#typical trump cult fan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ear-worthy · 2 years

Text

Podcasting Becomes Last Refuge For Disgraced Politicians & Celebrities

Last week, disgraced ex-Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced he is starting a new podcast. Fourteen months after resigning from office in a sexual harassment scandal, the former New York governor is forcing his way back into the public eye by launching a podcast on his redemption tour.

“It’s just about expressing my opinion to the public and speaking publicly,” Cuomo said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And to the extent they don’t like what I have to say, then don’t listen.”

Cuomo’s first guest on the podcast, “As a Matter of Fact … with Andrew Cuomo,” will be Anthony Scaramucci, former President Trump’s White House communications director.

Cuomo’s brother, Chris, is trying a comeback of his own after he was fired from CNN for acting as a strategist for the former governor in violation of the network’s ethics rules.

Debra Katz, a lawyer for former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, who sued Cuomo last month for sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, was quoted as saying in an article, “I think the world would be a better place if he just stayed at home and worked on his motorcycle,” Katz said, referencing Cuomo’s well-known love for bikes and classic cars.

Cuomo is now following a too-familiar playbook for redemption.

Start a podcast. There, you can attack your attackers with impunity, and rewrite your history. The revisionism typically includes self-exoneration for themselves and blame dispensed liberally to others who are “out to get me.”

After his debacle in Ukraine politics in the Trump administration and his tipsy performance during the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani has been hosting a podcast called, laughably, “Common Sense.”

Try to contain yourself, but the podcast is pitched as “Rudy Giuliani gives insight on leadership, courage and the most pressing issues of our time.” Is that liquid courage?

Then we have recently convicted Steve Bannon, who escaped the law via a Trump pardon, and has been charged in New York with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud for his alleged role in We Build the Wall, a group that raised at least $15 million to construct a barrier along the border with Mexico but skimmed the donations.

His podcast, War Room, is indeed popular with the conspiracy set. Bannon may need to pause his podcast since he was just convicted to four months in prison for contempt of Congress.

These three examples and more politicians and celebrities who have a nasty habit of being reprehensible have started podcasts.

As an avowed podcasting fan and a self-professed steward of podcasting, I worry that podcasting is becoming the trash pile for disgraced people who are seeking amnesty via their own podcast.

Am I worrying about nothing? Look at YouTube. Founded in 2005, the video channel is now a gateway to all kinds of heinous, horrible, and hostile videos. From porn to white supremacists, right-wing extremists to pseudo-religious cults, YouTube’s algorithm can grease the skids, so viewers can slide down the rabbit hole toward, hate, deviancy, and violence. How many of these school shooters or other mass killers have been glued to YouTube or, worse, posting on YouTube?

TikTok is steering toward a YouTube-like head on collision with dumpster fire content and atrocious people egged by fringe politicians who are now considered mainstream.

Facebook? Did you know that Nancy Pelosi owns a mansion in China? John F Kennedy Jr is actually the current U.S. President? Joe Biden is to blame for a shortage of Chick-fil-A dipping sauces?

That’s the deep vein of misinformation that spreads through Facebook today. I actually miss the days of “Fakebook” where truly unhappy and dysfunctional families posed for breathtaking photos.

Twitter is already so bad that, by comparison, the Department of Motor Vehicles has become an oasis of civility. Instagram has developed multiple personality disorder. One day, it’s photo posting app. The next day, it’s pseudo TikTok. The next day, it’s Snapchat.

Since podcasting is, in essence, an open-source, decentralized media format and entry costs are less expensive than most other media outlets, podcasting has become STEP ONE in any disgraced personality’s redemption tour.

Harassed and touched women that work for you and got caught? Start a podcast about the disappearance of masculinity.

Took bribes as an elected official? Start a podcast about the deep state and how it is out to get you and all your listeners.

Fired for being an unapologetic racist? Start a podcast about societal persecution of white people. Invite other disreputable white people on your show to prove your point. Attack Critical Race Theory (CRT) in every episode, even though you have no friggin’ idea what it actually is.

Fired for being a homophobe or being transphobic? Start a podcast about students demanding litter boxes in schools, even though you can’t point to a single example. Or attack the two girls that beat your daughter in the high jump because they don’t look feminine enough.

Do I have any solutions? Or do I just want to complain.

First, podcast networks like Apple, Amazon, Spotify and others should do a much better job of monitoring the content of their podcasts.

Second, podcast hosting companies like Libsyn should also being monitoring content and not simply enabling anyone with a credit card to start a podcast.

Third, the hard part. Listeners should not fall prey to confirmation bias. Certainly, you can be a Trump supporter without falling prey to election fraud lies. If you want to listen to Steve Bannon, have at it. Then maybe listen to Rachel Maddow and weigh the disparity between their divergent perspectives. In politics, each ideology has cogent points. Yet, no group have a monopoly on the truth. Question everything. Do your own research.

Even Ted Cruz tells the truth, especially about daylight savings time.

Fourth, do not allow these disgraced politicians and celebrities to rewrite history. Hold them accountable. Are these people on an apology tour or an “everybody was out to get me” grievance festival?

Finally, develop bottom lines on what content you will not accept from these podcast hosts. Stoking hate, denigrating racial, gender, lifestyle and ethnic groups, promoting violence, and augmenting grievance should never be acceptable.

“Tolerance is possessing a heart or a spirit that gives room at all times for people’s weakness and imperfection with a view to fostering peace and promoting friendship.” Bishop Dr John Ibenu

#podcast #psychology #tolerance #moderate

1 note · View note

warsofasoiaf · 3 years

Note

Sorry about the crazy tankies. As someone who will never know their grandparents because of the Soviet Union I appeciate that people are stating the truth

These things happen. It's never just tankies, even if they are justifiably called out for their knee-jerk remarks, historical revisionism, and blatant hypocrisy. I got posts blasting me when I talked about how the Monroe Doctrine was used to sponsor anti-democratic coups in Central and South America, and I got remarks on fans from FDR to Trump in my cults episode where I criticized FDR to Trump. If you criticize something, it will invite backlash. That in itself is not a terrible thing; plenty of criticism can be well-reasoned and I am a normal, fallible human.

Let me be fair, I fully believe that there are people within every movement who are both capable of receiving criticism in an emotionally mature fashion and in delivering well-reasoned criticism of others; that includes communism and not just socialists or social democrats or other similar movements that are typically thought of as "left-wing." I have evidence to back that claim, after one of my anti-communist posts where I expressed my strong opinions against the movement, I have not just received the usual internet repertoire insulting me or my supposed political beliefs, but well-reasoned and well-rationed responses, everything from a simple "that's not what I believe nor what I believe my movement represents" to more involved affairs that have been since buried under my massive inbox.

But there's a subset everywhere of individuals who, I surmise, stake much of their meaning in these causes, and so to criticize the causes or to point out their historical misdeeds is to criticize their very purpose and being. Collective narcissism is a heck of a drug. And the internet helps further that along with filter bubbles and information overload that create an environment that promotes disinformation. Hopefully we can find ways to break it, but I'm pessimistic, if only because I don't see the tide breaking any time soon.

Thanks for the remarks, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#history #communism #modern politics

17 notes · View notes

queengallaghr · 4 years

Note

Just going to leave this to the last anon: Even though E created a whole story to say they weren't cheating on Arryn, neither her or her husband denied all the the abuse claims. But what to expect from people who are scamming from fans, stealing charity money from a small school in Thailand, to build an MLM (business that are cults, like scientology) that is managed by trump supporters.

I hadn't heard anything about the second half but it wouldn't surprise me. Especially not after the way Bob had a typical "but the merchandise" reaction after the protests started.

#anti bob morley #anti eliza taylor #anti beliza #anon #asks

11 notes · View notes

arecomicsevengood · 5 years

Text

Watching Movies In Self-Isolation, Part Two

L’Assassin Habite Au Rue 21 (1942), dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot. Clouzot is better known for directing The Wages Of Fear (the movie William Friedkin remade as Sorcerer) and Diabolique, but this is the first movie he directed. It’s a pretty effective comedy, as well as an Agatha Christie style murder-mystery thriller. It’s really cool to watch these things that feel like they are just “movies,” before a bunch of genre conventions got built up and put in place. This one’s also eighty minutes long, super-short. The premise of the movie is there’s a serial killer on the loose, leaving a business card on every dead body. A dude passes along to the police that he found a stash of the business cards in the attic of a boarding house, so the killer must live there. A police officer goes undercover as a priest moving into the boarding house to investigate the residents. His wife, an aspiring singer, has made a bet with him she can solve the crime first, and in doing so become a celebrity that will be hired to perform places, so she also moves into the boarding house, partly to annoy him. The stuff at the boarding house is basically the film’s second act, while the first and third act are more typical murder-mystery stuff, although the tone of comedy is maintained throughout, despite all the cold-blooded murders.

All These Women (1964), dir. Ingmar Bergman. Kind of dumb sex comedy directed by Ingmar Bergman, but with gorgeous Sven Nykvist cinematography, bright jewel-toned pastels, and sort of theatrical staging in spots seeming to foreshadow Parajanov’s The Color Of Pomegranates or eighties Greenaway stuff. About a critic who visits the palatial estate of a famous cellist to write a biography of him only to find a harem of women; the whole thing unfolding from the cellist’s funeral a few days later. The winking humor is both music-hall bawdy but in a way that feels self-aware or “meta” in the context of a sixties film.

