#you *know* most of these people would be powerful politicians in the 21st century

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

like oh my god the way swifties talk like “taylor got get killed by speaking out about palestine she already has security guards because of her stal—” Pause. She has security GUARDS OH MY FUCKING GODDDDDD. and “her fans at the tour could get endangered!” POST PONE THE FUCKING TOUR THENNN. Like wow Taylor swift could get killed if she spoke out? PALESTINIANS ARE LITERALLY GETTING KILLED RIGHT NOW YOU FUCKING MORON! TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE ALREADY DEAD! OVER A MILLION SLOWLY BEING KILLED AS YOU FUSS OVER ONE. SINGULAR. RICH AND POWERFUL WHITE WOMAN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FUCKING WORLD!

like i can Not Stress this enough she is so powerful she has politicians making laws to protect her already she has Security guards she has so much resources she has this gigantic safety bubble simply by being So powerful and Famous. If she said “Hey Israel is right now killing people” and used all the political power for Palestine, by God I believe we would be closer to Palestinian liberation than we would to Taylor Swift getting assassinated by israel.

them valuing taylor’s life over the increased possibility of millions of lives being saved is just. Like you see Palestinians be so dehumanized and this is just an extension of that dehumanization. All their lives is lesser than Taylor Swift’s one life. Its so evil.

Not only is Taylor complicit in this genocide but her fans valuing her privileged white life over millions (yes, the West Bank is officially categorized as going through a genocide) of Palestinians is just so reflective of their racism, islamophobia, whatever you want to call their violence towards of any marginalized group who “threatens” Taylor Swift in some way. Yes, dehumanizing Palestinians to reinforce Taylor as a victim is violent.

The thing is, Taylor’s silence is a continued tactic she’s used her entire career to slip away from accountability by appearing passive and allowing her fans to project whatever they want onto her. She is 100% utilizing it now.

You cannot escape this genocide. It is everywhere. It is undeniable. Everyone knows at this point. Everyone.

Taylor’s behavior is why she’s as powerful and loved by these powerful institutions as well: because she is complicit in genocide. She knows. She’s not and never going to speak up. If she somehow does, the media will focus the attention on her and not Palestinians. Everything she does is always about and will always be for her. Swifties will do all the hard work for her.

We are collectively witnessing one of the darkest moments of human history in the 21st century. Swifties will go down as defending one of the most powerful women on Earth whose silence aids this ongoing genocide.

[terrence-silver]

Would old man Terry still smoke his signature Cuban cigars?

---

Why'd he stop?

Because it went out of fashion.

(See the above ads. Can you imagine anything similar today?)

In the 70's and the 80's, a Cuban cigar (or just a cigarette in general) would've been a sign of decadence and masculine power; it is what every Senator in his cabinet during his spare, private time alongside every coked out, upstart Yuppie on Wallstreet, every would-be Gangster Mafioso, every Banana Republic dictator and of course, Terry Silver, would smoke. Politicians, would perhaps, secretly indulge the vice, seeing as how Cuban cigars couldn't even be imported into the US up until a certain time, making them even more of exclusive of a habit. Just look at old advertisements. Men smoking in a manly fashion while, optionally, a nearby woman swoons and looks on. It's fun! It's sexy! It makes the ladies drop their panties, you men! You would be surprised how many plain, old Americana style scenes with Cowboys smoking I've found while researching a reply to this question. It meant something then that it doesn't mean now. Today, it is almost comically associated with the (quite literally cancerous) evils of Capitalism to the degree that if you asked a literal kid to draw you a corrupt rich man, they'd probably draw Monopoly man with a top hat and a cigar. Heck! Most public places don't even allow indoor smoking and you're relegated to a separate smoking area and still, people will stuck their noses up at you the entire time even so. What I mean to say is --- times changed and so did attitudes. So happens that Terry Silver lived long enough to witness these changes and I think he stopped smoking somewhere in between the fiasco that took place between him and John post tournament loss in 1985 and those thirty something years they weren't close. Long enough for cigars to go from a symbol of power to a symbol of something disgusting people collectively would rather not be around because it stinks and makes you sick. Gives you bad breath. And Cancer. It used to be cool. It used to be badass. Nowadays, it comes with a little message on the bottom of the box that says 'Smoking Kills!'

Terry Silver went through a (temporary) re-brand.

He changed the way cultural sensitives changed, as I keep on repeating.

Turned into the image of the ''acceptable'' type of the model rich man for the new, 21st century was meant to look and act like for a brief spell. Mellow. Clean cut. Vegan. Considerate and practicing 'mindfulness'. Someone very much in favor of attending therapy, seemingly sworn off of his formerly rotten ways, and in fact, completely tucking them away. A champagne Liberal fundraising apps for the poor from his multimillion dollar beach patio mansion. You see what I'm saying? Cigars --- they don't fit into that whole image, in fact, they completely clash with it. So, he discarded them, the same way he discarded many things that would come off as 'problematic' in the current day and age, shedding his skin and becoming a 'different' man to hide in plain sight, being the ultimate chameleon that he is, always adapting to his surroundings.

I do firmly believe he still has a stash of vintage cigars somewhere, in some golden or silver elaborate, decorative box he hasn't touched in actual decades, in some locked drawer or safe, as a keepsake. Perhaps he even lights up in his more mature age, for old time's sake, seeing it as a sign of authority, refusing to go down as some sad, old man once his existential crisis kicks in as the years advance and advance, taking the reigns of control and picking a poison of his own choosing to rot him from the inside, kicking up his legs on a work desk and smiling to himself.

Who knows?

Nobody's ever there to see him do it, just the way he would want it too.

[roxannepolice]

What do you mean exactly by Saxon representing “Post Politics”?

Hi! First, a bit on post-politics:

Basically this is all bound up into the naive optimism of post-cold war "end of history" hopes, where liberal democratic free market fuelled welfare state becomes the total norm that can only spread throughout the world now that totalitarian centrally steered empire has fallen. Like, the idea for a world without politics understood as various ideologies opposing each other and replaced by state becoming a purely administrative institution has actually been seen as the utopian goal of history- except in practice it resulted in detached from reality technocrats fighting for power with equally but differently detached from reality populists.

But somewhere at the beginning of the 21st century there was this clash of democracy with politics-as-election-of-administrators becoming just straight up boring, leading to elections being less about ideologies and more about personal feelings for a party and even more glaringly - particular person. And that is not to assume that historically people have been very considerate of reading through the agenda of each official, but rather what becomes the norm that politicians rely on. Empty but passionate and eloquent statements about things being bad ("This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs right now, is a Doctor."), lifestyle of the politician (Harold Saxon's model wife, excellent background on a website, also sth sth would you rather vote for an art loving vegetarian from working class or a rude misogynistic chain smoking alcoholic aristocrat), or just freaking LOOKS ("I think Mister Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome too.") become infinitely more important than actual policies or ideology ("Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for? I don't know. He always sounded good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice.")*.

Yes, fandom has generally decided Harold Saxon was from a conservative party, but he's explicitly not from any party whatsoever. If anything, BBC really took advantage of having a talented actor that looks like Tony Blair, a LABOUR PM (though I'd say Harriet Jones is more of a Blair stand-in). It's a party whose only premise is the personal charisma of an individual. And that is NOT how you should elect politicians.

*Ngl, this is why I facepalm at Arachnids in the UK. If you think the problem with Donald Trump as one of the most powerful people in the world is that he has OCD and is generally a bad person, then no. No it's not.

[guadalupehesus]

"While there's life, there's hope." - Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Dear Harry,

I am writing to you with a warning. As I know, you often have or had inappropriate states due to mental or alcoholic intoxication. God forbid you to use drugs. Why did I bring up this personal problem of yours? I'm not judging you. A person of the 21st century is very vulnerable mentally to temptations. This is our life. Nowadays, even those who pray are afraid of disgracing themselves, if they have any intelligence, of course. Yesterday you were on a horse with a shield, today you are a laughingstock. And what will happen tomorrow is chaotic and unpredictable even for me. For example, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly gave us a kitten. You can say that the President of the Russian Federation gave me and my sister the whole world of tenderness and warmth that exudes from this furry baby. He did it secretly. However, I suspect it could have been a love spell, but I am deeply grateful to him for the only worthwhile act of a man on his part. The only thing that darkens my mood is that the Kyrgyz government used to cast a spell on me to take away the greatness of Russia and the Romanov Family for years. And now, this is being done by the respected Russian president at the behest of a migrant from sunny Uzbekistan - Alina Maratovna Kabaeva.

Don't make these mistakes, Harry. It often happens that a strong politician was ruined not by his professional qualities, but by his woman. You were a strong warrior in past lives. But Meghan Markle has always been a satanic temptation for you, Harry!

Harry, you got involved with a first-class, cunning escort-girl from the circle of the damned Epstein himself, according to the Western media. These are dangerous people who, through sex, subsequently dirty blackmail, achieve great material things. I wouldn't be surprised if they blackmailed some sheikhs, which often influences their big politics. For example, Arabs could at least verbally express their disagreement with the aggression towards the children of Palestine. I wish no harm to either Jews or Arabs. I just have a feeling that people like Epstein behave like spiders. And you, Harry, are naive by nature from your past lives. +You grew up in a palace where everyone respected you. You didn’t know what some people outside of your well-fed, successful circle of friends and sincere fan-girls who idolized you were capable of. And I was often humiliated by vile people and that’s why I tried to warn you from the very beginning.

Harry, if you are originally Elton John or Freddie Mercury, then everything is fine. But it’s another matter if, taking advantage of your intoxication, your wife pushes a homosexual adventure* up your ass for the purpose of blackmail in the near future. First of all, give up drugs and make an appointment with a psychologist. But remember that this psychologist can also work for the protector of your wife. Get a grip, Harry. For the sake of your children. What will they remember about their childhood? The first 6 years are the most important period in the formation of the human psyche. Then - adolescence.

I think, you must accept your mother's passing. This is your Achilles heel. Let Mom go, Harry. Her life was not so bad after all. Your mother lived a vibrant and noble life that one could only dream of. She left an unforgettable mark on the hearts of both whites and blacks. This (!) is important. Think about women in brothels in India, for example. They don’t even dare to dream about the Princess’s life. As for Diana's suspicious death, I will reveal to you the secret of the Higher Powers.

This is the meaning of your mother's suffering: Diana had to see the dark side of the black aristocracy. If she had been happy with Charles III and had not been helped to leave this world, then the hearts of her two sons would not have been pure and, perhaps, they would have been on the side of Satan. Think of it as saving the souls of Lady Di's sons. Apocalyptic times lie ahead of us. But there are few strong people with kind souls on Earth. We, the Light forces, need warriors.

However, I ask you not to immediately write a book 😉 about the fact that I am talking about the Apocalypse. People won't understand. They never understood...

Yours sincerely,

Asel

* I do not hate gays, but I would be dissapointed, if you did it with a man . Sorry, but this is not appropriate for men.

[torchwoodtranscripts]

TW 01: The Conspiracy

(Torchwood theme plays)

Jack: The 21st century is when everything changes. and you've got to be ready

(theme ends)

(crowd of people talking amongst themselves)

George: People often ask me, they say George how come you know all this? Who gave you this information? And do you know what I tell them? I say the information is there! It is right there! You only have to open your eyes! You see people think their eyes are open to the world around them but they’re not. The world we see is the world they want us to see (audio shifts and is now heard through a speaker) and it is a fiction! (applause) No more real than a fairytale! or a dream! (applause continues)

Jack(narrating): (chuckles) (a mouse clicks and the audio through the speaker stops) Conspiracy nuts. Don’t you just love ‘em? Of course, being a conspiracy theorist is like any other line of work you have you enthusiastic amateurs: blogging and vlogging away in the small hours, and then there are the professionals, the superstars! George Wilson was one of the pros but let’s rewind the clock a little. Let’s go back to a time when George made a living by reading the evening news.

(a news theme plays through a speaker)

George: Good evening. America has declared that the air war against Iraq will continue for quite some time. Speaking at the white house earlier today, the US president told reporters (pause) I'm sorry I can’t read this, "this is all bull-bleep-it" (growing agitated) Look, I’m saying this as if the man has any say in the matter. Does anyone really think it’s the president or the prime minister who’s running the show? Of course not! It’s the oil companies and the multi-nationals! The politicians of this world are just marionettes! And we’re sending young men over to foreign countries where they fight and die to preserve business interests! and it’s insane and I can’t (pause) I can’t carry on being a spokesperson for this (mic feedback) (chair scraping on floor) fu-bleep- this I’m done.

Jack (narrating): It didn’t take long for him to resurface.

George: The world we see is the world they want us to see and it is a fiction! (applause) It’s no more real than a fairytale! or a dream! (applause dies out) The committee. That’s what they like to call themselves. The committee are experts at going incognito. Undercover. They look just like you or me. They are not little green men and they didn't come here in flying saucers. Make no mistake about it, they are here, and they control everything. where did they come from you ask? They come from the planet Erebus!

(mouse click)

Jack (narrating): woah woah woah, yeah.  Let’s stop right there. You see sometimes even the craziest people in the world won’t just say something interesting, they'll tell the truth.

(Torchwood theme plays in full)

(audio is heard through a speaker again)

Interviewer: now George you’ve made a number of statements recently in the press and elsewhere (audio changes to be heard "live") that have caused quite a few people, myself included,  to worry about you.

George: worry? Why are you worried about me?

Interviewer: w- um, much of what you’ve said has been a little, shall we say eccentric.

George: Listen if people can’t handle the truth of what is around us that’s their problem not mine. No one should worry about me, its themselves they should worry about and the world. We are choking this planet with pollution and committing violence  upon one another and the planet is unhappy. You see, the powers that be want us to think they’re all separate self-serving entities and that’s where most of the world’s problems stem from. If people saw the truth, they would realize that we're all one we’re all interconnected

Interviewer: and this relates to your belief in reincarnation?

George: Reincarnation is a part of it, yes. You see, it was only through meditation that I realized, this is not the first life cycle that I have enjoyed. This person, this George Wilson, that you see before you is simply the latest manifestation of a single branch of the united human consciousness.

(variation on the Torchwood theme plays lowly in the background)

Jack (narrating): I’d been onto him for some time. We keep an eye on most of these characters. So, when they announced that George Wilson’s road show was coming to Cardiff I decided to act. Of course, if Wilson knew Torchwood was in the house he’d have security show me the door and it really isn’t good to cause a scene so early on. That’s where Plexus magazine came in handy.  You may have heard of it. A million subscriber worldwide. the usual mix of conspiracies, cryptozoology and unsolved mysteries. Mayan calendars, the chupacabra, whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa (chuckle), you get the idea. Established in Patchogue, New York, 1975—The golden age of paranoia—and funded entirely by an anonymous benefactor. Ie, Torchwood. soon enough I was the proud owner of a press pass and a complimentary ticket to the George Wilson experience. Of course, the only problem in a situation like that, you can’t pick the person you’re sitting next to.

