#is not anything revolutionary. it's the opposite

[boyfridged]

Do you agree that Jason, as written by Winnick in UTRH and Lost Days, acts out of character post-resurrection if we take into account his post-crisis robin days? If yes, how would you have him act/react to stuff after he comes back from the dead?

tldr: i definitely agree. moreover, classism plays a huge role in it, and i don’t think that at this point the storyline could lose these implications, which makes trying to conceive what an “in character” (for robin jay) version of these events would be quite difficult. 

let’s just start from saying that i don't think it's a secret that i don't really like winick in general. despite his work being mad interesting on a conceptual level (and style-wise, genuinely well written!), he has no love for the characters he writes about. 

imo utrh shouldn't even ever make it into the mainstream batman timeline. i am aware that this is a radical opinion, but my take is that it would do best as an elseworld story (and in this version too it would need some tweaks here and there), because it made damage both to the mythos of batman and jason's legacy that can never be undone. the very premise of the story is so deeply disconnected from jay's original place in the narrative, and so classist at its roots, that there's not much room to truly fix it. 

(i want to say, preemptively, that i am aware that there are people who read utrh as a story of a revolutionary and a victim – and they have the right to do so, but ngl, my view has always been that it was never written as that. utrh reinforces so many stereotypes that it overshadows the revenge tragedy spirit of it all.) 

another disclaimer is that, to be honest, jay doesn't have a very consistent characterization even in his 80s run, and it also has some classist implications that ideally should be either erased or addressed in the text (that winick instead exaggerated and put at the very front of his storytelling.) starlin's writing is, at the end of the day and very much ironically, more sympathetic and gentler in evaluating jay (simply because at the time he would not get away with changes too blatant) but details such as jay saying that "all life is game" and his random nonchalant behaviour that has its origin in the very beginning of starlin’s run are already signs of it. some readers will trace jason's arrogance prevalent in his red hood era to these issues and say that his actions post-res are therefore a logical extension of his robin days, but i don't buy it. even if you want to lean into starlin-esque characterisation, if you consider the core problem of the garzonas plotline – which is power, jay shouldn’t look into the solution of anything in climbing to the top. and if he did, it would have to be written as a “becoming what you feared/hated most” kind of story, which i can see a certain appeal in (and which would at least acknowledge that it was not his initial personality), but which would go back to its classist assumption of cycles of violence and doomed fates.

so – how to make his post-res era more accurate to his post-crisis robin days (and least classist in the process)?

if we were to follow my fav iterations of his characterisation (barr’s detective comics and the ntt appearances) tbh I don’t think a lot would happen, because his personality is quite mild, and just so hopeful there that i wouldn’t expect any extreme actions from him – but then again, the circumstances that he finds himself in post-res, the trauma, and his sensitivity do warrant grief that should become a driving force in his life from now on. the question is, what to do with this grief as a plot device?

i know that plenty of jason fans hate this take but I actually think the concept of jason trying to be detached and cruel but being bad at it might be one of the least offensive to his 80s characterisation. it’s def not accurate to pre-52 canon (apart from countdown perhaps) but imo for jay to be authentic and nuanced he should be conflicted about his own actions. his overconfident behaviour should be a pose – just as his frantic acts in his origin story as robin were. (again, something that many readers don't take notice of – but reading the rest of collins' writing wherein jay quickly settles into being easy-going and even a bit shy is proof of it.)

these two points lead to the “no good deed” narrative that I often talk about - the reading that jason saw his intuitive and self-sacrificial kind tendencies as something that brought him pain and that never was quite efficient, and that post-res he intentionally tried training himself out of. there are some flashes of it here and there throughout the years of the red hood publishing history, but it never got a true spotlight. and if i were to write lost days, jason flinching at his own violence would be a focal point of the story. 

moving on to utrh; i have spoken about it at length before but I think if he were written 1. with more political sensitivity 2. to have retained the same maturity re: the social order 3. to have the same idea of morality, he should have followed more of actual revolutionary tracks and the whole “drug lord” authoritarian figure schtick along with the idiotic idea of “controlling crime” would have to be thrown out of the window. 

and, later on, forgiveness should play a big role in his story. he's so quick to forgive and justify everyone in his robin run – this is also why i reckon his team up with harvey in tfz was a wasted opportunity.

so, in conclusion – perhaps not that much would have to change re: his actions but definitely a lot should change regarding his emotional journey and his position. i would def throw out a lot of mindless violence and power posturing out of it though. and perhaps make him a bit more polite just for the sake of more consistency (this is not me taking a moral stance btw nor tone policing a fictional character. i just think it would be more faithful to his 80s writing unless you want to make him explicitly scared. and it would be funnier tbh.)

#i think i have written some about it on my old blog #but i'm too lazy to look it up and also i got a lot of hate because of that #i also had a longer post talking about how it can be fixed *now* #anyway i want to say. #i do enjoy jason acting feral i do. #and i do want to allow people to enjoy whatever they do #but you simply can't look at jason's characterisation post-res and lie and say it's not a classist caricature #so maybe i am judging people who don't see any problem with it a bit <3 #and despite my love for cyclic narratives #i do want better for him. and i do want him softer and more mild-mannered #not because i am tone policing people nor because i think anger is not warranted #but because i think it's clear that the source of it in his writing #is not anything revolutionary. it's the opposite #like idk make helena more full of rage or whatever #this was not jay's original place in the narrative. #it was the opposite actually. and i miss him so bad dear god i do:( #anyway i think it's hard to think of him post-res in character also because when i think of what is in-character #i also consider what (as i said) the place in the wider narrative was #and jay's death already ruined it mostly #for it to be regained he would have to start anew as a civilian OR as better batman in crime alley i think #sorry for so many tags. #this is such a delightful ask thank you <3 #dc #jason todd #jay.zip #jay.txt #outbox

[iamanoccasionaldoodler]

I think the thing that feels really revolutionary about Gideon Nav's lesbianism is that she's not a lesbian in opposition to anything. She doesn't like women instead of men. It's just that her entire sexual world is female.

A lot of time having a gay character seems to necessitate a scene in which they confirm emphatically that they do not like the opposite gender. Gideon doesn't need to do that. She just talks about women all the time (and, lesbian character who is openly and unashamedly horny and actively pursuing women in general outside of once-in-a-lifetime romance, that's its own post entirely) and the absence of any mention of men makes it obvious that she's not interested in them.

And, as a queer person constantly having to explain WHY I don't want this or that, it's really refreshing to see a queer character who is so totally focused on what they DO want and not what they don't.

#gideon nav #gideon the ninth #the locked tomb #also p.s. pyrrha is also a lesbian she's literally exactly as lesbian-coded as gideon we all just collectively misread that part of htn #and by part i mean literally there is only one line which ever suggests they were together and several which imply strongly they weren't #L #the pyrrha/gideon/wake fics were spicier when we thought pyrrha and gideon had been in love i admit #but it was a simple case of lesbian/himbo symbiosis #and pyrrha and gideon having the exact same taste in women is actually extremely funny

[iberiancadre]

I've talked about this before but I have a deep dislike of sentiment like this within "leftist" circles, regarding unions. And it's practically always from USamericans, go figure.

(Before anyone interprets this post on bad faith, which is inevitable, I am not against being in a union and I am not telling people not to join a union, it's the most inmediate form of protection workers have and that is, in fact, good)

It's this overbearing insistence on joining unions, treating it like the best (and only) way of achieving workers' liberation, and I think that shows either a bad understanding of what unions are or a bad understanding of how capitalism works. Unions are bargaining bodies for workers, that's it. They aren't revolutionary, and they aren't going to kill your boss. And I want to really hammer in this point. They aren't revolutionary. Precisely because their role is to bargain, and to achieve better conditions within the system of salaried work.

You are never going to "liquidate the ownership class" by getting longer breaks, paid holidays and an excellent health plan. Keep in mind, bargaining with the capitalist is necessary, and that in itself isn't non-revolutionary, not necessarily. But the only purpose of a union is to bargain. I really don't think people get this. A union's only purpose is to bargain, it is to negotiate. Negotiations also necessarily imply compromises and unsatisfactory deals. Unions are not a magic key to not being exploited, and they especially are not the way to liberation.*

I think this is especially prevalent in the US because of two things:

Their labor movement is so fucked that any kind of opposition to capitalism is by default radical. And therefore some people feel it's enough to just tell people to join a union. However, this isn't unique to the US and many places have it much, much worse

Living in the imperial hegemon makes it very easy to ignore any other place outside of their little sphere. People can go years engaging in left-of-DNC circles but without ever leaving their USamerican community, they end up not knowing who James Baldwin is, to give a topical example. This affects the US labor movement by allowing them to ignore other places' struggles, so it's very easy to see anything they do as the horizon of political action. They only need to look to their own country for examples in action, and the truth is that the labor movement in the US has been largely very mild. In the cases when it has not been mild (notable exceptions include the Black Panthers), it's largely forgotten, demonized or revised in bigger circles.

So you get people who call themselves communists just for being unionists. But a communist is someone who identifies the core of exploitation to be the very structure of capitalism and work and attacks it. You are not a communist, however, for believing the core of exploitation is your shit boss who refuses to pay for dental.

And what's funny is that 90% of what people on here claim to be communist and anti-capitalist is just the norm on most of the world. People will hype up the DSA or VoteSocialist2024 as if they're breaking ground, and then you read their programs and they're just socialdemocrats. They are nothing more than reformists, just another manager of capitalism.

My father works for one of the biggest textile manufacturers and distributors in the world, and unionization is the norm, it's a "union job" but it's still shitty and exploitative. There are in fact 3 unions, and they engage in petty electoralism within the workplace, only sometimes actually protecting worker's rights, and that's a country-wide norm. This is what unions end up becoming when they become established, especially with a friendly government in place.

CCOO was a union created in the late fascist dictatorship in Spain, and they were genuinely fighting (with guns!) against the dictatorship. And the moment the dictatorship ended and they became the largest union in the country, they slowly became less and less radical, and more complacent. Last year they signed a labor reform that legalizes highly precarious and inconsistent forms of work contracts. That's not "liquidating the ownership class", that's just social-democracy when it doesn't need to be the opposition anymore

To wrap up, a note on syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism, etc.

Unions are by their very nature an organization that only operates within one aspect of the life of the working class, the workplace. Sure, it's the main one and the part that defines us as a class, but it isn't the only one. In order to actually "liquidate the ownership class", you have to take power by force, and that will have to involve intervening outside of the workplace. What syndicalists used to claim is that unions can be the base of a socialist society and organize the entire working class to destroy capitalism. However, at that point, you have created a party and called it a union. And not only a party, but a myriad of them, each with their own characteristics and desires. So a multi-party system. I will not get into the viability of multiple parties in socialism in this post, but they are not unions in anything by name.

Footnote under the cut:

*I know I'm repeating myself a lot these days on this topic, but if you live in an imperial core country, there is no way to have prosperity (as the example above puts it) without some of that wealth coming from imperialism. It does not matter if your particular country never had colonies, it does not matter if your country is stereotypically nice (fuck the Nordic countries). And no, the expoliated wealth does not only remain within the capitalist class, there is always at least some circulation of wealth from the capitalist to the workers within any welfare program. If your workplace can afford to have long breaks, that is at least in part because your capitalist is profiting from the exploitation of the third world, and because the entire economies of imperial core countries uses the wealth extracted to support their deficits and to stabilize their currencies.

