolutionary organizational form. The core of my critique is centered around independent activists, those influenced by the Johnson-Forest tradition, and Anarchists, with all of them having in common their college education. When using WCER, I will tend to refer to this layer as a general rule.

Most of the WCER left has had minimal contact with POC working class and unemployed. They come out of the suburbs or small towns and go to fairly elite private or public university. They rightly developed a moral anger against the white supremacy geared towards many communities in the USA and around the world. They learned about Marxism in the university and often it was discussed as Stalinism. Marxism was paraded around as completely male, Euro-centric etc. What was missing was any mention of Walter Rodney, Rosa Luxemburg, Grace Lee Boggs etc. Or how many movements in Asia, Latin America, and Africa were marxist/ communist, although of highly Stalinist-Maoist varieties. Nor do they study in college the Grundrisse, Johnson-Forest Tendency, Socialism or Barbarism, etc.

What first developed for these WCER as a critique of Marxism, led to a criticism of theory and universal ideas as destroying oppressed groups’ particular experiences. Theory and universalism became a stand-in for the white straight man. While there is a strain of truth to it, it does not explain any of the women and POC militants and movements I have mentioned so far. What stood in its place was the romanticism of the individual experience of Queers, women of color, Trans-people, men of color, etc. The class dimensions of these identities were usually hallowed out because class also became the bogey man for Marxism. Sociological academic words like intersectionality, privilege, and positionality came to fill in for the revolutionary past. Bourgeois thought had once again defanged revolutionary theory.

If revolutionary theory was not totally hollowed out, what was learned at best was an incomprehensible academic Marxism. Giving certain insights to many WCERs, it also left them unable to speak plainly to anyone outside of academia. As soon as WCERs stepped out of school, they discovered no one understood a word they spoke unless they spoke plain. This further deepened the idea that revolutionary theory was not for the working classes. This created a private versus public distinction of where revolutionary ideas are discussed. Back on the college campuses, the WCER did some organizing where the only POC they encountered were their class counterparts. The political experiences and relationship developed on college campuses had a definitive impact on how both of these groups imagine politics, organizing and race relations to be. And these POC had been waiting their entire life to give it to the man and they found a group of WCER who were only too happy to oblige their POC counterparts. Both the WCER and the POC revolutionaries had a sickness of revenge, guilt and an inner cowardice.

Authenticity+Representation= Attack on Revolutionary Theory Everyone on college campuses recognized that there was a profound difference between their class reality and what people outside the campus were experiencing. Usually this was understood in some shallow-sociological form of class. That no one was able to make deeper connections with those outside college campuses was a reality no one could ignore. This is part of the material basis of the politics of representation which came to fill such a role in the contemporary revolutionary left. WCERs needed representatives to play a fill-in role since none could be found outside of college campuses. These representatives were almost always POCCERs.

But to be representative of something, you need some claim to authenticity. No discussion of authenticity can happen without discussing the problems of race which are inherent to the concept. We can expose the problem by framing it in terms of a question. Who is an authentic POC? What kind of music does an authentic POC listen to? How does an authentic POC talk? How does an authentic POC dress? Where does an authentic POC live? What does an authentic POC eat? What are the politics of an authentic POC? The list is endless. But this line of questions exposes the racialist/ white supremacist thinking which are the very foundations of the questions themselves.

No one in the WCER would openly ask such questions. Their white skin prevents such public statements. But the way WCER behave in college, exposes their method of thinking. This is where the POCCER enters. I will not forget when I recently heard a POCCER claim that he sagged his pants low so he could make a political statement, connect with the hood, and remind others of his true origins. This is a classic moment of authentic representation. The WCER sees someone who they believe has an accurate understanding of the POC working class.

The authentic representation combination leads to an attack on revolutionary theory. The authentic representative is someone who hates revolutionary theory. The following things are essential for this authentic representative to say: a) people in the hood do not read or care about books; b) people in the hood worry about the police, wages, or rent; c) people in the hoods’ experiences are enough to politicize them.

Ignorance or White Supremacy? College campuses are so politically correct that open white supremacy is rare in the left. There is something to be said of young people coming together. Mistakes will be made and often very silly things will be said. It is difficult to be a white revolutionary today around POC revolutionaries. The slightest slip is taken as white supremacy and the POC revolutionary is quick to make accusations. Strangely, I have noticed that POC often say as many ridiculous things about other POC from different religions, nationalities, class backgrounds, gender etc. However, there is much more negotiating and conversation going on within the POC space then with white counterpart.

The reality of white supremacy and the broader ignorance of white people regarding white supremacy has a lot to do with the frustrations POC revolutionaries have. Too many white people know little of what is happening in POC workplaces, schools and neighborhoods. Many well intentioned, but slightly naive WCER get caught in this dynamic. Unfortunately, nobody grows out of this dynamic. They continue to perpetuate it well past their years in college. Buried in this field of land mines is the assumption that politics and history is something you know or you don’t, but it cannot be taught. The anti-educational bent of the WCER and POCCER re-enforces the notion that either you know it or you don’t. The most common statement coming from POCCER is that people in the hood do not need to read about police brutality, they experience it everyday. How are white people supposed to know about police brutality? If something is learned from a book, its cultural credibility is put into question. Knowledge from a book is seen as less pure, authentic, etc. The real knowledge, the claim goes, is from the streets, from poverty, and raw oppression. The common refrain usually goes, “I do not need a book to tell me about oppression” x, y or z. This is often very radical sounding positions, but underlying them is poverty of knowledge, history, and strategy in how to fundamentally defeat the root causes of oppression.

If politics is something you either know or you do not, the implications are deep. People who advocate this position should think very carefully about what those implications are. Why/ how would white working class people have solidarity with working class POC? Why/ how would POC have solidarity with one another considering the amount of internal divisions within POC? Why/ how should working class POC/ whites stop believing in the anti-Semitic theories of the Illuminati? Why should men stop thinking women are ‘bitches’? Why/ how do some of these changes occur? The point of is in a society filled with horrible ideas spewed from ruling class media and oppressed people, how do new liberatory ideas gain traction? Of course, part of the story is people struggle, and change their views. But, is that enough? Obviously, I do not think so. Theoretical engagement with the working class is crucial. Related to this is that politics is purely culture and personal interactions. This is has particular origins in the United States. This has its own deeper history going back to feminism, rejection of vanguard Maoist-Stalinist parties of the 1970s, and the defeat of the 1980s all leading to contradictory developments. I do not mean to slight in any way the important insights regarding how the personal is political, the importance of unpaid care work, or the destructive nature of the voluntarism of the New Communist Movement. Attached to these healthy developments have also come the singular focus on culture and personal interactions as representative of political struggle.

This intersects with the contemporary experience of WCER and POCCER in countless classrooms where they are trained to be professional cultural critics. This should not be dismissed as something minuscule. I argue that the highest form of counter-revolutionary culture today is the radical chic cultural critic which is the emblem of sexy and cool politics. This is criticism with no historical, strategic, and organizational perspective. It is the cultural criticism of neo-liberalism disguised as radical politics which has fundamentally shaped WCER and POCCER. It is the practice of people who are not responsible for building a community, but only act as ‘critical dissenters’ who ultimately land a job at a university ‘speaking truth to power’ while actually never challenging it. At best, many WCER and POCCER walk away from college hating such cultural critics, but I argue the essence of those critics are stamped permanently on the former. And unknowingly it becomes a part of political practice, social life, and relationships. Culture and personal interactions absolutely matter. But they cannot be divorced from broader material and ideological realities of this system. This means that if we take white supremacy seriously, then we should take into account that our little groupings cannot be divorced from the effects of white supremacy.

Considering everything I have said, I want to end this section on a different note. The revolutionary left in the USA has had its fair share of internal white supremacy. What else is to be expected in a society so saturated with such a sickening racial order? This is not meant to excuse the failures of the past, but to place them in a certain ideological and material reality which we continue to deal with today. It is undeniable the revolutionary left has made gigantic leaps from the days of the Socialist Party of America when Eugene Debs could foolishly proclaim that socialism has nothing special to offer to the Black man. Today, I could not imagine anyone saying something like that without facing serious challenges from all quarters.

This begs the question of having some measurable standard for what constitutes white supremacy. Signs of white supremacy in the revolutionary left are: a) a lack of POC leadership b) a political program that does not take racial oppression seriously c) no organizing with racially oppressed groups d) the dismissal of POC revolutionary militants, thinkers, and histories. It seems that these four criteria are clear and measurable points of struggle that every revolutionary formation should be measured on.

The People of Color College Educated Revolutionary Who is the POCCER? Just like the WCER from Maoist and Trotskyist backgrounds, the POCCER from the same backgrounds also has a serious commitment to the working class. The one addition for POCCER, are nationalists, who are also some of the most committed to the development of working class people of color. Whether it is the determination of slaves to read or Malcolm X, the importance of being a well rounded and educated revolutionary is taken seriously. It is a particular point of honor in a society which has done everything to deny the masses of Black people decent education. And it is one of the most powerful ways to exist as equals with other whites.