(theme variation ends)

Sam: Do I... Do I know you?

Jack: I’m sorry?

Sam: You are really familiar. Are you on tv?

Jack: (chuckling) uh, no.

Sam: aw, I could swear I know you from somewhere. oh, I’m Sam by the way. Sam Hallett. I write a blog, “Eye of Providence”. You may have heard of it.  I've got a youtube channel!

Jack: sorry, can't say I have.

Jack (narrating): I was lying. Like I say, we keep tabs on these people.

Sam: oh, uh. I see. um what is it you do?

Jack: I work for plexus magazine

Sam: Wow! R-really! Oh, you must know my mate! uh Zach, he makes videos for- (mic feedback) oo

Jack: (whispering) I think it’s starting.

Sam: (whispering) oh, right. (more mic feedback) yeah.

Jack: shhh.

Kate: ladies and gentlemen, prepare to open your eyes and expand your minds in the presence of the one, the only, George Wilson!

(applause)

Jack (narrating): He sold the place out. Three nights in a row. Seven thousand seats and not one of them empty.

George: Thank you, Cardiff! Diolch yn fawr! Thank you. Wow! It really is great to be here. (applause dies out) You know outside this room there are some very cynical people. You've no doubt met them. they're your friends, your colleagues, members of your family and they'll tell you you're crazy for coming here today. They'll say, “why do you want to listen to George Wilson? That man’s a crackpot. He’s a loony.” It took a lot of guts for you to come here. For you to stand up and be counted and say I will no longer follow the herd. I will no longer be a compliant drone to the committee. So, give yourselves a round of applause.

(applause)

George: because that's what those other people are. (applause dies out). They are drones. You see, there are three types of person on this planet. Right at the top running everything there's the committee. Then, there are the enablers. The people who know what the committee is up to but help them achieve their goals out of personal greed. And then, there are the drones. The ones who are clueless and blind. Now, if this is your first time hearing me speak and you haven't read any of my books perhaps you're wondering, “what exactly is the committee?” Well, to put it simply, they're the puppet masters. They're the ones running the show. They've been here throughout human history. Every war, every famine, every genocide, they have orchestrated. They look like you or me. In fact, every time you turn on the TV or open a newspaper they are staring you in the face but they are most definitely not human.

(a few seconds of silence)

(cheering and yelling from a distance)

George: hey, hey, one at a time. one at a time! yes? who should I make this out to? is that with or without an e? without. to (unitelligible) there you go.

Jack: Hi, Kate? Kate Wilson.

Kate: Yes?

Jack: I'm Jack Harkness. plexus magazine I emailed you about thepress pass.

Kate: Oh, Hi! Yes! Of course, Jack, Hi!

Jack: I was wondering if maybe I could interview your father?

Kate: wha- today?

Jack: welllll, yeah.

Kate: oh, gosh um he’s a bit busy right now and we've got an American telly thing this evening. Did I say you could have an interview?

Jack: We didn't confirm anything.

Kate: oh, right. Okay. right. well (breath intake)

Jack (narrating): I gave her my best puppy dog eyes.

Kate: Listen, we’ll sort something out. I mean Plexus Magazine right? I'm sure we can squeeze you in.

Jack:  If you could that would be great I just- My editor said it would help the feature I'm writing. And I flew over here from the states. I just thought-

Kate:  you flew over from America just to hear dad speak?

Jack: I did.

Kate: Well, in that case. Listen, here's my card, call me in the morning and we'll arrange something then. is that cool?

Jack: perfect. Thank you.

(footsteps walking away)

Jack (narrating): I was on my way back to the car when I realized I was being followed. Not by one of Wilson's entourage, but by the kid, who'd sat next to me during the show, Sam. Probably thought he was being subtle but I knew he was there. The moment he’d started talking to me I’d seen it in his eyes the recognition. But how could he know me? And why was he following me? I was seconds away from going over there and asking him when-

(phone beeps)

Jack: Gwen? Weevils? How many? And that’s just the lingerie department? Okay I'll be right there.

Jack (narrating): The kid, whoever he was, would have to wait.

(Torchwood theme snippet)

Jack(narrating): The next day I paid a visit to George Wilson at his hotel. His daughter met me in the lobby and showed me to their suite.

Kate: Soo, Mr. Harkness.

Jack: Jack. Please.

Kate: Right, yes, Jack. How long have you been writing for plexus?

Jack: Only a few months. This is my first big feature for them

Kate: Great! you Americans love this sort of thing don’t you? Dad and I were there a year or so back for a college lecture tour. And the kids he spoke to just lapped it up. How about you? Do you believe in all that stuff?

Jack: you say that as if you don’t?

Kate: Well, look, he’s my dad and I love him but, seriously? Some of the stuff he says! Please don’t quote me on that by the way.

Jack (narrating): I didn’t need to. She was already a youtube star herself.

(mouse click)

(audio is now through a speaker again)

Kate: Well, this is all bollocks space aliens and- I mean who believes that shit?

(mouse click)

(audio returns to normal)

Jack: (laughs) I won’t say a word. I promise.

Kate: Thanks. but yeah, over in the states the students loved him. I mean, of course partly that’s to do with the English accent, I think. Now, you can ask him pretty much anything. Anything at all. The only two subjects I like people to avoid: his drinking and his and mum's divorce. Dad’s a recovering alcoholic. Every day is a challenge. Especially when we’re on tour. Reminding him of the fact just makes that journey so much harder.

Jack: I understand.

Kate: and, as for mum- well if you get him talking about her, you'll never hear the end of it. This is us!

(door unlocking and opening)

Kate: Dad?

George: Oh, hi love!

Kate: I'd like you to meet Jack Harkness the guy I was telling you about? he writes for Plexus Magazine.

George: Marvelous. (grunts while getting up) Hello! Mr. Harkness, pleasure to meet you!

Jack: Likewise.

George: Come on in and sit yourself down. Drink?

Jack: oh uh, oh I'm- I'm fine, thank you.

George: sensible man. The coffee tastes instant and the tea tastes like piss.

Kate: Dad, I said I'd give Jerry a ring about Hayden White so I'll just leave the two of you to get started yeah?

George: Of course. You still going back this evening?

Kate: possibly, I’ll find out.

George: Oh, and tell him I haven't forgotten about our game of squash on Tuesday!

Kate: Will do!

(door closes)

George: So, plexus magazine you say?

Jack: That's right.

George: interesting. I’ve read a few issues over the years. Some fascinating stuff in there, but you don't half print a load of rubbish sometimes. All that stuff about chemtrails. Pull the other one. (breath intake) But, generally, I must say, I'm impressed.

Jack: Thanks!

George: No seriously, If I wasn't you wouldn't be here. We get all sorts asking for interviews.

Jack: (chuckles) I can imagine.

George: Had that fellow from the BBC, what was his name? The one with the glasses. Wanting to do an hour long feature on me a few years back. I told him where he could stick his hour long feature. I’ve seen a few of the ones he’s done before and they're all hatchet jobs made to make the subjects look like idiots. I told him—well I told his producer—but I said,  if you think I’m willing to look like a complete prat on national television you've got another thing coming! Christ, if wanted to do that I’d go on “I’m A Celebrity” at least then you get a holiday in Australia to show for it. And I’ve heard the money's no too bad. I'm sorry am I racing ahead here?

Jack: No no no, not at all. I just have to make sure this thing is working. Okay, testing, testing. That’s fine.

Jack (narrating): He thought it was a dictaphone but I was actually scanning the room for evidence of extraterrestrial life. hm. It was clean.

George: Great. Well, fire away.

Jack: Okay! Well, maybe we could start by talking about the committee?

George: Blimey, you don't beat around the bush.

Jack: I thought we could dispense with the small talk.

George: hmm. I like it. Direct. No faffing about.

Jack: How did you learn their name?

George: It was um, told to me in the strictest confidence by one of the contacts. An enabler, in the CIA. That’s The Central intelligence-

Jack: I know what it stands for. and this CIA contact of yours, do they have a name?

George: If I was to tell you their name it wouldn’t be in the strictest confidence, now would it? Besides, I have friends and acquaintances from more than one intelligence agency. And several of them are aware of the committee and what they're doing here.

(variation on the Torchwood theme plays)

Sam (voice lowered and edited to add a heavy echo): the eye of providence

Sam (over a speaker): okay, so, earlier on I went to see George Wilson, yeah?  Now, I don't know how much you guys know about him, but he is the dude. He’s like the high priest of truth telling. That man has got his finger on the pulse as far I'm concerned. And, well, it was a great honor, seeing him in the flesh. but while I’m sitting there, right, I’ve got this guy next to me. and I’m thinking I know this guy. Real deja vu type stuff, yeah?

Jack: In your book The Great Conspiracy you said the committee's been interfering with human affairs for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.

George: That is true, yes.

Jack: Well, why are they called The Committee? Why not buh- shh- I don't know the- The Erebusians?

George: Well, I didn't pick the name Mr. Harkness, it’s just what they’re called. Obviously, they have their own language but the name they call themselves translates into english as just that. the committee.

Jack: Sounds bureaucratic.

George: Oh, and they are. Business-like. Ruthless. It’s what Hannah Arendt said of Eichman “the banality of evil.” Though of course the nazis themselves were just stooges of the committee. As were the allied forces. The whole war, was a fabrication.

Jack: (scoffs) A fabrication? uh, I'm sorry?

George: Oh, don’t get me wrong. The war happened, people died. But the narrative of the war, the causes of the war were a work of fiction. Another phase in the committee's long term project to wipe out mankind.

Jack: Right. But that didn't happen.

George: What do you mean?

Jack: The world’s population has doubled in the last 50 years alone. if their aim was to- to wipe us out? They've done a pretty bad job of it.

George: And perhaps allowing the population to reach such ridiculous proportions was all part of the plan. Besides, the technology to obliterate every last soul on the planet didn't exist before 1945. The war, as I've said, was phase one. And by the end of it? We had the atomic bomb.

Sam (over a speaker): So, when the whole things finished I follow this guy out of the arena, right. And I manage to get a few pics of him. Oh, if any of you follow me on instagram, you can see him there. Oh, I used Valencia because that filter is sick! But anyway this is the guy I’m talking about. So, if any of you, especially anyone in Cardiff like buzzsaw59 orrrrrr pikachuthebarbarian, if you guys recognize him, message me yeah?

Jack: So, if that was phase one, where would you say we are now?

George: I believe we’re at the beginning of phase two. Terrorism, economic collapse, overpopulation, food shortages, global pandemics. It makes for a heady cocktail, I think you’ll agree.

Jack: and phase three?

George: After all that I don’t there'd be any need for a third phase, do you?

Jack: Okay. If we could just go back to your time as a journalist?

George: If we must.

Jack: You found yourself in some crazy situations. Saw some pretty terrible things, traumatic things. It would be perfectly understandable if someone suffered psychologically after witnessing some of the things you’ve seen.

George: where is this um, heading, Mr. Harkness?

Jack: weh- I suppose I’m trying to establish your frame of mind around the time you quit journalism, began talking about conspiracies. (door opens) The Committee.(door closes)

Kate: hello again. we've got a green light on Hayden which is amazeballs by the way, and Jerry says hi. I said I'd drive down there tonight sort some things out with him, hash ou the contracts, then come back first thing tomorrow before we leave for manchester. which also means I can pick up the suits from the dry cleaners. How are you two getting along?

George: fine! Mr. Harkness here was just asking about my time as a journalist.

Kate: was he? Bit awkward. I thought we said you'd avoid all that stuff?

Jack: We agreed his marriage to your mother and his drinking were off limits. You didn't mention anything about his career.

Kate: well, it is. That was a difficult time for him. wasn't it dad?

George: No, let’s talk about it. Let’s have it out. I have nothing to hide. Yes, Mr. Harkness, the things I saw were upsetting, yes I drank, yes it destroyed my marriage. But let me just say this. Like many recovering addicts will tell you, coming out of an experience like that brings your world into a much sharper focus. You see things as they really are. It’s what William Burroughs meant when he called his book The Naked Lunch. The moment when everyone sees what is on the end of their fork.

Jack: And what did you see?

George: I saw shadows. moving behind the set dressing of the world.

Jack (narrating): I was no closer to understanding George Wilson, but he wasn't crazy. A little deluded perhaps, but not quite crazy. (chuckle) Wish I could say the same for Sam.

Sam: (from a distance) Hey! (now closer) it’s you again!

Jack: Oh, hi. Uh, Sam isn’t it?

Sam: Thats right! So, what're you doing here? You visiting George Wilson?

Jack: I was interviewing him

Sam: They- they gave you and interview?

Jack: yes.

Sam: what the- (speechless pause)  I emailed his pa like about a hundred times and they didn't give me an interview!

Jack: Maybe because you emailed them a hundred times.

Sam: ugh that sucks! I can’t believe they gave you an interview and not me. Except you weren’t really interviewing him were ya?

Jack: (scoffs) I'm sorry?

Sam: Ahuh, I knew it! Here. (drops bag onto the ground) (unzips bag) This, (paper wrinkling) is a picture I took outside the Brampton Hotel on Cathedral Road, June, last year. Um, when they had that poltergeist. See. And that, unless I’m very much mistaken, is you.

Jack: Well, it looks like me, I’ll give you that.

Sam: Oh, yeah, because there are loads of men who look like you walking around Cardiff in army surplus greatcoats. Besides, here, another picture that a friend of mine took in Penarth during the mermaid sights in November. and baboom! There you are again.

Jack: And baboom! So, you got a few pictures of me, doesn’t prove a thing, except perhaps that you’re stalking me. are you stalking me Sam?

Sam: pfft, (scoffs) as if! Uh, though, actually, who's the brunette?

Jack: A friend.

Sam: Because she it fit as.

Jack: I’ll pass on your compliment I’m sure she’ll be thrilled

Sam: But there’s only one explanation for why you’d be in all these places.

Jack: Which is?

Sam: Torchwood.

Jack: Torchwood?

Sam: (scoffs) Seriously? You drive around Cardiff in a black four-wheel-drive with flashing blue lights. (scoffs) I mean, us bloggers might not know what it is you do exactly but Torchwood? You are up there with MKultra and The Bilderberg Group man.

Jack: Wow. I feel honored.

Sam: Oh, you should! Those guys are like, well famous.

