#twitter is my livelihood this has to be a joke

[jay-is-not-okay]

hi again, twitter died and now im sad 🙃

[femboy-c-cups]

being on here as a trans sex worker and seeing the smug jokes and brand loyalty over the past two years with regards to twitters decline has been infuriating because despite the fact that it's an algorithmic nightmare owned by a right wing transphobe driving into the ground, it is by a fucking mile, a better place to be a trans woman online. My trans femme friends can't post pictures and videos properly marked as adult, all within the terms of allowed adult content without getting their blogs blurred. My trans femme friends can't post sfw pictures and videos of themselves without it being marked as fucking sexual!!! This is a website that allows nudity and adult content while systematically erasing trans women as "inappropriate content"

To this day if i see someone with the double blueticks i lowkey think you're a cunt. Tumblr destroyed our livelihoods in 2018, they drove sex workers from their site. Now those of us who have been forced back here have to navigate their completely archiac policies of adult content, unfairly moderated by a team that either holds active malice for us, or just doesn't fucking care.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 queerest place on the internet!!!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[redjennies]

me, talking to my friends from the mutual aid collective: yeah, obviously revolution begins not in destruction, but in gardens. destroying the exploitative system we live under is necessary, of course, and effective organizing especially by those who most need it will inevitably bring down state violence and we should be prepared for that in order to protect each other, but anarchism is not about violence. it is about building a community outside of hierarchies where everything is for all, and yes, fighting for it both in defense and through the very act of creation. still, it pisses me off so much that so-called leftists on Twitter were so comfortable making guillotine jokes to union organizers instead of learning absolutely anything that helps and applying it to their lives. like god, equating anarchism with just throwing bombs and nothing else is, counter-productively, exactly what the State wants you to believe anarchism is.

me, possessed by the spirit of Louis Lingg the second i see the basic principles of anarchism smeared by a useless left-of-lib: [...] It is not murder, however, of which you have convicted me. The judge has stated that much only this morning in his resume of the case, and Grinnell has repeatedly asserted that we were being tried not for murder, but for anarchy, so the condemnation is—that I am an anarchist!

What is anarchy? This is a subject which my comrades have explained with sufficient clearness, and it is unnecessary for me to go over it again. They have told you plainly enough what our aims are. The state’s attorney, however, has not given you that information. He has merely criticized and condemned, not the doctrines of anarchy, but our methods of giving them practical effect, and even here he has maintained a discreet silence as to the fact that those methods were forced upon us by the brutality of the police. Grinnell’s own proffered remedy for our grievances is the ballot and combination of trades unions, and Ingham has even avowed the desirability of a six-hour movement! But the fact is, that at every attempt to wield the ballot, at every endeavor to combine the efforts of workingmen, you have displayed the brutal violence of the police club, and this is why I have recommended rude force, to combat the ruder force of the police. [...]

While I, as I have stated above, believe in force for the sake of winning for myself and fellow-workmen a livelihood such as men ought to have, Grinnell, on the other hand, through his police and other rogues, has suborned perjury in order to murder seven men, of whom I am one. Grinnell had the pitiful courage here in the courtroom, where I could not defend myself, to call me a coward! The scoundrel! A fellow who has leagued himself with a parcel of base, hireling knaves, to bring me to the gallows. Why? For no earthly reason save a contemptible selfishness — a desire to 'rise in the world“ — to ”make money," forsooth.

This wretch — who, by means of the perjuries of other wretches is going to murder seven men — is the fellow who calls me “coward”! And yet you blame me for despising such “defenders of the law” such unspeakable hypocrites! Anarchy means no domination or authority of one man over another, yet you call that “disorder.” A system which advocates no such “order” as shall require the services of rogues and thieves to defend it you call “disorder.” [...]

I tell you frankly and openly, I am for force. I have already told Captain Schaack, “if they use cannons against us, we shall use dynamite against them.” I repeat that I am the enemy of the “order” of today, and I repeat that, with all my powers, so long as breath remains in me, I shall combat it. [...] You laugh! Perhaps you think, “you’ll throw no more bombs”; but let me assure you I die happy on the gallows, so confident am I that the hundreds and thousands to whom I have spoken will remember my words; and when you shall have hanged us, then — mark my words — they will do the bombthrowing! In this hope do I say to you: I despise you. I despise your order, your laws, your force-propped authority. Hang me for it! [x]

[spell-fox]

I'm enjoying the twitter users return jokes, but can't help but think people are forgetting why people left. The site changed fundamentally and in a way that affected people's livelihoods, overnight. People left to boycott tumblr, not out of fickleness.

Sex workers/nsfw artists still can't come back (artists here means any creator/artist: writers, photographers, performers, visual artist, etc). How frustrating it is to see tumblr staff sharing 'cheater' jokes when they kicked out a portion of the user base and still won't 'allow' them to return. Just say ooooh you can post tits now and still flag-and-delete posts with tits.

I was/am a small artist and I used to get 20-30% of my commissions through tumblr and it has never returned to that level after the ban. Folks have had to rebuild on other sites that are now imploding. So yeah, I've shared some jokes since I never left this hellsite but honestly seeing staff post them is infuriating.

[wishchthumblr]

time for long and not re read vent post aha

i am genuinely so fucking mad at my mom rn

im crying over twitter because it seems like it’s actually breaking this time, more than last. and i know its “the shit site” and it’s “garbage” and whatever but i dont care because its my home. its the only social media (before now maybe tumblr too) that ive felt good using. insta made me feel so terrible and nothing else really worked before i got twitter.

i’ve always been more of a lurker than poster and twitter made that possible for me, its where ive spent over a year. its the first social media i actually enjoy using. and then that dick head bought it and is just breaking it on purpose at this point.

i went to my mom almost crying because my mental health has been so terrible recently that ive barely been able to bring myself to even use my phone, let alone twitter and the thought of Being Perceived brought me physical pain. and then im finally okay enough to go on it and talk to my friends and see the people i admire and the first thing i see is everyone leaving. and my mental health just goes down again.

im telling her about the new limit shit and how everyone is leaving and that //im scared// and she just. makes some joke about how “im sure that doesn’t apply to the musk supporters🙄” and something about musk’s relationship with chinese government

what. just WHAT

does she not see that im saying this with tears in my eyes? does she not hear that im about to cry in my voice? does she not see that i dont fucking care about the politics of it because im losing my friends and my outlet and the people i look up to and im losing the place i used to go to make myself feel better after dealing with everything in my real life and im losing the good memories.

she keeps doing this again and again and im so tired of it. your daughter is terrified of losing her friends and her safe place and you’re joking about chinese bots and politics? i feel like my mom doesn’t care

im literally crying while writing this and she’s posting on her facebook about some “oh but im sure the pro chinese gov and elon support accounts will still be able to tweet🤔🤔” bullshit

im so tired of her and other people disregarding my feelings and genuine heartbreak over losing my online support system because “oH iTs juSt TwiTtEr LOOLLLL itS alL ShiT anYwAy!!!!”. i hate you. i genuinely hate people who say that. how dare you just throw aside other peoples support systems and livelihoods like that just because its on a website you dont like. how fucking dare you. it doesn’t matter if the website comes back because you directly told me you dont care about my fear.

idk im just so tired of it. idk tumblr etiquette about venting or whatever but i needed to get this out. might delete later if i feel better idk. just. be nicer to people. just because you don’t relate doesn’t mean your dismissal isn’t breaking my heart and my trust in you. this is why i never tell people anything and just hide away whenever i feel terrible

[faint-kitten]

Thinking about Artists from the 00's

I never share someone's discord stuff without permission. I don't think it's ethical to screen shot and potentially blow people up without their permission.

But found this in a discord I was reading and it had me thinking. The last Eminem Album I remember listening to was almost 15 years ago, and it had a song called Medicine Ball, in which Eminem made fun of Christopher Reeves for being disabled, and had a lot of really stupid lyrics like this. Pretty much anything he's done post I'd say Marshal Mathers LP has been cheap, lyrical miracle bs that was this degree of nonsense. And part of me doesn't wonder if he's just doing it to cash a check every few years. But it got me thinking (as it often does) about 20 years ago.

Eminem's been stupid for years. Not an excuse, but like…one of the things I notice about stars that blew up in the 00's is a lot of them were edgelords that seemed or people thought were fighting the establishment by saying it like it is. This is (keep in mind the same era that produced Chappelle, jeff dunham, ralphie may, and Dane Cook who, is kinda better? But he mostly just yelled a lot)

But in reality a lot of them were no different than adolescent teens yelling poop real loud because you're not supposed to and acting like it's strength. The problem is a lot of us grew out of that, like, as a whole fucking culture we moved on. What's interesting, is TikTok and twitter's younger generation tends to re-discover Eminem every once in a while and just re "cancel" him every few months.