POCCER can be divided into two camps on the question of revolutionary theory based on their reaction to the chapter “Saved,” in Malcolm X’s autobiography. For one set of POCCER it only made a momentary impact on their lives. It was just another moment. But another group of POCCER read it and it changed them forever. It recast their entire life. Their lack of knowledge of the past, their feelings of insecurity, their failures in school, their peoples’ oppression, etc. all got reworked by this chapter. And one of the dramatic lessons of this chapter was that ignorance was not a gift, but a great curse which had to be overcome. For these POCCER, reading and writing would become a crucial part of revolutionary politics and liberation. I do not mean to say that it was simply this chapter which was the magic trick. I am only using this chapter as a pivot into what was a developing current in the second set of POCCER. They were waiting to read such a piece of literature their entire life, as if all the events in their life had prepared them to sit in that lonely prison cell with Malcolm X and finally discover the power of knowledge.

The attraction to purely personal experiences by POCCER is a classic sign of weakness. It is weakness in a particular social context. In revolutionary organization where abstract thinking, theory, generalizations, history, etc. matter so immensely, POCCER who have been so poorly educated, in a moment of being intellectually overwhelmed, defend themselves by reverting to personal experiences. It is not just being intellectually overwhelmed, it is an emotional reaction. It is a reaction of bitterness. Even in the struggle for liberation, they cannot compete with many white revolutionaries. I am not saying personal experiences are not vital, but I see it in a 3-way relationship with theory/ history, experiences of political struggle, in relationship with personal experiences. That is a liberatory way of looking at one’s life and what many white and POC revolutionaries in the past have done.

There is a defensiveness when an “other,” but especially WCER, know the internal politics of POC. There is insecurity. The dirty secrets of the POC community have been revealed to an interloper. How did they learn this? The sad truth is that there are no more secrets. The current access to information is unlike anything humanity has known before. Gone are the days when secrets can be hidden. In a world of multi-racial dating, books, youtube, twitter, etc., the racial secrets are out. POC who are resentful over the dirty secrets are living in the 19th century. This gives further ammunition to POCCER who think that theory and history are no good. It is purely an emotional reaction. Healthy, multi-racial, working class politics do not exist in WCER and POCCER scenes. Instead of strategy and revolutionary politics being the driving force, it is our feelings. Much of how we treat each other reflects the experiences of WCER and POCCER more than an anarchist/ communist movement rooted in the working classes. Something new has to be built.

The People of Color Alliance with White College Educated Revolutionaries Against the Working Class of all Colors For POCCER there are conflicts with the POC working class revolutionaries. I see two conflicts: a) who gets to represent the authentic person of color and b) who will be the organizational top dog and the gatekeeper of the POC community to whites. This struggle is actually a mini class struggle which has so far gone unnoticed in the entire revolutionary left. The WCER with the POCCER who do not like to read, discourage working class people of color from reading so they can play a role in revolutionary organization, politics, and struggle. Earlier, I wrote that WCER impose their experiences and needs on working class people of color. That is not entirely true. A more accurate formulation is that the POCCER and WCER together accomplish this goal. Although these two groups have slightly different reasons and approaches, the results are the same. Both, WCER and POCCER argue that what they are doing is completely justified. They both tend to know academic versions of Marxism, academic versions of feminism, academic versions of fill in the blank. If social consciousness is the product of social being, what else is to be expected. Those four years of undergraduate school and more years of graduate school in the defining intellectual years of WCER/ POCCER play an over-determining role. Both tend to have a theory of pedagogy that says personal experiences are what counts and that politics is something you either know or you don’t, in contrast to something you learn.

Both have fundamentally accepted in a-historical terms the profound attacks on the working class. Every bit of historical evidence shows that the working classes in the USA before the 1970s had a profoundly rich political culture, whether Nationalist, Maoist, Stalinist, Trotskyste, Anarchist, etc. It was a political defeat of epic proportions that these currents were separated from the working class. It is also accepted as eternal that working class people cannot read, do not like to read, do not like to think…etc.

Neither takes seriously what the working class thinks. My case in point is that no current in the United States has written one serious essay on what young working class people are thinking about today: New World Order and the Illumanti. How many people in the revolutionary left have heard of books like The Pale Horse? This is what the young working class is reading. Perhaps most dangerous of all are thoughts which imply that working class people of color have an inherent disposition to learn through song and dance, i.e. hip hop. There is no doubt of the rich history of resistance in musical form. To ignore that is to have a reductionist understanding of politics and culture. At the same time, there is a romanticization of the form/content of pedagogy. It is borderline white-supremacist and very patronizing.

For POCCER, being a gatekeeper is a vital part of who they are. There is a crucial social relationship which is masked by this gate keeper function. That the POCCER are not able to ‘mobilize’ POC working class communities any better than their white counterparts is a painful admission. The POCCER usually chalk this up to the fact that white culture, politics and ways of doing do not resonate with POC. Or that there is a lack of multi-racial solidarity. All these points have a grain of truth which are a factor. But I argue that the fundamental reasons why whites or POC cannot mobilize POC working class communities are: a) POC working class communities are not revolutionary in this period b) they are trying different strategies other than militant confrontation with the system c) they do not see a real winnable alternative in the revolutionary left d) the one thing which the revolutionary left could provide, strategies and intellectual discussions, it does not do, because it does not take those questions seriously e) paradoxically, and most importantly, when there is an immense militancy or ‘revolutionary’ discussion going on in the working class, WCER and POCCER are nowhere to be found .

In the absence of working class struggle and politics, it is the middle class whites and POC which have defined everything about the revolutionary left. It is understandable. It is very difficult to escape your class background. What is not understandable is the intellectual failure by the WCER and POCCER to understand themselves in light of this particular problem. The Left Minstrel Show: Time to Dance for the College Educated I have come to believe one of the most dangerous places in America for POC is the left. Where overthrowing capitalism will require excellence, the revolutionary left is the home of intellectual mediocrity, and for POC who have had education denied to them, this is not an option for freedom, but for ignorance and death. To be an authentic POC, you have to play the game of personal experiences, tragedy, etc. If you discuss things at the level of white revolutionaries, they will begin seeing you less as a POC, less as someone part of the POC community, etc. They will deny that any such POC could possibly come out of such conditions. At best they will see you as the exceptional POC or simply erase your identity as a POC. Your best chance of getting heard in the WCER scene is by playing a very specific role which has been mapped out for a long time. The WCER and POCCER ultimately create one of the fundamental divisions in capitalist society in its own relationship with POC working class revolutionaries. This is a racialized mental and manual division of labor. Secretly the WCER and POCCER are on powerful email lists, have their own blogs where everything is debated, and journals, etc. Most of these forums are largely white. The POCCER/ WCER does not develop the skills of the POC working class revolutionaries so that they can participate in these forums. What happens is that the WCER are the thinkers while the POC working class revolutionaries are the brawn/workhorses of the group. Occasionally the POC working class revolutionaries will write about their own personal experiences, but rarely in a broader historical or theoretical sense. That is the job of the WCER. The POCCER/ WCER cannot see that this mental and manual division of labor must be transcended. The POCCER/ WCER has no conception of a worker-militant; no conception of the relationship between theory and practice; no conception of the relationship between personal experiences, history, and political struggle. Both groups ultimately have a rigid divide between theory and practice. Theory is for private discussions among mostly white college educated people. Everything else is for working class people.

The job of the authentic person of color is to dance a game of ignorance, personal experiences, tragedy, and sob stories which all the POCCER and WCER can listen to. After a while, most sensible working class people leave such formations, because one does not go to meetings to share personal stories. It is called hanging out with friends. Without a clear revolutionary vision, one does not need to organize protests. A Sunday afternoon watching NFL is much more entertaining and potentially liberatory. This reveals that the revolutionary left has very little to offer working class people.

At times in this essay it might sound like I believe it is WCER who will teach working class people of color. As if the only relationship that can be developed with WCER is one of them as teachers and the working class people of color as obedient students. I believe that what the WCER and POCCER have to teach the working class is fairly limited today. Largely because of the degradation of revolutionary politics and theory. In some ways, I believe the working class is on its own and has been abandoned by the revolutionary left. But even if the WCER and POCCER did have things to teach, it would be a dynamic relationship of theory and key skills informed by political work and experiences. College educated people, especially from the middle class or working class, will tend to have a leg up in terms of reading, writing, and speaking skills. There is no point in denying that. The question is toward what ends are those skills used. Currently little of those skills are used to develop working class revolutionaries. If the trajectory of the past is any indication, most of the WCER and POCCER today will be the chic professors, gentrifiers, and ‘progressive’ state bureaucrats of tomorrow.

Being Scared To Say Anything The worst is that the WCER is always afraid to say anything critical of their POC college educated comrades or the POC working class comrades–especially if they are in the same group. Every speech a person of color gives is powerful. If you say a POC was being inarticulate, is that racist? It becomes impossible for the WCER to help their comrade grow because they are trapped in a psychology of guilt.