Jack: Okay, well, if we're done. (car unlocks)

Sam: oh my god it the four-wheel-drive! It’s the actual four-wheel-drive!

Jack: uh, we actually call it the SUV. You can put that in your blog. Actually, scratch that. If you put this, any of this, in your blog, I'll have you transported to a Siberian zinc mine by lunch time tomorrow.

Sam: ha ha, classic!

Jack: Do I look like I’m joking?

Sam: You mean, you’d actually do that?

Jack: try me. (car door shuts) (engine starts)

Jack (narrating): I was lying of course. I don’t even know if they have zinc mines in Siberia. but Sam didn’t know that.

(the hub door rolls open. electric current can be heard)

Jack: hello? (pause) anybody home? (pause) just me then. (sigh) good.

Jack (narrating): I spent most of that night watching the same video clips over and over.

(mouse clicks twice)

George (through a speaker): The Committee aren't after our oil. Their civilization hasn't relied on fossil fuels in (audio switches to "live") over half a million years. They want our helium-3, on earth, it’s rare, but the moon is drenched in the stuff. right now, we’re like he Arabian Bedouin of old traversing oil fields without ever knowing it. The Committee knows it’s only a matter of time before they’re able to go up there and claim what’s ours and they’ll do everything they can to stop us. But people, know this, that in the early 80s NASA began drawing up plans for a second wave of apollo missions. That is, until a certain shuttle disaster put the whole space program on hold. Ten years later they began talking about the mission again, and wouldn’t you know it? Another shuttle exploded! Coincidence? I think not! You have to ask yourself, why did the Russians never go there? Indeed, why is it almost 40 years now since anyone last set foot on the moon. Now, the enablers, these are the ones working in intelligence agencies and law enforcement. When you see people being tear gassed or hit with batons at anti-government rallies, the ones hitting them, the ones tear gassing them? They’re the enablers.

Jack (narrating): Sometimes, he would get something right.

George: Erebus exists on a dimensional plane that’s invisible to earth.

Jack: And sometimes he’d get it very wrong.

George: And of course, we know what happened the last time an American president discovered the truth about The Committee, don't we?

Jack (narrating): Like all good conspiracy theories, some parts of it were strangely persuasive.

George: Doesn’t it often feel to you as if this word is being run by a cabal of middle managers? That human progress is being slowed down by the jobsworths? By the pencil pushers?

Jack (narrating): Some parts? Not so much.

George: This is Paul McCartney in 1967, and this is him or someone claiming to be him in 1970. (audio now over a speaker again) and I think you’ll agree that is not the same person.

Jack (narrating): I listened back over our interview.

(dictaphone clicks a few times and the recording starts)

Jack:  You say your contacts wish to remain anonymous because they fear for their lives. Yet, you talk about this stuff, in the show, in your books, online, in the films you make, and you haven’t been killed?

George: No, not yet.

Jack: But you think the committee might one day have you assassinated?

George: It’s a very real possibility.

Kate: Dad! Do we really have to talk about this? (George sighs) It freaks me out!

George: Well, it’s true love. I’m sure they’re only biding their time. Right now, if they were to kill me it would only make me a martyr! They don’t yet exert absolute control over the media. I mean the mainstream media, yes, they control that from top to bottom. But just you mark my words! The day when they dictate every last thing that people see, read, and hear about, will be the day a sniper trains his sights on yours truly.

Jack: Huh, you sound quite calm about it.

George: If it happens it happens. We all have to die someday.

(recording clicks and stops)

Jack (narrating): I was just about to call it a night when- 

(cellphone rings) (phone beeps three times) 

Jack: hello?

Sam (over the phone): Jack? Jack Harkness!

Jack: Who is this?

Sam (over the phone): It’s Sam! Sam Hallett.

Jack: Ugh.

Sam: Look, these people came to my flat. I don’t know who they are. I was sleeping. They- they broke in. They said they want to speak to you Jack.

Jack: Well put them on.

Sam: Oh I- I can’t. They said you have to come here.

Jack: And where are you?

Sam: In the bay. It’s a new tower block they’re building. The Skypoint. They want you to come here.

Jack: It’s okay Sam, I’m on my way.

(snippet of the Torchwood theme plays)

Jack(narrating): Skypoint was gonna be the tallest building in the city. But back then? It was only half built. A spire of (car tires squeal in the background) Girders and concrete reaching several hundred feet into the night sky.

(car does opens and closes) (footsteps crunch on gravel)

Jack (narrating): Once I cleared the gate it took me a while to find him. How they got him up there? I'll never know. But he was standing on a narrow ledge maybe 60, 70 feet above the ground. A rope around his neck and his hands tied behind his back.

Jack: (yelling) Sam! Where are they?

Sam: (terrified) hnngk I can't, see 'em. But I think they’re still here.

Jack:(still yelling) I'm gonna come up there and get you down. ok?

Sam: (on the verge of tears) no! no don’t do that. They said if you try and help me they'll kill us both!

Jack: (to himself) damn it! (yelling) why don’t you show your faces whoever the hell you are?

Sam: They told me to give you a message, Jack. (sniffs) They said you (thud) (choking noises) (another thud)

Jack: NO!

Jack (narrating): I don't know if he was pushed or if he fell, but within seconds I could hear the sound of sirens. (sirens are heard in the background along with the creaking strain of a rope) I got their message. Loud and clear. But if they thought it was gonna stop me? Well, they were very much mistaken. What I didn’t know at the time was that half an hour before Sam's death, a video had appeared online. His last testament. (sirens fade)

Sam (over a speaker): (takes a deep breath) (shakily through tears) My name is Sam Hallett. If you're watching this, it means that I'm (whimpers) dead. I've taken my own life because it is no longer worth living. For years I've wasted my time spreading nothing but fantasies and lies. (deep breath) I did this because I wanted the attention. But I am still alone. and that loneliness has become too much to bear. (coughs) (pause) I- uh, I hope my family will forgive me. (cries quietly) I am so so (sobbing) sorry (continues sobbing).

Jack (narrating): No one would've found it convincing and, of course, when I told him not to say a word about Torchwood, I was way too late. He'd already done it. In about half a dozen emails and text messages and blogs.

(one phone rings followed by another then more in rapid succession)

Jack (narrating): (phones still ringing in the background) when I got back to the hub, so many phone lines, so much voicemail, so many messages. The agencies and ministries you’re not supposed to know about. All those anonymous men and women in Whitehall who don't appreciate being woke up with bad news in the early hours of the morning. I let them go unanswered. I had some questions of my own.

(dramatic music drowns out phones then fades out)

(grandfather clock can be heard ticking in the background)

Jack: (angrily) Wake up.  (George grunts sleepily) I said wake up!

(sheets rustling)

George: What? (tinkling noise like ice in a glass followed by the sound of a squeaking wheel) Jesus Christ.

Jack: Close, but no cigar.

George: Harkness? What the hell are you doing here?

Jack: I wouldn't make any sudden moves if I were you.

George: But why?

Jack: Do you know someone named Sam Hallet?

George: Who?

Jack: (aggressively) Don't play games with me!

George: I swear to God I don’t know who you’re talking about!

Jack: he writes a blog “Eye of providence”. He came to hear you speak yesterday, said he tried getting an interview with you.

George: Honestly, I’ve never heard of him.

Jack: Well, he’d heard of you and now he’s dead.

George: What?

Jack: Hanged by the neck. Made to look like the kind of suicide that looks like a murder if you know what I mean. Hands bound, unconvincing suicide note. I think you and I should have a little talk.

George: What about? About your friend?

Jack: (aggressively) Who told you about the committee?

George: We uh- We went through this in the interview. Didn't we?

Jack: Tell me the name of your contact!

George: I can't.

Jack: George, I am pointing a gun at your head. So, tell me the name of your contact.

George: I- (pause) I can't!

Jack: It’s a case of you telling me their name or you dying! Which is it gonna be?

George: I can't tell you their name!

Jack: (aggressively) Why not George?

George: Because they don't exist!

Jack: (flabbergasted) What?

George: They don’t exist! They’re not real! There is no CIA contact! I have no contact in the CIA, or MI6, or the SVR, or Mossad or ISI or BND or any of them. I made them all up

Jack: You’re lying!

George: You think I’d lie at a time like this? You think this is the lie?

Jack: but that doesn’t make any sense!

George: Oh, this is hilarious. You- you break into my hotel room in the middle of the night. You point a gun at me. And when I tell you the truth—the actual truth—you say it doesn't make any sense! (laughs) Oh, that is priceless.

Jack: You think this is a joke?

George: No. This isn’t a joke. But I’ll tell you what is. You, conspiracy nutters. When I started doing this if anyone had told me about you people I’d have thought twice. There isn’t a moment’s rest. The letters and the emails, and the funny thing is its never the really far-fetched stuff that people bring you up on! Oh, you can tell them that JFK was assassinated by aliens from outer space, and they'll believe every word of it, but mention frame 207 of the Zapruder footage when you really mean 208? (pause) And you'll never hear the end of it!

Jack: Are you honestly telling me, you made all this up?

George: What, you think there really is a plot by aliens from the planet Erebus to plunder the moon? (chuckles to himself) No, that is ridiculous. Listen, I know you guys can get pretty intense about this sort of thing—and uh, you seem to have some issues of your own—so I'll try and let you down gently, but it isn't true. Trust me, it’s not. and I’ll happily tell you everything, if you’d just lower that gun? okay?

Jack: Okay.

George: Now, if it’s alright with you I’m going to get out of bed, go to the minibar and get myself a miniature [alcohol name] yes? (refrigerator opens)

Jack: I thought you were in recovery?

George: Well, if anyone asks I'm blaming you for my relapse. 

(refrigerator closes, bottles clink, and one fizzes as it is opened)

George: (takes a long drink) Ahhhh. (sets bottle down) Oh my word. (refrigerator opens) That is good! (bottles clink again) Care for one? No? (another bottle fizzes and opens) Marvelous! More for me!

Jack: slow down. (George drinking) And tell me everything. Right from the start.

George (narrating): (birdsong in the background) (footsteps, pacing) I'd been a journalist for, oh, 25 years? And all I saw were the same stories repeating themselves over and over. Everything felt like a remake. Biafra in 1968, Ethiopia in '84, same problems. Just being shifted around the globe from one country to the next. When they offered me the studio job, I grabbed it with both hands! No more shanty towns, no more war zones. Except of course, in the studio it was intensified. Now, I wasn’t covering one story at a time, I was covering 8 or 9 a day! War, famine, pestilence, death, war, famine, pestilence, death. Like the four horsemen of the apocalypse in a bloody carousel! Something had to snap. Sooner or later. And yes, at the time a part of me was convinced there was something sinister going on behind the scenes. But it was just paranoia, that’s all. I got better. Sobered up. Wrote a book about my time as a reporter. And no one wanted it. Not one publisher showed any interest. They said, "how can readers take anything that man says seriously?" I was (pause) a joke. Well, when life gives you lemons- (sigh)

Kate: dad. Dad. Can you sit down? You're making me anxious.

(chair drags on the floor)

George: We need to think of something though. It’s gotta be something original, something that makes people sit up and pay attention.

Kate: Are you really sure about this?

George: What do you mean?

Kate: I just wonder if putting yourself out there in the limelight again-

George: Darling! I'm sure.

Kate: But a book about aliens?

George: You were the one who suggested it!

Kate: I was joking!

George: And it’s a brilliant idea Kate! Go online! Look how well this stuff sells! Besides, you might as well put that creative writing degree to some use.

Kate: Thanks, dad.

George: But we need a name for them, these uh aliens.

Kate: What sort of a name?

George: I don't know. Something different. Something ominous!

Kate: Ooo! The Varangians!

George: Where did that come from?

Kate: Ninth century Russian Vikings. I always thought they sounded like something out of Star Trek.

George: No, don’t want anything like that.

Kate: You’re right it has to be something bit I don’t know cool. like, The Bureau or The Committee.

George: The Committee! Oooo I like that!

Kate: Really? I mean that was just me thinking out loud.

George: No, no, that’s good! They sound faceless, oppressive! Exactly what we're looking for! The Committee.

(birdsong stops)

(grandfather clock ticking)

Jack: What if I told you, it was all true?

George: Oh, this again. I'd suggest you’re desperately in need of professional help. But to be honest, I think we’ve already established that. (refrigerator opens, bottles clink, refrigerator closes, bottle fizzes as it opens, George drinks it) Ahhhh, ooo I've missed this stuff! You know in one of my books—I can’t even remember which one it was—I-I claim that alcohol is a plot by the committee to keep humans compliant. Hilarious! (chuckle) Yeah, and now I get thousands of fan letters of people saying they’ve gone teetotal so they won’t become drones just like everyone else. Talk about irony. So, go on, The Committee is real, Erebus is real, is that the gist of what you’re trying to tell me?

Jack: More or less.

George: Brilliant! Well, in that case I’ll carry on doing what I’m doing then. Because if what you say is true then it turns out I’ve been doing the world a great big favor all along. I get to keep my book royalties and my share of the box office and save the world at the same time! Excellent!

Jack: It is not that simple.

George: No?

Jack: You’ve forgotten about Sam Hallett?

George: Is this the lad you say was killed?

Jack: (sighs) that’s right.

George: And like I said, never heard of him! You could still be making it up for all I know.

Jack: I watched him die.

George: So you’re telling me. (refrigerator opens, bottles clink, refrigerator closes, bottlecap unscrews, George drinks) Ahhh, who on earth but schnapps in a minibar? So, what exactly do you want me to do Mr. Harkness? You want me to carry on? You want me to quit? To be honest, at my age, retirement sounds wonderful.

Jack: And you would do that?

George: I think Kate might miss the traveling and she’d probably have to find herself a "proper" job, but otherwise yes, I will bugger off to somewhere sunny and you will never hear from me again. This lad, Sam, was it? how old was he?

Jack: I don't know. twenty, twenty one.

George: Christ. not much younger than Kate. You play around with the truth, with people’s thoughts, with their perceptions like that? (sighs) Sooner or later you'll suffer the consequences. Maybe it is time I quit.

Jack: But still I don’t understand. If you just made it all up, how could you get so much of it right? I mean, did any of this come to you in I- I don’t know a dream? 

George: What? (laughs)

Jack: A vision?

George: Like the vision of St Eustace? NO! There was no divine flash! Just a lot of sitting around and talking and writing down funny little names and silly ideas and working out which ones were the most marketable. Sorry if that’s’ a crushing disappointment to you. Cheers.

(foreboding music plays then cuts off abruptly)

Jack (narrating): (sounds of reckless driving in the background) It was possible. Seven billion people in the world. Get enough of them to tell a lie and one of them might accidentally tell the truth. But that didn’t change what happened to Sam Hallett. The kid was still dead. And a lot of people wanted to know what Torchwood had to do with it. 

