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orionsangel86 · 3 years

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SPN Conspiracies - Applying Logic to Chaos

Its been over 2 months now since the Supernatural finale aired. I am still so angry, hurt, and confused by it and I don’t think I will ever get closure unless someone like Andrew Dabb, or Jensen Ackles, actually opens up and gives us an explanation that makes sense.

What annoys me most right now is people trying to gaslight fans into believing that we should accept the narrative we have been given at face value: That the finale was always planned to be that way, that Destiel was never on the cards, that there was no Network interference, that the only changes made were due to covid and were minor at best.

This harmful gaslighting is FALSE.

NO ONE KNOWS THE TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENED.

Look, I don’t agree with some of the crazier conspiracy theories. I don’t believe that there was some huge campaign among the CW Network execs to remove anything remotely gay out of homophobia. I don’t believe that the finale was changed because of some desire to make it into a Walker promo. I don’t believe that the finale was really bad on purpose in protest by Dabb for not getting to do an ending he truly wanted. I don’t believe that Dabb left us smart fans a bunch of secret messages in the finale to hint that he was on our side all along and that everything was fake.

I do, however, believe that all of these conspiracy theories have some elements in them that are plausible. At least, more plausible than the bullshit narrative mentioned above that some people are pushing in some desperate attempt to defend the Network (which imo is really strange behaviour anyway - why would anyone care about a TV network with a history of terrible behaviour?!?)

We have facts, based on information provided before the covid lockdown, which for some reason, people like Misha have since backpeddled on. So let me try to outline some of the information that makes no sense.

Below the cut I go on a deep dive into the conspiracies and statements I have heard about the SPN finale and try to make some sense of this whole fucked up situation. It gets long.

1. “Cas was never gonna be in the finale”.

False: We have many fan accounts of Misha confirming that he was filming the finale. We have video evidence of Misha confirming he was going back to film the finale after the lockdown. We have confirmation from fans in Misha M&Gs from March that he had about 5 days of filming left.

We also had fan accounts of discussions with Alex Calvert (I think) where he confirmed the final shot of the final episode was all four of them though I would LOVE if someone can find a source for this.

2. Okay, Misha was gonna be in the finale, but only as Jimmy Novak

False: I heavily side eyed Misha when he said this. But I think I can come up with a plausible explanation for it. Per above, Misha was supposed to film for 5 days. This does not align with the half a day he described of filming as Jimmy Novak. My own belief is that after Cas was cut from the finale (for whatever reason we don’t know) someone (probably Jensen Ackles) put up a fight and complained that Misha should be there for the final episode. The writers probably tried to come up with a way to bring Misha back without having to deal with Cas, and pitched the idea of Jimmy Novak being in Heaven. Misha, obviously annoyed about this, turned this stupid pitch down.

3. Destiel was never a thing, never planned, never part of Dabb’s ending. Bobo and Misha pushing the confession was the part of the season that was Wrong.

False: We have a SPN writer on record saying that Castiel’s confession was the first thing written for Season 15 when the writers returned to the writers room. If it wasn’t planned, why was it the first thing written, why does it align so well with the rest of season 15? Look I know some people either a. hate destiel and refuse to see it even if it slaps them in the face, or b. have major heteronormative goggles on, or c. are just homophobes in denial, but 15x18 fits in perfectly with the narrative of season 15. Everything Cas says, everything that happened in that scene was so in character it just works. It fit. If you just rewatch the season whilst applying some critical thinking skills and pay attention to the narrative and character arcs, trust me, the confession fits in with pretty much every other plot point, and character story in the season.

Also: We have known for a while that the network did market research into Destiel, wanting to know if it would go down well or not. They were well aware of its popularity and considering it. Where would this have come from if not pitched by the showrunner? Dabb must have at least been considering it. If you take all of Dabb era into consideration, starting with mid season 11, all the way through the season 12 build up, season 13 grief arc, and then Bobo’s Destiel break up arc in late season 14, early season 15, it is clear that there was some toing and froing on the issue of Destiel, but ultimately, I still believe that Dabb was on board. He wrote 13x01 for christs sake. No way he wasn’t taking it seriously.

4. It’s always been about the brothers. The finale just stays true to what Supernatural is all about.

*rubs temples* Fundamentally FALSE: The show has time and again reasserted the message of “Family don’t end with blood”, as well as the messages of AKF and YANA. Sam and Dean may be at the heart of the show, but a heart can’t exist without a body to support it. Without bones, and lungs, and blood, and muscles, and a BRAIN. The finale abandons the shows core messages. It forces the characters back into their season 1 characterisations and the whole thing becomes hollow and souless. But I’m not here to complain, I’m here to lay down the facts. Dean’s heaven was supposed to be surrounded by loved ones right? We know OG Charlie Bradbury was gonna be in his Heaven, we also know CAS was gonna be in there. So this idea that the finale as it currently stands was how it was meant to be is wrong. Dean was supposed to die and reunite with his found family and loved ones. This alone would have been a far better ending than the one given. Do I think this was solely a covid issue? Fuck no.

The randoms that WERE in the finale are proof alone that they could have got people in and quarantined. We also have several actors on record saying that they WOULD have quarantined for the finale had they been asked to return but they WEREN’T.

Lies have been told. Samantha Ferris and Chad Limberg have confirmed that we have been lied to about the original plans for the finale.

This alone is proof enough that there is more plausibility in some of the conspiracy theories than any bullshit narrative some people are pushing in defence of the barbaric mess of a finale we were given.

So lets address some of the conspiracy theories now:

Conspiracy No.1: The CW Network reviewed Supernatural during the covid break, and due to homophobia, refused any Destiel arc that wasn’t already filmed, shut down any potential reciprocation from Dean, and forced Dabb to change his finale.

I don’t think this is entirely what happened. But I do think it is very strange how there is a such a huge disconnect particularly in Dean’s characterisations between what had come before the lockdown, and what came after. The one fact we have here, and please someone provide a source if you can find it because I know there is one, the finale script was still going through changes up to only 2 weeks before it was filmed. We know that there was some weird editing in 15x18 (which was still in post and uncompleted before lockdown) and we know from Jensen’s own mouth that there was more to the confession scene on Dean’s side that was cut. We also know that this isn’t the first time that Destiel heavy moments have been changed in post - the prayer scene is another big scene that went through a lot of changes and Bobo fought to have his script play out the way he wanted it.

There are certain things that in my own opinions, are basically true of SPN which I have put together from years of keeping one eye on the writers room, the network, and all the various comments made. My opinion is this:

The writers room has always been split on Destiel. Some writers heavily supported making it canon, others did not care, or were against it.

The Network considered it over the course of several years, did market research, green lit it, then changed their minds, possibly several times over the course of Dabb’s era. Destiel was pitched to the Network early in Dabb era.

The crew on set were also split. Some people heavily supported it, and worked to assist the reading, whereas others did not care/did not support it. The same can be said for the editing room.

Bob Singer supported the subtextual homoeroticism, but never supported bringing it into text (this is an opinion, but I think it aligns with everything we know about him.) IMO Bob Singer also supported subtextual homoeroticism between Sam and Dean - the guy is gross is what I’m saying. He isn’t exactly a progressive person.

Fun fact - a while back our old enemy Sera Gamble went on a Twitter rant about writers rooms and the ways a script goes through changes. I don’t think this was in relation to the SPN finale wank but she basically inadvertantly confirmed that the Network can step in and make sweeping changes to a script if they want to and if they decide they don’t like the direction of a story. Sera Gamble confirmed this as a fact.

Now. I’m not saying that this is what the CW did with Destiel. I just think its very strange how pre lockdown, the last thing filmed is a heartfelt homosexual declaration of love between Dean and Cas, and we have a finale script that Misha had not seen, but knew that he was meant to film as Castiel for 5 days (5 days on set is over half of an episode as far as I know). Then all of a sudden, Covid happens, and Cas is cut from the finale completely, a desperate attempt to bring Misha back only as Jimmy Novak takes place, which Misha rightly refuses, leading to a finale which makes zero sense narratively and appears in every way completely and utterly butchered.

The only explanation provided by anyone involved is that Covid meant changes had to happen - but that covid didn’t change the actual story at all.

But this makes no sense because we know that Cas was cut from the finale. This is FACT. Do not let anyone gaslight you into thinking otherwise. Misha was preparing to quaranting to return to set as Cas post Covid, so whatever happened to cut Cas from the finale, it wasn’t Covid.

I’m gonna have to Occum’s Razor this and say that the most logical explanation here is the one that is most likely true. Someone got cold feet with the Destiel story, and to prevent any possible interpretation that included Dean reciprocating, any hints of Destiel were removed from the finale script, including Castiel’s whole appearance.

Now, this isn’t me saying I think that Dabb’s original finale was full of Destiel love confessions and a homosexual kiss or whatever, but I am asking you all to really think about it and ask yourselves WHY Cas would have been totally cut from an episode he was supposed to be in at LEAST half of?

We will probably never know the real reason Cas was cut, but he WAS cut. I’m not saying it was all homophobia, but some fuckery went down.

Conspiracy No. 2: The CW Network changed the finale to make it into a Walker promo because they only cared about raising up Jared and not Jensen and Misha as they were losing them anyway.

I don’t agree with this in terms of the finale being butchered solely to make it into a Walker promo. There are however moments in the finale that are clearly supposed to be Walker Easter Eggs and added to excite fans of Jared/Sam in particular such as Sam’s gratuitous and unnecessary topless scene, as well as the call on the “case in Austin”.

I will take this moment to say something pretty damn controversial though.

*Deep breath*

The fact is, Dean Winchester has been the “lead” character of Supernatural’s narrative for years now, with Sam often being sidelined and not given great storylines himself. Even in Season 15, right up until the finale, I myself felt bad for Sam sometimes because so much of this show has become all about Dean. Jensen Ackles is clearly the better actor when it comes to emotional story arcs, so the emotional heart of the story has most often leant on him.

So you can understand my confusion, when this is turned on its head in the final episode, to make Sam carry all the emotional weight, and have the most lines/screentime, and story resolution (even if his story resolution was just as crappy as Dean’s).

If we pretend that Destiel is not a thing, and ignore Cas’s confession, the story change in the finale from Dean focus to Sam focus is still rather suspicious. Again, I’m not saying I completely approve of or agree to the conspiracy theory that Walker influenced the butchering of the script, but I can believe that perhaps a note went down from the CW to someone like Bob Singer, to emphasise Sam/Jared more than they perhaps would normally, because the CW wanted to shine the spotlight on Jared to raise excitement for Walker.

I can also believe this note might have said something like “we wanna cater to fans of Sam/Jared the most - don’t do anything to piss them off.” but now I am getting into my own conspiracy theories so by all means dismiss this as me being bitter.

Conspiracy No.3: Dabb purposely made it bad, as a secret message to Destiel fans that he had been silenced, by layering meta clues into the episode that he knew fans would notice.

I doubt this one is true. Though some of the theories are quite compelling. The old vampire silent movie theory for instance starts off quite well, but loses me the moment it brings up Urban Dictionary slang.

Sometimes I have just had to accept that Supernatural is a bad show that is sometimes accidentally a masterpiece. However, some writers really did go That Deep with their stories - anything by Ben Edlund or Steve Yockey for instance, their episodes are meta masterpieces with a hundred different layers of beautiful subtextual storytelling and are a joy to analyse. Bobo Berens has certainly done some A+++ work especially now we KNOW that he was working hard all this time to bring Destiel to canon text (so any analysis of Destiel in the subtext in his episodes is very accurate). There have been many other key elements analysed over the years which have been confirmed true. Cas’s death in Season 12, Dean’s time as a demon in season 10, Season 11 ending in unity of dark and light, these were all plot points predicted by meta writers just by analysing the narrative. Sometimes the writers really have been very smart and they do add things to the show to aid us in our meta.

Richard Speight Jr for instance, confirmed that SPN has a visual library that the production team use to give clues and hints in the narrative. Pizza, for example, always means a lie has been told. Whenever Pizza is being eaten or even just mentioned on screen, there is dishonesty in that particular moment.

The beers also have a very specific message and the one thing I can’t let go about the finale, was that Dean was drinking El Sol beer. The beer his dad gave him, that was terrible.

El Sol has been used in the show to indicate something being wrong, a fake reality, or another lie, for the longest time. It is the beer of deception.

The fact that in the final episode of this entire show, Dean is in Heaven, supposedly at peace, and then he gets handed an El Sol beer to drink? Thats a HUGE red flag for any meta writer watching who can read SPNs visual library.

If they had given him the Margiekugel beer of family then it would make sense. Dean is in Heaven, with Bobby, his family, at peace. Margiekugel should have been the beer of choice. But nope. El Sol. Something is wrong.

I don’t know if it was Dabb, or Singer, or some disgruntled ADs and crew members who added these elements into the finale, but their very presence confirms some message of Wrongness.

I could go into a huge rant about Vampire Mimes not making sense and the very glaringly obvious symbolism of cutting out peoples tongues too, but that is high school level film analysis. It’s obvious. It means to silence someone. There is validity in interpreting this as Dabb saying he was silenced. I don’t know how true it is, but i can’t 100% dismiss it, because as I said, this is high school analysis levels of obvious subtextual storytelling.