For the POCCER what is at stake is their confidence. They are always worried that what they are doing is reflective of their race. And failure in a specific task speaks for the entire race. This is a specific problem white revolutionaries do not face. POC revolutionaries tend to be defensive and come off as authoritarian because criticism is taken not only personally, but ultimately as a commentary about their ability to be race men/ women/ non-gender identifying. That is the crux of the problem. Psychologically, while understandable in a historical sense, this is completely destructive for the individual militant. The white college educated militant, while usually not aware of this internal war going on in the POC militant, claps endlessly, regardless of the quality of the writing, speech, contact work, organizing event, etc.

We need to destroy these behavior’s of white-POC college educated revolutionaries. They are in the way of oppressed people learning. These so called revolutionaries are closer to Booker T Washington than anything resembling revolutionary politics. Yes, WCER and their counterparts are no different than Booker T Washington on many fundamental questions of education. For those who want to see a real contrast, compare it with W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James or Malcolm X.

The Hidden Battle: College Educated Revolutionaries Obscured from Working Class Women of Color Due to patriarchy across the globe, historically, there has arisen a larger grouping of men of color who have left their mark in the written word: Amilcar Cabral, Steve Biko, M.N. Roy, CLR James, Jose Carlos Mariategui, Ali Shariati, Walter Rodney, to name some. The list of women is considerably shorter although that is beginning to change. One of the factors which unites many of the men is that they were able to go to the university. The women were not. The very ideological, social and material divisions created by patriarchy end up creating a powerful problem to overcome. The WCER and POCCER take the results of oppression and naturalize them into their own internal dynamics. Many women and feminists will jump and shout that I am ignoring the efforts of Lucy Parons, Elma Francois, Laila Khaled, Elizabeth Gurley Flyn, Assata Shakur, and/ or Rosa Luxemburg. My point is that few of these women left considerable theories or histories behind. For the super majority of these women, we read their autobiographies. This is not because women are biologically or inherently more prone to write autobiographies. That is not true. It is because they were denied the education that more of their men counterparts received. Many had to take care of children. Others were also the secretaries of the very men comrades who were supposed to be fighting for ‘their’ liberation. Many of these women subordinated the struggle for women’s liberation in the hopes that class or race liberation would grant them increased freedom. The reasons are many, but all tied to patriarchy.

Working class women of color are just as capable as their male counterparts in doing what the latter has done. There is nothing inherent in men which allows them to be more theoretical. But the debate as it has been dominated by WCER and POCCER blocks this development.

Female WCER fail to politically understand the specific battle that women of color must have with men of color. When female WCER push against theory, reading, and writing, they rob women of color revolutionaries of an important weapon which is specific to their historical experiences. And of course many male WCER think they are doing their duty by supporting their sisters in attacking theory and study.

The WCER think they are developing a block around their oppressed women counterparts. It is an opportunistic block not based on liberation, but based on sociological and romantic desires to be close to women of color. Male POCCER can continue to speak on questions of race in a gendered way which equates race with male gendered identified people and continue being the authentic representatives of POC with no challenge to their perspectives. But what gets lost in the debate is the battles that women of color must have with men of color in asserting their legitimate need to do exactly what men of color have done on a world stage.

In the one place where serious education and theory could be learned, the revolutionary formation, the WCER and the PCCER block them from doing so. The framework of WCER is most damaging for working class women of color.

What about the Working Class? It is true that there are plenty of working class people who hate to read and write. Many who disagree with what I have wrote, can point to many examples of this reality. Many will also correctly point out how the K-12 education system is designed to create McDonald’s workers, prisoners, and unemployed workers. Many will also point out that for many working class people, the best defense mechanism for survival is to ignore the racist, patriarchal, and homophobic education taught in school. These are only some of the realities working class kids face in school.

The question then becomes what conclusions are to be drawn from this situation. Basic questions should be asked. What kinds of knowledge is needed to destroy capitalism and social relations of oppression? Is reading and writing automatically white supremacist? Patriarchal? Class based? If you are trying to organize with millions of people is some type of reading and writing required? If music or youtube is your response, are those things any less patriarchal, homophobic and potentially white supremacist than reading and writing? Many working class people, after being told by their teachers and peers in K-12 that they are stupid for not being able to read and write as fast, react by never taking forms of intellectual practice seriously. Again, this makes sense. Working class people also have a contradictory relationship to these questions. I have been told by working class POC that I am an achievement of the race for my ability to speak and write well. I have been looked at as a white-boy by other POC working class people. There is probably no principled position I could discover by doing a sociological study of what working class people think about education, especially the young folks. Perhaps from the adults with young children, we could see a general trend towards the importance of education as a key concern.

Another critique is that working class people need to think about bread and butter issues and do not have time for theory. I am currently reading Red Star Over China. In this book, peasant soldiers, in the middle of a war, are taking 3-4 months to study theory! Let me say that again, in a middle of a war, where their comrades are being hunted down and killed, they are taking time out to study. Where their daily caloric intake is probably less than what many working class Americans eat in one McDonald’s meal! At a certain point, some of these arguments are simply just racist arguments which implicitly say POC in America are too dumb to think about anything other than bread and water. And besides, I also notice that whenever POC think about more than bread and water, the common revolutionary response is that those POC are bought off. It seems a trap has been set up: if you are a poor working class POC, then you can only think of food, shelter, and cops; but if you are able to think about other things, then you are bought off.

It is probably true that the most common encounters that revolutionaries have today with working class people tends to re-affirm that working class people do not like to read or write. There is a truth to this. A few words regarding the choices of the working class. To the extent that the working class can be thought of as a unit, as a conscious being, as a subject in capitalism, it certainly makes choices based on need and survival. The working class fundamentally needs to make choices on how to get food on the plate. What are the choices which will allow this to happen? At what point do working class adolescents in school figure out that their childhood dreams are no longer achievable? To what extent is this a realistic assessment of white supremacy, class, and patriarchy? This has huge political potentials which everyone recognizes. It is an insight about the realities of the system. It is gained through lived experiences. At the same time, what is the difference between being an object and a subject? We should not ignore that working class people are also objects in this society. They are objects for the capitalists to impose their ‘rationality’ upon. If this dimension is not understood, then the very premise of oppression cannot be grappled with. Oppressed people are made into objects by the system. There is a dynamic tension between this object-subject relationship.

The point of bringing up this subject-object relationship is not to discount the real and sensible choices that many working class K-12 or college people make. To point is to look at how these choices also lead to limitations in destroying the very system which created the oppression. In the immediate sense of the question, the choice to stop paying attention in school makes sense. But it becomes much more complicated when it comes to figuring out what amount/type of knowledge is needed to overthrow the system. I want to recognize that it was millions of peasants or slaves who could not read or write (which does not mean they were not smart) who destroyed oppression in China, Russia, Haiti, and many other places.

This reality should not lead to sloppy understandings of the education required to overthrow the system. Every revolutionary movement has had a set of educated (either from the university setting, through revolutionary organizations, or through their own networks) revolutionaries who have either led or fundamentally shaped the revolution. In my years of study, I have not encountered a single movement that escapes this dynamic. The other choice which I do not want to discount is that the subjects/ working class–as I mentioned earlier in the essay– determined to continue learning, dropout of school, to continue their education. Some find themselves tucked away in libraries, some in front of youtube videos watching Illuminati vidoes, others at the corner of the street talking about politics. There are a million ways to learn outside of bourgeois educational institutions.

Conclusion It should be no surprise that the revolutionary left is shaped by the class, gender and racial politics of this country. A big part of that shaping has been done by the counter-reaction to the college experience by the WCER and POCCER. Both currents have failed to historicize themselves in the proper way. They take their experiences for granted. They impose their experiences with learning and education onto the working class. They impose their experiences of race onto the working class. This cannot go on any longer. To be clear: in no way is this meant to say that POC working class people only learn through reading and writing. There are a thousand ways to learn and revolutionaries should ferociously support and develop such ways. The only reason this piece was so one-sided is because many revolutionaries are anti-intellectuals, anti-reading, anti-writing etc. except when it comes to their private lives. And of course this is racialized, as I have noticed in my experiences. The white revolutionaries who argue in public against theory and reading, read and theorize privately. So the argument was forceful in emphasizing key dimensions. Everyone learns through experience. And to be more precise, they learn through mass struggle and in their daily lived experiences against oppression. The challenge is to connect this to a broader understanding of capitalism, anti-capitalism, and revolution.

It might appear that I have argued for separate organizations of POC only. I can certainly see why people would draw such a conclusion. That is not the conclusion I hope people reach. While I do not feel confident there are any organizations which can pass the tests of this essay, the tasks still remain. Yes many tears will be shed, as the color of your skin will not be your savior from criticism. Encouragement and hard ass work to develop ourselves as better humans and revolutionaries is the only path.

My argument still rests on building a multiracial movement with WCER. At the same time there needs to be a massive reconstruction of the revolutionary left. While I hope to see it happen, with millions of working class people of color joining, I also recognize that it will not happen overnight. Millions of people do not join revolutionary organizations or become involved in revolutionary struggle casually. It takes immense crisis and self-development before such social relationships are created. It is not something revolutionaries can conjure out of thin air. To the extent revolutionaries exist in non-revolutionary times, they will be a small minority of society. We need to become comfortable with that.