(engine noise fades out)

(dining room chatter is heard in the background, footsteps approach)

Kate: Morning dad!

George: ugh, Kate. you're early.

Kate: thought I'd get out of London before rush hour. Good thing I did. The M4 was empty most of the way here, and if you time it wrong that junction by Heathrow can be a nightmare. (pause) You look terrible! You feeling okay?

George: Not particularly.

Kate: Well, what’s wrong? Are you ill?

George: Not as such.

Kate: Oh no. (sighs)

George: Look, love, I'm sorry.

Kate: I knew I shouldn’t have gone to London! I should've had Jerry drive up here and meet us for supper! At least then I could’ve kept an eye on you!

George: I’m not a child!

Kate: And yet, the second I'm not here you drink the bar dry!

George: It was the minibar actually.

Kate: oh, of course! I should've had them empty it as soon as we got here! Or at least put a padlock on it. (sigh) look Dad It’s okay, we've been here before remember? You got through it then; you'll get through it this time. You're strong.

George: This, was different.

Kate: Please Dad, you don't have to make excuses, not with me.

George: No, no, I mean, this is how it happened. There was a man here. The one who interviewed me yesterday. Harkness. He broke into the hotel room.

Kate: Hang on, what?

George: He had a gun.

Kate: Dad, that’s not funny.

George: He told me it’s all true Kate. He said that some blogger, this young (pause) lad, got himself killed. When I turned on the tv this morning, he was right. This boy, they said he hanged himself but everything else about it- Harkness said it was murder.

Kate: And you, believed him?

George: Didn’t know what to do! Or think. I was scared. He had a gun!

Kate: Did you call the police?

George: I couldn’t. By the time he'd left, well, I was too drunk to do anything.

Kate: And it was Harkness who told you all this?

George: Yes.

Kate: Okay. Well, why don’t you finish your coffee and  then we'll go upstairs and we'll talk about what we do next. yeah?

George: Yes.

(dining room background noise fades out)

Jack (narrating): I had no reason to doubt George Wilson’s version of events, but I had to makes sure. I hacked into his hotel’s security system and watched their CCTV feed. Killing two birds with one stone, I looped some earlier footage to remove all evidence I was ever there, then skimmed through the next few hours. Wilson left his room at 8 and went downstairs for breakfast where he was joined by his daughter. I zoomed in on their conversation, and though I couldn’t hear what was being said, it was clear. He was telling her what had happened. He had his hands over his eyes. He looked ashamed. And so he didn’t notice her expression. But I did. Her well-rehearsed sympathy vanished in a fraction of a second. And that was when the phone rang.

(phone ringing) (phone beeps three times)

Jack: Yes?

Kate (over the phone): Hello Jack.

Jack: How did you get this number.

Kate (over the phone): We have our ways.

Jack: We?

Kate (over the phone): Come now Jack, faux naivety really doesn’t suit you. Seems you and daddy had a little chat last night.

Jack: That’s right.

Kate (over the phone): You told him all about the Hallett boy. Bit hasty. We really were hoping you’d hold out a while. wWe tend to find these things benefit from a longer gestation.

Jack: What are you talking about?

Kate (over the phone): Meet us at the hotel and I’ll explain everything. Come straight to our room and don’t even think about bringing your friends or we'll know.

(phone beeps three times)

Jack (narrating): I ran through the hotel taking the stairs up to Wilson's floor. My gun was drawn by the time I reached the corridor. No time for good manners. I wasn’t gonna knock.

(Jack grunts and kicks the door in something in the room is heard falling over)

(gun fires with a muffled "pew" noise)

Jack: OW! (falls into some furniture) (grunts in pain)

Kate: Oh, really Jack, you literally walked right into that one. (Jack continues grunting in pain) I've just clipped your spinal cord that’s all, it’s quite pointless trying to move. That was a 45-ACP round they’re very effective. I imagine it’ll take even you some time to recover from that. All those shattered bits of bone and nervous tissue blended together like corned beef hash!

George: (long grunt)

Jack (narrating): Wlson was tied to chair. Hands behind his back and a gag in his mouth.

Jack: hyuuh What- What are you doing? (bone cracks)

Kate: Try to stay with me Jack, its important you pay attention.

Jack: You’re one of The Committee!

Kate: Give yourself a gold star!

Jack: But you’re his daughter!

Kate: (Jack breathes heavily in the background) Adopted daughter! Really I thought you might've done a bit more homework. Yes, I’m one of The Committee. What you might call deep cover. Very, deep cover. You know, I think the teenage years were the hardest. all those pretend tantrums! (mockingly) "You're not even my real parents" then, pretending to give a shit when he and Lorraine split up. I should win an Oscar Jack! Really! I should! Now, I won’t bother asking how you know all about us. We never forget a face, Kepri 5, wasn’t it?

Jack (narrating): Let's rewind again and take ourselves to the far side of the known universe, (rain begins in the background) Kepri 5, in the constellation of Fornax. (blaster fire can be heard in the background) How did I get there? Don't ask. Long story short, the government was taken over, infiltrated. Civil war broke out. 90% of the population wiped out overnight. Within a year, the planet's three moons were being stripped of minerals by prospectors from (chuckles) you guessed it Erebus. And Kepri 5 wasn't the only place where this happened. Planets in Cygnus A, Omega Centauri, Andromeda, all fell to the Committee. Back then, I was what George Wilson might have called an enabler. I’m not proud. But you can’t change the past. When The Committee began surveying the Milky Way's Orion arm I lied to them, said there was nothing of interest on earth and sent them off to some mining colony six hundred parsecs away. Population: 2000. (sighs) I thought I’d done the right thing. (massive explosion is heard in the background)

Kate: We kept a file on you Jack, and we seem to remember a certain someone telling us that earth was a, (breath intake) what were your exact words? "a barren wasteland"? "worthless"? Bit of a porky that one wasn't it? We thought we had a deal, Jack. A working relationship. Well, when we found out you were on earth and working for Torchwood it was, well- what’s the local idiom? as if all our Christmases had come at once!

Jack: I don't understand.

Kate: Of course you don’t.

Jack: Why did you tell George everything?

Kate: But I didn’t tell him everything, did I? I fed him details, fragments.

Jack: But why?

Kate: He’s perfect! A Famous face with a reputation in tatters! Exactly what we were looking for. You see, we’ve been studying earth for just over a hundred years and in that time we’ve learned on very important thing about humanity.

Jack: Which is?

Kate: They love a lie. Myths, legends, tall tales, call them what you will. Humans just can’t get enough of them! ANd the lies they love most of all, are the ones they fall for. (George grunts) Hush daddy! Time and time again people fell for the most outlandish stories they were told! The Underground Reich, The Illuminati, JFK. and here’s the best bit. While a certain number believe each conspiracy, most don't. They talk about them and rubbish them and mock anyone who believes in them, but they remain skeptical. George is our very own little boy who cried wolf. And now, so are you. And when the wolf arrives and gobbles up all the sheep, the vast majority won't believe  a word of it. 

(George grunts again)

Kate (agitated): do you have something to say?

George: (gasping as his gag is removed) oh, darling I don't know why you're doing this but if it’s to-to-to to scare him off, uh we don’t have to do this you know.

Kate: You think this is all play acting? That is, well, that’s just precious.

Jack: But why did you kill Sam?

George: You? Killed that man?

Kate: Yes. Daddy, do try and keep up.  (sighs) Why did we kill him? Dramatic flair Jack. It helps if you have the odd mysterious death along the way. Keeps people talking.

Jack: And what does that have to do with Torchwood.

Kate: I'm glad you asked. You see, the Hallett boy's death is already creating quite buzz in online circles but what makes it perfect is that within hours of the story breaking, my father will be discovered dead. (George: What?) and once again Torchwood will have their grubby little fingerprints all over it.

George: Darling, w-what are you talking about?

Jack: (grunts) Stop!

(gun fires with a muffled "pew" noise)

(George gasps and his body falls to the floor)

Jack: (gasps then sighs) You killed him.

Kate: You’re observant Jack, I’ll give you that.

Jack: Why?

Kate: He'd done all that we needed him to do.

Jack: (in pain) Aah! I won’t let you get away with this.

Kate: Oh, Jack! You say that as if you’re expecting a fleet of spaceships to appear over Cardiff any second so you can call your little friends and get them to fire their guns at the nasty aliens! (mocking gasp) Adorable! Now, I don’t know how long you usually take to heal, so, I think I'd best go for a headshot.

(creepy music fades in)

Jack: No! No! No!

(gun fires with a muffled "pew" noise)

(creepy music fades out)

(echo-y surreal music starts and a heartbeat begins to play over it)

Jack(narrating): You ever dived into deep water? There's a moment in those first few seconds when the light above you grows dim. When it shrinks down to a pinpoint. That’s what it’s like. Each and every time.

 (music fades out)

(Jack gasps loudly then takes several deep breaths as he revives)

(sirens are approaching)

Jack (narrating): When I woke up, Kate Wilson was gone. It was just me, and George, and a whole lot of blood. And not enough time to cover my tracks. I got out of there before the police could arrive.

(sirens stop)

(variation of the Torchwood theme plays in the background)

Jack (over a speaker): So, that's it guys, Thats why I'm out of here. You’ve all handled things without me in the past so, I'm sure you'll cope. Someone needs to stop them, and I figure that someone, is me. If they’re already on earth, then The Committee is everywhere, in every government, in every boardroom, on every tv screen. (scoffs lightly) And I am coming for them.

(recording ends. high pitched tone plays for a second. a beep follows. the Torchwood theme variation trails off at the same time)

(Torchwood theme in full)

[idkimnotreal]

we need to talk about night elves in warcraft.

(disclamier: i take every lore retcon after warcraft 3 with a lot of grains of salt, and my reasonably canon timeline stops roughly when wod ends. i have reasons for this)

most societies in real life are patriarchal. historians and archaeologists speculate why that is, but nobody knows for certain. some societies are matriarchal, but they are far and in between.

in worldbuilding, i once read something that struck me as very true: if you want to build a world where a matriarchal society exists, there needs to be a reason why women would dominate over men. while matriarchal societies exist in the real world, patriarchal societies are something like 90% of them, so if you're to make use of an exception, you need to explain it. patriarchy is seen as the natural state of things, the status quo, especially in the west, so matriarchy needs to make sense (since in worldbuilding everything that is not like earth needs to be built from scratch. that's what it is). while it's maybe not right that "men are stronger, hence they dominate", it's the idea people in the west have about patriarchy, that while it may not be right, men have ruled women so far in history because they were physically stronger.

so, following that line, if men and women exist in a fictional universe such as they are in our world, but women dominate, the question then becomes: what exists in that world that offsets the physical advantage men have over women?

kaldorei society is a matriarchal one. women rule and men are expected to take on the role of scholars. there isn't such a society in real life, as far as i know (where only women or the dominated sex are scholars, and most importantly, where scholars were separate from priests pre industrial revolution). but it makes sense in fiction. arms and religion in pre-industrial societies were the pillars of power. the fact that only women in kaldorei society are permitted to become priestesses and be sentinels or rangers tells us that, in their society, women are in charge of government, entirely. they're both bureaucrats (priestesses) AND soldiers (sentinels and rangers).

but why does that happen? why is kaldorei society a matriarchal one? because night elves have a very deep connection to the emerald dream. their scholars have to devote quite literally their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge. and if men are supposed to be the scholars in kaldorei society, then that takes up all of their energy, and the ruling is left to women. i found it surprising, thinking about it, that this is so logical and makes so much sense when they came up with it in the freaking 90s, pre third wave of feminism. and freaking blizzard too, and we know how "egalitarian" their office culture was at the time (bill cosby room etc). they came up with the idea of a society ruled by women that makes sense, that would make sense if it existed in real life (if magic were real too).

since there was no other society in warcraft that practised druidism (taurens only joined/were invited later, and trolls and worgens much later), there wasn't enough time for such changes to take place in their respective societies, or not all male taurens became druids, unlike with the night elves.

it's even up to debate that whether women ruling kaldorei society is a higher role than being a druid. it may be that ruling was left to women because the dream was seen as a much more noble goal. similarly to how politicians aren't the most important pieces in government today, but high ranking businessmen such as ceos. politicians are in charge of government, but they're not the most powerful people. it could be that druids are more powerful than priestesses and sentinels, even though they're not in government. so kaldorei women wield significantly more power than real world women pre 21st century, but still not as much power as real world men did pre 21st century.

see. i find it all so smart. kaldorei society seems so perfectly explainable for a society so different from ours. i know it was always the intention that they seemed very different and mysterious to humans, back in warcraft 3 times. and blizzard did it very well, i think.

[minervacasterly]

The Complexities Surrounding Kings, Statesmen & Royals: Trying to make sense of their actions

Some legends are told. Some become famous or infamous but celebrity is as celebrity does. Love them or hate them, they are all changed history -for better or for worse (depending on how you view them).

Henry VIII’s decision to break away from the Catholic Church not only changed English history, but world history as well. Equally so, his father-in-law’s decision to remarry shortly after Isabella died, changed the lives of those around him, especially his favorite and youngest daughter, Katharine of Aragon.

As with every historical figure, I do not need to condone or justify their actions. Readers can do that on their own. But I and many others on this page do feel the need to show them in their proper context.

Henry VIII needed a male heir and as many historians have pointed out in their respective books and documentaries, his descent into madness is the product of various factors. For one two injuries to the head, possible blood type, and the constant reminder that there were others with (arguably) more right to wear the Confessor’s crown and that him and his descendants. And then there is his country to think about. The memory of the wars of the roses was still fresh on everyone’s minds and people were not confident of entrusting the nation to a woman.

This will appear misogynistic to some but this was the 16th century and we cannot apply 21st century standards to this era. The last time that England had come close to having a female King, chaos ensued. Matilda was given oaths of fealty by her father’s barons but after he died they stabbed her in the back and decided to cast their lot with her cousin Stephen instead. Stephen and his wife (also named Matilda but let’s call her ‘Maud’ for the sake of avoiding any confusion) both descended from William the Conqueror so convincing them that the crown belonged to them and their son Eustace wasn’t that hard. But Matilda had her way in the end -although not in the way she would have initially preferred. After Stephen’s wife and son died, he recognized Matilda’s son, Henry FitzEmpress as his heir. He became the first King of the Plantagenet dynasty, a dynasty that ruled England for more than 300 years.

For this reason and other reasons that have already been cited, Henry could not afford to leave his country in the hands of his daughter, a daughter he boasted off proudly to his ambassadors.

