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struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor · 2 years

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I’ll preface this by saying I love TXT, but their Dynamite cover(s) was bad. In fact, most kpop covers are bad. I get the point of covering popular artists, but rookies often cover songs which don’t fit them at all and only serve to highlight their shortcomings - ie. lack of stage presence, weak dancing, and weak vocals when compared to experienced, popular groups like BTS, Blackpink, Twice, etc. (who, for example, are usually criticized for being vocally weak, but having distinct, charismatic voices is more important than kpop fans seem to realize).

Back to TXT, their vocal colors don’t fit Dynamite, and the line distribution was woefully inadequate. Soobin covered both RM and Suga’s parts; the member with the gentlest voice and demeanor, and the least rap-oriented member, covered the most aggressive sounding bits of the song. Whoever thought that was a good idea? Yeonjun should’ve gotten those parts. And Taehyun should’ve covered all of Jungkook’s parts, although it was a good idea to have him always covering the chorus. I mean, I don’t want to pick apart the entire performance, but TXT aren’t as smooth, charismatic or cool as BTS, which was very apparent in their performance. They’re not as powerful and sharp either, and their vocal tone is very bland compared to BTS’s. Anyone who knows the original song (every kpop fan, in short) will most likely find it miles better than this cover. It just makes TXT look bad. Jungkook, the ‘most average main vocalist in kpop’ as some say, has yet to be bested at his own game. I love Jungkook, so allow me to brag about him a bit, but Falling has been covered by dozens of artists and JK’s cover surpasses even the original imo (in my dad’s opinion too btw, and he doesn’t care much about Jungkook).

Anyway, I’ve seen many covers of BTS’s songs, and most groups have very, very weak, bland vocals, which fail to convey the emotion, passion, and unique charms present in BTS’s songs; they also don’t have the raw power and charisma BTS have and can’t fill the stage with their presence only. When it comes to dancing, the idols usually look awkward and throw their energy around without focusing it properly on the movements. Honestly, these covers only make BTS look good. Anyone who watches them understands why BTS are so popular and why their skills are not exaggerated in general.

I really have been seeing a lot of rookie groups recently, and I know they are only rookies, but despite this generation of kpop being more dance focused, the idols are generally weak dancers. The more groups I look into, rookies or no, the more convinced I am that idols are generally weak dancers and vocalists and have underwhelming, if not bad, stage presence. Most idols are not, in fact, super talented. They’re hardworking, and I respect them as people, but the truth is that most of us aren’t outstanding at our jobs (just average or bellow average) and idols are the same way.

I prefer to focus on music when it comes to kpop, because even with weak vocals you can do a lot in a studio. Music remains, to me, the best part about kpop. Some performances are great, but watching idols pretend to sing (essentially lying to my face) and execute unexciting choreos is not it. I prefer to only listen to the music if it’s from the West too - a lot of artists don’t sound the best when they sing live...

To end this on a higher note, covers really show how important the work idols do is. They make a song as much as producers and songwriters do. TXT can’t cover Dynamite because it was made for and by BTS, but it’s okay because TXT have plenty of amazing songs which they brought to live in a way that can’t be replicated by another artist.

#bts #I won't tag txt bc that probably wouldn't be right?#whatever #text

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kreekey · 4 years

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examples of people being racist toward yoko unintentionally: 1- calling her a weird stalker when they glorify/don't mind the many white fangirls who used to stalk the Beatles. 2- spreading misinformation that she lost custody of her daughter when in fact she'd won against her white crazy ex despite everything NOT in favour of her 3- bashing her for using John's glasses on the album cover she worked with John on, when they would've praised the artistry and bold statement if she was a white woman

Hey sorry I got around to answering your ask so late! You make a lot of really interesting points and I rarely hear people consider that.

1 - reminds me of a Tumblr post I saw about an obsessive Beatlemaniac stalker and people were like “me” or “bless her” haha. Definitely different when they can interpret Yoko’s actions as “stalking”. And your point also reminds me of this quote, which isn’t about fangirls but still somewhat kinda related.

“Like Yoko when she met John, Linda was a divorced woman with a daughter when she met Paul mere months later. There are stories similar to those about Yoko of her “scheming” to meet and marry Paul. In the same way that Yoko is said to have joked prior to meeting him that she was “going to marry John Lennon,” Linda joked like any woman with a celebrity crush about how she was “going to marry Paul McCartney.” (Bob Spitz notes both in his book The Beatles. Guess which one he thought was conniving, and which one he thought was adorable.)... Was it the lucky fact that Linda got the scene a few months later than Yoko, or was it her whiteness?“

And I don’t have the answer if it was Yoko’s race that made her such a target, but it’s something interesting to consider and note. [And I’ll clarify this, I'm pretty sure Yoko didn't know about the Beatles until she became face to face with one, like she wasn't a fan who got lucky enough to meet her idol. In the David Frost interview and the 1971 Rolling Stone interview, John noted that Yoko didn't know him when they met, and Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies by Neil Beram says this on their meeting: "She was about as familiar with John's work as he was with hers. "I was an underground person, and such an artistic snob," she said later. "I knew about The Beatles, of course... but I wasn't interested in them." Just about the only thing she could recall about them was the drummer Ringo Starr's first name, because ringo means "apple" in Japanese.”] Also, and this definitely wasn’t stalking, but I posted a quote from Bob Spitz’ biography where he writes along the lines of

“[Linda] always insisted that she was going to marry Paul McCartney,” [Nat Weiss] recalls, “even before she met him”... It was no accident that Linda Eastman veered into his aura. She’d taken a few polite shots of Ringo and George before “zeroing in on Paul,”... Linda had come dressed to kill. Most days she played the typical rock chick, decked out in rumpled jeans and a T-shirt, with little or no makeup and unwashed hair. But today her hair had been carefully blow-dried so that it fell perfectly forward in wing points at her chin. And she was dressed in an expensive double-breasted striped barbershop jacket arranged just so over a sheer black sweater, with a miniskirt that flattered her gorgeous legs. When she squatted down – not so subtly, in what must have been a rehearsed gesture – in front of Paul for an intimate chat, he had trouble keeping his eyes from wandering below-decks...

, and some people commented that it appeared kinda predatory/pre-planned (reminds me of some criticism of Francie Schwartz’s meeting with Paul), but overall cute and everything. At the time I wondered how people would react if Yoko did that to John lol. No way of knowing, just a thought. And also, I know Yoko sent him Grapefruit and little instructions often, I think that’s usually what people cite as the stalking, that she tried to ensnare him with it. Again quoting Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies,

For a time Yoko kept in touch with John by mailing him daily instructions-she called this Dance Event-that said things like "Dance" and "Watch all the lights until dawn" and "I'm a cloud. Watch for me in the sky." John found the instructions as perplexing as he found them intriguing.

And quoting this interview (in which she also asserts that “each and every occasion she visited John at Kenwood, it was at his invitation.”),

Despite the popular theory that Yoko was frantically inventing schemes to snare the wealthy Beatle, she was struggling with problems in her marriage [with Tony Cox] and also working hard to establish her career in the UK. Arriving in London in September 1966 to perform at the ‘Destruction In Art Symposium’, Yoko was already respected as an avant-garde artist and performer in New York, where she was allied to the Fluxus movement. She had a trained musical background, and had recently been involved in the improvisational music favoured by her peer group. She had also compiled a book of conceptual and instructional pieces called Grapefruit, and printed up a limited edition.

Yoko distributed copies to a number of influential people during 1966-’67. And John Lennon was one of the recipients. This has since been interpreted as one of various ruses on Yoko’s part to enchant Lennon.

She retorts: “There was a myth that I sent Grapefruit to him… how I wanted to trap him. It was a printed, published book. I had an orange carton of them, a lot of it. I would be giving it to critics. It was that sort of thing. He wasn’t the only one who got it.”