Many will point out that the very author of this piece is a college educated revolutionary person of color. While this observation is correct, this is a continued reflection of the fetishization of sociology in the United States political scene. Radical sociology is not revolutionary politics, but has become one of the most powerful substitutes for what counts as such. Based on how ‘American’ revolutionaries conduct themselves, they would have ignored Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunasia, because he did not fit the correct sociological profile. Lastly this essay is not promoting ‘consciousness raising’ or that revolutionaries are saviors of the working class. I have emphasized certain things which can only be understood in the context of the US revolutionary left.

Books Which Influenced the Writing of This Essay Black Boy by Richard Wright Auto-Biography of Malcolm X Modern Politics by CLR James Hubert Harrison by Jeff Perry Revolutionary Suicide by Huey Newton Black Skin White Masks by Frantz Fanon -by WILL

[1] I recognize the problems of the People of Color category. Most who use it ignore the specifics of race in the United States and the globe. I stand by my usage of POC in this essay largely because it explains a general trend of a reality which does affect POC. This is not to say it is equal across racial groups. No doubt more specific pieces should be written on what this means for different racialized groups.

Original credit: @marxianergonomics

[intervital]

#100BrightMoments On April 7th, I'm going to start #The100DayProject where you do something creative daily for 100 days. Mine will revolve around bright moments where each creation must benefit at least one individual, and they can be my(future)self. Maybe a kind letter, a favorable review, portrait, etc. Something that can brighten someone's day. It doesn't necessarily have to be finished in a single day, but much progress must be done. Me and my future self can't be the recipient more than ten times.

Here are some ideas, and I'd like to do at least 30/42. For fun, each icon is based on the previous task. I really enjoyed doodline hehe:

💡 Fan mail

💌 Zine review

(Stapler) origami

(Book corner origami on a page) mail art [small scale artwork sent via post]

(Stamp) message of hope [mail a positive art work to be hung in the store windows of The Imaginarium of L. Delaney in New Orleans]

(Hung up sign of a butterfly) bookmark

🔖 Ode

(Scribbled lines then by Eileen) junk journal [handbound notebooks composed of junk ephemera like security envelopes, flyers, receipts, greeting cards, stationery, packaging, etc]

✂️ Care package

📦 Legacy The Sketchbook Project [original & tiny sized sketchbook projects for my future children]

(Lil & big ones) Art-o-mat® - Don't Go 'Round Artless! prototype [a hand-crafted small art object sold in converted cigarette machines across the nation. Maybe tiny junk journals?]

(Wooden block with a 💜) video for future ei [message for 5 years from now, when I'm 40, after giving birth, first time I fall in love]

📽️ Prayer

🕯️Time capsule [doesn't have to be buried, but should be sealed and has a written to open date]

(Shovel) @abandonedb2dbc on instagram (my guerilla art project where I abandon (loosely) connected books, lit mags, inspired written works & small gifts. Not sure how it'll work during Covid-19, but maybe I can catch up with the blog & story I didn't do for the last one.]

(Park bench has a ribbon wrapped book with gifts and a 🌼 beside it) The World Needs More Love Letters [a global project where each month you send letters to struggling recipients who could use some light]

(A stack of 📃✉️) book review

(Five ⭐s surrounding a 📗) meal

🍽️ The Wander Society

(⭕ with a ⚡ inside) printable [I'm not a graphic design whiz but maybe I can write up some quotes in ornate boxes? Idk lol]

(Sheet with different shapes) stickers

[My 2 in 1 sprocket printing out a sticker photo] flower arrangement

💐 Journal w/ me [video of me creating journal spread]

💻 Creative prompt

(Try with scribbled lines) underrated TV show review

📺 Sci-fi short film screenplay [an outline or a few pages]

(Potted Venus flytrap) guerilla art [artwork in public, so chalk quotes, zines outside, surprise bouquets, seed bombs. can't go outside unless absolutely necessary so maybe craft some stuff for when I can]

(🗑️ Next to a 📮 with a 🌟 sticker) cairn [artful stack of rocks, usually found in parks or hikes]

(Rocks on top of each other) #messagestoc [100 different messages in a 100 places, think I'm only on 4 lol. I'll just make one and save it for later]

(📖 With a postcard inserted) portrait [can be a photo]

📸 Book dedication [pick a book I wanna gift and write something sweet on the inside front cover]

(Dear --- I love you. Eileen) Rowan Hisayao Buchanan's # tinyisolations [she gives a weekly flash fiction/small art prompt. Randomly selected winners get sent money and also choose another person or charity that could use the help]

(☁️S surrounding a hot air balloon) Spotify playlist

🎵 @thedigitalsala (Twitter & Instagram handle) contribution [virtual Filipinx lit+ festival. Maybe I can read a piece, write a recap, organize a panel, transcribe]

🛋️ Guest blog [no clue where lol but maybe it'll manifest]

{Profile pic beneath ....... Eileen Ramos is a bipolar) video of a reading [preferably of my own work. But it would be fun to read a favorite poem or passage of an underrated author]

▶️ Handlettering [my handwriting is shitty but I think it'd be fun to try to do a quote. I could use the practice lol]

(📝 With a ✒️) Kleroteria [was chosen to write an email to be sent to 10k inboxes awhile ago. I have an idea but need more info & add other stuff. At most 3k characters, no pictures, links are ok, no ads]

📬 verse.press poetry playlist [website where you can create a themed list of poems]

(V icon) column [working on a pitch for a lit website; need to streamline & narrow it down]

(Greek column) FOUND Magazine entry [found magazine collects contributions of found notes. I have something to submit but idk where I placed them. Hopefully I'll come across it]

(Found mag logo) learningtoloveyoumore.com task [70 assignments by Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher which can be take a picture of your parents kissing, write the phone call you when you could have, recreate a poster you had as a teenager, photograph a significant outfit, write down a recent argument]

[lazybirdxd]

Kaylor: The hidden true timeline

Sometimes reality exceeds our expectations, and oftentimes we are not aware that such reality exists. Until we take a deeper look.

I recently finished reading a (controversial) fanfic by a certain writer (If you’re an old Kaylor you know which fanfic, if you’re new, it’s called “Kaylor: The timeline”) and what stood out for me the most about that fanfic is that it is incredibly accurate in the way it tells the story, a story that is well thought of, it has a chronological coherence and character construction that is very difficult to surpass. The amazing thing about it is not the story in itself, but rather the level of insight it gives about the characters, behavior analysis, recognition of complex emotions and its roots in the characters, as well as a constant foreshadowing of the aesthetics of the coming era (reputation era). I think that because of this complexity and the level of details included, both Karlie and Taylor wrote it. How did I arrive to that conclusion (that many of you older Kaylors also suspect to be true)? -I'll be focusing only on the authorship of the fanfic, if you want me to analyze the story, leave a comment!-

Taylor discussing Karlie’s inability to communicate any uncomfortable situation to Taylor in the 12th chapter of part two.

Well, let’s see. The fanfic has an element of entertainment to it (no, that’s not my strongest argument, but hold on), it’s as if the writer knew which parts of the story to highlight in order for the readers to be engaged with the story from the beginning. But it doesn’t JUST take a good story for a book to be read (or in this case, a Wattpad book), you need to have the right characters in your story for people to feel identified with and represented by them. In essence, the story needs to make sense, needs to remain just a story (that means having the right amount of fantasy and the right amount of truth so that it still feels real), it needs to have complex yet relatable characters that appeal to the essential parts of human nature, and a relatively simple vocabulary (unless your expected audience is very educated) along with descriptive (visual) language, because the public has to imagine the situations the characters are going through, as well as their very environment. Also, your use of your chosen lexicon has to convey all the meaning of your story in its simplicity. I don’t know about you, but these requirements feel like the abilities of a very advanced writer, and not one that just posts random stories that they created in their head after reading a tabloid in the line of the supermarket.

The writer of the fanfic saying he/she had never written anything personal before the fanfic (I cut the screenshot on this one, but I will put the full picture later on)

Anyway, as seen above, our “fanfic” writer claims to have never had any experience at personal writing before this fanfic, which is very suspicious, given the amount of reads that this fanfic has (1.7 Million at the moment of writing this post) as well as the good reviews and people commenting on Wattpad how that is their 4th or 5th time reading the entire fanfic all over again, meaning that for the reads to be this high, the writing has to be at least really good.

I cut the screenshot here, but if you go to the first chapter of the fanfic you’ll see more people commenting similar things.

Now, with regards to the foreshadowing I talked about earlier, the fanfic was written in early 2016, and the reputation era began in late 2017, plus we know Taylor plans her tours and eras one year ahead, therefore she needed to plan the reputation era and tour one year ahead (see section Event promoters), despite her saying in a GMA interview from Lover era that she only plans 6 months in advance (which is just impossible due to recording dates, negotiations, hiring booking agents for the countries she will perform in, meetings to discuss marketing strategies, aesthetics of every era, etc…), therefore by 2016 she had at least some idea of how the 6th era was going to look like. This fanfic weirdly coincides with the aesthetics of reputation long before reputation was released. Hmmm…

This fanfic AU was last updated on February 2016.