So in summary, whilst I don’t think that Dabb intentionally went out of his way to sabotage his own script, and leave a breadtrail of secret messages for savvy fans to put together to confirm that he was silenced by an evil network into not getting what he wanted... I do think that there is validity in questioning these odd choices for the finale. Cutting out tongues? Vampire Mimes? El Sol beer?

The evidence is somewhat compelling is all I’m saying. I don’t believe the full conspiracy theories, but as I have said many times before, some fuckery went down.

So What Do I Believe?

That some fuckery went down and whatever company line they are pushing is bullshit.

I believe that the original script included Cas (since thats fact). I believe that the original script probably always had Dean dying on a vampire hunt (due to Jensen’s issues with it and in particular, his sarcastic comments about vampires in the past year or so which in hindsight are hilarious and prove he never really came to terms with Dean’s idiotic death). I believe Dabb’s original script was some less crappy version of what we got, which potentially included showing Jack rescuing Cas from the Empty and resolving the outstanding Empty plot points (potentially this was actually a 15x19 plot since Mark P commented that his final scenes were supposed to be with Jack and Cas), had Cas reunite with Dean in Heaven and had them have a discussion about Cas’s confession. I believe that there was probably a lot of back and forth over how to handle that with some people wanting Dean to obviously reciprocate and others believing they should keep it ambiguous. I believe that Dean and Cas would have reunited with Charlie Bradbury, and Bobby Singer, and possibly others (though if this was the case it must have been very early on since no one ever looped in Sam Ferris, Chad Linberg or any other Roadhouse people).

I believe that Sam’s ending probably didn’t change much, but I do feel that initially they were planning on him ending up with Eileen, because it is the only thing that narratively makes sense. Cutting Eileen and giving him a blurry wife is something I won’t ever understand and Jared’s bullshit explanations are quite clearly pulled out of his ass to appease bronly types. I believe the reunion on the bridge would have included Cas and Jack, with a final shot of all four of them together, at peace (as this aligns with Alex’s comments from around a year or so ago that the final shot was all four of them). (I also am not sure it was always supposed to be on a bridge since the foreshadowing in an earlier episode showed Dean, Cas and Sam all in the Roadhouse together).

I believe that script went through countless changes and redrafts, and not even production people or the types that some fandom people claim as their “sources” would even have seen those early scripts, since even Misha never saw it. I believe that these rumours of Dabb never having Cas in his finale and ignoring all Destiel elements likely come from people who only saw later versions, weren’t party to network discussions and felt bitter about the final scripts they did see (being the crappy butchered one that was ultimately filmed). Those “sources” are now spreading rumours to discredit Dabb.

I obviously believe Dabb is a weak ass pushover who either didn’t care enough to fight back, or gave up since he’s been stuck with fucking Bob Singer on his back for years, but I will NEVER believe he didn’t care about the DeanCas love story, because he has been one of the few writers who has championed for it for years. You can’t look back at Dabb’s episodes in earlier seasons and claim he didn’t care. Dabb was a writer whose creative ideas were beaten out of him by an unforgiving Network only concerned about where their future money was coming from. Do I think he gave up too easily? Yes. But I also have one other huge reason for not believing the bullshit about Dabb being this anti-Destiel villain.

Bobo. Because if Bobo truly believed Dabb was gonna fuck that up at the end, I don’t think he would have given us Cas’s love confession to begin with. If he had known it was gonna end like that, I think he would have reconsidered, because had Cas not confessed his love, I don’t think he would have been cut from the finale. Bobo - a gay man, would not have wanted such a horrible message for queer fans being put across in the show he worked so hard on. He started writing that confession scene the day they returned to the writers room. Dabb would have been there, would have seen what he was writing, probably discussed it with him, after all, other episodes were written with the confession in mind. No way was Dabb planning to fuck up the ending knowing what Bobo was giving us. Nope.

Something went very wrong over lockdown. Someone, somewhere up the chain of power caught wind of the confession scene in 15x18, realised that it demanded a resolution which would make Dean Winchester, their protagonist, queer, and pulled the plug. I believe this did not come from a place of homophobia, but of bad business sense.

The CW is constantly trying to win the approval and attention of the one demo group that they seem to fail at getting the most: young straight men. Supernatural was one of their only remaining shows that appeals to young straight men, and Dean Winchester is more often than not the fave character of those young straight men who project onto him. Making Dean Winchester, established Han Solo of Supernatural, queer and in love with his best friend in the finale would have come across as a betrayal to those young straight men. The CW probably feared they would lose that demo group for good, and with a show like Walker starting soon with Jared at the helm, they couldn’t take the risk.

Hence there was probably a whole bunch of back and forth script redrafts with the Network, with Dabb and Singer fighting to make a finale that would appeal to everyone. There was most likely no way that they could bring Cas back without addressing what had already been filmed, because any resolution of that plot would either a. make Dean queer, or b. address it awkwardly by having Dean reject Cas (this storyline would probably have been slammed by critics worse than the finale because it meant addressing it. It might have got the attention of LGBTQ activist groups and caused a bigger shitstorm than what we got). The best option was therefore C. Bury it and Cas, pretend it never happened. Never address it again and distract Dean with other things. Hope that Destiel fans will accept no answer from Dean as ambiguous enough to imagine a future reunion rather than shutting it down with a rejection, and still keep hold of the blissfully ignorant heteronormative straight boys so they can carry over to Walker when it starts.

I also believe (controversially probably) that there was concern that any resolution of Dean and Cas would have overshadowed network darling Jared Padalecki. If Dean and Cas had come together in the finale, with a very clearly textual homosexual reunion, then that would have been all anyone talked about. The reviewers, the critics, the audience, everyone. It would have been nothing but Dean and Cas (and look, if they did think this, they were right, Destiel trending over the US ELECTION.)

So what is the network to do, when they are losing the two stars who would get the most attention from this storyline? The one star they were holding on to and getting his own show, relegated to third place in the finale of the show where he was first on the call sheet? Nope. That’s pretty unacceptable. Even without Walker I can imagine people at all levels side eyeing the Destiel thing over the years. This IS a show about two brothers, and their relationship should be the core relationship, we can’t have one brother pushed aside in the finale to make way for a queer relationship that will get all the attention instead. It was never gonna get approved for this reason ALONE.

At the end of the day, if I look at it from a business perspective, it makes far more sense that the CW shut down Destiel, rather than “oh Dabb never cared and ruined it because he’s an idiot.” The writers cared, and had built on that story over years. But their mistake was leaving any Destiel resolution to the finale. If they had instead gone and got Dean and Cas together in early season 15, then they could have ended it in a way that satisfied everyone. Destiel wouldn’t have threatened pulling focus away from Sam and Dean, and the show could have gone out on a high.

When I lay out all the conspiracy theories, and line them up next to the cold hard facts, the conspiracy theories in some way or another, make more sense. To believe the company line, the narrative we have been fed, is to ignore your own eyes, ears, and memories pre March 2020.

All I’m asking people to do is take a look at the show, the narrative presented in the show, and the information presented above. I’m not telling you to believe what I’ve written here, half of which is just my own opinion. I’m asking you to ask yourselves if it makes sense to you. Because it sure as hell doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied.

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parappah · 3 years

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ok so i have a few thoughts about troy bolton from high school musical

I honestly think Troy has anxiety and that he's a people pleaser if not a complete pushover. and i feel like that shows in all of his relationships like with his parents, mainly his father, his relationship w gabriella, and his friendship w chad and like... whatever the situation is with him and sharpay. this shows in HSM1 by the like. dilemma he has with trying to choose between basketball and singing. like with basketball his interest in that is closely if not completely tied to his relationship with his father due to his father.... literally being his coach and its implied that Troy's father pushed him into basketball at a very young age and always pushed Troy to be the best into being the big star and that’s how Troy has always sought approval from his father is thru basketball. so when troy tries to pursue other hobbies that he might have not had exposure to because of his sole focus just being basketball, that puts his relationship with his father in jeopardy because that's the only thing their relationship is built on. And like of course that’s going to cause anxiety in Troy because he’s disappointing his father his coach his PARENT he feels worthless he feels like a failure like something is wrong w him for wanting to explore other hobbies and that shame doesn’t even just come from his father that comes from his friends and the entire school. My man troy’s entire personality his self image his entire humanity is based on basketball and other people’s views of him.

With his closest friend Chad, I won’t say that their relationship is also entirely based on basketball but like. Chad clearly hasn’t always been on Troy’s side at all times in the movies. In HSM1 he also gets mad at Troy for diverting his focus from basketball to other things (Stick to the Status Quo) and that whole nonsense with Gabriella and the webcam. And then in HSM2 when Troy is getting lots of attention from many different sources (which I’ll get into later). In HSM3 I think Chad takes a bit of a back seat but also he still expresses disappointment in Troy’s choices to go to a different college to be closer to Gabriella and seemingly choosing their relationship over a friendship that they’ve had since they were literally children. Like I honestly feel like Chad feels like Troy is constantly choosing other things over him and he’s justified in feeling like that even if the way he goes about expressing his disappointment isn’t always in the most…….tactful and considerate ways. But Chad definitely IS a major source of Troy’s anxiety and definitely affects the way that Troy views himself.

Ok so about HSM2 I feel like this is really the peak of Troy’s frustration and anxiety because it’s literally Troy being pulled in 75 different directions between Gabriella and getting to spend enough time with her and nurture their relationship, his friendship with Chad and being able to support him too in such a stressful work environment, trying to appease Sharpay, and also trying to think about his own future outside of everyone else (the college scouts and shit). Like this is literally everyone trying to rely on Troy and not being understanding that he’s under a lot of stress and he has other things going on his life other than them… but this is also affecting everyone else’s views of him because suddenly Troy is seen as unreliable and selfish and a bad friend/boyfriend who doesn’t actually care about his future. Like that total polarization from how everyone feels about him…. When he’s trying to please EVERYONE all at the same time because they’re all important to him in some way is seriously damaging… and the fact that no one else seems to understand what he’s going thru and all drop him like a hot potato when he doesn’t live up exactly to their expectations. This is exactly how it was in HSM1 too remember because as soon as Troy was trying to expand his horizons and do other things everyone turned on him!!!

Regarding HSM3 idk if I’m gonna write that much about it because when we were watching it we were mainly talking the entire time and pausing every 5 frames to take screenshots for art poses but like. Troy is under a lot of pressure to choose the right college. Like all of his options are between like… going to Julliard so he can nurture his newfound love of singing and music… going to a school that’s good for basketball because that’s what he’s worked toward for so long and also being a school that his bestie Chad is also going to… and then also a college that’s close to Gabriella because they’re in love and the center of each other’s universes or whatever bc it’s a high school relationship even tho they have their entire lives to become new people and find other relationships- okay that’s not the point but CLEARLY Troy has many decisions to make and it’s like. Does he want to please his father and his best friend does he want to please his girlfriend does he want to please HIMSELF…. And then as soon as he implies that he wants to choose something for himself for his own interests that gets everyone’s backs turning on him again. Troy literally cannot catch a break because ANYTHING he does to assert his own independence his own autonomy as a human being and make his own choices independent of anyone else’s thoughts are automatically disapproved of and everyone around him that he would expect to be loving and supportive just get angry at him. Like this constant cycle that Troy is thrown into would definitely cause him to be a people pleaser and a pushover because like. If he doesn’t do that then he’ll literally lose everyone and everything.

Anyway in conclusion this is basically why in every movie we have an angsty introspective Troy song (Get’cha Head in the Game, Bet On It, Scream). The dude goes thru a lot and no one else seems to care.

sorry i didn't talk about gabriella much because she's annoying and i don't think there's that much there LOL they barely have anything in common. like my friend luna said the only thing they have in common is the R in both their names.

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thefreshfinds · 5 years

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Summer In Jersey - The Garden State Hip Hop Hour’s Richard Scott

By: Natalee Gilbert

In a land full of snakes, the Garden State is far from one.

Composed of only free spirits who "ride that wave" at all cost, New Jerseyans put on for their hometowns. As a union, they mostly have sleepless nights and quick snooze sessions throughout the day. But alone, they come from different backgrounds that helped them grow.

Even so, there is one thing that all residents can agree on: Summer In Jersey lives up to all of New Jersey's hype.

When you tune into Summer In Jersey, expect songs that highlight New Jersey's undying pride and summer functions. As one part of the compilation references to the club (or klerb as others might say), the others fall in line as beach, flex or nightclub anthems. Besides this, Summer In Jersey carries a three-part skit by The Infinite Nudist. Essentially its all about a friend who is convincing another to go with him to the beach. Then, a girl whos fed up with his distant ways as they go to the shore and it closes off with a late-night "You Up?" call from a friend who tries to convince the other to leave and go to a lituation.

A few notable tracks like "Mexico Bity (Cliquot Mix)", "Dollar Sign Malc", "Sorry Not Sorry", "Maria", "Can I Call You', "Black Pool Party" and "Invited" help tourist get the jist of what it's like to live in a goal-driven yet party oriented state. The 21 piece collective is curated by The Garden State Hip Hop Hour's boss man, Richard Scott who sought to make a timeless summer tape that everyone can enjoy.

Cued into a section of every song, Siri does her part in announcing that it's a "Garden State Hi-Hop Hour Exclusive."