And by then, John had already eagerly offered to sponsor one of her shows, I think he was genuinely interested in her work. I don’t think John was actually threatened by these notes or felt he was harassed, especially since he made the jump to invite her over while his wife was away (and Yoko just thought it was a party!). He once referred to Yoko “someone that could turn me on to a million things” in the Lennon Remembers interview, he admired her art. And I know he said to Cyn that the letters were just junk from another one of those weird artists, but c’mon, what do you think John would say to his wife regarding the woman he’s romantically interested in? I don’t think it would’ve been fully truthful IMO, especially considering when John said that he nearly invited Yoko to India around that time because he liked her so.

2 is very true. Tony himself tried to make it seem like Yoko and John were crazy heroin druggies, and that's the case he tried to make (and that’s what he tried to tell Kyoko, that he was “saving” her from drug obsessed occultists). But, Yoko had gone “cold turkey” (ala the song) off heroin in 1969. This was 2 years before she won full custody in 1971.

Although neither parent had been awarded sole custody of the child, Mr. Cox became increasingly reluctant to let Yoko and her new husband spend time with Kyoko, and finally refused to permit it at all. For a year before the Lennons came to America, they had been chasing Mr. Cox and Kyoko around Europe. In Majorca, Spain, the Lennons caught up with them and spirited Kyoko off to their hotel; but Mr. Cox called the police, and a Spanish court gave the child back to him. The incident added to his fear that the Lennons wanted to take her away from him for good.

Soon after the Lennons arrived in New York, they went to the United States Virgin Islands, to the same court where Yoko had been divorced, and that court awarded her permanent custody of her daughter.

But, Tony then took Kyoko to Texas (hiding/kidnapping her) which was in violation of that court order. Then more custody battle due to Tony’s stubbornness and evasiveness, but yes, Yoko did win custody then despite everything (even though John was very threatened by Tony lol, to the point he disallowed Yoko to visit him alone in order to discuss co-parenting when that was an option and suggested kidnapping Kyoko. But then again Tony was also kinda crazy. Seriously though IMO Yoko really tried gallantly to have Kyoko in her life, and the loss hurt her. To hear people try to spin it as Yoko being the monster in the situation through misinformation is unfortunate.)

3 is hypothetical, but I do speculate that if Yoko was white, the attitude toward her would’ve been different. Sean said, “It’s intense how racist the world is. If my mother had looked like Debbie Harry, I really think the reaction would have been different.” (X) Yoko’s former partner, Sam Havadtoy, also touched on this in an interview from 1990:

Q: ...No matter what Yoko does, she’s frequently the victim of a bad press. Any idea why?

Havadtoy: After John’s death, newspapers wrote that Yoko was this selfish person hoarding John’s memory, controlling it, not willing to share it with his fans. So after two years, she puts out 200 hours of film footage and a record and they say she’s exploiting John’s memory. She can’t win.

Q: Why not?

Havadtoy: Racism. If she were blond-haired and blue-eyed, nobody would have blamed her for breaking up the Beatles. They were the darlings of the universe; she was an outsider, an Oriental, an avant-garde artist--easy to pick on. When John married Yoko, the British press wrote: “At least he will have clean laundry.” And it’s still happening. America is infatuated with Japan-bashing.

And I do think Season Of Glass was a memory thing, I posted about it here: X.

And yes, I think that much of Yoko’s criticism/legacy was rooted in that initial reaction, which was pretty sexist and racist. But I think that influence can still be felt today, in ways that aren’t obvious. And like you said, unintentional. (Before anyone gets mad, if you dislike or hate Yoko that doesn't automatically make you racist lol. But the narrative built around her might’ve influenced your opinion of her, and the narrative was kinda rooted in a racist mentality. So that’s why and re-interpreting her in a fresh light is necessary).

#sorry I know i've said something like that last paragraph many times but just to clarify y'know #yoko ono #the beatles fandom #asks #answers #long post #it got longer than i expected sorry!!#also anon sorry i left your ask unanswered so long!! hope you see this <3 #retrospective

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astyle-alex · 3 years

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Common Sense Meets the Autism Spectrum:

| a Parental Aide for ALL |

Last month was Autism Awareness Month, and in honor of that I've whipped up a little Parental Aide to help all grown-ups understand neuro-divergence a tiny bit better. I meant to post it here during the last week of April, but I forgot because of the craziness with Finals... But since Autism and neurodivergence doesn’t just magically go away at the end of April, here’s a little skim of it now:

I've recently been chatting with a new consultation client / parent whose child has been recently diagnosed with Autism, and it got me thinking about the unfortunate nonsense surrounding the entire societal black hole of neuro-atypical / neuro-divergent presentations, especially in 'unusual' cases.

The first thing that needs to be said is IT'S A SPECTRUM, and it's honestly a comprehensive population spectrum, which means that EVERYONE IS ON IT.

Yes, say it with me: Everyone is on the Autism Spectrum.

From being perfectly, generically neuro-typical humans to rage-murder psychopaths to non-verbal, high-physical autistic kids to sociopathic con-artists. It's a SPECTRUM.

Accepting that is the first part of understanding it. And it's sometimes helpful to know in order for parents still in diagnosis shock to have something that reconnects them to their child. If you've recently received a diagnosis and you've dissociated at all, or know someone who is in that situation, knowing that the parents and the child involved are both still on the same spectrum, can help.

(It's a sense of cohesion and sameness that parents dream up for offspring, and can be problematic if over-done, which is why parents sometimes force their hobbies / goals onto children or react poorly to LGBTQ+ explorations / self-discoveries, both of which are fodder for plenty of other posts).

Once the spectrum is accepted, we can move on to understanding it better, and to diagnosing attributes of it that are affecting our lives. Knowing these attributes can help us navigate them, even in a capacity where the effect of them is not so severe that we call it a neurodivergence.

There's a stigma with mental illness, and autism is a trigger word regarding that, but it shouldn't be. We don't (as much, any more, at least) shame people who don't have clinical anxiety, but still exhibit crowd skittishness or phone distress or choice paralysis. And, honestly, mild autism frequently presents as anxiety, in our current popular understanding, as it's often limited to one or two aspects of life that provoke dramatic aversion responses where as actual, general anxiety is usually a more evenly distributed with lower-key hesitance / avoidance. Mild autism also presents as ADD / ADHD (and in my opinion the ADD / ADHD diagnosis tools are essentially boiling things down to 'not a psychopath but probably autistic, but not like the autism in in the popular imagination').

We accommodate the small symptoms of both autism and anxiety, adjust what we can and power through what we can't.

That adjustment is a lot easier when we know the triggers for the distress.

Now, the scaling systems I'm about to share are not professional, not part of the DSM, and not a tool of formal diagnosis. Consult a licensed professional before taking any big steps, but take a look at these scaling systems to help start a conversation (even if it's only with yourself). I might have another post on adjustment strategies, because these don't really address the links between presents-as-anxiety and autism, but for now, we're just gonna look at how to start asking questions and how to wrap your brain around the biggest bit of the autism concept.

Again, none of this is a diagnosis or a practical guide on how to cope, but it is helpful to be generally informed enough to start recognizing issues / asking questions about what else might be affected by a given place on a scale.

So, Autism is a spectrum, right?

Well, technically, it's multiple spectrums.

There are several sub-spectrums that layer over each other.

The crux of it, the most basic version specific to autism, is this:

Understands Emotion -- vs -- Does NOT Understand Emotion.

Now there are varied layers of that, such as 'displayed' emotion (like in facial expressions), or 'tonal' emotion (like voice tones), or even 'conceptual' emotion (as in the basic cause / nature of emotionality).