But make no mistake though. Henry did have his flaws and these were a product of his rearing and his own doing. Robert Hutchinson who’s often hostile to Henry makes a good point in the documentary presented by Tracy Borman (author of “Thomas Cromwell” and “Private Life of the Tudors”) that he “had the ego the size of the truck”. In his book “the last days of Henry VIII”, Robert Hutchinson states that Henry’s ego grew larger as he got older and his paranoia also increased. He became suspicious of everyone. As Thomas More told one of his colleagues, when the lion knows his own strength, no man can control him. When Henry got a taste of true power, he realized that nothing and no one could stop him.

The list of flaws and attributes on Ferdinand is easier to point out as it is on other kings since they are less controversial than His Majesty, the first head of the Anglican Church. Ferdinand II of Aragon, spouse of Isabella I of Castile, was a caring father who was willing to eliminate the Salic Law so his eldest daughter Isabel could inherit both crowns, thus making his and Isabella’s vision of a united Spain true.

But like every one of our subjects, he was a monarch of his era and once he got a taste of power he was unwilling to let it go. This does not mean that he stopped caring about his daughters or his wife. He always maintained his love for Isabella, but as someone who had won many battles and was hailed as a consummate politician and astute king, he believed he would rule the kingdom of Castile better than his surviving older daughter Juana. Juana herself had asked him for help after her husband died. Ferdinand took advantage of this and the rest as they say is history.

But what about Catalina? Some of you might still be thinking that his treatment of his so called favorite daughter harsh and irresponsible, further proof that he was a dick and you might be right but once again I have to remind you that this was 16th century politics and royal families had to deal with their struggles differently.

Ferdinand was embroiled in another civil war at the time that could reach chaotic proportions like the one between his wife and “La Beltraneja” three decades prior. As a result, he could not do much for her but this did not stop him from looking for ways to get her out of her predicament, even if for a short while. Ferdinand turned Katharine into the first female royal ambassador and through this new position, Katharine fare a little better. Being her parents’ daughter, Katharine understood that this was something that also benefited the two of them as she would be her father’s eyes and ears and that if he continued to score points against her sister and her husband, she could have a better chance convincing Henry VII to honor his promise and marry her to his remaining crown heir.

Thomas Wolsey is another figure of contentment. When I was doing this I was thinking of putting Thomas Cromwell but I opted for Wolsey instead because there have been enough posts about the King’s most hated secretary and right-hand man. There are not enough about Wolsey though and that is because Wolsey is easier to dismiss or hate. The man was a conniving, ambitious, heartless man who was a natural enemy of Henry’s true love, Anne Boleyn. He was simply awful.

^That’s how many history buffs generally view him as but the truth is far more complicated than that. Unlike his aristocratic contemporaries, he could not afford to get out of a situation that easily. He was a servant of the Catholic Church but bound to Henry VIII first. He was kept under a close watch and more than everybody he knew how easy it would be to anger his master. He had to keep his favor no matter what -and to his credit he did try. But there was so much that he could do. He could not serve both masters adequately and when Henry realized that he would not get him what he wanted, he listened to Wolsey’s enemies who were eager to see someone of low birth who had risen higher than them brought down. Wolsey never made it to his trial. He died. (No, he did not kill himself like “The Tudors” showed. He died due to medical problems and because of the stress he’d been put in.)

He was as everyone said, corrupt and had a lot to answer from but he was not an anomaly in a time where everyone was an opportunist.

Last but not least there are the York brothers. A troublesome lot whose decisions are also seen through 21st century lens but which make sense once we begin to read more about their lives and the events that brought them to the dangerous game of thrones that was started by the Lancasters and their father, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.

The legitimacy of the Lancasters had been put into question since Henry IV took the crown from Richard II. Richard II had nominated someone else to be his heir but with his unpopularity growing and Henry of Bolinbroke's popularity surging, his plans were undermined. Deposed and later murdered, Henry's reign put into question his House's legitimacy and right to sit on the English throne. These questions were raised during the Barons' rebellions at the end of his reign but were hushed during his son, Henry V's reign. A major reason for this is because Henry V became a national hero and only someone who was truly suicidal or had delusions of grandeur and no knowledge of how the world worked, would openly denounce or challenge Henry V. But after he died, it became open season again. Henry VI, in the words of many historians and novelists, has been described as a dullard and an utter failure of a monarch and a man.

Men in this era were supposed to fulfill a certain role. He was a scholar like his father, financed universities, painters and other artists, but when it came to war, he shied away from that. A King was meant to be a warrior, a bringer of justice, someone who inspired loyalty in the hearts of his men and fear in the minds of his enemies but Henry VI inspired neither.

After most of France was lost and he agreed to give away part of it after he married Marguerite of Anjou, questions about the House of Lancaster being the rightful dynasty to rule over England began to arise again -this time by none other than his cousin, the Duke of York who was seen as an ideal leader. He possessed qualities that Henry VI did not but he did not make it evident that he sought to be King. It is unlikely that it was his goal from the start but after quarreling with Marguerite over issues like the regency when her husband went into a short catatonic state, and how to deal with the situation in France, and favorites whom he considered were undermining everything the king's father and his late uncles had worked hard to achieve, he was pushed into a corner. He could either continue with his demands and risk being declared a traitor or do the unthinkable to survive.

He obviously chose the latter. When Marguerite of Anjou heard that Henry VI had disinherited her son in Richard and his sons' favor, she became angry and the rest as they say is history.

If Richard had qualities Henry VI did not, his older surviving son, Edward, Earl of March, had that and more. He was the antithesis of Henry VI. Handsome, tall, a womanizer, and with the stomach for war, he inspired loyalty and fear and after his father died, he set out to avenge him by deposing the king and declaring himself King of England.

Edward IV enjoyed many victories but they came at a cost. The brothers who appeared united under a single banner of the sun of York soon let their jealousy fester until it blossomed into something malignant.

George, swayed by their cousin, the Earl of Warwick, rebelled against Edward IV (twice). He was pardoned and he and his wife were restored to favor once he rejoined his old and younger brother to fight against the Lancastrian threat. The three rid themselves of Henry VI and his only son at long last, leaving only Marguerite of Anjou alive.

Their animosity did not last and once again George began to become suspicious of his brother as Edward IV became suspicious of him and long story short, when George suspected that his wife had been the victim of foul play, he questioned two of his servants and made (what he believed to be secret) terrible statements against his brother. Edward IV did not take this too kindly and had him executed. George was drowned in a butt of malmsey wine.

But the clearest example of brotherly betrayal and envy is that of Richard III. Calculating, generous to his tenants and those around him, he showed no disloyalty to Edward IV until like his namesake and their father, he was once again pushed into a corner by another queen and her family. Richard could either convince the Woodvilles to agree to Edward's will naming him protector or share the regency with them until his nephew Edward V reached the age of majority but this was a fool's dream. No party would ever compromise to such a thing. It was a dog eat dog world and only one could survive. Like the fantasy the wars of the roses has inspired, there was no middle ground here so Richard did the only thing he could think of to survive: He declared himself the one and true king, convincing his allies in parliament to annul his late brother's union with Elizabeth Woodville under the basis he had been previously engaged to Eleanor Butler. This disinherited his nieces and nephews and since his older brother George had been tried as a traitor, his son could not inherit. That only left Richard.

It is easy to see why figures such as these will remain controversial. Their actions are hard to decipher but before jumping on any bandwagon, one has to ask the important questions of what, when, where, and why? The 'why' will never be fully answered but the more one reads about them, the more sense their actions start to make.

[duchessofostergotlands]

Hi Jess :) I just had a conversation with my v anti-monarchy dad where we discussed the issues of becoming a republic right now. I don't know about you, but i don't really trust that our current PM/government would do a good job of creating a new system, and not replacing the monarchy with something else forefronts the existing issue of how well our government is held to account. I feel that cutting to a Swedish-style 'royal house' of 8 people might work, but i would love to know your opinion!

Hey anon :) prepare for a long one lol. So I might be wrong but I don’t personally think that the royals would ever be removed under a government like the one we have now. This is why I laughed at the idea the interview would end the monarchy. In amongst all the chit chat, people seem to forget how incredibly Conservative the U.K. is. I’m from Scotland which is probably the most consistently left wing part of the U.K. I’m from perhaps the most right wing part of Scotland but was still shocked to see how Conservative England was when I moved here. People get very caught up in what their Twitter feed says and forget it’s an echo chamber. Every single election I see my left wing friends being absolutely gobsmacked that the Tories won because “everyone on their Twitter said they’d vote Labour.” If my Twitter feed had reflected the U.K. political sphere Jeremy Corbyn would have led a huge majority in parliament for the last 4 years and we’d be in the EU but in reality he was completely unelectable and we’ve left. I know people might claim that younger people are more left wing so that will change but U.K. studies around this suggest that people become more conservative with age not due to generational differences but because of the psychological impact of the ageing process (x). Older people consistently vote more and are more likely to be conservative.  And the thing is Tories will all vote to keep a monarchy whereas Labour would probably be split - Keir has had to pretend to like the Queen to win back lost Labour voters - so I personally think until the government has been led by a comfortable socialist majority for a couple of elections we probably won’t see it be an option. Again I might be wrong and we might remove them next week but I just think people do the same thing every time anything political happens and never learn that Twitter doesn’t equal real life. Boris Johnson killed thousands of people during this pandemic with his shitty decisions and would still win if we had an election this year! (x)

So with that in mind I genuinely think that a government which would be providing us with the end to the monarchy would be a left wing, socialist administration and whether I trust them or not would depend on who was in charge!! I think they would certainly face a difficult process but difficult doesn’t mean you don’t do it. The difficulty for us is just that we don’t have a single written constitution, we have hundreds of laws from across 1000 or so years of the monarchy which are highly complex to unravel. I think we’d have to institute a formal constitution and most likely have a second referendum on the form of government we’d want to take. It would take a long time and we’d have to have a huge amount of trust in the person leading the process. I think it can be beneficial to have a non partisan head of state. One of the only beneficial things the monarch does provide in the U.K. is a way to curtail abuses of power by politicians. We couldn’t have BoJo issuing an executive order like Trump because the Queen signs everything. By her having that power it means someone else doesn’t. I think that person should be elected rather than an inherited role. DNA doesn’t make you suited for a job and it’s baffling in the 21st century to think that it does. But many would disagree because having it vested in one person for decades limits the likelihood of a populist president. 

In terms of having a “slimmed down” monarchy I can definitely see why you would lean towards that as it’s the direction every royal family has been going but I don’t know how well that would work. The reality is the Queen is head of state for 150 million people across the world and so having too few people would probably be impractical. If the U.K. splits up or the Commonwealth Realms leave then I could see it. It might also work if they have a system of abdication like the Dutch monarchy as we wouldn’t have a system where the monarch is almost 100 and can’t visit any of the countries she reigns over so has to hand it out to family. I also think it would be hard to make it consistent. Only a small handful of monarchies have the Royal House vs Royal Family divide which remains consistent across the generations and all of them are much much smaller in population so they can say easily that just the monarch, consort and direct heirs should work. But what if George only had one child and William and Charles passed away young? His child might not be old enough to do duties so it would make sense to have Charlotte and Louis available as possible workers. Or what if there was another Andrew type situation and someone was cut out of working? I would love to see some kind of Royal House and Royal Family divide because it makes a lot of sense for the countries that use it: it removes personal feeling - Sverre Magnus has a lower title than his sister but it’s just the way it is, it’s not personal - and also provides clarity for the public. But there are downsides when you’re dealing with a much bigger, much more active institution so I think there would be snags that might need to be worked out or the definition of who is in the House might have to be a bit broader/more flexible

[theheadlesshearseman]

As a progressive independent leftist, I'm voting Howie Hawkins of the Green Party for president. We live in an oligarchy, not a democracy; Biden and Trump are on the same team backed by the same corporate donors. I know the Green Party can't win — I'm not delusional. We vote Green for the purpose of getting the party to a goal of 5% popular vote. When this is achieved, they get federal funding and nationwide ballot access in 2024. 15% popular vote will get them a podium on the debate stage and federal funding for the 2022 mid-term elections.

Biden won't support a Green New Deal, ban fracking, publicized healthcare, police reform, and most other policies progressives stand for. We need these things for the sake of our planet and our people. We are in the middle of a God damned pandemic, and the best the Democrats could offer is the revival of the Affordable Care Act — an act which requires you to have health insurance, or else pay a penalty fee for not having insurance. How are so many unemployed Americans supposed to pull off getting insured? Due to the government mandate, companies have consolidated and the market is monopolized, causing rates to go parabolic. But it's okay because pre-existing conditions are covered. That's great, but I still can't afford my medication for chronic asthma. Thank goodness for the black market! We don't see health insurance; we need health ASSURANCE — publicized healthcare (Medicare4All) is how you guarantee everyone, employed or not, rich or poor, is taken care of.

This notion democracy will cease to exist if Trump is re-elected is a farce, regurgitated by every panicked Biden voter. We have a system of checks and balances in place to prevent his abuse of power, yet media outlets are planting these thoughts of paranoia into the general public, and it's sick. Conversely, the Trump campaign tells their constituents that Biden is a radical leftist Marxist whose constituents hate America. Both sides use fear, division, and hate to keep you voting within the two-party duopoly. Either way, THEY win.

Most of the news outlets in the world are owned by 6 corporations. (It was just 24 corporations back in the 90s.) Each media company shares a board member with a big pharmaceutical company board member. Their goal is to augment their bottom line at our expense by lobbying to politicians of both major parties, donating to them in exchange for policies that further increase their bottom line. Remember in the late 90s/early 2000s when we started seeing ads for prescription drugs on TV for the first time? That's when the media company consolidation started growing.

These big corporations have a lot to lose if a third party gets elected. That's why they do anything in their power to sway public opinion via the news media, making you think you only have a choice between Republican and Democrat, shaming you from dare voting a third party for their ideals because "they can't win," swaying the public to vote "Gucci brand politicians" over that unknown brand at the store you keep passing up, but if you actually tried it, you wouldn't go back to "Kraft". You are going to get the same result with Biden or Trump.

I'm disgusted with Trump privatizing national park land for oil drilling. Native American lands are encroached upon and exploited by big oil. Look at the Keystone Pipeline; that happened with Obama at the helm. When Biden gets elected, he will perpetuate the abuse of our lands that Trump has perpetuated from previous administrations. Colonialism forges onward in the 21st century with an unnecessarily large military budget — $750 billion.

Both are rapists, both are racists, both perpetuate corporate control and exploitation of we the people, and I'm sick and tired of it. Plus, what Biden did to Tara Reade is utterly despicable and disgusting, but what's more disgusting is how people still support Biden after Reade has provided more supporting circumstantial evidence for her rape claims than any of Kavanaugh's accusers.