The first song "Valentino" by Chad B is moreso a flex track that seperates itself with self-reflection and words of encouragement. One reason why he's able to shine is because of the daily grind. Still, his success mostly stems from an undeniable skill with rhyme schemes and autotune. Following in unison is a "diamond-in-the-rough" beat that embellishes on the obstacles he's encountered. But Chad B teaches all that there is a silver lining if you just believe and focus on yourself.

"Bad Girls Only” by Melo V is a salute to all those women working 9 to 5s! The beat is influenced by pop, techno even some R&B but the power of the track is held by Melo's strong, melodic vocal play. "Bad Girls Only" really allows women to let loose and enjoy themselves.

Fourth in line, "No Way" by Trophy Hitta Sage keeps up the momentum especially with this one liner, "Wearing yellow in the summer, you're a bright catch." Like Chad B. she uses auto-tune but its a bit more airy and passionate. At most "No Way" is a techno/hip-hop track. Trophy Hitta Sage uses the beat to speak about a girl whos got her going crazy and she just wants to know whats up.

Then theres "Invited" by BUMPPRO, a track thats quite infectious and falls as an anthem to those who don't get invited to the "off-the-wall" parties. Sonically "Invited" dabbles into rock but then carries on with futuristic synthesizers, techno and auto-tune. The song speaks about a party next door that BUMPPRO has heard about but he wasn't invited to. Nevertheless he's with the hype and is going anyway because everyone needs to let loose every now and then. The best line thus far from "Invited" is "Sounds like a sick party bouncing off the wall/ I got a case, I got a bottle. But I look fly, I came to party/f*ck those problems."

In pursuit "Act Up" by Rich Smiles stresses the projects care-free flair. It's hard to fit "Act Up" 's genre into one because of the R&B vocals at hand with a dancehall and caribbean feel. Here, he sings about a women has caught his attention but he's not looking for commitment. To have her for one night is enough and he won't let anything (or anyone) stand in his way. The highlight of "Act Up" is when Rich Smiles does a vocal run on the phrases "back up" in chorus and "act up". He really cranks up the heat with his ability to alter R&B's main focal point on love.

'Intentions" by Ganja Killz and "Zaya" take a similar approach. Driven by latin and caribbean vibes, they both use soothing vocals so listeners can feel at ease. Besides this, their native tongue pays homage to where they’re from. It’s nothing but tropical slashed with a whole lot of sultry energy.

Next, “Mexico Bity (Cliquot City)” by Killa Klerk Cobain travels back to Spanish Harlem. Killa Klerk Cobain gives glory to Jersey Club and uses it to drive the beat selection. But really, its to show listeners that people in New Jersey “really just be vibin’.” This track is solely for those who are looking to have a good time. So the tango might as well go on!

Fast forward and "Jersey Anthem" by GrooveBoyPut ft. Dougie F., Tsu Surf, Sonny Breeze, Crunch Calhoun, Albee Al Daddy pave the way for all New Jersey artists to keep going! Just like them, they've been through the struggle but still conquered. Now they're realistically living their dreams. For those who weren't there for the long haul, just know these emcees hold weight. They're coming with the pounds and don't care what others think regardless!

"For The Low" by $uper Drug$ ft.Threat Digga says it all in the title. Proficient in the ways of trapping and counting blue faces, these two only wreak havoc when someone disturbs their peace. Beat wise, "For The Low" takes the aggressive approach. These two do justice in being blunt, flexing and collecting their coins discreetly.

Now if there comes a time when a jam for night drives is needed, then "All Summer" by Dollar Sign Malc is the perfect fit. Because it gives off a 90's vibe, "All Summer" will be the only thing that shines this season. To summarize, this song fits all occasions like going to the beach or riding around the town with a shawty. Same applies for "Can I Call You?" by Najir. Even though it leans more towards a early 2000's sound, its still something with hype due to the Jersey Club influence. Najir in this song speaks about how hes in need for love and doesn't want to lose his girl.

Funnily enough, "Maria" by Smooch also speaks on a love whos got the artist stuck. Like “Mexico Bity (Cliquot City)” the beat takes a trip to South America and uses some boom bap flair. On a vocal standpoint, he hits more notes than rhymes but he excels when dabbling into the two.

"Te Fallo" by Lilskrt4k feat. Chris Cruz is similar to 'Intentions" and "Zaya". Same tropical sound with a bit of reggaeton but theres more energy and switch between Spanish and English. Seems like this song is speaking about doing anything for love also. The part that gets me is the ad-libs. It really makes one feel like they're on an island.

To say the least, "We Jus" by Bulletproof Belv tells all about summer flings. Although they're great in the moment, it's really short-lived once the leaves turn brown. "We Jus" beat leans into the trap side. But because of the background drums and snares, it distinguishes itself as a summer vibe. Overall "We Jus" is a song to play when it's just too hard to say "this is a DTF situation."

On the other hand, "Sorry Not Sorry" by GrooveBoyPut and Smoove The Rapper goes in the opposite direction. GrooveBoyPut and Smoove The Rapper are really feeling this girl but shes done them dirty so now they've started to care less. Because of the drums in back and xclophone, it categorizes itself as a summer anthem. Still, "Sorry Not Sorry" has some trap influence and can easily be mistaken as another flex or derogatory song. All in all "Sorry Not Sorry" is a song for the heartbroken. It goes hard on self-liberation and leaves no room for tears or empathy.

"See This" by DOMS is worth all the hype. Trap-ridden at its own leisure, DOMS dares anyone to step up because it'll be them against him and his boys. Equally important, DOMS flexes at an all time high. One line that speaks volume is, "Gotta make those sacrifices if you want to beat them."

Like the last track, "To the 6ix" by A-Money$ is a trap song. Aside from highlighting his luxurious trips around the world, "To the 6ix" doesn't forget to talk about the exotic women and drip that he easily obtains.

Next to last, "Can't Be" by Honey gives off a bittersweet feeling. A once mutual love, Honey catches on to her mans sneaky ways. Thus she can’t help but to be hard on herself for not noticing sooner. Following is Honey's emotionally captivating vocals and a beat that pulls heart strings.

Finally, Summer In Jersey closes off with a lucid song called "Black Pool Party (CLICQUOT MIX)" by Clicquot Geno and Jet Lyte. Contrary to the beat, these two go all in with smooth sailing vocals and confidence. Some can even go so far as to say that "Black Pool Party" is making waves. Don't believe me? Listen for yourself. This song basically speaks on how they have no time for the B.S. and how certain individuals are now trying to swim on their stream of fortune. To summarize, the R&B and hip-hop influences run deep.

Go and stream Summer In Jersey now. It's available on DatPiff.

Link(s):

1. Summer in Jersey: https://www.datpiff.com/Various-NJ-Artists-Summer-In-Jersey-mixtape.941839.html

2. Instagram of Richard Scott: @itsrichz

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newx-menfan · 5 years

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Thoughts on quentin quire?

I…like Morrison’s Quentin Quire. Every other representation of him is…meh in my opinion.

The reason for this is, is Morrison did some really genius things with the character.

I’ve talked in length on other posts about how Quire was meant to represent extremism and how relevant that is to current social issues. Morrison’s arc with both Magneto and Quire asks the question of: ‘Does sympathy matter when people do awful things?’

Some of the other things I really liked about Morrison’s Quire are:

He is a subversion of Kitty Pryde, in the fact that where Kitty is intellectually ahead of her peers, she is emotionally still a teenager in Claremont’s work-yet Kitty is oftentimes treated like an adult by the other X-Men. They often forget she’s still a child, which is why you have moments like Kitty getting upset with Storms costume change.

But usually Kitty is able to cope with the pressure of being treated as an adult.

In the beginning, Quire has the same issues: ahead of peers academically and intellectually but not emotionally. You have Xavier also essentially treating him like an adult. Where Kitty was able to handle that stress- Quire ISN’T. He caves under the pressure because while he is VERY intelligent-his choices are still being directed by emotions he doesn’t quite have a grip or understanding on.

I also think it’s impressive that as much as Quire builds up his actions being about Carnation’s death and the greater good; at the end it’s revealed to be about his own fears and insecurities, along with impressing the Cuckoos. With comic books still be considered ‘male oriented’, it’s kind of impressive that Morrison represents this as TOXIC.

We see the Cuckoos side of things and that it’s UNWANTED attention. Quire’s treatment of Tattoo isn’t shown to really be any better-he basically treats her as nothing more than a henchmen/sex object. Quire humiliates another student who he perceives as getting female attention and his actions are framed as awful. Quire IS held accountable for Sophie’s death and countless others injuries-which he should be.

While Quire’s insecurities are shown-they’re represented as UNDERSTANDABLE but not JUSTIFIABLE of his behavior.

Quire’s backstory has all the build up for SYMPATHY-but Morrison never really gives it that tone in his writing. If anything Morrison focuses on the waste of talent and pity. You pity Quire for falling into this useless rebellion solely for the sake to rebel vs. characters like Beak or Angel who manage to find meaning in their lives and learning to care for one another, despite going through horrible obstacles themselves.

In many ways I do think there is also the subtle commentary there on the Punk movement and how most 'movements’ more or less sell out. How things start with honorable intentions only to slowly become tainted by consumerism and power.

The problem I have with his other appearances-

Most writers feed into the very thing Morrison DIDN’T WANT: Quire to be sympathetic. Writers essentially put more focus on the sympathy angle and not the terrible things Quire did.

Where Morrison more or less deconstructed the: 'I’m misunderstood’ trope, other writers feed into it.

Morrison’s WHOLE story WAS essentially that neither Quire’s gifts nor his mistreatment justified treating others poorly-other writers COMPLETELY miss that because they either A) Identity with Quire’s misunderstood/unpopular label or B) think his antics are funny…so he for some reason…gets a pass?

The most irritating thing for me with it- is you could MAYBE justify Quire’s rehabilitation to me if he faced ACTUAL consequences for his actions. But he never really does! Pretty much ALL the adults give him a pass.

Then there’s the fact that Morrison’s Quire WOULD NEVER be able to believe in Xavier dream. Quire is far too logical to EVER believe humans and mutants could one day get along. Quire RELIES too heavily on logic and is a nihilist. At least with characters like David you can argue they’re at least hopeful and have a more futuristic way of thought; you can make sense of characters like Prodigy continuing to stay at Xavier’s even if logically he doesn’t always agree. Quire you don’t really have a good argument for WHY he would stay, except to be with his friends that he regularly drops or treats poorly…?

Plus, Quire LIKES having power; you see it with the way he uses his intelligence AGAINST people or even the way he uses his power. Much like Empath/Manuel De la Rocha-he does enjoy hurting people. For that to suddenly change or for him to be part of an organization promoting peace: again makes little sense. (Let’s be honest-Quire has A LOT of similarities to Empath: the difference is, is Empath is treated as a villain and Quire isn’t…)

Then there’s the whole Quire vs. Hellion thing and how writers often times utilize Julian for Quire’s benefit. The thing about this is, is it’s STILL playing into toxic beliefs. Julian is less sympathetic than Quire despite Julian’s actions NEVER leading to people dying, Julian having just as much of a sympathetic backstory, and Julian regularly SHOWN to have healthy dynamics with other women-because Julian fits into the Popular Male Chad type. Quire is sympathetic despite his extremism and questionable treatment of women: because he fits into the unpopular misunderstood smart guy trope.

Then there’s ALSO his relationship with Idie-who he STILL essentially treats the same as the Cuckoos. In Generation X he still feels entitled to be with Idie despite him being the one to regularly treat her terribly in WATXM. Idie being younger than him also comes off as potentially a bit creepy, considering his backstory: that he may be using the inequality for manipulation and control.

Even his relationship with Gwenpool-it starts from Quire REPEATEDLY putting her down for her personality, likes, and dislikes.

So yeah-I personally think writers stripped Morrison’s really well thought out character and a character we REALLY need at this point and time where we as a society are justifying this kind of awful behavior.

#question #answer #Quentin Quire #Kid Omega #Grant Morrison #x men #Marvel #Hellion #Julian Keller #Oya #Idie Okonkwo #the Stepford Cuckoos #Sophie Cuckoo #I might possibly do a larger essay/post on this with scans if I can find the time...

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kumkaniudaku · 6 years

Text

In The Act

Chadwick Boseman x CoCo (Black!Reader)

Warnings: Smut, Language

Micah Noelle Boseman was the light of Chadwick and Tasha’s life and the most beautiful thing to emerge from their marriage. Tasha’s earliest memories start at the day she found out that her baby girl existed. She and Chadwick were visiting his parents in South Carolina when the first bout of morning nausea attacked. Standing in his parents’ kitchen, Tasha was helping his mother prepare mac & cheese for the weekly Sunday dinner when she felt her body rise to a temperature that surpassed the sweltering Southern heat. Without notice, her breakfast flew upwards, only stopping when her hands flew to cover her mouth. Tasha had been nauseous before but never without cause. She hadn’t been drinking and there was no way she had food poisoning when everyone had the same breakfast and seemed to be just fine.

Chadwick’s mom was the first to suspect pregnancy.

“Have you had your cycle?” She questioned knowingly from the other side of the bathroom door. Though Tasha immediately pushed the thought from her mind, a quiet check of her period tracker revealed that she wasn’t just a few days late. No, it had been six weeks with no evidence of nature taking its course.