It's not a hard concept. If you can understand that it's basically impossible to manufacture batteries for renewable energy without exercising violence on places like the Congo, it's not that hard to understand the same is true for most things.

#real marxist hours #unions #finally got (mostly) all of my thoughts on this into words #accidentally posted before I completed it and now there's two posts :(

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Colin Wright

Published: May 3, 2023

The transgender movement has left many intelligent Americans confused about sex. Asked to define the word “woman” during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year, Ketanji Brown Jackson demurred, saying “I’m not a biologist.” I am a biologist, and I’m here to help.

Are sex categories in humans empirically real, immutable and binary, or are they mere “social constructs”? The question has public-policy implications related to sex-based legal protections and medicine, including whether males should be allowed in female sports, prisons and other spaces that have historically been segregated by sex for reasons of fairness and safety.

Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union frequently claims that the binary concept of sex is a recent invention “exclusively for the purposes of excluding trans people from legal protections.” Scottish politician Maggie Chapman asserted in December that her rejection of the “binary and immutable” nature of sex was her motivation for pursuing “comprehensive gender recognition for nonbinary people in Scotland.” (“Nonbinary” people are those who “identify” as neither male nor female.)

When biologists claim that sex is binary, we mean something straightforward: There are only two sexes. This is true throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. An organism’s sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) it has the function of producing. Males have the function of producing sperm, or small gametes; females, ova, or large ones. Because there is no third gamete type, there are only two sexes. Sex is binary.

Intersex people, whose genitalia appear ambiguous or mixed, don’t undermine the sex binary. Many gender ideologues, however, falsely claim the existence of intersex conditions renders the categories “male” and “female” arbitrary and meaningless. In “Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex” (1998), the historian of science Alice Dreger writes: “Hermaphroditism causes a great deal of confusion, more than one might at first appreciate, because—as we will see again and again—the discovery of a ‘hermaphroditic’ body raises doubts not just about the particular body in question, but about all bodies. The questioned body forces us to ask what exactly it is—if anything—that makes the rest of us unquestionable.”

In reality, the existence of borderline cases no more raises questions about everyone else’s sex than the existence of dawn and dusk casts doubt on day and night. For the vast majority of people, their sex is obvious. And our society isn’t experiencing a sudden dramatic surge in people born with ambiguous genitalia. We are experiencing a surge in people who are unambiguously one sex claiming to “identify” as the opposite sex or as something other than male or female.

Gender ideology seeks to portray sex as so incomprehensibly complex and multivariable that our traditional practice of classifying people as simply either male or female is grossly outdated and should be abandoned for a revolutionary concept of “gender identity.” This entails that males wouldn’t be barred from female sports, women’s prisons or any other space previously segregated according to our supposedly antiquated notions of “biological sex,” so long as they “identify” as female.

But “intersex” and “transgender” mean entirely different things. Intersex people have rare developmental conditions that result in apparent sex ambiguity. Most transgender people aren’t sexually ambiguous at all but merely “identify” as something other than their biological sex.

Once you’re conscious of this distinction, you will begin to notice gender ideologues attempting to steer discussions away from whether men who identify as women should be allowed to compete in female sports toward prominent intersex athletes like South African runner Caster Semenya. Why? Because so long as they’ve got you on your heels making difficult judgment calls on a slew of complex intersex conditions, they’ve succeeded in drawing your attention away from easy calls on unquestionably male athletes like 2022 NCAA Division I women’s swimming and diving champion Lia Thomas. They shift the focus to intersex to distract from transgender.

Acknowledging the existence of rare difficult cases doesn’t weaken the position or arguments against allowing males in female sports, prisons, restrooms and other female-only spaces. In fact, it’s a much stronger approach because it makes a crucial distinction that the ideologues are at pains to obscure.

Crafting policy to exclude males who identify as women, or “trans women,” from female sports, prisons and other female-only spaces isn’t complicated. Trans women are unambiguously male, so the chances that a doctor incorrectly recorded their sex at birth is zero. Any “transgender policy” designed to protect female spaces need only specify that participants must have been recorded (or “assigned,” in the current jargon) female at birth.

Crafting effective intersex policies is more complicated, but the problem of intersex athletes in female sports is less pressing than that of males in female sports, and there seem to be no current concerns arising from intersex people using female spaces. It should be up to individual organizations to decide which criteria or cut-offs should be used to keep female spaces safe and, in the context of sports, safe and fair. It is imperative, however, that such policies be rooted in properties of bodies, not “identity.” Identity alone is irrelevant to issues of fairness and safety.

Ideologues are wrong to insist that the biology of sex is so complex as to defy all categorization. They’re also wrong to represent the sex binary in an overly simplistic way. The biology of sex isn’t quite as simple as common sense, but common sense will get you a long way in understanding it.

#Colin Wright #biology #queer theory #gender ideology #biological sex #sex is binary #intersex #sex denialism #biology denial #sex binary #gender identity #personal identity #identity #identity politics

[1000sunnygo]

One piece 1098

Oda.. What do you mean you've created a girl who escaped slavery then thrown her back to the hell and worse, for TWO years, being kidnapped right before the day that she eagerly looked forward to. This chapter is going to haunt me for days

Regardless of her small screentime, Ginny is not a nobody. She's essentially the mastermind of God Valley incident. She saved lives including Kuma's and never left his side - wishing to be his 'big sis' after Iva left. The feeling transformed to love as they grew older, but she had always been there to protect him. But thinking about it, Kuma couldn't reciprocate it the same way did he.

Ginny was Kuma's opposite - he'd hesitate, she'd jump into action. She knew she loved kuma and proposed him. She saw him being imprisoned and went to bite back the King. She was bringing a balance to Kuma's life that fell apart after she left. Ginny came to save Kuma time and time again, but in the two years of her kidnap, Kuma gave up on her.

"we raised hell to free you, Kumachi", opposing "I thought I'd never see you again." There's a clear difference between their mindsets.

Kuma became violent yes. But so far we haven't seen any hint that he teleported to Mariejeoise. There's already a record set by Fisher Tiger so it wasn't beyond the realm of possibilities, but Kuma was probably trapped by his trauma and abusive upbringing. He didn't think Ginny would be alive because his mother died.

But Ginny never gave up, she had remained firm with her convictions till the end. She loved a person and the child had genes of her abuser, but she carried the baby and gave birth to her, named her. Ginny was not a person who'd abandons someone.

She realized that sunlight would kill her, but she set sail alone and correctly navigated back to the church. Back to the home they once used to live in before they joined the revolutionaries. The place and its happy memories that probably never left her mind in the two years. The church is the place where she found her solace after her childhood slavery. She wanted her daughter to grow there, she wanted it to be her own grave.

What Ginny gave up on was Kuma's love. She knew he'd worry, she looked hideous and felt that she has no right to face him. "Don't you dare come here" - How prude of her to bloat about wanting to marry him, make him happy, to protect him - and then leave for two years and return with a baby? She knew he'd still love her, but she had no right to expect anything from him, for herself or her child.

"Tell the kind Kumachi, that I've always always loved him."

Kuma had always saved civilians from their miseries. She appreciated Kuma's benevolence.

But it doesn't make Ginny any less kind. For she had something Kuma lacked in his younger days. To fight tooth and nail for the ones that are important, and to never give up.

#man... #not slandering kuma though he's well fleshed out and he's developing bit by bit #we know by the end of the flashback he'd do everything to protect bonney so he's getting there #one piece #one piece 1098 #one piece manga #one piece manga spoiler #one piece meta #op 1098 #bartholomeo kuma #one piece ginny #1 am feels #mine

[txttletale]

hey so like. i consider myself a leftist (not super read up on theory so idk what flavour to call myself) and i believe (specifically in the us) an armed revolution may be necessary in the future in order to achieve any political progress. i guess my issue comes in wondering if i am a hypocrite for being scared of the prospect of revolution? ideologically i agree with it but in practice i dont know if i would have the strength to actually participate. maybe its because im trans and disabled or maybe im just a coward but i genuinely dont know if i could continue living if i needed to physically fight for my continued existence. this isnt a gotcha or anything i just think youre probably smarter and more rational than me and would be able to teach me something. sorry if this is inappropriate but i was really curious as to what your take would be?

this is a very reasonable question: no, you're not a hypocrite or a coward. armed revolutions, including vital ones that improved the lives of millions, are universally brutal and violent ordeals. any communist who claims to have no trepidation about the idea of revolution is either a liar or unserious about their revolutionary politics. revolution isn't something anybody should want--it's something that, in the marxist analysis, is the necessary result of the intensification of reactionary violence against any worker's movement. now i personally doubt there will be a revolutionary situation in the USA in our lifetimes--but as long as you don't let the bloodshed of a hypothetical revolution blind you to the banal and daily bloodshed of the status quo, apprehension towards the realities of revolution doesn't make you a hypocrite. quite the opposite: it makes you somebody who takes your politics seriously

#ask

[sugaldean]

Super hot take. None of the Bad kids should be president and if one of them was to be it should be Fig. Actually no. Fig should be president.

Gorgug

I don't think I have to explain why Gorgug shouldn't be president? He has absolutely none of the wishes or motivations or skills associated with student president (Gorgug is my favorite don't come for me). He work on the shadow, like give revolutionary ideas out of nowhere and have iconic moment (pig cop) and inventions. But he is not head of the movement.

Adaine

Adaine would be kinda good but I don't think her anxiety would let her be that much of a public presence, also she changes things in other ways. She is thoughtful and helpful but isn't the type to make huge speeches and actions for everyday. She's part of the advisors with Riz but I don't think she would enjoy the president position.

Fabian

Fabian is party popular boy. Which is so important in your campaign to bring people's attention at first but he is not the one who make decisions. This man is incapable of memorizing a single important thought, let him be.

Riz

Riz would be good. But Riz tend to push his ideals on other people, they are amazing for him and I love him more than anything but I feel like he would push and push kids who just don't want to do good in school or succeed you know? Also I think Riz is perfect for advising/managing, he is smart, not so good with people even if he loves clubs, strategic, etc

Now. My top two candidates mostly because of how fucking interesting being president would be for their personal arc

Kristen

Yeah she's a mess, yeah she has no planning skills. But. Helio doesn't make mistake. She was the chosen one, she wanted to bring people in the light. Was she wrong then? Yes of course.

But Kristen has that power to rally people, she is kind beyond limit, she is impulsive in a way that is so original, she see things people don't see and her mind twist things in new ways.

This is why she could be good. Because if chaos is sometimes too much, knowing how to take a problem and make a solutions by looking at it through the complete opposite way can help people go through more things than they ever thought.

Fig

Now. There's a fricking president. Always thinks about other people's need. Listen to her advisors. Isn't scare to take the fall. Good time and stress management. She knows basically every class and their issues.

Does she like school? No. But she likes students. Is she an anarchist? Yeah but basically everyone is at Aguefort so she's even more perfect.