Moving away from just Eminem:

A lot of these people sort of never moved with the times, and now resent the fact that the jokes/songs/movies that made them money aren't in vogue anymore, and as a result get angry that what worked what made them money doesn't fly anymore. They then start crying "woke" and "canceled" and it's just…times changed, our understanding of these things changed, and it's old men going "well this USED to work I dunno how to be any other way."

And it's interesting to think about. Imagine waking up one day to find out your livelihood isn't in vogue anymore, but it's all you know, it's all you've ever been good at, and you still need fucking money. And a lot of them aren't necessarily gone. Or stopped. They make good money because a lot have pivoted their careers to "Remember how you used to be able to say this 20 years ago?" and appealing to the sort of people who feel like them. Not needing to tell jokes, just needing to get mad at the things their audience is mad they can't say or don't understand. And that's always kind of been around. I remember an extremely unfunny book my mother had about a Politically Correct Christmas story when I was 15. It had terms like "womvn" because I guess a sect of 'feminists' at the time didn't like the word "men"? Or something? And the author got weird or stupid about it? And that book came out in 1995. Nerds have always been like this. Going all the way back to white people saying "oh you can't call them that anymore *eyeroll*" before I was even born. The 90's had this weird era of "attitude" that got embarressing as they tried to push that in the 2000's and a lot of artists and comedians who made it big back then, just never left.

But anyway. Not that he cares what I think. But it's whatever. He's an old dork and I don't think he's culturally relevent enough to anyone for this shit to matter. He was a class clown as a kid, he was a class clown as a rapper, he's still trying to be a class clown in his old age. I don't think this is one that needs the wrath of the gods. I think it's just a buffoon that needs to be ignored.

[goldfishu]

my feelings about twitter

I have had time over this week to reflect about the whole elon twitter acquisition and I have some thoughts. Initially I was upset, disappointed and even angry by the reaction to it. People were joking or treating it like just another day, that it didn't really matter. This bugged me a lot, and this is not just because I have personally dislike Mr musk. I feel really troubled about huge sources of information and social connection being bought up by hyper rich individuals who are known to have abusive workplaces. If you're not familiar with tesla working conditions you should read up on it. It's not like the previous owners of twitter are angels by any right, but elon is so unabashedly terrible to other people that I cannot really reconcile it. I feel like I cannot ethically use twitter knowing what he is. And I don't want my life to be ruled by billionaires. This is the platform I share my art and my work to not only friends and peers but also clients and people who enjoy it. I don't want it to be tainted.

So I guess when people say "boohoo, nothing changed" it really upset me. But over the week ignoring that type of response or the typical "we can ruin this site so he sells it" rationalizing I see about staying somewhere we know is wrong, I feel like there's a different reason why artists/streamers/coughcontentcreatorscough are choosing to stay. Its a combination of things. Firstly most people don't feel that strongly about elon so they won't leave, meaning that clients or audiences for what we produce are still here pretty much all the time, so leaving would be missing out on work 100%. And since the content stays, the people want to leave even less, it's compounding. I think another reason people don't want to (or cant) leave is because very few other platforms provide the reach that twitter has. Art gallery sites don't attract non artists, closed communities like reddit and mastodon limit your audience and stifle promotion. Tumblr does not feel like a great alternative but its all I got at this point. 

I cannot really blame people for not wanting to leave. I dont want to leave!! There are no viable places to share work because everyone wants a centralized website, not niche sites. I feel like at odds with two halves of myself; one half wants to go apeshit and tell elon to [redacted] to finally be banned and the other is thinking about my livelihood. My solution: ao3 sets up some twitter clone. or we coup against elon? I am open to suggestions.

[finnlongman]

There have been a lot of conversations happening on Twitter and Instagram recently about how harmful social media has become for authors, and YA authors in particular, and it's interesting that I haven't seen those same conversations happening on Tumblr. Maybe because I don't follow so many authors here, as this is largely my place to escape from publishing and all its drama -- it's easier to miss things here, if the specific people you follow aren't sharing it. Or maybe it's because Tumblr chased a lot of its authors away a few years ago, so isn't as directly implicated in the current wave of terribleness. 🤷🏻‍♂️

But it IS terrible. Callouts without context, pile-ons targeting anyone who has ever been associated with an author who is perceived as having done something bad, one-star troll reviews for books that aren't even out yet targeting marginalised authors, continual pressure to Perform Social Justice in a way that's suitable for external consumption (according to standards that are impossible to meet since they change daily), entitled fans harassing and targeting authors for months and then claiming powerlessness when they're called out for it despite the authors repeatedly explaining that it's triggering their PTSD...

(For that last one, see Tess Sharpe's experiences. Those readers claimed to be fans, and yet were so awful to her that she's now said she'll never talk about that book publicly again because it invited too much harassment. She repeatedly explained the impact they were having on her and yet they continued to use the "we're just joking" defence, even when it was extremely clear it wasn't funny to anyone.)

I see this as a big picture thing but I also see this firsthand from those in communities I'm in. I know authors who've decided never to return to certain worlds/series, even though they love it, because people online are so awful about it. I know people who got absolutely reamed out by social media for things they weren't even involved in, just because of their perceived connection to a target, and felt completely unable to defend themselves. Author friends have told me it's okay if I need to publicly disavow them to keep myself safe, which is mad. Every day there are more authors going 'updates only' or leaving Twitter entirely. People are afraid even to talk about how bad the harassment is for fear of making themselves targets -- and literally every newbie YA author that I know is afraid of putting a foot out of line because social media will wreck their career for it.

It sounds dramatic, and for people on the outside, maybe it seems like it's no big deal. But this is targeted, relentless harassment over the course of months or years, and this is affecting people's livelihood and income and opportunities as well as their mental health. Even those of my friends who are least bothered by what others think of them are afraid of making a mistake (or being perceived as making a mistake) that will result in their agent being forced to drop them or risk tainting their own reputation. I've heard people saying they're genuinely afraid to succeed because it'll make them a bigger target. After all, authors are generally alone in dealing with this -- they don't have PR teams or social media managers. If you harass an author online, 99 times out of 100, it's the author who will read it. And it's the author who will respond, and have their statement torn to shreds because nothing is ever good enough, so more and more people just stay silent and submit to whatever the internet wants to inflict on them.

It's messed up. So many of us joined Twitter to find writing communities and now they've become unbearable. My writing chat constantly talks about what we'll do when/if this happens to one of us. And it hits marginalised authors hardest, especially those who don't have supportive offline communities and who rely heavily on social media for friends and connections. It terrifies me, as someone hoping to make a career in writing, to think of putting myself in the line of fire like this, just by virtue of writing YA. I'm very isolated in real life, and rely heavily on social media for community and interaction. If I leave, or all my friends have to leave ... where do I go? What's left for us?

I hope this is just a temporary phase and that the internet becomes kinder again, because the alternative is that writers lose their communities and connections, and all the nice, kind readers lose their interactions with authors entirely. Or else everybody's mental health continues to deteriorate and good people quit writing altogether.

Anyway, if you haven't been following this, check out Nicole Brinkley's essay, "Did Twitter Break YA?" which kickstarted this current conversation, and Adrienne Young's Instagram Stories about this. Because this has been building for a while and authors have been talking about it in group chats for ages but it feels like only recently has anyone really felt like they can talk about it out loud. And this conversation needs to trigger change, because this current situation is hurting people, and it isn't sustainable.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. im sorry, yall cant tell me RS is some peak of writing when she can't even keep a tone consistent in a single episode. one second its a horrific sequence of violence and abuse for shock value, then the next second theyre making slapstick "jokes" and making goofy expressions. its good to have moments of comedy and lighter episodes to break up the tension, but those tonal whiplashes cant be forced together in nearly every episode. it just gives away rachel doesn't know what she's doing.

2. IDK why RS sounds so angry in her break post? Yeah it's very obvious it was Webtoons making her to do it but them finally showing some care for their creators to not burn out isn't a bad thing? I doubt the writing will improve or the art will go back to its former standard once it comes back, its too late for that now and her former style has been gone since 2019, but having a break isn't a bad idea. I know she isn't used to actually being told what to do by Webtoons is right in this scenario.

From OP: So, from another webtoon creator on twitter, the Remarried Empress creator went on break and only got like 1/10 of their income when they came back. Other webtoon creators were also saying that while on break, their income is basically non-existent. This might not be the reason RS wouldn’t want a break but this is a pretty understandable reason, especially since it’ll affect her livelihood.