An immediate trip to her doctor once Tasha returned to Los Angeles confirmed her suspicion: she was nearly two months pregnant and scared out of her mind. She couldn’t be someone’s mom. She had just figured out how to be a wife and, sometimes, she didn’t even know if you was succeeding in that department.

Chadwick felt differently.

“Is this true, CoCo?” He asked, staring wide-eyed at the results in his hand.

Tasha could only offer a small nod in response. She expected him to be wary of the possibility of having children. The tears in his eyes added to her anxiety. They had recently finished couples therapy and were actively trying to repair the 20 years of damage that preceded the current relationship.

“Chadwick if this isn’t what you want we can find another solution.” Tasha’s words were hurried as if she was trying to make her point before he made an angry exit. “I’m sorry. We should’ve discussed contraception or something.”

“You’re sorry? Baby, this amazing. I’m gonna be a daddy!”

Seven months and 11 hours of labor later, Tasha lay in a hospital bed holding a baby girl to her chest trying not let tears fall all over Micah’s delicate skin. And, though she had expressed her hatred toward Chadwick for putting her in a situation to bear the pain of childbirth hours prior to delivery, she couldn’t help but to love the man that had shared half of him to make such a beautiful manifestation of the love that lived within their home.

Tasha felt her heart swell as she listened to their daughter squeal and giggle in the other room with her father, despite it being her bedtime and the first scheduled mommy-daddy time all week. Individual work schedules, household duties made scheduling alone time difficult for the young couple. Chad’s need to have her sleep in your shared bed almost every night slowly dried up any opportunity for physical contact. Tasha tried to explain that she would never get used to sleeping alone if he didn’t stop, but he’d excuse the behavior, passing the intrusion off as a good bonding experience. He hated seeing Micah in tears at the end of the night when it was time to put the toys away and crawl into bed.

Finally, the laughter stopped and the soft click of Micah’s bedroom door was heard before heavy footsteps started up the hallway.

“Do I get to see my husband or are you going back to your other wife in a moment?” Tasha joked from behind the kitchen counter while she carefully emptied fresh popcorn into a bowl.

Chadwick chuckled at his wife’s attempt to hide her need for attention. He found it endearing, knowing that she still wanted to be the center of his attention, if only for a night while watching television.

“Ooh, someone’s jealous.” He teased before Tasha could protest his arms wrapping around her torso for a hug. He made a point to press himself against her back and squeeze her tight, demonstrating his desires for having her close. “Don’t be, Mama. Daddy’s all yours now.”

A slow kiss to her bare collar bone was nearly enough to make Tasha pull her husband to the cold tile floor and neglect the Game of Thrones marathon cued in the living room.

Shaking the urge, she shook her head. “Then Daddy needs to grab the popcorn and get to the couch. Battle of the Bastards is next and you know that’s my favorite episode.”

Tasha slowly and reluctantly pried Chadwick’s arms away from her body in an attempt to calm down the heartbeat between her legs. Tonight was solely about husband and wife spending time together. They could always squeeze in a quickie during nap time or in the shower before Tasha was due to work, but true, uninterrupted quality time was rare.

Rolling his eyes at Tasha’s attitude, Chad grabbed the large plastic bowl from the counter to fulfill her request. They crowded onto the corner of the living room sectional, contorting their bodies until they reached a compromise. Tasha lay propped against a pillow with outstretched arm to welcomed Chadwick into her personal space. He accepted the invitation without pause and carefully lowered himself, stomach first, onto her body.

While Tasha devoted her attention to the medieval drama on screen, Chadwick focused on trailing his fingers up, down and around the various valleys and peaks in his view. On the way up her sides, he noticed the thin camisole that covered CoCo’s breast, and felt his body heat at the vision of her nipples straining against the fabric.

Just as the opening theme could give way to the beginning of the show, Chadwick began absentmindedly running his hand along the swell of Tasha’s breasts.

“We’re supposed to be relaxing.” She warned as she halfheartedly pushed his hand away.

“I am relaxing. You relax your way and I’ll relax mine.”

Deciding that his fondling was harmless, she continued to focus on the episode. As the action intensified, so did Chadwick’s antics. The hands that were once on the outside of CoCo’s tank top had made their way underneath, cupping and squeezing while alternating sides. He wasn’t searching for her attention, but he’d captured it nonetheless.

“It’s good to know that murder and devastation excite you,” she quipped, a slight smirk on her lips as she cast her gaze down to get a better look at Chadwick’s face.

“That’s a weird name for your titties, baby. But, yes, they do excite me.”

His joke made her howl with laughter that was quickly quieted by the knowledge that Micah was sleeping within earshot.

As the show ramped up intensity before the main battle commenced, Chadwick transitioned to using both hands to push Tasha’s breast together and place sloppy french kisses in the valley they made. He was slowly, but surely, chipping away at her resolve with each lingering glance in his direction she tried to hide.

Soon, CoCo gave him her full attention, running her fingers through his coils while his kisses turned into gentle suckling. An unexpected tug at the top of the cami exposed both of her breast to the cool indoor air. Tasha’s back arched at the sensation.

“Murder and devastation must excite you, too.” Chadwick commented with a sly smile. He knew what he was doing and wanted Tasha to admit that he’d won the battle. Understanding the game, Tasha chose to play by her own rules.

“Shut up and put one in your mouth.”

Humming his approval, Chadwick granted her wish, using his mouth to bring his wife pleasure. The routine continued on the other side because Chadwick was a fair man. Each one of Tasha’s breast would eagerly receive equal attention.

“Can we continue or are you still trying to watch this? Let me know.” His hands continued to grope and massage while waiting for any sign that he had approval to continue. A breathy moan escaped her lips, earning a satisfied smile from Chadwick. “Was that a yes, baby?”

“I don’t know. Do that again.” If he was going to play games then so would she.

“Hmm,” He hummed. His hands began a slow descent into her shorts, gingerly brushing against her lower bits repeatedly. “Now?”

Chadwick was secretly competitive. Any mention of a challenge that he thought could produce a winner and a loser was a challenge he took seriously. Sex was no different. He aimed to satisfy each time.

Tasha’s body squirmed restlessly underneath the weight of his body as her husband expertly worked magic with his fingers. Taking her melodic moans as confirmation to continue, he slid his body to the end of the couch before removing the clothing below her waist.

Lowering his head, he skipped her center altogether, preferring to lick and suck on her inner thighs.

She whined as an appeal for more intensity. “Stop playing!”

“There’s that pretty voice. Ask me again. Nicely this time and I’ll consider.”

“Please, babe. Please?”

Tasha’s hands frantically pushed at the back of his head to convince him to perform his favorite task. Chadwick laughed as he repositioned himself to hover over her body.

“Not yet. I’m gonna put a baby in you real quick. You wanna try for a son?”

She didn’t but, the thought of him inside of her never mixed with rational decisions. Instead, Tasha lazily mumbled a response and prepared for the consequences. Pulling his member from its confinement, he used the slickness of her juices to coat the tip and drive her crazy. When he decided that she had been teased enough, he pulled one of Tasha’s legs to rest on his shoulder and the other to bend so that her foot was flat on the couch.

“You can’t be too loud, CoCo. If she wakes up, you’re on Bedtime Duty this time.” Chadwick warned.

Tasha whimpered impatiently, resigning to saying anything to speed up the process. She didn’t understand why he even made the statement until he was putting his weight on her leg as he pushed into her in one smooth motion.

“Ooooh FUCK!” Tasha shouted, unable to contain herself. Despite her outburst, Chadwick was proud of himself. That was exactly the reaction he wanted.

His motions started off slow, rolling his hips in deliberate motions to get his wife used to the stretch. Once he was sure she could handle the next level, he started a steady rhythm. Relying on his weight to keep her leg in the proper position, he took the opportunity to lean down and roughly press his lips against Tasha’s.

“Talk to me, beautiful. You know I like that.”

Words were hard to come by when all she could see were stars and two passenger baby strollers in her daze. “Shit, baby. I can’t take it.” You admitted.

“Nah, you gone take it.”

In a fleeting moment of bravery, she emerged from her haze on a mission to make Chadwick eat his words. Using your muscles, you clenched around him to get a reaction.

“Shit!” He whisper yelled through gritted teeth. “You really want another baby in this house, huh?”

“Maybe.” Again, Tasha didn’t but, being dangled on the edge of euphoria made her say things she didn’t mean.

The sound of obscene phrases and skin slapping drowned out all other noises around them, including the sound of a door opening down the hallway and little feet rushing toward the open space.

“Daddy?” A timid voice called from the living room’s entryway.

Chadwick stilled and clamped his eyes shut, attempting to disappear into thin air. Micah stood with her stuffed cat in tow, innocently rocking back and forth on her heels while she waited to be acknowledged.

“Yes, Princess?” Chadwick had managed to remove Tasha’s leg from his shoulder to spare his innocent baby the trauma that can come with catching her parents in the act.

“Where’s mommy?”

“She’s uh, um..right here. What’s wrong, baby?”

Tasha silently thanked God for the placement of the couch which allowed for her body to be completely blocked from Micah’s view.

“My scarf came off and I need Mommy to fix it, please.”

“I’m coming, Mikey,” Tasha blurted, throwing her hand in the hair to prove that she was in the room. “Just-just go back in your room. I’ll be right there!”

Micah replied with gentle ‘okay’ as Tasha scrambled to wiggle free from the weight of Chadwick’s body. While she retrieved her discarded clothing, Chadwick acted as a lookout to make sure their daughter was gone before turning to her with a toothy grin.

“I told you not to get too loud.”

“Fuck you, Aaron,” she spat as she slid on her shorts. “The leg? I thought we agreed that stays in the bedroom.”

“I got excited, CoCo. You must’ve put something in the popcorn so, really, this is your fault.”

“Shut up!” She grumbled, pushing the back of his head as she hurried toward Micah’s bedroom.

“Baby?” He called, causing Tasha to look back and acknowledge him. “Can we finish when you get back?”

“SHUT UP!”

Chadwick accepted the answer with his hand raised in surrender and turned to commandeer the remote. He would take what he was able to receive and make plans for the next secret hookup.

Tasha was almost to Micha’s beroom before she turned back to hurry down the stairs and answer Chadwick’s question with a more realistic verdict.

“Meet me upstairs in ten.”

#chadwick boseman #chadwick boseman imagine #chadwick boseman fan fiction #chadwick x reader #chadwick boseman x you #black panther fics #black panther fan fiction

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stillness-in-green · 6 years

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i realized mika's the only one of the tekkadan boys to have a specific thing he wants to do outside of fighting- farming- which is kinda ironic considering he's been called aimless. so do you have any ideas of what the other boys could/would like to do as a profession/career outside of fighting (not counting what they actually ended up doing in the epilogue)? doesn't have to be for everybody, just for whoever you can think of. thank you :)

I got this ask ages ago and have been periodically rolling it around in and around other things, but I put it in front of myself again today and finally typed out a response. Below the cut, some thoughts on what these boys would be doing if they had, not only all survived the series, but done so in a way that left them free to pursue whatever ambitions or talents they might desire or discover.

Most of them.

Lets start with the inner circle and work our way out.

I think Biscuit (whose survival is probably the reason everyone else is alive in this hypothetical AU of ours, because he would have an aneurysm before he let Orga join hands with McGillis Fareed) could be good at practically anything he puts his mind to, and therefore, what I think he should probably do is go to school. He obviously values education–he spent lord knows how much time endangering life and limb to earn the money to put Cookie and Cracker through school, and clearly admires how far Savarin’s schooling took him in life. As to what he might study, there are a number of ways that could go–agricultural sciences to help his Granny Sakura with the farm, business to pick up where Savarin left off, possibly a social science so he can find a job in all the inevitable restructuring that Mars’ new government will be doing.

Eugene, more than anyone else, strikes me as wanting to find someone to settle down with. Unlike Shino, who talks about women solely in the context of his sex drive, Eugene is interested in romance. And while he doesn’t seem to have had much luck with that in IBO’s canon epilogue, in a more peaceful time, it’s easy to imagine him devoting more energy to dating. Without Tekkadan eating up his attention, whatever career he finds a way into–possibly bodyguard work still, or maybe an office job like Zack’s–would, I think, be just a way to help support a family.

Akihiro, unlike most all of the boys, already has a girl who’s interested in him, and if he survived this show for this AU, I see no reason to not imagine the Turbines did also. Lafter plainly was never going to leave the Turbines to be with him, of course, but if there was no Tekkadan to protect… I don’t think Naze would be very keen to break his girls-only rule, but every chick must leave the nest eventually–perhaps Lafter and Akihiro might be entrusted with protecting/leading another branch of the business? Given the size of the organization*, there must be other battleships doing the transport business/transport protection thing. Or they could just accompany whichever shipment Naze directed them towards.

That is, though, probably kind of a longshot. Tekkadan Inc. or no, Akihiro has strong feelings about protecting his family, and where I think that’s most likely to leave him is actually in Dante’s place in the epilogue, helping run the orphanage and taking care of children. While I don’t know that gentleness and empathy will ever come easily to him, he would be able to relate with the stories of the many ex-Debris children that orphanage is implied to be seeing post-outlawing-of-legal-child-trafficking, and it would be a way to both honor and grapple with the memory of Masahiro.