You have forfeited your integrity to say, "me too" and, "believe women" if you support Biden (and especially if you support Trump) because unlike the line-in-item veto power of the presidency, as voters, you, by default, have to endorse the entire package because you GET the entire package: a 47-year career politician who digitally raped a young intern in '93 that won't assure healthcare for the American people during a pandemic, won't ban fracking despite our climate crisis, authored the '94 crime bill responsible for the mass incarceration of back people and people of color for petty drug charges, responsible for the bank bill that pushed an entire generation of Americans into deep abysmal student loan debts due to high interest rates that his big bank donors profited off of while claiming to have no empathy for millennials who have it hard and statistically own only 4% of the nation's wealth even as the largest generational member of the American population, now running off a campaign of being the voice of reason, the light, the good, and not being Trump.

This IS the reality of it. In a way, I do live in an alternate reality from the rest of the JoeBlowHards that go through life not realizing there is a veil over them. I don't fear a Trump re-election, yet Biden is ahead by 10+ points in the polls, mostly by fools who think you can push Biden, a 47-year bought and paid for politician, left once elected. To push a politician left, you need leverage in the form of dollars — billions and billions and BILLIONS of dollars. What are you gonna do, squirt shampoo on a piece of progressive legislation to get the hair sniffer to sign it?! 😂

Biden CANNOT be pushed left for progressive policies because the very policies you support would directly undermine the big industries that are lining the pockets of the Republicans AND Democrats: Green New Deal VS Oil and Gas; Medicare for All VS Big Pharma; Free College Tuition VS Big Banks, etc. If you want ANY of these policies, we HAVE TO break through the two-party duopoly's choke-hold on the American people.

I feel it would be worse for Biden to get elected because I guarantee you, if he does, people will go back to sleep on all that is wrong with our country. With Trump in office, everything is happening in front of the curtain. With Biden, "nothing will fundamentally change" as he closes the curtain in front of the dark doings of the United States, continuing Trump's destruction behind the scenes. At least with Trump, since he attracts the spotlight, we can keep an eye on our oppressors. With Trump, people will stay mad, and we need to stay mad, not go back to sleep. Oh, and with a Biden victory, I will, once again, get charged a penalty for not having health insurance for my PRE-EXISTING CONDITION that I couldn't afford in the first place.

Disclaimer: I wasn't paid by Russia to type this. And if you're a Republican reading this and sick of Trump, come to the Green side; we support the second ammendment! When you swing far enough left, you get your guns back. ;)

Feel free to share and discuss.

[fear-is-the-only-darkness]

What is FEAR about?

It’s dedicated to the despots, dictators and autocrats of the 21st century. People whose decisions affect billions of lives in the wrong way. The purpose is not to elevate or deify these people it’s quite the opposite. It’s rather a hall of faces of the most sordid fear-mongers of our times.

My name is STYGAI and this is my graphic project.

Fool Everyone And Rule

When I was a kid I was taught that an elected political leader of a country is supposed to be some kind of role model, a beacon of light, who is for the people and with the people. This is a nice utopia. As an adult I had to learn that politics is a lot more complicated and the meaning of “for the people” and “with the people” is always relative and changing.

For me it’s very simple when it comes to politicians:

don’t use politics to your own benefit

admit when you screw up and take responsibility

don’t threaten peoples’ lives and livelihood

After a relative peaceful 60-70 years the political landscape is shifting into the wrong direction. For long many people believed that democracy and liberalism is the answer to the opposing threat of communism. In the last 10 years it turned out that democracy is prone to fail and it’s rules can be bent and used at will, provided the right people are sitting in the right places. And so new types of hybrid regimes have emerged. 

The pillars of the liberal world are shaking. Most people don’t even realize what is happening. Maybe liberalism isn’t the best solution to our problems but I’m sure that an oppressing system isn’t one either. History has shown us a few examples of this.

I’ve read some months ago that politics has basically two messages to offer to voters: HOPE and FEAR. I agree on this but the worst part is that most of the time these are just two sides of the same coin. This coin is called POWER.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

We have to be aware that the decisions we make as humans affect our environment and other people around us and - even people we don’t know about. We have to be aware of the fact that currently we are all living on the same planet and if we make it unhabitable we would be simply screwed because we have no other place to go to. Planet Earth would be fine without the human plague for billion years to come.

People with absolute power don’t care about the future they only care about their legacy. All the other people are mere tools and products to achieve their goals. When they disregard science, common sense and basic humanity for the sake of their own short term benefit  we can be sure that they don’t act for the best interests of the human race: SURVIVAL. 

The prospect of wars to come and the changing climate will decimate humanity if we don’t act.

Historia est magistra vitae

History is the teacher of life. Therefore you should learn from history as it provides many lessons.

The lines between good and evil are blurred by the overwhelming consumption of content we have to face day by day through the news, television and social media. We are in a constant bubble and the time for fact checking is basically non existent.

How do you recognize an emerging autocrat? A system of oppression? It’s simple: keep your mind open, educate yourself, learn to read between the lines, check the facts and connect the dots. 

Whatever happens don’t fall for the FEAR! Because FEAR is the MIND KILLER! FEAR is the only DARKNESS!

[asymptotichigh5]

Energy, the economy, and everything else.

I’ve been meaning to address this subject somewhere for a while. For the longest time, I hesitated on what the best medium to achieve this would be : on one hand, a Facebook status needs to be short and concise, which is not necessarily my forte and of course, there is also the fact that it would quickly be washed away in the storm of social media posts that has become 2020. A YouTube video then occurred to me to be most appropriate, but it would be long, my camera sucks and I hate video editing. So, I finally turned to this blog, which I had abandoned for quite some time. Surprisingly, there was an article in my drafts I had started writing almost 5 years ago about exactly this topic titled “A physics crash-course for politicians: a recipe not to kill us all”, but it was a bit too dramatic and I might get called off for taking political stances, when in reality there will be none in this post (which is surprising, for any of those reading this who know me). Anyway, this article will be the first in a series, which I might or might not continue, depending on interest, even though I did promise a friend of mine to carry through the entire message the whole way through, hopefully I’ll be able to do this with some of you actually reading all the way through, though that might be too optimistic.

Energy is a concept which is as important (if not more) as it is misunderstood by the general public. Most people don’t consider energy to be a considerable issue in their daily lives, but hopefully by the end of this post you will understand that energy is what allows you to live your 21st century carefree lifestyle. It turns out that most of us consider energy to be a bill to pay at the end of the month, or an annoyance to pay for when we fill our cars with gasoline at the pump, but energy — before being a bill to pay, or a commodity — is a physical quantity. A quick look at Wikipedia will give you a definition of energy which appears to be rather circular. Perhaps a more appropriate definition of energy for the sake of this post is the following:

Energy [/ˈɛnədʒi/, noun] : a physical quantity quantifying the ability to change the environment, or the ability to do work.

By “change the environment” we refer to the ability to perform any kind of change at all. Letting a ball fall involves energy, heating up water to make a cup of tea involves energy, me typing on this keyboard at this very moment also involves energy, etc. The SI unit for energy is the Joule, which at the human scale represents a tiny bit of energy (roughly speaking, it is the energy required to lift a medium-sized tomato (300 grams) by 1 metre. This unit has the annoying nuisance of being too small, so for the rest of this post we will talk about energy in terms of MWh (megawatt-hours), which corresponds to 3 600 000 000 Joules, which is a hell of a lot more medium-sized tomatoes lifted, or in terms of kWh (kilowatt-hours), which corresponds to 3 600 000 Joules. It is a good exercise to try to understand the MWh in terms of human work to put everything into perspective. To this effect, the BBC actually had a great documentary which appeared in 2009 about electrical energy consumption in the UK which performed an experiment in which a tiny army of people were forced to pedal to provide electricity to an average-sized house with an average-sized family having an average-sized consumption of electricity. While the documentary has great shock value, we need not hire an army of 80 cyclist to get the right orders of magnitude. An 80 kg man carrying 10 kg of supplies with him and climbing 2000 m up a mountain spends roughly 0.5 kWh to go up the mountain. Similarly, digging up 6 m${}^3$ of dirt to make a hole 1 m deep takes roughly 0,05 kWh of energy. By comparison, 1L of oil provides 2~4 kWh of (usable) mechanical energy.

Of course, using the oil to drive up the mountain, or to fuel an excavator to dig up the holes is a no brainer. Oil, or more precisely the machines it feeds, are not constrained by fatigue, do not form unions, do not complain that the ruble is too heavy, or that their legs are tired. It is also incredibly cheap by comparison, even if the human workers going up the mountain or digging up the hole are not getting paid at all. Assuming the cost of a slave to simply be the sustainance cost of a human being (i.e. minimal clothing, food and shelter) it is still a couple of hundred times cheaper to use a machine instead of a person to perform tasks, whenever possible. The reason why slavery ended is not because all of a sudden people grew a conscience out of thin air, or because we are so much better or educated than our ancestors ; it is simply stupid to have slaves in a world where you have access to a dense source of energy, because using this energy for mechanical work is many times more efficient and cheaper than owning slaves. This heuristic argument is also what ultimately explains the correlation between the abolition of slavery and the first industrial revolution (although the latter was mostly fed by coal as opposed to oil). In other words, the huge disparity in the efficiency of dense energy sources is what explains that mankind has historically always transitioned to sources of energy which monotonically increase in energy density.

But just what makes energy so important? Well, the answer lies in the definition. Since energy is ultimately the driver for any transformation of the environment, energy is by definition the main driver of the economy, too. In fact, the availability of a large supply of energy is what has allowed the development of modern society as we know it: paid holidays, retirement benefits, social security, social programs, your trip to Thailand last year, the variety of food you find at the supermarket, the fact that you even have disposable income to spend however you wish, free time, your ability to pursue long years of study, etc. Without the access to a cheap, reliable source of energy, this would all be impossible. Without realizing it, on average, we can calculate an equivalent amount of slaves used by any human on Earth today, given our estimates on the output of energy a human being is capable of delivering above and the total energy consumption of the planet. Doing the math, we find that an average human lives as if he/she had ~200 slaves working for him/her constantly. If we look at developed nations, this number jumps to 600 to 1500 equivalent slaves. This is an outstanding standard of living compared to what any of our ancestors ever knew. And so, it’s not that our generation is 200 times more productive than previous generations of humans, what has been driving the economy for the past 220 years is not humans, so much as it is the increasing access to a park of machines which has driven GDP growth since the industrial revolution. In fact, this can also be seen in developing countries, where an increase in development is immediately accompanied by a rural exodus driven by the introduction of machines to perform the heavy work in the fields. This allows for a widening of the pool of workers, which can then be free to use more machines and increase GDP.

So what sources of energy have we been exploiting in the last 220 years? Worldwide, the mix looks a little bit like this: 

Notice that most of this mix (oil, gas and coal) are sources which are fossil fuels. In essence, what this chart is saying is that we owe all of the societal progress of the past 220 years to fossil fuels. Of course, the use of these fuels has the annoying consequence of releasing CO${}_2$ into the atmosphere which — as we know — has some rather undesirable consequences for the future of humanity. This chart also tells a story about how people have completely misrepresented and misunderstood the problem. Most people think that the energy crisis will ultimately be solved by replacing the carbonated sources of energy by “renewables”, even though the later are basically invisible in the above chart. Luckily, a world where we live only with renewable energy is entirely possible: it’s called the Middle Ages. The impossibility of replacing these carbonated sources with “renewables” is an important point to treat, and deserves an article of its own, but in the end its cause is the same as what has driven this discussion so far: energy density. We shall come back to this important point in a subsequent post. For now, let us finish driving the point home in establishing the unequivocal link between energy, specifically oil, and GDP.  Energy availability is the main driver of the economy, this is simply because the economy is nothing other but the collective transformation of stuff into other stuff by humans. This, and the fact that 50% of the world-wide oil consumption is used to transport goods or people from point A to B is what explains the following correlation between oil and GDP: 

In light of global warming, the question becomes one in which we are forced to arbitrate between real GDP growth and carbon emissions. It is literally that simple, yet it is difficult to grasp what this means. GDP growth is an abstract concept most of us don’t really understand, and most people advocating for giving up growth don’t fully grasp the consequences of what it will mean for all of us. Very really, what it means is diminishing real wages and purchasing power by a factor varying between 3 or 10 over the next 30 years (we will come back to these figures eventually in another article, too). Now, most people will point out that we can and should just take all this wealth from the oligarchs and the billionaires out there, and this is true and should definitely be done, but it will unfortunately still not be anywhere near enough to solve the problem. Orders of magnitude are a bitch and maths sucks, especially when they contradict your political opinions. In real terms, giving up growth means to take your current salary, and divide it by 10, and ask yourself whether you are really ready to live with that. The questions on left and right are at this point so irrelevant that it is stupid to even ask them. Both of these models of thinking completely rely on a pie which is ever increasing and in which the living standards of everyone eventually rise. For the right, this is obvious, but this holds true even in a leftist society, in which the social programs and everything that goes with it relies heavily on economic growth and an increase of the economic pie. This view is flawed, as in very real terms in order to protect ourselves from climate change, the only way is to considerably decrease our dependence on fossil fuels, in other words, considerably decrease global GDP.

(Un)fortunately, whether the politicians decide to take global warming seriously or not, the problem will auto-regulate eventually. You see, there is a tiny and obnoxious problem regarding our addiction to fossil fuels: we are running out of them. We should point out that not all fossil fuels are equal: this is not only true from a carbon emission perspective, but also from a transportation point of view. Indeed, only about 10% of the coal produced yearly is actually exported, because it is inconvenient to transport. Gas presents a similar problem, given its physical form, which is not sufficiently energetically dense to be easily shipped without compression (which itself involves energy). This leaves oil as the main source of energy which is actually exportable and tradable.  And so, not only is oil vital due to the fact that it is the only source of energy which can reliably be used to for transportation, it is also the only option when looking at trading energy internationally. However, oil production has been already past its peak in most countries with considerable oil reserves. From a European point of view, the problem is actually worse as the energy consumption in Europe has been stagnating and in fact decreasing since 2005, when we reached peak consumption.

Incidentally, this explains why there has been no -- and there will be no -- economic long term real growth in Europe in the future, and it this has indeed been the case ever since 2008. In fact, most of the economic growth which has happened in Europe ever since is due to the trade of goods which increase in value over time (such as housing), which gets further gets inflated as there is a surplus of liquidity which has been continuously injected into the system since the introduction of quantitative easing. We will come to this problematic in a latte post. Similarly, we observe analogous curves of decrease in variation of energy consumption in the countries of the OECD (source of data: BP Statistical Review 2017), which means that this halting of real economic growth is not to be expected anywhere else in the OECD either.