The Touch (1971), dir. Ingmar Bergman. Bergman’s one of my favorites, many of his canonized classics resonate deeply with me, but he was also astonishingly prolific, with a bunch of movies of his blurring together in my mind, and even more that I didn’t know existed, like this English-language one, starring Elliott Gould. Gould’s another favorite of mine, being in a bunch of great movies in the sixties and seventies, but damn, he’s unlikable here. Unlikable characters “hit different” in older material because I’m not sure if you’re supposed to sympathize with them according to the sexist cultural attitudes of the day. Here he’s “the other man” Liv Ullman is cheating on Max Von Sydow (RIP) with, but he’s pretty emotionally abusive, just a shit to her, extremely demanding of her in a relationship he did nothing to earn, though it does feel like the movie is kind of treating him as a romantic lead.

The Anderson Tapes (1971), dir. Sidney Lumet. This is heist movie, starring Sean Connery as a dude fresh out of prison, planning to rob his girlfriend’s apartment building, costarring Christopher Walken in his first film role. It contains all the plot beats of a typical heist thing, all the satisfying “getting the gang together, planning things out in advance, chaotic elements interfere” stuff but also a totally superfluous bit of framing about like constant surveillance, video monitoring and audio tape. All this dystopian police-state stuff seems, implicitly, like it would make a crime impossible to execute, the criminals are monitored every step of the way, by assorted agencies. But then the punchline, after everyone’s arrested for reasons having nothing to do with that, is that all this recording is illegal and all the tapes should be erased as the high-profile nature of the case makes it likely the monitoring agencies will get caught. Sidney Lumet directs a good thriller, even though I don’t find Connery (or Dyan Cannon, who plays the girlfriend) particularly compelling.

The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse (1933), dir. Fritz Lang. I watched this years ago, after reading Matt Fraction praise it, particularly how skillful the transitions between scenes were, and I really enjoyed it, but didn’t remember much about it and was excited to rewatch it. It’s got a lot going for it: An exceedingly elaborate criminal plot whose only goal is to wreak chaos, low-level criminals caught up in something they’re morally unprepared to reckon with, a charismatic police detective interviewing a bunch of weirdos, Fritz Lang following up M by continuing to be a master of film and sound editing very early stitching it all together. The Mabuse character was previously the star of a silent film I haven’t watched, and here he’s mute, which is a clever choice I didn’t register until writing it out just now. He’s gone completely insane, but is nonetheless writing a journal filled with elaborate crime plots, and his psychologist is completely insane and following these directions, in a commentary on the rise of Nazism in Germany at the time.

House By The River (1950), dir. Fritz Lang. I watched this in the pre-Quarantine days, but it totally rules. Again, it feels sordid in part because of how old it is and my assumption you’re meant to identify on some level with the completely loathsome protagonist’s sexual desire and anger at getting turned down. It’s so creepy, he’s listening to the sound of his maid showering at one point. All the characters seem very fun to play, they’re all pretty cartoonish. This guy murder his maid, and then gets the idea that he should write a book about the murder when someone explains the idea of “writing what you know” to him, and he is then surprised when his wife reads the book and puts together that it’s a murder confession, saying something like “Really? I thought I disguised it pretty well.” The film functions as a dark comedy because every character is completely mortifying. Lang’s work becoming less ambitious and more reduced in budget during his time working in America is pretty sad but this movie feels legit deranged.

Midsommar (2019), Ari Aster. Heard good things about Hereditary, but haven’t watched it yet, having been put off by the plot summary of Aster’s preceding short film, about a kid who rapes his dad. This is like a longer version of The Wicker Man, basically, starring Florence Pugh, who I had heard was like the new actress everyone’s enamored with, but didn’t think was that compelling in this. A bunch of Americans go to a Swedish village, one of them (played by Chidi from The Good Place) has studied their anthropology extensively, but all are unprepared for the fact that their whole culture seems to revolve around human sacrifice and having sex with outsiders so they don’t become totally inbred. There’s a monstrously deformed, cognitively impaired child who’s been bred specifically so his abstract splashings of paint can be interpreted as culture-defining profound lore, which I took away as being comparable to the role Joe Biden plays within the death cult of the DNC.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2019), dir. Bi Gan. This got a lot of acclaim, but I am almost certain the main reason I watched it is because the director made a list of his favorite movies and included Masaaki Yuasa’s anime series Kemonozume on it. Does a sort of bisected narrative thing, where half of the movie is this sort of fragmented crime thing, a little hard to follow, and then you get the title card, and then the second half is this pretty dreamlike atmospheric piece done in a single shot, with a moving camera. I’m not the sort to jerk off over long shots, although I appreciate the large amount of technical pre-planning that goes into pulling them off. The second part is pretty compelling though, enveloping, I guess it was in 3-D at certain theatrical screenings? I’m a little unclear on how my fucked-up eyes can deal with 3-D these days and I was never that into it. The first half is easy to turn off and walk away from, the second half isn’t but I’m unsure on how much it amounts to beyond its atmosphere.

Black Sun (1964), dir. Koreyoshi Kurahara. This one’s about a Japanese Jazz fan and dirtbag squatter who meets a black American soldier who’s gone crazy and AWOL. He loves him because he loves Jazz and all Black people, but the soldier is pretty crazy and can’t understand him anyway. Jazz is, or was, huge in Japan and this is a cooler depiction of that fandom than you get in Murakami novels but it’s a fairly uncomfortable watch, I guess because the black dude seems so crazy it feels a little racist to an American audience? Maybe he wasn’t being directed that well because there would be a language barrier but it’s weird.

Honestly the thing to watch from sixties Japan on The Criterion Channel is Black Lizard (1962), dir. Umetsugu Inoue, which I watched shortly after Trump’s election in 2016, when all the Criterion stuff was still on Hulu, and it cheered me up considerably in those dark days. It feels a little like The Abominable Dr. Phibes, but with a couple musical numbers, and is about a master detective who thinks crime is super-cool and wishes there was a criminal who would challenge his intellect. Then the Black Lizard kidnaps someone. It’s a lot of fun, with a tone that feels close to camp but is so knowing and smart it feels more genuinely strange and precise. One of those things you get fairly often where the Japanese outsider’s take on American genre stuff gets what it’s about more deeply and so feels like it’s operating on a higher level. I really love this movie.

I had this larger point I wanted to make about just feeling repulsed by genre stuff that self-consciously attempts to mimic its canonical influences and that might not be all the way present in this post. Still, something that really should be implicit when talking about movies from the past is that they are not superhero movies, and how repulsed I am by that particular genre’s domination of cinema right now, and how much of cinema has a history of something far looser and more freewheeling in its ideas of how to make work that appealed to a broad audience, and how much weird formal playfulness can be understood intuitively by an audience without being offputting, and the sort of spirit of formal interrogation connects the films I like to the comics I like (as well as the books I like, and the visual art I like), this sense of doing something that can only be done within that medium even as certain other aspects translate.

3 notes · View notes

rickmctumbleface · 5 years

Link

no surprise. typical cult behavior.

#trump cult

7 notes · View notes

kaile-hultner · 5 years

Text

Dialogues With A Dreg, Part Four

Spoilers for Destiny and Destiny 2 ahead.

Hello, Guardian.

Let’s drop the allegory for a while. I don’t think it was working to begin with, and I prefer to speak plainly instead of in prose.

I love the game you serve as the protagonist in, at least mechanically. Part of the reason I’ve put nearly a thousand hours in piloting you around and clicking on enemy heads is because I’m chasing that satisfying “pop” when something’s brain explodes after I get them with a linear fusion rifle. I guess it’s better than being addicted to drugs or alcohol or video games with gambling mechan- oh shit god dammit wait, fuck, there’s Eververse here, I forgot.

Anyway, Destiny 2 has my full buy-in when it comes to gameplay, as I think it’s grabbed many folks in its three-year lifespan. I’m not as big a fan of the many modes to choose from in the game, and I think the story – when looked at holistically – is more-or-less a wash. But one aspect I can’t ignore is one I’ve tried to reason out in these Dialogues: Bungie, the game’s developer, wants me to live at least part-time in this world, and there are certain ramifications that come with that.

I first noticed these ramifications during the Faction Rallies in D2Y1, when it asked me to pick a faction and fuck shit up across the solar system. I picked what I thought was the coolest-looking faction, a group of (it turned out) thanatonautic, neoliberal warmongers calling themselves Future War Cult. They basically killed themselves over and over to see the future, and as a result they want Guardians everywhere to become absolute war machines. But as far as I could see, they were a “better” option than the other two factions: Dead Orbit, who just wanted to get the fuck out of the solar system and away from the Traveler, our slumbering charge, and New Monarchy.

New Monarchy is the MAGA hat gang of Destiny 2. They want to keep humanity safe by locking them inside the Last City, forming an eternal Guardian-led kingdom, and ruling with an iron fist. Yeesh.

In my first Faction Rally, I fought hard for FWC. I liked the gear they were giving me, not to mention the guns I could earn from them. They had an aesthetic I liked, and the story of thanatonautics is interesting enough for me to want to know more about how all that worked. But I didn’t like the insistence that we “reclaim” the far-flung reaches of the solar system, as if they belonged to us inherently. I didn’t like the ramping-up, constant drumbeat for war they were throwing out. Even if Lakshmi-2, FWC’s leader, seemed like the eye of a hurricane – calm, yet clearly still dangerous – the hurricane she was the center of was starting to irk me.

I’m sorry to say I didn’t drop FWC in subsequent Rallies, even if I wasn’t as enthusiastic about them as I was initially. If I could pick again, though, I know now I’d pick Dead Orbit. They had it the most right, plus Peter Stormare plays Arach Jalaal, the faction’s leader, which is just cool.

But the winner of pretty much every rally was New Monarchy. I couldn’t see the appeal, even if you stripped the clear trump-ass bullshit away. But a LOT of other Destiny 2 players fought for them, and they were the victors constantly. Bungie took the Faction Rally away in D2Y2, but it basically put me on an inexorable thought track to where we are today.