Derma would probably end up in about the same place he does in the show–assuming Akihiro doesn’t get adopted by the Turbines, I think Derma would follow him to the orphanage. He had been more directly under Dante’s wing in the series, of course, but for a lot of reasons, I don’t think that the same things that would appeal to Dante in civilian life would hold much interest for Derma. He doesn’t have Dante’s knack with computers; he doesn’t share Dante’s itch for fame. But he does have a load of self-confidence issues that make him exactly as likely to relate to orphan ex-Debris kids as Akihiro’s losses make him. (It’s also the case that Derma is the Tekkadan kid who’s the least explored outside of being a child soldier, so I’m inclined to err on the side of what the show points him to rather than make things up wildly, which is essentially what I’d be doing otherwise.)

Returning to the main group, Shino is easy; in a scenario in which he isn’t a paid civilian soldier, that guy has got “stunt show pilot” written all over him. I doubt Mars’ entertainment industry is so well developed that they need or can afford to hire mobile suit pilots for TV/film work, but I bet the planet can support something more like the Post-Disaster equivalent of monster truck derbies. They’d probably involve old/restored mobile workers, rather than the expensive military hardware that is a proper mobile suit, but I certainly don’t put it past Shino to showboat around in a decommissioned Flauros from time to time.

Dante, always grouped with Shino in combat, would probably follow him here. In a peaceful epilogue, Dante easily could have an entirely lucrative (and possibly illicit) career with his computer skills, but I think he’d finding sitting at a computer all day to be unfathomably boring the more like an actual desk job it became. Compared to the measure of fame Shino would be making for himself, it’s obvious which Dante would go for. Also, with two people with mobile suits, they could possibly get some kind of MS boxing circuit going. I think that would be a very longterm project, more suitable for when things calm back down and there are all these mobile suits around collecting dust.

Yamagi is a mechanic–he’s one of the few characters with job experience other than “soldier,” and there’s no reason to expect him to change streams from the canon to this AU. However, I think Yukinojo and Merribit would have encouraged him to go work with Shino’s pit crew/show team before too long, if he ever held a job down at Kassapa Factory to begin with. He and Shino are, almost certainly, dating on the side. Just, like, fill in Shino and Yamagi for the Special Feeling umbrella meme.

Ride is another gimme. He has an obvious artistic streak, the evidence of which is painted all over the Isaribi, the Tekkadan complex, and the orphanage building. If he didn’t need to fight (and while he was pretty gung-ho about it originally, I have to think the trauma from Hashmal and the agriculture plant is going to be long-lived), it’s very simple to imagine Ride getting nudged into pursuing art in a more professional way. Especially if Kudelia’s new government is subsidizing such things.

Chad is another one that I’d like to see in school. There are several instances in the series that impy he’s doing serious amounts of research/study on the side–he’s constantly shown asking pertinent questions or showcasing some skillset or bit of knowledge that he has no business having access to based simply on what we’re explicitly told about him. Given that, it’d be interesting for the others to convince him to set aside the helper ant mentality and go learn something he thinks is interesting. While Biscuit has family needs to guide his academic choices, Chad could really get into anything. I would slot him into a field that involves research but also quantifiable knowledge–history, for example, or psychology, rather than e.g. theoretical physics. I kind of love the idea of Chad getting access to a bunch of banned books via Kudelia or their Teiwaz connections.

Takaki seems on-track to wind up in politics, if not as a politician himself, then as the sort of lobbyist or aide that any notionally democratic government runs on. Given that he bailed out of fighting by choice, this seems to be his chosen path in any case. He’s also likely to make a hell of a diplomat when he gets older and picks up more confidence in himself.

Aston is so rooted in his self-image of “soldier” that it’s difficult to imagine what he might want to do outside of that field. We do know a few things about him that could give us a direction, though: he’s observant (noticing more about Fuka’s schoolwork than her own brother), he’s relatively prudent and cautious (his teamwork with Vito, and his reluctance to wildly charge McGillis), and he’s a mediator (between his quartet back with the Brewers, and again between Takaki and the other Earth Branch boys). So what kind of career could combine those traits with his gravitation towards military settings? Personally, I think he’d do really well as a crisis negotiator–a specialist brought in by police to help with hostage situations and other threats of e.g. domestic violence, terrorism, suicide, and so on. Of course, the trick there is less getting certified for that job than it is finding a group to work alongside–while I can see him joining an Arbrau/Edmonton police force, it’s much harder to imagine him being able to get a job with Gjallarhorn. In any case, assuming he can manage to find an avenue for said work, he’d be great at it.

This brings us to our Season 2 newbies.

Hush I would mostly see following Mikazuki into farming. Not just to be following Mika, mind, but because Hush’s motivation, beyond a big ol’ chip on his shoulder about the Alaya Vijnana system, is much the same as so many others–to protect and provide for his social circle. If he’s provided an avenue for that that isn’t constant endangerment of life and limb, I think it’s what he’d go for. And farming is helping to provide for a great many people, some very directly–the fact that he can still be around to help Mikazuki is just a bonus.

Zack joined Tekkadan because of their fame, rather than out of real necessity–so what exactly did he think was so cool about Tekkadan to begin with? Given his reticence about actual combat when he comes face to face with it, perhaps it’s more the “spitting in Gjallarhorn’s eye” aspect than the feats of badassity? Given that, what could he do that would scratch that itch? Well, he’s a hell of a programmer, and has Dante available to teach him anything about hacking he doesn’t already know. I think he’d be very happy being one of those whistle-blower internet Ariadne activist types, finding secret information, info on cover-ups, or details on corruption, and providing proof of such things to the world at large, particularly given how government-controlled the media is in the setting.

Dane is already living a life free of fighting, so it’s possible that, absent Tekkadan being a bunch of criminals, he might end up working at Kassapa Factory anyway, or perhaps going with Yamagi to Shino and Dante’s venture. He’s another big mystery as to things he might enjoy outside of work; for example, he evinces little patience with Hush until Hush starts showing some basic empathy/humility, which leads me to think that close work with people would probably not be his thing. So sticking to work with his hands, I wonder if he, like Ride, would get any mileage out of art? He could snap paintbrushes like twigs, of course, but I can see him being good at something like pottery, and if his pre-show history is as violent as we’re lead to believe, I can see it being relaxing–probably as a hobby, rather than a career, just something he can do on his own time and terms.

So, that’s every–mm? A significant exclusion? A deuteragonist undiscussed?

Oh, right.

So, Orga. What would Orga do in peacetime? Well, that’s difficult to even try to conceive. Orga, like McGillis, is massively defined by both his ambition and his dissatisfaction with the status quo. He’s never satisfied, never content; he interprets Mikazuki’s intense gaze as a challenge, and it never stops pushing him forward, no matter who else tries to tell him he’s going too fast. What could Orga ever do in peacetime? It’s tempting to say that every one of the hypothetical outcomes above was paid for in Orga’s blood, because less than a handful of these people would ever desert Orga if he lived, and while he lived and had people looking to him, he would never stop. In that way, Tekkadan is in a feedback loop that they can’t get out of without a system-redefining change. Looking at his skill set, we again find a bunch of things that suggest that Orga works best as a leader–he’s canny, highly charismatic, a quick thinker, and he has killer instincts, albeit with some Mikazuki-sized blind spots. This is a kid practically fated to be a gang leader–and he’s also oathsworn to the mob, making getting out of that life safely a dicey prospect.

So what is there for him, if not fighting? Purely as an imaginary exercise, he’d be a scary effective community leader. I mean, just imagine being a city representative showing up to a town hall meeting and this is waiting in the front row:

But that’s still pretty mundane. Lets try something really different on for size.

During the season break, Orga is attending some official function at Saisei, lurking around afterward and waiting for a chance to talk to Naze. Out of nowhere, he gets jumped by the fashion equivalent of Saisei’s eccentric mechanic, who insists that Orga’s je ne sais quoi levels are off the charts, and he absolutely must grant her at least one modeling session. Naze, walking in on this conversation, has a huge laugh about it and goads Orga into accepting. And then the whole of the second season gets derailed because suddenly Orga is faced with the argument that sufficiently famous people are also rich and powerful, rich and powerful enough that he could relocate his entire gang to some private satellite around Jupiter if he were so inclined. And maybe it feels immaterial, and maybe it wasn’t the method what he expected, but that doesn’t make the paycheck any less real. The designer tells him in no uncertain terms that if he wants to continue, she will personally talk McMurdo Barriston’s ear off about how he is completely wasting this surly teenager’s God-given personal magnetism.

Orga immediately has a huge crisis over it, because it feels terrifyingly unmasculine and he has no concept of the term “soft power.” Atra loves it, though, and Biscuit thinks it’s strange but effective. Things almost fall through anyway when it comes out that Orga has a whisker implant, but the designer is insistent, so they end up just photo-editing it out and limiting his public appearances, which is just as well, because he finds crowds and fans alike to be extremely uncomfortable.

Tekkadan still do odd jobs for Teiwaz now and again, like protecting Kudelia from Dawn Horizon, but are mostly out of the line of fire when McGillis starts looking around for allies. McGillis, deprived of a Tekkadan he can talk around on joining him, is left profoundly annoyed. How things go from there is a whole new question.

*Allow me to quote from this post:

In the interest of context for the number I’m about to lay on you, the Dawn Horizon group–a band of pirates who have ten ships and are considered sizeable enough that they fill a niche that’s important to Gjallarhorn, and would also be too much a pain to try to oust entirely, have around 2,500 members. Wow! That’s a lot!

The Turbines have 50,000 members.

Like this post? Consider throwing a few bucks in my coffee fund via the Ko-fi link on my About page!

#mobile suit gundam: iron-blooded orphans #gundam ibo #g tekketsu #my writing #asks #orga's lucrative modelling career is a hilarious au and i thank you for the opportunity to discover it #stillness-answers #ibo meta

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schraubd · 6 years

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The Problem With Canaries

A group of pro-Israel, anti-BDS students at a variety of college campuses issued a statement harshly criticizing the Canary Mission for hindering their efforts on campus and unjustly maligning fellow students. They wrote:

Canary Mission is an anonymous site that blacklists individuals and professors across the country for their support of the BDS movement, presumed anti-Semitic remarks and hateful rhetoric against Israel and the United States.

As a group of conscientious students on the front lines fighting BDS on our campuses, we are compelled to speak out against this website because it uses intimidation tactics, is antithetical to our democratic and Jewish values, is counterproductive to our efforts and is morally reprehensible.

This blacklist aggregates public information about students across the country under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. It highlights their LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pictures, old tweets, quotes in newspapers and YouTube videos. The site chronicles each student’s involvement with pro-Palestinian causes and names other students and organizations with whom the given student may be affiliated.

We view much of the rhetoric employed to villainize these individuals as hateful and, in some cases, Islamophobic and racist. In addition, Canary Mission’s wide scope wrongfully equates supporting a BDS resolution with some of the most virulent expressions of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel rhetoric and activity.