Does Fig wants the spotlight? Yes. She's scared of it, probably in a way scared of steeling it and being too much. But she deserves it. She deserves to scream her ideas and to be listened. Fig Faeth, paladin of students. Devoted to her friends, fighting for the greater good.

#dimension 20 #d20 #brennan lee mulligan #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #dimension 20 fhjy #d20 fhjy #Fantasy high #the bad kids #riz gukgak #kristen applebees #fabian aramais seacaster #adaine abernant #gorgug thistlespring #fig feath #emily axford #zac oyama #siobahn thompson #lou wilson #ally beardsley #brian murphy

[yourtongzhihazel]

modern conceptions of politics, especially in western liberal democracies exist in an extremely limited and extremely abstract framework which fails to adequately model or explain real material political-economy. The reason for this is simple: these models are not constructed based on scientific, materialist methods and real-world observations, but rather through ideas and concepts in an abstract world which is then brought down and plastered over a materialist world.

The classic "left-right" dichotomy commonly used today in political discussion has its origins in revolutionary france, where supporters of the new liberal order sat on the left of the assembly and supporters of the feudal order sat on the right. Today, this left-right dichotomy has taken on many different variations in definitions. Some say it compares groups which seek a bigger versus a smaller state. This interpretation, however, fails to model when the right wing advocates fore larger police and military, while the left does the opposite. Perhaps we mean something a little more concrete: more state intervention versus less state intervention. Yet this interpretation fails to explain when the right advocates for more state intervention in foreign policy or when fascists use the state to stabilize capitalist economies in crisis using the state. At the same time, it doesn't account for anarchists who wish to do away with the state entirely (more on this later). Liberal political science attempts to fix these contradictions by adding more axes, creating the popular "2-axis model". However, this model is equally as abstract and equally as useless as a model for political economy.

The 2-axis model adds the "libertarian-authoritarian" axis in order to attempt to rectify the simplicity of the left-right model. From the get-go, we can see it is already coated in liberal ideology, constructed in the abstract. The vague definitions of "authoritarian" fails to account for the fact that to do anything of meaning in the real world requires some level of authority, but I digress for now. One can easily dispel this model by simply pointing out that the "right-libertarian" quadrant, which advocates for the ability to own slaves and for privatized statehood, sits on the same side as proper anarchists, who advocate for the exact opposite. Similarly, principled communists, asked to take the "test" which accompanied this model, will solidly score in the "left-libertarian" quadrant. Here, many make the mistake of coming to the conclusion that the state socialists and the anarchists must have the same goals but different methods. This is only partially true. The truth is, the anarchist ideological framework is profoundly different from and antithetical to a Marxist framework, yielding important ideological differences which simply cannot be shown nor explained by the 2-axis model (more on this later as well).

The solution to these infantile models is not that they don't have enough complexity which adding more axes will surely solve. No! The solution is to build models of political-economy from a materialist and scientific observation of the world. You and all other people are material beings living in a material world. You have material needs, i.e. food, water, shelter, etc., which need to be addressed. Thus, society is organized around the productive forces which exist to satisfy these material needs. The productive forces within a society constitutes its mode of production; from primitive communism, to slave society, to feudalism, to capitalism, and beyond. A society's mode of production goes on to shape the ideas of that society which reinforce that particular mode of production. Therefore, ideology arises from the needs of satisfying material needs. In primitive communism, where there are no classes since every member of that society relies on each other for their continued survival, individualist ideology has no chance of flourishing because should you get to keep all your hunting and gathering to "punish the lazy and reward the producer", you may be well fed today and those "lazy people" will starve, but come a day where you miss a hunt or gather nothing, you will also come to pass and your ideology will pass with you. This is an example of how a society's mode of production reinforces its ideology, in this case, egalitarianism.

However, we do not live in primitive communism; we live in a class society. Classes exist in society as different groups of people who share their relationship to the means of production and share their material interests and arise as the productive forces of a society advances beyond that of the previous mode of production. Classes have distinct needs which sometimes run in conflict with the interests of other classes. As a society transitions between mods of production, the rising class prevails over the falling the class and takes the reign of political-economic power. In feudalism, the dying aristocratic and lord classes gave way in favor of the bourgeoisie as a class (of course, elements of feudalism such as monarchies and lords still exist in our modern society but the primary reigns of government, especially in bourgeoisie constructed liberal democracies lie in the hands of the bourgeoisie). Our modern world is society based on the capitalist mode of production with two main classes: the proletariat and the bourgeoisie; the former, which owns no means of production, and the latter who owns the means of production. These two classes exist in conflict with each other as each class has its own material needs. The proletariat aims to work as little as possible for as much compensation as possible. The bourgeoisie aims to extract as much labor as possible for as little compensation as possible from the proletarians. These interests are diametrically opposed to each other and can only be resolved through class warfare. The bourgeoisie employs the tools and institutions of the bourgeois state, which they constructed in the transition from feudalism to capitalism, and the proletarians engage in struggle via. strikes, unionization, boycott, and etc.. To justify these respective actions, the bourgeoisie has their own ideology, liberalism, and the proletarians have theirs as well, socialism. Bourgeoisie ideology, liberalism, has the enshrining of property rights as its foundational fact. From this, stems all other appendages of liberal ideology such as "universal rights and freedoms" and individualism (put a pin in this one). Proletarian ideology, socialism, has public ownership as its foundational fact. From here, all other branches of socialism stem.

From these classes in conflict, we can zoom in and see variations among them and in ideology to conform to their sub-class's material interests. Those of the national bourgeoisie stand to gain from tariffs and protectionism and push for these policies, while those of finance capital, who stand to gain from imperialism stand against them. Despite this, again, their primary condition of maintaining private property remain. Similarly, differing material needs within the proletariat lead to differing ideological trends within it. Those workers who are well paid and stand to gain from having a larger slice of the settler-colonial, imperialist pie will flock to bourgeois parliamentarism in order to achieve more concessions from the bourgeoisie, rather than seek total liberation of the proletariat. On the other hand, those who are brutalized by the those same systems both at home and abroad flock to the ideology of liberation: scientific socialism. From this material basis of ideology, we can see that a rudimentary form of "left-right" short-handing can be drawn: the left favors the ascending class, while the right favors the declining class. However, that is as far as the usefulness of "left vs right" extend.

Discussion on anarchism below the cut.

There are many commentators who ascribe to certain ideologies the descriptor of "more-left", "more-right", etc.. (including myself!). But this is not a strictly coherent model with rigid definitions. Indeed, when interrogating this line of thinking, it is hard, if not impossible, to settle on a definition of "left" versus "right". This is part of the problem laid out and explained previously. Part of its incoherence is its abstract nature; that it presumes that there is an infinite plane of ideology that has something more left of communism and then something more left than that. How is left-rightedness determined? Also entirely abstract. In the anarchist case, they ground their definition on equality vs hierarchy. However, as we shall see, this is shaky ground at best to build their framework on and indeed, we shall also see that its ideological roots are deeply intertwined with liberalism and all its ills.

The anarchist framework of analysis is immaterial and undialectical, in fact historically, they have discarded and reviled the scientific methodology laid out by Marx, Engels, and others, instead choosing to take up analysis rooted deeply in liberalism. Correspondingly, anarchism is a deeply individualistic ideology. We can see this through the anarchist view on "hierarchy" as a major ill against socialism. The concept of "hierarchy" is an abstract concept which is built, not on how people relate to the means of production, but rather of people's relation to each other through idealistic means of authority and power (of course, these things have materialist roots which is why we can point out how these structures exist in society, however, they do not exist as distinct subjects in a vacuum but are rather byproducts of class relations). Thus, the anarchist outlook is the liberation of the individual in order to liberate the masses, a fundamentally different outlook to the Marxists, who's motto is the liberation of the masses for the individual (put a pin in this too).

Anarchism also employs a moralistic outlook which is divorced from material reality. Is something "good" or "bad"? Is it unjust? These are the questions which concerns anarchism. Hierarchy is bad; authority is bad; the socialist revolution is good and therefore it will happen (favoring spontaneity over mass planning and organizing). However, dialectics tells us this is a fundamentally idealistic way of thinking. Capitalism is "good" in so far as it moves human society past feudalism but "bad" in so far as it now holds back socialism; the 8 hour work day is "good" in so far as it gives relief to the working class but "bad" in that it strengthens wage labor. Everything in life is ever changing and composed of forces in contradiction with each other and whose resolution moves the world forward thus we cannot then fully discard nor fully adopt something but rather have to support the "good" aspects and reject the "bad".

One of the greatest differences between the anarchist and Marxist framework of analysis is of class, or rather, the lack of class analysis in anarchism. Because of anarchism's individualist and liberal roots, it does not analyze society with a class analysis based on material needs. Instead, it relies largely on individual action rather than class action to achieve its goals. Thus, though it empowers the individual anarchist to employ direct action, it can lead to dangerous adventurism. It encourages mutual aid and other horizontal power structures but which lacks coherence in organizational power and fails to be effective in larger scales. It is deeply ironic for anarchism to put such weight on individual action which then burdens it with its reliance on spontaneity as its primary organizational force.

All of these positions (and more) point to the anarchist framework as outwardly socialist but inwardly liberal and which feeds into the primary point of contention between Marxists and anarchists: the state. By applying the moniker of "hierarchy" and "authority" onto every state which ignores the material differences and qualities of a state, the anarchist automatically discards the greatest tool of class warfare. Indeed, this reluctance to use tactics branded as "hierarchical", "unjust", "authoritarian" contributes to its certain failure at the hands of a counter-revolutionary force which has no qualms about the employment of the tool of state.

So why is it that anarchism is so popular in the west and so rare in the global south and among poc? There's many factors to this answer, all of them rooted in material conditions and ideological superstructure. The west, as the seat of imperialist capitalist power, has enforced hundreds of years of bourgeois ideology on its masses. As a result, its entire political ecosystem is dominated almost entirely by liberalism. Thus, those living in the west cannot help but be shaped by their political-economic conditions into adopting liberalism in some shape or form. Despite the prevalence of bourgeois ideology, people know that there's something wrong with the capitalist mode of production because liberals can say "things are great", "society is improving" all they want, but it doesn't change the fact that people go hungry and homeless. So what happens? You have people, workers or even petite bourgeois, who see their social being shaped by their material conditions, yet which still hold onto the liberal superstructure. Thus to resolve this contradiction, they have formed or joined the ideology which best fits their political-economy as a mix of socialism and liberalism: anarchism. This is not helped by the utter lack of class consciousness and working class organization in the west. As Lenin noted in 1901, "anarchism is the product of despair".

SN:AZ45

AN: As long as this post it, I think it probably goes without saying that I have left out a lot and jumped around in spots. For example, covering what dialectical and historical materialism should merit its own explainer. This is not an attack on individual anarchists, of whom I've had plenty of great organizational experience with; it is solely an attack on the ideological foundations of anarchism and its incompatibility with Marxism.

#AZ45 #mmp

[aziraphales-library]

I've been looking for some fics that are similar- or inspired by- it's a new craze by attheborder (on ao3), but haven't been able to find anything similar. do you have any recommendations? Thank you for running this amazing blog!

Similar in what way? We have a plentiful #social media tag you can browse. I found only a couple of fics featuring podcasts. Here they are along with a few more social media fics...