Simply put, I think the world that Destiny 2 is advocating for is at best a fascist one. At worst, we’re talking about reinstating the divine right of kings. Not only does mortal humanity lose in this bargain, but every other living creature inhabiting our solar system suffers for it as well.

Now, Guardian, I can see that this is an unwelcome statement to hear. I get it. After spending the entire five years of your existence thanklessly putting around the solar system and killing gargantuan, god-level threats to humanity and life itself, watching some nerdy, doughy writer cast aspersions on everything you do probably extends past irritation and into wishing you could shoulder-charge me into Glimmer particles. But I want to be clear: yours isn’t the only video game world – or even the only sci-fi world in general – that does this. As Nic Reuben (the original Destiny 2 fascism warner) put it in his 2017 post on the subject, Bungie writers are “blindly following a set of culturally encoded science-fantasy tropes”:

“‘True leaders are born. It’s genetic. The right to rule is inherited.’ Any time you play as a really, really ridiculously good looking person killing mobs of ugly things for a vaguely defined reason, you’re witnessing this kind of ideology first hand.”

One thing I would like to point out, though, before we continue: Guardian, I know you personally. I’ve fought as you across the stars. I know you don’t inherently want to rule over anything. You are intentionally a blank slate, you never voice your own desires except for that one time when a possessed Awoken prince killed your best ramen bud, and I want to believe that the only thing you want — which is the only thing I want — is to race Sparrows on Mars. But the version of you I play as is not the only version of you that exists. There are over a million of you. And aside from that million iterations of you that exist in this game world, there are others who absolutely want to rule. It’s high time to interrogate this world.

Fantasy Space Fascism: The Game

In his book Against the Fascist Creep, freelance journalist and Portland State Ph.D candidate Alexander Reid Ross defines fascism as “an ideology that draws on old, ancient, and even arcane myths of racial, cultural, ethnic, and national origins to develop a plan for the ‘new man.'” He continues:

“Fascism is also mythopoetic insofar as its ideological system does not only seek to create new myths but also to create a kind of mythical reality (ed. emphasis mine), or an everyday life that stems from myth rather than fact. Fascists hope to produce a new kind of rationale envisioning a common destiny that can replace modern civilization. The person with authority is the one who can interpret these myths into real-world strategy through a sacralized process that defines and delimits the seen and the unseen, the thinkable and the unthinkable.

“That which is most commonly encouraged through fascism is producerism, which augments working-class militancy against the ‘owner class’ by focusing instead on the difference between ‘parasites’ (typically Jews, speculators, technocrats, and immigrants) and the productive workers and elites of the nation. In this way, fascism can be both functionally cross class and ideologically anticlass, desiring a classless society based on a ‘natural hierarchy’ of deserving elites and disciplined workers. By destroying parasites and deploying some variant of racial, national, or ethnocentric socialism, fascists promise to create an ideal state or suprastate – a spiritual entity more than a modern nation-state, closer to the unitary sovereignty of the empire than political systems of messy compromises and divisions of power.”

Ross, A. R. (2017). Against the Fascist Creep. AK Press.

The Destiny franchise begins with you, a freshly-reborn Guardian, shooting and punching your way through a hive of vaguely-arachnid aliens your Ghost companion calls “Fallen.” You find a decrepit jumpship deep in the heart of the Old Russia Cosmodrome, which your Ghost fires up and uses to take you to the “last safe city on Earth,” a walled metropolis underneath the Traveler. You first meet with the Vanguard triumvirate, Titan Commander Zavala, Warlock Ikora, and Hunter Cayde-6, and then, after completing some tasks for them, you are granted an audience with the Speaker (voiced by Bill Nighy):

“THE SPEAKER: There was a time when we were much more powerful. But that was long ago. Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for The Traveler.

“You must have no end of questions, Guardian. In its dying breath, The Traveler created the Ghosts to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon—Guardians—to protect us and do what the Traveler itself no longer can.

“GUARDIAN: What happened to it?

“THE SPEAKER: I could tell you of the great battle centuries ago, how the Traveler was crippled. I could tell you of the power of The Darkness, its ancient enemy. There are many tales told throughout the City to frighten children. Lately, those tales have stopped. Now… the children are frightened anyway. The Darkness is coming back. We will not survive it this time.

“GHOST: Its armies surround us. The Fallen are just the beginning.

“GUARDIAN: What can I do?

“THE SPEAKER: You must push back the Darkness. Guardians are fighting on Earth and beyond. Join them. Your Ghost will guide you. I only hope he chose wisely.”

Bungie. Destiny. Activision Entertainment, 2015.

This introduction to the world of Destiny is… shockingly reductive. Even playing the campaign when this happens, my first thoughts were, “wait so we’re not even smart or good enough to hear the children’s scary stories about the history of this world? what the fuck?” But over the course of years, we find out more and more about the so-called Golden Age of Humanity, the tools humans built with implied assistance from the Traveler, the various rich families and corporate megaliths that consolidated power over people across the solar system in the years and decades leading to the arrival of the Darkness and the ensuing Collapse.

Not only that, we start to get a pretty clear image of what life was like immediately following the Collapse. Humanity was almost driven to extinction, and the people left alive after this apocalypse soon wished they were dead. The Traveler “defeated” the Darkness but in the process put itself into something similar to an emergency reboot mode. It deployed the Ghosts, who resurrected people who could, as the Speaker put it, “wield its Light as a weapon,” but the first of these “Risen” were nothing short of horrific. They used their Ghosts’ regeneration and resurrection powers to become regional warlords, subjugating what few mortal people remained, draining the desolate wastes of what few resources they had, and basically sealing the deal on the “Dark Age” brought on by the Collapse. It wasn’t until the advent of the Iron Lords that these warlords were defeated and the “age of Guardians” could begin, but even the Iron Lords did some pretty heinous shit – like use a whole town of mortals as bait to lure in a band of warlords on the run.

But when it comes to creating a mythical reality, the Speaker has his formula down pat. Don’t get too bogged down with details, paint the conflict in stark good vs. evil, literal “Light vs. Darkness” broad strokes, and mythologize the actions of Guardians (but most importantly, our Guardian). And oh, what fodder for mythology we are.

By the end of the first campaign, we’re the hero who severed the connection between the Hive, the Vex and the Traveler and tore out the heart of the Black Garden. By the end of The Taken King, we’ve slain a god-king. In the Rise of Iron expansion, we stop the spread of a virulent nanoparticle with murderous intent called SIVA in its tracks, using nothing but our fists. In Destiny 2, we become the Hero of the Red War, the one who put an end to a Vex plot to sterilize all worlds, and who killed a Hive Worm God. We avenge our fallen Hunter Vanguard, we kill a Taken Ahamkara. We are the hub on which the spokes of history are turning.

In terms of video game power fantasies, I really truly can’t imagine a better-feeling one. It’s basically pure uncut dopamine being transmitted directly to the pleasure centers of the brain, one Herculean feat at a time. And if we were the only Guardian, if we were not part of a larger world, if everything around us was in a vacuum, I don’t know if I would be writing this article. But Bungie has been very clear about wanting to make a world where our actions do materially affect our surroundings. As such, we are essentially a walking propaganda tool for the Consensus, a pseudo-democratic government over the Last City, consisting of faction leaders, the Vanguard and the (now-presumed-dead, hasn’t been replaced) Speaker.

The Consensus wants badly to declare the advent of the New Golden Age, a time in which Humanity can finally emerge from under the shadow of the Traveler to pick up where it left off prior to the Collapse. The problem we supposedly face is the never-ending onslaught of Enemies. Four alien species showed up on our doorstep after the Collapse, all seeking to finish us off (according to the Speaker): the Fallen, the Cabal, the Hive/Taken, and the Vex.

Of the four-ish races of enemy, only one can said to be truly, deeply “evil” in the sense the Speaker intends: the Hive and Taken, led by Taken King Oryx and his sisters Sivu Arath and Savathun, the only force in the galaxy more fascist than the Guardians. The Vex are a race of machines whose only focus is on making more of themselves, a threat similar to SIVA. The other two alien forces, the Fallen and the Cabal, are certainly antagonistic toward Guardians but our initial reasons for fighting them are, frankly, butt-ass stupid. Basically, we fight them because they’re there. They have the audacity to land on planets that “belong to us” and scavenge resources from them. Until the Red Legion showed up on Earth, we basically only ever fought Cabal on Mars, and there’s really no reason as to why.

The Fallen, or Eliksni, on the other hand, end up coming off more as the tragic victims of our flippantly rampant genocidaire practices than actual “enemies.” They’re probably the weakest alien species we come up against. Their backstory involves them living in peace under the Traveler before their entire society was caught up in a Collapse-like “Whirlwind” and destroyed. Rather than give them Guardians, like it did with us, the Traveler instead just up and peaced out, leaving the Eliksni for dead against the maelstrom of the Darkness. The surviving “Fallen” got in their skiffs and desperately chased the Traveler across the heavens, stratifying the remnants of their society into “houses” and developing religious devotion to machines like Servitors in the process.

They tried to take the Traveler back at the Battle of the Five Fronts and Twilight Gap, and lost. Their armies were shattered, and we’ve been nonchalantly killing them en masse ever since. They are the “parasites” our Guardian must exterminate, along with the Hive, Cabal, and Vex. When we make friends with, or even simply allies with, a Fallen (like Variks the Loyal, Mithrax the Forsaken, or the Spider), it is made clear almost immediately that this 100 percent doesn’t change the relationship we have with the Fallen as a group. Variks is absolutely subservient to Mara Sov and the Awoken. Mithrax wants to create an Eliksni House that bows down to Guardians and Humanity for being “better stewards” of the Traveler than the Eliksni was. The Spider makes it clear that he only wants to grow his crime syndicate, but that we can help him out if we want. Never once does the Vanguard or the Consensus reach out to these allies and try to broker peace. And in-game, we simply don’t have an option but to fire on and kill Eliksni in droves. Kill or be “killed,” right?