The ADL initially supported the students, referring to Canary as "Islamophobic & racist". Critics quickly contested what, exactly, Canary did that was "Islamophobic & racist", and a day later the ADL backed off, apologizing for "overly broad" language. I want to talk through why I think objections to Canary as Islamophobic are potentially justified. But I want to do so in what I think is a more nuanced and specified way, because there really are interesting questions here regarding the ethics of counter-antisemitism (or counter-racism, or counter-Islamophobic) discourse that I think are being elided in the usual rush to back our friends and lambaste our enemies. Let's stipulate for sake of argument that Canary doesn't use specifically Islamophobic rhetoric (in the form of racial slurs, conspiratorial claims about creeping Sharia, and the like), and that in general the factual claims they make about the targeted persons (that they did say X or join group Y) are factually accurate. I'm open to the possibility that they do use such rhetoric or that their claims aren't factual (in which case the argument that they're Islamophobic becomes trivially easy). But I make the stipulation because the case I'm going to make doesn't depend on any such behavior by Canary. Instead, let's focus on what we might think of as Canary's strongest possible foundation: factual revelations of things the profiled individual has definitely said, or groups they have definitely joined, absent any additional commentary. Again, I'm not saying that this is, in fact, all or even most of what Canary does -- I'm saying that this sort of thing would presumably represents the formulation of Canary's mission that would be most resistant to a claim of Islamophobia. So. First, I do not generally think it is a smear or otherwise wrongful to simply republish a terrible thing somebody has said (with appropriate caveats about not taking things out-of-context, omitting apologies, etc.). For example, the other day Seth Mandel accused me of a "smear" and a "lie" towards him in the context of my column on sexist responses to Natalie Portman not attending to the Genesis Prize. The irony of Mandel's complaint was that he was actually never mentioned in the column at all; he only appears in the context of two of his tweets being republished, verbatim, with no additional commentary or interpretation directed towards him whatsoever. If you can be "smeared" simply by quoting your own words back to you, then I suggest that the problem lies inward. Moreover, I'd suggest that there actually is something important about revealing the prevalence of antisemitism that exists amidst certain social movements (on campus or not) -- if only because Jews are so frequently gaslit on this subject. Just this week, the Interfaith Center at Stony Brook University had to release a statement (cosigned by a wide range of campus Jewish, Christian, and Muslim groups) in solidarity with campus Hillel after a campus SJP member demanded that Hillel be expelled from campus and replaced with "a proper Jewish organization" (proper, the student confirmed, meaning anti-Zionist). This blog had already covered the Vassar College SJP chapter distributing literal (1940s-era) Nazi propaganda about Jews. These things happen, and there's something off-putting about claiming that it's a form of cheating or a smear to document it. Too many people think that naming and shaming antisemitism is by definition a witch-hunt. That cannot be right, and we should be very suspicious of political arguments which act as if it is right, or act as if the very act of accusing someone of antisemitism (or, for that matter, racism, or sexism, or Islamophobia) is dirty pool or foul play. So what accounts for my unease? Well, for one it might be the sense that college students, in particular, often say dumb things they regret, and there shouldn't be an entire website dedicated to spotlighting them and inviting people to berate them for it. How much one sympathizes with that point would seemingly correspond to how much one dislikes "call-out culture"; if you're not a huge fan of it (especially when it comes to young people not otherwise in the public eye) then Canary would seem to be one manifestation of a generally malign social trend. Another basis for objection might be the distinctively chad gadya character of many of Canary's entries. If one reads the site, very frequently a profiled individual is listed because he joined a group which hosts a speaker who supports an organization who bit the cat that ate the goat ... and so on. There's a very distinctive "guilt-by-association" character to what Canary does that I think is obviously objectionable, regardless of how you label it. And note how it resonates with the way blacklists are being deployed against Jews and Jewish groups right now (e.g., the announcement by several NYU student groups that they were boycotting a bevy of Jewish organizations -- including the ADL). Such calls very frequently proceed by similar logic: the group supports a program which hosts a speaker who said a thing ... so on and so forth. Such logic could be used to ensnare essentially anyone who affiliates with anything -- which means in practice it must be deployed selectively to delegitimize certain groups and causes under the guise of neutral idealism. If that stunt makes us uncomfortable when it's deployed against Jewish groups, it should make us uncomfortable when it's deployed against Muslim groups. And here is where I think the Islamophobia charge has legs. I don't want to say "imagine if this were done to Jews", because it is done to Jews (albeit perhaps not in quite as organized a form). But there absolutely are cases of blacklisting Jewish students simply because they've joined pro-Israel groups, without any claims that the student has said or done anything remotely racist or Islamophobic. And such behavior I think is rightfully thought of as deeply chilling, and striking too deep in terms of the way it polices to the letter Jewish political and communal participation. Many Canary entries seem to be based entirely on groups the individual has joined (everything from Students for Justice in Palestine to the Muslim Students Association -- the latter of which, it is worth noting, joined the letter in solidarity with Hillel at Stony Brook), rather than any specifically antisemitic things that the individual has said or done. That seems to be as dangerous as equivalent blacklist efforts targeting Jews who are part of Hillel, or Students Supporting Israel, or J Street (yes, J Street). Indeed, I could go further. Let's take the case of the students who have, themselves, said antisemitic things -- they're on the record. Surely there could be nothing Islamophobic about including them in a database? Yet even here, I'm conflicted -- and again, the mirror-case involving Jews perhaps reveals why. Imagine there was a website which cataloged people -- mostly, though not exclusively, Jews -- who were members of Zionist or Zionist-affiliated groups for the purpose of declaring to the world that they were racist and should not be worked with. Wouldn't we view that as being antisemitic in character? Suppose that it limited itself solely to those persons who had engaged in Islamophobic remarks -- with the goal of showing the degree to which Islamophobia and racism were prevalent in Zionist discourse, in a way that gave the impression that such views ran rampant amongst (Zionist) Jewish college students. Could that be viewed as antisemitic? My instinct is yes. It is an instinct that is, admittedly, at war with my above acknowledgment that documenting the real and non-negligible existence of antisemitism that exists in pro-Palestinian movements is not a form of cheating (and I'd likewise agree that documenting the real and non-negligible existence of Islamophobia that exists in Zionist movements is likewise not wrongful). But in both cases it is a delicate thing, lest the impression be given that Jews Are The Problem or Muslims Are The Problem. It isn't wrong to demand that groups be attentive to that possibility and work proactively against it, and it isn't wrong to be suspicious of them when they seem indifferent to it. What was it that Maajid Nawaz said? “Who compiles lists of individuals these days?" Of course, the answer is "many people and many groups," and maybe that's not per se wrong (or even avoidable). But certainly it is something that requires considerable care and concern, and Canary -- given its propensity for guilt-by-association, given its wide sweep, and given the range of individuals it includes under its ambit -- doesn't strike me as expressing said care and concern. Is that Islamophobic? Depends on how you define it, but I would suggest that there is a prima facie case of a sort of moral negligence directed at Muslim students. In other circumstances, that same sort of moral negligence impacts Jews. Either way, it's a wrong, and it's entirely fair to label it as such. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2r7Rd2y

#academia #anti-semitism #Islamophobia

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fantasysuiteleague · 7 years

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Week 2 Recap: The Three Ds

Is it just me or does it always seems like The Bachelorette gets a shitty draw of contestants? Each year there are at most 3 guys I would take home to meet my parents, maybe one worth actually marrying, and the rest are all that terrible guy you see on TV and hope you never meet in real life. They only care about themselves and what makes them look good or what will get them the most screen time. This season, with its new colors and Blachelorette, is no different. At most we’ve added an extra amount of swagger, but with that swagger comes an added level of douchebaggery that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

D is for Doggo

This episode highlighted 3 of the worst people we’ve met since Chad, and one precious angel who is too pure to be around any of this mess. That’s right, I’m talking about Copper. That precious baby with the broken toe who stole Bachelor Nation’s heart. Not only did he get his own limo entrance, but he also went on the first and best 1-on-1 date of the season, accompanying Rachel and Peter to a DOG PARTY. I can’t say I paid much attention to Rachel and Peter, as I was focused solely on Copper and all the ways I could pet him and be his best friend.

The only thing I took away from the 1-on-1 date was that Peter and Rachel bonded over the gap in their teeth, and that Rachel doesn’t seem to mind that Peter is dead in the eyes. Something’s off about him, but it looks like he’ll stick around for awhile so I’ll come back to him when the meat isn’t as fresh.

D is for Douchebags

The first group date of the season is very on-brand for the Bachelorette: a low key picnic with ... an obstacle course and celebrity sighting. The picnic is set up in what I assume to be a vacant lot three spaces down from the Bachelor mansion, where everyone takes turns grilling and playing touch football. Right off the bat it’s hard not to focus on the douche of the century, Whaboom. Everything he does is for attention. He pushes other guys around so he can be the “first” to say hi to Rachel, he obnoxiously dances around the football, shouts constantly, and even picks Rachel up at one point and spins her around like a Disney Princess. It’s not hard to see that Lucas is, in the words of Blake: garbage. The other guys question his personality traits and whether he’s here for the right reasons simply because he is TERRIBLE. He’s not even trying to fight with anyone, he’s just being himself, which is absolute garbage. Fun fact: My friend was in the same frat as Whaboom at Berkley and said that he is, hands down, the absolute worst person he has ever met in his life—next to his twin brother. That’s right, there are two of these assholes.

He also told me that Lucas was constantly trying to be the center of attention and was always making loud obnoxious jokes or trying to steal the stage but NO ONE thought he was funny. Some quick sleuthing on the interwebs brought me to his IMDB page, which honestly says it all. I mean, a 2012 Spanish dating show? God what a fucking loser. But his “rival” Blake is no better, and we need to unpack both of these shitty bags of garbage to really get down to their trash core. In a voice-over, Blake mentions that he knows Whaboom and is the only person that can “ruin this” for him. Well first of all, Whaboom doesn’t need anyone’s help ruining anything. Second, Blake knows the true garbage nature of Whaboom because they were both on a trashy reality TV dating show hosted by Carmen Electra. Yep, that’s right. Garbage, meet Garbage. Oh, you already met on the Ex-Isle? Perfect. Let’s skip the pleasantries, and the entire obstacle course while we’re at it. That way we can also skip over Blake whining the entire time that Lucas is cheating and not following directions, and Lucas winning then attempting to get Ashton Kutcher to yell “whaboom.” To literally everyone’s relief, Ashton politely passes on the offer, as he should have with My Boss’s Daughter / Just Married / Killers / basically all movies he’s ever done.

No really, name a good Ashton Kutcher movie. You can’t, because there are none. Anyway, since Whaboom won the competition he got the first 1-on-1 time with Rachel. Blake takes this opportunity to let everyone know that, to the extent they hadn’t figured it out yet, Whaboom is a douchebag. Blake, it is the first fucking week. Chill the fuck out man. When Lucas gets back to the perfectly stirred pot, he’s confronted with the question of our generation: how do you identify yourself? The correct answer, of course, was garbage, but we would have also accepted trash. Speaking of trash, Blake continues his crusade against Whaboom by informing Rachel that, to the extent she is both blind and deaf, Lucas is just a clown here for TV exposure. Like any guy NOT trying to get TV exposure, Blake then goes and tells Lucas that he just spent his time with Rachel letting her know that Whaboom is wearing makeup and is here for the wrong reasons.

At this point it’s pretty clear that Blake is also here for the wrong reasons and obsessed with Lucas, who may or may not be totally wasted. It’s hard to tell, because he’s just that terrible. In the end, Whaboom walks away the winner of this confrontation after he tells Blake he’s going to do “him” and that Blake is “dismissed.” Point, Garbage. I can’t really tell you what else happened on this date due to the overpowering stench of Garbage, but everyone else was so boring that the 20-year-old Ricky Fowler look alike, Dean, got the group date rose. Good for you, Dean.

D is for Drama

The second group date the guys get a considerably better draw with a game of pick up basketball monitored by Kareem Abdul Jabar. DeMario is the focus of this date, which I wanted to attribute to his charisma fuckboi charm and casual ability to dunk a basketball. But something doesn’t feel right about this spotlight and even though deep down I know why, I think and hope that maybe, just maybe, it’s not him. It’s like when you’re watching a Law & Order SVU episode and it’s definitely the dad, but it feels way too obvious to actually be the dad, so instead you convince yourself its the neighbor but like, it was always the dad. It was always DeMario. Always. You don’t get this kind of attention in a group date when there are previews of a scorned lover confronting her man unless it’s your scorned lover. Enter Lexi, the girl who DeMario was allegedly fucking days before he went on ATFR and met Rachel. Before she even opened her mouth I could tell from her eyebrows that this girl was trash and was ready to shamelessly take down the Big D. The build up to this drama is great. After being summoned by Rachel, DeMario is convinced he’s getting the rose and walks gleefully back into the gym talking about what he learned playing the game until he saw cash me ousside girl waiting for him.

DeMario’s face quickly goes from happy to freaked out to “confused.” He immediately launches into fuckboi defensive mode and makes a series of moves that only digs him deeper into the pit of despair.

Move 1: Pretend like you have no idea who this girl is and that you’ve never seen her before. Obviously this is NOT the right way to go, but you have to give him partial credit if only because I would also deny knowing (let alone fucking) someone that trashy. This obviously doesn’t work as she’s tracked him down, so it’s on to the next move.

Move 2: This girl is fucking crazy, and we met “many many times ago.” Um, what? Thankfully Rachel is smarter than to buy into the “she’s crazy” excuse that’s constantly applied to women by the patriarchy. Instead, she asks for clarification on what “many times ago” means, and at this point the Big D starts to sweat.

Move 3: Claim that this is personal stuff that we should handle off-camera. This was an obvious misstep that sent Lexi into a rage about unanswered text messages and fucking her 2 days before he went on ATFR. Rachel keeps it classy, however, pointing out that this is also her personal life so DeMario really needs to explain himself.

Move 4: Admit he dated her, but claim that he broke up with her because she was “too much” to handle, circling back to the old “she’s crazy” thesis. DeMario tries to suggest that he broke up with Lexi face to face, but then Lexi starts shouting about how he still has her keys...

Move 5: Keys? What keys? I don’t have your keys..... Oh, wait. I actually mailed them back to you. As if this mother fucker has ever been to the post office. At this point DeMario has to know that he’s totally fucked and should probably just leave before he says anything else. But he doesn’t. Instead, he continues trying to downplay what Lexi is saying until finally Rachel tells him he’s not making any sense and she just wants to know when was the last time he saw Lexi.

Check: Lexi stops swearing on her kittens’ lives long enough to offer up the receipts to prove not just her side of the story, but the exact date and time when Demario was last in and out of her...apartment. Before Rachel accepts any documents into evidence, she gives DeMario one last chance to say literally anything that isn’t a lie and asks if the dates on Lexi’s phone will match his story or hers....

Move 6: It depends on the dates...

Checkmate: Finally at the end of her rope, Rachel takes Lexi’s phone (which I imagine smells like cigarettes) and reads the standard fuckboi texts we all knew DeMario sent. Rachel calmly informs DeMario that she is not here to be played or to be made a joke of, so he can get the fuck out.

In the aftermath of the DeMario drama everyone starts whispering about how DeMario was obviously not there for the right reasons when, in reality, they are all there for the same reason: fame. DeMario was just sloppier about it. The remaining guys on the date all use this as an opportunity to let Rachel know they’re there “for her” and will “protect her” from this kind of behavior. Josiah flexes his protection muscles the most with his... creepy side eye stare and ends up getting the group date rose. We don’t get too far into the cocktail party before the ghost of DeMario comes knocking at the gates of The Bachelor mansion to prove once and for all that D is for determination dumbass.