3. I don't think an asexually budded kid would have hades lusting after them, i think it would be bad in the fact hades clearly only sees family through biological means. the bad dynamic would be in he wouldnt accept the child because theyre not what he wants because theyre not from him physically. if that wasnt the case he would have doted after young thanatos like a prince since he would be the child he never had, not mistreat and abuse him like how hades actually treated him as a literal child.

4. it should also be pointed out stuff like PJO and Hades game almost entirely get critiqued because they actually implement being diverse and inclusive and even (gasp) have main characters and relationship be BIPOC and LGBTQ+, so it's usually pissy white kids hating on them, meanwhile LO critics are the exact opposite in being overwhelming BIPOC queer women and people calling out its main gross, status quo protecting choices and regrssive ideals. i'm just saying their critiques are not the same.

5. LMAOOOO guys what if the "dread queen" persephone we see isnt actually her, but the asexuality budded heir she makes for hades? like RS just puts all P's negative traits in this kid (Melinoe maybe? she is the goddess of nightmares) and has her be the dread bringer while P gets to stay the uwu precious bean queen, and its just a fake out of her "daughter" being confused for her because theyre clones of each other. the panel stays canon w/o actually developing P. thats my fan theory now.

6. tbh if LO started out with the more simple style there would still be art critique but not to such a degree now. we saw how much effort it used to have, so to see such a stark decline since then opens it up way more to criticism for it, because we do know what it once was, and it seems both pure laziness and burn out has caused it to entirely go away. even rs' non lo art now is all in the more current rushed style, so its safe to say that old style is just not coming back, sorry to say :(

7. i feel like a lot of the stans dont get that a lot of frustration at LO is the fact its a very subpar product, especially now, made by an entitled white woman who constantly whines about "haters" who gets everything handed to her for her mediocre work (which is often the work of her underpaid team), meanwhile many more talented, hardworking, and diverse creators (like her own co-workers) who are making so much better products are left in the dirt. How is that not frustrating?

8. I feel like the anon who likes Thanatos and Minthe being likeable and the anon talking about Persephone never being able to stand up for herself/ never being punished go well together.

Minthe and Thanatos do face consequences for their actions. Hermes doing more souls behind Hades back made Thaantos look worse on paper and Hades chewed his ass out for it. Thanatos went to Helios and was burned. We even see Thanatos get nervous when Daphne talks about a Persephone. He’s aware of his actions and what may happen.

Minthe is also aware of her faults actions etc. after she slaps hades she says she needs to apologize, she knows what she did was wrong to Persephone when she sees it on the camera and freaks out. She even wonders why Persephone hasn’t ratted her out yet until it’s used as black mail. Minthe apologizes to hades right before she knows they’re gonna fight about the break up. She even sulks after her fight with Thetis but doesn’t blame anyone else but herself. I’m excluding when Hades fires her because Hades brought her as an employee first into his life girlfriend second and treated her as disposable and tried to smooth things over by just throwing money at her(I’ll pay for your schooling if you never try to bring up the fact I dumped you for a 19 year old, no hard feelings right?;)

But Persephone the worst she is aware is that she’s bad at her job that she doesn’t even do any more. Persephone is just a cloud in the sky not aware of her own actions but that’s fine since they have no consequences and if there’s almost consequences don’t worry hades will throw money at the problem.

I wouldn’t say Minthe and Thanatos are likeable because they face consequences but they’re more rounded out characters with flaws, power in their narrative, overcoming and hiding faults. 

9. Persephone telling Hades she will explain to him why torturing mortals is wrong and why Elysium is needed is basically "I can fix him" narration. Change my mind

10. That’s it too bc other than Hers and Persephone (which really isn’t a “mentor” relationship and has some rather gross things about it considering Hera only cares about her for Hades’ sake) there’s no genuinely good female relationships of any sort. Daphne and the nymphs are just said “to be like sisters” to Persephone but we see no actual proof of this. There’s no good mother and daughter relationships with Demeter, Métis, Leto, even Hera to her own children. The only decent mother relationship is towards Rhea and her SON Hades. Minthe and Thetis were horribly toxic with Thetis especially taking advantage of Minthe. Artemis and Persephone aren’t friends at all, Persephone is instead closer to a guy who had her kidnapped and basically forced her to admit she was SA’d to him! Hera only likes Echo because she’s “one of the good ones” and it’s a gross repeat of HxP being a boss lusting after their worker, but it’s a #diversity win because it’s between two women? I suppose the only “ok” female relationship is Athena and Hestia, but that also comes with the fact they’re the only confirmed LGBTQ+ rep used to oppress the poor straight couple, are still hyper gendered in their designs, and from Rachel’s own mouth is deeply ace-phobic and a horrible depiction of actual gay relationships. For something claiming to be about women and female empowerment, it fails on every front to even show women as anything other than props for the mens’ consumption and benefit. 

[ghcstvalleychief]

Mile is too much of a good and mature person, he has endured harsh criticism before. My bestie is half-thai and she told me that back in 2016 after the accident with his then gf people were haunting him and openly accusing him of something that was indeed an accident and out of his control plus imagine how traumatic that event was for him as well?? He was only 24 at the time. Mile just strikes me as someone who would rather keep his pain to himself plus he's introverted and particularly reserved, He could literally be an obnoxious rich man like majority of them are but he's been nothing but selfless, respectful and nurturing to his coworkers especially Apo and Barcode, he never demands special treatment or feels like he needs to shine more than others even if KP is literally based on HIM. There's legit a reason as to why Apo said he could finally feel safe and free with a co-star after such a long time of enduring fakeness within the industry. I feel people are pressed over Mile cause by any means he's a man that is confident in himself, he was successful even before fully entering the industry (he doesn't need stupid fs for relevancy) he's just unapologetic himself (he's goofy, clumsy dresses like a sexy vintage grandpa, talks incessantly about guitars and makes dad jokes and doesn't give a damn about it) I'm not saying he's perfect by any means or that never made mistakes but I think he's a real example of someone who took the time to reflect on his actions and genuinely evolve (unlike a certain someone who had squeeze unexistant tears after fans caught his depravity and hides behind a Kpop star persona) Mile is classy and prefers peace cause he's actually mature and ofc these silly people are all worked with his non reaction, he never engages in drama and stays to himself encouring fans. Mileapo are the standard!! period (Once again sorry for this long ass paragraph but 5 mins in Twitter got me all worked up in behalf of Mile.

When people can't find a reason to justify their hatred of you, they attempt to find one. So when they can't find one, they lash out. That's not the only thing - if people hate you, then they want everyone else to hate you too. Misery loves company. They don't want to be alone in their irrational hatred of you.

I have no idea what happened back in 2016, but what you're alluding to sounds awful. It's a good thing Mile obviously has some good media training because I'm too reckless for something like that. I would have told all of these people to fuck off a long time ago, but I'm also not rich or famous so it won't affect my life to clap back. But anyway, I would love to pick his brain because I am utterly fascinated by the way he responds to certain things. Then again, he is 30 so I would hope he's fairly even-tempered, rational, and mature enough to be above all of this. Acting is his hobby. It's not his livelihood. He would be fine without it. I don't know why they're so pressed honestly, but it's not stopping him from succeeding in the things he sets out to do.

Fun fact: I remember when people found Jeff's old Twitter account and you know what they found? Absolutely nothing. There were no weird rape jokes or misogynistic jokes about women in general. Nothing like that. That's interesting, isn't it? It's almost like some people have common sense even when they're young? It's almost as if some people don't harbor any hatred for women even as a young adult? That has nothing to do with what we're talking about, but I just wanted to put that out there. 😏

[lost-on-kamino]

So this is something I've been thinking about for a while and I wanna get these thoughts written down mostly. I'm not the most educated, but I'm gonna try my best.

It's to do with a Topic that has been around since The Clone Wars and into The Bad Batch.

UnwhitewashTBB has been around since the first trailer and the few episodes. Granted I didn't see it until people raised their thoughts and it got me thinking more on the subject.

I'm going to talk more on two people overall who has in my terms, suffered the most. And I'm going to use myself as a bad example.

Yes I am white.

This is Echo. Echo has been through a lot in the series from when we found him again in season 7 to the bad batch.

And This is Tech. Tech... I don't know why he's English sounding. Now if we compare skin tones and colours

Huh, we're similar. But That's not right. Because Echo and Tech meant to be a Clone of this man called Jango Fett

Who is played by a gentleman named Temuera Morrison. 

Who is of Māori descent.