During a recent discussion with a close friend of mine, he pointed out that the decrease in consumption in energy could be explained by the fact that the economy in developed countries had essentially become an economy of services, and that thus, this correlation between GDP and energy consumption and production was flawed, but this reasoning is wrong. First, because many of these services introduced involve or depend strongly on developments in e-commerce and industries attached to the development of the Internet and computers. However, the digitalization of the economy has not led to a decrease in energy demand, but in fact quite the opposite, if anything it has considerably increased our energy dependence. Second, the data simply states otherwise across the board. For instance, the chart below depicts an evolution of the percentage of people working in services and the amount of tons of CO${}_2$ released in the environment per capita in the World (data is from the World Bank).

Of course, the fact that these are positively correlated in the world and these countries is expected. In the world, because supporting the increasing living standards of the people working in the service sector necessarily comes out of an increase of the economic pie, which can only mean that the energy consumption (thus, at first order, the tons of CO${}_2$ in the atmosphere) increased. In European countries, the CO${}_2$ per capita has been reduced, partly to a negligible population growth, but also due to the delocalization of the most polluting elements of the economy to developing countries. Nonetheless, the general worldwide trend is clear: more service sector employment correlates with higher output of CO${}_2$, which implies higher energy consumption. But of course, by the reasoning above, this is hardly surprising.

Most of the time, the decline in the rate of growth of oil production is dismissed by saying that we will always find alternative forms of petroleum which will remain exploitable and will secure us with more oil. However, these alternative sources, such as bituminous sands and are problematic to exploit, require more energy input to be exploitable and are of lesser energetic quality. Similar decreasing curves of consumption and production have been appreciated for gas as well. Coal remains an exception to this, but it is not easily tradable, which implies that only 8 countries (including the US, China and Australia) really can consider exploiting coal for long term energy consumption, but given the climate consequences this poses, this is hardly a desirable outcome.

And so ultimately, it is not even a question of deciding whether or not we want to transition out of fossil fuels or not. The decrease in fossil fuel consumption will happen whether we like it or not — and by extension, so will the inevitable shrinking of the economy. The problem is that it might not happen fast enough to avoid catastrophe, which might already be unavoidable. What this also means is that the questions we should be asking ourselves as a society are not so much whether we should adopt liberal or leftist policies, but rather how we optimize the distribution of resources in a world where the economic pie decreases year by year, but no one seems to be wanting to have this discussion seriously.

[skepticaloccultist]

Magic Isn’t Easy

There is, in the study and practice of magic, the allure of power. The endless seekers of quick wealth, easy love and societal fame come to the practice of magic looking for personal gain and glory. Inevitably faced with a life time's worth of work and study these seekers soon turn back, giving up their study and turning to pantomiming some practice made hodgepodge out of a skimmed book or two, or buying some initiation into a "current", order, or coven.

As well there are those who would sell you either their magic or a "path" in which you yourself can "be a god", or some such nonsense. Charlatans and frauds who would sell you a path to a glory they do not themselves possess. Shiftless fakers who would have you believe that the quest for power and money is the alchemist's stone and solvent.

It is by no means a shortcut in life, magic. There are far easier ways to gain love and wealth than through the study of the esoteric arts. Like playing a musical instrument or practicing a martial art the formal, practical and contemplative study of magic requires serious inquiry, endless reading and many hours of solitary working and breathing out in nature.

Magic in the 21st century is all the rage, a counter point to the uncertainty of the world and its geopolitical stage. Endless tv witches in black dresses, spells cast on politicians publicly with a photo op of the ritual included in the press pack. Capitalism has cottoned on to the desire for the 'otherness' that witchcraft and magic possess. Humans worn down by the ever encroaching digitalization of life seek again the uncanny. Yearn for nature at its core, a rewilding of the soul that somehow eludes the mundanes in their day to day living.

Yet there is no quick trick, no simple solution, no spell that brings wealth or love, that provides comfort and riches. Magic can do all of those things, of course, but it is a long road to understanding how and making that practical. Better to find a more direct path to the wealth you seek, for the magician seeks not wealth nor glory, only the endless quest for knowledge of the beyond.

Like it has so many times before in history the high tide of popular awareness of magic and its practice will recede. There may be a rough focal point in near history where magic is briefly taken seriously enough that laws start being made and people get hurt, but that too will pass and the masses so enamored of magic's subtle glamour will move on once again.

Throughout time the narrative of magic has been drowning in a bazaar's worth of hawkers, fakers, charlatans and frauds. They seek money and fame, and their customers are not guileless in their desires for quick solutions. No innocents are harmed in the racket of selling fake charms and spells to those disinterested in doing their own homework.

The internet provides a boundless sea of garbage about magic. Thousands upon thousands of volumes of mostly rehashed bullshit 20th century nonsense. Crib note style 'dark fluff™' for the would be witch or wizard with simple instructions and a how to list of ritual items that can easily be purchased from the publisher's website. Fuck off.

But that is the real initiation into the occult. Having swam through the sea of badly written occult fiction tripe, bdsm ken doll grimoires, and Scott fucking Cunningham wiccan douchery, we emerge like newborn beings out of an abyss of bad knowledge. We see clearly the glimpses of work that have value, and patterns of understanding begin to form.

So read and read and read some more. Look at a book's bibliography as a guide, if it doesn't have one its most likely bullshit. Go back to sources before the 19th century, and look at sources outside of the narrative of magic (aka orders like OTO, GD, AA, etc). Look at folklore records not just Inquisition documents, read children's stories and mythology and know that half of the academics that pretend to objectively write about magic are also secretly practitioners.

Regardless of the interests you have and the path you will find yourself on the only way to understand the mechanics of what you are doing, or the lay of the landscape in which your practice resides, is through a continued year's long regular consideration and actualization of magic. Only when you can see the wiring under the board will you have the ability to gain riches and fame, the irony is at that point you will no longer seek them.

  "Our path is slow, it requires much listening and stillness, learning to see and to hear that which goes unnoticed by society. Only when seasons become like days, when cycles of the moon like hours, will the Veil become clear." from 'The Tenets of the Folkwitch'

[qqueenofhades]

Do you think society as a whole understands and values history? I don’t think they do. And I don’t understand why.

HoooooWEEEEEE, anon. What follows is a good old Hilary History Rant ™, but let me hasten to assure you that none of it is directed at you. It just means that this is a topic on which I have many feelings, and a lot of frustration, and it gets at the heart of many things which are wrong with our society, and the way in which I try to deal with this as an academic and a teacher. So…. yeah.

In short: you’re absolutely right. Society as a whole could give exactly dick about understanding and valuing history, especially right now. Though let me rephrase that: they could give exactly dick about understanding and valuing any history that does not reinforce and pander to their preferred worldview, belief system, or conception of reality. The human race has always had an amazing ability to not give a shit about huge problems as long as they won’t kill us right now (see: climate change) and in one sense, that has allowed us to survive and evolve and become an advanced species. You have to compartmentalize and solve one problem at a time rather than get stuck in abstracts, so in that way, it is a positive trait. However, we are faced with a 21st century where the planet is actively burning alive, late-stage capitalism has become so functionally embedded in every facet of our society that our public values, civic religion, and moral compass (or lack thereof) is structured around consumerism and who it benefits (the 1% of billionaire CEOs), and any comfortable myths of historical progress have been blown apart by the worldwide backslide into right-wing authoritarianism, xenophobia, nationalism, racism, and other such things. In a way, this was a reaction to 9/11, which changed the complacent late-20th century mindset of the West in ways that we really cannot fathom or overstate. But it’s also a clarion call that something is very, very wrong here, and the structural and systemic explanations that historians provide for these kinds of events are never what anyone wants to hear.

Think about it this way. The world is currently, objectively speaking, producing more material resources, wealth, food, etc than at any point before, thanks to the effects of globalism, the industrial and information revolutions, mass mechanizing, and so on. There really isn’t a “shortage” of things. Except for the fact that the distribution of these resources is so insanely unequal, and wildly disproportionate amounts of wealth have been concentrated in a few private hands, which then use the law (and the law is a tool of the powerful to protect power) to make sure that it’s never redistributed. This is why Reaganism and “supply-side”, aka “trickle-down” economics, is such bullshit: it presupposes that billionaires will, if you enable them to make as many billions as possible without regulation, altruistically sow that largess among the working class. This never happens, because obviously. (Sidenote: remember those extravagant pledges of billions of euros to repair Notre Dame from like 3 or 4 French billionaires? Apparently they have paid… exactly not one cent toward renovations, and the money has come instead from the Friends of Notre Dame funded by private individuals. Yep, not even for the goddamn cause célèbre of the “we don’t give a shit about history” architectural casualties could they actually pay up. Eat! The! Rich!…. anyway.)

However, the fact is that you need to produce narratives to justify this kind of exploitation and inequality, and make them convincing enough that the people who are being fucked over will actively repeat and promote these narratives and be fiercely vested in their protection. Think of the way white American working-class voters will happily blame minorities, immigrants, Non-Murkan People, etc for their struggles, rather than the fact of said rampant economic cronyism and oligarchy. These working-class voters will love the politicians who give them someone to blame (see: Trump), especially when that someone is an Other around whom collective systems of discrimination and oppression have historically operated. Women, people of color, religious minorities/non-Western religions, LGBT people, immigrants, etc, etc…. all these have historically not had such a great time in the capitalist Christian West, which is the predominant paradigm organizing society today. You can’t understand why society doesn’t value history until you realize that the people who benefit from this system aren’t keen on having its flaws pointed out. They don’t want the masses to have a historical education if that historical education is going to actually be used. They would rather teach them the simplistic rah-rah quasi-fictional narrative of the past that makes everyone feel good, and call it a day. 

The classic liberal belief has always been that if you can just teach someone that their facts are wrong, or supply them with better facts, they’ll change their mind. This is not how it works and never has, and that is why in an age with, again, more knowledge of science than ever before and the collected wisdom of humanity available via your smartphone, we have substantial portions of people who believe that vaccines are evil, the Earth is flat, and climate change (and 87 million other things) are fake and/or government conspiracies. As a medievalist, I get really tetchy when the idiocy of modern people is blamed on the stereotypical “Dark Ages!” medieval era (I have written many posts ranting about that, so we’ll keep it to a minimum here), or when everything bad, backward, or wrong is considered to be “medieval” in nature. Trust me, on several things, they were doing a lot better than we are. Other things are not nearly as wildly caricatured as they have been made out to be. Because once again, history is complicated and people are flawed in any era, do good and bad things, but that isn’t as useful as a narrative that flattens out into simplistic black and white.

Basically, people don’t want their identities, comfortable notions, and other ideas about the past challenged, especially since that is directly relevant to how they perceive themselves (and everyone else) in the present. The thing about history, obviously, is that it’s past, it’s done, and until we invent a time machine, which pray God we never fucking do, within a few generations, the entire population of the earth has been replaced. That means it’s awfully fragile as a concept. Before the modern era and the invention of technology and the countless mediums (book, TV, radio, newspaper, internet, etc etc) that serve as sources, it’s only available in a relatively limited corpus of documents. History does not speak for itself. That’s where you get into historiography, or writing history. Even if you have a book or document that serves as a primary source material, you have to do a shit-ton of things with it to turn it into recognizable scholarship. You have to learn the language it’s in. You have to understand the context in which it was produced. You have to figure out what it ignores, forgets, omits, or simply does not know as well as what it does, and recognize it as a limited text produced from a certain perspective or for a social reason that may or may not be explicitly articulated. The training of a historian is to teach you how to do this accurately and more or less fairly, but that is up to the personal ethic of the historian to ensure. When you’re reading a history book, you’re not reading an unmediated, Pure, This Was Definitely How Things Happened The End information download. You are reading something by someone who has made their best guess and has been equipped with the interpretive tools to be reasonably confident in their analysis, but sometimes just doesn’t know, sometimes has an agenda in pushing one opinion over another, or anything else.

History, in other words, is a system of flawed and self-serving collective memory, and power wants only the memory that ensures its survival and replication. You’ve heard of the “history is written by the winners” quote, which basically encapsulates the fact that what we learn and what we take as fact is largely or entirely structured by the narrative of those who can control it. If you’ve heard of the 1970s French philosopher Michel Foucault, his work is basically foundational in understanding how power produces knowledge in each era (what he calls epistemes) and the way in which historical “fact” is subject to the needs of these eras. Foucault has a lot of critics and his work particularly in the history of sexuality has now become dated (plus he can be a slog to read), but I do suggest familiarizing yourself with some of his ideas. 

This is also present in the constant refrain heard by anybody who has ever studied the arts and humanities: “oh, don’t do liberal arts, you’ll never get a job, study something worthwhile,” etc. It’s funny how the “worthwhile” subjects always seem to be science and engineering/software/anything that can support the capitalist military industrial complex, while science is otherwise completely useless to them. It’s also always funny how the humanities are relentlessly de- or under- funded. By labeling these subjects as “worthless,” when they often focus on deep investigation of varied topics, independent critical thought, complex analysis, and otherwise teaching you to think for yourself, we therefore decrease the amount of people who feel compelled to go into them. Since (see again, late-stage capitalism is a nightmare) most people are going to prefer some kind of paycheck to stringing it along on a miniscule arts budget, they will leave those fields and their inherent social criticism behind. Of course, we do have some people – academics, social scientists, artists, creatives, activists, etc – who do this kind of work and dedicate themselves to it, but we (and I include myself in this group) have not reached critical mass and do not have the power to effect actual drastic change on this unfair system. I can guarantee that they will ensure we never will, and the deliberate and chronic underfunding of the humanities is just one of the mechanisms by which late-stage capitalism replicates and protects itself.

I realize that I sound like an old man yelling at a cloud/going off on my paranoid rant, but…. this is just the way we’ve all gotten used to living, and it’s both amazing and horrifying. As long as the underclasses are all beholden to their own Ideas of History, and as long as most people are content to exist within the current ludicrous ideas that we have received down the ages as inherited wisdom and enforced on ourselves and others, there’s not much we can do about it. You are never going to reach agreement on some sweeping Platonic ideal of universal history, since my point throughout this whole screed has always been that history is particular, localized, conditioned by specific factors, and produced to suit the purposes of a very particular set of goals. History doesn’t repeat itself, per se (though it can be Very Fucking Close), but as long as access to a specific set of resources, i.e. power, money, sex, food, land, technology, jobs, etc are at stake, the inherent nature of human beings means that they will always be choosing from within a similar matrix of actions, producing the same kind of justifications for those actions, and transmitting it to the next generation in a way that relatively few people learn how to challenge. We have not figured out how to break that cycle yet. We are an advanced species beyond any doubt, but we’re also still hairless apes on a spinning blue ball on the outer arm of a rural galaxy, and oftentimes we act like it.