The Arrangement by apocryphalia (T)

After the failed apocalypse, Crowley convinces Aziraphale to start a historical podcast. Shenanigans ensue.

Paint a rainbow all around him by imaginary_glu (G)

Aziraphale takes up streaming. Crowley becomes "Mr. Teapot". They also really, really love each other, but that isn't new.

Read Between the Panels by comicgeekery (T)

Crowley is a big fan of Angel Reads, a niche podcast where a charming and snarky "Angel" gives his opinions on books he reads. Crowley's not a huge reader, but he likes the way Angel talks about the stories he loves. Meanwhile, Aziraphale isn't nearly as confident in real life as he seems on his show. It leaves him loved but still painfully lonely. One day a new Angel Reads episode comes out and Aziraphale insults books that Crowley actually really likes. It leaves Crowley mad enough that he actually writes in to complain...but it quickly turns into a playful, maybe even flirty, correspondence. It's not just heroes who have to be brave. Good thing these two have read enough stories to know how things go next!

Sin Pays But Botany Doesn’t by Anonymous (G)

After averting the apocalypse, Crowley is living in his car with a lot of free time on his hands. He posts a YouTube video talking about plants as a joke but finds internet famedom where a punchline should be. Being a YouTube botanist agrees with him, though. He likes talking about plants, and he usually doesn’t find many opportunities to do that outside of YouTube. So, Crowley adopts traveling the world in search of plants to film as a new hobby. Kept in the dark about this new hobby, Aziraphale, who is used to being Crowley’s sole object of attention and is unused to having to compete with anything for Crowley’s time, is curious about where Crowley goes when he’s not in London.

Press L in the Chat (for Love) by Phoenix_Soar (E)

Bickering fan-content creators Aziraphale and Crowley only have three things in common — they are both avid fans of a new revolutionary TV series about pirates, they are popular for their fantastic fanfiction and fanart… and they are members of the same discord server. Neither of them likes the other, but across the chaotic virtual world of a discord chatroom, who knows what can happen when these two unlikely fans are paired up for an exciting collaboration? Us. We know ;) Discord Server AU

And They Were Streamers by ghostrat (M) (WIP)

(Human) Twitch Streamer AU, as shared on Tumblr! Aziraphale and Crowley are two polar opposite Twitch streamers who are exceedingly popular in their own ways. Besides their moderators, no one watching would ever guess that they live together. Nor that their feelings run a whole lot deeper than friendship.

- Mod D

#good omens #ineffable husbands #social media #human au #mod d

[beakersmeepersmeep]

Something I am really looking forward to in the Community movie is (presumably) getting to see Troy return with a greater sense of who he is as an individual. I want to know about his hobbies and interests and opinions and values. And I want to know these things not just because I care about Troy as a character, but because I love the relationship between Troy and Abed.

I think that Troy has one of the more meaningful (albeit incomplete) character arcs in the show. We watch over the first two seasons as Troy lets go of his former identity as a jock and prom king, and learns that he can be vulnerable, or silly, or dorky. He realizes that being a man doesn’t have to look a particular way, and all of these realizations are largely due to Abed.

But stripped of his old identifiers, Troy begins to build a new identity largely based on his relationship with Abed. And while his relationship with Abed is unabashed, and joyous, and revolutionary (for both parties), the reality is that it’s not possible for Troy to build a stable, healthy identity based solely on a relationship with some other person, no matter how fulfilling that relationship is.

[I’m always slightly torn here with this lack of individual identity for Troy at this stage. On the one hand, it leads to this aforementioned meaningful character arc. Moreover, the idea of someone shedding an old identity and trying new ones on is a good and realistic storyline for a show set in college, especially one like Greendale. On the other hand, it sometimes seems like the writers just never got around to fully reconceptualizing the character of Troy after this shift away from jock-Troy, instead relying on his chemistry with Abed, together with DG’s talent for improvising funny one-liners, his ability to make gif-able faces, and his knack for portraying a physical and/or emotional meltdown. Okay, tangent over.]

In many ways we reach the full realization about Troy’s lack of an individual identity by Pillows and Blankets in the back half of season 3. And while we see some additional exploration of Troy via the Truest Repairman plot line as well as via his relationship with Britta, I think Troy largely postpones exploring his own sense of self (whether consciously or unconsciously) up until his decision to leave Greendale and sail around the world in Season 5. [I certainly don’t want to assign value to characters based on their labor output, but I think it’s telling that in the episode Repilot, Troy can’t seem to name anything he has been doing—whether recreationally or otherwise—and instead can only share a vague, half-joking plan to sue Abed in the future.]

Meanwhile we get some really wonderful Troy/Abed moments throughout this time period, but to me they often feel bittersweet, exactly because we as the audience are aware of this tension and its lack of resolution.

I’ve been focusing on Troy thus far—simply because Abed is the one that stuck around, so we actually do get to see him grow and change further—but Abed, as the other half of this duo, has the opposite struggle and we can see his journey in parallel to Troy’s:

Abed knows who he is as an individual but is inexperienced in connecting to others and in building and maintaining relationships. (Unlike Troy who is tremendously likable and connects easily with others but does not know who he is yet.)

It is Abed’s relationship with Troy that shows him he can in fact connect with others. (Just as Troy’s relationship with Abed helps Troy to shed his fake persona.)

But because Troy has a propensity to always defer to Abed and to not stick up for himself, Abed was able to build a relationship with Troy without fully accepting the importance of compromise in a partnership. (Similarly, Abed’s strong personality, imagination, and creativity meant that Troy could adopt Abed’s interests and goals instead of finding ones of his own.)

None of this diminishes the value of Troy and Abed’s relationship—if anything, I think it elevates its importance, as each was exactly what the other needed. But I think it does mean that, as written, Troy’s departure became the inevitable conclusion. And you could write a series that diverged from the prime Community timeline around Pillows and Blankets which allowed for Troy and Abed to both grow and change without either of them leaving, but that’s not the show we got, and ultimately, I’m not sure if it would be a better series. After all, I think Community really shines in this bitter-sweet intersection.

So one of the things I am most looking forward to in the Community movie is getting to know who Troy is as a more fully realized individual, and then getting to see the relationship between new Troy and new Abed. Having a more complete arc for Troy is something I’ve wanted for a long time, and I think it is going to be cool and funny and really cathartic.

#community #nbc community #troy barnes #abed nadir #trobed #six seasons and a movie

[letteredlettered]

Since people expressed interest in the comments about the music I used to write my current fic, I wanted to share some of what I explored to write it. I don't think that you need to know this canon or have read this fic to read this post, though I do spend a bit of time talking about how canon influenced the choices I made. Anyone who has been following this fic knows that it was supposed to be porn, and largely, it really still is for the most part a fic about sex. But I did do a lot of research on music with which I'm frankly not very familiar, and the process was really rewarding.

The fic is Time Signature, if you're interested. This post has a lot about music, electronic music, Chinese music, and music theory, as well as some links to music that interests me and inspired portions of the fic. I don't expect anyone to read anything this long, but it was nice to write it.

Canon. One of my favorite things about both book and drama canon is how in synch WWX/LWJ are cultivation-wise. It’s not just that they can predict the talisman the other will use or the seal the other will cast; they also have the same hunches solving mysteries, the same instincts protecting others, the same ideas about where to go. When writing an AU, it’s important to me to show that synchronization (beyond physical attraction and sex), mostly because I think it’s hot.

In canon, however, WWX revolutionizes cultivation, inventing a whole new method when no one ever thought that possible. I also think this is hot. I also think it’s hot if LWJ thinks it’s hot. Look, canonically, LWJ disapproves of demonic cultivation because it will injure WWX’s spirit and body, but imo there is a reason LWJ is so into WWX, and it’s not just because WWX bugs him. It’s not even just because WWX is really cute and happy and exuberant and everything that’s the opposite of his upbringing. I also like to think that it’s because WWX is a fucking genius, and LWJ doesn't mind the idea of upending tradition and the entire cultivation world as much as it really seems at first that he would; he just struggles with anything that could hurt WWX. So anyway, WWX being revolutionary, in basically a technological sense, is important to me.

Wangxian both play music canonically. LWJ’s playing is noted to be particularly powerful, and WWX’s chosen music is at least one part of his revolutionary cultivation method. Additionally, the song LWJ writes for them is an important plot point. It makes sense that in a modern AU, music is a point of connection, so that is what I chose for their careers.

The final point about canon I want to make in connection to the music for this fic is that this is a Chinese canon with Chinese characters set in China. I don’t think it’s wrong to write AUs set in the west. I have done so, and I think there is value in examining a Chinese canon that has become very popular in the west through the lens of the Chinese diaspora. But I also think that there is a lot of value in a western person such as myself trying to learn and understand the cultural context for a canon that I really like, even if I sometimes get it wrong.

I had decided to set this fic in China because I thought the setting would not strongly feature, which would give me an easy “in” to write something set in a place I don’t know much about. Directly after choosing the setting I chose their careers, which made me realize I needed to do a lot more research—both about the careers but also about the setting--than a fic that was supposed to be mainly porn should have really required.

Music genre choice. Lots of AUs I’ve read have Wangxian’s mutual interest be that they both play western classical instruments. This baffles me, but it’s what I’ve seen, so I loosely started there—ie, I spent some time thinking about what would be revolutionary in western instrumental music, which entailed doing some research on contemporary classical music. There are obviously pioneers in any music genre, folks doing new things, but it turned out I just did not know enough about this genre to really understand what would be truly avant-garde.

I took a step back and thought about the instrumental music I have personally heard that feels really new and different, and Philip Glass was the first thing that came to mind. I first heard of Philip Glass when I saw The Hours, for which he wrote the soundtrack. I still think that soundtrack is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard, and I did use it as inspiration for music in this fic, particularly LWJ’s. More on that later.

Philip Glass is great, but for all his eastern minimalist influences, he is a strong figure in the western paradigm. I did some research on Chinese contemporary instrumental music, but most of what I found had a really western flavor. I think there are two reasons for this—one is that I am in the west searching for articles in English; for all that we like to imagine the internet is universal, search algorithms and search history is actually making it far harder than it used to be to find material with which you are completely unfamiliar. Secondly, western music did in fact have a notable impact on Chinese music, which is fine, it’s still Chinese, but I worried about everything I wrote just sounding like it was about western classical, which is a concern of mine I’ll address more later.

Since I wasn’t finding what I wanted, particularly for WWX, in the “art music” (aka, lowercase “c” classical music, which Wikipedia says is also known as “cultivated music, serious music, or canonical music”—ie, instrumental music with strings, winds, percussion) scene, I realized I needed to examine the other contemporary music, by which I mean everything else. Since I am most familiar with rock, Radiohead immediately came to mind, but Radiohead is a band, and there are lyrics. Though the lyrics are not where the meaning of Radiohead songs lie (the vocals are treated as largely instrumental), if there were lyrics, I’d need to write about them, and I didn’t want to. More importantly, Radiohead is singular in what they do, which makes them difficult to categorize, and this makes them difficult to describe textually. You can say that Radiohead revolutionized rock, or even reinvented it, but that is not really addressing how fundamentally avant-gardeRadiohead is. Describing how revolutionary Radiohead is on paper really is just saying “but they’re different!” over and over again.