Did you notice . . .

Ashton knew when he “first saw” Mila that they would get married ... after he married Demi Moore and played dad for a few years, of course.

“This is not a show. When I want to turn it on, I turn it off. When I want to turn it off, I turn it off.” - ummm that’s a show, Lucas.

Curious that Lucas and Blake hate each other so much yet look like pals in this picture from 2016....(also, the hastags...)

“I check my mailbox every day.” - Lexi, lol.

OF COURSE her name is Lexi with an I.

I could do without Alex’s singing, especially as it’s likely a trigger for the Russian Manchurian Candidate, Jared Kushner.

Minority Report: The most embarrassing part of the whole DeMario saga is that before the Bachelorette he was dating white trash like Lexi.

#the bachelorette #bachelorette abc #rachel lindsay #chris harrison #bachelor recap #the final rose #fantasysuiteleague #bachelor nation

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itsfinancethings · 4 years

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March 29, 2020 at 11:41AM

SANTA FE, N.M. — As the coronavirus rages across the United States, mainly in large urban areas, more than a third of U.S. counties have yet to report a single positive test result for COVID-19 infections, an analysis by The Associated Press shows.

Data compiled by John Hopkins University shows that 1,297 counties have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of 3,142 counties nationwide. Of the counties without positive tests, 85% are in rural areas — from predominantly white communities in Appalachia and the Great Plains to majority Hispanic and Native American stretches of the American Southwest — that generally have less everyday contact between people that can help transmit the virus.

At the same time, counties with zero positive tests for COVID-19 have a higher median age and higher proportion of people older than 60 — the most vulnerable to severe effects of the virus — and far fewer intensive care beds should they fall sick. Median household income is lower too, potentially limiting health care options.

The demographics of these counties hold major implications as the Trump administration develops guidelines to rate counties by risk of the virus spreading, empowering local officials to revise social distancing orders that have sent much of the U.S. economy into freefall. President Donald Trump has targeted a return to a semblance of normalcy for the economy by Easter Sunday, April 12.

Experts in infectious disease see an opportunity in slowing the spread of coronavirus in remote areas of the country that benefit from “natural” social distancing and isolation, if initial cases are detected and quarantined aggressively. That can buy rural health care networks time to provide robust care and reduce mortality.

But they also worry that sporadic testing for coronavirus could be masking outbreaks that — left unattended — might overwhelm rural health networks.

“They’ll be later to get the infection, they’ll be later to have their epidemics,” said Christine K. Johnson, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Davis. “But I don’t think they’re going to be protected because there’s nowhere in the U.S. that’s isolated.”

Counties that have zero confirmed COVID-19 cases could raise a red flag about inadequate testing, she said.

“I hope the zeros are really zeros — I worry that they’re not doing enough testing in those regions because they’re not thinking they’re at risk,” she said.

In New Mexico, a state with 2 million residents spanning an area the size of Italy, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has moved aggressively to contain the coronavirus’ spread with a statewide school shutdown and prohibition on most gatherings of over five people.

Nearly half of the state’s 33 counties are free of any positive coronavirus cases. New Mexico is among the top five states in coronavirus testing per capita, though some virus-free counties aren’t yet equipped with specialized testing sites beyond samplings by a handful of doctor offices.

Torrance County Manager Wayne Johnson said plans are being prepared for the first three dedicated COVID-19 testing sites, in the high-desert county of 15,000 residents that spans an area three times the size of Rhode Island.

A statewide stay-at-home order is keeping many residents from commuting to jobs in adjacent Bernalillo County, the epicenter of the state’s COVID-19 infections, with 93 confirmed cases out of a state government tally of 208 as of Saturday night.

“We don’t have any test sites open, and part of that is that we don’t have any needs for the test yet,” Johnson said. Still, Johnson said he worries that an outbreak could overwhelm the county’s sole local medical clinic and an all-volunteer corps of emergency medical technicians.

The state´s first of two coronavirus-related deaths occurred last Sunday within a southern oil-producing region in Eddy County, where two other positive tests have surfaced. A man in his late-70s died shortly after arriving at a hospital in Artesia, and tested positive postmortem. He had previously visited two health clinics, and at the hospital five staff were quarantined for possible exposure even though they wore face masks.

State Deputy Epidemiologist Chad Smelser said health officials have continued to painstakingly retrace the steps of infected patients and notify people who came into contact with them. There are dozens of connections per infection on average.

“We know the details of his prior visits in the health care system,” Smelser said of the deceased Eddy County patient. “We’ve worked with those physicians to assess their exposure. And we do not believe that he acquired it in the health care setting.”

State health officials say it is unclear how many people have been tested for coronavirus in each county.

Medical experts say uneven testing patterns across the country make it difficult to gauge whether remote areas are really better off.

“It’s a fundamental unknown,” said Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University in Texarkana. “I think there is some truth to that notion that there are lower infection rates out there” in rural areas.

He said he fears for homeless populations and undocumented migrants.

¨We hope they stay safe. Those would be hard places to get rid of the coronavirus,¨ Neuman said.

Complaints that testing is not readily available extend to the crossroads town of Crossett in southern Arkansas, where surrounding Ashley County has no confirmed coronavirus cases.

Disabled veteran Marty Zollman, 42, of Crossett says his wife, a clothing store clerk, and teenage daughter sought coronavirus testing this week for fever and flu-like symptoms at a local health clinic and were turned away.

“We might be contagious, but no one will test her,” Zollman said of his wife, Janet, who was awaiting surgery for breast cancer. “They keep turning her down. They don’t have a source of testing.”

He lashed out at Trump for indicating that testing is readily available. “Now it’s time for me to call his bluff. If he’s got the equipment … he’s got to provide it,” Zollman said.

In New Mexico, along the southernmost finger of the Rocky Mountains, Mora Valley Community Health Services and a companion agency attend to elderly patients living in extreme poverty in Mora County, where there have been no confirmed COVID-19 infections and few if any people tested.

With a population of 4,500 that is more than 80% Latino, the county is among the economically poorest in the nation. Average combined household income is $27,000.

“There’s elderly out there that have dementia, who don’t have a family … who eat out of cans,” said Julián Barela, CEO of Community Health Services, which ordinarily serves a steady stream of Medicaid and Medicare patients with health, dental and behavior health services.

Under new state directives, the clinic has scuttled all non-emergency appointments — most of its caseload — to comply with a measure designed to conserve dwindling protective gear such as masks, gloves and gowns for health care workers, Barela said. The clinic has yet to see a patient with telltale symptoms of coronavirus worth testing.

Barela said it has been alarming to turn away patients who feel they need attention as new federal grant money arrives.

“We don’t have an emergency backlog, it doesn’t seem reasonable that we’re just shut down,” he said. “We should not operate the same as New York. There is no reason for it.”

#IFTTT #Blogger

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naturalstoneandtile · 5 years

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After watching waaaay too many YouTube videos by MT and others I’m fairly certain this Easter egg has been overlooked. And it’s a doozy. Have a seat as this takes while to break down.

Overview: James Gunn buried tons of Easter Eggs in both films, the Temple on Morag murals, 5 Elements, Celestials, Kronos not Eternity, the Eternals and more.

The movie gives us the clues with two in-your-facehints. The first time we see Starlord in on Morag. He’s come to this planet which has destroyed for an unknown reason and this part of it is typically underwater. More here. The temple murals are literally everywhere; the floor, ceiling and walls. We see them again later with the Collector.

No Merchandising. Editorial Use Only. No Book Cover Usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Marvel Studios/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock (5886233bi) Chris Pratt Guardians Of The Galaxy – 2014 Director: James Gunn Marvel Studios USA Scene Still Les Gardiens de la Galaxie

Let’s break down the clues within the Mural.

The Temple of Morag mural as seen in the movie.

First: what Marvel says about it is vague. The Art of the Guardians of the Galaxy book names the marvel Gods depicted (clockwise from upper left): Death, Entropy, Infinity and Eternity. In the center are the Inifinity Stones. That’s the easy stuff.

What caught my attention was the 4 classical elements (Greek philosophy is a hobby) around each God. We see Earth (lower right – Infinity), Air (upper right – Entropy), Fire (upper left – Death) and Water (lower left). There is a crazy amount of detail in the mural which is why I think there’s something deeper to it.

The temple mural as concept art from The Art of the Guardians of the Galaxy book.

After researching the 4 classical elements I noticed the Fifth element, Aether, dead center and impossible to miss. More here. per Wiki: “According to ancient and medieval science, aether (Ancient Greek: αἰθήρ, aither[1]), also spelled æther or ether and also called quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.”

“Medieval concept of the cosmos. The innermost spheres are the terrestrial spheres, while the outer are made of aether and contain the celestial bodies”

In layman terms, the Aether rings depict levels of celestials spheres beginning with the Earth (first ring), moon (Luna), Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and into the Heavens of multiple levels. Close inspection the mural shows Entropy pointing at the ring for the Moon and Infinity pointing at Saturn. A moon of Saturn is Titan which is where the Eternals end up. They are literally pointing the way.

Mind melting yet? We’re just getting started.

The Lower Heaven is where we find our four clearly noticeable Gods doing whatever. Back to the Celestial Spheres. Celestials are upper Gods in the Marvel universe who use Infinity Stones. James Gunn planted a couple Celestial references within the movie. The first, and most obvious, showing a Celestial razing a planet. The second being a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it name of a bar in Knowhere called the Boot of Jemiah. Of course, Knowhere itself is a severed Celestial head.

Celestials from the comics.

Eson the Searcher seen in the movie wielding the Power stone.

The name of the bar is the Boot of Jemiah.

Jemiah the Analyzer is a major Celestial throughout the comics and is seen in the comic pic above. He’s really green and has distinct eyes, as do most Celestials.

I believe it’s the Boot of Jemiah (who may or not be the dead Celestial of Knowhere) pointing us towards the mural. Look again at the top of the mural and at Jemiah’s eyes. He’s looking right at us overseeing the other Gods. Same green eyes. The eye pattern isn’t on the other three sides of the mural. What’s maybe of interest is he’s not shown in the mural concept art.

Wrapping around the perimeter of the mural is a serpent. The tail is to Infinity’s left and the head is behind her. It’s probably Jormungandr from Thor comics. From Wikipedia: “In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard (World) Serpent, is a sea serpent, the middle child of the giantess Angrboða and Loki. According to the Prose Edda, Odin took Loki’s three children by Angrboða—the wolf Fenrir, Hel, and Jörmungandr—and tossed Jörmungandr into the great ocean that encircles Midgard. The serpent grew so large that it was able to surround the earth and grasp its own tail. As a result, it received the name of the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent. When it releases its tail, Ragnarök will begin. Jörmungandr’s arch-enemy is the thunder-god, Thor.”

I haven’t yet deduced the serpents’ purpose on the mural. If you know or have a theory, please leave a comment.

Moving on to the Lower Gods. At first it looks like they’re either creating the Infinity stones, as the Marvel Art of book states, or fighting over them. Either way, something is going down. What are they doing and why is Eternity falling backwards. I believe the Art of GOTG book has mis-directed us with Eternity as it doesn’t look anything like him. In the mural concept art it looks exactly like Kronos.

He’s bald and even has the star on his right shoulder in the correct place. I think it’s fairly obvious this was originally conceived as Kronos and not Eternity. Also note how the other three Gods are on the outside of the big ring while Kronos seems to be moving from the inner to the outer ring depicting his rise from mortal to God status.

From marvel.fandom.com: “Kronos and his brother Uranos were of the ruling class of Eternals countless years ago. Uranos craved battle and conquest, and war broke out between the Eternals who followed Uranos and those who sought peace, led by Kronos. When Uranos was defeated, he and his followers were exiled into space and Kronos became sole ruler of the Eternals of Earth.

Kronos was working in his laboratory in the Earth Eternals’ city of Titanos on an experiment with cosmic energy when he accidentally caused an explosion that destroyed Titanos and Kronos’ physical body. However his mind survived and became one with the universe and time.”

Who are the Eternals?

Wikipedia: “The Eternals are a fictional species of humanity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are described as an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. The original instigators of this process, the alien Celestials, intended the Eternals to be the defenders of Earth, which leads to the inevitability of war against their destructive counterparts, the Deviants. The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby and made their first appearance in The Eternals #1 (July 1976).”

Marvel has already stated an Eternals movie is on the short list. My guess is there’s already groundwork in previous movies as Easter eggs. There’s also tons of Kirby art references in GOTG and Thor Ragnarok.

The Collector displays (in this order) the Infinity stones, the Temple of Morag mural behind Quill, Eson the Celestial destroying a planet, the planet being destroyed and a group attempting to wield all 6 stones and being destroyed by them.

This HAS to be important. Ancient cultures used murals to tell stories. Assuming there’s a story within this mural I believe this is it but the Collectors’ scenes are out of order.

Here’s how the story goes.:

Under the watchful eye of the Celestial, Gods played with the stones resulting in one being cast out (Kronos). Death came for our planet and destroyed it (as possibly seen in the mural by Death using a star as a weapon). Some left for (or were already at) a moon around Saturn (Titan).