Now if we compare my colours to Temuera... There's a BIG issue. Echo looks more like Me after I had my Heart operation than he does as a clone of Jango through Temuera and Tech... I don't know what is up with your hair and why you're British overall but thats not right... The Clones are all cloned from Jango. And considering how we see them in the Clone Wars, it's a lot different to how they should be. It BOTHERS me. In recently watching the most recent episode of tbobf (no spoilers here), I was enthralled by what Temuera brought to the table, not anyone else, Temuera. I got to see a part of his heritage in Boba and throughout the episode. And I want to see more. Seeing people I follow on tumblr and twitter who were happy to see themselves on the big screen through such an actor and character. But one episode isn't enough. We need it constantly. Because it helps educate others in other people's lives, not just the one a individual would know. I've had enough of half baked Rambos and people like me. I want to learn about the world that Schools and People around me won't teach. Back towards Echo. He's gone through hell and back, then came back... as a Joke? What example is that setting to people who see themselves in Echo. It's wrong and it frustrates me people can't enjoy something because who they are isn't being shown with the respect and care they deserve. Echo is a joke and thrown to the background, only to be used when the others need someone to joke about. That hurts me (as Echo is a favourite of mine), but it hurts those who relate to Echo more and that's what matters. We want the show to be more positive to people. To allow people to see themselves in the show and go: Wow! That's me! Not to see the usual suspect of white folk taking their places because I'm very sure they've had enough of that. And I have too. That's why I support #UnwhitewashTBB Because they're fighting so people who have been tossed to the dark can show us who they are without being a Joke or a second thought. They're people too. And heck, being from a place that stole culture as a part of that History, I'd rather learn from those people who experience their lives daily, not have to search it up because it should be common knowledge to respect them and their livelihoods. It's why I am choosing to listen and stand by them, again as a white person; I don't want to speak over them but only bring attention to what they are fighting for. They've had enough with people talking over them about anything. They want to see the boys shown in the correct light. And I respect them for raising their voices. If you want to take a further look into who #Unwhitewashtbb are Here’s a link to their Twitter It’s a worthy read. Fuck Disney.

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts-- 5x07: And the fight had a detente...

This episode is a wild ride, so if you haven’t seen it yet and you aren’t spoiled, don’t read this. Just go watch it.  

Ave Maria plays over a photo montage of cancelled men, including Kevin Spacey, Louie CK, and Scott Rudin. (Scott Rudin, if you don’t know the name, is a Broadway/Hollywood producer who treated his assistants like absolute shit. He’s the inspiration for the possessed producer episode of Evil—I think it’s the third episode of the series—and Robert King does not like him one bit.)  

And then the episode opens with Wackner, Del, and Cord discussing the Armie Hammer cannibalism ordeal. Whew, this is not what I wanted to be thinking about first thing on a Thursday morning. I do not think I can put into words how boring I find debating whether or not someone should have been “cancelled.”  Cancellation is usually about rich people facing consequences for shitty actions, and those consequences have never involved anyone’s rights being infringed upon, so why should I care about someone being cancelled? And, while I know that society/people on Twitter don’t always understand nuance, I’d like to think that when it comes to the most notable examples of cancellation... no one is losing their livelihood over false or minor allegations.  

There are so, so, so many issues in the world. Cancellation affects a handful of high profile, usually white, straight, male, celebrities. Why should I give a shit about, like, Louie CK not being able to make as much money as he used to? I just do not and cannot find it interesting.

I’m not surprised David Cord and Del Cooper find this topic interesting—Del likely hates worrying that all of his comedians could get cancelled and put him in a financially tricky spot; Cord probably says things like “Woke Mob” unironically. And as for Wackner, he almost certainly has a skewed understanding of what actually happens when someone’s cancelled and sees a place where he can step in and add some order. Blah. It’s just so boring.

"People are getting canceled without a trial, no evidence presented against them,” Wackner says. This is not it, Wackner! This is such a strawman argument. We don’t need the legal system to adjudicate people being assholes to each other, and in cases where a crime is committed or a particular individual can sue for damages, that is what happens. If you act shitty and then your sponsors realize you’re toxic and drop you, like, it is what it is. You can feel free to respond via a Notes App screenshot where half of your apology is actually just whining about cancel culture and then you say “I’m sorry if anyone took offense at what I did” instead of saying “I’m sorry I said/did hurtful things” and when people don’t take that seriously, maybe it’s because you didn’t take it seriously, either.  

“There are a lot of reasons these accusations never go to trial. The victims finally get to accuse the victimizer face to face,” Wackner explains. Were the victims asking for this?

Marissa shares my question, noting that if the victims don’t want to speak up, then the victimizer would have the court to himself. This raises a new question: who is even bringing these cases? Are Wackner, Cord, and Del just deciding they want to do things as cases and then getting everyone else on board? This sounds bad!  

Apparently, according to Wackner, “if #MeToo relies on mob rule, it’ll exhaust itself.” What... evidence is there for this? I get why people panic about the POSSIBILITY of this happening, even though I don’t share their panic, but is there any actual evidence that #MeToo is losing steam because of false allegations because cancellation isn’t a formal process? I don’t believe there is.  

The test case we have the pleasure of seeing this week is about “Louie CK two,” whom I shall refer to as LCK2 instead of learning his name.  

Now, suddenly, Marissa is asking one of LCK2’s victims to testify. She doesn’t want to participate because it’s just another way for LCK2 to get his career back. Marissa decides to be idealistic and say this is a real opportunity to confront LCK2 with his crime. I suppose she isn’t wrong, and that is what happens next, but, again, meh.

Apparently David Cord is going to defend LCK2. You know what would get cancelled in five seconds? A David Cord funded show that has David Cord actually on it, railing against cancel culture! Can you IMAGINE the thinkpieces?

God, when is this episode going to move on from this extremely irritating premise?

Marissa decides she wants to be the prosecutor. Wackner says if she prosecutes LCK2, she has to prosecute the academic who used a word that sounds like the n-word and lost her job for it.  Marissa thinks the academic shouldn’t have been fired, but Wackner insists she has to take both cases.

“Let’s go into court,” Wackner says, and, thank goodness, we do go into court: REAL court, where we are talking about REAL issues.  

In court, Liz and Diane are suing the police over the death of a black girl who was tased by the police. Her friend is on the stand and it’s quite emotional. Also, Diane tries to pass Liz a note and Liz ignores it. Why would you have two name partners on this case if they aren’t even going to try to work together?  

You can tell things are tense between two TGF characters when they talk at the same time in court but are on the same side.  

Hiiiiii Abernathy! ILY!

The victim had a heart condition, which the police lawyer argues is the actual cause of death. Police lawyer also argues that since this witness posted some ACAB lyrics on Instagram, she must be biased. Eyeroll.

Liz calls the other lawyer racist; the other lawyer tries to make Liz look like she is only on her client’s side because she’s black and that Liz is being absurd.  

Cancel culture court happens. We’re dealing with the academic case first. I don’t feel like talking about the cancel culture shit too much, so here is my take on this case as a whole: (1) I don’t think the actual word in question, which isn’t actually the n-word, is enough on its own to get someone fired (2) I also don’t think anyone can use that word, regardless of its meaning or history, without understanding how it will come across. (3) The teacher did not get fired for simply using this word once (4) This teacher believes that anyone who is from a group that’s been marginalized in history should have to confront that marginalization with as little sympathy and respect as possible because it will help them be more resilient. So basically, if you are from the dominant group then you don’t get challenged. She believes it is her job to do this. She is an egotistical asshole who has no business teaching.  

Cord wants everyone to have to say the full word in question. He says this pretentiously (though I don’t think saying “Said word” is that pretentious, tbh) and Wackner rules against him and also makes him wear a powdered wig for using “obtuse language.”

Marissa is not trying at all with this case at first, since she doesn’t believe in it. That’s shitty, Marissa. If you want to be a lawyer at a firm like RL you’re going to have to fight for all of your clients.  

Marissa makes a Latin joke and ends up in a powdered wig, too.  

The prof says, in one sentence, that she didn’t know what she was doing using the word and also that the black student who took offense thinks college is supposed to be warm, cuddly, and unchallenging. So it was a challenge, then, prof?  

I like this student. And I love that she calls Marissa out for obviously not trying.  

“The optics matter. Racially,” Diane says to Liz, who agrees. Diane, strategically, makes it about gender first (the cop is male, some jurors may react to a woman questioning a man), then makes it about how she should be the one questioning the cop since Liz is black. It would make the jury more “comfortable” (hey, there’s that word again!) Diane says. She says she is being pragmatic.  