What I needed for WWX was a music genre that was revolutionary, an entire school of music that felt cutting edge and frankly, unfamiliar, and for that, I realized I needed my brother.

Some stories about my family. My brother is a music artist who creates electronic music. If you want to understand why it took me this long to get to my brother in this thought process, you should understand a few things about him. First, I love him a lot, but we’re not very close. Second, my brother is probably the quietest person I know—like, idk, LWJ levels of non-talking. Last, I do not understand my brother’s music. I’ve tried! I listened to it a lot! But when I didn’t understand, I asked questions, and my brother cannot explain any of it. He’s an expressive guy! Just not verbally, and as a very verbal person, I have a tough time when people cannot use their words. Like, even asking him what type of music he plays, he’ll say something like, “It’s complicated.” (This is a lie. He’ll look at me and say, “Type?” And I’ll try to explain what I mean. And he’ll say, “I don’t know.” And if I said, “Okay, but if you had to label it?” He’d laugh and say, “Why?” And if I said, “So I can better understand your music,” he’d think for a long time, then look very frustrated, and laugh, and say, “I don’t know?” I think we’ve literally had this exact conversation).

Anyway, possibly through one of these type of exchanges, where I’m grilling him like a school marm and he’s acting like I’m making him take a standardized test he hates (I’m his little sister. Would it be easier to subject him to these horrors if he was my little brother?), I learned that one of my brother’s influences is Aphex Twin. My brother loves Aphex Twin. I . . . don’t. I’ve listened to a lot of him (in order to understand my brother better); I do not like it, and I do not understand it. My brother talks about Aphex Twin like he’s a genius (if and when my brother talks at all). Now, my brother is a very smart guy; it’s not that I didn’t believe him when he said Aphex Twin was a genius, but he also gets . . . swept up by things, and as previously discussed, he doesn’t talk a lot, so I didn’t really understand what my brother meant by this. It took hearing about Aphex Twin randomly, in a couple other places, for me to realize Aphex Twin is a Big Deal. When I looked up Aphex Twin at some point in order to better understand the music my brother makes, I found that Aphex Twin is considered by many to be a genius and also a pioneer. Apologies to all of you who already knew that about Aphex Twin.

Sidenote, my brother’s wife is also a musician, though not professionally. She could have been, considering that she was ranked as one of the top flute players in Texas, and Texas is fucking huge. But no, professionally, my sister-in-law is in cognitive science and linguistics, which you may remember was the career LWJ had in Say More (my fiancée is also a linguist. I also know a few other linguists. My life is convenient for my Wangxian AUs, I gotta say). I mention my sister-in-law because my sister-in-law has enough musical acuity to also recognize that both my brother and Aphex Twin are geniuses, which really helped me to understand that even though I’m not really into this music at all, it really is a Big Deal.

So, I researched Aphex Twin and also went to my brother’s website for his music to find out what the hell this type of music is called, and it turns out there’s not a good name. IDM, which stands for intelligent dance music, is a label Aphex Twin himself famously does not like, and my brother labeled his own music as “acid, techno, house, electro.” Wikipedia said that Aphex Twin is known for techno, ambient, and jungle.

Anyway, into this confusing morass of electronic revolutionary music is where I decided to plunk Wei Ying.

Electronic music. Note for this section that I know nothing about electronic music. I’m writing this post partly to document the journey of discovery I went on to write this porn. I’m not really trying to educate anyone so much as I’m trying to provide insight as to what I researched for this fic and what the references are, in case the fic interested you.

When you really get down to it, music made with electronics has as many genres and styes as music made with more traditional instruments, and the labels are just as confusing (see this Wikipedia list of electronic music genres). For instance, “electronica” just means music made with electronics to some people, but to others it’s more specific. You’ve also got a bunch of other terms: ambient, EDM, techno, house, IDM.

This is all based on what I learned from Wikipedia, but here are some loose definitions as I understand them: There’s ambient, which is really made for background listening, and then there’s EDM (electronic dance music), which is made for active listening—ie, dancing. Within EDM you have lots of genres, such as techno; techno is usually characterized by a specific tempo and repeating structure, and house, which . . . is also characterized by a specific tempo and repeating structure, but the tempo is different. From what I can gather, house is also a bigger tent than techno; ie, many different genres and styles can be house, but techno is more often just techno. (Note that part of the reason all of this terminology has so much overlap is that it originated in different places; techno was invented in Berlin, house in Chicago.) Meanwhile, the list of genres of house is so big that it also has its own Wikipedia page, which is almost as large as the list of electronic music genres.

Note that there is such a thing as “house ambient”, which explodes the entire concept of ambient vs EDM. To aid in that explosion, IDM is described on Wikipedia as including styles such as ambient techo, and “is regarded as better suited to home listening rather than dancing.” What stands out about IDM, and the reason it is featured in the fic, is that it’s known for being experimental. (I’ll add that it emerged in the 90s, which isn’t great for my fic. Whatever WWX is doing, he is on the edge, and 90s music already old to him, even if he’s Aphex Twin’s biggest fan! But alas, my research could not tell me what is happening right now, because you really have to be involved in The Scene to understand what’s new. By the time it’s documented, it’s already really a little old.)

If you are researching electronic music and how it is revolutionary, you’re probably going to get into its evolution and history, since this is a new style of music. And if you are looking into the origins of this kind of music, you’re going to find Brian Eno. And if you’re looking into Brian Eno, you’re going to find minimalism.

Minimalism. Brian Eno is an extremely famous dude. I’d probably heard of him before, but I am very good with big concepts and pretty bad with details, so because I didn’t know anything about the bigger concepts behind ambient/electronic music/minimalism, I never paid attention. Now I’m hearing about him literally everywhere, which is funny, since it’s not like he’s new news. Ezra Klein was literally waxing poetic about Music for Airports just a month ago.

Eno is famous for his pioneering work in ambient music and electronic music, and, as one might expect, electronic ambient. Eno was always doing experimental, avant-garde stuff, and early on he embraced a minimal style. He later coined the term “ambient music.”

What’s interesting about this is that around the same time as Eno was doing this in later 1960s/early 1970s, a new kind of art music was being born in classical circles. This is the capital “M” Minimal music, for which—you guessed it—Philip Glass is really famous. And when you look at Philip Glass’s influences, he was deeply influenced by the minimalism of eastern music, especially Indian and Tibetan music. I couldn’t really find anything saying that Brian Eno was directly influenced by traditional eastern music, but Eno is definitely a fan of Glass and vice versa; they really build on each other.

This ended up just being a very cool intersection for the fic that I didn’t plan. I didn’t end up using it very much, but I must say I was stupidly pleased that the kind of music I was looking into for both of these characters has such deep roots in eastern music traditions. So now let’s talk a little bit about eastern music, specifically Chinese music, since that’s where this fic is based.

Chinese music. I did read a bit about Chinese music for this fic, and I have to say that I still don’t know a lot about it. As stated above, I’m in the west, using my western search techniques, looking for primarily articles in English (though I get Google to translate some things). I also just have a western understanding of music and music history, and it turns out, surprise, different cultures are different, and my entire paradigm for understanding music does not really apply to music from other cultures.

I, and many of us, want music to be a universal language, something that can move through all barriers and touch us in our souls. And it is! I have listened to and loved music not from my culture! But thinking of music as something intrinsically universal and therefore immediately moving to everyone really collapses the rich history of musical tradition all cultures have. Music really is like a language, in that it is built on the culture that creates it; it has its own internal logic; it has style and meaning that depend on the history of that tradition and the understanding of its audience. The brief reading I’m going to do to write some porn will not give me to understand the deep and rich tradition of Chinese music, but also, frankly, even if I turned all my efforts and career to learning and understanding this right now, I still would not have the best comprehension. I don’t even comprehend western music, and I grew up with it. So, forgive me for the paucity of my understanding and knowledge, and please correct me if I make mistakes.

When I think about Chinese music that I know about, I think of two things: modern and traditional. The modern stuff I’m thinking of is stuff like C-pop, but also the things you might hear on the soundtrack for a drama or movie. To me, none of this music sounds that different than western pop or western soundtracks. There are a few reasons for this: one, there are tons of Chinese music that is not reaching me. Two, maybe I just think it doesn’t sound that different because I can only really process what I recognize. Three, in a similar vein, maybe I’m thinking “that sounds like what I know” when really what I know sounds like what I’m hearing. Globalization is definitely doing things to music; if you’re telling me that Asian pop is not influencing western pop right now, I’m going to think you’re crazy, considering the influence and popularity Asian pop has in the US and Europe right now. And four, western music did have an impact on Chinese music, so there’s that.

Obviously, the music genre I chose for Wei Ying falls into the modern sphere, and I certainly looked into the techno/EDM/IDM/electronic/ambient/house scene in China. Articles I found stated it took a little longer for EDM to pick up steam in China, but now it’s definitely going strong. There are some great electronic music festivals, EDM clubs, underground EDM scenes, and EDM music artists (composers and DJs!) in China. Researching these artists was pretty difficult, especially because I wanted Wangxian’s musical discussions to be highly technical, and for highly technical discussions about EDM you are wandering into some very niche spaces. I’m sure such spaces about EDM in China exist, but they’re most likely to be in Chinese.

As I’ve said, globalization is a factor when it comes to cultural difference in music, and I’d add here that because this genre of music is so new, globalization has even more influence, from what I can tell. That said, I do not want to diminish how much influence very specific locations have to do with this type of music. EDM is very tied to clubs (because of the dancing) and performance (because of deejaying, and also because of things like live coding/algorave), which is probably why we get so many granular genres of house—Chicago house is different from Detroit, just for example. Regardless, I stuck with researching a lot of western artists for both the music and musical discussions in the fic, mostly because the music is supposed to be so new and avant-garde that is should not be something overly familiar to the reader, even if they’re steeped in electronic music genres.

Then there’s traditional music.

Traditional music. Traditional music obviously had a huge influence on Chinese modern music. The influence of traditional eastern music on modern eastern music, as well as traditional eastern music itself, is what really influenced a lot of western minimalism of the 1960s and 70s (and onward). To be clear, not all “eastern” traditional music is the same. It’s just as richly diverse regionally as traditional western music, if not more so, given “the east” is fucking huge—though I will say that a lot of people think of western music as pretty monolithic, because folk is characterized as a separate tradition than classical. When you consider ancient western folk, there’s a shit ton of it, and it’s quite diverse. There is also folk music in eastern music traditions, and this is different than music that would have been played in courts and palaces, so there’s really a ton going on.

Traditional music is what people think of when they think of eastern music being “weird,” which is something I really hate. Look, I love being weird; I think weird is cool; it’s great. But weird means unusual, and traditional music is very usual; people who say that just mean it’s unusual for them, and they should think about their words. What they’re trying to say is that traditional eastern music will sound very different for many western listeners, even though, again, we like to think of music as so universal, actually!, because it’s based on math, actually!, and math is so universal!!! The truth is that math is patterns, and patterns are things that your brain recognizes when there are familiar elements, and when there are unfamiliar elements your brain has trouble recognizing the pattern. So, again, music is a way to communicate across all kinds of boundaries, but it is not a universal translator. (But it does make you wonder . . . if Lan Zhan played Inquiry, could Aeneas answer???)