Plenty of kids understand Tonal Emotion (hearing and recognizing the difference between Mum is angry and Mum is happy), but not Conceptual (this is called being young, and usually gets grown out of as kids actually experience {and label} more emotions, the process starts at age 3 or 4, but honestly continues for most of life). Or kids may be able to hear tonal changes and interpret them accurately, but they don't read faces well (this is either a significant indicator of some sort of disconnect or, can indicate that the facial expressions they have seen shift do not shift in a way that is consistent with tonal changes {like if a parent is angry and tries to hide it with a smile}.). Some kids can track the changes in tone and expression but can connect them to a concept (such as 'fear' which doesn't develop as a concept to children until about age 5~7, even in horror-story situations, like children in warzones, only get a really nuanced concept fear a year or two earlier).

The second BIG scale to assess things on is intro- or outro-spective, and it's a 2-for1:

- misunderstand -- VS -- understands OWN emotions

-- vs --

- misunderstand -- VS -- understands OTHERS' emotions

AND misunderstands or understands the CAUSES of emotions in self / others, and why those causes and interpretations may be different for various individuals (which requires understanding the concept of there even being varied individuals, a process that ).

This is the line between "I like it, so others DO" vs "I like it, so others MIGHT", that is difficult for young children. Having a distinct sense of a separate self is actually a complicated psychology process, and it takes over a year for most infants to even recognize that they have a reflection. If understanding the self/others division stays extremely difficult passed age 7-ish, we maybe should look more closely. But at the same time, it's rarely before that 5~7 range when kids begin to understand that shopping for a birthday present for a friend involves thinking about what the friend would like, and not what the kid themselves like.

And there's still gonna be moments of grown-up fan-rage at why don't people ship my ship?, but all we might wanna do is limit time on Reddit or Tumblr when in anxiety mode.

The final BIG spectrum used in understanding these autism specific neuro-disconnects is one that revolves around concern for the disconnect:

Does not fully understand all aspects of Emotion and CARES that they don't.

-- vs --

Does not understand and does NOT CARE.

This disconnect leads to Performative Emotion, which means acting the part of emotional responses without a full understanding of all aspects of them. Sometimes this is good, as in exhibiting quiet displeasure even though I think this warrants screaming because, I don't wholly understand what I or others feel, but I do understand the appropriate / expected response. It can also be very bad, as in someone who understands the emotional response to pretend to have when a pet dies and is aware that doing so can cover that the pet was killed intentionally by said someone.

The last relevant spectrum isn't one that most people find critical, but I think it's important to delineate this one from the caring aspect. The previous note is specifically about caring in regards to the subjects understanding of emotion--and exclusively their understanding of emotion.

It is not a measure of concern for other respects of life, that spectrum is:

Sympathy -- vs -- Empathy

Now, defining terms is important here.

- Sympathy = care for how others feel

- Empathy = understanding / comprehension of how others feel

Someone who self-refers as an 'Empath' is actually expressing a high sympathy response, as in, I understand your pain so well, I feel it myself. What they mean to say, is that they understand the feeling and its causes well, and they care so much that they cause themselves to experience it.

This is also the line between Sociopaths and Psychopaths, as most people know it. The truth is a lot more nuanced, but basically, a Sociopath often lacks Sympathy, but has Empathy, where a Psychopath most often lacks both.

A Sociopath understands that they have a disconnect, cares that they do, and hides it by performing the emotive responses they are aware are appropriate (for the most part, occasionally making some exceptions due to exhaustion with the performance, or a lack of genuine care allowing for selective exploitation--making them great sales people / CEO's / business people / lawyers / writers / con-artists / Sherlockian private detectives etc).

A Psychopath either doesn't understand they have a disconnect, doesn't care that they do, or both. They rarely perform emotions and therefore often draw people in who feel trapped and in need of counter culture. They make great cult leaders, but not much else (occasionally business people, but some of them are cult leaders by a pseudonym). They truly CANNOT conform, and that can be seductive / freeing to others, but they also cannot conceive of anyone who decides to follow them ever changing their mind or not experiencing exactly the same emotions / emotive responses to stimuli as they do.

BOTH are considered extreme presentations of their respective trait.

People with both very high and very low sympathy get exhausted around others.

Because experience other's emotions or pretending to care about others' emotions is HARD. It's work and it's exhausting on both ends.

People with both very high and very low empathy get anxious in not being around others for prolonged periods.

High-Em usually worries over current states (ie, what if something happened to them or what if they hate me now), whereas Low-Em usually worries over reunions (did I forget something someone else would've remembered, birthday, holiday, or that I was gonna bring you something we discussed).

And, as always, Presentations vary. HUGELY.

But sometimes, being told you're looking at an abstract a picture of a dog, helps you spot the dog in the ink squiggles.

'Normal' isn't a fixed point, it's a range within every single subject presenting mild deviations that come together to form an average in a single person, and are then averaged again across populations.

Such data can always be understood better. And better understandings allow better accommodations to be made.

Therefore, a given person's place on any part of any one of these spectrums needs to be assessed and reassessed constantly.

Also, if you're interested in learning more / supporting Autism Advocacy, check out a few more resources, but for the love of god DO NOT give money to Autism Speaks. Take a looks at THIS and do some research of your own! ^_^

Again, this is just a vague baseline, and it doesn't address symptoms like Face Blindness (in ability to recognize people by faces) or stimming (self-stimulation or emotive overwhelm release) or even environmental sensitivity (extreme dislike / like of certain noises, colors, light levels / sources, tactile sensations). Even so, it might be informative enough to start getting a conversation started and it'll be helpful for me to refer back to this one while making other Spectrum related posts.

^_~

For more on what I’m getting up to (and for more timely updates), check me out on Patreon!

#autism #autistic spectrum #neurodivergencies #spectrum #adhd #adhd problems #adhd culture

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aleatoryalarmalligator · 4 years

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What My Thoughts On Morrissey Today

In response to my writing idea someone gave me I picked this.

So basically, Morrissey’s nationalism in recent years has gotten in the way of me being able to appreciate much that he comes out with. This is wild because a few short years ago, I stood up for Morrissey and actually still feel very moved by a portion of his music. It got me through some really rough patches in my twenties.

I realize he’s human and has faults and I don’t know him completely but just eh, living in Portland and having seen the stuff going on I’m kind of not in the place in my life right now where I want to even try to dissect him. It’s not just a fact that he’s wrong, but that it seems altogether very much in rejection of the things that made his music so special. It was difficult for me to come to terms with it or fully make sense of why someone who’s unashamed expression of witty despair in the 80’s and 90’s, someone who was outcasted from the overall closed mindedness lower working class post ww2 world of northern England, unafraid to be gay and completely the antithesis of some Tory ideal could be bought by some tired nationalist agenda. It’s even more difficult to realize where his alegianced lie in a world that is starting to reject democracy, embrace anti intellectualism in the guise of some form of selective politically motivated skeptism, and I see the world move farther and farther into fascism.

Margaret Thatcher attacked The Smiths. Morrissey was taken in for questioning more than once out of fear for what he represented. Morrissey and The Smiths has some subversive element that really did threaten the establishment and cultural norms, in a way that I feel was a little more multidimensional than even a lot of bands in the English punk scene. I guess for me, even though I grew up in the Inland northwest of the US, I felt there was a lot of parallels in common. I too detest a culture based around animal consumption, was really not a part of the world I grew up in and didn’t want to work in the factories, I liked art and music and nobody around me was really into that stuff.

I still like the Smiths and most of Morrisseys old music. I read his autobiography. I know he is a dramatic self involved individual but I did feel that up till somewhat recently his heart was in the right place and he just liked to be controversial, which is somewhat true still, but now I think there was more to it, some nationalistic self preservation instinct kicking in. Its actually more prevelant than I even realized and I honestly think it’s getting the best of anyone with money or power, even those who once stood for something counter culture. It’s hard to think of him as racist in the traditional sense with his adoration for Latin America, but he might just be so self involved that his popularity in those regions gave him a bias. He probably separates the racism from the nationalism, blindly not wanting to see how the two concepts are quite inseparable. Falling right into it.