Diane says that she could be “more dispassionate”. Be or come across as, Diane? Either way, Liz, who knows full well what the optics look like given that this isn’t her first time in court, doesn’t agree with Diane that they need to come across as dispassionate.  

Then Diane just changes the subject to the firm drama. “Liz, you’re shoving me out of my name partner position because of my race.” Like that’s the issue!  

“I am doing nothing. You are the one who got our racist clients to whine to STR Laurie about us,” Liz counters. “Those clients bring in a great deal of money, and they are not racists,” Diane insists. Yes. Sure. Diane just happened to choose white male clients who were “comfortable” with her to talk to. I have no doubt they’d have reacted poorly to any change in representation, but Diane was counting on those particular clients having some discomfort with their new lawyers.  

Liz calls her out and Diane’s still trying to play it like she just had to inform her long-term clients and it just had to be done this way. But, when Liz asks if Diane thinks the clients would’ve had the same reaction if their new representation were to be white, Diane says that maybe her clients are worried about racial grudges. So, what you’re saying is you knew exactly what you were doing, huh, Diane?  

I get why Diane doesn’t like being pushed out, because who would, but Diane, this isn’t about you. And if you didn’t want to make it about race, perhaps you shouldn’t have appeared on a panel about how great it is that your firm is majority black? You can’t have it both ways.  

Liz notes that Diane felt “entitled” to her name partnership. This is accurate, though based on revenue and stature I don’t think it can be denied that Diane deserves name partner status (generally speaking). Diane went over to RBK, was like, “sure, I’ll be a junior partner, thank you so much for the opportunity, I can’t even pay my capital contribution right now but what if I were name partner in three months?” and that is both entitlement and knowing one’s own worth, but mostly entitlement.  

(Liz does not act entitled, but if we want to get into who deserves their partnership more—again generally speaking, not their partnership at a black firm specifically—it is definitely Diane! Liz literally only has this job because her dad was important.)  

“I think that Barbara Kolstad was shoved out because you felt entitled to her position,” Liz shouts. OMG, a mention of Barbara?!?!?!??!?!? THANK YOU, WRITERS!!!

(This is a slight bit of revisionist history but I’ll allow it, and I think it’s right in thought even if it’s not right on the details. Barbara wasn’t shoved out—Barbara chose to go to a different firm that offered her a better deal—but I don’t think Barbara would’ve been on that trajectory had it not been for Diane’s presence at the firm. Barbara was in charge of a firm that shared her values when, suddenly, her partner decided that they needed to pursue profit over all else and needed Diane to execute that strategy. Maybe no one made a move directly against her, but Adrian and Diane changed the mission of RBK until it was no longer somewhere Barbara wanted to work.

“We can’t work together if you don’t respect me,” Diane screams at Liz. “No, we can’t work together if you use race cynically,” Liz responds. Diane gets even angrier, swears a bunch, and then says “You want to come after me, you come after me with an honest argument about my lack of competence, my lack of worth.” Diane, you are fighting a completely different battle here! You can be entitled and also correct and also good at your job. This is what you used to accuse Alicia of all the time. The fact you’ve turned this into something about your skill level when it’s about the meaning of having a black firm is only proving Liz’s point.

“Your unworthiness—which you don’t seem to want to acknowledge—is that you can’t be the top dog in a black firm,” Liz says. Exactly. But Diane just storms off.

Now the cop is on the stand. He did not know the victim had a heart condition. Uh, obviously, why would he have known that?  

Liz is aggressive in court; Diane thinks this is the wrong strategy. Without knowing who is on the jury, I have no idea which one of them is correct.  

The next move is to get the cop’s ex-wife, who he abused, on the stand.  

Goodie, it’s cancel culture court. Things go well for Marissa, but Del wants to know why Marissa wasn’t that passionate about the n-word case. Marissa says she feels like it’s not the n-word, like that is a valid reason to not represent your client to the best of your ability. “It is. It always is,” says Del.  

Marissa heads back to RL, and as she walks, the camera follows her and moves through the space until we end up in Liz’s office, where she gets a news alert about the cop from the COTW. He’s been killed, seemingly in retaliation for his actions. The news is quick to suggest the trial might’ve encouraged the killing. “Oh, fuck.” Diane says as she watches the news. Aaaand credits (at 20 minutes in!)  

From the promos, I thought this was going to be a Very Serious Episode about police brutality. From the opening, I thought it was going to be an insufferable episode about cancel culture. I was wrong! (Though, I suppose, some of the cancel culture stuff is still insufferable.)  

Yay for Carrie Preston, who directed this episode. I read an interview with her and she talked about how there’s a “look book” for directing TGF episodes and I have never wanted to see anything as badly as I want to see this look book. (Am I exaggerating? Probably. But I might not be.)  

After credits, Marissa finds Carmen and Jay to ask them if “n-word-ly" is offensive. She acknowledges she’s being annoying but they let her continue anyway. Jay finds it offensive. Carmen does not. This seems fitting with their characters, and I love that this scene acknowledges that not every black person is going to have the exact same reaction to everything.  

I want Carmen to have more to do! While I’m glad the show isn’t forcing her to have a large role in every plot just because, I feel like she’s gone missing for the middle part of the season. My guess is that their priority with Carmen is setting her up to be an ongoing part of the cast who grows into being someone we want a lot from rather than forcing her plots from the start... but surely we could get a little more of her! I doubt she’s a one-season character like I assume Wackner will be.  

The cop’s murder changes the vibe in court. Abernathy calls a moment of silence in his memory. “We’re fucked,” Liz whispers to Diane.  

And indeed they are. The cop’s ex no longer wants to talk about how abusive he was—she wants to talk about how great he was. Whose idea was it to still put her on the stand?! Idk about legal procedures but this seems like a really avoidable mistake!

Diane argues that the cop’s death has prejudiced the jury. Abernathy decides to call a “voir dire de novo,” using an obtuse Latin phrase that would not be permitted in Wackner’s court. (Love the little parallels in this episode, like this, the transition between courts earlier, and how much of Marissa being called out on her whiteness feels like a thematic extension of everything going on with Diane.)

Cancel culture court continues. Carmen shows up.

I don’t really get how June, the victim of LCK2, potentially losing a headlining gig for a bad set instead of retaliation from LCK2, scores him a point. One, if she was a rising store, one bad set shouldn’t have damned her career. Two, isn’t it enough to prove that he masturbated in front of women who didn’t want him to do that???????  

Having June perform her act with no prep in Wackner’s court so they can judge whether or not she is funny is a wildly bad idea. So now Wackner is an arbiter of humor as well as cancel culture?  

This whole system is silly and I reject the whole premise but June should not lose two points for the logic that Wackner + the audience don’t find June funny --> June must’ve had her career derailed because she just isn’t funny (how’d she book the headliner gig, then?) --> LCK2 scores points??? He still masturbated in front of her without her consent!  

Using cancel culture to show Wackner’s court is going too far/slipping into bad territory: I’m on board with this. Using Wackner’s court to actually comment on cancel culture: Ugh. The writers seem to be trying to do both.  

Lol at Abernathy having Stacey Abrams’ book on his desk.

Marissa argues the n-word case more passionately, because these writers love to make situations that seemed clear cut seem more uncertain. It’s no coincidence they have the sexual harassment case look murkier (though, again, June being bad at comedy does not negate the sexual harassment!) right before they have the n-work case begin to tilt in favor of the professor’s cancellation.

Hahah what bullshit about trying to prepare the students for a world that won’t be kind to them. Do you seriously think your black students need YOU to prepare them?  

This lady thinks history classes have to describe rapes in detail to get students to sympathize. No, no they fucking do not.  

She also says she’d use the n-word if she were teaching a topic where it might come up. Um, no?

Mr. Elk (this is what I call Ted Willoughby, Idiot Reporter, after he said “things of that elk” in his first appearance) is attacking Diane and Liz on his show. Diane and Liz are, apparently, “Marxist slip-and-fall lawyers” and Mr. Elk plays a clip of Diane saying cops need to be held accountable. Obviously, this was before the cop’s death and meant to be about the legal system, but it looks like Diane’s calling for his murder. I also love how they go out of their way to only pause the clip on unflattering frames of Diane.  

Liz wants to use this in court—I forgot that Liz is super sneaky but this tracks; she is always quick to use things to her advantage and we’ve known that about her since her strategy with the DNC in 2x07 (to make outlandish allegations and then drop them before presenting proof). Julius wants to get Liz and Diane security.

That security is, apparently Jay. I think they’ve shown Jay as security before when Lucca went viral. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.