Regarding the unfamiliar math, what we’re talking about is scales. I think most people know this part. Eastern scales are based on math, just like western scales, but the frequencies are divided up differently. Among other things, traditional Chinese music did not use equal temperament, which means depending on what note you start with, the intervals for all the notes on the scale were be different. A way of thinking about this, at least as I understand it, is that a piano is even tempered. All the notes are always the same whether you’re playing in C major or B flat, because you have no control over the frequency produced when you press the key. But if you’re using just intonation—say you’re using an instrument with just a few strings—you’re adjusting the frequency of the note to match your scale. It requires extremely precise hearing and playing ability.

Notation for traditional Chinese music was really different than how I as a westerner understand it. For one thing, it didn’t include rhythm, and for another, it represented more a framework for improvisation than every single precise note. (See Gongche notation, Wikipedia.)

Authorship was also thought of pretty differently. When I googled “great Chinese composers,” the only results I was getting were twentieth century. There are some great ancient Chinese composers, but I had to do a lot of digging to find them, and trying to find someone like the Chinese equivalent of Beethoven is just the wrong approach. When you get right down to it, this really seems to be about the fundamental difference between western individualism vs eastern collectivism and community-based thinking. The individual artist is not the hero of the story. That said, the tradition of the music is very heroic. For instance, the notation allows such variation that the same piece can really build and grow through different artists, much like a story through oral tradition. Additionally, for an artist in an ensemble piece to stand out would really be quite rude; the point is not the individual talent of the musicians but the fundamental beauty of the piece. (This was a particularly hard thing to research, and I mostly found out what I laid out above from various folks answering questions in forums. The best one I found is here.)

Another thing is that harmony, as we think of it, was just not really a thing in traditional Chinese music. The focus was on a melody, which is where minimalism comes in. I’d add here that the “as we think of it” is pretty important, because the western paradigm, including western music language, is not super great at really capturing the nuance of Chinese music. I am terrible at tracking my sources when I research stuff for fic, so I was trying to find some of them now, and I came across this article, which examines the harmony that did exist, but how different it is from what we think of when we think of western harmony.

Despite the reading I did on this subject, very little about Chinese traditional music made it into the fic. I do have Lan Zhan reading a book on traditional music that he hates. This isn’t based on a book I found, but rather to show that Lan Zhan isn’t really into the idea of musical “purity,” that is, ideas of what you should and shouldn’t do with music. That said, I’m not really aware of what strictures around traditional Chinese music are like, or what the Chinese thought is on that. I am aware of how deeply restrictive western thought is regarding music theory, and that’s really where that part of the fic was coming from.

I’d originally had Lan Zhan reading a book on western music theory and very deeply hating it, but I also felt like having him read a book on western theory could reinforce the idea that he’s working within a western paradigm, when really the whole point is that this Lan Zhan very intentionally uses traditional music values. Due to his inspiration from Wei Ying, he’s breaking the norms of how that music works, but he's not necessarily making it western; he’s making it avant-garde. Basically, my inspiration was a Chinese Philip Glass, but I didn’t want to say that because as mentioned above, Glass is still western, no matter his influences. That said, Wei Ying does compare Lan Zhan to Philip Glass and also Tan Dun, who you might recognize as the guy who did the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, among many other very famous projects.

Tan Dun has in fact been called the Chinese Philip Glass, which is probably not very respectful to Tan Dun, who is himself an incredible (and experimental!) composer. I should note, however, that Tan Dun is Chinese American—he was born in China, but got a degree at Columbia and has lived in New York since. Also, he is particularly famous for marrying Eastern traditionalism with western style, and that really wasn’t what I wanted for Lan Zhan. I didn’t want Lan Zhan to be incredible because he was using western traditions, though he is familiar with them and can make very talented use of them. A lot of very famous Chinese modern composer are famous for that, and that music is still very Chinese. That said, I felt that if I made that Lan Zhan’s style, it would feel like I was saying Lan Zhan’s music is special because it’s western, and that was something I really wasn’t keen on.

In the end, I possibly did the fic and traditional Chinese music a disservice by having Lan Zhan read his book and hate on it. One of the whole reasons western music theory sucks is it can be pretty racist, and that’s what I was trying to avoid, but by conflating my rage at western music theory with eastern, I didn’t really help things much. But anyway, since I’ve now mentioned it, let’s just take a slight detour to talk about what I mean by racist music theory.

Western music theory racism. There’s a scene in the movie Tár that really solidified my feelings on the subject. In it, a student who identifies as BIPOC and pangender, says they don’t really have much use for Bach because of Bach’s misogynist history. The extremely famous director, Tár, played by Cate Blanchett, lambasts the student for “cancelling” Bach because of Bach’s personal life. The student goes on to say that they really just don’t have much interest in cis male white composers, and Tár continues to lambast the student for considering things like gender and race in conjunction with the art.

My understanding of this scene was that it was demonstrating that Tár is a jerk, so full of herself that she can’t listen to other voices, and so steeped in her 18th century western ideas of genius that she’s literally silencing the music voices she’s supposed to support. That was not most people’s reading of the scene, and in retrospect, possibly not the intention of the film. It seems rather telling that not a lot is known about Bach’s misogyny or lack thereof; there are plenty of other “great” western composers that are known to be worse in terms of misogyny and abuse, and yet the film did not make this scene about them. In retrospect, maybe that scene wanted to paint this student as kind of ignorant for cancelling Bach, and Tár really puts them in their place when she describes how art is more important than the artist.

Fuck that. I certainly believe that art is more important than the artist. JK Rowling sucks; that doesn’t mean I will stop loving HP fic and the part it’s played in my life. But the ugliness of the scene is that it hinges on importance of Bach, and look here, shocker, Bach is not essential, just as JKR is not essential if you decide you don’t ever want to familiarize yourself with the literature of TERFs. Even if you want to be a musician and create or conduct music, Bach is just not essential.

He’s pretty important if you want to be a western music historian, true, but when we talk about music there are many, many music traditions that are incredibly worthwhile and important that not only weren’t created by cis white men, but also weren’t ever derived or influenced by cis white men. If you think that you need Bach to know and love and create and perform and conduct music, it’s because you’re operating in a single paradigm that has become yes, universally known, but also for that reason oppressive and imperialist. I am not saying western classical music is bad because it’s imperialist, just to be clear. Bach’s great! Hate ‘im, but I do love me some Beethoven and he was also very cis and male and white and also a complete douche! What I’m saying is that forcing this music tradition on others is deeply imperialist, and it happens all the time.

Anyway, this is really a tangent, because despite my very good intentions to write about Chinese music, as I have stated, almost everything I used for reference was western, even a lot of the stuff I listened to. Maybe I just wanted to acknowledge that that’s a little racist, even though I tried not to be. Maybe I also wanted to hate on Tár and leave you with this interesting video about white supremacy in music theory.

References. Finally, we’ve reached the part I had originally intended to post, which is why I started writing this. Below are the essays and articles I used to write this fic. They were used in three ways: 1) to describe the music (though I also listened to things, see next section), 2) to inform Lan Zhan’s critiques and Wei Ying’s ideas—though I read a lot of essays to do that, just a crazy amount considering how little of the fic is actually about that, and 3) to describe the reading material Wei Ying and Lan Zhan exchange.

Music Beyond Airports – Appraising Ambient Music

This is a series of essays largely focused around Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, though there’s a lot of other stuff as well. I didn’t read everything in here, but the collection is absolutely fascinating. “Ambient House: “Little Fluffy Clouds” And The Sampler As Time Machine” is one of the “articles” Wei Ying sends Lan Zhan; meanwhile, the collection as whole is what Lan Zhan sends Wei Ying when he says he’s been reading about ambient house. Additionally, “Adaptive Game Scoring With Ambient Music” really influenced Lan Zhan’s commentary about arpeggiation, the first time he comments on Wei Ying’s music.

Counterpoint - Tracking in the Music of Aphex Twin

I have some embarrassment about this, given that the article is about counterpoint, and as I have discussed above, eastern traditional music doesn’t really employ that in the way westerners think about it. However, it’s also pretty backwards to restrict Wei Ying to traditional eastern music, as modern Chinese music includes plenty of counterpoint, and part of the point of the fic is that Wei Ying is doing entirely new things that haven’t been done before. Well. They’ve been done by Aphex Twin, as described in this piece, which also describes the first piece that Wei Ying plays for Lan Zhan in the fic, in the car. I did lift the phrase “pedagogy of counterpoint,” and could not decide whether it was long enough or significant enough to credit in the fic.

Unequal Temperament: A Review of Aphex Twin’s SYRO

I can’t remember what I used this article for. It’s an interesting read.

Reverb Machine (the entire website)

This is the site I kept returning to over and over and over again. Most of the articles about electronic really focus on either the equipment used or chords. In the fic, Lan Zhan isn’t supposed to know much about equipment or how any of it is used, because he does not do electronic music. Also, I didn’t really want to talk much about chord progressions, because those discussions are steeped in western music theory, and I wanted it to be possible for Wei Ying to be using the kind of scales traditional Chinese music used, even if a lot of modern Chinese music does use an even-tempered 12-tone scale. However, this site has a lot, and I ended up returning to it again and again so Wei Ying could say an offhand thing about reverb, and to describe certain things.

Notably, Wei Ying’s track, sex.mp3 is loosely based around Trent Reznor’s and Atticus Ross’s soundtrack to The Social Network. I haven’t even talked about Trent Reznor, but he was also someone I considered deeply when I started thinking about making Wei Ying do electronic music. In case you don’t know, Reznor was the artist behind Nine Inch Nails, but in later years he moved on to more experimental things, including movie soundtracks. Side note, movie soundtracks and video games is where a lot of these experimental artists doing either minimalism, ambient, or electronica, or a combination of all three end up, and I ended up reading a lot about video game music.

But anyway, when I saw the Social Network, I came out of it 1) admiring Aaron Sorkin and wishing I didn’t admire Aaron Sorkin because he’s kind of a douche, 2) shipping Mark and Eduardo way too much for my comfort, 3) going HOLY SHIT THAT SOUNDTRACK. Turns out I was not alone in finding that soundtrack totally different and new compared to anything I have ever heard, because as it turns out, it really was—wait for it—revolutionary. I understand that I have now said that about Glass, Eno, Radiohead, and Aphex Twin, but hey, people are doing things in music. Like I get that pop and hiphop artists are revolutionizing their genres all the time, but also it is possible for music as we know it to be redefined, and it’s not just the weird shit you hear that sounds like noise (there is a place for the weird shit that sounds like noise, and Brian Eno is closer to it than any of the above mentioned; I am not dissing weird shit that sounds like noise, because it is part of how we get where we are going).

Anyway, I used this website’s essay about The Social Network’s piece, “In Motion” to describe some of the music and inform some commentary on it.

“East Meets West: A Musical Analysis of Chinese Sights and Sounds, by Yuankai BaoSounds, by Yuankai Bao” by Jiazi Shi

This was the only essay I found that really had the extremely niche technical jargon that I really wanted for the fic that was also about Chinese music. You’ll note that it’s about a Chinese composer who is, again, famous for marrying eastern and western tradition, but this was what I could find in English, and I searched a lot. You’ll note that Lan Zhan’s very specific comment about the key change is something very directly inspired by this grad school dissertation. You’ll also note that this is where I found “Flowing Stream,” including a description of the song and the lyrics.