Him saying “everyone prefers their own race”, is kind of wild to me. I genuinely even try to entertain this as a possibility like a philosophical thought experiment or a deep dive of some kind into my own subconscious part of me I am avoiding somehow, and it’s not true for me or a lot of people. Who the fuck is he to say who prefers who, and how backwards and dehumanizing. It’s pretty repulsive, and being he is bisexual and felt the discrimination of homophobia growing up, I’m inclined to think he’s not able to see that he’s become the enemy he once represented the antithesis of.

The guy I’ve kinda been with is Mexican. I totally love him. I look into people’s eyes and I talk to and open up to people and if I connect with them I connect with them. Not like I’m trying to play the I gotta friend who is this or that as some kind of example of much, or that I don’t see color or some faulty implication, but I have been in situations where I’m the only white person at a party and I prefer them because they are my friends and I love them, and the idea of classifying who I prefer is to imply that the white race should be my main concern as they are the same as me and therefore superior and they aren’t. There is nothing inherently special to me or a kinship felt with other white people for either their appearance or cultural background. It’s nice to compare notes of pop culture but a lot of stuff people go through is universal. I don’t take too much issue with multiculturalism. My white skin is meaningless to me. I can’t imagine being so inept as a person that the color of my skin actually defines my identity rather than my autonomy or ideas or relationships and what I stand for and my ability to appreciate and connect with other people.

What gets me is that in his support of the far right is not even in line with his hatred of police, or the hatred he had a few years ago. I mean, he has always gone on and on about police brutality, he’s been harassed by them on multiple occasions. He shows them on giant projectors at his shows. Police are a very important staple for fascism and nationalism, and he is now on their side after all this time? What changed? The lost young man he once was in 1981 feels very very different from who he has become and piecing together that transformation has been something I’ve been trying to do for awhile. I try to embrace both but they seem like similar but different people at odds with one another, like an uncle and nephew.

Here is what I imagine happened, and I could be wrong about that but I was a Morrissey fangirl for quite awhile. I literally had his signed autograph above my bed with dried flowers around it like a shrine for a few years, and got a grasp of Morrisseys personality in some ways.

To start off, Morrissey is a very poetic and sharp guy but he’s very miopic about his interests and has always had the tendency to see the world in a black and white framework. This in and of itself is not necessarily bad, but it’s the core framework of who he is as a person. When he was young it was very much more a reflection of his hatred for authoritarianism and deceitful people and phony artists. It’s not bad and it contributed to his music and lyrics and became the thing he was loved/hated for. The way he goes about it really has always been the double edged sword of his charm and vileness all in one and something people have mocked time and time again. He likes to be the guy in the corner that looks fine and smug and believes he sees the virtues/dispicable attributes of everyone in the room and there have been times in his life where he was, and though he won’t ever attack anyone face to face he’s quick to speak his mind about it.

Morrissey is also a very vain person. It’s subtle but he is very singular on certain aesthetics. At times it made him brilliant and poetic and a visionary. The Smiths album covers are beautiful. His look is both elegant and absurd in its grasp for purity. It also makes him seem like a twat and a pretentious prince. The fact that he seems to be these two things at once is what gave him that kind of controversial star quality at times.

Those are just two natural traits he has always been obvious with. And he struggled with it and focused on his passions and dealt with depression in the 80’s. Then fame happened and the smiths ended. He kept to himself more or less in the 80’s and 90’s aside from his disdain for Margaret Thatcher, but he kinda lost his mind a bit when his drummer took him to court in the nineties. Right or wrong he fought for two years and lost a good chunk of his money from The Smiths and when that happened he kind of was forced to start again. He lost his home. He developed that early personalized sense of self preservation and victimhood. I think he lost faith in many of his more naive ideals when he was younger. When you read his autobiography and know what happened it’s like he had to step out of his old life and into something else.

Then, he’s always been a vegetarian superiority type. I liked that he calls it as he sees it but because of his need to black and white think everything he came off as deluded and smug. I mean, to be fair you can’t seem to win with people who want to eat meat and I agreed with a portion of his message, but he never questioned himself. He’s not good at that, or doesn’t appear to be. My personal interpretation of him was to agree with part of it and give him the cred for being not afraid to be a dick and say it, but to see also that he was so dramatic and self absorbed about it to also laugh at him and the way he said it.

Now to go into fascism and why it grew on Morrissey. I see the world as kind of falling into polarization and flux because of the failures of neoliberalism. It’s a long political explanation, but essentially the systems that are in place do not provide answers to a lot of catestrophic issues. Democracy, though the best thing we have, is flawed. I really like philosophy and have studied this and the various arguments that are made, and I don’t have the answer either but fuck if I will ever side with nazis.

People are seaking solace in new ideas that are actually quite old, namely socialism and fascism that provide answers that democracy fails to. Capitalism eats itself and created monopolies and unfair wealth distribution, technology is making human labor obsolete and therefore not a stable means to base our economic system on, those with wealth are hoarding it and trying to separate themselves from the world they helped ruin. We are destroying the planet, running out of natural resources, many of our leaders in the last three or for decades have been flawed, there isn’t a universal safety net for things like natural disasters and pandemics and there are still places stripped of their natural resources where human slavery is prevalent and children starve to death. Neoliberalism has promised some great answer but has actually been the contributor to this entire mess.

We are seeing the beginning of the end now, and I am sure Morrissey isn’t going to waste that without putting himself in the victim shoes, the white traditional quintessentially Englishman of wit, who sees his beautiful world he grew up in disappearing in multiculturalism and seeing himself and the culture of old England as a dying breed, that needs to be preserved at any cost. He probably was on the fence about it for some time, weighing out his disdain for authoritarianism, having a bougouis experience with the seemingly left leaning media that he never managed to win over and called him out for his every misstep. I bet he had a friend who opened him up to the idea that we don’t know about who changed his mind. I bet cuts in taxes for the rich helped him preserve his wealth that he definitely feels entitled to after losing the first portion of it in the court case. He’s rich, famous and old and often times that leads to being quite out of touch, even to the best intellectuals. He lost his mother who was dear to him and I can imagine, even though it’s not political, it created a deep sense of emptiness and dis ease. Nationalism often times gives people a sense of security and identity and purpose. And the idea of having an unpopular opinion excited him just as it always has, gave him the opportunity to be the smug poet in the corner of the party, and he sold out. Hard. And he’s probably proud of it.

He’s irrelevant now. Honestly his latest album wasn’t good, and I like later Morrissey. He doesn’t have the same energy. I just feel like he’s grasping at something that he never fully ever had. What’s weird to me is that I’m writing about him like this when honestly, I could also easily write about how beautiful and meaningful the Smiths and Morrissey has been to me. I can’t explain how it cut through the extreme isolation I’ve been in, not to mention how the Smiths really changed music for the better. There’s always going to be a part of me that wants to defend him. I’m not saying we cancel him. I kinda think he canceled himself. I’m not going to try to not enjoy the smiths or morrissey when I hear him, and I will still hear it and enjoy it but I’m not ever going to spend my own money on filling his pockets. I still nostalgically enjoy the person he was a very long time ago and what he used to represent. I realize at the end of the day he’s just a flawed person. But also fuck fascism, and fuck Morrissey for caving into it.

I mean, at the end of the day the hardest part is that I made him a part of my identity and I just had to stop doing that in a simplistic way. I tossed out a morrissey shirt I had (it’s was a cheesy shirt anyway), and I found new genres of music and while I still love the smiths it’s not like I can’t do without them every day. I break down and listen to them sometimes. I know the songs so well. I listen to Xiu Xiu which is a modern day similar equivalent in some ways but is absolutely better and the singer Jamie Stewart is fucking gold.