When it comes to Humanity itself, while we never get a chance to actually leave the Tower and walk through the streets of the Last City, there are at least hints as to the deep class stratification at work here. You can’t get much more on-the-nose than an ivory tower of immortal beings overlooking an enclosed human race. Guardians atop humanity, the Speaker above the Vanguard over the Consensus over the people, and you, the very fulcrum on which history pivots, functionally over everything else. But in the mythical reality of this game, it’s really the Traveler über Alles, and humanity underneath the Traveler has become a wonderful, diverse melting pot without class, without fear. An ideal state where the walls keep Darkness at bay and humanity can discover the joys of tonkotsu ramen yet again.

A Light Story Vs. Lore Steeped in Darkness

Destiny has a reputation, unfairly earned, for being an okay game with a bad story, or at best a nonexistent one. The story isn’t really all that bad, it’s just poorly implemented up front, and I think my willingness to engage with the game’s world to the extent that I have is a testament to how powerful and evocative some of the beats in Destiny’s writing truly are. If we dissect the game we can separate the writing of the “story” from the writing of the “lore,” and in watching the plot develop over the past few years, we can see a gradual unification of these two areas start to occur.

This is helped greatly by third-party resources like Ishtar Collective, and by mechanical decisions Bungie made in D2Y2. Adding the lore back into the game with Forsaken was a good idea; choosing to fully integrate the lore into the world starting with Season of the Forge was a great one.

A side-effect of this lore-plot unification is a dismantling-in-real-time of some of the game’s most beloved and widely-spread legends, like the legend of Shin Malphur and Dredgen Yor. Even our personal legend is challenged in this way, and it’s a really neat way that Bungie writers new and old are critically engaging with their work. But it also really throws into stark relief some of the issues I’ve laid out in this article so far.

Take, for example, the lore book “Stolen Intelligence.”

Presented to us as intercepted secret Vanguard transmissions, “Stolen Intelligence” shows us exactly what the Vanguard really thinks of our actions, and what their goals really are. It was part of Season of the Drifter, which overall had a “trust no one” vibe to it, but some of the entries here are BLEAK, y’all.

Here’s an excerpt from the first entry, titled “Outliers.”

“Fallen armed forces continue to fall back from active fronts across Terra. Factions of House Dusk remain active in the European Dead Zone. Throughout the rest of the globe, refugee attack incidents have dropped by more than 70 percent since the conclusion of the Red War – largely attributable to depressed Fallen and human populations rather than any significant change in interspecies relations.

[…]

“The recent trending emergence of so-called “crime syndicates” (cf. report #004-FALLEN-SIV) is emblematic of the continuing destructuralization of Fallen society. Likely an artifact of multi-generational colonization of human strongholds, this agent believes that because these syndicates have no relation to indigenous Fallen culture, young Fallen are appropriating and imitating human mythology in absence of a strong cultural heritage of their own.

[…]

“VIP #3987, another former confederate of the Awoken, is a lesser-known personality known as Mithrax. Scattered field reports suggest that like #1121, #3987 styles himself a Kell of the so-called “House Light,” an otherwise unknown House apparently founded by #3987 himself. We have secondhand accounts that Mithrax has engaged in allied operations with Guardians in the field, though we have not as yet been able to corroborate these accounts with any degree of veracity. This agent is inclined to treat these reports with a healthy degree of skepticism until otherwise confirmed, as they may be propaganda from Fallen sympathizers in the Old Russian and Red War Guardian cohorts. We have requested intelligence records from the Awoken which may further clarify the matter.

“In addition, whatever the findings of said intelligence records may be, it should be stressed that one or two sympathetic outliers cannot be relied upon to erase the wrongs of past centuries, nor should their good-faith efforts to correct the sins of their forbears be taken as sufficient symbolic reparation.

[…]

“We have come too far to pull our punches now.”

Bungie. Destiny 2: Forsaken – Season of the Drifter. Lore Book: Stolen Intelligence. Outliers. Activision Entertainment, 2019.

Here’s another piece of “Stolen Intelligence,” about our relationship with Cabal Emperor Calus:

“Related to the above, #3801’s aggressive propaganda campaign appears to have been successful. Despite #3801’s recent inactivity, sentiment polls captured in the Tower at regular intervals over the last several months indicate that he has successfully swayed a significant percentage of the Red War cohort to believe that he may be a potential ally. Given our history with the Cabal as well as the events of the Red War itself, this is shocking and perhaps attributable to a case of mass traumatic bonding.

“It is my strong recommendation that the Vanguard pursue a reeducation curriculum before #3801 invites any Guardians of the City to defect to his service, a possibility which we have documented in multiple previous reports.”

Bungie. Destiny 2: Forsaken – Season of the Drifter. Lore Book: Stolen Intelligence. Passivity. Activision Entertainment, 2019.

Other entries detail the efforts of the Vanguard from keeping ostensible “conspiracy theories” from being published in the Cryptarchy’s journals; show the apparent oddity of mortal-Guardian “integrated neighborhoods;” and discuss the ongoing surveillance of the Drifter, a rogue Lightbearer who has survived since the early Dark Ages and who uses Darkness-aligned technology to run a PVEVP game called “Gambit”.

There are many other stories like these, scattered throughout the lore. Stories of Cryptarchy students being banished for making fun of New Monarchy’s leaders, of Guardians messing with Hive technology being burned alive and killed fully by the Praxic Order for their crimes of experimentation. Stories like these wouldn’t happen – couldn’t happen! – to our Guardian, because they’re too important, but are seemingly everyday occurrences to less consequential members of this society. In the real world, we’d call that an increasingly oppressive police state. In Destiny 2, it’s just flavor text.

There was a degree of narrative complexity added to Season of the Drifter that hadn’t been in the game prior. The entire season was essentially boiled down to “which side are you on, the Drifter’s or the Vanguard’s,” and in our path to make a choice, we heard from various bit players in our world. The Drifter told us his story in greater detail than perhaps we needed (and how much of it is true is debatable), but his story is also the story of a less morally-pure Guardian class. Everyone from the warlords to the Iron Lords did heinous shit to humanity while the Drifter watched, and it hardened him. The Praxic Warlock Aunor goes all in on her adherence to the City’s propaganda and ideology, trying to show us how untrustworthy the Drifter is. She ends up revealing more of her order’s goals than perhaps was wise.

This narrative complexity is nice, but it still betrays the game in a fundamental way. We now have the documents. We know what Guardians are actually about, and how they’re not exactly shining beacons of unwavering good like the Speaker would have had us believe. Regardless of declining Fallen activity, of a shift in Fallen culture, of actual living Fallen who want to ally with Guardians, the Vanguard is still adamantly pursuing “extirpation,” which is a fancy way of saying genocide (I’m not kidding, it literally means “root out and destroy completely”). We know the Vanguard and the Praxic Order have a hard-on for exile, reeducation and information suppression.

On top of everything, the narrative complexity was not met with any kind of mechanical complexity. Even with proof that the Vanguard wants to kill every Eliksni in the system, conscientious objectors don’t get to opt out. The narrative path that forks between the Drifter and Aunor converges again by the end of the quest. The “conspiracy theorist” that has been trying to publish paper after paper detailing exactly how the Nine worked with Dominus Ghaul to sneak his fleet into City airspace undetected was proven right by lore WE FIND IN THE GAME, but that doesn’t change our combat relationship with the Cabal remnants anywhere in the system, and homeboy still gets his papers rejected.

Ikora and Zavala, our remaining Vanguard members, insist repeatedly that Guardians are not a warfighting force, that the Vanguard and the Consensus is not an authoritarian organization. But everything we do says otherwise.

“A peace born from violence is no peace at all.”

Guardians do not get to choose their paths in the world of Destiny 2. The paths laid out before them lead to a life of warfare, of pain, of endless murder. Ostensibly, they are agents of good, trying to beat back the forces of evil, but if you look too close you see that really they’re just a bunch of indiscriminate killers with a mandate from the Orb God. Desperate to get out from under the heels of warlords, the Guardians created a fascist society, and adding insult to injury they pretend it’s a democratic, free one. Killing the Fallen is genocide, but you can literally never stop killing them because the game won’t let you. The only right way to play at that point is to turn off your console and go outside.

Destiny 2 isn’t the only video game to fall into this trap. As Nic Reuben said in the follow-up piece to his first story on how Destiny 2 is fascist, “I’m not saying Destiny is propaganda, just reliant on some of the same narrative tricks that make propaganda so powerful. At the same time, I don’t think that it’s too much of a stretch to say that games like Call of Duty make certain assumptions about what is justifiable, righteous slaughter and what is terrorism. Replace modern military hardware with future tech, replace terrorists with alien races that have traits synonymous with cartoon portrayals of traditionally marginalized social groups, and you’re effectively playing through the worst aspects of Call of Duty with a new coat of a paint.”

There is one glimmer of hope in the game. One sliver of lore that gives us pause and helps make the game bearable in its current state. It comes in the form of Lady Efrideet, former Iron Banner handler, youngest member of the Iron Lords, and a Guardian in self-exile from the City, the Vanguard, and its fascist dogma.