I was, briefly, worried for Liz and Diane’s safety, especially after I saw all the angry cops waiting for them in court. Then I thought, oh, well at least they’re in court, they should be safe from being shot there. Then I remembered 5x15. Then I laughed at myself.  

Liz’s new strategy works and Abernathy uses more Latin. But, they can’t get any more jurors thrown. (They’re going for a mistrial.)

Oh, Carmen is back again! She did SO MUCH in that court scene where she appeared and then disappeared! She’s chatting with Marissa and spots LCK2 in the RL offices.  

Apparently, LCK2 negotiated a contract with Del, with David Lee’s help. (Why would David Lee be doing entertainment law?) Suddenly everything makes sense to Marissa.

She calls Del to the stand. This—and, honestly, everything after this—makes me wonder how much of this would ever make it to air. Why would Del televise this?

What a shock—Del wants LCK2 back on his streaming service (which I don’t think has a name LOL).  

Somehow Marissa’s questions become about Wackner and whether or not Wackner is an impartial judge, which doesn’t seem like the core issue. Wackner has made it pretty clear that his stance is that he doesn’t care if others are corrupt around him or try to use him; he’s going to be impartial no matter what. Why not play that up instead of making the entire show look staged and Wackner look complicit, Marissa?  

Like, why is Marissa asking Wackner if he’s prejudged the case?! Why isn’t she just trying to like, get him to declare a mistrial because there is a conflict of interest? She can make a version of this argument without accusing Wackner of PREJUDGING, which she knows—I know, so she knows—will set him off. Wackner truly believe he thinks he is impartial. It’s not smart strategy to question that (even if we all know that Wackner is not impartial!)

Wackner blows up at Marissa and shouts at her. He tells her to get the fuck out of court.

This is certainly dramatic, but again, would Del ever choose to air this? I doubt it.  

On her way to work, Diane notices hot pink spray paint in the elevator. When she exits the elevator, the whole firm is gathered in the lobby. Someone has painted COP KILLERS across the elevator bank. “Security doesn’t know how they got in,” Jay says. “Of course they don’t,” Diane responds. “They suggest we call the cops,” Jay says. I love this little exchange. I wasn’t exactly wondering how someone got in, but I like the show making it clear how unprotected Diane and Liz are right now and why.

Julius appears and says that Mr. Elk is saying something new. Diane and Liz sit down to watch and the tone of this episode completely shifts.  

I had forgotten completely that Liz’s dad’s assault issues are out in public until Mr. Elk called him “a disgraced civil rights leader.” It doesn’t feel like they’re out in public! Also I would believe Mr. Elk calling him disgraced for no reason at all.  

Y’all, when Mr. Elk said the name “Duke Roscoe,” my jaw dropped. WHAT A CALLBACK.  

This scene, and really, everything in this plot from here on out, is a delight. It just keeps going and going. It is the best kind of fanservice.

1x11 has been, for no real reason, on my mind since 5x04. It popped out to me as an example of this show’s humor so I talked about it in that recap. I nearly mentioned it in my 5x06 recap when Diane laughed at Julius’s suggestion that they start a firm together. I rewatched 1x11, by complete chance, like two weeks ago. How weird that I'm somehow on the show’s wavelength about this!  

Also I made a joke about Mr. Elk last week without knowing he’d be back this episode. I would like to think I conjured this.  

(1x11 is a really pivotal episode for TGW, even if it isn’t one of the most notable episodes overall. It's composer David Buckley’s first episode and that ending, with Diane laughing, is one of the earliest moments of TGW showing its sense of humor and playing to its strengths.)

Mr. Elk notes that they “rarely see” Kurt, which is apparently evidence that Diane is a lesbian. Hahahahahahah. Mr. Elk also wouldn’t want to note Kurt, despite his recent controversy, because to his viewers, Kurt’s beliefs would make Diane seem more sympathetic.  

GUYS, THE WRITERS DECIDED TO MAKE A CALLBACK TO AN ICONIC MOMENT FROM AN EPISODE THAT AIRED OVER A DECADE AGO AND THEN BUILD ON IT. I cannot express how fucking happy this makes me.  

Now, Mr. Elk says, Diane and Liz are an item!  

What’s better than Diane laughing hysterically at the original allegations? Diane doing it again, eleven years later, JOINED BY LIZ.  

This also works super well to cut the tension between Diane and Liz. I assume this isn’t the end of the name partnership drama, but I think it might be the end of Diane and Liz being pissed at each other. Since the name partnership drama was never really about Diane and Liz (Liz seems to want Diane to stay on...), I’m fine with that.  

Because this is an episode full of callbacks that delight me, Del asks Liz when he gets to meet her son! HER SON STILL EXISTS!  

It sounds like Liz and Del still aren’t fully official, which clarifies why they don’t seem to be a couple in public.  

Del brings up the Diane rumor (jokingly) and Liz jokes along. I love that we get to see this playful side of Liz.  

Wackner’s watching his outburst with regret. Del calms him down and notes that this is good TV (why... would Del air this... it makes DEL look worse than anyone!). Wackner calls Marissa to apologize; she picks up and accepts his apology.  

Abernathy calls Liz and Diane into chambers. He’s worried he was “insensitive”-- he's noticed the tension between Liz and Diane, but now he thinks it was a lover’s spat.

Diane puts on a poker face and leans in towards Liz. She starts nodding attentively and thanks Abernathy. Liz smiles and doubles down: she’s not just going to play along, she’s going to milk it. She gets a juror kicked for homophobia, which means a mistrial. Shameless. I love it.  

Diane and Liz playing off each other as Abernathy tries to look like as much of an ally as possible is comedy gold.  

Diane even calls Liz darling. Omg.  

LCK2 is on the stand, being charismatic and annoying. Of course he is. This is what happens when you give someone who is known for being able to connect with a crowd... a crowd and the benefit of the doubt.

LCK2 is talking about “stupid women” in his new set. Why... is Del giving that a platform at all? See, the fact that Del thinks it is not only interesting but also somehow essential to let LCK2 make jokes about sexual harassment is why I can’t take this episode seriously. Why should I be more outraged about someone who did something shitty not getting a trial for his shitty but legal behavior than I am about powerful people continuing to offer shitty people platforms? Only one of these seems outrageous to me.

Wackner decides that the professor did something “awful but lawful” and that’s it. So you’re saying that if it isn’t illegal, it doesn’t get decided in your court, either? What was the point of this, then?  

The professor says she doesn’t want that—she wants the school to know she’s being punished so she can get her job back. The student storms out, rightfully. Wackner’s job isn’t to offer someone who wants punishment some form of penance, like she can exchange community service hours for offensive remarks. It’s to... well, idk what it is to do, since this whole thing doesn’t really make sense and he makes the rules, but I don’t think his verdict has to be about giving anyone what they want. I’m disappointed that Wackner comes up with a punishment and I don’t think it’s going to get her her job back.  

LCK2 loses, too, because he hasn’t made amends. Wackner doesn’t want to fine him because he’s too rich for a fine to matter. Cord argues that LCK2 deserves a second chance. I mean, sure, but is he being denied a second chance? He doesn’t deserve an easy path back to his fame just because he wants it.  

Wackner mentions prison. At first I was like, oh, that’s a nice throwaway line that he mentioned prison! This ties into what I was saying a few weeks ago about how Wackner likes the institutions that already exist—he just thinks they’re imperfect! It’s fitting that he’s not a prison abolitionist!  

And then the episode actually went there: Wackner, thanks to David Cord’s private prison company, actually sentences LCK2 to prison. This is deeply uncomfortable (and of questionable legality). Wackner’s system is just going to recreate prison? Worse, private prison? He’s creating an unchecked, privatized legal system?! This sounds bad! Kudos to the show for taking this to some place so dark—I knew Wackner’s system would start to show cracks, but I didn’t realize they’d go this far.  

And I’m not sure what the end game is with this! All I know is I’m not on board with Wackner sending people to prison (except as a plot—I am very on board with this plot) and neither is Marissa.

I do not think viewers of the reality show will like the prison twist or the fact that Cord is financing a court and prison! Can you imagine the scandal!

And what do the contracts look like that allow Wackner to sentence someone to prison? Can LCK2 leave any time he wants? If so, then how does the prison sentence help? If not, is that legal?  

Del wants it to be a 2 week sentence, not 3, because this means LCK2 will have to miss his taping in two weeks. I have many questions. (1) Is Wackner’s show airing live? If not, then why do they need to rush the taping of the special? They could push it quite easily. (2) Why can’t they push the taping? This guy is a huge deal and enough potential $$ that Del wants to rehabilitate his career... so why does the taping have to be on this particular day and time?  

Is there really an Exxon Mobile case, I wonder?  