I don’t know. I think it’s obvious why society doesn’t understand and value history, because historians are so often the ones pointing out the previous pattern of mistakes and how well that went last time. Power does not want to be dismantled or criticized, and has no interest in empowering the citizens to consider the mechanisms by which they collaborate in its perpetuation. White supremacists don’t want to be educated into an “actual” version of history, even if their view of things is, objectively speaking, wildly inaccurate. They want the version of history which upholds their beliefs and their way of life. Even non-insane people tend to prefer history that validates what they think they already know, and especially in the West, a certain mindset and system of belief is already so well ingrained that it has become almost omniscient. Acquiring the tools to work with this is, as noted, blocked by social disapproval and financial shortfall. Plus it’s a lot of goddamn work. I’m 30 years old and just finished my PhD, representing 12 years of higher education, thousands of dollars, countless hours of work, and so on. This is also why they’ve jacked the price of college through the roof and made it so inaccessible for people who just cannot make that kind of commitment. I’ve worked my ass off, for sure, but I also had support systems that not everyone does. I can’t say I got here All On My Own ™, that enduring myth of pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps. I know I didn’t. I had a lot of help, and again, a lot of people don’t. The academy is weird and cliquish and underpaid as a career. Why would you do that?

I wish I had more overall answers for you about how to fix this. I think about this a lot. I’ll just have to go back to doing what I can, as should we all, since that is really all that is ultimately in our control.

[aonahht]

Brexit yo

im ranting boys so strap in, sorry not sorry

So Brexit happened yesterday, (or at midnight last night I guess, its whatever), and while I, like most young people, was pro-remain, my opinion is that despite the sham that was the referendum, with literally no independent coverage of the pros and cons of leaving/remaining (love that for our democracy), the results were the results, and as far as I was concerned that was that and we should honour them and move on. cant help whats happened etc, just get it done and move forward, focus on actually funding the NHS and shit. (I respect that not everyone holds that opinion though, and go for it dudes, this is just where im at :)))) 

bit pissed the fuck off now though, bc (no shade to the Tory society at my uni, you do you and express your lil angry political selves or whatever) when I was on campus yesterday I saw them legit out doing a victory march in the piazza like wtf

to contextualise why im pissed: Brexit has been the most polarising and destructive-to-society political change/event or whatever in my living memory: legit its been like watching my parents divorce again- no one is happy, everyone is stressed and upset and arguing, and the people on each spouse’s side automatically are against the other spouse and their friends bc they all disagree- ITS JUST NOT A GOOD SITUATION AND EVERYONE IS BEING HURT BY THE ARGUING AND UNWILLINGNESS BY ANYONE TO TRY AND COMPROMISE BASICALLY BUT YEAH 

 so yeah everyone’s mad, politics is now some cesspit of jabs between politicians and random citizens alike all assigning blame for the country’s problems and defaming each other’s character bc they disagree- literally most of the serious arguments ive had with my parents and family have been about the politics and ideology that informed their decision to vote leave and the putridness of their reaction to any liberal (including me) questioning why they voted leave, but bc at my uni most people are quite intensely left but come from liberal households I almost feel like I have to defend my family bc voting leave doesn't make them bad people, they just have a different perspective than others, and different priorities (as we all do ayy democracy) so its just one big mess and everything’s fucked and the future is so uncertain bc rather than making concrete steps forward everyone’s spent four years arguing, and I don't know how to have opinions and not feel guilty anymore

….and these people are having a fuckin party about it??

ive been seeing pics of people waving their union jack flags, and going to rallies like the pope’s in town for a gav, and they’re acting like this is some kind of ‘victory’ or ‘triumph’ for the united kingdom?? United kingdom my arse bro, we haven't been this divided since (idek when actually, im 19 lol) but POINT BEING this is a fucking shambles and it just makes me angry-

- im angry that despite my attempts to always respect the opinions of the people around me and their voices, their backgrounds, their perspectives on life that I maybe don't share, people aren't willing to do the same for me 

- im angry that people would hold up the union jack, a flag which symbolises in its literal composition the coming together of different demographics into one united kingdom, and wave it as though Brexit has been anything other than the worst and most divisive thing to happen to democracy in 21st century britain

- im angry that some of these people not only hold up this flag, but then legit start referring to yesterday/today as ‘independence day’ like oh my FUCking god do you literally not understand at all the premise of what independence day means to so many people- the words literally represent for so many countries the moment where they, as a nation, took back political agency and control from literal colonisers (spoiler: a shameful amount of those times the coloniser was Britain, so wind your neck in maybe??) and began governing their country again independently of powers who stripped them of their agency against their will. How the fuck, sirs, can one compare Brexit which legit is just pulling out of a CONSENSUAL AGREEMENT WE ENTERED INTO OF OUR OWN FREE WILL, with no resistance from the other party other than the expected attempts to use their power to negotiate (literally we would have done the same, I don't get why ppl were so mad that the EU didn't want us to leave and didn't just hand every perk to us on a silver platter, why would they, our politicians were being dicky and offensive from the get go, how british) but yeah, compare that to LITERAL COLONIALISM WHY DONT YOU- the fucking insensitivity and stupidity just makes me so mad, like read a fucking book.

- also side note, also mad bc people act like they’re the most educated person in the room bc they read the news on facebook, and then dismiss you when you bring up a relevant point that you literally learned from your academic reading and political engagement across a range of news sources from a range of political biases, and then act like formal education is a conspiracy theory formed by the left (its not, and its literally history dude, im not  making it up) 

so yeah, in summary this is just a sad and a shit day, that people are now so divided and polarised that they can look at the hurt and anger caused by the last four years and think of today as a victory. I don't know what it means to be british anymore dudes, other than being angry, frustrated and divided

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

If we want to prevent the concentration of all wealth and power in the hands of a small elite, the key is to regulate the ownership of data. In ancient times land was the most important asset in the world, politics was a struggle to control land, and if too much land became concentrated in too few hands – society split into aristocrats and commoners. In the modern era machines and factories became more important than land, and political struggles focused on controlling these vital means of production. If too many of the machines became concentrated in too few hands – society split into capitalists and proletarians. In the twenty-first century, however, data will eclipse both land and machinery as the most important asset, and politics will be a struggle to control the flow of data.

The race to obtain the data is already on, headed by data-giants such as Google, Facebook, Baidu and Tencent. So far, many of these giants seem to have adopted the business model of ‘attention merchants’. They capture our attention by providing us with free information, services and entertainment, and they then resell our attention to advertisers. Yet the data-giants probably aim far higher than any previous attention merchant. Their true business isn’t to sell advertisements at all. Rather, by capturing our attention they manage to accumulate immense amounts of data about us, which is worth more than any advertising revenue. We aren’t their customers – we are their product.

In the medium term, this data hoard opens a path to a radically different business model whose first victim will be the advertising industry itself. The new model is based on transferring authority from humans to algorithms, including the authority to choose and buy things. Once algorithms choose and buy things for us, the traditional advertising industry will go bust. Consider Google. Google wants to reach a point where we can ask it anything, and get the best answer in the world. What will happen once we can ask Google, ‘Hi Google, based on everything you know about cars, and based on everything you know about me (including my needs, my habits, my views on global warming, and even my opinions about Middle Eastern politics) – what is the best car for me?’ If Google can give us a good answer to that, and if we learn by experience to trust Google’s wisdom instead of our own easily manipulated feelings, what could possibly be the use of car advertisements?

Selling advertisements may be necessary to sustain the giants in the short term, but they often evaluate apps, products and companies according to the data they harvest rather than according to the money they generate. A popular app may lack a business model and may even lose money in the short term, but as long as it sucks data, it could be worth billions. Even if you don’t know how to cash in on the data today, it is worth having it because it might hold the key to controlling and shaping life in the future. I don’t know for certain that the datagiants explicitly think about it in such terms, but their actions indicate that they value the accumulation of data more than mere dollars and cents.

Ordinary humans will find it very difficult to resist this process. At present, people are happy to give away their most valuable asset – their personal data – in exchange for free email services and funny cat videos. If, later on, ordinary people decide to try and block the flow of data, they might find it increasingly difficult, especially as they might come to rely on the network for all their decisions, and even for their healthcare and physical survival. They will be connected from the womb, and if later in life you choose to disconnect, insurance agencies might refuse to insure you, employers might refuse to employ you, and healthcare services might refuse to take care of you. In the big battle between health and privacy, health is likely to win hands down. As more and more data flows from your body and brain to the smart machines via the biometric sensors, it will become easy for corporations and government agencies to know you, manipulate you, and make decisions on your behalf.

If we want to prevent a small elite from monopolising such godlike powers, the key question is: who owns the data? Does the data about my DNA, my brain and my life belong to me, to the government, to a corporation, or to the human collective? Mandating governments to nationalise the data will probably curb the power of big corporations, but it may also result in creepy digital dictatorships. Politicians are a bit like musicians, and the instrument they play on is the human emotional and biochemical system. They give a speech – and there is a wave of fear in the country. They tweet – and there is an explosion of hatred. I don’t think we should give these musicians a more sophisticated instrument to play on. Once politicians can press our emotional buttons directly, generating anxiety, hatred, joy and boredom at will, politics will become a mere emotional circus. As much as we should fear the power of big corporations, history suggests that we are not necessarily better off in the hands of over-mighty governments. As of March 2018, I would prefer to give my data to Mark Zuckerberg than to Vladimir Putin (though the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that perhaps there isn’t much of a choice here, as any data entrusted to Zuckerberg may well find its way to Putin). Private ownership of one’s own data may sound more attractive than either of these options, but it is unclear what it actually means. We have had thousands of years of experience in regulating the ownership of land. We know how to build a fence around a field, place a guard at the gate, and control who can go in. Over the past two centuries we have become extremely sophisticated in regulating the ownership of industry – thus today I can own a piece of General Motors and a bit of Toyota by buying their shares. But we don’t have much experience in regulating the ownership of data, which is inherently a far more difficult task, because unlike land and machines, data is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, it can move at the speed of light, and you can create as many copies of it as you want. So we had better call upon our lawyers, politicians, philosophers and even poets to turn their attention to this conundrum: how do you regulate the ownership of data? This may well be the most important political question of our era. If we cannot answer this question soon, our sociopolitical system might collapse. People are already sensing the coming cataclysm. Perhaps this is why citizens all over the world are losing faith in the liberal story, which just a decade ago seemed irresistible. How, then, do we go forward from here, and how do we cope with the immense challenges of the biotech and infotech revolutions? Perhaps the very same scientists and entrepreneurs who disrupted the world in the first place could engineer some technological solution? For example, might networked algorithms form the scaffolding for a global human community that could collectively own all the data and oversee the future development of life? As global inequality rises and social tensions increase around the world, perhaps Mark Zuckerberg could call upon his 2 billion friends to join forces and do something together?

- Yuval Noah Harari, 21 lessons for the 21st century

[arcticdementor]

Contrapoints has a new video about Men which, though mostly fluff, seems somewhat balanced. Way more balanced than the rest of Contrapoints, let's say. It is, also, depressing. If you've been living under a rock for the past ten years, a brief summary of the 21st century is that most people got rich, that our brains started focusing more and more in the few goods that are not absolute but positional, and not public but rival, and that marriage is positional and sex is rival, so they became more important to our psychology. Also the internet destroyed any semblance of sexual and romantic mores, boundaries and frontiers. Even the people who fall romantically in love with baloons can now find other people who also love baloons and get married to each other,and their teenage tattoed children can organize a big baloon party, shocking their patriarchal baloon monogamist grandparents. In the 20th century, we found out a lot of ways in which it sucks to be a woman (absolutely, not relative to men) and complained about it, and some stuff changed, mostly for the worst, occasionaly for the better. In the 21st we are finding out a lot of ways in which it sucks to be a man (absolutely, not relative to women) (once again, because people have a hard time actually processing this: absolutely, not relative to women). And unlike whinning and protesting and demanding etc... like we tried in the 20th century, which made many things bad, some worst, and some a little better.... there's not going to be an equivalent thing in the 21st. This is for complicated biological reasons, but I can't imagine, with what I know about primates and mating, that there will ever be a successful movement to help fix the problems of men and boys. There's at least 10 reasons for that, but here's 3 big ones: One of the main problem for men is that we're either seen as privileged and powerful or as invisible. No one cares about the protests of the privileged, we only scorn it. And no one sees the protests of the invisible, that's kind of what the word means. So, no protests, complaints, whines, walls of text on Facebook, videos or anything else will ever make people care. You don't care. I don't care as much as I should. Contrapoints doesn't care enough. No one cares. We can't, our biology doesn't let us. Second because women are attracted to "manly men" who exaggerate secondary sexual characteristics, and taking risks .... and not showing weakness, emotion, fear, doubt, or need for help are all sexual male secondary characteristics, men will never be fully onboard with mentioning their problems, since they don't want to be even one bit less attractive to women, who like "manly men." Even if a statistically insignificant unusual woman reading this happens to both like "vulnerable men" and actually know herself well enough that there is a match between what she thinks she likes and what, in the heat of the moment she actually likes, she is still the tail of a distribution, and men are not going to take THAT risk of being attractive only for that tiny tail, when there's a curvy normal center right there. Third even if there were to be a movement on behalf of men, it's not clear what it could accomplish outside fixing family courts and paternal rights - which I'm not minimizing but not focusing on here. The meaning crisis, masculinity crisis, boy crisis, mass shootings, suicide spikes, etc... are ultimately a function of sexual access having become more power law exponentially distributed, but first and foremost because knowledge of the exponential distributive nature of access has become widespread. After all, it was exponentially distributed already in the Roman Empire, in Egypt, in Yanomamo, !Kung and Maori tribes, and, let's not forget, in Chimps, Gorillas and - sorry hippies - Bonobos, yes, even them! So let's say that by miracle we get all the politicians super excited about helping men fix their meaning crisis... there's no way to do it. Literally only genetically engineering either men to not give a fuck and be happy polyanna MGTOWs or genetically engineering women's brain circuits to love and be attracted to men like men are to women could possibly help this fundamentally nature-biology problem. I WISH it was the patriarchy. If it was the patriarchy there would be some revolution, some protest, some avenue that could possibly help solve the problem. But, alas, it's not the patriarchy. It is a problem without solution. It cannot be smashed. The Maze Has No Exit.

Giego Caleiro (on Facebook, quoted/reposted by “Fluffy ribbit” at r/themotte)