Let’s revisit the Collectors’ scenes in a different order following the mural story:

Attempting the wield all 6 stones they are destroyed.

A God came to judge us.

Death followed and our planet was destroyed.

My Theory? Morag was home to some Eternals. Kronos, an Eternal, led a team of scientists to use the stones together and were subsequently destroyed, just like in the comics. Kronos was accidentally transformed into a God of time, just like in the comics. The Celestials were not happy at the Eternals, whom they had created, and dispatched Eson to judge them, which he did. The planet was razed using the power stone but the temple and other ruins remain. The power stone has since been kept inside the temple.

There are Eternals currently on another planet. In the comics there are sleeper Eternals on Earth as well as a buried Celestial. Marvel is clearly embracing the cosmic universe and have already shown us Celestials, referenced Eternity in GOTG2 and have announced a Eternals movie is coming.

I’m surly forgetting more as I did all this research last year and it just sat.

Dangling Chads:

In the mural, what is Kronos holding? A dagger or shard of something?

Infinity has a spear and the Eternal Athena uses a identical one in the comics. Is this suppose to be Athena and not Infinity? Then would Entropy’s character be an Eternal as well, Kronos’ brother perhaps?

The serpent’s purpose?

Did the Eternals make the murals prior to being destroyed by the Celestial? Probably.

Guardians of the Galaxy final Easter egg found? Temple of Morag Mural depicts Kronos, Eternals and more After watching waaaay too many YouTube videos by MT and others I'm fairly certain this Easter egg has been overlooked. 1,597 more words

#easter egg #eternals #gotg #guardians of the galaxy #james gunn #kronos #MCU #temple of morag

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battybat-boss · 6 years

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Humanity's Failed Experiments

There is a planet-wide experiment that seems to be failing. You could think of it as humanity's experiment with industrial civilization.

There was a period in my later life when I used to say that, from the age of 20 to my late 60s, I was always 40 years old; I was, that is, an old young man and a young old one. Tell that to my legs now. Of course, there's nothing faintly strange in such a development. It's the most ordinary experience in life: to face your own failing self, those muscles that no longer work the way they used to, those brain cells jumping ship with abandon and taking with them so many memories, so much knowledge you'd rather keep aboard. If you're of a certain age - I just turned 74 - you know exactly what I mean.

And that, as they say, is life. In a sense, each of us might, sooner or later, be thought of as a kind of failed experiment that ends in the ultimate failure: death.

And in some ways, the same thing might be said of states and empires. Sooner or later, there comes a moment in the history of the experiment when those muscles start to falter, those brain cells begin jumping ship and in some fashion - spectacular or not - it all comes tumbling down. And that, as they say (or should say), is history. Human history, at least.

In a sense, it may hardly be more out of the ordinary to face a failing experiment in what, earlier in this century, top officials in Washington called “nation building” than in our individual lives. In this case, the nation I'm thinking about, the one that seems in the process of being unbuilt, is my own. You know, the one that its leaders - until Donald Trump hit the Oval Office - were in the habit of eternally praising as the most exceptional, the most indispensable country on the planet, the global policeman, the last or sole superpower. Essentially, it. Who could forget that extravagant drumbeat of seemingly obligatory self-praise for what, admittedly, is still a country with wealth and financial clout beyond compare and more firepower than the next significant set of competitors combined?

Still, tell me you can't feel it? Tell me you couldn't sense it when those election results started coming in that November night in 2016? Tell me you can't sense it in the venomous version of gridlock that now grips Washington? Tell me it's not there in the feeling in this country that we are somehow besieged (no matter our specific politics), demobilized and no longer have any real say in a political system of, by and for the billionaires, in a Washington in which the fourth branch of government, the national security state, gets all the dough, all the tender loving care (except, at this moment, from our president), all the attention for keeping us “safe” from not much (and certainly not itself)? In the meantime, most Americans get ever less and have ever less say about what they're not getting. No wonder in the last election the country's despairing heartland gave a hearty orange finger to the Washington elite.

States of Failure

“Populist” is the term of the moment for the growing crew of Donald Trumps around the planet. It may mean “popular,” but it doesn't mean “population”; it doesn't mean “We, the People.” No matter what that band of Trumps might say, it's increasingly not “we” but “them,” or in the case of Donald J. Trump in particular, “him.”

No, the United States is not yet a failed or failing state, not by a long shot, not in the sense of countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen that have been driven to near-collapse by America's 21st-century wars and accompanying events. And yet, doesn't it seem ever easier to think of this country as, in some sense at least, a failing (and flailing) experiment?

And don't just blame it on Donald Trump. That's the easy path to an explanation. Something had to go terribly wrong to produce such a president and his tweet-stormed version of America. That should seem self-evident enough, even to - though they would mean it in a different way - The Donald's much-discussed base. After all, if they hadn't felt that, for them, the American experiment was failing, why would they have voted for an obvious all-American con man? Why would they have sent into the White House someone whose Apprentice-like urge is to fire us all?

It's hard to look back on the last decades and not think that democracy has been sinking under the imperial waves. I first noticed the term the “imperial presidency” in the long-gone age of Richard Nixon, when his White House began to fill with uniformed flunkies and started to look like something out of an American fantasy of royalty. The actual power of that presidency, no matter who was in office, has been growing ever since. Whatever the Constitution might say, war, for instance, is now a presidential, not a congressional, prerogative (as is, to take a recent example, the imposition of tariffs on the products of allies on “national security” grounds).

As Chalmers Johnson used to point out, in the Cold War years the president gained his own private army. Johnson meant the Central Intelligence Agency, but in this century you would have to add America's ever vaster, still expanding Special Operations forces (SOF), now regularly sent on missions of every sort around the globe. He's also gained his own private air force: the CIA's Hellfire-missile armed drones that he can dispatch across much of the planet to kill those he's personally deemed his country's enemies. In that way, in this century - despite a ban on presidential assassinations, now long ignored - the president has become an actual judge, jury, and executioner. The term I've used in the past has been assassin-in-chief.

All of this preceded President Trump. In fact, if presidential wars hadn't become the order of the day, I doubt his presidency would have been conceivable. Without the rise of the national security state to such a position of prominence; without much of government operations descending into a penumbra of secrecy on the grounds that “We, the People” needed to be “safe,” not knowledgeable; without the pouring of taxpayer dollars into America's intelligence agencies and the US military; without the creation of a war-time Washington engaged in conflicts without end; without the destabilization of significant parts of the planet; without the war on terror - it should really be called the war for terror - spreading terrorism; and without the displacement of vast populations (including something close to half of Syria's by now) and the rise of the populist right on both sides of the Atlantic on the basis of the resulting anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiments, it's hard to imagine him. In other words, before he ever descended that Trump Tower escalator into the presidential race in 2015, empire had, politically speaking, trumped democracy and a flawed but noble experiment that began in 1776 was failing.

Had that imperial power not been exercised in such a wholesale way in this century, Donald Trump would have been unimaginable. Had President George W. Bush and his cronies not decided to invade Iraq, The Donald probably would have been inconceivable as anything but the proprietor of a series of failed casinos in Atlantic City, the owner of what he loves to call “property” (adorned with those giant golden letters), and a reality-TV host. And the American people would not today be his apprentices.

When that “very stable genius” (as he reminded us again recently) inherited such powers long in the making, he also inherited the power to use them in ways that would have been unavailable to the president of a country that had genuine “checks and balances,” one in which the people knew what was going on and in some sense directed it. Consider it a sign of the times that he's the second president to lose the popular vote in this 18-year-old century - the first, of course, being George W. “Hanging Chad” Bush.

So perhaps it's only proper that President Trump has now nominated to the Supreme Court a judge who was once a Republican operative for the very legal team focused on stopping the recount of those contested Florida ballots in 2000 - a recount the Supreme Court did indeed halt, throwing the election to Bush. Note that Brett Kavanaugh is also the perfect justice for America's new imperial age of decline, one who genuinely believes that the law should read: The president, while in office, is above it. Think of him as Caligula's future enabler.

In other words, in the 21st century, Donald Trump is proof indeed that the American experiment in democracy may be coming to an unseemly end in a president with all the urges of an autocrat (and so many other urges as well). Or think of it this way: The contest - from early on an essential part of American life - between democracy and empire seems to be ending with empire the victor.

However - and here may be Donald Trump's particular significance - empire, too, looks to be heading toward some kind of ultimate failure. He himself is visibly a force for imperial demolition. He seems intent - as in the recent abusive NATO meeting and the chaotic get-together with Russian President Vladimir Putin - on dismantling the very world that imperial America built for itself in the wake of World War II. You know, the one in which it was to be the ultimate and eternal victor in a rivalry between imperial powers that had begun in perhaps the 15th century, reached its peak when only two “super” rivals were left to face each other in the Cold War, and ended with a single power seemingly triumphant and alone on planet Earth.

How quickly those historically unique dreams of global dominion fell apart in the “infinite wars” of this century. Think of Donald Trump as the overly ripe fruit of that failure, that endless imperial moment that never quite was. Think of him as the daemon in the (malfunctioning) global machinery of a world that is itself - as in Brexiting “Europe” - evidently beginning to come apart at the seams amid war, a flood of global refugees, and one factor never experienced before (on which more below). Think of America as being caught up in some only half-recognized United Stexit moment, though what exactly we are withdrawing from may be less than clear.

Still, bad as any moment might be, you can always hope for, dream about and work for so much better, as so many have over the centuries. After all, everything I've described remains the norm of history. What empire hasn't had its Caligulas, its Trumps? What empire hasn't, in the end, gone down? What democratic experiment hasn't sooner or later faltered? Even the best of experiments come up short as autocrats take power and hand their rule on to their sons, only to be overthrown by some revolt, some new attempt to make better sense of this world, which itself falters sooner or later. And so it goes.

Again, that, as they say, is history, a series of failed experiments, but ones that always end, in their own fashion, with hope still alive for a better, fairer, more just world. Yes, a particular failure might be terrible for you, your community, even several generations of yous, but it, too, will pass and you can expect our better angels to reappear someday, even if not in your lifetime - or at least until recently you could do so.

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Climate Change: The Ultimate Experiment

There is, however, another experiment, a planet-wide one that seems to be failing as well. You could think of it as humanity's experiment with industrial civilization, which is disastrously altering the environment of this previously welcoming world of ours. I'm referring, of course, to what the greenhouse gases from the fossil fuels we've been burning in such profusion since the eighteenth century are doing to our planet.

Whether you call it climate change or global warming, the one thing it isn't - despite the fact that we've done it - is history. Not human history anyway. After all, its effects will exist on a time scale that dwarfs our own. If allowed to play out to its fullest, it could destroy civilization. And ironically enough, unlike so many of our experiments, this was one we didn't even know we were conducting for something like a century and a half. So consider it an irony that it's the one likely to endanger every other imaginable experiment. If not somehow halted in a reasonably decisive fashion, it could not only inundate coastal cities, turn verdant lands into parched landscapes and create weather extremes presently hard to imagine, but produce heat that will be devastating.

And yet don't give us any kind of a free pass on this one. Despite those endless years of not knowing what we were doing, ignorance can't be pled. Increasing numbers of us (including the giant oil companies who did everything humanly possible to keep the news from the rest of us) have known about this since at least the 1960s. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson's science advisory committee sent him a report that highlighted a human-caused warming of the planet from the carbon dioxide burned off by fossil fuels. It included remarkably accurate projections of the increased heat to come in the 21st century and of other effects of climate change, including sea level rise and the warming of sea waters. So don't say that no one was warned. As time went on, we've been warned again and again.

And for this, too, Donald Trump can't be blamed, but his presence in the White House is now a powerful symbol of a human failure to grasp the dangers involved. Talk about a symbolic act of self-destruction: The American people put a fierce climate denier in the White House. He, in turn, has brought his passionate 1950s-style fantasies of an even more oil-fueled global future with him. He has, among other things, appointed a remarkable set of Republican climate-change doubters and deniers to crucial positions throughout his administration. He's moved to withdraw this country from the Paris climate accord, while powering up fossil-fuel and greenhouse-gas-producing projects of every sort and weakening the drive to develop alternative energy sources; he has, that is, done everything in his power to stoke global warming.

Along with the actions of the CEOs of the giant oil companies, this will surely prove to be the greatest criminal enterprise in history, since it takes the all-time largest greenhouse gas emitter out of the running (except at the state and local level) when it comes to impeding global warming. In other words, whatever else he may be, President Donald Trump seems singularly intent on being a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to human history.

Since Lucy walked upright by that African lake 3 million years ago, this has been a remarkably welcoming planet for the human experiment. If, in the coming century, climate change hits full force, it won't just be a matter of refugees in the hundreds of millions or individual deaths in countless numbers, or some failing democracy that became an empire. It could mean the failure of the whole human experiment in ways that are still hard to grasp. It could mean no more chance for failure, The End.

That's something worth working against. That's a failure no one in any possible future can afford.

In the meantime, here I am, another year closer to my own moment of “failure,” living in a potentially failing country on a potentially failing planet. Happy birthday to me.

*[This article was originally published by TomDispatch.]

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer's editorial policy.

Photo Credit: Nicole S. Glass / Shutterstock.com

The post Humanity's Failed Experiments appeared first on Fair Observer.

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