#morrissey

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ask-de-writer · 4 years

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DARING DO and the ADVENTURE of the X'IBIAN VASE! : MLP Fan Fiction : Part 12 of 21

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Daring Do

and the Adventure of the X'ibian Vase!

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

And

Carmen Pondiego

Cover Art by

Doctor Dimension

52630 words

Writing begun 08/26/15

//////////////

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images provided that I receive a copy of each image for my archive.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

After they ate, the charcoal was carefully put out and the ashes and unburned parts were stored to a tightly close metal can. Daring Do gave Jeremy a hard look.

“You passed my questions on what you just studied. You failed entirely on lesson retention. You were willfully rude to my friends, whose help we do need. You were warned of the necessity for courtesy by Qushi Han Le, and later by me as well. Courtesy is necessary to survive here.

“As promised, you will walk for the next hour.”

She and Soree were allowed to mount to their carrying saddles and Sang He’s herd got to their big padded hooves. Sang He inquired, “Would you please continue telling us of your adventure on the Forgotten River?”

Soree leaned forward eagerly in her saddle and asked, “Please do, Daring Do! How did it come to be called the Forgotten River if it was so large?”

Jeremy was about to grumble about something again when the voice of the dromedary behind him, the one that had carried him, cut across his potential blunder. “If you have complaint of me, Insect, my name is Sehang Shu. If you do not have complaint, please be silent so that I may hear Doctor Do and learn more of the Forgotten River. I, at least, wish to learn while we travel.”

Daring Do glanced back at Jeremy and nodded. She answered Soree, “The region was not found and explored by ponies from Equestria until about six hundred years ago. An early cartographer, working from written notes forgot to put it into his map!

“Another map maker gleefully put out his own edition with the river in it and labeled it the Forgotten River of Gulio Anponi!” The name Forgotten River stuck because the joke made it memorable.”

Jeremy actually joined into the laughter provoked by the tale. Then his brow furrowed in thought. “May I ask a question, Doctor Do?”

“Certainly, Jeremy. What is it?”

“If Equestria was made by the Creator Titans to be a home to ponies everywhere, why are there so many ruins and abandoned civilizations in almost impenetrable jungles or deserts like this one?”

From behind Jeremy, where she was following to encourage him to keep pace, Sehang Shu asked, “You really do not know? Doctor Do, may I educate the Insect?”

Daring Do glanced back, giving Sehang Shu a slit eyed look as she replied, “Please do, Sehang, but only if you can extend to him the courtesy that you properly demand. His name is Jeremy.”

Sehang Shu bowed her head the bow of equals and replied, “It shall be so.

“Jeremy, this was not a desert when the X'ibian Empire was founded. The civilizations abandoned to other forms of wilderness were not poorly placed either. The various forms of desert and jungle that overwhelmed them all came from a single source.

“Your Equestria. These disasters of climate that forced ponies world wide to abandon ancestral homelands occurred because your Princesses Celestia and Luna fought the Nightmare Wars. Weather was one weapon used by both sides.

“Meaning only to battle each other, they disrupted the weather patterns of the whole world. After the Wars were over, your Princess Celestia had the Weather Authority created to fix Equestrian weather. It grew into Cloudsdale.”

Jeremy thought that over before asking, “Sehang Shu, why didn’t other places set up Weather Authorities too?”

The big dromedary answered, “Eventually, most of them did. The weather disasters destroyed more than crops. Civil authority and entire civilizations collapsed. Whole populations migrated over large distances, seeking safe new homes. Wars were fought over the best lands. It took what became the Chineighese Empire over two hundred years to re form. Their Imperial Weather Authority uses this hot, high desert part of X'ibia as a driver for their famous controlled monsoon system.

“Most of what was lost, world wide, has been replaced by later civilizations that formed in better locations. Thus, we now have the abandoned cities and many ruins that Doctor Do is such an authority on and you know why they are now in such awkward places.”

Jeremy bowed his head and replied, “Thank you, Sehang Shu. I nearly failed the class in Ethnological Geography. I could not see why it was important. You have just showed me why I need to re take it and do better.”

Daring Do and Soree overheard and shared a nod of satisfaction.

Sehang Shu looked down and bowed a bow of equals to Jeremy. “Really, Jeremey? If you will have me as an instructor, I will be pleased to teach you.”

The surprised Jeremy nearly stumbled on a stone as he replied, “I would be honored. How much do you know of it? You have clearly showed me that you know more than I.”

Sehang Shu bowed the bow of one more highly placed. “I have had the honor of a degree in Ethnographical Geography. It was granted by the Imperial College of Bejin How after completing courses taught by extension from the Equestrian Royal University. Doctor Do was my favorite instructor.”

Jeremy looked shocked at first, then gave the rest of the herd a careful inspection. Eyebrows raised in surprise, he inquired, “All of you?”

Sehang Shu nodded. “All of us. At least one degree in something. On long desert nights we have little else to do. We used to and still do sing and sometimes dance. We tell tales. Now we study and try to explain what we are studying to our herd mates. It is fun.”

Quietly Sehang Shu made a low, carrying tone, modulated in a way that Jeremy could not grasp at all.

Sang He replied, “We see them, Sehang. They have given the counter sign to Doctor Do. They are the Ancient Guardians, joining us at a distance. When we pause for next rest, give them Port Arms.”

Jeremy recognized that as meaning, “We will fight with you,” from his recent lesson on X'ibian weapons courtesy.

Letting things go because they were no longer a threat, Sehang Shu suggested, “To assist your study by pointing it at both parts of interest, and your known weaknesses, we could make our study a colloquium. Is that satisfactory?”

“That sounds great, Sehang Shu!”

She knelt. “I know that your hour of walking is not up, Jeremy, but it will be easier for us to decide the subjects and order of them if you are riding. Please mount your saddle. We will be able to hear each other far better.”

Up in the front of the caravan, Soree’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

~~ ~~ ~~

Fuming at having yet another delay, this one enforced by the simple fact that there were derailed railroad cars blocking the only road out, Tyranny sat in the cab of one of their remaining four trucks. His rage was covering a far deeper fear.

Robber and Overthrow gave it voice. “That was close. If we had been even a few moments slower in freeing him, he would be drowned right now.

“Overthrow, I was talking to the Lock Keeper. That blue coat and orange mane is very rare here. They are thought to be bad luck. The dock hand who delayed our unloading was one. Both the beggar and the pony who handled the barge were, too. The engine driver who caused this wreck and nearly killed Tyranny was another.”

Overthrow, brow wrinkled in concentration, noted, “You almost make it sound like some malign being or force is aligned against us.”

“I do fear it. What if Discord has heard of our purpose somehow? The Dragonequis will not take lightly to being chained by another’s will.”

There was a rap at the truck door.

Robber turned and instantly bowed the bow he had seen done so often. The bow of equals. “What may we do for you, good Lock Keeper?”

Returning the bow, the Lock Keeper asked, “Would you please put the trucks as close to the embankment as possible? We have a salvage crane coming to lift the car from the river. It will also retrieve your vehicle at no charge, of course.” To Robber’s surprise, he was offered a silver cash. He took it without comment, as he had seen the custom done.

He remembered to bow again as he replied, “We shall do as you request at once.”

He went down the line and instructed the two Chineighese drivers, who backed their trucks without incident. Robber’s truck parked well back safely. Overthrow backed his, guided by a pony from the work crew. He accidentally struck the stone rip-rap on the slope. He left a little paint on the stones but no serious harm to his truck.

Tyranny self-importantly gestured that the way was clear. The Lock Crew and the River Salvage Team worked carefully for nearly half an hour to get the huge crane off the barge and onto solid dock. They inched the big crawler up the road only a little way. Test swings were made to be sure that loads could be placed safely on the flat unloading and staging area.