Lady Efrideet is one of the most fearsome Hunters in the Destiny universe. She is known as one of the best marksmen, if not the best one. She is impossibly strong, having once thrown Lord Saladin bodily off a mountain into a Fallen Spider Walker, destroying it. And she is also one of the only named pacifist Guardians who isn’t a member of the Cryptarchy. Her story is the story of the fall of the Iron Lords, as well as the beginning of the SIVA crisis, many years before our Guardian’s rise is documented.

But it isn’t SIVA or the Iron Lords that we’re interested in. Instead, we know that after SIVA was sealed away, Efrideet snuck away from Earth. She saw the deaths of everyone she knew and her will to fight was shattered. If this was the result of fighting for the Traveler, she didn’t want any part in it. So she took to the stars. In doing so, she ended up in the far reaches of the solar system, beyond even where we currently roam. It turns out, a small enclave of other Lightbearers, hesitant or unwilling to use their powers to kill, had also fled to this part of the system and had established a colony. It’s there that Efrideet resides, and it’s there I’d like to go.

Unfortunately, our Guardian is too “important” to the vast tidal forces at work in the Destiny universe for us to be able to leave for the outer reaches whenever we want. Because we are the hub on which the wheel of history turns, and there is no escaping that now, if ever we could. We are death, the flattening of a complex and intricate universe into one of simple shapes, the sword logic in a human/Awoken/Exo body. We are needed for the plans of the Nine/Mara Sov/Hive Queen Savathun to come to fruition. When or if the Darkness ever does come back, we will be the force that faces it and, win or lose, shape our future afterward.

Sometimes it’s nice having a video game place your character on a linear track. Games like Half-Life or Titanfall present to us simple choices in otherwise-complex story environments: progress, or die. Our characters are not immortal, but they have help from the technologies around us, are tenacious, are resourceful, are quick to adapt to changing situations. In Destiny, we simply exist. We can’t truly die. Even when it comes to the rules of the game, our immense “paracausality” causes us to shrug Darkness Zones off as mere inconveniences where other Guardians have died their final deaths. Because we are necessary. The Vanguard and Consensus need us to justify their horrific fascist policies. The great forces at work in the background need us to work as a pawn. Even Bungie itself needs us, powerful, trapped beings with a sense of right and wrong but no agency to actually act on those ethics, to continue its game.

I haven’t preordered Shadowkeep yet. For once I’m glad we’re not focusing on the Fallen or the Cabal. Going to the Moon means we’ll pretty much just be dealing with Hive, to say nothing of the unreal Nightmares we’re supposed to face. But I’m still undecided as to whether I even want to order Shadowkeep in the first place. If Lady Efrideet can go to the edge of known space and live peacefully with other pacifist Guardians, maybe I can put my controller down and step away, once and for all. It would be nice to have the extra space on my Xbox One’s hard drive. Other games exist to be played, and having the time and energy to do so would help me here, with No Escape.

But even then. I’m not expressing agency as a Guardian, but rather as the person who controls you, Guardian. While I go off to play other games, you sit and wait in stasis. Even if I don’t play, there are a million iterations of you willing to commit genocide daily for cheap rewards (shoutouts to the sixtieth Edge Transit drop in my inventory this month alone). Sure, it’s just a game. But this is what having a dynamic world means in practice. There are consequences to your actions. There always have been.

There is no reason why Humanity couldn’t share the Traveler’s gifts with, at the very least, the Eliksni. There is no reason why we couldn’t just ignore the Cabal in a state of mutually assured destruction, given how small a faction the Red Legion was relative to the Cabal army’s full size. Of the two remaining enemies, the Vex are less evil than they are simply a thing that wants the universe to be like it, and that’s threatening to diverse life throughout the universe, not just Humanity. The Hive/Taken are the true enemies in the game, but even they are directed, pawn-like, by their Worm Gods.

There is, likewise, no reason why the Risen had to organize in the fascist context they did. They could have created a society in which everyone could come and go freely, where ideas and actions could be given and received absent interference, where a true “golden age” could have sprung up naturally simply by living together harmoniously and using the Light the Traveler gave them to create, rather than destroy.

But that’s not how this story shakes out.

#destiny #destiny 2 #video games #antifascism

15 notes · View notes

laurasroyalblog · 5 years

Text

Royal Fandom, We Need to Talk

Today has been a masterclass in things that piss Laura off. I see the same misguided things said repeatedly in many corners, and I want to address some of them.

In typical Laura fashion, it’s long AF so I’m putting it after a cut.

Disclaimer: I titled it because it was catchier that way, but I realize there are a lot of you who already know these things and are reasonable humans

1) You can think a rule is stupid and still call out uneven enforcement of it. People seem to get stuck on the merits of the rule itself that they lose the point so many make about selective enforcement. I saw it with Doria riding in the car, I saw it with the christening, and I saw it again today with Pippa riding in the car. The merits of the rule and the fair application of the rule are two different things. I think drug laws are stupid, but that doesn’t mean I get to dismiss everyone who calls out when a white person gets off with a far shorter sentence than a POC for a drug offense because “well this shouldn’t be a rule so who cares”. No. That’s not how that works at all. My biggest issue is that the BRF repeatedly show us that they think they’re above the rules. Whether or not the rules are good ones is irrelevant to that discussion.

2) People are allowed to evolve. Obviously, it’s fair to judge if people’s changes coincides with what makes their faves look good. But I hate this cultural norm of thinking that people have to be consistent with who they were and what they thought 3, 5, even 10 years ago. If they can admit they’ve grown and evolved, then isn’t that a good thing?

3) Stop saying “what about” because it makes you sound like a petulant child. “What about” does have some utility but it is far more limited than it’s rampant use today. There are times when people are so hypocritical highlighting it does carry value. But the way I’m seeing it used mostly is like how toddlers use it. That is when they get caught breaking a rule they say “what about so and so? They did it too!” There is very little intellectual weight to that argument. The whatabouter is basically conceding they don’t have an argument against the person so they just want to point the finger in another direction. That ain’t an honest and logical debate, fam.

4) Stop overusing words like “neutral” and “stan”. I’m definitely guilty of this, and I’m trying my best to use it more intentionally from now on. No one is neutral. We all have biases. For a start, we all follow royals. That in and of itself is a bias. But there are so many other biases that shape our view of things. There are royals we like or dislike for whatever reason. That’s a bias too. As for stans, they are defined as overzealous and obsessive. I would also describe them as a bit cult-like. There are plenty of fans who get called stans who are not overzealous or obsessive. I mean damn Heaven was called a William stan and she rarely talks about him.

5) Social media isn’t the end all, be all of activism. This is a disease that has infected more than just the royal fandom. I saw this in politics, that if people didn’t tweet enough about Trump they weren’t opposing him. And I see this here where so many are expected to react instantaneously in a certain way. Obviously we run royal blogs. It’s fair to ask bloggers their opinion on things and to challenge if you see issues. But all the conversations about calling friends out (or people anons think are friends) or demanding instantaneous reactions...it’s so unbelievably unreasonable and quite frankly intrusive.

6) Stop dictating relationships. My friendships (and I’m sure most others’ too) are far more personal than royal. We may have met because of royals but we talk about so much more than that. And I disagree with my friends, ones met online and in real life. But it’s not my responsibility to take out a billboard or post a bunch every time we disagree. If my friends do really problematic shit I’ll definitely reconsider my friendship (I’m not Andrew, after all). But I won’t do that publicly because our personal lives aren’t the Real Housewives of the Royal Fandom. But if I disagree with my friends, well then I’ll either talk to them about it or I’ll just move on. But most of the time whatever I’m doing is private because it is my personal friendship. It almost seems like some of you want people to handle their friendships in front of you. And how entitled and rude is that.

7) More discussions, less lecturing. Interesting conversations between parties who disagree is such a damn rarity these days. Instead, conversations have become performative. They are lectures to show your moral superiority. It’s such a rarity to have an interesting conversation with someone with a different viewpoint that they now become memorable. I think the key is listening to others with the idea of understanding their perspective (even if you don’t agree) rather than listening with the idea of proving them wrong.

Basically this whole rant boils down to the fact that there’s one rule a decent number of people need to follow more...GROW THE FUCK UP!

Rant over.

#laura word vomit #but i feel better #royal #royals #british royal family #royal fandom

17 notes · View notes

thequlturecritic · 6 years

Text

QULTURE’S TOP 20 SERIES OF 2018

20. BUSY TONIGHT

You guys! Good energy is, like, totally in right now. And it’s never going away. You may know her from Freaks and Geeks, but I know her from Cougar Town as CC’s fun-loving, super-supportive sidekick. When you watch Busy Phillips on her cheeky, positive-vibes only E! talk show, a sense of “we’re all in this together” and “being kind to one another” is definitely a recipe for demolishing disaster. Remember how major Chelsea’s career became because of what so many probably considered a silly little talk show… well. I’m not a fortune teller or anything, but I could totally see Ms. Phillips taking over the universe. I want to be one of her minions. Cheers to another leading lady of late night!

19. THE VOICE

I’ve always been anti-reality competition shows when it comes to singing, only because I’m a total snob when it comes to what I subject my ears to. My musical tastes are versed and varied, but I still am pretty picky about who I let in to my drums, mostly because I need it to stimulate an eargasm and coincide with my life’s soundtrack. When American Idol launched, I definitely was enamored with Kelly Clarkson’s powerful vocals, but I still kept the close mind that an artist is discovered naturally, not “created” by producers with the backdrop and illusion that AMERICA gets to vote and pick the winner. Ah, who knows, maybe they do… I would just never take the time out to vote. HOWEVER. When I found out Kelly was going to be a judge on The Voice, which is a whole separate animal than Idol, I was shitting my pants with glee, because she really is such a goddamn force of fucking nature. Her spirit is overwhelmingly angelic and I simply love everything about watching her. Last season’s competition was magical, at least for me, perhaps because it was the first time I really got to experience the message and place the show has in the universe. It really is inspiring and lovely to see how much these artists themselves care for the teams they build and the individuals they want to see grow – regardless of whether or not it leads to fame. Alicia Keys and Kelly Clarkson’s dynamic was really something special that inspired me in so many ways.

18. COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE

I love nothing more than a loose format, sans makeup, realistic conversation between famous people. Talk shows rock and all, but there’s something to be said for two people we all know and (often) admire, getting together and doing something that, ya know, regular people do! Like… go out to breakfast. I was never a fan of the Seinfeld sitcom, mostly because when it was popular it was kinda over my head and nothing that interested me. I’d probably be more inclined to watch and enjoy it now because of how much Veep has made me adore Julia-Louis Dreyfus and now much Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix series about him… getting coffee… with comedians… has made me adore his admiration for vintage cars, honesty in humanity and one of the most important things we all seem to forget sometimes – which is to LAUGH! We live in such politically charged times, and while I get how important it is to talk about the very things we were always brainwashed to believe were impolite to talk about, we also need to be able to make jokes and not be so sensitive about everything. Ya heard?

17. AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL

Oh how I love me some Tyra, but it seems the future is all about Ashley Graham. Yet again – another fucking beautiful superhuman. I am really starting to hate that people even think of someone as “plus size”, but hey, it’s the world we live in. All I see when I look at her is someone with a whole lot of personality, gorgeous features and a personality that you’d be crazy to not gravitate toward. She is living proof that good vibes, energy and kindness (in the fashion industry?! How dare you!) go a long way. Tyra and Co. are doing such a bang-up job sending young women empowering messages about feeling safe in their own skin by infusing all shapes, sizes, colors and archetypes. This cycle was full of hilarious moments and was totally unpredictable. Despite her Trump-loving, Republican ways and complaining about being transformed into a “fire-crotch”, I was rooting for Liberty, Rio and Jeana to compete in the Top 3. That certainly evolved as the season went on, mainly because Jeana’s insecurities were getting the best of her (she had alopecia and they convinced her to be the alien-like, bald beauty – which she looked 10X better as vs. wearing wigs) and Rio had the most off-putting temper tantrum that had me and my bestie Carlee yelling at the the TV, “Who da fuck you think you talkin’ to?!” as if we were speaking for Tyra. Be humble, girls! Beauty ain’t just skin deep. At the end of the day, I loved seeing Kyla take the crown, because her activism, big heart and growth really was something special at the end of the day. Keep up the good work! I want 1000 more cycles.

16. SWEETBITTER

Starz’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Stephanie Danler is short, but bittersweet. Ella Purnell is a breakout star, headlining the cast of unknowns who are all as equally as fantastic. I think that’s one of my favorite things about it (Caitlin Fitzgerald, in particular, who definitely has that thing) – how naturally gifted the entire cast is. Purnell stars as Tess, an All-American girl from bumfuck who makes her way to New York City to chase the dream, even if she has no idea what it is yet. Any of you who have worked in the service industry as a waiter or waitress will appreciate the authenticity of how intimidating, grueling and chaotic the industry can be… but how much fun it can be once your shift is over.

15. MANIAC

What is Netflix’s limited, vivid, disturbing, funny, emotional rollercoaster about? My brain is exploding from trying to analyze. Typically, in each episode, I get so lost in the perfection that is Emma Stone, I’m completely enthralled by how inspiring it is to watch one of our most exceptional young talents only seem to get better and better. It’s also always a pleasant surprise to see someone like Jonah Hill continue to prove himself as truly versatile. Remember when these two were just getting into stoner cinema and taking over the shelves at Blockbuster, during their Superbad days? Justin Theroux, plus. Sally Field, super-plus. Julia Garner (also of Ozark), a star on the rise! It might make you feel a little crazy while watching, but hey, we all go a little mad sometimes.

14. SHARP OBJECTS

Gillian Flynn’s book to big screen success with Gone Girl made a lot of us anxious to see what would be translated next. Following the trend of mini-series, binge-worthy greatness and big stars coming to the “small” screen, HBO announced Amy Adams would star in Sharp Objects, a dark, sultry murder mystery set in the swampy south that co-stars the amazing Patricia Clarkson – one of my absolute favorite actors. I’ll never forget when I “discovered” her, in Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art, one of my all-time faves. There’s a similar hypnotism with the limited series which also features a deliciously naked Chris Messina, and, of course, the direction of the man I’d say is pretty much cinematic perfection these days – Jean Marc Valee. If you have not yet seen Dallas Buyers Club, and another all-time favorite of mine, Wild, you are missing out. I’m assuming you have watched all of Big Little Lies once or twice, and can’t wait for season two next year. Neither can I. These are the people doing AWESOME awesome things in Hollywood.

13. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE

So, I’m always back and forth with AHS. I always love how visually stunning it is, but some seasons either lack substance or are literally just too fucking freaky for me to engage. I can not even set my eyes on Freak Show, thought Cults was too gory and scattered (although fresh off of the Trump presidency was a possible prediction of the future if we don’t all get our shit together) and definitely didn’t even give that Roanoke one a chance. The first two seasons rocked, and Gaga slayed in Hotel, but being that I love witches (Hocus Pocus, Witches of Eastwick) I have to say Coven is my favorite season. I love every Farmiga in life, Precious’ Gaborey Sidibe always makes me laugh and Emma Roberts is a rock star. How gorgeous?! She’s also such a little asshole in the best way. She’s someone I can picture punching me in the face, and I’d invite her to. Apocalypse is the best infusion of boy/girl magic and the ultimate comradery casting wise – as what could make for a perfect finale for the series ties all of Ryan Murphy’s brilliance together. That’s just my opinion – because I think a great series needs to know when to wrap it up, but these days everything is all about milking everything to the last drop, so… idk.

12. THE CONNERS

Roseanne returning was definitely the best of the best in reboot land, until her big mouth got her fired from ABC and launched The Conners, which features the entire cast minus a dead mother. I still respect her as an artist and will always love when TV wasn’t so linked to the Twitterverse, but these days I guess everyone really does have to be super careful about the shit they say – especially when we should know better that racism isn’t cool. It’s such an odd thing, because Roseanne was always so controversial, brave with their material, and was one of the first shows to have an out lesbian comedian/actress and character (the great Sandra Bernhard)… so… idk. That Sarah Gilbert though… she’s somethin’ special.

11. THE GOOD PLACE

Kristen Bell!!!!!!! That’s all. Ok, well, that’s not all… because Ted Danson is equally as amazing. Who wouldn’t love someone married to a dame like Mary Steenburgen?! I’ve been a fan of his since Three Men (and a Little Lady!). The diversity, quick wit, modern spin on the classic sitcom and concept behind this hit NBC series reminds us of why the network is always killing it when it comes to delivering quality, quantity and maintaining its colorful edge. I’m surprised I didn’t get into this show when it premiered, as season 4 approaches and the Globes, and surely the Emmy’s now are getting into recognizing genius when they see it. This show is filled with all the good feels! Maybe Heaven really is a place on Earth.

10. WILL & GRACE

When the reboot of W&G first returned to NBC, I was a bit underwhelmed by some of the writing. It seemed forced and a bit insecure – but it just took a few episodes for them to really get back in the swing of things and season 2 of the return is really on point. Debra Messing is better than ever (congrats on a Globe nomination!), as are Eric, Megan and Sean Hayes – who I’ve always greatly admired because of, what I like to consider his “big break” – the film, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss. Growing up gay, Will and Grace was a trailblazing, extremely important and relevant show to so many of us because there wasn’t much of that on TV. But I’ll always remember that adorable indie of Sean’s. He should make more movies! I love him in Pieces of April too!

9. I LOVE YOU AMERICA: with SARAH SILVERMAN

Sarah has always been my absolute favorite comedian. Jesus is Magic is probably one of the most brilliant stand-up comedy feature films I’ve ever seen (are there many of those) combining music, comedy, political satire, sexually inappropriate and explicit linguistics… nothing is off limits. From jokes about AIDS, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Holocaust, to her dead grandmother’s rape to pussy jokes about child lesbians she’s related to. On her new Hulu series, Silverman takes a tour of the great country we live in, United States of A, talking to Trump supporters, men and women of all colors, shapes and sizes and makes an honest, unbiased, non-judgmental effort to deliver an intellectual perspective on all things current and heated in the minds of many. I love her condescending approach, ability to keep her cool, remain true to herself and do something important with her career. It’s a humbled and divine dose of reality that I think we all need, as at the end of the day she’s basically trying to unite us and get people to understand that despite our differences, respect and kindness can truly inspire change.

8. POSE

First of all – watch Paris is Burning, if you’ve never seen it.

I remember when I worked for the super cool East-coast indie video chain, TLA Video, it was one of the most popular rentals in our Gay and Lesbian section, as it should be. It’s a classic documentary that captures the heart, sole and strut of African American LGBTQ culture during the AIDS epidemic, when being a queen and going to the balls would begin to define what FIERCE meant for a generation. (Play: Azealia Banks, Fierce). It’s one of RuPaul’s favorite movies and certainly inspiration for Ryan Murphy’s vivid and heartfelt FX series starring Evan Peters, James Van Der Beek, Kate Mara and a wonderful assortment of newcomers including the fetch, fierce, versatile and gorgeous MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson and (MY FAVE) Indya Moore.

7. CAMPING

Ever since 13 Going on 30, I’ve known Jennifer Garner was a unicorn. She has that innate ability to charm, impress and entertain us with charisma and natural comedic talent. When it comes to the American adaptation of the Brit series Camping, developed for HBO (in part with Girls’ master Lena Dunham), the team surely arranged the most perfect blend of talent for both behind and in front of the camera. Garner brings the most complicated and hilarious nuances to her character and proves she is more than capable of leading a most diverse and perfectly perfect blend of talent.