“Interesting… Tell me more about this writer”.

Alright. Also, It’s a she and she has a Tumblr account that I took time to carefully read.

Our writer turns out to be a she.

But before I go into really heavy stalking further detail, read this disclaimer: I am no behavioral analysis expert, I do not possess any type of psychology major or minor, I’m not even doing an undergraduate course of psychology, this is me applying all the books I’ve read about human psychology as it is my hobby. I’m a Computer Science student. Having said that, let’s dive right in!

Now, this is what I observed when looking through KaylorFanfiction’s profile:

1. The writer doesn’t share, reblog, post pictures frequently or makes her personal opinion known in topics outside the fanfic(s) or writing in general. (I observed this after spending a significant amount of time scrolling down her blog and just noticing her behavioral patterns).

2. Assertive (short answers to asks on Tumblr).

3. Usually writes in caps to highlight important things (just like Taylor), words or phrases might be uppercase.

If you’re wondering about the numbers, they are questions.

Okay, let’s see Taylor now:

4. The writer is 6 feet tall (like our favorite supermodel).

The link to the questions.

5. The writer is enthusiastic about feedback (like Taylor).

6. Has one female dog named Phoebe Buffay (A pet named after a well-known tv show character.)

Interesting to note that in the second ask, the writer tells that she has only had one puppy, which reminds me of a certain someone who also has only one puppy:

7. Is in college. Or was.

I say was because, although we have pictures of Karlie on her first day of school at NYU, it isn’t completely believable due to a lack of attendance later on if you google “Karlie Kloss attending NYU”, therefore my conclusion is that her proximity to a college environment comes actually from her brother, who truly attended Notre Dame University. An interesting observation that may back my induction is that if you go to KaylorFanfiction’s profile you’ll find that when she talks about college she never specifies which one she’s attending, for that same reason, if it was true that Karlie attended, then she would have no other choice than to be proud of her wife girlfriend through her secret alternative account for her achievements (I mean, it’s NYU, who wouldn’t be proud?). Taylor The writer might have wanted to tell the narrative of a broke college student (the exact opposite of what Taylor is) to go unnoticed on social media, but the quality of the story and the richness of it made it unbelievable that the story came from an inexperienced writer (more on that later on).

In other words, this account was Taylor’s escape bubble where she could talk freely and give her opinions without dealing with the consequences. I was afraid I could be breaking that bubble with this post, but considering that she said she no longer uses the account, I figure that It was safe for me to post this.

8. Has been making connections with literary agents and small publishing presses (as detailed above).

Guess who also makes connections with certain agents and publishing agencies… (See the manager and booking agents)

9. Has a passion for music and wanted to learn how to play guitar on her own as a teenager but stopped.

The full screenshot above, as promised.

Also, doesn’t she being obsessed with music and learning from a young age reminds you of someone else?

Link to the interview.

Link to a compilation of homemade videos of Taylor singing as well as an interview where she says she learned to play the guitar at a young age (minute 1:29).

10. Reads books about music (detailed above) and learns about music in general, from a very young age.

11. Writes original content outside fanfic.

Interesting, given that she never had written something personal before (personal as in of her own making, not as in the fanfic is her life), that makes me question what did she write about before this fanfic? Journalism? But she is obsessed with music, she told us that herself. Could that original content possibly be… songs?

So far we know she is obsessed with music, she discovered she liked to write novels (I’d rather say books) through writing this fanfic, even though she doesn’t read fanfic at all, wonder where she got the inspiration and experience to make it the most read fanfic of that topic on Wattpad if she also never did anything personal, which makes me now believe that by personal she meant her life, because there is no way you can never have done anything of your own creation while having original work. Therefore, the original work she refers to, are songs (as detailed above when saying she wanted to do something with songs). She could have meant anything by saying she wanted to do something with songs, but so far, these are many many coincidences pointing to Taylor the authorship of a particular individual, and as BBC’s Sherlock said: “The universe is rarely so lazy”.

12. The author never reads fanfic stories.

The picture speaks for itself

13. The writer doesn’t like speculation. Compare to Taylor’s 25th birthday tweet.

Interesting…the author is not into speculating, yet she wrote an entire fanfic on a relationship she claims is not real to her. Basically, she ignored the definition of “speculation”.

Thus, if we wanted to make sense of the reasons for her particular fanfic creation writing taking into account that she doesn’t like speculating and that this is just a creative outlet, we would have to assume that what she writes in her story is based on an objective truth, her speech again (not liking speculation) is contradicted by the mere fact that Wattpad is for aspiring writers looking to share their work with the world (usually a fictitious work). So, if our writer doesn’t like speculation, yet creates a “fictional” story on a site dedicated to that purpose, she’s either lying about not liking speculation or she’s hiding the truth in a platform dominated by fiction in the hopes no one will see (through) it. Okay, maybe she’s lying about not liking speculation (after all, people lie all the time), but given the continuous similarities of our writer’s personality with Taylor’s, and the fact that in the universe everything is interconnected, this can’t be a coincidence. But why would Taylor go to such lengths to tell mostly the truth? Well, given Taylor’s character and the way she rose to fame (through what she called “Opening up her diaries for the world to see”) there is an inherent need in her for self-expression, but she can’t express herself freely all the time (remember the behind-the-scenes interview where she’s filming Lover video and she says her life is like a fishbowl) because her career is image-based, and one picture will outspeak any word or explanation she might have. Thus, she might have to go to these or more lengths to truly express herself and her beliefs in order to keep her mental health and creativity flowing.

14. The writer loves to add drama to her writing.

Do I have to remind you of Taylor’s lyrics to Endgame?

“I swear I don’t love the drama, it loves me “

15. The writer has an inclination toward social justice (similar to that of Taylor).

And comparing to Taylor…

Also, the fanfic is very very detail-oriented, and the writer said in a note on one of her chapters:

Finally, to top the icing…

Our writer got knee surgery. The very word surgery sounds to me as a lot of stitches being made. Where have I heard about stitches before? Maybe Out Of The Woods can be a good beginning…

“Twenty stitches in a hospital room”

My dissertation is now over. I hope you enjoyed it without thinking I’m going insane, because that’s what I’m thinking right now. Have a good night/day.

[s-n-arly]

A Peek into the Indie Writer World – Part V: Presenting as a Professional

Also available on s-n-arly.com, should that prove a more viewer-friendly venue.

For the first article in this series, check out Part I. Or if you just missed the previous article, check out Part IV.

⁂

As an independently published writer, you are a professional and it’s in your interest (and in the interest of your fellow indie writers) that you present as a professional. We aren’t so far removed from the era where self-published authors were automatically dismissed as ‘not good enough for real publishing.’ While the majority of the population now recognizes indie authors as professionals, you’ll still encounter people who need to be convinced.

How do you get taken seriously? What can you do to ensure the image you’re broadcasting is professional?

The key places where your professionalism comes into play, in bullet format for those with very little time:

Website

Social Media

Email

Live Networking

Book Covers

Book Content

The more specific details regarding those key places to put your professionalism in place:

Website

A website is a must, even if it’s minimalist. Other than finding your books on sites like Amazon, this is one of the top places people will look to see how legit you are (or appear to be). This can include potential customers, the media, library purchasing departments, and schools or conferences looking for speakers.

Spring for the domain registry

Makes you easier to find

Implies greater dedication to your writing career

The cost is often bundled in with website hosting services (make sure you own the domain, so you can switch services and take it with you)

Go with a theme and colors that will speak to your audience

Hire someone to set things up if you don’t have the skills to do it yourself

Include or incorporate high quality photos

Your own if you have them

If using others’ photos, have the proper permission and credit as required

Use open source or free stock photography sources, crediting as required

Keep it current and engaging

Minimal is okay

About page – information about you the writer, genre, areas of expertise, and anything that will help your audience relate to you

Publications – your publishing history and/or where to purchase your work

Contact page – can be as simple as an email link or a web form

Consider a built-in blog for dynamic content

Announcements, appearances and news

Release information

Teasers

Social Media

Blogs and social media can help you build up and engage with your audience. Make sure you’ve picked a platform that hits your target readers. You don’t have to spend hours every week on a blog or forum if that’s not your thing, just keep it relevant and regular. A mostly dead Tumblr or Twitter won’t do you any favors.

Ensure that your interactions and posts are professional.

Avoid over-sharing or inappropriate assumptions of intimacy

The internet is forever; consider whether your posts could come back to haunt you

Approach controversial material in a way that is consistent with or related to your writing philosophy or your work

Eg: My blog includes real world social and political issues that are reflected in my stories and my approach to world building

Be careful not to alienate your audience with content that has no bearing on your work

Do not bully others (yes there are writers who do this) and engaging in flame wars will likely reflect poorly

If you mess up, damage control involves a real apology and future caution

Present yourself in the way you want your fans to see you

Be friendly and open to interactions if you want fans to find you approachable

Be a bit aloof or distant, if you’re aiming for more space

Be cautiously prickly if that’s who you are, but keep in mind that being an asshole will only chase fans away

Email

You should establish an email account specifically for your writing. This doesn’t have to run through your own domain if that doesn’t fit your budget. Select your email address carefully.