I like that we spend a good amount of time watching Marissa’s reactions to this latest addition to Wackner’s court. Combined with the score, Marissa’s facial expression serves to underline that private prisons are not good here! This isn’t Wackner getting legitimate methods of enforcement... this is just opening a pandora’s box of highly questionable extrajudicial practices.  

I do love that this episode ends up here: it starts out like it’s going to be about cancel culture silliness and ends up being about the escalation of Wackner’s tactics.

Funny how both of the cancelled people end up being found guilty by Wackner, huh! Almost like they actually did something wrong and faced the consequences!  

Liz and Diane get called in to talk to Liz’s favorite department: HR. They’re asked to sign “love contracts” to confirm things are consensual. I find it hilarious that HR gives them the paper before even asking if it’s true.  

Liz grabs a pen and signs. Diane follows her lead. They look at each other and smile politely at HR.

I am... not sure how to read this last scene! Is it a fuck-you to HR? A way of easing tensions? A way for Liz to get people to stop talking to her about removing Diane as name partner because no one will want to ask if they’re really involved? Something else? Help me understand!

Curious to see where things go next. I can see LCK2 coming back for another episode but it also wouldn’t surprise me to never see him again. Similarly, I could see some glances/discussion of Diane and Liz’s romantic relationship next week, or I could see it never being mentioned again, or I could see it being mentioned next season out of the blue.  

[pray4jensen]

What do you mean by "who he (jared) is as a person" in the tags of the walker ask?

i mean that jared has done many things that i find reprehensible to the point that i have no interest in supporting his career. it’s unfortunate since i really love sam, but this is why distinguishing between an actor and their character is so important, and this is why the whole walker situation in regards to spn’s ending is particularly unpalatable 

i think newer fans are unlikely to be aware of the things that he’s done, because for the most part, jensen and misha both keep him in check. he also struggles with depression and anxiety and has been very vocal about that, but that doesn’t make his other actions excusable.

i’ll put it below the cut because my intention isn’t to hurt anyone who may be a fan of his but i also feel like it’s important information to know:

anyway, to get straight to the point, he regularly uses his straight/white/cisgender/male/economic privilege to either actively or passively hurt others that don’t have the same type of privilege to protect themselves. 

he has, for example, doxxed people on his twitter (he has 3 million followers), providing names and addresses in the hopes that his fans will go harass people who he felt did wrong to him. who are these people? usually people like us, working low income jobs and struggling to pay the bills. he’s done it to waitresses, flight personnel, ticket counter agents, etc., not once stopping to consider that these people might just have been having a bad day. he does this knowingly and with the hopes that these people will lose their livelihoods; he is aware that his fans are often malicious and it can’t have escaped his memory that these same fans have intended to do real harm to real people, often sending death threats to not only his wife, but also misha and danneel and literally anyone who gets too close to jared and/or jensen.

he’s also relentlessly transphobic and homophobic. the number of times he’s bullied misha (because tbh, that is the only appropriate word for it) by questioning his gender/sexuality just because misha doesn’t fit the masculine mold of societal stereotypes is countless. this is also why it’s particularly hurtful when, like last night, he said that sam could have different pronouns and/or may not be as straight as presented onscreen because, despite appearing to support a genderqueer reading of sam, he doesn’t actually understand the implications of such a thing fully, and you can bet your ass he’ll be making another transphobic/homophobic joke in no time. his statement also neglects to acknowledge the vast amount of textual evidence that fans have come up with to support a queer dean reading. by his suggestion that sam could also be queer, he implicitly suggests that bi dean is similarly a fan reimagining of dean’s character, rather than a canonically and textually supported argument for dean’s sexuality.

in more recent history, and especially in regards to the ongoing BLM protests, he’s more than once demonstrated his lack of awareness when it comes to the privilege he holds. after getting drunk and getting involved in a bar fight during a break away from shooting s15, he was arrested and tried to bribe an officer to get off on his charges. luckily, it didn’t work, but the whole incident was caught on camera. to be completely honest, the fact that he tried it means that he’s done it before (and probably successfully). this is extremely distressing to think about, especially when you know that if a person of colour had tried the same thing, they either would have been in jail or dead on the ground.

finally, just this past summer, when george floyd was murdered, he wrote a muddled post about his reaction to the BLM movement (he didn’t even bother calling george floyd by his name), ultimately concluding that he could do absolutely nothing to help and that he was sad about that which...thanks, jared. this man has 3 million followers that he doesn’t mind utilizing to harass innocent people but when it comes to standing up for black lives? he’s fucking useless apparently. 

[blue-shaded]

people have been talking abt dream on here recently n i watch some of the other people in the dream smp so, a comprehensive list to things (to my knowledge) that he’s done/why people don’t support it and also some context for some of it

cw // mentions of possible pedophilia, mentions of the r-slur

1. the poll stuff is exactly as the other anons have said. many of the other dream smp creators also encouraged their fans to vote for that mob. kind of annoying but. that’s just the way it is, it’s like urging your fans to vote for a friend in an awards show, it’s natural to promote stuff you like/support to your fans

2. the thing w being shipped with his friends (some of whom are minors)! this one is in a way true, though not in the way that other anons have said. the context behind this one is that ninja was making suggestive/sexual comments with tommyinnit, who’s a 16 year old that’s a part of the dream smp, and dream laughed and encouraged the jokes. tommy makes a lot of sexual jokes about random things and though i don’t like ninja, he was going along with the bit, however i do think it started going too far as tommy then sent a panic word to wilbur soot, who’s one of the other members of the dream smp, which was a code word they’d made with one another for if they were ever uncomfortable and needed to be helped. a lot of people were confused as to whether this was part of the bit or not because tommy included these jokes in his youtube video, which many assumed that he wouldn’t do if it did make him uncomfortable and also once wilbur showed up, tommy waved him off saying never mind. regardless, after wilbur was called in, ninja backed off with the jokes. apart from this incident, tubbo, another minor on the dream smp, has said that he doesn’t liked being sexualized, and dream supported him on it. the other possibility is that the anons may have been referring to how dream has said he’s fine with being shipped with the dream team? in which case, this isn’t him saying he’s okay with being shipped with minors, the dream team consists of dream, sapnap, and george, all of whom are adults and have said they’re okay with it :) aside from this, people have a screenshot of dream saying “16 is legal in the uk” and have used that as proof of pedophilia, but if you watch the stream, you can hear that someone asks on the discord call what the age of consent is in the uk, and (i actually don’t know why he wasn’t speaking), this stream was a while ago, but everyone on the call answered with the same answer, that the age of consent was 16, and dream just answered it in chat

3. another thing is that dream has heavily defended the usage of the r-slur by neurotypicals in the past (i say past, but this was quite recent, around january of this year) saying that the word is offensive but the usage of it doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. he hasn’t commented on this, but he himself is neurodivergent because he has adhd, so many people have mixed feelings about this situation because of that. he has apologized for his words multiple times since (reminder that if you’re not neurodivergent, it’s not your apology to accept though)

4. many people were upset with him for using the word lynching during a minecraft championship game. he says something about how people are cheating and they should be lynched, and though he meant it in a joking manner, many people were still (rightfully) upset about it due to the word’s history, and he has since apologized for it (reminder that if you’re not in the black community, it’s not your apology to accept though)

5. many people have come after dream for creating a parasocial relationship with fans, citing evidence such as how he says he loves them, encourages them to watch his and his friends streams, etc. i personally don’t agree with this one? stan culture was around long before dream and it’s going to be around for long after. it’s unfair to judge him for saying that he loves his fans or for encouraging his fans to watch his streams because at the end of the day, he is a content creator, streams are a part of that livelihood, and i feel like many creators and celebrities in the past and currently say that they love their fans and don’t typically get backlash for it?