6. OZARK

Janet McTeer!! OMG! This woman is amazing and really the force that makes the sophomore season of the hit Netflix drug smuggling/money laundering/gangsta livin’ series all the more bombastic. Sure, Jason Bateman continues to be awesome in every way, but the women on the latest season (even the creepy old meth lady who wants a baby at 99) really slay and own the show, keeping us on the edges of our seats and beyond impressed with how hard anyone with a vagina is proving that they are taking over the world these days. As if we needed more reasons to be obsessed with Laura Linney – she takes her character to new heights, getting more screen time and really being thrust into a more evolved dynamic – sort of how Robin Wright does on House of Cards. As though the audience was more drawn to the female than the male lead the series was built around. But Janet McTeer?! Holy fuck, Janet McTeer. She’ll make your skin crawl and keep you up at night… binge-watching.

5. THE AFFAIR

Showtime’s scandalous, suspenseful and intricate portrait of love, marriage and infidelity has been one of my must-see series since its debut. The entire cast is pure magic, especially the four leads – Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney and Joshua Jackson. I’m constantly lobbying for Tierney, who continues to blow my mind with everything from those perfect, pouty lips to the way she can make my heart melt with a single tear. Last season, the twists and turns were so unexpected – something so refreshing these days when it comes to storytelling – that none of us could’ve ever seen coming what we now have to go into season five knowing (and grieving with, in my case). This is one of of those shows that stands tall from start to finish, and continues to inspire the way character and perspective is conveyed, as well as how we process it ourselves as an audience. I’ve always been fascinated by the same story being told through different goggles – kind of like in The Rules of Attraction, or Go. I can’t wait to see how this show wraps up, as I am pretty certain we move into the final act, which in itself is always a great quality for a series to know when to wrap it up.

4. HERE & NOW

Alan Ball, oh how I love thee. In the evidence of his brilliance, my affection toward Ball’s beautiful writing and ability to conduct such a beautiful cinematic symphony began with Six Feet Under, as it did most. If ever there were a perfect start to finish series… Rare is the artistic bird who can take such a celebrated drama and weave the social and political issues into a horror series – which is what he did with the addictive True Blood, a show that I would find myself equally hypnotized and aroused by. Ball’s latest gem is yet again a celebration of why we love HBO, his observant mind and heart, and ability to recognize genius when he sees it, in regard to casting. The always wonderful Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins headline a cast of brave, beautiful talents – including the tiny miracle that is the birth-child of Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Sosie, who is one of my favorite actors/characters in this captivating new drama that celebrates all the feels of our current reality. It’s a mixed blend of understanding the human condition and how people of all walks relate to one another while truggling with matters of the heart and psychological warfare.

3. RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

For ten seasons now, Queen of Drag, RuPaul Charles has been taking her dynasty and giving it a royal upgrade every season with eye-popping elements that consistently allow this groundbreaking competition series to be one of queer and pop culture’s most celebrated. From the guest judges (Season X premiered with a Farrah Moan-esque Christina Aguilera dolled up for all the queens to gag over, which they did – myself included) to Michelle Visage’s dazzling eyewear collection to the costumes to the casting and the challenges – which get more and more innovative – Rupaul’s Drag Race has become a small empire that has the promise to spinning into so many different types of series and assure celebrity drag careers are a thing of the future, now more than ever. I loved the queens this season, especially my future husband Kameron Michaels (beautiful inside and out, boy or girl) and the well-deserved winner Aquaria. This was the second season in a row for me (I haven’t seen a lot of the previous seasons) where Ru got it absolutely perfect. I’m also a huge fan of Vice’s The Trixie and Katya Show which you should get into as well!

2. THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL

All of the hype surrounding the Golden Globe & Emmy winning Amazon Prime series starring the incomparable Rachel Brosnahan as Mrs. Maisel, is the type of perfection that isn’t all-talk. Everything you’ve heard about this hilarious gem of a binge-worthy comedy is true: the costumes, the production design, the brilliant performances, directing and top-notch writing is on trend with celebrating everything we love about women in the world right now, and the time capsule reminds us of how far everyone has come marching to the beat of optimism and fighting for equality. I’m so happy the great Alex Borstein has been honored and been receiving praise for her work, and rightfully so, as she steals scenes from the great Maisel herself in the latest season. It’s truly one of the best watches out there, so get into it!

1. SCHITT’S CREEK

What started out as a little Canadian sitcom from a then unknown Pop TV, has since become a pop culture phenomenon and one of the small screen’s most celebrated, quoted and adored comedies out there. In Season four, we continue to follow the Rose’s on their journey of personal growth, going from riches to rags in a small bumfuck town where they clearly stick out like a redneck tooth fairy for plenty of good reasons. We already knew Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy were totes brilliant, but every season I grow more and more enamored with how crazy talented Dan Levy & Annie Murphy are. Their nuances, the way the arcs of their characters have evolved… it’s like their learning from two comic legends and its working for them every step of the way. This is truly already an iconic, feel good show that is spreading such messages of love and beauty throughout society. Loves it!

18 notes · View notes

bullet-farmer · 7 years

Text

Mass shootings in the US are almost a daily occurrence now. They happen everywhere, to anyone, and this includes public schools.

This happens for a number of reasons. An incomplete list includes: the rise of white supremacy and other far-right ideologies in the US; the ready availability of semiautomatic weapons in this country; the refusal or inability of law enforcement to take repeat warnings about potential mass shooters seriously; and, I would argue, the ease with which white supremacist groups exploit and radicalize dispossessed young white men and teenagers.

These factors, however, don’t include violent video games, movies, books, or other media—including fanfic featuring canon-typical or even canon-atypical violence.

How do we know this? Well, because in the US, we are contractually obligated to go through at least one society-wide moral panic every generation or so. In the 1980s, we all freaked out about Satanist cults abusing children. In the 1990s, it was violent movies and video games making society violent.

Despite everyone from Al Gore’s wife, Tipper, to moralizing high school journalists—like yours truly at the time—freaking out about it, no one found any provable correlation. In fact, it’s such a canard in 2018 that almost no one has paid any but the most cursory attention to our own “president” blaming video games for the Parkland shooting.

Because everyone realizes that Donald Trump’s (limited) understanding of the world ended somewhere around 1994.

Now, to be fair, I think the US’s dominant cultural forces have always been entirely too comfortable with real-world violence of all kinds. My opinions on the reasons for this are off topic and would take several posts to even start exploring. But violent video games are, at the very most, symptoms of this comfort with violence—and even then, I think that argument is oversimplified. Because as far as I understand it, no mass shooter has a history of playing Call of Duty or what have you, and none have cited an interest in violent video games as the reason they opened fire on crowds who were enjoying a concert, or trying to see a movie, or just attending classes at a high school.

And even if they did, Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto or Halo didn’t achieve sentience, buy an AR-15, and go on a shooting spree. The shooter did that. And if a shooter will, someday, blame their actions on Overwatch or what have you, then I think most of us would understand that they have far more problems than even the most violent of games or movies could have somehow caused. Because it would be clear that they can’t distinguish reality from fiction—not to mention that they also would think that murdering innocent people going about their daily business is okay.

And yet, I don’t see anyone on this website arguing that we should ban first-person shooters because of school shootings—even among high school and college students, the demographics who school shootings actually effect. Seriously. I’ve been on Tumblr since 2011. I have not seen even a single post seriously suggesting anything like this.

I also haven’t seen anyone harassing or sending violent threats to people who draw gory, violent art, or who write hyperviolent fanfiction—as long as it doesn’t involve sexuality or sex crimes, mind you. Clearly, not just fandom at large but the entirety of fandom don’t see this as a problem.

Yet people then want to turn around and argue that not just fictional depictions of sexual violence but depictions of consensual sexual acts are somehow responsible for sexual violence because “fiction affects reality uwu.”

Sexual violence. Which has been going on since humanity existed, no matter what forms of fiction they created or had access to.

Why is the first idea not something anyone seriously considers, but the second is apparently common sense?

No, seriously. If you don’t see a problem here, then you need to reevaluate your thinking.

We’ve always been uncomfortable with sex in the US, whether consensual sex between peers, or violent crimes involving sex acts—uncomfortable in a way that we aren’t with violence that doesn’t have a sexual component. Which is one of the reasons we don’t talk about sexual violence openly, don’t educate young people about how to recognize it, and don’t do anything about it in society when it happens until people band together and make so much noise that we can’t ignore it anymore—see the #MeToo movement, for example. To say nothing of why no one has any idea of what even a healthy sex life looks like! We don’t enjoy talking about that either.

I think this weird combination of silence and permission when it comes to sexual violence is part of the reason people freak out about fictional depictions of it when they don’t about any other form of violence. I also think that the prevalence of sexual violence in society makes other forms of violence seem rare and even imaginary by comparison. For example, I think most people know someone who has been raped or sexually assaulted. I think far fewer people know someone who has been shot, stabbed, robbed at gun- or knife-point, or murdered.

But that still doesn’t make Call Me by Your Name or Sally Mae’s random DVa/Soldier 76 smutfic either responsible for sexual violence or the reason sexual violence is so widespread.

I’m pretty sure that the many boys and men who have sexually assaulted me weren’t avid fanfic readers. The mere idea that schoolboys in pre-internet 1988 would have had access to smutty fic that would have somehow convinced them that assaulting me in an open classroom was okay, is so laughable that I don’t think I can actually bring myself to explain why it’s laughable. I’m also pretty sure that Harvey Weinstein didn’t decide that sexually assaulting every actress in a five mile radius was okay because he ran a Wincest archive. And I’m pretty sure that movies or books depicting sexual violence in a less-than-negative light also didn’t convince Harvey Weinstein to rape and abuse women.