Robber was watching with a raised consciousness the care and skill being demonstrated. Overthrow was paying close attention to the whole operation.

Tyranny was watching the slow pace with impatience. He was muttering, “An Equestrian work gang would be done by now!”

Robber interrupted him. “Please be quiet. Some of these Chineighese understand Equestrian.” Tyranny subsided but with ill grace.

Divers went out in boats and surveyed the tangled wreckage. One slid over the side and returned after an impressive amount of time under on one breath. A conference followed. Shortly, the boat returned to shore and returned with a buoy and a set of heavy cables. The diver made several dives before he was satisfied.

The boat let the buoy go and returned paying out the cable, with more smaller buoys attached to it. The crane let down a big hook and the cable was secured to it. The cable pulled taut as the crane lifted the hook.

The rail car pulled toward shore and plunged underwater entirely. The marker buoy stayed where it was. When the crane had pulled as far as it could, the cable was secured to it and the hook let down again. The cable was refastened and the pull repeated. It took five long pulls for the main part of the rail car to be up more or less under the big crane’s hook. More cables were wrapped about it and fastened to the hook.

The crane lifted only a little. Workers shifted the massive load and it was let down while the cables were re set. Finally, the wrecked rail car was set down on the staging area.

While that was all happening, unnoticed by any, a large blue rat with an orange head was industriously digging away at the already loosened dirt around several stones of the rip-rap wall. They bore paint scraped off of Overthrow’s truck.

Robber, watching the whole salvage operation with real interest, walked behind their lead truck on his way to look at the damage on the rail car. Glancing into the back of the truck he muttered, “We need to have that load restacked as soon as we can. Tyranny just does not understand how to load a truck!”

He went on over and respectfully bowed to the strange pony inspecting the failed coupling on the wrecked car. “Pardon my asking, but has this sort of failure happened often before?”

The pony looked up from where he was on his back looking up at the fractured metal. He managed a bow even from that position and replied, “Not in my twenty years of rail incident inspecting. I have never seen one fail in this fashion and today, in one accident, we have two. It is very strange and very rare.”

Robber nodded politely and returned to the trucks. He saw that the crane was now doing its short pulls to retrieve their truck. It was soon sitting beside the rail car that had turned it into totally twisted and crushed scrap.

Tyranny, seeing the remains of the cab, shuddered. He would not have had a chance to drown. They salvaged all that they could from the smashed and broken crates and loaded it into the rearmost truck because it was closest.

The way above, at the crossing, was now cleared. Tyranny leaped into the cab of the lead truck and fired up the Mage/Tech engine with a roar that shook the whole loading area. In his impatience, he shoved the throttle over full and released the clutch! As the truck lunged forward, the blue and orange rat, behind the stones gave a tiny shove.

Stones, bearing the paint of the truck that had scraped into them earlier, fell into the road. The truck’s front wheel hit a biggish stone and lifted up, tilting the vehicle. It would not have been a serious angle but for the sound of sliding crates and the thumps of them hitting the truckside! The truck tilted, almost fell back onto its wheels! The still driving rear wheels combined with Tyranny’s panicked steering pushed it past recovery. The big truck teetered, falling onto its side with a screech of tortured metal, a splintering crunch, and the shattering of glass!

A dazed and bruised Tyranny managed to push open the upper side door and climb out of the overturned vehicle. The Lock Keeper came up, shaking his head. He gestured to all three partners to come close.

“I have two things to say. Mister Tyranny, I have observed your driving during this. This entire accident here and your involvement in the rail accident were both the result of your poor driving. Your permit to drive on any road of the Empire is Revoked. The permit please.” He held out a hoof in a no nonsense way.

Tyranny glumly produced the document. The Lock Keeper took out a writing kit, inked a brush in red and wrote the character for REVOKED across it. He added a line of characters bearing his name and work title. He sealed it with a chop.

After making a copy by regular clerical contagion magic, he returned the revoked permit. “This will be sent to all road stations and Locks along the Dunn See. If you are found driving any vehicle, it and all of its contents will be impounded by the State. If you have broken any of our driving laws or been in an accident regardless of severity, you will be beheaded. Is this clear?”

Tyranny was starting to say something about too severe, but Robber stopped him. “Tyranny, just yes or no. Is it clear or not? You are entitled at this time to understand the consequences. Nothing else. You should have looked over those law pamphlets that I gave you.”

The Lock Keeper nodded. “Very well put Mister Robber.”

“You speak Equestrian?”

“I do. Does he need the consequences of breaking our law spoken in Equestrian?”

Tyranny glumly replied, “No you don’t, and yes, I do understand. How does your law handle such a thing?”

Bowing as a superior to an inferior, the Lock Keeper replied, “Your sentence will be made by a local magistrate. If it is a capital one, it will be reviewed by the District Magistrate within five days, during which you will be kept in confinement. If the District review goes against you, you will be executed on the spot. If it does not, your case may still go to the Provincial Magistrate. A capital case must be heard and decided in seven more days. That decision will be final.

“One other thing. You must keep the revoked permit as identification. It is still valid for that purpose.”

“I see.” Tyranny sourly replaced his revoked permit in his wallet and put it into his saddle bag.

The Lock Keeper turned to Robber. “You have been learning much and admitting your errors. One, that was thought to be error or foolishness was not. My eye drawn by the noise of the truck, I saw it. The fall of the stones, which would not have been serious to a properly laden or driven truck, was caused by a rat-like creature. It was blue and had an orange head.

“You are being dogged by a demon or a changeling. Pray to your ancestors that it is only a demon. They are easily exorcised and are not too bright. Changelings cannot be exorcised and can be deadly in their mischief.”

~~ ~~ ~~

<==Previous Next==>

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#DARING DO AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE X'IBIAN VASE #Part 12 of 21 #MLP Fan Fiction #Written by De Writer and Carmen Pondiego

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copiosis · 4 years

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When Bernie Sanders Marries Ayn Rand

By Writer KJ McElrath

If there is a silver lining to the current coronavirus pandemic, it is that it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in the current capitalist free-market economic system that most of us have taken for granted our entire lives. People in low-wage service jobs, food-service workers, education support personnel, private tutors and instructors and others with jobs that frequently bring them into contact with the general public have been hit especially hard. Most of these workplaces – restaurants, lounges, schools and even libraries – are closed for the duration.

Today conservative leaders, who typically expect most people – including those they claim to represent – to fend for themselves, actually support massive financial aid programs...that's how bad it is. The Trump Administration's $2 trillion dollar stimulus package perplexes my imagination. That a conservative administration would offer such a thing boggles the mind.

Other governments around the world are following suit. For example, the U.K. government recently announced that it will pay 80 percent of worker salaries up to £2500 per month ($2900 USD) for 12 weeks, while offering tax breaks and interest-free business loans. Across the Channel, France is preparing to nationalize several industries while suspending tax, rent, and utility payments for small companies.

The problem is we, as a global, tightly interconnected economic society, now are in uncharted territory. Our economics can't handle much more of this and for two fundamental reasons:

One, our economics depends on endless growth and expansion. Coronavirus has stopped that dead in its tracks.

Two, our economics finances endless growth through debt cycles, which fall apart when debtors can't pay creditors. Debtors can't pay if they can't work.

If there was ever a time to think outside the box, it is now. Our immediate solution is for government to throw money — cash payments, low interest rates, subsidized loans or grants, etc at the problem. In the short term, this is indeed necessary as most of us have not slack in our finances to weather such storms.

But such actions treat the symptoms while ignoring the underlying disease. Biologically, coronavirus is most dangerous to those who have other health problems, such as compromised immune function. Economically, it appears to have a similar effect on unhealthy financial systems.

Socialism is not the answer

Would the type of socialism offered by once-presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders save us? For awhile, it could — but like government stimulus programs, it would be a stopgap solution. The problem here is that socialism can't spur innovations that benefit society.