Music. A lot of fics like this one will link you to a specific piece that the character is playing. I could not do that, because the music in my fic is very intentionally made up. As I have been saying, the whole point is that Wei Ying is pushing the boundaries, inventing music that does not exist. So is Lan Zhan, by the end. I listened to music to inspire the descriptions, but it is not what they are playing, and almost none of it is Chinese. I’d be very interested in finding some Chinese music that is working on some of the principles of minimalism and electronic that these pieces employ.

Aphex Twin – Stone In Focus

Now you’ve come to the climax—this is really the story of how I learned to love Aphex Twin. This piece makes me cry. It’s what I used to describe the piece that has the remix of Lan Zhan’s guqin piece from 12 years ago. Obviously, the guqin piece mentioned in the fic is the canonical piece, Wangxian, but I find Wangian in the drama cheesier than I want it to be, and this Aphex Twin piece doesn’t have the Wangxian part. It’s just the sad longing part before Wangxian enters, but you’ll also notice that there are no flutes! Again, this is not the piece Wei Ying wrote; it’s just what I used for the description.

I didn’t link to the YouTube video I was watching, because the video was a collection and this didn’t come on until after minute thirteen. But that video just has this very sad tunnel that looks like maybe it’s for a train, and the rain is falling, and that makes me cry as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHl4NVytGpo&t=1074s

Book featuring Ndidi O - Hold On, I'm Coming

Wait, you’re saying, this is not electronic/house/ambient at all; this is just a trick to get me to watch one of your favorite wangxian vids! You’re right! But frankly, I was not focused on the genre when describing the music; I was focused on getting the feel of it that I wanted. The opening sequence to this was what I used to describe the track they make love to. (Lan Zhan starts making out with him and kind of slowly humping him to the track with the wangxian remix, but then Lan Zhan demands he plays something else, and this is what I listened to to get the feel for it.)

This pieces is a cover, and frankly, I can’t find out much about it. But just thinking about it turns me on and makes me cry and makes me feel so much, I can’t do it too often.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “In Motion,” from soundtrack to The Social Network

As noted above, this piece inspired sex.mp3, but I will say that the article I linked above about this piece, as well as the memory of the soundtrack itself, inspired descriptions more than listening to the piece itself. In the fic, sex.mp3 is initially described as “violent.” This was because I didn’t know if the track would play a big part in the fic, and then when it did, I really had to change to both to fit the meaning and the flavor I wanted; it became “anxiety inducing,” and that’s when it became “In Motion.” “In Motion,” however, is kind of too bright and peppy to really be sex.mp3, though I will say I was trying to listen to it just to write this section of the post, and I had to turn it off. It makes me SO anxious.

Philip Glass – soundtrack to The Hours

I’m linking the whole soundtrack, because in the fic Lan Zhan writes several related pieces, which is what this soundtrack is. I can’t even recommend one piece on this soundtrack, because it’s the thing as a whole that really makes you cry, and I can’t say I listened to a specific part of it to describe Lan Zhan’s music, because I know it so well that I only have to listen to a small piece to get all of it.  

Flowing Water, played by Chen Leiji

The part this played in the fic is obvious. I listened to at least five versions of Flowing Stream/Flowing Water, and this is the one that I like the best. However, like all the renditions I listened to, the piece eventually becomes pretty complex and different than I wanted for Lan Zhan. In fact, what the narration describes as “showing off technique” is what I found in all recordings of this piece. I guess if you’re going to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on YouTube you’re going to do something impressive with it, but I will say this piece is still very close to what I wanted.

I will also say that when I searched for this piece, as well as several other traditional songs, the search results had a lost of stuff that said you can listen to these pieces for tranquility and calm and meditation. I suggest listening to this one as extremely passionate and longing, and you’re going to get a lot more from it. If you resign it to the background, yeah, it’s kind of nice. If you let each note really speak to you, you’re going to really ache in a beautiful way.

Brian Eno – Ambient 1, Music for Airports

After hearing so much about Eno and Music for Airports, I was a little afraid I wouldn’t like it. After all, this isn’t really my genre, and witness how long it took me to find something I liked by Aphex Twin. However, I really needed some inspiration for the piece Wei Ying composes after Lan Zhan breaks them up, so I started listening to it.

The opening to this album is not the heartbreaking thing that the fic describes. It in fact does break my heart, but that is because there is something so sweet about it, lonely and sweet, but also perfectly fine being by itself. This piece is like a child alone in a room, figuring out blocks. This piece is like a cat on a piano, content with its nonsense noise. This piece is what it’s like to be alone and to be fine with that, to love from afar and be fine with that. It still brings me to tears, listening to it.

Radiohead – Everything in its Right Place

Apparently I did not succeed in writing all the music without Radiohead. I will say it happened because I happened to be watching a TV show that just happened to use this song right when I needed something powerful. I was already thinking about them, because my BFF was listening to a podcast about In Rainbows, which explains the children shouting “Yay!” in 15 Step. I really wanted something other than rain to get sampled in Wei Ying’s music, and my brother has specifically used his children talking or his babies crying as samples. Once Lan Zhan knows about A-Yuan, I wanted to use that idea, so I listened to 15 Step again, which is far too peppy for what I needed. But then Everything In Its Right Place came on, and it’s actually way too melancholy for what I needed, but that doesn’t really matter; I just needed to get a few notes described, so this is what I used for inspiration for what Wei Ying plays Lan Zhan after he admits to being in love with him. I will just say that re-listening to this song really does remind me of just how much Kid A means to me, but also how much it means to, like, music. There was really nothing like it at the time.

-

I will end this post by saying that I am not, in fact, a "music" person. So many people need and rely on music to get them through tough times. I mostly don't care about it. I don't have a Spotify account, and I can't imagine taking the time to really curate playlists.

But one thing I can say about me and my tastes is that I'm interested in learning. I want to try new things and hear things that I haven't heard before. To be a little self-aggrandizing, I think that that's a good thing. I think it makes me a better person to work on listening to things that I'm a little unfamiliar with and learn what's great about them. I think I got to do that quite a bit writing this, even though in the end I used a lot of pieces I was familiar with to do the actual writing. I hope that maybe someone reads this and decides to listen to something new, just like I did.

[communistkenobi]

Sorry if this is a dumb question can you talk a little bit more about what you mean when you say someone’s politics are reactionary? And what the opposite of reactionary would look like in politics or media or what have you? I get that it’s a bad thing but not totally why and also what something better looks like

Not a stupid question at all - I use the term reactionary broadly to refer to right-wing responses to/analyses of current political circumstances. They are reacting to social, economic, and/or political progress and fighting for those things to be dismantled or destroyed in order to return “back” to an idealised past where those social and political advances were not available to people. This is the reason why the right wing has an eternal obsession with “tradition.” I don’t know the exact scope of the term’s lineage within Marxist thought specifically, but part of reactionary politics is, well, reaction - there is no political imagination offered beyond what already exists or has existed, reactionaries can only react to current conditions, and so right wing political projects demand a backwards historical trajectory, either to an earlier stage of capitalism or even feudalism, where these institutions better enforced (in their view, not necessarily in reality) gendered divisions of labour and gendered roles in society, cisheterosexual norms and practices, racial segregation, imperial and colonial domination, aristocratic class structures, and so on. These are founded on moral claims about what society “ought” to be like, and those moral claims are often bound to religious authorities like the Christian church, intellectual and political projects like white supremacy, colonial states like the US or France or Canada or the UK or etc, and so on. The goal is to protect these existing institutions and reinvigorate them with more political and social power - to make them great again, one might say! 

Often to justify these political goals, claims are made about harm being done to a nation or people (this is what animates “the great replacement” conspiracy about white people being bred out of society), to traditional family values, to IQ, but these are not empirical claims being made - the harm is metaphysical, the progress they oppose destabilises idealistic categories like gender or race, it’s not actually physically harming real human beings in the world. Reactionaries can hold the belief that the white race needs to be protected from non-whites, for example, despite the fact that “race” is not something that can be discovered or proven in the material or natural world, it is a fiction that organises society hierarchically but is not premised on anything real. Reactionaries equate the destabilisation of these categories with harm (eg trans people destroy the gender binary, gender equality destroys the need for men, racial equality harms whites), and so their opposition is founded on maintaining these categories, not reducing harm. The harm is part of their goal! It’s why when you point out that, for examples, trans healthcare greatly improves the lives of trans people in order to rebut reactionary claims that most trans people regret transition, they don’t care - their goal is not to reduce harm, it is to maintain existing gendered institutions and norms. They are using the language of harm for rhetorical purposes, but they are not making empirical claims about harm because they don’t give a shit about reducing harm to trans people.

It is opposite to revolutionary politics, a political imaginary looking to produce new institutions, new forms of social and economic relationships, new political horizons not previously developed in human history, or to build upon past projects that have come before. These projects are premised on analyses of current political and social conditions in order to identify the harms they cause. Things like decolonisation, socialism, transfeminism, and so on can act as (potentially) revolutionary political projects that seek to abolish old social/political relationships and hierarchies, be they gender, capitalism, settler colonialism, etc, for the purpose of creating a more just and equitable society. Demands to abolish old social and political forms are founded on empirical claims of harm - settler colonialism produces harm, the gender binary produces harm, capitalism produces harm, etc., and we can measure and assess the extent of these harms. This is part of the reason people claim Marxism is scientific, because its political conclusions and proposed solutions are based on an analysis of “material conditions” ie the real world & its various structures

#asks #anyway hope that answers ur question ! #I guess you can also call it progressive politics although that has a lot of pre-existing baggage and vagueness to it #like I don’t want to lump liberals in with this definition because they have different goals and sets of analysis #effortpost

[humansofnewyork]

(36/54) “The religious fanatics were less than ten percent, but you couldn’t tell them apart. They looked like us. They spoke the same language. They did what no invader had been able to do for three thousand years, erase our nation, our culture, our connection to the past. But they did it from the inside. In the beginning things were relaxed. The first Prime Minister was a pious Muslim, but he was an educated man. A thoughtful man. Mitra attended an event where he was speaking, and his wife wasn’t even wearing a hijab. But the clerics slowly worked their way into government. And the more they got power, the more the environment became closed. Cinemas were shut down. Music was banned from television. The poetry of Farrokhzad was banned. It’s not that Mitra promoted Khomeini, but she defended him. She’d say that the king wasn’t innocent either. She said that she liked the hijab. She felt that it was a symbol of modesty, and respect for tradition. At the time I was more religious than Mitra. But I couldn’t make her understand: the problem isn’t Islam. There is nothing wrong with hijab. But there must be 𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘥𝘪. There must be the freedom to choose. I think Mitra only took the other side because she wanted to discourage me from speaking out. She wanted to keep me safe. Dr. Ameli had already gone into hiding. The regime was looking for any reason to go after people. They’d sent agents to Nahavand looking for evidence of corruption, but they could not find a thing. One day Khomeini ordered every member of parliament to pay back their salaries. But my former colleagues in the opposition petitioned for an exemption. They argued that we’d been critical of the king’s policies, and at the last minute an exemption was granted. One of my colleagues requested a meeting with a leader of the Revolutionary Council. He wanted to express his gratitude, and he asked me to come along for support. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t feel any gratitude at all. I hadn’t done anything wrong. It would have been unjust to take my salary. But he begged me to come. And he promised that I would not need to speak.” 