6. the merch prices. his merch was incredibly overpriced, and though he’s apologized, it’s still,,, eh. people are very understandably still really mad about this one

7. his role in the smp! this is one that a lot of people (especially who aren’t really into the smp) misunderstand. watching the lives, it’s very easy to think that dream’s just an ass to those around him (for example, the clips going around where he’s just yelling at tommyinnit over minecraft discs). for those who aren’t aware, the dream smp is roleplay based and they are simply playing out a script most times :)

8. his similarity to c*y. nothing much else to say about this one. not really fair to judge someone just based off the fact that their faceless. corpse faced similar backlash because so many people are now wary of faceless youtubers due to that situation. you can be wary but in my opinion, i don’t think it’s fair to judge them

9. the behavior of his fans. this one i think is truly unfair to call him out for. dream team twitter and dream team tiktok do truly get out of control, but when it’s a real issue and it gets brought up to him, he has called it out in the past (for example, many dream fans started shitting on and hating on addison rae just because he interacted with her on twitter and she was receiving many hate comments for it, and when someone sent the screenshots to him, he called the behavior disgusting and embarrassing). twitter stans like to get the most random things trending but,, it is what it is, he has a big fanbase, most of whom are very young n think it’s funny to do things like spam keyboard smashes, and i don’t really think that’s something to berate your audience over.

that’s it from what i know, i’m sure i missed some stuff and for that i apologize. i personally don’t watch his content because it’s not my style, but he does frequently appear on the lives of other minecraft youtubers so this stuff pops up on my timeline quite a bit. i am,,, so sorry for such a long ask but i just wanted to provide people with context since a lot of people seemed confused so that they had full context when forming their opinions. if i’m incorrect on any of this, i hope that the other anons correct me as i want to be educated and informed. i’m in no way accepting any of his apologies for the stuff he’s said in the past because i’m not black nor neurodivergent so it’s not my apology to accept, i just wanted to say that he has addressed and apologized for the incidents. hope you all have a very good day and i’m sorry if any of this came off as rude or snappy.

I think I’ll add this to my masterlist too. Can you add more sources tho?

[obstinaterixatrix]

transcript of twitter thread (x) by @RileyGryc

I couldn't call my dad & explain why I think property destruction during riots is okay and why all cops are bastards, so I messaged him 3 articles & said the following to him. If you're struggling talking to your family about these topics, maybe this will help you:

First, I sent him The Other America, by Dr. Martin Luther King Junior: https://crmvet.org/docs/otheram.htm This was actually recommended by @AJBoomer4 and I appreciate them for that. It gave me the idea to look up other contemporary resources to send my father as well.

Second, I sent him Riots are destructive, dangerous, and scary — but can lead to serious social reforms, by German Lopez of Vox: https://vox.com/2015/4/30/8518681/protests-riots-work It's a fairly exhaustive analysis done in 2015 about the power - and even some drawbacks - of riots & property destruction.

Third was What I mean when I say I want to abolish the police, by Victoria Gagliardo-Silver on The Independent: https://independent.co.uk/voices/acab-abolish-police-george-floyd-protests-cops-a9543386.html It's a wonderful, detailed explanation of what ACAB means. The following tweets are the actual messages I sent my father to help him learn:

"These are the three best, and most expertly worded texts I can find on the subject of ACAB and violent protest. I can't speak better than they have on the subject, and I don't really have the energy to do so. But I will say, from personal experience, many agree with these."

"The consistent message from business owners who have had their restaurants, their hotels, their livelihoods burned down hasn't been one of anger recently. It's been of solidarity. Every single one I've seen the business owner said 'We are sad it happened, but we understand.'"

"'Businesses and buildings can be rebuilt; lives cannot be unkilled.' These owners have been diverse, a Muslim hotel owner in Minneapolis, a Chinese immigrant who owned a restaurant in NYC, many businesses in Seattle."

"Even the CEO of Target said that the burning down of his business in Minneapolis was fine. All workers there will receive full pay and benefits until the new location opens. It's covered by insurance. He encouraged the protesters and spoke to solidarity."

"As for ACAB, I know you're close with a lot of law enforcement. As the article goes over, ACAB isn't about every single cop is a bastard, it's about how the good cops are forced into silence or complicity while the bad cops spoil the bunch."

"It's about how the US police system, which was founded as an institution to track down & bring back runaway slaves, is inherently and foundationally corrupt. It means that our system of policing is inherently racist, and militarized, and those who join it even with the best..."

"...of intentions inevitably end up contributing to that system of oppression. Female reporters have been shot at. Kids have been maced. A black CNN reporter was arrested for no reason. The cops are showing that they want the violence in this case..."

"...they're the instigators nationwide against peaceful protest escalating into these riots. Curfews weren't imposed when Covid was around. 55 PPE sets can be bought for the $ of outfitting one officer in riot gear. The way policing is done in the US is fundamentally messed up."

"That's what ACAB means. Just like Black Lives Matter doesn't mean white lives don't, not every cop is a bastard. But the good ones are forced either to participate willingly or silently in this system, or burn out and deal with the trauma. I hope that makes more sense now."

I have no clue what his response will be. He has, in recent years, showed the sort of politics most men of his age get from Bill Maher. He's joked about not being able to say r*tard, called people snowflakes, has said he feels like Boomers being vilified isn't right at all.

He's a former firefighter & disaster preparedness educator. He's a government contractor who has had close friends in the police force. I have no clue if he will actually sit & read what I said fully & let it process. I hope he doesn't respond. But I did end it with this:

"All that I would ask before you respond or to refute what I've said somehow is to examine it. Examine how it makes you feel, why you feel that way. Just work through the defensiveness. That's all I ask." Here's hoping that he actually does the work before responding.

[rndyounghowze]

A Lesson In Swimming By Michael Shutt Broke Our Brains (In The Good Way)

Do you know the signs of a stroke? @whmike didn’t until he had three. May is #NationalStrokeAwarenessMonth. Learn the warning signs and hear this poignant, courageous, and unexpectedly hilarious story @alessoninswimming

By Ricky and Dana Young-Howze

Los Angeles, California

Venmo: @rndyounghowze

Review 226

When I was watching an interview of Diana Wyenn about work on a project with Kristina Wong the topic changed to another project that she had taken on that was being affected during the pandemic. She had worked with performer and three time stroke survivor Michael Schutt on a show called “A Lesson In Swimming”. Just like everyone the pandemic required a change in plans. Unlike others, though, health reasons made livestreaming the performance on Zoom impossible. However they found a way to have a home for the project in these uncertain times. Hence how we came to find the podcast version of “A Lesson In Swimming” narrated by Michael Shutt and directed by Dianna Wyenn featuring an original score and sound design by John Zalewski. It takes us on an episodic journey in five parts through the scariest moments of a brain breaking and finding a new hope for the future on the other side.

I had never met Shutt before now and so I had no idea what kind of performance we were in for. When you listen you are hearing someone give a hundred percent. Not only does the writing channel the wit and unique outlook of Schutt but his performance recreates the emotions of a frightful time, I have had maybe two or three times in my life where I genuinely feared for my life. If you put me on a stage or plopped me in front of a microphone and told me to relive those moments for the entertainment of the audience I would think about punching you in the face. Shutt takes us through these moments in such a way that you’re holding your breath. Normally Dana and I talk and joke back and forth while we are watching a show. This time I was immediately shushed into oblivion. We listened to five episodes of the series in dead silence and only really caught our breath at the end. He never lets up or wavers and doesn’t shy away from the bits that could make him feel uncomfortable. That’s how dedicated Shutt is to telling his story and changing the world.

We know that this was an adaptation of a staged performance. We know that things were changed to make it work better in an audio format. For the life of us we can’t tell you what is different apart from not being able to see Michael Shutt right in front of us. This is a perfect example of a digital adaptation. It plays to the strengths of the source material. It plays to the strengths of the performer. It integrates these things so much that it is seamless. We can’t tell you how it blended from one to another. In fact if we had not been told we would have thought that this would be the first, final, and only iteration of this piece. We would have been perfectly happy and felt like we were missing nothing.

This work also exemplifies something that we have been fighting to achieve for a very long time. We cannot leave our performers with disabilities behind. We cannot allow a performer’s ability to participate in the mainstream to be the reason that they cannot create art. There are pathways into making great theatre accessible to the performer as well as the audience. The audio drama format is a perfect way to do this. It has a century long history proving it’s viability in entertaining an audience. Also technology has advanced to such a point that anyone with a smartphone can create an audio drama with such quality that dwarfs that golden age of radio’s heyday. This callback to the past is a rich and expanding part of the future of digital theatre.

We should also be ferociously protecting the rights and livelihoods of all performers with disabilities. We should make sure that we are keeping our stages accessible to them but also embracing platforms that allow them to soar to new heights. When you do this you also protect your career in the theatre. As Shutt has already proven life and health can change in an instant. All of us can become disabled in the blink of an eye. Let’s create a better theatre world for all of us before it’s your turn.

May is Stroke Awareness Month we need to think about how easy it is for our brains to get broken. When you look at all of the different ways that strokes can happen and what damage they can wreak on our bodies we should all be taking this deadly seriously. Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the US and few people know anything about it. When Michael Shutt and Diana Wyenn asked us to hold our review until May so that we can help them spread the word about this very important public health issue we knew that we just had to. You can experience this production for FREE all of May by going to the link below.

Check the Show Out For Yourself Here

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