Second, the idea that people should receive free anything — including housing, food, health care and education — is anathema to those who espouse unbridled, free market capitalism. Yet, lack of these basic survival needs, or even the threat of losing them, is at the root of virtually every problem society suffers today.

People can live without jet skis or the latest and greatest smart phones. They cannot live without food, clean water, shelter and medical care when needed. Without some degree of education, they cannot be productive members of society. Yet, our economies demand that all of these things be commodified and profit their providers.

Meanwhile, those very same providers must pay labor, cover raw materials costs, pay taxes, legal and other operational expenses.

To suggest that "necessities" should be “free” may rightfully evoke hard resistance from free market supporters, yet the stress from putting price tags on necessities creates crime, disease (mental and physical), environmental degradation and more — adding hugely to the cost of running society.

Perversely, money spent addressing these problems contributes to a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ergo, someone who contracts cancer living near a factory producing toxic waste actually contributes to GDP when they (or someone else) pays for their treatment. Law enforcement officers pursuing criminals become part of the GDP as well. Divorcing couples contribute to GDP through lawyer and court fee costs.

Is there a better way? Some visionaries believe so — and are working to bring it about.

A better way...

These visionaries recognize a major part of the problem is not capitalism, but rather the way the exchange of goods and services happen — i.e., money, or currency. Whether it is tangible cash, an amount recorded in a bank ledger or other account, or invested in securities, money can be transferred easily. That is a definite advantage, but there are downsides; money can be lost, stolen, taxed away (directly and indirectly), devalued and manipulated, and withheld when someone is prevented from earning or receiving it — as is happening in today's coronavirus pandemic. The consequences can be devastating.

Barter comes to many people’s minds as an alternative, but there are reasons why money replaced trading livestock, handicrafts, produce, etc. Unless people have many different productive skills and abilities others need, or offer wide ranges of services, the barter system can't alleviate poverty and inequality. Barter also involves material things that can be lost, stolen or destroyed (and even taxed, as many have discovered).

Imagine an alternative:

a means of exchange representing actions benefiting society and the planet, that cannot possibly be stolen, taxed or otherwise transferred away from owners

a system guaranteeing everyone access to housing, food, medical services and education without incurring long-term debt servitude or worry about a paycheck

a system based on free market principles that encourage innovation

a system in which only actions benefitting people and/or the environment in some way are rewarded

Such innovations are already underway, and have been for some time. They are made possible by rapid technology advances. As more working people suddenly find themselves idle for the long term, some are finding interesting innovations that onced looked ridiculous, but today are not so.

Humanity: where great ideas come from

Dr. Albert Einstein reportedly said, “Imagination is more important than Knowledge.” In light of Dr. Abraham Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs (a review and explanation for the uninitiated is available here), imagine what humans might achieve if they were liberated from the need to “earn a living,” but still expected and motivated to strive for more by simply making choices and acting in ways that serve the greater good.

We all see it happening now, with the popularity of “humanely raised” eggs, poultry and meat, recycling and repurposing, reducing one’s ecological footprint, roadside miniature lending libraries, community tool and vehicle share programs and more.

In Portland, Oregon, homeowners are being offered incentives to provide shelters for homeless people on their property. Some small businesses specialize in making new products from existing and/or previously used components. Entrepreneurial individuals are creating solutions for environmental problems.

Admittedly, so-called “Utopian” societies have failed in the past. As floundering and corrupt as American capitalism has gotten over the past four decades, it has not yet become the total and abject failure that was the late U.S.S.R.’s Socialist Worker’s State.

That said, western capitalism is nonetheless a very large, unwieldy vessel sailing at a high rate of speed — one that needs to change its course fairly soon, if it is to survive.

As the Captain Edward Smith of the R.M.S. Titanic discovered too late, such sudden course changes are difficult at best.

Perhaps what needs to be changed is not so much the system itself, but rather the means of exchange. Such change must happen so nobody goes homeless, hungry, without medical and dental care, and everyone has access to education in any field. At the same time, the new system must encourage industry and innovation while respecting private property rights. Nothing would be confiscatory or redistributive, nor would taxes be assessed.

It sounds almost like “Bernie Sanders Meets Ayn Rand” or "Bernie Sanders and Ayn Rand have a baby". This has been one of the primary issues in recent elections: do we want or need the State to own and operate everything, distributing “to each according to their needs” while taxing “from each, according to their abilities”?

Or do we want to do away with government and regulation altogether, and allow individuals and organizations to become as wealthy and powerful as possible, regardless of any harm in done the process?

What if a society could have the best of both? What if one fed the other? What if, through Bernie-style socialist programs, more people were unleashed from having to have “jobs” simply to pay the bills in order to survive, and instead were free to pursue their passions, such as science, research, technology, engineering and invention as well culture, humanities and the arts? Can one imagine the new Renaissance that might come about?

Such a system has the potential of generating wealth and well-being in a private, free-market system beyond Rand’s wildest dreams.

You don’t have to look very far back to find examples. Would the world have had the genius of Leonardo da Vinci without the patronage of the Medicis? Would we have heard the music of Franz Josef Haydn without Prince Esterhazy?

Now, multiply those two examples by a few billion.

Passions can create our future

Would everyone throw themselves into their “passions”? No. Many may not even know what their passions are. For them, there are educational opportunities (which would bring their own rewards), or they may decide to sit on the beach all day — and as long as they do no harm, that’s fine. If they ever want something more, they’ll find ways to make the world a better place.

If not — at least they won’t go hungry and homeless. But really, earning that “something more” would not be difficult under such a system. In fact, it would be more difficult not to contribute in some way.

If the 1933 Harold Arlen — Yip Harburg song Paper Moon comes to mind, you’re not alone. Indeed, some skepticism is warranted. Nonetheless, two communities, one in California and the other in Oregon, tested out such a comprehensive economic system, with success. A devoted group in Portland continues exploring it over the last six years, and it has generated significant attention around the world.

This group’s website recently came online, where one can go to learn more about this alternative economic system in which there are no losers, and winners’ victories do not come at the expense of someone else. Under such a system, disparities of wealth will certainly still exist, but the kind of grinding poverty that causes hunger, disease, crime and other problems will not.

Meanwhile, the barriers to people who want to accumulate more will largely go away; there will be equal access to opportunity and tools to improve one’s material lot in life for those who choose to do so.

Greed will still exist, but in this new system it's harnessed and channeled into positive outcomes for everyone.

Now that so many of us are under lockdown or quarantine and are starting to clearly see problems existing in the current system, it is as good a time as ever to consider alternatives.

Learn more here.

#bernie sanders #ayn rand #conservatism #democrats #progressives #liberals #wage slavery #society without money #moneyless economy #UBI #AoC #Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez #Yang Gang #Andrew Yang

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lastsonlost · 6 years

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Christopher Priest has been working in comics for 40 years and writing them for more than 30 years. Priest began work at Marvel Comics as an intern then editor, becoming the first African-American editor in mainstream comics. He has also produced work at DC Comics, Valiant Entertainment, and many other publishers, in addition to helping establish Milestone Media. In the '90s, Priest began a 60-issue run of Black Panther that is considered by many to be the definitive work on the character. His experience in comics has covered almost every aspect of production, both creative and technical. During that time he also worked as a musician, author, and minister. Simply put, his is a life well-lived.

Priest recently returned to comics to write Deathstroke and currently writes Justice League as well. He sat down with ComicBook.com to discuss the release of Black Panther and comics today. In the second half of this two-part interview, Priest focuses on the experience of being a black writer in mainstream comics and the industry’s future.

ComicBook.com: What was it that brought you back to comics this time? Was there any specific appeal that made you want to return for Deathstroke?