Easy to share and remember

Matches your author name or what you write

Doesn’t feel too casual unrelated to your writing work

Live Networking

Take advantage of the opportunities to network with readers and other writers in person. This can result in a valuable peer group, name recognition, and readership. While participating in these activities, you don’t need to wear a suit and schmooze like venture capitalist to present as a professional. Look up photos of these events and see what people tend to wear, and find something in your wardrobe that works and is comfortable for you.

Conventions – most genres have events where fans and creators get together

Volunteer and participate in programming you have an interest or expertise in

Attend the parties and meet people

Conferences – many genres have events for creators to discuss topics of interest and build their craft

Attend meet-ups or lunches

Readings – these can be held in bookstores, libraries, and at events like conventions and conferences

Prepare and practice your piece

You are in the limelight, be sure to shine

At any of these events, socialize with people you don’t know, even if that’s hard for you. You don’t need to meet everyone and you don’t have to try to impress people with exaggerations or lies. Just be yourself, unapologetically, and try to have interesting conversations. Listen at least as much as you talk, if not more. Swap contact information with people you may want to keep in touch with, and do follow up with them on social media.

Book Covers

Your book cover functions as your advertisement of the work; it sells the book. This is one of the places where a lot of indie authors make mistakes that result in an amateurish and unprofessional appearance. You can search online for “bad book covers” to get hundreds of examples of covers that have done more harm than good, and yes, some of them have been produced by big publishers.

If you don’t have the skills to design your covers, it’s in your interest to pay someone to do this. If you do have the skills to create your own covers, it’s still a good idea to run your drafts by a group of trusted individuals to identify any horrible mishaps you may have missed.

Book Content

The final piece of presenting yourself as a professional, is ensuring that your printed work meets the standards in the industry. This includes ensuring that you’ve told the best story you can, and that it is as free of spelling and grammatical errors as possible. It can be very helpful to get constructive feedback from fellow writers or beta readers, in case you’ve missed something. If editing isn’t your strong suit, paying a copy editor is not a bad idea.

In addition to the story itself, you also need to ensure your story looks good on the page, whether it’s digital or print. Pay attention to layout guidelines as these can influence whether the book looks professionally produced.

Margins – top, bottom and outside edges

Gutter – inside edges near the fold

Story title and author name in headings, often alternating

Page number in the footer

Printed work also needs properly set up front matter.

Title page, on a right page

Copyright page, on a left page, usually the other side of the title page

Acknowledgments, on a right page

A blank left page, unless your acknowledgments run two pages (which should be avoided in fiction)

Table of contents (TOC), on a right page

First page of the story, on a right page (there may be a blank left page between the TOC and the story’s first page)

Front matter can determine whether your book meets requirements for wide distribution.

Most of your steps for presenting as a professional don’t have anything to do with your actual writing, and it may be easiest to think of it as the marketing side of the indie writer’s job. It’s often easier to start out with your level of caution and professionalism set a bit higher than you think you need, as it’s unlikely to offend anyone. As you get more comfortable with the various venues, you can assess and adjust if your default is too far in one direction or another.

⁂

Proceed to Part VI.

For more articles on writing, check out my Reflections From the Sol section.

[lgcmanager]

ENTERTAINER MISSION 002

SCHEDULE TYPE: TRIMESTER SCHEDULE RESTRICTIONS: Cannot be paired with another trimester schedule, unless stated otherwise

on OCTOBER 7, HEO AECHA has summoned all the ENTERTAINERS. it’s early in the morning, yet the woman seems fully present and watches on the three trainees in the room. “good morning!” she says, fondly. “nice to see our little group growing little by little. Kit, have you met Jinah and Mitsuki already?” she gives him the time to reply before continuing. “i am the head manager of LGC AGENCY, i oversee the careers of not only the company’s entertainers but also our other talents. which implies that i’m a busy woman and we won’t meet all too often, unfortunately. on a day to day basis, you will be taken charge by your own manager; miss park sunhui. this arrangement might come to change in the future.” her speech is addressed at the newcomer more than the other girls present “i have a lot of subjects to touch up, so let’s get to it!”

DORMS

“the dorm situation is sorted out. you may move in to your new dorms or out of the dorms starting from today. those who are confirmed to leave them can do so from this week. fair warning; it’s not because you aren’t under watch 24/7 that you should start acting harshly. should we hear of bad behavior, you will be brought back to the dorms. this privilege isn’t given to you so you can fool around with your friends and hide us some relationships. it’s not because you’re away that we won’t keep an eye on you. i hope i’m making myself clear.” she takes a moment to look at all the trainee concerned.

SNS

“since we mainly house actors and models and their presence on sns are important, we’ve decided to apply the sme rules to you. you will be allowed to have PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT after meeting certain conditions; first you must have completed a full trimester in this path, then have at least 6 posts on the legacy entertainment account. this will assure us that you know sns etiquette and that we can trust you with the content you will publish.”

DEBUT CONTRACT

“your entertainer debut is right at the corner which means new legal grounds to cover. you will all be handed a contract that will need to be signed and returned as soon as possible. i’ll let you read over them on your own.”

ENTERTAINER MISSION 001: LGC ACCESS

“now that we’re done with all the administrative stuff, let’s move on to your schedules this trimester.” aecha continues. “ we launched LGC ACCESS last trimester, and the show has been well received. we’ll continue delivering news of the company through the show. the three of you will continue introducing our actors this trimester. once again, we won’t provide a script for your interviews, however, you need to make these interviews about the actors. the interviews should help up get to know them, their thoughts and feelings on the new drama they will take part in, Kim Family, and a bit more about the character they play.

Kim Jinah: Kang Jaemin, Kim Mia, Lee Jiae

Techaapaikhun Kit: Jung Miso, Lee Aaron, Son Alec

ENTERTAINER MISSION 002: I LIVE ALONE

“the three of you will be guests on the popular show ‘i live alone’. this show is a documentary-type reality TV show that looks at each celebrities single life. should you currently live in a dorm, we will be renting living quarters for you for a week to film the show. filming will happen in october and broadcast will be in november.“

ENTERTAINER MISSION 003-A: KOREAN LESSONS

“jinah, i am proud to hear about your progress in korean. i heard that you still have some slips when it comes to speaking professionally, but i count on you to show me that you do not need further coaching. for the two others, since you are both not completely fluent in korean, it’s hard to give you more mainstream gig. so for this trimester again, you’ll be attending korean lessons. if you want better jobs in the korean entertainment, you’ll have to get better at speaking the language. alright?.

ENTERTAINER MISSION 003-B: JINAH’S ROOM

“as i mentioned earlier, jinah, we’ve noticed your efforts. therefore, we’ll give you a special v-live 2 hours solo called ‘jinah’s room’. you are free to do as you please as long as it doesn’t infringe any rule. staff will be present to monitor your v-live. one advice; if you think about doing something i wouldn’t do myself, you certainly shouldn’t do it.”

MUSICAL ACTING GIG OPPORTUNITY

before she dismisses everyone, aecha also talks about a new opportunity for this trimester concerning a new musical that is being produced. it has restrictions as to who can participate (you need a necessary amount of acting AND singing or dancing points), and not have a support role for the upcoming sitcom. it has extra writing requirements, but also rewards with nice skill and notoriety points. if your muse might be interested in musical acting, please check this post and read all of the information before signing up!

REQUIREMENTS

make sure to use the hashtag lgc:entertainermission for everything related to this event. you have until JANUARY 9, 11:59PM EST, to complete the following requirements

LGC ACCESS: write a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with the actors assigned to you, where your muse is interviewing them for  +3 HOSTING +3 VARIETY +3 NOTORIETY! this requirement should be claimed three times

I LIVE ALONE: write a 300+ word solo recording  for the show for +4 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE + 5 NOTORIETY !

KOREAN LESSONS: write a 300+ word solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with a partner where your muse is learning or practicing korean for + 6 KOREAN !

JINAH’S ROOM: write a 300+ word solo recording the show for +3 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE + 3 NOTORIETY !

to validate your skill points and collect your notoriety points, please submit the following form ONCE on the points blog before JANUARY 9, 11:59EST.

TITLE: MUSE NAME ∙ ENTERTAINER MISSION 002

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[scripttorture]

How much do you know about torture apologia at a government level? Like people who are actually paid to torture terrorist? I feel like that is a government-approved thing unless I’m mistaken. How can they not see they’re getting no information or just plain wrong information? And these ‘professionals’ are hiding their mental health problems? Or is the FBI torturing terrorists for information not as real as we are lead to believe? I’ve got a story idea about a victim mistakenly accused.

Thisis a pretty broad question. And it also sounds like it’s trying tostart a debate over getting writing advice. I’m going to give itthe benefit of the doubt and take it at face value as a writingquestion.