US society has always had fucked-up attitudes toward sexual violence and sex in general. Fanfic and fan art that explores sexual violence didn’t cause this and isn’t exacerbating it any more than Call of Duty is causing more mass shootings. In a world where #MeToo is still struggling to be taken seriously, how could it? Especially as fan culture itself doesn’t have societal influence outside of influencing itself.

So, if you’re going to go on a moral crusade against fanfic with sexual content that you don’t like, at least be consistent in condemning fanfic that glorifies violence. Or stealing. Or manipulating people. Or any other form of abusive behavior. If you don’t, then your priorities immediately become clear, and they’re not about protecting anyone or making society better.

#long post

131 notes · View notes

latinalesbi · 6 years

Note

The good trouble account doesn’t even follow the moms or boys lol so much for the family

Yes, they tag Sherri and Teri in posts. They are such users.

Anonymous said: Cringe at some of the fans of the show I really do. On twitter for the 1st time in ages Joanna baits them. BB has gone quiet thank god. They’ve all moved on people. They got bored of writing for the moms-never really knew what to do with them s3 onwards. They wanted Maia front and center that’s evident, the spin off was their idea. The amount of new characters on their new show means money wasn’t the real issue. They’ve moved studios to cut costs. They gave up on Teri and Sherri thats the truth.

Yes, this officially makes Joanna the worst one. How she gonna tell a FAN that if she raises 30 MILLION dollars, she’ll produce the show. Bitch please. SHUT Up. She makes me so angry. They went along with whatever Freeform wanted. It’s so sad. They didn’t want the older lesbians and that’s a fact. These women weren’t sleeping around getting down with multiple women and they weren’t young things (yeah I am looking at you Bold Type and their male gaze), Freeform had no room to make a couple like Stef and Lena, front and center.

Anonymous said: If only they had realised the storm their decision would’ve caused both Fform and the creators of the fosters. I think had they realised their new shows cloak & dagger etc would do as badly as they have they would have sanctioned a season 6. In fact I’m sure. They need the viewing figures. If the creators really wanted to go down the line of the spin off they could have run both show concurrently, that would’ve appeased every1. Like Blackish and Grownish do now Wonder if that idea ever came up?

I think maybe you are right. Grownish came in like a hit, and that’s around the time they announced cancellation, but it’s clear now: Freeform show suck. No one wants to watch this network. The Fosters was a product of ABC F and Freeform hated it for that.

Anonymous said: Roll my eyes at people on twitter telling us we should support this new show as The Fosters was a family and fam supports fam. Dear lord they don’t seem to get the fact that this so called family behind the scenes betrayed each other. They negotiated behind the back of Teri Sherri and the guys and left them blindsided by the decision. Bradley Peter Maia Cierra and Joanna were all complicit in that. Their ‘family’ lost their jobs whilst they not only kept theirs but no doubt got pay rises. Asses!

Anyone who wants to sell me that shit, can go fuck themselves. What a waste of energy. This wasn’t a family, this was a job, people got fucked over, I want to see the backstabbers crash and burn.

Anonymous said: It was the Callie show for the past two seasons. Literally everything that could happen to a person happened to her lol! They didn’t really have a use for the other characters anymore. The only reason they are bringing Cierra -Marianna on board for the new show is that they are good friends in real life. I really believe that. Can’t believe they are producers too, the former cast must have been shocked at that. It’s like a double kick in the balls.

I agree with that and that’s why this real life friendship has an end date. It will always be Maia and guest. If production money is all she cares about then maybe it will last. However, if the limelight she seeks, then she will be disappointed.

Anonymous said: I loved the first few seasons of The Fosters. It was so family orientated. I loved the relationship between Stef and Calli it was what I wished for if Im honest. The show became too political for me at the end, they lost a little of what made it special.

I’ve said it before, the Trump election ruined the country and specifically this show. I needed escapism, ok. Is that ok to say? This show was built on that fantasy of a life. Suddenly, everything was about Trump even though on their timeline, he hadn’t been elected. They should have left the fosters alone and made a political show elsewhere.

Anonymous said: Thought of watching Good Trouble every week and who is Callie going to save next urgh!They’ll be lots of new young, good looking characters, lots of sex no doubt which is funny considering the moms were barely allowed to touch towards the end. The creators zoned out. They wanted this new show, probably preferred writing for the girls etc. If you read articles at the beginning of The Fosters in 2013 they were so enthused about Stef and Lena, excited to talk about their stories, its worlds apart.

Well Bradley got divorced and clearly didn’t believe in marriage anymore. He bought himself a young boyfriend and everyone got bored of stef and lena, except the audience. Sadly. It also shows how fake they are. They are actors selling a product. Ultimately, they didn’t really care, they just thought that’s what the network wanted to hear then.

P.S. Just don’t watch troubled shows.

Anonymous said: They harp on & boast about their social justice storylines and how this will continue when the real injustice happened on their show in front of all of us. They kept the 2 straight characters and let go the 2 older women who happened to play lesbians and their gay son. These were the characters that had the most social impact & brought the most awareness to the show at the beginning. They gave people hope and a feeling they were being listened too. It’s so sad tptb seem to have forgotten that.

And their stupid show’s tag is going to an invade a rightfully political tag about a black activist. People looking for this will bump into white savior callie. This isn’t progressive, it’s the typical erasure that happens to lesbians.

Anonymous said: The thing that has arisen, if that’s the right word 😂 is the huge love everyone has for Sherri and Teri and their characters Stef and Lena. They truly made a difference to people’s lives. That will never change no matter what the powers that be decide is best for themselves and their network. Maybe Callie and Marianna stories on this spinoff will be worthy but it will never compare to the real affect Teri and Sherri had on so many people. They’re loved universally and that will never go away. X

History will tell, and no one will remember Good Trouble. No one.

Anonymous said: Famous in Love might not be cancelled after all now. What a joke. Could you imagine how much they are paying Bella Thorne, the ratings are shit and yet they are considering keeping it on the air yet cancel the Fosters, the highest rating show? They just want to keep Marlene King sweet no doubt, she’s got her PLL spinoff coming. It’s all trash, the network and the creators of the Fosters. In a few years time the Fosters will still be talked about, maybe then they’ll appreciate Sherri and Teri.

It was. Thank god. Next, Bold Type and next cancel the network.

Anonymous said: If it was a money thing why didn’t they just skim down the amount of guest characters they brought in and go back to family stories? There were so many new characters every week we couldn’t keep up & made the show feel disjointed, we didn’t have any loyalty to them. Getting rid of the boys and the moms will have saved them money, yes, they’ve moved studios too so that’s a cost cut. But then they’ve cast a load of new characters for the spin off and made the girls ep’s. Something isn’t right.

It was not a money thing at all. They want to say that but it’s not. It was about older women and how Freeform can’t sell that. Or rather, about how they don’t know how to sell it.

Anonymous said: Don’t worry peeps. They will realise their mistakes. The Fosters was the family. When that started to be phased out we stayed around honestly due to the connection we’d built with the characters and the those that played them. You don’t build that loyalty up overnight. They didn’t think about the fans, if they did they’d have known dumping some of the cast and picking others was a non starter. Go out on a high as the family you began with, that’s what they should have done. Everyone or no-one.

Exactly. I think the good feelings would have remained if they hadn’t betrayed the family. Now things are tainted.

Anonymous said: They thought we’d all continue to watch. The apathy towards us as fans is staggering. Unless they manage to generate a whole new sector of viewers which they won’t, their ratings are going to suffer hugely. They will lose so many of us. Some will be intrigued by the first ep, after that and realising the rest of the cast are really no more it will slide off. They created and had something special, this spinoff tarnished it for me.

The thing fans aren’t really a thing to these people. The noise people make on twitter is completely just that for them, background noise. That’s why I enjoyed when someone ruffles their feathers. When truth comes close to home, they react. If Freeform knew how to create a hit, they would have done so by now. The Fosters was successful because of the fanbase it had built from the ABCF days. Hours of politics, the law and callie. No thanks.

Anonymous said: If their idea of family is to forsake their fellow cast then who’d want to be a part of that? Sellouts pure and simple, money over ‘family.’

That’s it. Nothing else.

Anonymous said: I watch the ratings for shows, it was odd to me when the decision was made. The Fosters at that point was their highest rated show both live figure and the delayed viewing. And yes most def their most stable show. Sirens had since done well. Grownish dropped, Cloak & Dagger, started well-ish but then dropped. The Bold Type has always been low and Famous in Love- terrible. Last season it always beat Shadowhunters too. That show had a big international deal to be fair. Really strange decision.

And yet they canned Shadowhunters. If there was a show I could believe had some weird cult following online, it would be that. They didn’t care either. I don’t know what Freeform is aiming for. Race to the bottom with them.

Anonymous said: My thinking: Teri and Sherri had the highest salaries. Fform knew the ratings were good. Thought Maia and Cierra with their social media following were popular and therefore could lead a show thus save money by getting rid of Teri and Sherri and it wouldn’t affect the ratings. They didn’t realise the demographic of audience was vast. People watched the show for a variety of reasons. They should have done some polling before making the decision, would have been clear pretty quick. Amateur network

I don’t know. They made maia and cierra more money as producers then they would have with The Fosters. It’s almost as if those 2 were the problem with money. They were demanding so much, the network couldn’t afford to pay anyone else much. The network is trash. I will live to see it die.

#Anonymous

12 notes · View notes