متعصبان مذهبی کمتر از ده درصد بودند. اما اسلحه‌ در دست آنها بود. شبیه خودمان بودند. با زبان ما سخن می‌گفتند. کاری کردند که هیچ اشغالگری در طول سه‌هزار سال نکرده بود - نابودی ملت ما، فرهنگ ما و پیوند با گذشته‌مان. آنها این کار را از درون انجام دادند. در آغاز همه چیز آرام بود. نخستین نخست‌وزیر مسلمانی مؤمن بود. تحصیل‌کرده بود. مردی اندیشمند بود. میترا در مراسمی با نخست‌وزیر جدید و همسرش شرکت کرد. در آن مراسم خانم نخست‌وزیر حجاب نپوشیده بود. اما روحانیون آرام آرام وارد ساختار دولت شدند. نخست معاون، سپس وزیر شدند. با افزایش قدرت روحانیون فضای سیاسی بسته‌تر ‌شد. سینماها را بستند. پخش موسیقی از تلویزیون ممنوع شد. شعرهای فروغ فرخزاد ممنوع شد. میترا هرگز برای خمینی تبلیغ نکرد. اما از او دفاع می‌کرد. می‌گفت که شاه بی‌گناه نبوده است. می‌گفت دوست دارد حجاب بپوشد. فکر می‌کرد که نمادی از فروتنی و احترام به سنت است. آن زمان من آداب مسلمانی را بیش از او پیروی می‌کردم. می‌خواستم بداند که اسلام مشکلی ندارد. حجاب مشکلی ندارد. مهم حق گزینش است. بایستی آزادی باشد. بایستی آزادی گزینش باشد. جانبداری او از آنان تنها از ترس جان من بود. او می‌خواست که مخالفت نکنم و خاموش بمانم. دکتر عاملی پنهان شده بود. دادگاه‌های انقلاب دنبال هر بهانه‌ای می‌گشتند تا مردم را بازداشت کنند. آنها نمایندگانی را به نهاوند فرستاده بودند تا شاید نشانی از فساد بیابند. آنها چیزی نیافتند. روزی خمینی دستور داد که همه‌ی نمایندگان مجلس باید دریافتی‌های خود را برگردانند. من تنها پانزده تومان در حساب بانکی‌ام داشتم. نمی‌دانستم چه باید کرد. همکاران من در گروه اقلیت مجلس گرد آمدند. نامه‌هایی نوشتند و استدلال آوردند که آنها همیشه از کارهای شاه انتقاد کرده‌اند. در پایان گفته شد که نمایندگان اقلیت دریافتی‌هایشان را نگه دارند. یکی از همکاران درخواست جلسه‌ای با رئیس کمیته‌ی انقلاب اسلامی کرده بود. می‌خواست از او سپاسگزاری کند. من کار نادرستی نکرده بودم. گرفتن دریافتی من ناعادلانه بود. از من خواست که با او همراه شوم. دلخواه من نبود، پافشاری کرد، گفتم من آنجا سخنی نخواهم گفت، پذیرفت

[frevandrest]

What do you think of Saint-Just’s views on women? He clearly cared about women’s basic rights which wasn’t a given at that time period but he also comes across as pretty “essentialist” I guess but that might just be a general 18th century idea.

Saint-Just was big on women's rights. Well, in the context and understanding of his time period. He wouldn't be seen as a hyper feminist in our days, but in the context of 18th century, he was pretty solid. Even among revolutionaries (he wasn't the best in that regard but definitely far, far from worse. That Hérault's nonsense about what women are for and female vs male brain? Saint-Just would never, at least based on what we have from his writing on the topic).

Saint-Just was big on women being equals to men, although his view on what that means is not necessarily ours. At the same time (and as part of that, I feel), he was big on protecting women from male violence. The "who hits a woman is to be put to death" is just one example. There is a lot about it in the Institutions, where he gives women rights he doesn't give to men (for example, that women can reject a selected tutor or that women cannot be censored). In his other writings, too (punishments for sexual violence in Organt).

That being said, yes, he seemed to have been a gender essentialist in some ways. They all were. 18th century is a curious beast, because the whole idea of sexes as opposites was not universal, and they all knew of people who transcended gender "boundaries". But even with that, most people believed that men are men, and women are women, and that each have their specific nature that is given. So, yes, it was essentialist.

What is interesting about SJ's gender essentialism is that he attributed to women some things not typically listed (or perhaps they were more commonly listed in 18c? But I couldn't find anything). He felt that women need a degree of independence, that they need to be "left alone" to be autonomous and think of their things and occupy themselves. And that it's not good if men get too much in the way of that. I am not even sure how to define it, but it is a subtle yet present theme from Organt (Nice saves the day on her own, to the letter to his brother in law on how to treat his sister, to that cringe advice in his notes about how to not be clingy around women).

#ask #anonymous #saint-just #i guess this is more political #we know very little of his personal opinions on women #but there is some stuff #so i can add that in part 2 of this answer

[anarchistauthor]

@anarchistauthor Really, a good chunk of the male characters end up being typical male archetypes, but having their typical expectations and archetypes put under a microscope and stripped of plot armor for the sake of the greater narrative:

Ozma and Oscar being different types of Chosen Ones, with the former being someone who being chosen results in him being manipulated by the deity who "chose him" into turning against his lover, and because of the fallout of that devolves into a manipulative liar who basically alienates everyone because he's too dogmatically stuck in his ways to acknowledge that he's being played for a fool by the very deity who chose him.

Oscar meanwhile gets the farm boy with a grand destiny shtick...but as basically just another pawn in a grand crusade against the initial Big Bad, doomed to have his identity subsumed against his will for the sake of a greater good that will never come because of the former's inability to get out of his situation. Oscar, instead of being the protagonist, instead finds himself in a fight for his own right to exist as a person, having to push back against his own transformation while trying to figure out who he's really supposed to be in this mess.

Ren's the typical "my village is dead because of monsters and I want revenge", but he ends up getting his revenge very early on, and it's revealed that it was ultimately a red herring for his ACTUAL issues, which involve his desire for a sense of certainty and control over his life by becoming a huntsman and destroying the destroyer of his village...which doesn't actually resolve anything. He instead ends up having to deal with the aftermath and the unearthing of his deep-seated traumas regarding authority and his own sense of powerlessness and the consequences it nearly has for his relationship with Nora, who finds herself on the opposite side of an ideological impasse as a result.

Adam is the revolutionary pushed by a desire for revenge against those who tormented him, but instead shows how much his desires twisted him until he started caring more and more about his own bloodlust, and willingly nearly destroyed everything he claimed to stand for because he couldn't face reality of how much he was making things worse for his race.

And Ironwood is the tough military man who views himself as the last thing standing against an unbeatable foe, who has to make the tough decisions that his comrades refuse to make...but it soon becomes incredibly clear that rather than that being true, he's more akin to a mall cop mixed with a politician playing soldier in a war that he doesn't really understand at all, because he's never actually FOUGHT a real war, and his bullheaded ignorance and self-importance leads to him alienating everyone and nearly ruined everything.

And all of these things end up leading to the point that the current world order that Ozpin created is deeply flawed and actively useless against the likes of Salem and the Gods, and how our heroines need to change their methods and strategy if they want to have any hope of actually fixing the true situation, instead of just ending up blindly repeating the same mistakes that their predecessors did.

At the end of the day, RWBY is the story of four girls who do everything they can to save the world. Not because they think they're better than everyone else, or more qualified, and certainly not because of "destiny" hogwash. Just because they know someone has to do it, and they've seen all the ways that everyone else who tried has fucked it up. Keeping secrets, isolating, manipulation, those tactics all failed completely. So, the Ruby Rose method is to do the opposite: Be honest and forward about the issue, ask for help, and count on others.

And it worked.

#rwby #rwby9 #ruby rose #sick of these men

[artofkhaos404]

Hobie Brown is a fantastic character.

His design, concept, uniqueness and how HOT he is make him altogether very likeable. But all these things are not why I love him so much; it's what he represents that gets me.

The symbol in modern media he is for many different types of people. For one, he's pretty awesome for people of color to enjoy. Another black hero who can get down to business is always welcome, though it's nothing new for the Spiderverse universe with Miles Morales being our main protagonist. Having a British black character makes it all the more fun, diverse and interesting!

All that being said, the thing that warms my heart about Hobie Brown is what he means for the alternative community.

Im a punk. I'm also an anarchist.

Like anyone, I look for people in media who represent me in both appearance and ideals. As a plus sized person, finding people in media who look like me and aren't part of the toxic stereotype for fat people is uncommon. Chubby characters who don't make their weight part of their personality is unheard of.

Finding characters who properly represent my beliefs and ideals is nigh impossible in my experience. Seeing a punk in modern day popular media is rare. And when I say punk, I'm talking PUNK RAWK. Musicians with colorfully laced boots and symbols painted sloppily all over themselves. Gritty political activists in homemade clothes and piercings, fighting tooth and nail for what they believe in. In truth, I don't know if I've ever seen that in popular media; not authentically.

What do we get instead? Punk coded teenagers who don't really believe in anything, pissing people off for the sake of it. That ain't us. We believe in respect, love and morals. We believe in doing whatever is necessary to achieve the perfect world, whatever each individual believes that is.

The representation is even more insulting for anarchists. Everywhere are both mature antagonists and cartoon villains parading around preaching "anarchy" and completely misusing the word. Its to the point that my political belief is now more closely related to dictatorships (the literal OPPOSITE of anarchism!) or simply death and destruction rather than the true definition: no institutions, just people.

That word has been defiled. I've had people laugh at me and ridicule me when I share my political stance with them due to this stereotype. I've had people tell me I believe what I do just because it "sounds cool."

People that were uneducated to the concept in the first place have now been reeducated by an overlord walking across a battlefield of dead bodies in some movie screaming about "anarchy." Thanks Hollywood. Really appreciate that.

But Hobie is a punk. And he's an anarchist.

He's a hero. He's intelligent. He knows what he fights for and he fights well. That alone is revolutionary for the anarchist movement.

And in a MARVEL FILM. Millions of people watch Marvel films across the globe. Across the Spider verse has pulled in 1.35 Billion dollars. This is exactly what we need.

So, as a representative of my community, thank you Sony Pictures for this gift. I hope to see more like it. And while we're at it, thank you for all the diversity in this new film between all the ethnicities shown onscreen to putting someone my size in the mask!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

(also if anyone has any recommendations for realistic punk characters in media I'd love to hear em)

#hobie brown #spiderverse #across the spiderverse #punk #anarchist #punk anarchist #diversity #plus size #end fatphobia #fight the system #marvel #representation #alt #alternative #punk rawk #hollywood sucks #most of the time #aint sucking right now #mile morales #racism #fight racism #sexy in every size #we all bleed red #spider punk #spiderpunk #plus size spiderwoman?! #superheroes #recommandations #help me find moreeee