Ithink the short answer is essentially: read Rejali. He covers this inconsiderable depth, it’s the last third of his book. I’ll do mybest to summarise his points but I can’t produce 300+ pages ofevidence plus sources on a blog like this.

O’Maraalso talks about it a fair bit and Cobain’s entire book is aboutthe links between torture and the British government. Granted Cobaindoesn’t know a thing about torture but the pattern of legalwrangling and political apathy he records is incredibly valuable.

Thereare a couple of points I think are important going forward.

Thefirst is that although information is often the justification givenfor torture it’s rarely the point.

Somethingcan be justified, ignored or tolerated in someparts of a government and stringently punished in other areas.

Inlarge enough organisations leaders can be genuinely unaware what somemembers are doing.

Sogiven those points let’s start with the second question becauseit’s easiest.

Inmodern democracies people are notpaid to torture. That is not their official role. They are hired asguards, soldiers, teachers, care takers, nurses, doctors, police anda handful of other professions.

Thatis they are being paid for.And it’s not what they’re doing.

Whetherwhat they’re actually doing (torture) is condoned by anyone furtherup the chain of command then their immediate superiors is reallydependant on the circumstances. And very difficult to prove.

Governmentapproval of torture in modern states rarelylooks like top officials saying ‘We torture people!’

Here’sthe kind of phrasing it looks like instead:

‘These particular set of abuses are not torture because-’

‘This isn’t really painful’

False equivalence such as ‘Well I diet voluntarily so starving someone can’t be harmful’

Outright denial ‘Our troops could never do that!’

Ouright denial Part 2 ‘Well no one told us that was happening!’

Shifting the blame ‘Those people are lying to get into the country/get money/get attention etc-’

Shifting the blame Part 2 ‘Those people deserve it because they’re mentally ill/an ethnic minority/poor/violent/look like trouble etc-’

‘Obviously we don’t torture people but we should because it would work!’

‘We need strong measures in these desperate times!’

The sort of political/cultural outlook that links efficiency to ‘toughness’ and sees kindness and compromise as weak

Tortureapologia on the government level thrives on plausible deniability andredefining terms until they’re unrecognisable.

Forthe purposes of your story I think you’d probably be better offstepping back from the FBI.

WhatI mean by that is- if you’ve been looking for sources specificto the FBI that’s why you’re so confused. Those sources arepoorly collated, poorly studied and (personal opinion) deliberatelyconfusing.

Awellstudiedwell recorded example of torture as unofficial-government-policywould be the Franco-Algerian war. And this is alsobeset by confusion because a lotof the sources from the French side were written by torturers tojustify their actions after the event.

Onceagain I’d recommend reading Rejali and for greater context on whathe says Alleg’s TheQuestionand Fanon’s appendices to TheWretched of the Earth.

Yestorture continues because of governmental positions. But that doesn’tnecessarily mean outright orders to torture.

Itcan mean a lack of political will to eradicate torture, ie no one islooking for it. It can mean officials being aware of torture andchoosing to ignore it.

Myimpression is that apathyrather than malice at the top levels is the key. In the worst cases,yes there was outright malice from some individuals within a largergovernment. But it’s the apathy of the majority that allowed forabuse.

Governmentapproval doesn’tlook like a high level official ordering troops to torture.

Itlooks like the state Governor seeing that most of the police in theirstate probably use torture and sitting down to do this calculation:‘Am I more electable next year if I try to tackle this or if Iignore it?’

Italso looks like a Commissioner seeing that a person arrested for anemotive crime like terrorism has been complaining of ill-treatmentand doing this calculation: ‘Do I look better in the public eye ifI seem like I’m standing up for a person from a hated minority whois accused of doing something awful?’

WhatI’m driving at here is that- the reality is a lot more nebulousthen what you seem to be thinking of. Tacit acceptance, differentpriorities, cowardice- are all much more likely then the kind ofscenario where the elites explicitly order abuse.

Ithink I should move on to the third question which is just as tricky,before I get bogged down in labouring the point.

Howdo organisations not realise the information they get from torture iswrong?

Theshort answer is that by using torture they destroy the systems thatallow them to double check information. Because they can’t doublecheck anything they don’t realise that they’re working withincorrect information.

Iwilltell you how that happens but let’s have an analogy first to giveyou an idea of how skewed this makes the base information.

Imagineyou’re looking for information on the internet about something youhaven’t seen but you can’t use wikipedia, any popular searchengines or any official sites. You are going entirelyby searching tumblr. And you can only access the first piece ofinformation that comes up with any tag you search.

Picka popular fandom and imagine the kind of screwed up view you’d getof a character if you tried to find information about them like this.I am picturing the Flash fandom and Captain Cold and imagining justhow easy it would be to walk away with the impression that thecharacter was a main character not a bit part.

Nowlet me show you how including torture in an investigation is theequivalent of blocking yourself from everything but a hellsite with abroken search algorithm.

Sothe first thing to appreciate is that torture breakstrustwith the public. If torture is common place then no matter how‘secret’ an organisation tries to keep it the groups who areeffected find out.

Wenotice when people around us go missing. We pay attention when thereare stories of people ‘like us’ being hurt.

Andwe lose trust in authority. We stop reporting crimes. We stopvolunteering information.

Whichcuts an organisation off from the mainsource of accurate information they can get: voluntary reporting bymembers of the public.

Wedon’t report strange things our family or friends have done if wethink it might get them tortured. We don’t mention that we saw atall ginger man leave a back pack on that street near where the bombwent off.

Frompersonal experience- sometimes you stop reporting things even whenyou’re completely outside the context that taught you organisationscan’t be trusted. I’ve been assaulted in the UK and genuinely didnot consider calling the police. Because I learnt young that policeexist to ‘make people disappear’ and the habit is hard to break.

Thesecond point is that torture produces a lotof lies and human beings generally are terrible at telling whensomeone is lying.

Sotorturers don’t have access to the biggest source of accurateinformation but they dohear a lot of lies.

Thethird point is that when torture becomes part of an organisation thenpeople spend lesstimeconducting genuine investigations and fact checking.

Torturerstend to be pretty arrogant and they usually report looking down onpeople in their organisation who don’ttorture. Basically they seeing doing the hard work of a genuineinvestigation as boring and beneath them.

Thisworks togetherwith the first two factors to make it almost impossible to fact checkthings.

Imaginea group of 50 people tasked with investigating a particular incident.Five of them are torturers, so they’re not actually investigatinganything. This takes our number down to 45.

Thenwe remember that the torturers are generating information, even ifit’s false. Which the other members are investigating.

Let’sgo with low estimates. Let’s suggest each torturer has one victim aday (this is unlikely, real numbers are probably much higher) and outof those they get an average of two ‘possible leads’ each day(this would vary a lot, some victims would say nothing, some mightthrow out as many as twenty names in a day). Let’s also pretendthat a potential lead can be investigated by one person (this isinaccurate, I’d generally expect at least 2-3 people for each new‘lead’.).

We’vejust got rid of ten more people on the first day.

Let’spretend that it takes three days to investigate a lead. This is alsoa very low estimate, properly following up a lead can take weeks.

Withour low-estimate fictional organisation we’ve reduced the amount ofpeople doing useful work to 15 in the first three days.

Fifteenpeople trying to do the work of 50, while the torturers keepgenerating lies that are wasting the time of everyone else.

Thiscripples the organisation’s ability to work as all the time andenergy is going into investigating lies.

Andwhilethis is going on the torturers are still torturing. And they’reassumingthat their information is correct.

Sothey’re generating morelies that supportthe previous lies.

Letme give an example of what I mean.

Saya torturer takes in a random person. This first victim knows nothingabout the terrorist group but if they don’t give a name thenthey’re going to keep being tortured.

Sothey tell the torturer Wednesday Adams is definitely the leader ofthe terrorists in this area.

Nowa genuine investigator is wasting time looking for Wednesday Adams.May be they come back in a week and say that no such person exists.

Bythat point the torturer has been asking a lot of people aboutWednesday Adams. And some of them will have sworn they saw WednesdayAdams, that Wednesday Adams was behind that attack and that she haslinks to this other organisation and also that thing I saw on thenews once and- So on.

Itspirals.

Maybe it gets to the point where the torturer finally accepts there’sno ‘Wednesday Adams’ on the census. But by that point they’vestacked a lot of their personal reputation on the existence of thisshadowy leader.

Sorather than admit they’re just wrong, they assume ‘WednesdayAdams’ is a pseudonym and now they’re asking everyone what herreal name is. Now they have six different possible ‘realidentities’ for Wednesday Adams.

Andthis is how organisations can fail to notice that torture doesn’twork.

Becausethe scale of misinformation is just so huge. Because the amount oftime it takes to provethe information is wrong gives the torturers more time to embellishthe lie.

Becausesuperiors who are genuinely unaware torture is going on in theirorganisations might well look at this torturer, who keeps coming upwith new information, and these ten genuine investigators who comeback with nothing but dead ends, and decide that the tortureris the only one ‘getting things done’.