Christopher Priest: They just offered it to me. I was home minding my own business. For years I would get a call every 18 months from either Marvel or DC where they would inevitably offer me a character of color, a black character or Latino character. I would politely decline and then pitch them on Potato-Man or Spud-Boy or whatever. They’d go, “Eh, we don’t really know.” We’d have this conversation, and I would thank them for calling and plan to see them in 18 months. Then 18 months later I’d get a call from Marvel or DC, and we’d do the dance all over again.

So I got a call from DC, and they wanted to talk to me about Cyborg. I gave them the standard stump speech. I don’t want to be a “black writer.” When did I become a black writer? I used to be a guy who would write Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Batman. Why am I no longer qualified to write those characters? How did I get typecast from writing Black Panther of all things, when that series was never really about Black Panther. It was about the white guy, about Ross. It was narrated through his voice, and I thought I wrote a very well-constructed white character. Why are you now pigeonholing me as a guy who can only write black characters?

I later found out that Marvel and, to a lesser extent, DC moved into a trend where they were no longer hiring writers—they were casting writers. They’re listening to chatter on Twitter insisting that only a black lesbian writer could write a black lesbian character, and that’s nonsense. A writer writes.

Tom Clancy, rest his soul, could write anything. A writer writes. All of the sudden I was no longer qualified to write anybody that didn’t look like me, and I resented that. I was really polite about it and told DC thank you for calling, blah, blah, blah.

Then a day or two later I got another call from DC, and they asked me about Deathstroke. I asked if he was black, they said no, and I said, "OK, I’m listening." We started having a conversation about Deathstroke. It wasn’t just that the character wasn’t black; we were talking about a character with a lot of untapped potential for me to get inside his head and mine new ground with him. I wasn’t going to come back to comic book companies until they offered me something I could get energized about. I left comics because they stopped offering me anything but black characters. Now, ironically, both Marvel and DC and some of the independents, are talking about a whole range of things. That’s much better. Maybe they’re changing or the industry is changing.

You’ve been able to break your own history of typecasting on recent series like Deathstroke, Justice League, and Inhumans. Do you think most other writers of color in comics are still facing that same problem?

I would imagine so. I really felt that for many years when people picked up the phone to call me the first thing they thought was "black," and my suspicions were confirmed. I resented that. I can write anything. A lot of my co-creators of color and female writers can write anything. Just give them a chance.

You have to become master of your particular universe. I wrote a novel called 1999. It’s my Astro City, a self-contained superhero universe. The main character is this police officer who’s Irish. I knew nothing about Irish people, so I spent time doing research. I wrote a novel about a black female New York City arson investigator. I know nothing about being a firefighter. I know nothing about their apparatus or tactics, but you research, you get on the phone, you track people down, and you talk to actual firefighters. You find out about all this. Once you master this universe, then you sit down and start writing about it. I think I wrote a convincing Irishmen, a convincing black woman, a convincing firefighter. I know the lingo and the equipment, and my writing has authority because of it.

Don’t tell me I can’t write a Chinese lesbian superhero. That’s bullshit.

I can write anything. The problem is the two major companies don’t have anybody of color in upper management with the exception of Jim Lee. There are certainly no African Americans in upper management. Anytime I’m writing anything about race now, I get all of these notes back where they’re wringing their hands and not sure about anything. They’re terrified of the Twitter-verse,

but half of those people aren’t even reading your comics either.

They’re reading it online or heard it somewhere or pirated it, but they’re not buying your comics. They’re getting on Twitter and you’re terrified of them and guiding your publishing program based on it. Just do good stories, well-told, and you’ll see the return on it.

You were once going to take the role of editor-in-chief at Milestone. Does that sort of leadership role, either as an editor or someone supervising a line of comics, still interest you?

Well, yes and no. I think the conditions would have to be right. Having to relocate gets complicated in terms of finances and so forth. Joe Illidge is the editor-in-chief of Lion Forge [Ed. note: Illidge's official title is Senior Editor] and is based out of New York, but Lion Forge is in St. Louis. That’s a great situation, and something I would strongly consider. A lot of these places want you to be on site, and I would have to go there.

With Milestone there were some differences between the partners when we were developing the Milestone brand. Initially, that was going to be my role; I was going to be in the Dwayne McDuffie role. Dwayne was going to be focused on writing, and I’d be the guy in the office. At the last minute the compromise we came to is that I would be the in-house liaison at DC Comics and Dwayne stepped into that role, kind of reluctantly. He did it because he was the only guy really qualified. He knew all of these characters, he co-created all of these characters, and he was the smartest guy in any room he happened to be standing in. Dwayne was a great guy. He did not have the kind of ambition where he wanted his name above the title. He didn’t seek the sort of political “I am the boss” stature. He stepped into it because that’s what it needed to be.

I stepped away from Milestone because I thought it was more important that Milestone exist than I be a part of it. For me to stay there and be in a contentious relationship with some of the partners, I had the sense that could undermine the whole deal if DC got a whiff of it. I didn’t want to be the cause of that, so I stepped away because it was too important that this thing move forward. Ironically, Dwayne did the opposite where he moved closer because he needed to fill the vacuum.

You’ve worked with both of the largest direct market publishers for a long time and have had a lot of experience in American comics at different levels and positions. When you look at the future of the industry, do you feel optimistic or pessimistic?

[long pause] The industry has to change from top to bottom. The bottom end of the industry feeds into this chokehold of a distribution system. I’m not knocking Diamond or saying they’re bad guys. I’m just saying they’re the only gig in town. Anytime Marvel releases a movie there are X number of hundreds of millions of people who buy a ticket to this movie and the movie makes X hundreds of millions of dollars based upon those tickets sales. Why are we selling 35,000 copies of Banana-Man or whatever? Why are we not tapping that market in any significant way? It’s ridiculous that we are not accessing this in any significant way. That’s the bottom end.

The top end of it is that the industry is still too small. It’s still controlled by a handful of people, and if you piss one of them off, then you’re unemployed. That’s got to stop. There’s only a handful of people whose personal sensibilities determine which books get greenlit. They need to be willing to greenlight books they don’t even like. I don’t understand half of what Garth Ennis writes, but Garth has an enormous gift and huge audience.

Jim Shooter taught me a lot. One of the things he taught me was at a Christmas party. He was handing out gifts, and I said to him, “That was a really nice gift you gave to this person we both know can’t stand you.” Jim told me it’s not important that the guy likes me, it’s important that we keep him working here. It’s not about me. It’s about doing what’s right for the company and building this company. We have to get back to doing what’s right for the companies. The companies are too insular, way, way, way too male, and way, way, way too white. Until that changes, nothing gets better. They need to get into a mindset where we can stop looking at comics as a loss leader for merchandising and films because that’s how both houses are looking at comics now. When they want to start taking the publishing seriously, they’re going to have put real money into developing bottom-end distribution. That may anger Diamond and tick off retailers, but that has to happen because you can’t keep on this way. You can’t keep selling 35,000 copies of Potato-Man; you have to sell 350,000 copies of Potato-Man.

I don’t know the answer to that. I think the company that figures it out wins. The company that figures out how to break the chokehold or the bottleneck of distribution wins. I’ve encouraged Milestone to start drop shipping a bunch of their issues to beauty salons and barber shops around the country. It’s a distribution network that’s not part of traditional publishing, but distributes to places where people of color congregate and return every week. The complication is if we drop ship those comics, those comics need a rapid return. There needs to be an 800 number or QR code to help them purchase these comics immediately. They are not going to hunt down a comic shop that may be over the dale or down an alley. Until the industry becomes willing to change, both on the top and the bottom, every year we’re going to be trying to sell the same product to the same people when a larger audience is clearly there. Why can’t we go get them? We gotta fix it.

Remember the words of the legendary Christopher priest next time you see some knucklehead on this website try to tell you what you can and cannot write.Consider it a professional opinion.

#comics #wrighting #Christopher Priest #diversity

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