Itdoesn’t matter that they’re wrong. Because it takes months,years, to prove that they areand everyone in these organisations is under huge pressure to haveanswers now.

OKlet’s move on to question four; mental health problems intorturers.

Firstoff, I have yet to meet a mentally ill person who hasn’ttried to hide their mental health problems at some point. The worldis not very accepting of mental health problems whatever the context.The pressure to hide them is immense. In some places people are atreal risk of violence and abuse if their mental health problems arenoticed as mental health problems.

Inthat context- it isn’t surprising that torturers do try to hidetheir symptoms.

Thetoxic sub-culture torturers tend to produce is- It’s incrediblymacho. It tends to rely on ideas about how the torturers are ‘toughand strong’. It equates violence and lack of mercy with strength.

Itviews mental illness as weak.

Andbecause the people within these groups are violent, because they havea tendency to turn on each other, there’s a huge pressure to hidemental health problems. That’s way before you bring the widerorganisation into the picture.

Manyof the organisations torturers are typically part of actively try toscreen out mentally ill people. Being obviously mentally ill can meanlosing the job.

SoI don’tthink it’s particularly unusual that torturers try to hide mentalhealth problems.

Howsuccessfulthey are at hiding them is a different question and it’s difficultto answer.

Becausea lot of people are moved or dismissed on mental health grounds andthis does notmean they were involved in anything abusive.

Tortureis difficult to prove. Most torturers are not charged. Their crimesare not recorded as part of their record. They are not hired astorturers.

Accordingto the WHO around 10% of the global population has a mental health problem.

Howdo you tell the difference between the people who are just mentallyill, the people who developed mental illnesses because of ‘ordinary’job stress and the people who developed mental illnesses because theyabused others?

Withoutaccurate, fair recording of torture accusations itis impossible to tell.

Personally?I think it’s highly likely that a lot of torturers can’t hidetheir mental health problems well. That they reach a point and have abreakdown on the job. Then they lose their job.

Butall of that can happen with no record of abuse.

Weneed more research on torturers. Desperately.

Andanswering these questions about the circumstances around how peoplestop is incredibly important. It can help us spot them, it can helpus spot people who might be targeted for recruitment by torturers. Itcan help us stop torture.

Andright now there are frustratingly few answers.

Whichleaves the final question- Are the FBI torturers?

Honestly-I have no idea. I am not particularly interested in America orAmerican history. I am not American. I do not go out of my way toread things about the FBI and could tell you very little about whatthey do.

WhatI can tell you is that organisations likethe FBI have usually tortured at some point in their history. Thatglobally the United States has developed a reputation for doublestandards.

ButI can not make a definitive statement on a group I know next tonothing about.

Inorganisations likethe FBI iftorture is going on it’s often not in the entire organisation. Itis often particular branches, particular units, particular areasrather than the whole country-wide organisation.

It’seasy to make broad statements like ‘the Chicago police torturedpeople in 70s’. And that’s not untrue.

Butif we’re being specificit would be more accurate to say ‘there was a cell of torturersoperating within the Chicago police force in the 70s and the widergroup failed to stop them.’

Wasthe entire Chicago police force responsible for the abuses? I wouldsay yesbecause it was literally their job to stop these abuses and they didnot. However they were notall torturers. They were not all actively engaged in torture and Ithink it’s extremely likely that many people at the time simplydidn’t realise what was going on.

Incompetence,not necessarily active abuse.

I’vewritten an awful lot. It should be a start at answering some of yourquestions. But all of these questions are complex and difficult.

Idon’t think, in this case, you can take my answer as a substitutefor wider reading.

Onceagain, Rejali.O’Maraas well.

Allegfor the survivor’s perspective on what both describe.

Cobain,to be taken with a pinch of salt and read afterRejali because Cobain is not a scientist and falls for apologia quitea lot.

You’vechosen to tackle a story that’s going to be a lot of work. Try notto be discouraged by that.

Theseare important stories. And they deserve to be told properly.

Ihope that helps. :)

Edited for typos

Edit 2: @dude1818 That is really not funny and I don’t appreciate you trying to turn discussion of a serious crime into a joke. 

I’m aware of the formatting problem and I’ve been trying to fix it for some time. I’m going to try another fix this week but I can’t actually test whether any of my attempts work because I don’t have a mobile phone. 

Availableon Wordpress.

Disclaimer

[kfs1001]

Early this week @pikachu-cc made a post under the title --- STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN EVEN IF IT MEANS STANDING ALONE --- I wholeheartedly agree. Like @pikachu-cc, I have been silent, making the occasional comments only when something hits me as truly important. As I have stated many times before, there is ‘hate’ directed at our fandom and there is ‘hate’ expressed by our fandom. Both sides have their agendas, but is it the agenda of the entire fandom --- I say no. 

I have read the comments of the other side and I have seen how they respond to comments made by our side --- honestly both sides can be nasty. We pretend we are victims and innocent. Well we are not. ‘Hate’ is ‘hate’ and we throw it as much as they do. The sooner we admit this, the sooner we can be more productive.

When I joined this community, I thought it was to support two men in their struggle for equality in an industry ripe with homophobia. In the beginning I drank the CC Kool Aid and then I started to see things I did not like. I questioned behind the scenes and was told to ignore the ‘hate’. These comments perplexed me because I saw the ‘hate’ expressed about a certain woman and few men and the team. The words were nasty. The words were not needed. These words did nothing to support two men. 

Mouths ago I posted that I do not ‘hate’ this woman, these men or the team. I was shocked by the responses from CCer’s declaring their undying ‘hate’ for this woman, these men and a team. The ‘hate’ turned me off. The ‘hate’ made me want to leave. The ‘hate’ did not do what I believed the CC community was about. “Hate’ feeds ‘hate’. It blinds you and focuses negativity. It ruins things. I stood back and questioned my place in the community. Then I saw there are others who think as I do. They see the ‘hate’ from within and do not necessarily like it. 

@pikachu-cc asked the question --- I wonder how many people have been turned off from this side of the fandom because “the 5” have done this to them. Or how many stay silent because they don’t want to get skewered for having their OWN thoughts and opinions, and not only what “the 5” would have you believe is the end all be all truth? I wonder how many people have been turned off from this side of the fandom because “the 5” have done this to them.

To answer, I believe many. I learned from working for government and subject to life long non-disclosure (condition of employment) when to choose your battles and when to back off.  “Hate’, (inequality, the lack of human rights and dignity) in any form is a hill to die on. I have posted about the ‘hate’ in the CC world before and I noted there are consequences to apposing what some might consider the opinion of the many. Well, I have come to think it is the opinion of the vocal few. In my opinion, the majority have chosen to guard their thoughts and words until they find themselves on that hill.

To those who read these blogs who do not know what do to. To those who read these blogs because they disagree with CC statements. Please remember the comments of a few do not represent the desires of all. There are many of us who believe in D and C, but ‘hate’ is not the means for us to get our point across. The woman, the men and the team are a consequence of a homophobic industry who care more about money and image than human rights. They have sway on these two men, but they are not these two men. 

Our world is far from perfect. ‘Haters’ are everywhere from the very pinnacle of national political power to those who walk down the street. They --- we --- are products of our beliefs, our upbringing and the many circumstances of their lives. When it comes down to it, ‘hate’ is a product of fear of change --- change of thought --- change of belief --- change of acceptance. Acceptance is scary and in turn breeds yet more hate unless we come to terms with what is inside us. We need to accept we --- as individuals and as human being --- each have ‘hate’ in us. We need to accept we may give into this ‘hate’. However, do we let ‘hate’ control our lives? Do we accept this part of us and then say --- “No, I will not allow ‘hate’ to dictate my emotions." Years, ago, I said no. We can all say no. 

I am not saying, those who express their ‘hate’ do not have a wealth of knowledge. I can admire these people for their knowledge and for the care and calm I have seen them reply to difficult asks. All I am saying is we need to be cognizant of what we say and how we say it. We are playing a public relations game and what we say and do reflects on the believers of D and C as a loving couple caught in undesirable circumstances.  The woman, these men and the team or people paid by them or their supporters, troll our blogs. Like politics, the words we use will be used against us. If you want to be negative, at least be careful about how you do it. 

For myself, and perhaps others, it is the manner in which opinions are expressed which counts. Saying that someone should ‘burn in hell’ does nothing but fan the flames of ‘hate’ and, or myself, crosses a line. For good or ill, words are powerful. They cut. They hurt. They breed discontentment and anger. They can also create caring, joy and love.  It is how we use them that is important. We have to remember these people are human with emotions and insecurities just like us. 

I have to ask myself --- do D and C read our blogs. I believe yes. Now, what do they think when they see our words trashing a woman, these men and a team --- oh god, what will come of this. Believe me, this woman, these men and a team, may have something to say about what we say. We have seen evidence of reprisals for our comments and when inconsistencies are pointed out. 

Again, be cautious of how you say something. It is your right to express yourself, but it is the right of others to respond. As I have said before, negative comments do not help D or C, in fact they hinder. ‘Hate’ is not support --- LOVE is.